For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

For everything of man must be recognized as of no value, for all flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are like grass.  The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:5-7).  Every word of God is sure.  It is tested and tried in the furnace.  Every word is refined as by fire, tested in the fire seven times.

The Gospel is not of this realm, it is of another.  The Kingdom is not of this world, but of Heaven.  The Word of Faith is not the word of man, but it is Spirit!

[N]o one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.1 Corinthians 12:3

The Gospel is super-natural by nature.  It is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.  But, it is His Word that is Eternal.  What He spoke must come to pass completely before it is through.

Just as the universe is held up by of the Word of His Power (Hebrews 1:3), it is His Word that is the source for all true, lasting strength.  Everything that has been created was created for Him and by Him, and He was before all things.  He is the head of His body, the church, and the first born from the dead, so that in everything, He might have supremacy.  And God, was pleased to have all of His fullness dwell in Him bodily, and to reconcile all things to Himself through Him (Colossians 1:15-20).

For it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.  It is by His Way, and not ours.  Not of the flesh of man, nor of human decision, or of the will of a person, but because of His work.  And, it is by His living Word, His Eternal Word, His Perfect, active, and effective Word, that He brings it to pass.

But, His Word is perfect.  His Word is sure.  His Word is tried.  His Word is proven.

The way to life is not easy, and yet, it is not of the flesh.  The way to happiness is not by our own inventions, but merely one of His.

In the process of time, while it may appear the disciples had chosen Jesus, He clarified this, saying, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15:16).

Everything else is in vain.  So far as a despondent King Solomon could see, he was right:  Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  Ecclesiastes 1:2.  There is nothing new under the sun.  But, the Word, the very words of God stand true forever.

No flesh can glory, for no flesh has prevailed.  No amount of thinking has produced salvation.  No amount of philosophies has worked.  No other gods have ever worked salvation, nor brought forth anything of lasting worth.  For all flesh has failed.

John Foxe write this in his Book of Martyr’s concerning the triumph of the cross at the time of the conversion of Constantine.

Constantine so firmly established the rights of Christians to worship God that it would be a thousand years before they would again suffer for their faith.

For three hundred years, the strongest and richest rulers in the world had tried to snuff out Christianity using force, politics, torture, and death–everything at their disposal.  Now all those emperors were gone, while Christ and His church still stood.

–Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

What greater demonstration of the dominion and supremacy of the Gospel could there be?  There was no world power greater, there was no stronger beast, there was not another beast more cruel, aggressive, and demonically inspired on the planet than Rome.  And, despite all of its abilities, it only took three hundred years for Christianity to crush it, to break it, and to have Rome scattered to the four winds of heaven, with no place left for it anymore.  And, for a thousand years, although with imperfections, the church reigned upon the Earth as the only world power, the representation of the Kingdom of God upon the Earth.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Revelation 12:11

For the church to stand around idly, doing nothing, all the while saying that she is healthy, and that she is fine the way she is defies the Word.  The Word says “Go!”, the Word says preach.  The Word says heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, and cast out demons.  The Word says those who *do* the will of the Father inherit the Kingdom.  The Word says that those who have this hope purify themselves.  The Word says that the saints are to do the work of the ministry.  The Word commands prayer.  The Word commands fasting.  The Word says that those who do not work should not eat, physically and spiritually.  The Word, while emphasizing the worth of the Kingdom, indicates its cost.  The Word commands obedience at the cost of death, and nothing less.  The Word demands it.  The Eternal Word.  The Written Word.  How much more the rest?  How much more the Spirit?  How much more His angels?

John the Baptist came and made the same declaration that Paul did.  No flesh will glory in His Presence.  It will be fully His work, Fully His Spirit within us, and only when we are living out of That Word, as evidenced by our lives, are we really doing it.  Performance is not the answer, ever, but a right heart, given time and ability, will always produce a performance.  Faith without works is dead.  Because of the Word.  Because of the Word in us.  It will force us to go, eventually.  It will force us to move, because it is living and active, so, if it is in us, it will force us to be living and active.

For the Word does not perish.  It was written that he who does the Word will live.  Yet, this is the Old Covenant.  But, because God is the same, not because we are attempting to fulfill it does it happen, but because it has never changed from the beginning, and it is only His Spirit enlivening the Word within us that makes it happen.  In the New Covenant, however, it is that the Word is in us, in our mouths, the very Word of Faith which we speak.  And, because we say yes, the same Spirit that saved and sealed us is the very same Spirit that works out the same word through us.

He who breaks the least commandment and teaches others to do so demonstrates that He is very little filled with the Spirit of God, for the Spirit does not break the least of His commands.  The man demonstrates that what he believes and lives is not in accordance with the Spirit nor the Scriptures.  For, to be the greatest, is to be like God, who loved so much, that He gave.  Who gave so much that He bled, He died.  Who knew so much, that God raised His son from the dead, because of Justice.  Because of Righteousness.  Because of integrity.

Righteous and true are your judgements, Oh Lord, cried the altar in the temple when He poured out His wrath.  Faithful and true is emblazoned on His thigh.

For, nowhere does the Word command idleness.  Nowhere does the Word command laziness.  But, as the Word is found our hearts, as the True Word, the True Bread, which came down from heaven is alive in our midst, the True Light shines in our hearts.  The true Gospel breaks forth.  Souls are saved, and the power of the Kingdom is demonstrated and seen.  Not because of man’s efforts, but because the Spirit birth the Word within, and it took root, and had no thorns, no cares of this life, to choke it out.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Matthew 10:37

This is the Word.  This is the message.  There is a cost, the door is narrow and the road is hard.  But, there is a worth.  There is a value.  All that is lost, all that is abandoned, is as nothing compared to what is gained.

Now is not the time of the political network.  Now is not the time of social strategies.  But, now is the time of Gospel power.  Now is the day salvation is at Hand.