A LITTLE FURTHER

A little further is always the place God desires to take us. This was a great desire of Jesus to be able to take all of the disciples a little further, but He could not He could only take three a little further. You know it is not up to God whether He can take us a little further it is His intention and desire, but if we go a little further it is because we have allowed Him to work in our lives to the point we can go further in Him and with Him. So too with the disciples Jesus could only take Peter and the Sons of Zebedee (James and John) a little further. In Matthew we read, “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,” (Matthew 17:1) Again in Matthew we read, “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 37And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:36-39) and then in Mark, “And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. 38And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.” (Mark 5:37-38) Now it was Jesus’ intention (as it is God’s intention in our lives) to take all of the disciples a little further, but this does not happen automatically, oh no there are requirements we must fulfill to be able to go further with God; faithfulness, commitment, and obedience must be satisfied first in our lives before God can take us a little further in the Spirit. Of all of the disciples Peter, James, and John seemed to have a greater heart for the words of Jesus and they seemed to want to be near Jesus (John laid his head on the breast of Jesus at the last supper and Peter was the only disciple to have a correct revelation of Jesus, “why you are the Christ the Son of God”) more than the other disciples and out from this desire (so too in our lives) to be with Jesus there was a greater impartation of the Spirit of God given to Peter, James, and John and they were given as a reward to be with Jesus at some of the greatest moments (on the Mount of Transfiguration, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and John was at the cross when Jesus died) of Jesus’ ministry on earth. In all we do for God there is always something else we need to do. Our effort is always limited and not enough there is always a place we need to move a little further into to come to know the LORD. Nowhere is this seen any more than when studying the Scriptures. Now the Scriptures instruct us to study the Scriptures not to casually read a verse or a chapter each day as a part of our daily devotional or get the latest daily devotional guide from the latest popular Christian author, but study the Scriptures to show thy self without error. Study means study! Paul instructed Timothy, “Study to shew thyself approved (without error) unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) Study means study! At that time there was only the Old Testament to study the Bible as we know it with 66 books had not yet been complied. What are we to study: names, historical events, parables, numerology, miracles, all of Jesus’ words in red? No the words. The truth and power of God’s word (the Scriptures) is found in the words as the Holy Spirit gives us revelation and enlightenment to what the Holy Spirit wants to truly communicate to man through; the words, thoughts, and phrases, thus the more we study the words and allow the Holy Spirit to open up our understanding to the original thoughts of truth (or precepts where we get our word concept from) the more we will know what the original intent of the author and what the Holy Spirit is saying to us through the writer. My friend words like your teachers really matter. This is why I also stick with the KJV and study backward with the Hebrew (Old Testament) and the Greek (New Testament) to be able to look at the root words. Words on the surface in the Scriptures are quite different and not so deep in thought, but once you get into the root words your find more of what the Spirit wants to communicate to us. There is more of a heartfelt approach and a simplistic, clarity that gives rise, by the Holy Spirit, to our understanding and knowledge. Many people ask me do I have to go out and buy a Bible concordance or Bible computer program and I tell them no, it is your choice, but if you really want to know what the Bible is really saying and want to move correctly in understanding with the Holy Spirit then my answer is yes. When we as evangelists, preachers, and teachers do not go further into what God has for us by studying the Scriptures we settle for something less than what God would want to give His children. How easy is it to get a sermon off the internet or from another’s revelation from God in a book? I do not want to teach another’s revelation oh no, I want to share a fresh word from God and to do this I must spend time with Him, endure His dealings and judgments in my life, and go a little further in the Scriptures studying the words. I can always tell the depth of understanding and truth an evangelist, preacher, and teacher has by the way they approach the word of God; just like I can tell where you are in God by what comes out your mouth, how you pray, and how you give. The novice always goes after something that will make us feel good, something to encourage us and usually points our attention to a miracle Jesus did. Sadly these are nothing more than humanistic and inspirational sermons (not messages from God, messages from God are by the Spirit of God) appealing to our flesh and emotions. God is not trying to inspire our flesh He is trying to kill it. To be able to bring the life of God to people who are dying (in so many ways) we must go deeper into the Scriptures and seek to have the understanding, by the Holy Spirit, of what Jesus is teaching the people and stay away from all of the emotional things that blind our understanding, if not we will get the people and us off track from what is really being said and done. Stories in the Gospel are NOT stories to just make us happy (blessed) or give someone something to use to manipulate people with, either we get it by the Spirit or we do not get it at all. Stories in the Gospels are critical lessons for the disciples and us today. The miracles and emotional events in the Gospel are not the heart of the lesson, but we often make it so. The heart of the lesson is the interaction and relationship between Jesus and the people for a reason and purpose. All that Jesus did was for a reason and purpose have it be to enlarge someone’s faith or show the compassion, love, and grace of God. I do not know how many sermons I have heard on raising Lazarus from the dead, well the story in John 11:1-57 was NOT about raising Lazarus from the dead. The 11th Chapter of John has 57 verses and only 2 verses (John 11:43-44) dealt with raising Lazarus from the dead all of the rest dealt with Jesus’ interaction with Mary and Martha (and the other people mentioned) enlarging their faith to believe if God said it then it will happen. I do not know how many sermons I have heard on Peter walking on the water; like “you have to get out of the boat to walk on water,” but this story is not about Peter walking on the water it about Jesus teaching the disciples (and us) not to leave a place of provision He has provided. In the end Peter had to be saved by Jesus how foolish of Peter to leave a place of safety and security provided by God. I do not know how many sermons I have heard on Jesus feeding the 5,000 in the desert. This lesson is not about feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes, but is about teaching the disciples how to be real servants (they ate last from one of the 12 “servant baskets” collected) and if they wanted to be first in the Kingdom of God they had to be last. Jesus was teaching the disciples if they want to be to be humble they must be humbled, but most evangelists, preachers, and teachers go after the miracle making up all kinds of humanistic and inspirational sermons while missing out on the real work of God in these stories. God’s work in these stories is always to bring us down in our selves. God’s word goes right after our heart and His pure intention is to waylay (even offend us) our pride and selfishness if we can stay away from all of the fancy emotional antidotes. In Philippians Paul shares these words with us, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:10-14) What was the “prize” Paul was talking about? The answer is in the beginning of verse 10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.” What a wonderful prize from God, but not too many Christians would consider this to be a prize most Christians today consider this to be something to shun while they sing and dance their way to their perceived destiny reigning with God. Well my friend the only destiny we have in God is coming to “know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Without God’s death working in us there is no hope of any resurrection or reigning with God now and in our next life. We must come to a place in God were He can take us a little further into death, where we can identify with the “fellowship of His suffering.” We pray for faith well how much faith do we need? Can we store up our faith for when we need it? No of course not that is silly; all the faith we need is enough faith (which is given to us by God, Romans 10:17) to believe if God raised up Jesus from the dead (and He did) then He will be able to raise us from the dead too. Now I like this word “fellowship.” The word “fellowship” appears 17 times in the KJV from 16 verses; Strong’s #2844, a partner, associate, comrade, companion. It has nothing to do with eating as with a fellowship dinner or sharing time with someone talking, but has to do with becoming a partner, associate, comrade, companion with someone who is doing something, joining in and participating with, enduring the same hardship or enjoying the same victory. Now with that thought in mind let us go to the Book of Isaiah. In verse 53:5 we read, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) Now I know I am going after some sacred religious cows and some folks may call me a heretic, but that is okay it will not be the first time and God has given me big shoulders, we (God and I) both know the truth is more important than idle pettiness. Many denominations and religions use this verse to claim healing (while lacking relationship or fellowship with God) for their people “with his stripes we are healed” and when it does not happen they blame the person for not having enough faith to get the old black magic in this verse moving, well this is just foolishness due to not going a little deeper in the word of God to find out what is really being said here in this verse. It is “by, through, with (all translated the same in the Hebrew) his stripes we are healed,” but if we look at the word “stripes” which causes the healing we find God’s intent, fellowship. Strong’s #2266 (root word to #2250) “stripes” means: to unite, join, bind together, be joined, be coupled, be in league, heap up, have fellowship with. Our healing (no matter how long and hard we believe or pray) as many denominations teach amiss has little to do with claiming a verse, but with our fellowship with God. It is when we come into union, partnership, unite, fellowship with what God is doing in our lives and/or any given situation we are healed: physically, mentally or spiritually. We have taken this verse and made it the where with all to stand on the Scriptures which is NOT a divine spiritual principle of God. Paul told the Church at Corinth because they were taking the Lord’s Supper “unworthily” without really knowing what was really going on, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1 Corinthians 11:29-30) Many Christians today are standing on Isaiah 53:5 instead of coming into a union and fellowship with God in their situation and “are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” When we come to embrace the “fellowship of his sufferings” we come to embrace healing. Do we not know when we have fellowship with God He hears our heart’s cry? Do we not know when we have fellowship with God who knows our frame and has pity on us will move on our behalf? Do we not know when we have fellowship with our Father He who knows how to give His children good gifts? Sadly we have made this verse in Isaiah some mechanical formula (and really twist God’s arm by praying in Jesus’ name) to get God to do something for us He may not want to do. Not everyone is to be healed when and where they think. Not everyone will be healed in this life. Who do we think we are? God is God we are not! God gets to decide what He wants for our lives and we need to shut our mouth and go along for the ride and be willing to go a little further with God. Written by David Stahl