014 - 1 Part
1ST CORINTHIANS 15
(Alternate Translation)

          We are starting in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, and will be jumping through this chapter. I am not going to touch on every verse, because it is a long chapter.

          1 Corinthians 15, starting with Verses 1 and 2." Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless, you have believed in vain."

          Verses 17 and 18, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

          I will start expounding on Verse 1." Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand."

          The Greek word translated "received" means "to receive near, to associate one's self within a familiar or intimate act or relation." It can also mean to assume an office, to join one's self, or to take one you are betrothed to, to your home.

          So, when we receive the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not just an intellectual receiving. It is something that has to be taken into our spirit and become a part of our very being. We know that Jesus Christ is the true Word of God. The way He enters into us in a preparation for joining Himself to us, is by the written and preached Word of God. It is usually by the preached Word of God because Jesus said,"My words are spirit and My words are life." As I speak to you today, your hearts are being pelted with the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ which, in the natural, is the equivalent of semen.

          Now, we know that when a woman has sexual intercourse with a man, thousands of sperm go forth to fertilize one egg, and this is what is happening in the spirit -- these words are pouring upon your heart. Some of them will root, and some of them will not.

          We know that we have natural examples for everything that is in the spiritual realm. You must be bombarded with the anointed Word of God to conceive Christ, and I am not talking about a word that is coming forth from my intellect. The process of spiritual conception will not be accomplished in you if the Word is preached by a natural man. Lord willing, I believe that the one who is preaching to you this morning is the Son of God that dwells within me. When you sit in a service where the Son of God is preaching through His chosen vessel, you are spiritually female. You are a spiritual female egg capable of being fertilized, and you are being bombarded with the spiritual sperm of the man, Christ Jesus. Some of it will root, and some of it will not. That is the spiritual reality of what is happening in this service.

          You can read the Word of God out of the Bible, and God can use it to minister to you. I am not saying that God does not minister to you out of the written Word, but that preaching is the ideal situation that God has established for you to receive the Word.

          James speaks about the engrafted Word. The engrafted Word is the Word that has taken root in your heart. This is not an intellectual experience. It is a spiritual experience. Something spiritual has to happen to you when you hear the Word of God, or the seed will come to naught.

          We have studied the Scripture about the different kinds of seeds, so we know that the seed that goes forth can fall by the wayside. It can even enter into your heart and still come to naught. We have to be bombarded with the anointed Word, so that as much of it that can possibly stick to us, sticks.

          It has been my experience that once your human spirit is fertilized, you then have an active manifestation of the Christ emerging forth in you. Then, when you read the written Word for yourself, it is possible that the engrafted Word that is already in you can lay hold of the words in the book and seed you further. But not everybody is in the spiritual condition that will accomplish this, so, unless you know that you are experiencing self-seeding, you really need to be hearing the anointed Word coming forth from a chosen vessel. But even after you come to a place where your own indwelling Christ can break forth in an anointed Word, it is still a blessing to sit in a congregation where Christ Jesus is ruling and bringing forth the Word. You can always grow, and you can always gain from an anointed preacher.

          I believe that the more we expose ourselves to the Word, the faster we grow. I had a tremendous growth spurt in the Spirit of God when the Lord gave me an opportunity to spend a year of my life working on spiritual material. I was editing books, and I had tremendous spiritual growth during that year. As far as I am concerned, there is not a doubt that the more time you expose yourself to the anointing, whether the anointing comes from someone without you, or whether the anointing is rising up from within you, depending on your spiritual condition, the more time you expose yourself to the anointing, the faster you are going to grow. That is my personal conviction.

          Let me read it again. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you..." obviously under the anointing. This is Paul the apostle speaking, "...which also you received...." You received the engrafted Word and it rooted in your heart, “... wherein you stand." That really means wherein you stand. The Word was preached, it was engrafted in your heart, and it is powerful. The engrafted Word is the power, which is empowering you to stand.

          The Greek word translated "stand" means "to continue safe and unharmed, to be prepared," and it is used of one who does not waiver in the midst of a battle. One who is not knocked down. So, if you are still being knocked down in a battle like I was last week, you still need to receive a greater manifestation of the engrafted Word in your life. You know you are not there, because when the Christ has completely appeared in you, you will not get knocked down in a battle.

          So, this is a good measuring stick to see how spiritual you are. We know that throughout the Scriptures, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Lord talks about taking out the plummet and the line and measuring the temple. Well, what is He measuring? He is measuring our spiritual growth. He wants to find out if we have reached the place where it is time to harvest us. We have already spoken about the fact that when the Christ is fully perfected in us, He is going to be separated from these bodies, and when He is separated from these bodies, we are going with Him. There is going to be no more need for this natural, dense body.

          So, God is constantly measuring us with the line and the plummet. Are you ready for the harvest? We can measure ourselves. God has given us the means to measure ourselves and, if we fall in a battle, brethren, it means that we are not ready to come out of this body. So, it is good to keep on top of these things. Sometimes, some of us, including myself, are so anxious for the fulfillment of the promise, that we can open ourselves to the deception of thinking that we have already arrived. Our ability to stand (not be hurt) in a spiritual battle, is an excellent measuring line.

          Brethren, have you been smitten in a battle lately? If you have been smitten, you have not arrived, so keep on going. Hallelujah! Glory to God.

          Alternate Translation, Verse 1: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which was preached under the anointing to you, which also you have received in the form of the engrafted word, whereby you have received power in Christ by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain."

          KJV, Verse 2: By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless, you have believed in vain.

          The Greek word, translated "memory," speaks about a memorial stone put by a grave. It is also, and more likely translated in the Scripture as, "remembrance."

          2 Peter 1:13 says," I think it is meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle...” this fleshly body, “... to stir you up by putting you in remembrance."   

          2 Peter 3:1 says, "I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance."

          My point is that remembering stirs up spiritual life. It is not enough to sit in a service, or read a book that we call the Bible, which is not the Word of God anyway. The Word of God is the Living Son of God that is dwelling in His people today.

          The Bible is just a book, it is the letter of the law. So, reading this book called the Bible does not produce the same result as hearing the Word under the anointing. The anointing has to be stirred up in you. It has to be engrafted to your heart, and it has to be utilized.

          In a previous message, Paul talked to us about stirring up the spiritual gifts, and stirring up that which we have already heard. He is talking about exercising our self unto spiritual growth. When we leave here, Lord willing, we are meditating on the word that we have heard. We are thinking about it, we are asking the Lord questions about it, we are wondering about it, we are relating it to other Scriptures, and that is the meditation of God, brethren. The meditation of God is asking questions concerning the Word of God, questioning the Lord. So if we exercise what we receive today, it can be used to our profit and result in spiritual growth.

          I will read Verse 2 again. "By which also you are saved." That is the gospel that was preached under the anointing, which engrafted into our soul. We can be saved by it, if we keep it in memory by stirring it up, using it, and meditating on it ."What I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain." The Greek word, translated "vain," means "without effect or without success."

          God is showing us that there are groups of people that can be exposed to the same spiritual experiences, and one group will bring forth Christ, and another group will not bring forth Christ. So, we should all be aware that this spiritual ministry can come to naught in our lives, if we don’t do our part.

          Now I know, this is confusing to a lot of people. I preach reconciliation. I believe that all men shall be saved, and I am not about, at this time, to get into my answer to this apparent contradiction. God has given me an answer.

UPDATE TO MESSAGE #014

1ST CORINTHIANS 15

(15 YEARS AFTER THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH WAS PREACHED)

I now understand that it is the spiritual root of all men that will be saved, but all personalities (souls) will not be saved.

          God wants us to know that it is not a light thing to think that you have it made because you expose yourself to a meeting like this once in a while. He wants us to know that it is possible that spiritual ministry to us can come to naught. So at the very least, He wants us to seek Him as to what He requires of us to prevent this from happening. Seek God, ask Him, pray that it should not come to naught, and take some responsibility for your life. Do not be passive.

          We are moving on to Verses 17 and 18. "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain. You are yet in your sins." So, what are we saying here? We are saying that if you receive ministry it can come to naught if you do not stir it up and exercise it, and even if you stir it up and exercise it, it can still come to naught if Christ be not raised, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain." Now, when we receive ministry, and we receive the engrafted word, we exercise it, and we stir it up, we receive faith.

          The next thing that is supposed to happen after we receive faith, is that Christ comes forth. Remember, our human spirit is supposed to be fertilized, and Christ is supposed to come forth. But if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain. If you have the Holy Spirit, brethren....we have been speaking about this for the last few weeks....if you have received the Holy Spirit, brethren, His purpose is to fertilize your human spirit. Now, while He is with you He will bless you, heal you, help you with your job, or get you a car or an apartment if you need it, because God loves you. But His purpose is to fertilize your human spirit and bring forth Christ, who, when He comes forth, is supposed to stand up in spiritual power. But if this does not happen in you, your faith is in vain. If Christ does not appear in you, your faith is in vain!!

          The end of all things is Christ. We have had messages on this. Christ must appear in each and everyone of us, that is the end of it, not to go to heaven and walk on streets of gold and live in a mansion. Christ is going to appear in us. His nature, His life, His personality, His righteousness are going to be revealed through our fallen Adamic souls. When that happens, we will no longer think with the unconscious part of our carnal mind, which is Satan, or live out of our fallen Adamic soul. There will be no more evil thoughts, no more sin, which will result in no more death. It is so simple, but it is so hard for some people to understand.

          This is what is happening. We are being exposed to ministry as the Word comes forth, and Lord willing, it will enter into our heart and become engrafted. You will receive the engrafted Word which we are to exercise by seeking God and meditating on it, so that it does not come to naught. When we do that, the next step is that Christ is to appear in us. If we have the Holy Spirit and Christ does not appear....even if we get the engrafted word, if Christ does not appear in us, our faith is in vain. We have to keep on going unto the end, and the end is, "Christ, in you, the hope of glory."

          "And if Christ be not raised in you, your faith is in vain." You are yet in your sins if Christ does not come forth in you and swallow up the natural man, the carnal mind, and Satan, the unconscious part of your own carnal mind. If you are still thinking evil thoughts, you are still in your sins. The day is coming that God is going to say something very similar to what He said to natural Israel. We have talked about this when we discussed the first and second covenant. God said, "I am no longer going to accept the sacrifices of bulls and animals. I want you to become righteous, and now is the hour during which I am imparting my Son to you, the vehicle by which you can be righteous."

          We talked about that, and we have also talked about the fact that the Church is still under the law. Not the Law of Ordinances, the Levitical Law, but we are still under the Spiritual Law of God, the Ten Commandments, and all of its ramifications, because Christ has not appeared in us yet. We still sin in our mind. So, if Christ has not appeared in us, we are still sinning, but we are covered because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Just like, for a season, God received the sacrifices of bullocks and animals. He said, "Sacrifice is okay until I bring in the New Covenant, and then I will not receive sacrifices any more."

          Now, Christ Jesus is your cover. The hour is coming for the Church, where the fact that we have the Holy Spirit is no longer going to be acceptable to God when we sin in our mind. The hour is coming where He is saying,"Church I am bringing you out from under the law, and you must stop sinning in your minds." The only way we can stop sinning in our minds is that Christ should appear in us. So, if we have the Holy Spirit, that is not the end of it, people. Christ has to appear in us because when God says, "That is it." When this covenant, I call it the in-between covenant, is cut off, if Christ has not appeared in you, the judgments of God must fall. Your sacrifice is gone. You have no more sacrifice.

          If God comes to you, and He says, "This is the hour, I have come to you, I have pleaded with you, I have spoken to you, I have preached to you that Christ should appear in you. This is the Word of God, and you have rejected it, you have said this is a false word. The hour is at hand that I will no longer permit the sin in your mind. You have rejected the appearance of Christ in you, the judgments are going to fall. Your cover is gone, your sacrifice is no good, I will not receive the bull, and I will not receive the heifer, and I will not receive the sacrifice of the Holy Spirit. I will only receive the sacrifice of my Son, of the imparted anointing, swallowing up the sin in your mind."

          Verse 18, "Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Let me go back to verse 17. "And if Christ be not raised, if He does not appear in you, your faith has come to naught because you are yet in your sins." The Holy Spirit cannot swallow up your sins. "Then, they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Now, that phrase, "fallen asleep in Christ," I have heard all kinds of things preached about it. God would like some light shed on that expression "fallen asleep in Christ or dead in Christ." The Greek word translated "sleep" means simply, "asleep."

          So, I have a definition for you from Webster's in English. Webster's says that the word "sleep" means "the natural periodic suspension of consciousness, a state of torpid inactivity." Now, I did not know what the word "torpid" meant. I do not know if you know it or not. I looked up the word torpid, and it means, "having lost the power of feeling, to be numb, to be sluggish in functioning, to be stiff." It is from a Greek word. The English word "sleep" is from a Greek root that means "solid."

          I am going to suggest to you that when we are told in Genesis 2:21 that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, who was a spiritual creation at that point, that what happened to him was that his consciousness, his spiritual consciousness, was suspended. He went into a state of spiritual inactivity. He lost his power of feeling with his spiritual senses, he became spiritually numb, he became sluggish in the spiritual realm, and he became stiff and solid. When God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam He lowered him into the spiritual realm in which we now exist. He came into this solid, animal body.

          This is not the state that God intends us to be in. We are here for a season, for a purpose. It is His very intention of raising us back up again to the realm of spiritual life where we have full consciousness, full awareness, where we are alert and not stiff. Now, spirits have no form or shape. Remember, they are not stiff. They flow. They are likened to water in the Scriptures, they flow. God has promised us a new body that, I believe, will be visible. We will see it just like we see our body now. Nevertheless, we will have the ability to flow like everything else in the realm of the Spirit. This is one of the great promises of resurrection life with Jesus Christ.

          The Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, Verse 2, says, "I sleep but my heart waketh." So, it is possible to be sleeping and yet have activity. Isaiah 29:10 says, "For the Lord has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, and the vision is become unto you as a closed book." I suggest the vision is the realm of the spirit, and a knowledge of the things of God. God is speaking this in Isaiah 29:10 to Israel after they have lost the anointing. If you are in Christ today, if you have the Holy Spirit, if you have God in any measure, you have begun to wake up. Your spiritual senses, and your spiritual knowledge has begun to be reversed back to where Adam was before the fall.

          Israel, which was God in the earth during the old covenant, I believe from all of my studies, had great revelation and great spiritual knowledge. I think they understood maybe even more than we understand today because we are still catching up. This Scripture is a judgment in Isaiah 29. God is speaking to the fallen Israel. "The vision of God has become unto them as a closed book for God has poured out the spirit of sleep upon them."

          So again, I am suggesting to you that we are sleeping today. According to how far we have progressed into Christ, that is directly proportionate to the extent that we have been awakened. The only one, that I know of that has been totally awakened, to date, is Jesus Christ. Paul said, "We see through a glass darkly."

          Daniel 8:18 says, "Now as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep on my face. " Well, he is talking about an angel. Daniel knew the angel was speaking to him, but he was in a deep sleep on his face. So Daniel, who was in the flesh, was a flesh man who was in bondage in Babylon, was sleeping. Nevertheless, the angel spoke to him while he was sleeping.

          The rest of that Scripture is, "But he, the angel, touched me and set me upright." Now, there is nothing in that scripture that says that Daniel woke up. The Scripture says, "Now, as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep on my face, but the angel touched me and set me upright." He received spiritual ministry despite the fact that he was in his place of deep sleep in a human body. This is a mystery that God can do this. Thank God for it! It is one of the miracles of God that we can hear from Him in our solid state because we are being re-converted into a liquid state.

          Zechariah 4:1 says, "And the angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is waking out of sleep." Zechariah was a natural man. The angel had something to say to him, and for the brief moment that he was in communication with the angel receiving spiritual knowledge and light, he was awakened. Lack of spiritual senses is death, it is solidity, and it is our humanity that we are in today.

          Spiritual awareness is light, it is liquid, and it is to be awakened. There is a Scripture, I think in Job that says that man is appointed once to die, and a lot of ministers get very upset when they hear preaching that sounds like it contradicts that Scripture. They say, "Well, you are only going to die once and that is it." Well, I suggest to you, brethren, that you are alive when you are in the spiritual realm with God.

          When you enter into this earth realm being birthed as a human baby, you have died. You have indeed entered into the realm of death. I suggest to you that this is the realm of death. It is indeed the valley of the shadow of death. Those of us that are incarnated at the express will of the Father died when we entered into this realm. We are in the process....if God has called us and sprouted the seed, we are in the process of being resurrected and returned unto spiritual life.

          1 Corinthians 15:34, "Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame." So, Paul is admonishing the Church that if you are in sin, you are sleeping, and if you awake, you awake to the righteousness of the spiritual realm of God. "Awake to righteousness." When Paul says that, he does not say it without power. When an angel of the living God says unto you, under the anointing, "Awaken to righteousness," by that word he has imparted to you the power to awake. The power to awake, in most instances, is in the anointed Word of God that, the Lord willing, is becoming engrafted in your soul. Glory to God.

          "Awake to righteousness. Stop sinning." Realize that these thoughts in your mind are of the low spiritual realm. "For some have not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame." Apparently, these people were responding below on a carnal level. I told you earlier that I had been afflicted this week. Very heavy witchcraft came against me, and I was indeed knocked down.

          Someone in this church had a dream about me that I was lying in a bed, and that I was speaking all kinds of filthy, blasphemous things. Simply, what that meant was that I was responding to the attack on a natural level. It does not have to be filth by the definition of our carnal mind. You see, according to God, anything that comes out of our mouth that is not by His spirit is filthy. So, I had fallen down from my high spiritual place. I became a natural man, and I was fighting on the level of these other people, and to God I was filthy.

          I have had dreams where I have been sitting up in a bed, or I have been standing up. So I, personally, am more spiritually advanced than lying down in a bed. God told me through this believer's dream that I had been totally knocked down, devoid of spiritual power and responding in the realm of the natural man. That word to me was the beginning of Him raising me up again.

          Before you can get raised up again, you have to acknowledge your spiritual condition. Whether you are out there in the world, whether you are a believer that is not moving on in God, or whether you are someone that has maturity in Christ, and you have been knocked down, you cannot get up again until you confess that you have been knocked down. We have to be humble before God. Pride will utterly destroy us, brethren. You have to say, "Father, I have been knocked down, help me, I am in trouble," and He will never fail you.

          Ephesians 5:14 says," Awake, thou that sleepest and arise." And again, the Apostle, by saying this to the Church at Ephesus, is imparting the power to them to rise up, to start rising up back into the spiritual realm out of this state of solidity where we are sluggish, and our minds are not functioning.

          Verse 19, "If in this life only, we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable," and that Word, "in Christ," I struggled with for years. I had shades of revelation on it. At this point, I am convinced that the group that has life in Christ has been incarnated at the express will of the Father. So, if you are dead in Christ, if you have died in Christ, you are one who has existed with the Father in the realm of the spirit, and His will has taken on the flesh and died. You are the dead in Christ. You have entered into the realm of death, and you have given up your life in the realm of the spirit to enter into the realm of death for the purposes of God.

          Moving on, we are going to study between Verses 20 and 28. I think I will read that for you before we start expounding. "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead, For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ, the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and all power, for He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death for He hath put all things under His feet, but when He sayeth all things are put under Him it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him, and when all things shall be subdued unto Him then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him that God may be all in all."

          What a confusing series of verses especially with the pronouns. Who is the "him" and the "he" and who is Paul talking about? Well, God is going to give us some insight right now.

          Going back to Verse 20, "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept," and I would like to point out to you that the word is "Jesus Christ." The word is Christ, and the Apostle is not speaking about the man Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Christ is an aspect of God in the earth, and we know that when Jesus Christ of Nazareth's body died on the cross His spirit was poured out, and we know that many Sons of God have come into this earth realm and are being called forth today. Now, Christ in the earth is no longer in the single man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, but He is now in a many-membered body which He calls "Christ." "But now is Christ risen from the dead." So, even though we are in this realm of death and in these bodies, we are in the process of being raised up to the same spiritual life that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was granted, and we are part of His becoming the first fruits of them that slept. We are the first fruits company. It is not just Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the man. It is Jesus Christ of Nazareth plus all of the children that God gave Him, which we are. We are coming forth in a many-membered body known as Christ,. We shall be the first fruits of them that slept.

          Now, what does that mean? Who are them that slept? Those that slept are the living soul, the living soul that died. The living soul in a many-membered body that the Apostle calls them is the sleeping ones. Adam went to sleep. Adam has reproduced himself. He is in a many-membered body, he is now called "them," and the whole natural world is Adam, the fallen Adamic soul. They are Adam, and they have slept because the Lord God has put them to sleep. Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Everyone in Adam will rise from the dead according to this Scripture. God is raising the living soul from the dead.

          Let me read it again. "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits company of all of the cells of the living soul that have been put to sleep in this natural realm." Verse 21, "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Death came by man. When God put Adam to sleep, he entered into the realm of death. We are all in the condition that we are in because we were born....I am not talking now about those that were incarnated at the express will of the Father.

          The human race is in the condition that it is in because God lowered Adam into this low spiritual realm. He put him to sleep for the express purpose of building a spiritual creation. This was one of the steps, the end result of which is the creation of God. So, God lowered the living soul into the realm of death, and He is going to raise it up again. Why would God lower it without the intention of raising it up again? He is God. I just love this Scripture because there is another translation which translates this phrase, "resurrection of the dead," as "resurrected out from among the dead ones."

          I would like to read that Verse 21 for you." For by Adam came death, by man came also the resurrection out from among the dead ones." Hallelujah, glory to God. We are living inside this animal body which is death. It is a life of death, spiritual death, and God has promised to resurrect us unto spiritual life out from among the dead ones. Oh, glory to God, hallelujah. Can you receive that?

          Verse 22," For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." As we are birthed into the realm of Adam we died. We just spoke about that. We have spiritual life with the Father in the realm of the spirit, but then it is our turn to enter into the realm of death so we can be made into the creation of God. This is one of the steps. We have to be lowered into the realm of death. We die. "For as in Adam all men die." If you were a spirit in the high spiritual realm with God, you entered into this valley of the shadow of death to fulfill the purposes of God in your life, you die. "Even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

          Nevertheless, when God comes to you and says, "I know you from before the foundations of the earth, my seed is in you, my Son is in you, come forth." He calls you into the Church, and you enter into Christ in the beginning stages. Now, this is a process. You are not fully in Christ until your natural life has been completely moved into Him. We speak it as if it has been because when God says it, it is done.

          So, many times Paul speaks about these things as if they have already been accomplished. So, when you entered into this natural realm you died. Nevertheless, when God has called you forth into the Church, into the body of Christ, you begin the process of becoming alive, as in all Adam, all die. When we enter into this realm of the natural we died, but when God calls us forth into the body of Christ we begin the process of being made alive.

          Verse 23," But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." Now, the Greek word translated "order" means "something orderly, to be put in an arrangement," and it is from a Greek root that means, "to assign or to dispose to a certain position."

          We have been talking a lot about Christ emerging in us and putting Adam underfoot. There is a lot of carnal interpretation of this scripture that says first this group is coming forth, and first that group is coming forth. I suggest to you that in this Scripture, the Apostle is talking about an individual's spiritual condition. In each of us, when we receive Christ there is a manifestation of Adam and a manifestation of Christ.

          I suggest to you what the Apostle is saying here, "But every man in his own order, first Christ the first fruits will be resurrected," within your vessel, the Christ in you. Remember, we talked about this. We are in pieces. We are Christ, we are Adam, sometimes we are demons, we are in pieces. The first part of you that is going to be resurrected is the Christ that has come forth in you. He is going to rise up in spiritual power. Afterward, they that are Christ's at His coming. Well, who is Christ's at His coming?

          After Christ emerges forth, first our human spirit is fertilized, Christ comes forth. Then what did He do? He married the human spirit. That is the joining of Christ to the soul. He is marrying the human spirit, and the balance of the living soul is thereby reconciled because the human spirit cannot be separated from the living soul. So, first Christ is raised from the dead, and then those who are Christ's at His coming. The fallen Adamic soul realm is going to be joined to Christ and raised from the dead.

          "Then cometh the end." Well, what is the end? We have talked about this. We have a whole message on it. The end is Christ. After the emerging, Christ joins Himself to the soul realm. It is the end, and the only thing that is left in us is Christ. Satan is swallowed up. That is the end. "Then cometh the end." There is only Christ. "When He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God." Now, the Greek word translated "delivered,"

          I am sorry, I do not have a definition for you, I just want to make this point for you.

          Christ has married the human spirit, and there is no longer anything for Him to rule because the whole creation has become Christ. "Then cometh the end when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God." He does not have to be a King any more because there is nothing to rule. You no longer have to keep Adam or the demons underfoot. They have become one with Him. So, He says, "Alright, Father, there is no more warfare, there is nothing for me to rule, here is the Kingdom, it is yours."

          "Then cometh the end when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and all power." The Greek word translated "rule" means, "the one who is placed over the rest that holds that office, chief reader, ruler, the one who existed from the beginning." I am going to suggest, to you, that the rule, or the ruler, is the spirit that rules in all of natural man. We are many, but there is one spirit ruling us.

          There is one living soul, his name is Adam, he existed from the beginning, and we have had this in previous messages. He has taken on the flesh. Now, in our cases, along with him is the seed of Christ, but the living soul that died, who is called Adam, is manifesting in many members. He is spread out throughout a multitude of vessels, but there is one spirit ruling us. If we do not have Christ, the spirit that rules the living soul that died is ruling us, and he is Satan. Do you understand what I am saying?

          So the ruler that has to be put underfoot is the living soul that died, Adam, because before the seed, of Christ is sprouted, he has no opposition. He is ruling in all the vessels on the earth. Now, Christ is coming, He has emerged forth, He has put Adam underfoot. Adam cannot rule any more. He is fighting like a tiger. He does not want to go, but he is going, going underfoot.

          The next thing He is going to put underfoot is all authority. Now, this Greek word translated "authority" is the Greek word "exousia," and it means, "delegated influence." That is the imputed anointing. This is a heavy point. We have talked about the imputed anointing. There is a whole church world out there that still sin in their minds, because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. The church is not manifesting the imparted Christ, which is necessary to achieve full salvation, spirit, soul and body.

          We have a whole five-fold ministry in the world today that are preaching the word of God, praying for the sick, casting out demons. Miracles are coming forth from their ministries, but they are still natural men. They are doing this by an imputed or loaned authority of God, but I declare unto you that the hour is come for the Son to appear. He is appearing in His people, and when He comes He is going to swallow up the delegated authority.

          The church world is not going to like to hear this. I say unto you, preachers, if you are hearing this message, get on your face before God. Ask Him to grant you permission to manifest the imparted anointing, the Son emerging forth in you. If He does not grant you this, you are going to be out of the ministry. You are going to move back into the carnal realm.

          There are only two ways to go in this hour. You have to go on with Jesus, however you work it out with Him, whether you have to repent, or whatever it is that He is dealing with you on. Christ must come forth in you if you intend to continue to minister. If you are rejected, for whatever reason, you are going to go back into carnality. You will no longer be working miracles of healings, of casting out demons, or any great miracles for God. You have to go forward, or you have to go backwards.

          The spiritual realm of the imputed anointing is in the process of being put underfoot by the imparted, emerging Son of God. That is a tough word.

PRAYER

          Father, may it be quickened to them and may they partake of it. I pray for everyone of them, Father, that they go forward and not backwards.

          The last thing that will be put underfoot is the word "power," and this is the Greek word "dunamis." It means, "fort, worker of miracles, an army, a host, power residing by virtue of its nature." We have talked about this, that the living soul that died, in its isolated state without the presence of Christ, does have spiritual power. The spiritual power that rules and reigns in the living soul that died is Satan. He has power, he works signs and wonders, he is the chief witch of all the workers of witchcraft, he appears as an angel of light, he can cast out demons, and he can heal the sick. This is the spiritual power manifesting through the natural man. Jesus Christ has come to put it underfoot.

          I would like to read that scripture again. Verse 24," For then cometh the end," which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory. "When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all of the manifestations of Adam, all of the delegated, imputed, anointing manifesting in the Church, and every manifestation of Satan." Now, the Greek translated "down" means "to render entirely useless or idle, to abolish."

          Now we know there is another Scripture that says, "And death shall be abolished," It means "to bring to naught, to make void, to render unemployed, to annul, to make inoperative, to deprive of its strength, to make barren." Now, we have some really interesting words here in this definition of the word "to put down."

          We know that Satan is a servant of God. We know that from the Book of Job. He answers directly to God. He cannot do anything to us that the Lord has not given him permission to do. Well, he is going to be rendered idle, his purpose will have been utterly fulfilled, he will be abolished, his power utterly stripped from him, he will be brought to naught, made void, unemployed, he is out of a job, and he will be deprived of strength. I like this one, "He will be made barren."

          We have had messages here where we have spoken of Satan fertilizing the human spirit and bringing forth fruit, evil fruit, names of blasphemy. He will be deprived of his power to do this at the hour when Jesus Christ offers up the Kingdom to the Father. When He shall have put down all rule, all authority, and all power. The reason for this is that He must reign, Christ must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. When He puts them under His feet there is no reason for Him to rule.

          That is when He is delivering it up to the Father. No more reason. We have spoken about this in other meetings. When we have completely become a manifestation of the Living God, we are not going to need authority. We will not need preachers, we will not need policemen, we will not need any kind of authority because all authority will have been internalized.

          Now we have talked about this, that the things in the natural realm are outward, like children are outward, our lives are outward. In the realm of the spirit everything is within. Well, when Christ is completely appeared in us and puts down all foreign power, the authority and the government of God will be reigning from within our mind. We will not need a policeman to tell us, "You cannot speed." You will not need a preacher to explain the Word of God to you. You will get it from the indwelling Christ. I personally believe we will not need presidents and government.

          In the early days of Israel when they were walking very close with God, there was no ruler in Israel. Every man heard from the Lord for himself. It is just when we are carnal and in the flesh that we cannot get along with one another because our minds are set against one another. We need to be under authority, because of the judgment that God decreed at the Tower of Babel.

          All authority will be internalized in the individual. He will be our policeman, He will be our teacher, He will be our government, He will be our guide. Everyone will walk in peace because the government of God will be in the mind of each and every man on the face of the earth. That is one of the great promises of God. When He talks about peace it is not through meeting with men in a room. Natural man will never have peace. Peace is only in Jesus Christ.

          He must reign, He must rule, until He has put all enemies under His feet. Now, who are His enemies? The enemy of God is the natural man, fallen Adam, and all of the manifestations of Adam, you and me and all of us. We all have areas of rebellion in our life until we are completely swallowed up by the Christ. We all manifest hatred, enmity, and rebellion toward God in some area. If you think that is not true of you, brother, wait until the Lord puts the fire on you, and you will know that you have rebellion in your heart towards God.

          I had an experience almost a year ago. I had been working in Manhattan, I did not want to work in Manhattan. The Lord really had to break me to send me into Manhattan. When I got there, I decided that I liked it, and after I decided that I liked it, He sent me back to Suffolk County and I was really upset. I did not want to go for many reasons, and the Lord showed me. He gave me a spiritual revelation that He had a bit in my mouth, and reins on me. He was telling me to go one way, and I did not want to go, and I was really angry, and that anger was indeed rebellion. If you had told me twenty-four hours earlier that I had rebellion toward God I would have laughed in your face. Me, I do everything He tells me until He tells me to do something I do not want to do.

          So, this again is a purpose for the trials and tribulations. We do not know what we have to repent of until God puts the fire on us and says do something that He knows we do not want to do. Then, we find out we have rebellion, or He puts us in a certain situation, and we find out that we have pride. That is the major purpose of the trial and tribulation because how can we repent if we do not know that it is within us?