But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’  And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?  They said, ‘The first.’

Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Matthew 21:28-32

When we look at the faith teachers in the past, we do not always see the Gospels and the teachings of Jesus explicitly mentioned, even though they do teach Faith, the anointing, and the realm of the Spirit perfectly.  While there are many variations on faith teaching, it must be noted, however, one crucial thing.  Despite how much revelation one teacher had or another, or how well any person was able to present the message of faith, of more important than the ability to understand and teach faith is whether we choose to LIVE it!

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For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 2:8

Faith is not a work.

This is one of the places John Calvin, the leader of reformed theology,  in my opinion, missed it.  In depth doctrinal analysis of all of the branch of theology today called Calvinism aside, the essence of his argument for many of his works hinged upon the understanding of total depravity as being excluding using the faith God provided.  According to that branch of thought, any effort on our part was lacking when it comes to pleasing God.

Many people complain about having “faith in faith”, and saying that it is not what saves you.  Unfortunately, this steers very wide of the margin of scripture, and does nothing but raise a smoke-screen against the real issue, that many do not have a real understanding of what faith is.

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And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Matthew 17:20 KJV

As has been talked about elsewhere, unbelief is the greater belief in the seen, rather than the unseen.  This is often described as more than simple a lack of faith, is a force that works against true faith as it is a “faith” in the visible, rather than in the invisible.

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Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

John 12:26

There is no other Truth than Jesus.  Paul didn’t surpass Jesus’ truth.  Peter didn’t understand more.  John, in his great revelation as the last book of the Bible wasn’t in possession of a greater revelation than that which Jesus is.

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

1 John 1:1-4

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And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Luke 18:19

The victory cry of Israel was, “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”  Psalm 100:5  They sang this refrain over and over, as a praise to their God who had given them them their victory.  No other words are recorded, if there were any, this was their triumph!

No one is good but God.  Even Jesus, God Himself, didn’t try to stand in His own goodness as a man.  Everything He did, He obeyed His Father, as an example.  He said that whoever does truth comes into the light so that it might be plainly be seen that what has been done has been done through God (John 3:21).

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Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Matthew 7:24-27

You see, it must be understood, whenever a leader falls, it is solely, squarely, and positively because of what is in their heart.  This bears both great compassion and unswerving commitment to integrity.  Every leader that has ever fallen has fallen, not because of the devil, not because of other people, but solely and squarely because of themselves.

As a man helping to raise up a global prayer movement, Mike Bickle, said, “God won’t stop it.  The devil wont stop it.  Only you can stop it. This should not come as a surprise to the church. God has provided a better way in Jesus.

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Imagine, for a moment, that Jesus was like us, approaching Christianity as we know it today.

Suppose, for instance, He, the King and creator of the universe, was standing in front of the religious leaders of His day with the mindset we see in the church today.  Perhaps he might approach leaders of a “different denomination” with some cordiality, trying to find some “common ground” so that they could see a little more “on the same level”.

Perhaps He might have, to use popular expression, tried to scale the mountain of the religion in His day to try to disciple His nation.

But, from the text, Jesus didn’t do any of that.

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And after the sixty and two weeks, cut off is Messiah, and the city and the holy place are not his, the Leader who hath come doth destroy the people; and its end is with a flood, and till the end is war, determined are desolations.

Daniel 9:27 YLT

We are cut off from this world, and we have nothing in it (Galatians 6:14).  In baptism, Jesus was cut off from this world.  While He lived among those of the flesh, and He was perfectly sinless before and after, from the outpouring of the Spirit upon Him, He no longer interacted with the world in the same way.

We too, through baptism into Christ, are baptized into His life and His resurrection, and are cut off from this world and everything in it.  It is a spiritual circumcision in Christ, of the heart, and not of the flesh, but leaves us, not orphans alone in a world with nothing else, but with the greatest treasure, even greater than the whole universe and all of the heavens combined, the great Holy Spirit, God Himself, dwelling in us bodily.
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He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

Mark 16:15-18

In my lifetime, I have been to many prophetic conferences.  I have been equipped, taught, and otherwise prepared and shaped through them.  As the late Jill Austin put it, she felt that conference were becoming the new Seminary for much of the Body of Christ.

Looking over the vast array of conferences, there are only a certain segment of them that interest me today.  The ones with a prophetic bent, the ones open to the manifestations of the Spirit, gifts, healing, prayer, and the like are what I generally go for, without another specific leading.  Certainly, my selection has been biased, I believe for the better, but God is the ultimate judge.

Yet, in the course of my attending many such meetings, it has come to my attention that there is a greater plan, the overall calling, or charter, if you will of many of these conferences.

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[W]e know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (portion)

Love builds up.  It edifies.  It substantiates.  Love is the substance of the Gospel.  The man without love is without God, for God is love.

The Kingdom of God requires diligence, patience, long-suffering, peace, and trust, because these are what love are.  Perhaps one of the greatest equalizers in the universe is the power of love.  Both kings and those who the world regards as “nobody”s can have it, and it can make either of their hearts warm, and soft, and alive.  Both can possess everything that matters in this life, and never lack, because love is enough.

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