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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Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

Psalm 104:1-4 KJV

Paul wrote that whoever we present our members to obey, we are their slaves (Romans 6:16).  There is no difference if we do it entirely knowingly or whether we do it by instinct.  Jesus said that whoever sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34).

God covers Himself with light as a garment.  It robes Him, like a cloak.  He surrounds Himself with the glory, majesty, and splendor that is due Him, for He is God.

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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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The people ate and were satisfied.

Mark 8:8

It takes something to be satisfied in this life.  Paul wrote that he had learned the secret of being content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:12).  He knew how to be content.

The crowds followed Jesus in droves.  After He fed them with the miracle of the loaves, He stopped them and tried to redirect their thinking.  They followed Him more because their physical bodies were satisfied than they were by the spiritual  (John 6:26).

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The Word became flesh, and [tabernacled] among us.

John 1:14, portion, paraphrased

We live in our tents, our bodies.  Jesus, in becoming man, put on flesh as a garment.  We are not our own.  Our bodies are not ours, nor are we all that is within.

The spirit realm is complex and vast.  The inter-workings of the body and the spirit are not generally well understood by those in Western cultures.  Yet, as when two people come together in intimacy they become one flesh, there are realities that go Beyond the carnal, which the Western mindset as a whole has no capacity to account for.

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I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

John 15:1-11

If we abide in Him, we can bear His fruit.  It is only in the place of His Spirit.

Consider the place of His Presence.  Some call it living in Him, some call it abiding, some call it practicing His Presence, but those who stay within the flame pay a price to do so.

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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!
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[T]hou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength

Mark 12:30 KJV (portion)

The fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 14:1).  It takes faith to please God, for one must first believe that God is!  (Hebrews 11:6).  This is the first, and greatest commandment.  The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Consider for a moment, the Gospel of John.  Jesus says in John 16:27 that the Father loves us because we love His son and believe that He came from God.  In John 14:15, Jesus says that if we love Him, we will obey Him.  And, throughout the final chapters before the crucifixion, Jesus’ repeated command to the believers was this:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13:34

While the summation of the Old Covenant, all of the Law and the Prophets hung upon these two commands, it should be considered that the goal of the New Covenant is the same, that is also hangs upon these two.

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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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 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Galatians 6:1

What a far distance from this Scriptures so many people live today!  Not that this isn’t done, but that there are so few that can do it, or seem to, at the very least!  It happens for sure, but we could be further along.

Consider this.  If someone who is caught in a trespass, the one who is spiritual should restore the other in gentleness.  That is, the person who is not caught in sin should restore the person who is.  While it is obvious that a person here is caught in a trespass, let us not miss the obvious that there is someone in this picture who isn’t!

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