Present Day Truth

ESTABLISHED IN THE PRESENT TRUTH

RandallMuse@hotmail.com

=========================================================

2 Pet 1:12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. (NKJ

=========================================================

In 2 Peter 1:12 the Apostle Paul is making a point that as Christians we need to make sure we do not neglect our Salvation or become stale in our relationship with God. It is sad to say, but there are many in the Church today who are rejecting what God is currently doing in these Last Days and are in danger of completely becoming stale and stagnant in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

While it is vital to the Christian faith to be reminded "always of these things" we have already learned, Peter says that the Christians he was referring to both knew and were established in the PRESENT TRUTH of God. The Holy Spirit is progressively leading the Body of Christ into a deeper understanding of Who He is in relation to us, and who we are and what the Body of Christ and its many gifted individuals are to be in relationship to Him. In order to stay current in the flow of God's Sprit and active throughout each movement, we must remain open to receive greater illumination about God's endtime plan for His Body and for the Earth.

The Greek word used to describe PRESENT in the term PRESENT TRUTH is pareimi, which means to be by, at hand, to have arrived, to be present, ready, in store and at command. The reason why so many denominations became stale and could not maintain unity with the rest of the Body of Christ is because a denomination was an organization that was present with a move of God, but they camped on that truth and discontinued remaining current in the PRESENT TRUTH of the Spirit.

God has been restoring the Body of Christ's understanding of many vital truths in these last days. We have learned about faith, healing, prosperity, baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, the Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit, and now we are receiving a greater understanding of all the 5-fold ministry Gifts and their operations in these last days, and especially now we are currently being taught about the Apostle's Gift, many camps already being established in the understanding and operation of the Gift of the Prophet and the Prophetic move of the Spirit. It is important that as we move into these truths that we keep them as a lifestyle, but then we continue on to journey into more of the Spirit's illumination. We need to be reminded of what we've learned and we also need to stay current and established in the new understanding that God is opening the Church up to as He increases the revelation of His Glory to His Church that we might become that Church without spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing.

One of the main purposes of this list is for the Body of Christ to have a means to remain on the CUTTING EDGE, and to remain continually current and freshly established in the Spirit's PRESENT TRUTH. The Word of God says that Jesus Christ is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever, but our perception of Him is changing as our minds are being transformed more and more to be like the mind of Christ.

In Joshua 5:13-14 the Lord stood before Joshua but Joshua was unable to recognize Him even though He had already been walking with God. In John 20:14 Mary had seen Jesus whom she knew intimately, but she couldn't recognize Him. In Luke 24:24-32 the disciples were walking with Jesus while He was teaching them everything in the Scriptures about Himself, but they didn't know it was Him until, "their eyes were opened and they knew Him." On the mount of transfiguration, Jesus' appearance changed right before their eyes as God opened their eyes to see in a greater dimension the Glory that was housed in that earthen vessel. "His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them." (Mark 9:3) [Moses and Elijah appeared also.] Peter's immediate reaction was to make tabernacles for the revelation they had received, to carnally house that present revelation, but then, "Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves." (Mark 9:8) Just when man begins to carnally house a present move to camp on that revelation, suddenly God does something different and it is time to move on to bigger and better things. Imagine if Peter, James and John stayed camped at that revelation and refused to move on to the day of Pentecost?

There is POWER up ahead, Church, but don't build a tabernacle around your current understanding. You must remind yourself of what you know, but you must also stay current with what God wants to say to you today and not camp where God revealed something BIG to you yesterday or five minutes ago. God is about to reveal BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS TO US. Too many in the Body of Christ are claiming to be know it all's because they were there when God did this or when God did that, or because of their seemingly great accomplishments (some of them academic). Some have camped there and are unteachable. They know what they know and nobody else can tell them more about what God wants to do through the Church today. Some of the things that stop them from receiving the PRESENT TRUTH is the false doctrine they refuse to lay aside. They won't allow what they know to be challenged or tested, they have become unteachable. If there is one prayer that I pray, it is, "God, test and challenge what I know so that I may be proven where I am standing on Your Word and corrected where I am not."

Too many ministers are ashamed to admit they are wrong or ever taught or believed something unscriptural. Today's Warriors in the Present Move of God are more concerned about righteousness than they are about being right. They are willing to confess their faults to others so that they can be healed and restored from error. They are not ashamed to confess their sins to their leaders, even though they are ashamed of their sin.

God's Endtime Apostolic Army will be those who know and are established in PRESENT TRUTH. They have the cutting edge of the Spirit at hand, they have arrived at God's PRESENT TRUTH, they are present with God and active when He moves, they are ready, having a surplus of Gospel POWER, they are freshly filled with the Spirit and at God's Command.

TEMPORAL vs. ETERNAL

by Jim Rinker | rinker@3dp.com | http://landru.myhome.net/cmjhburl/Resource1.html

One of the aspects of the prophetic ministry is that prophets are forerunners and are given insight into what lies ahead. Now, this is a very large topic and encompasses many different things, so to be more specific to the topic at hand, prophets get insight into the difference between what is temporal and what is eternal. Now, at first glance we would divide this into "what is flesh" or sin and "what is Spirit" or life, and yes, on one level this is certainly a truth. But there is another level that lies specifically in the realm of that which is Spirit or "Spirit-birthed" that would cause us to divide the works of God into that which is temporal from that which is eternal.

There are certain outpourings (or works) of God which have eternal value and there are certain outpourings (or works) of God that are only temporal. Both of these works of God have value, but the only difference is that the temporal aspect of His work is only temporary and intended for a finite period of time. These works are meant to birth and bring forth that which is eternal. The temporal work is no less glorious than the eternal but the difference is that it was only intended to have a finite lifetime and function.

One biblical example of this is the five fold ministry itself. As glorious as this work in the church is, and as vital as this gift to the body is, it is only temporal.

Ephesians 4: 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith.

The limit is: "until we all come in the unity of the faith". Prophets are given vision 'down the road' into what will stand and what will fall. Some of what will not exist in the future is not of the Lord at all. But specific to this topic, some that will not exist in the future is currently a glorious move of God that lies in the temporal category and had a specific temporal purpose FOR TODAY, but is not INTENDED to stand forever. This is where some prophets goof. They can see down the road but confuse what is temporal but of the Spirit with what is temporal in the fleshly sense, and wind up judging wrongly a current move of the Spirit because they can see down the road it will not exist. The intention of the Lord revealing the temporal from the eternal works of the Lord is so the body does not miss God when the greater work arrives.

Many current ministries are temporal and serve a vital purpose now but will have to shift gears and realign themselves or even be totally dismantled as the next phase of the Lord's construction project begins. I must emphasize this, the laborer is rewarded for their obedience and not their function and/or visibility. There are certain members (or movements) in the body who (which) currently have high visibility who will go into obscurity in the future while there are some who are in obscurity who will be on the forefront at a later time. Neither should be judged. One brought forth the other or made it possible that the other existed. This is how the Lord's plan works. Each part must do what it is called to do so that the project is completed. The scaffolding is only put in place until the masonry work is completed; then it is dismantled. It served a vital but temporary function.

The forerunner is shown these insights so that nothing temporal is held onto too tightly, and that the greater eternal works which must be embraced will be recognized and received when they arrive. As a more relevant example, in China right now the largest hydroelectric plant in the world is being built, a project that will last 10 years with completion in 2008 (estimated). Now, in order to build this dam a very large TEMPORARY dam must first be built to divert the river so that the PERMANENT dam can then be constructed. Once finished, the temporary dam will be dismantled and the project completed. So the value of the first dam was only so the second one could be built. Likewise, many ministries and movements of God today only exist so that the greater move of God can be built (or birthed) and the building raised higher. These ministries will likewise be dismantled when the permanent structure is birthed. By this analogy we can see that the current moves of God are not WRONG, but rather temporal, and exist for a specific purpose so that another move can come into being. Again, I must emphasize that the eternal is birthed and made possible by the temporal. That which is to come is being made possible by current moves of God. But if these are held too tightly and not recognized as temporal then the eternal move of God will not be received.

Luke 5: 37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39 No man also having drunk old [wine] straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

I pray that as the Lord begins to unfold His sovereign plan we would have a heart to embrace that which is eternal, and hold loosely that which is temporal; and I pray for the grace to recognize the difference between both works of the Lord. Blessings! ~ Jim Rinker

I WANT TO WORK MYSELF OUT OF A JOB!

by Doug Fortune | Trumpet Call Apostolic / Prophetic Bulletin

I want to work myself out of a job! I stated in an earlier writing that I believe my calling is that of an 'apostolic prophet', but my desire is to become obsolete in that calling--I'll explain:

"...He gave some to be apostles, some prophets..."

His intention was the PERFECTING of the saints, to do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body, UNTIL we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God; that we might arrive at really mature manhood--the completeness of personality which is NOTHING LESS than the standard height of CHRIST'S OWN PERFECTION--the measure of the stature of the FULLNESS of the Christ, and the completeness found in Him... [Eph.4:11-13 Amplified Bible.]

THAT'S where my desire is, that we enter into the FULLNESS of Christ, not to remain in the 'in part' ministry of the five-fold. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT saying we lay aside the emphasis of the five-fold, for THAT is part of what brings us to the FULLNESS. Rather, I'm saying that the restoration of the five-fold is not an end unto itself, but rather a means to bringing us to the Perfect Man, Christ embodied in the earth.

There are many exciting things happening all over the earth... revivals, signs, wonders, miracles, a great release of the gifts of the Spirit... I am very thankful for all of this and have been impacted deeply by it. Let us keep in focus though that all this is really the 'earnest' (or down payment) of the Spirit, it is 'in-part' (we know in part, we prophesy in part)... the FULLNESS is yet coming!

Let's don't get so wrapped up in the 'down payment' that we loose sight of the ultimate purposes of God, which is the Kingdom manifesting. I look forward to the day we will no longer need the gift of prophecy, when we will walk as Jesus walked--not in the 'gifts' but in the 'fullness' ... when we will no longer need to exhort our brothers saying, 'know the Lord', for ALL shall know Him, from the smallest to the greatest. And I don't believe we can really walk in the 'fullness' of the FULLNESS as individuals, but rather as members of the BODY, fitly JOINED TOGETHER. We NEED each other! This is why 'networking' is so crucial ... we are seeing apostolic 'joinings' happening everywhere, ministries 'joining' together in spirit and releasing a synergy that surpasses an individual anointing.

We really need each other in this time of transitioning from refreshing / revival to REFORMATION. I have always believed and still believe that spiritual 'power encounters' (like we're seeing in the current revival movements) are an important aspect of our being conformed into the image of Christ. I have seen many times, even in my own life, where a genuine 'power encounter' has not led to a lasting change, although they certainly can and sometimes do. This is where REFORMATION comes in... the systematic, sometimes uneventful pulling down of strongholds of thought and doctrines that are inaccurate in the ultimate purposes of God. This is the strength of the Apostle ... laying accurate foundations upon which the Kingdom advances with God's ultimate purposes in mind. I would rather see a person being quietly reformed to manifest the FULLNESS of Christ by the pulling down of inaccurate religious strongholds than the person who is in the excitement of revival ... I'm NOT saying that both cannot happen simultaneously either, it is just my observation that it too often does not. Revival is a step on the way to Restoration... in our journey, let's not forget our destination which is CHRIST IN US the hope of glory... Christ embodied in the earth in the many-membered MAN of whom Jesus is the Head and WE are the Body.

Let us move TOGETHER toward God's ultimate purposes as the kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.

Other articles: TOP | Return to The Apostolic

TEMPORAL vs. ETERNAL

web site manager

HOME