LIVING IN THE ETERNAL VIEWPOINT

It is our Heavenly Father’s deep desire to see the fulness of His Son to be manifested in us and then through us. This is what is known as “spiritual stature” or growing up in Christ in all things. The Father’s heart cannot be fully satisfied until this happens. My understanding has always been that there is a much greater spiritual stature and growth available to us in Christ than we are presently experiencing or are even aware . There is a noticeable awakening right now and from many different sources that the central issue for the Christian is not just “go to heaven when we die”. Many books, articles and tapes are declaring that the church must come to maturity or full stature or to be developed until the church is like Christ.

The emphasis of our fellowship locally has always been that the central issue of the Christian life is not just to be saved and go to heaven someday. Our vision has to do with spiritual development of our character and the adjustment of our attitudes to reflect the Kingdom of God. This we believe focuses upon the “high call” of Phil 3 or the upward or ascending call of God. The church standing in the full maturity and in the full stature of Christ is THE thing that will bring joy to the Father’s heart. Up until now most of the church has only focused upon what will make the believer happy and satisfied and have his need fully met.

The self centered and selfish attitude of the multitudes is to be saved from hell but then live wholly unto ourselves, to please ourselves. The scriptural call is to be first saved and then to live wholly for God and with the single purpose of bringing joy to His heart.

ROM 14:7] For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; [8] for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. [9] For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. [10] But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. [11] For it is written, “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.” RO 14:12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

This verse along with many others reflect the true meaning of living in the eternal viewpoint. The reason is because we all must stand before the judgement seat of Christ and give an account of ourselves to God. Some theologians of the past have relegated living wholly FOR GOD to the past or to sometime in the future but today they say we are living under grace and that excuses us from living in full consecration to God. Our emphasis has been that all the vision of future glory is built wholly upon our present development and adjustment to the Kingdom of God. We are living TODAY in the eternal present in which God dwells, for in His presence there is no time. Today is the day of salvation and the “time” to live in the present reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. TODAY IF you hear His voice harden not your heart.

Since this “full stature” of Ephesians 4 cannot be attained apart from Christ and the daily work of the Holy Spirit, it is our constant relationship and fellowship with Him that “forms Christ in us”. Gal 4:19] My children, with whom I am again in labor again until Christ is formed in you--

In the church in general there are different emphases by which that church is identified. They may not always preach on the same subject and have a diversity of subjects but their emphasis is always in one direction. (1) Salvation oriented with the focus upon what Christ did for us. (2) Others focus upon holiness of life and fleeing from sin. (3) Focus upon family and interpersonal relationships. (4) Focus upon the church and our corporate fellowship. To love one another and serve one another and lay our life down for one another. (5) Some focus upon the end times and the great tribulation and Bible prophesy. (6) Others emphasize living every day with eternity in view. We must all stand before the judgement seat of Christ to answer for what we did with what we were given. (7) Some focus upon “the ministry” and discipling others to stand “in the ministry”. Learning the fundamentals of administrating a church with preaching and teaching and counseling. (8) Others concentrate upon evangelism and church growth in numbers and upon building programs . (9) Others focus upon the social aspects of the gospel in feeding the poor and ministering to the needs of those who are downtrodden. (10) Some have put most of their effort upon the media or the electronic church. Trying to meet needs through T.V., Radio, books, tapes and videos. Since this is a very costly ministry much of the effort is in raising more money to support tremendous expenses. (11) Others focus upon missions and the outreach to the unreached nations. (12) Others focus upon the music ministries with praise, worship or gospel music. Ministering to the multitudes outside the church in great concerts.

(13) still others focus upon the youth with all variations of plays, music and pantomime, games and recreation or youth fellowship. (14) Still others focus upon the “written word” and are known as “word churches”. The Bible becomes the predominate factor of church life. While the scriptures are of great importance there is also the “Living Word, Himself” who must have absolute preeminence in the church and in personal life.

In short there are diversities of ministries but one Lord over them all.

Jer 3:13] “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, That can hold no water. Any focus that does not have the Fountain of Living Water as central will eventually become unbalanced.

Jesus said it this way; JOHN 4:10] Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” [11] She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? [12] “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?” [13] Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” [15] The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.”

JOHN 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. [38] “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, `From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” [39] But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

We, in no way, present our focus as better than others. We feel that our calling is to present every man perfect in Christ and to insist upon maturity in every believer.. In order to accomplish that we know that every believer must get involved in ministering to others. Everybody will soon reach a plateau of growth through preaching and teaching and will hit the glass ceiling and become dissatisfied. At that point they begin finding fault with everybody and everything and will see defects that are certainly there. The solution is to begin to serve others and lay down your life for others. In that “ministry” you will soon reveal your own defects that makes others defects of less importance. You also will stay busy so that idle hands don’t get into so much mischief. Idleness promotes gossip and all kinds of evil that promote division or lack of love and genuine concern for other’s well being.

From my point of view it is much easier to just “have church” and focus upon the many other possibilities rather than to try to bring a group of believers to full maturity. I think this kind of ministry creates it’s own kind of offence because of the personal frustration of the believers as well as the corporate frustration with those who never seem to grow up. Spiritual children are always getting into mischief and require someone to follow them around to clean up their messes.

The basis of maturity is continually drinking from the river of living waters.

Jesus said “If any man is thirsty let him come to Me and drink and then out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water”. This is the true water that satisfies “thirst”. All other water is just a type. However, this water becomes a river of water IN US that is designed to flow out in abundance to others. This is exactly opposite of carrying a canteen to satisfy our own thirst occasionally. The self centered and the selfish are only interested in their own needs and their own benefits and take little thought of others needs. That is not the purpose of receiving the Holy Spirit. After Jesus was ascended to heaven and was glorified He received from the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit and poured out the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The purpose was to begin to get this river flowing out of each believer to the thirsty souls around them. The result is what is seen on the day of Pentecost. 3000 souls were saved and baptized and presumably received the Holy Spirit also so that the river continued to flow.

God’s command today is still “LET THE RIVER FLOW”! Don’t dam it up or start to dig cisterns that hold no water but LET THE RIVER FLOW! When we look at this river of God from the eternal viewpoint we see this river flows from the throne of God. This is the reality and the final fulfillment of that which began when we were baptized in the Holy Spirit. It will come to this conclusion in Rev 22 if we “LET THE RIVER FLOW”.

However, until we begin to participate in the Kingdom of God and truly get the THRONE OF GOD firmly established within our innermost being there will not be the fulness of this river flowing in manifestation. The 12 fruits with a new fruit each month will only be a doctrine because the Tree of Life is fruitful personally when it grows beside the living water that flows from us to the lands around about. That conclusion is the primary purpose of the consecration offering. That is to get the absolute throne of God established in our hearts because that is where the RIVER OF GOD originates.

When Ezekiel saw this river in his vision he saw the benefit and the result of this river flowing out to all the lands. EZE 47:7] Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. [9] “And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. [10] “And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. [11] “But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. [12] “And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

The abundance of the harvest is found IN THE RIVER. If our goal is to be fishers of men then we need to flee from the backwaters, the swamps and the marshes and get into the river of God.

Alongside this tremendous river with it’s life giving flow there are the back waters or the swamps and marshes that are brackish, stagnant and full of salt. Too many are trying to drink of the swamps and marshes after they have forsaken the fountain of Life and wonder what is wrong. Some have no idea why their thirst is not satisfied with this salt water or why they are not effective in fishing for men. We “fish all night and catch nothing”. If we fish on the right side we can fish in the day time during the time of light. Many are just searching in the trash and garbage that resides in the swamps and backwaters rather than searching for the river that flows out to others that carries LIFE with it.

REV 22:1 And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, [2] in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. [3] And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; [4] and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. [5] And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever.

The place that we find the RIVER OF GOD we also find the BONDSERVANTS who’s

true purpose is to serve God for all eternity. They will dwell in His manifested presence and see His face. [see Him face to face]. They shall be transparent and be so illuminated with the glory of God that the glory will shine right through them to illuminate the nations of the New Earth. These are the ones who will reign with Him forever and ever.

This is the primary reason we continuously emphasize the necessity of making a full consecration to God and making yourself a BONDSERVANT forever. It is THE BONDSERVANTS that are fully given to God and are owned by God that has His name visible upon their foreheads. They fully carry His name and are His possession. The lukewarm within the church will never see that river or see His face or be illuminated with His glory and light.

Jesus said they would be vomited out of His mouth which means out of His body [the church]. Jesus just refuses to have ‘half committed people” in His body which is His church which is commissioned to become His bride. The BRIDE will be fully committed to the King and not be like Queen Vashti who had her own party going on and couldn’t be interrupted by the King’s requests.

When the scriptural account of the beginning continues in Genesis 2 we see the first mention of “River” in scripture. By the “law of first mention” we know that the basis of interpretation is given in the first mention of a subject. GE 2:10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. [11] The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. [12] And the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. [13] And the name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. [14] And the name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. [15] Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. [16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”

The first river in scripture was identified as “to water the garden” but as it flowed out of the garden it divided into four rivers that flowed out to surrounding nations. Ezekiel saw the river getting deeper and deeper the farther it flowed until it became a river to swim in. In Genesis we see the river dividing into four rivers that flowed out in four different directions to water the lands beyond. This river in the garden was so full of water that it could feed four other rivers that were flowing full of water. In Revelation we see the river flowing in the New Jerusalem and causing the Tree of Life to produce fruit and leaves. The fruit was for the citizens to eat but the leaves were for the healing of the nations [of the New Earth] We don’t see the river reaching to the New Earth or to the New Heaven but we see the leaves of the tree that grows beside the river reaching the nations. The admonition given in Rev. 22:17 is “Let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who WISHES take the water of life without cost”.

Since it is THE SPIRIT AND THE BRIDE who say come we know that this river of life is available to us today and everyone who wishes may drink their fill. However, this indicates that no water will be forced upon you. In the Kingdom there is no compulsion to drink but according to the commandment of the king each was to drink according to their desire and no one was to be persuaded to drink more that they wanted. [Esther 1:8]

In scripture we learn that the river is called “ the river of Thy delights”. Also the river that makes glad the City of God. Also our well being will flow to us like a river. Again He will extend peace like a river to us.

JER 2:8 But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. [12] “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the LORD. [13] “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, That can hold no water.

PSA 36:8] They drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house; And Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights. [9] For with Thee is the fountain of life; In Thy light we see light.

PSA 46:4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High. [5] God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.

God has a free flowing river available to us so that each may drink his fill and as much and as often as each one wishes. All of God’s provision is flowing in that river. Even though man has hewn out cisterns full of holes that hold no water or are satisfied to try to get a drink from the swamps and the marshes, in God’s economy there is no shortage of water to drink but man insists upon searching out his own ways and dies of thirst.