In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of being united as one body in Christ. He uses the analogy of fire to describe different aspects of our relationship with God, emphasizing the need to be fully enveloped in His presence. The speaker then shifts to the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes with five barley loaves and two fishes, highlighting the disciples' initial doubt and the lad's small offering. Ultimately, the message emphasizes the importance of being willing to be broken and used by God to meet the needs of others, just as Jesus broke the bread to feed the hungry crowd.

Let us just look to the Lord in a short word of prayer. Dear Lord, how we thank you that here at the ends of the ages there is a people, Lord, whom thou art raising up in the earth, to whom thou hast revealed thy intentions, Lord, in bringing forth a people who would be to your glory and in whom you might dwell in all your fullness. And somehow, Lord, to consider that we are part of that people, it's just too much for us to grasp. But Lord, we just pray that you will, even this afternoon, send forth a clear word by your Spirit that many will be helped, Lord, according to their particular need. That there will be new illumination, new understanding, new hope, new expectation. Grant a clear word, Lord, that everyone might receive something fresh and something that will be to their edification and strengthening in the Lord. So we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I have a couple of passages to read, but first I want you to turn to Leviticus chapter 2. I want to speak to you about the meal offering. It's called meat offering in an authorized version, but it doesn't refer to flesh, it refers to grain, the meal offering. My great desire has always been to be able to present truth simply. I felt in times past that I found that difficulty in presenting truth with simplicity. And I prayed much to that end that the Lord would help me to give forth truth in simplicity. And yet I realized that even the simplest truths are very difficult for people to grasp. And so it's not a case of how wise you are, really, or how intelligent you are, or how well-read you are, because truth is very simple, very, very simple. And we make it complicated, perhaps, as we fail to rely upon the Holy Spirit to unfold it. But if you are seeking to walk in truth, you will find that truth is very simple, not without its difficulties by way of appropriation, but by way of receiving. And that is really all the Lord asks us to do, and he will work out the ways and the means by which we shall walk in truth. I've used an illustration of the fish. I don't think it's considered to be extremely intelligent, but it longs for those depths. And your problem and mine is not the message is too complicated or it's too far beyond me. People say, oh, George, oh, he's way beyond me. I don't understand it. It used to bother me. Old Pentecostal people said that to me, old timers. And then a young person comes to me, known the Lord three or four months. Oh, that's precious. Boy, the Lord's shown me things like that. So we begin to realize it's not a case of, you know, you've got to be along the way 20, 30, 40 years before you can receive truth. But if you've got a longing there for depths, then God has those depths for you. Because he made the depths before he made the fish. He made the oceans before he made the fish, to swim in them. See, God has every provision for every craving in our life. And he made the provision before he made that craving, before he made you. He clothed the earth with, in Eden he put all kinds of fruit trees and vegetables, everything sufficient for man. Man wasn't even around yet. But he had the provision for him. And he made all that first. And he made man, and he gave man a capacity, we call it an appetite, to desire that which he had already made. So there are tremendous depths in God, laid up there in his own heart of provision. And God just had to have you and I, because there's something there that was in God that was just yearning for a flowing forest. Do you realize God had to have you and I? Do you realize that there's such attributes in God that he couldn't do without us? You'd almost think that God literally expended himself when you look at the creation that we see and the invisible realm that we don't see. And you consider the galaxies and universes, and every time they invent some greater telescope or some new eye for scanning the heavens through the satellites, scientists come to the place, they're just dumbfounded, they're speechless. One scientist down here, I think in Wisconsin, said it looks like the good Lord, when he laid out the universe, laid it out in a way we'll never understand it. And you'd almost think God was trying to find a place for him to live in. But no, God couldn't find any resting place in all of that. So when God ordained his people to make him a house, it was no thought in mind that God needed the place to dwell. And Solomon knew that after he'd finished that magnificent temple. Magnificent. I don't think there's enough, there isn't enough money in Fort Knox to supply, there isn't enough gold there to supply the gold for Solomon's temple. Couldn't build one like it today. But he humbly bowed his head and said, Lord, I know this is not really your dwelling place, just a place for your name, so that your people can cherish your name which you've placed in this place. And it became a religious ordinance. It seems so strange that the things that God provides by his Spirit for our spiritual provision in life, how we make an ordinance, a ritual out of it. As if thinking that by so doing we're pleasing God. So the whole thing became an abomination in the eyes of God in time to come. He cried to the prophet, Where is the house that you will build for me? And where is the place of my rest? Hath not my hands made all these things? Behold, the heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool, and you're building me a house? And even heavens cannot contain me? You're going to try and build me a house? But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at my word. God could not find a resting place. God couldn't find rest with Gabriel, and with Michael, and with the cherubim and the seraphim, and with ten thousand times ten thousands of angels. There was no compatibility. They weren't like him. He created them, but they weren't like him. He couldn't create anything like himself. How could he? How could he create himself? But he did make a man in his image. But that was just a shadowy image. One translator says he made a man under his shadow. Sort of a shadow. Adam was but a shadow of God. He was not Lucifer clothed with light. He was a shadow of God. Of the earth, earthy. And God made him as sort of a shadow of himself. He was made in the image of God, under the shadow of God, but he was not the full image of God. That would come later on in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord from heaven. The day star. The morning star. The son of righteousness. He would come from heaven later on. But the glory of it all is that the second man, the last Adam, would be born, first of all, into the realm of the old Adam. And then having undone all the harm and the ruin of the old creation, he would rise a new man, out of the womb, as it were, of the old creation. That God might find a true home for himself in man. And that's all God wants. That's all his heart's been yearning for throughout eons, is a home for himself. Because only you are compatible with his nature, of all the creatures that he's made. Only you are like him. Not by old creation, because God can't create himself, but by new creation, wherein we are begotten, or literally come forth, out of God's own heart. So there's so many aspects of truth. And like our brother said, we don't throw out one truth to contradict another. But you just pin it there. Here's a truth. Well, here's another one. Here's another aspect of it. Put it side by side. And someone says, I got another thought there. Well, pin it up there. And you know that it's going to take every member of the Bible in the body of Christ, in that particular creative life that God has put within them, to be joined together, to give the full expression of divine truth. To give the full expression. That's why nobody should ever strive to be like anyone else. Try to imitate anybody else, or wish you were like somebody else. God made you different because he had to have something. There was other aspects of his being that nobody else in the body of Christ can truly reveal. Aspects of God that it takes you to reveal. If somebody else could do it, you wouldn't have been born. So we are the body of Christ, intended to show forth the fullness of Christ. Just as we mentioned the other night, Jesus, throughout all the fullness of God, had bodily, meaning the full expression of God was all tied up in a bundle of flesh in Jesus. But Jesus went back to the Father because here now was something new, you might say, in the earth. Not really, but it was the Lord from heaven dwelling in flesh. And there was characteristics and attributes of this wonderful man that were hidden away there, that he couldn't fully express when he was here on earth in one body. And so he had to go back that the spirit that was in him might be manifested in many members, that there might be a full expression of the Christ. As Christ was the full expression of God, so we are to become the full expression of the Christ. That's what Paul says. When Christ was ascended, he became head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness, the full, the pleroma, the full expression of him that filleth all and in all. Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they might come to that place where they might, with all saints, not individually, but with all saints, might be able to apprehend what is the length and the breadth and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we might be filled with or literally unto all the fullness of God. But it's only in union with all saints that we will find this full expression of God. So, remember, in your great seeking after perfection, after Christ, after fullness, after sonship, you think you're seeking, not really. God done it. That fish swims out there into the depths. Oh, I wish I could get out there. I hope there's depth there for me when I get out there. Ah, no. God made those depths and He made this fish so it would be compatible with the thing that He had already made. He made you and I that we might reach out after God and partake of Him. And so, therefore, it becomes easy. Truth becomes simple, very simple. Don't struggle and strive and fret and strain ourselves to try to attain unto the beauty that God would see in us that would delight His heart. I mentioned Solomon's Temple and the tremendous, oh, the glory of it. And I've written about it. And even as I wrote about it, my heart was yearning just through that to try and express what God is really after in His temple. A temple not made with hands. But Jesus said, Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spend. Yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like the lily of the field. The simplicity of the law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. See, I thought I'd just strive and struggle. Well, I'll tell you what that striving and that struggling is. It's the death throes of the old Adamic nature which is resisting this thing that God is doing. But the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. I think I had quite a revelation not too long ago when I began to contemplate how God had brought us through Romans. Romans is a clear exposition from beginning to end of the gospel of the grace of God. It begins with judgment and God's wrath against man, against sin. It goes on to show justification by faith and then our identification with the last Adam, Romans 5. Our identification with all that He accomplished in His death and in His resurrection, 6. And our deliverance from the law, Romans 7. The tremendous struggle of the new creature in Christ who comes into new life but finds that tremendous struggle against that old Adamic nature. The things I'd like to do, I can't do. The things that I would, I do not. The I, the I, the I. And God seemed to show me we've gone through all those phases up through Romans 7. I think you've all experienced all that striving to be what God wants and not able to attain to it. And then you come into Romans 8. There is therefore now no condemnation. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The Lord seemed to quicken to me. God has faithfully brought us through. Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. He's going to bring us through Romans 8. It's going to be just as easy to go through Romans 8 as it was to go through Romans 7. You say Romans 7 was hard. Romans 7 was hard because you were trying to attain to something that the old flesh couldn't attain to. So I should say it's going to be far easier to walk in the Spirit than it has been to walk in the flesh. It's going to be easier to walk in the Spirit than it is to walk in the flesh. Otherwise, the power of the old Adamic nature is stronger than the power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is greater, the last Adam or the first. But you see, only God can do that. God is doing it. But you have need of patience. After you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. What's your responsibility in mine relative to the new covenant, you know? People are always talking about my part and God's part. I know, but I got my part. Well, I could give you many illustrations of your part. The best one I can think of is the one when God made the covenant with Abraham. And the covenant with Abraham has been incorporated into the new covenant because it really had no real part of the old Enoi. God was introducing the new covenant way back there to Abraham. God made the covenant. It says he cut a covenant with Abraham. In the Hebrew, it says he cut a covenant. Because in those days, they'd get the animals and they'd cut them up in parts and they'd put one part of the animal here and the other part here. And then the two men that were making the covenant walked hand in hand between the parts. And that was confirming the covenant by sacrifice. So, God cut a covenant with Abraham and how he was going to bless him. He was his man. Through him, he would bless all nations. And Abraham said, how shall I know? How are you going to confirm it? Well, he said, we'll cut a covenant. So, go ahead. Take the heifer and take the goat. Was it a ram? And a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Get them now. And so, Abraham cut them all up and placed them there, one side and the other. And suddenly, I took all day to do that. And the sun was up and the birds were coming down to try and devour it. And Abraham was there swishing them away. Here would be another vulture come down and Abraham would chase them away. Well, come on, Lord. What about you and I walking between the parts here? Let's seal this covenant. Another vulture and he'd drive it away. And night came on and Abraham got very sleepy and fell asleep. And while he was dozy with sleep, or he might have been asleep, I guess he was. Doesn't it say he was asleep? And there was great darkness. God walked down through the parts Himself telling Abraham, Abraham, this is nothing you can do. I'm going down there alone. A lamp of fire went down between the parts. Took a smoking furnace with him to burn up the sacrifice. He didn't take Abraham. Okay, Abraham, this is your part. And God said, this is mine. God walked down alone and He took a smoking furnace with Him to consume the sacrifice while Abraham was sleeping. But before all that, Abraham's part, drive away the vultures. That's all. That's about all you and I can do. Fears, unbeliefs, confusions that arise that would hinder you and seek to turn you away from the pathway. Drive it all out of your mind. God's going to do this thing. It's for His name's sake. Not because of what you and I are. God wants a home. He requires it. God's never had a true resting place in the ages that are past. He could never find one. He couldn't find it in Gabriel. He can't find it in Michael. He can't find it in the celestial hosts. But He's found it in man fallen to the lowest depths of sin but to be raised to the highest heights even into the very heart of God. We're not getting very far with a meal offering, are we? God says, You're going to bring a meal offering? Bring it of fine flour. Pour oil upon the top. Put frankincense thereon. Bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests. He shall take his handful thereof and of the oil thereof and the frankincense thereof and the priests shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar to be an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And the remnant of the meat offering, the meal offering, shall be Aaron's and his sons. It is the thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. The meal offering could be barley, could be wheat perhaps. But the grain grows up. It grows up. And in the time of harvest, they take the grain and they make meal out of it. And this is the offering. Leviticus chapter 2. This is the offering called the meal offering. Now let's just look at this. See, I like to relate truth to types. I've always found a great delight in types. I seem to find the key which I found in the tabernacle. In the typology of the tabernacle it seems to give you a key of Old Testament typology. And many times there'd be some question arise in the hearts of people. Immediately I think of a type. Not that you're going to base doctrine on type. But it's all found there in the shadow. It's all found there in some illustration. Types are just illustrations that God gives us of truth. And perhaps often you ask yourself maybe coming to meetings like this or sitting under teaching, where are we now anyway? Just where are we? And if you know the word you'll be able to identify yourself. Down there in Joseph in prison in Egypt? Or Moses out in the desert in Midian? What are you, in the outer court? Are you in the holy place? Are you eating at the table to show bread? And you can sort of find places where you can find yourself and it gives you assurance. Find yourself there well then you can go to the word and see what God's program is. Where are we now? We're talking about unity. We're talking about coming into the body of Christ and vital relationship. Here's a meal offering but let's just see now how this comes into being. Jesus said, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. So we know that he was faithful in that. That he died, he went down to the ground and died. And as a result of that we know there's going to be an abundant harvest. And then he talked about the word that was sown. And he said, The word is the word of God. Well, so he spoke the truth when he was here and sowed seeds in the hearts of man. But the culmination of it was when he himself, the living word, went down into the ground and died. You and I might sow a word. It'll be unto edification. It'll help people, encourage them, bring forth fruit in their life. But you must be identified with that gift which God gives you. So if you want to go to the ultimate, then you too must go down into the ground and die. In other words, you must submit yourself to the process of planting and sprouting and growth and to maturity. There's no such thing as instant perfection. We'd like to get it that way. We'd like to come up to the front and say, Now I want the fruit of the Spirit. I want love and I want it right now. And God can pour out His love in your heart. And then it doesn't last and you wonder what it's all about. Well, God's given you a taste of what He wants you to have. But this is a fruit. It's got to grow. A motto I read recently up home, Lord, I want patience and I want it right now. So you want patience? So God leads you in various circumstances and keeps you waiting, keeps you seeking. He keeps you short of the promise. But you want the fruit of the Spirit? You ask for it. So God leads you in that channel. Please turn the tape over. So there's no such thing really as instant perfection. Though there may be many instant experiences. And I know coming to a convocation like this, you're hoping, I hope now I'll have an experience there from God. And I trust many of you have. And I don't doubt many of you have had some wonderful experiences here. But regardless what experience you have, remember, it's in no sense an ultimate. It will encourage you. But you've got to cherish the Word that God gives. That these experiences you have, oh, there might be a sudden downpour of rain. That's an experience. But that seed that was planted, you see, needs growth. You submitted yourself. You say, Lord, I present my body a living sacrifice. I want to go all the way with you. So you submit to that debt. And God plants you in his garden. Because you're not only the body of Christ. You're not only the army of God. You're not only the pearl of great price. You're not only the building that God is making. You're not only the temple in which he shall dwell. You're not only the bride that he shall present unto himself a glorious church. You're God's garden. And I like that illustration of the garden. Because, you know, if they specialize on the army aspect, like the Salvation Army has done, God raised them up, gave them that vision. You specialize in that, well then, there's no place for this simplicity of being rooted and grounded in Christ and allowing God to do the whole thing through you by the law of the Spirit of life. All you see is an army. Get out and get the job done. A building. Oh, I've got to get this temple built. So we devise ways and means of building God's house. Because God wants a house. And so God gives us whole unlimited amounts of illustrations to show that it's not just this or that or the other thing. There's many different aspects of what he's doing. And this is one we must never forget. The fact that we are God's garden where he's planting. And the fact that you're God's garden doesn't deny that you're God's building. It's just another presentation, another aspect. Paul speaks about the church of Christ having many, many aspects of the divine wisdom. To the intent, he says, that now unto principalities and powers and heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, which Dr. Young and his concordance is for manifold, many, very many-sided, very many-sided aspects of God's wisdom which he is revealing through the church. And so as he prepares his body and manifests these many-sided aspects of his wisdom, it's going to be the wonder not only of nations, kings of the earth, it's going to be the wonder of principalities and powers and all celestial hosts. Because this is God's masterpiece. Don't turn to the master artist and say, God, you can't do anything with me, as if the clay should say to the potter, you've no hands. What are you doing? As if the child should turn to his mother and say, what did you bring me forth for? Or to the dad, what did you want me for? And God goes on to say, ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. And we say, we're going to command God. But just read it in its context. Another place where there should be another couple of questions. Is the clay going to say, you've no hands, you can't do anything with me. Are you going to question me concerning the work of my hands? Are you going to command me concerning the work of my hands and question me what I'm doing with my sons? Don't command God. How can you command God? How can the clay say to the potter, what did you make me for? But God is bringing forth His masterpiece in you and I. His masterpiece. If you want to know how great this masterpiece is going to be, consider all the wonderful works of God in all creation. The things you can see, the things you can't see, and consider that God says, I haven't expended myself. An artist says, he paints a beautiful picture, it's not enough. People, oh, isn't it tremendous when I survey the heavens and see the glory of God displayed how tremendous. God says, it's not enough. There's something in my heart yet to be expressed. He brings forth Israel, a nation. The work of His hands and it's wonderful. But God says, no, there's something else I want. And He goes on and on and on, expending Himself and His grace until finally He says, I'm just going to pour everything I've got, everything that's in my being is going to go into this masterpiece. There will not be one attribute, not one characteristic of my being that I'm going to leave out of this masterpiece that I'm making. And I'm going to make this masterpiece out of the lost and fallen sons of the Adamic race and recreate them until they come forth and in them will be revealed the total fullness of my being. Even all the fullness of Godhead to be revealed and expressed and manifested in the church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all and in all. So don't ever think of, oh, what's my part? Your part is to say, God, do it, I can't. And God says, I will. And that's the new covenant and that's the key word of the new covenant. Don't forget the key word of the new covenant is I will and the key word of the old covenant is thou shalt. God says, I will. And you say, God, you can't. God says, I will. If you will yield to Me. And you say, I won't yield to you because I know you can't do it. God says, I will write my law on your heart. And you say, Lord, I wish you could. God says, I will walk in you and talk in you and I will be your life. And you say, Lord, I wish you could. And God says, I will. And you say, Lord, I'm willing to. God says, I will be your God and you shall be My people. And you say, Lord, do it for Your name's sake. I believe it. So, all you say is Amen. Finally, He brings you the place from unbelief until you're willing to say, Amen, Lord. Amen. Do it, Lord. I'll quit trying. God says, I'm going to do this. So, when you cry out unto God to bring forth and manifest in the midst of His people this thing that we're talking about, this holy thing that has been hidden away in the heart of God throughout eons and is now yearning for manifestation, don't bring up any lame excuses. God, You promised it and it's for Your name's sake. We're called Christians and Your name's blasphemed amongst all nations because of you and I. Oh, God, bring me forth in Your image for Your name's sake. Your name has been dragged down to the dust. And that's the kind of a prayer God hears. He's doing it for His name's sake, for His own name's sake, for His own glory's sake. I'm not going to get very far in the meal offering, but that seed grows, grows and takes on form. Jesus said, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. So, the blade comes up and cries out for water, cries out for water, cries out for rain, cries out for the latter rain. God's got all kinds of it. God's got water, water, water for His garden. And so He sends the cloud and forms it into rain and waters the little garden, waters that little blade. The whole heart rejoices in that and so we have a whole new movement, the latter rain movement. God's final revelation for the hour. The last revival. Invariably when God does something it's always the last thing, you know. Always the last word. This is the end now. But somehow there's a people that continue to exist in their state of restlessness because God puts it there, you see. You can't help it. You can't help it when you get unsatisfied because God puts it there, because God has more and that's why He puts it there. Anyway, let's hurry through this. It grows and grows and takes on form and it starts to reach up, you know. It grows up a little higher and there's stock forms and then something begins to form the top of it, an ear. First the blade, then the ear. So there's been a change taking place in the hearts and minds of God's people. And they almost despise their roots. Never despise your roots because that's where you were planted and that's where you started to grow. But never look on the root as the ultimate either. God begins to bring forth something that was never there before. An ear begins to form on that stock. And then of course, you know, as always, that's the end now. That's the finish. Gifts, ministries, church set in order. What is God really after? Always go way back to the beginnings. God wants a man in His image. God wants one like Himself. And so when one like Himself came into the earth, by God Himself clothing Himself in flesh, and there was one like Himself who was of the earth, earthy, though the Lord from heaven now wrapped in flesh that was of the earth, earthy, God says, now I'll plant that one in the earth and then I'll have others like Him. Because God can't create Himself but He can beget Himself in His Son. And so Jesus was planted in the earth that God might have others like Him. Remember that. So if you have not yet come to the image of Christ, if next year you have yet not come to the image of Christ, to the satisfaction of your own faith, and you know to the, as far as God looks upon you, realize there's more. There's more. That way we'll never get bogged down. The ear begins to form but it's not the end. There's the cradle out of which there might come forth that full corn that God is after. So the ear is forming. Oh, I don't know. Let's call it the, there's many illustrations. You can call it the holy place where there's the table and the altar of incense and the candlestick. The ear. You can call it the wilderness. That's where the tabernacle was first set up. And that was midway between Egypt and Canaan. Remember, this middle position is always a transition out of the old into the new. And so Passover, feast of tabernacles, but Pentecost is the connecting one. Pentecost is the connecting one, not the ultimate. Anyway, you can go through those threes and you'll find the middle one is the transition. And that God's intention was that out of the middle one there should come forth the last one. And so, what does he say? First the blade and then the ear and after that the full corn will form right in the ear. You don't go out and cut down your field when the ear forms, hope that somehow you'll come to the full corn. But God lets the full corn develop right in the ear as it stands there, grows in the ground. Then harvest time. Then you don't expect rain anymore. All you want is sunshine. The open face of God, the open face of Christ. I know churches that boast of continual revival. I think of one. They've had continuous revival since the latter rain revival thirty years ago. Because if there's no rain, they make it. They've got rainmakers. I mean it. It's like a jungle. All kinds of evidence of life. I wonder if there's any grain forming. Don't be a rainmaker. But recognize we need to see the sun and brilliance as the grain begins to form. And what will it do? It'll dry up that stalk right to the root. You won't receive one bit more of life from that stalk and from that root in the time of harvest. But the grain has formed. No longer does it require it once it's fully formed in the ear. I don't mean to discourage anyone who is a new Christian. Nor have you think that because you're a new Christian you missed out on a lot because you missed out on all these things. Because there's a certain principle in God where he does things oh, instantaneously almost at the end times, at the end of one dispensation where people have missed out and yet come into God. And one verse I have that would go along this line is that, I forget where it's found. The plowman shall overtake the reaper. So this is the day of harvest the evangelist says and all we have to do is get in a few more souls and the Lord will come. I come along and I grab one of these souls and I say, here, I'm going to plant you because I'm a sower of seed. And I'm plowing the ground and here he is out here reaping the harvest and I'm plowing behind him. He says, what are you doing? I want some of that grain you're harvesting there. I'm going to plant it. Oh, you stupid fool, this is the end. There's no time for anything like that. No time for a glorious church. No time for the maturing of the body of Christ. Don't you know this is the end? That's alright. The plowman shall overtake the reaper. And the treader of grapes, he that soweth seed. And God's doing a quick work. Young Christians are coming in and they're getting planted suddenly and they're rising up very suddenly. God's bringing them on into maturity with many of the others who've been along the way for a long time. And the grain is fully formed. I haven't touched on the meal offering much. But don't think that's the end. And there's threshing time. Let's recognize God has a real order. God has it all planned. You're not going to pressure God. Don't quote that scripture anymore from Isaiah, command ye me, because put a little question mark there as it should be. You're going to question me? That's what God's saying. You're going to command me? That's what it's really saying. You're not going to pressure God. God's got a timetable. He's got a schedule. Send the fire, Lord. And I want fire. If you haven't gone through the threshing, He's going to burn up all the grain. He's going to put you in the mills first. Take away all the chaff. Now remember, that chaff was necessary while you were in the growing process. While the plant was in the growing process. It wasn't chaff then. Just part of the stock. Just needful. In the time of harvest when it's all dried out and there's no longer any life in it, don't try and revive it, God's going to sweep it away as chaff. God's after that grain. We know we've come to that time. We see the tares developing. We see them coming to fullness of fruition. Almost amazes you. You wonder if there's anything more the devil could produce. The fullness of the mystery of iniquity is upon us. You think God's been growing this garden for two thousand years to hand it over to the tares? Hand it over to the one who sowed the tares? God's got precious wheat in the earth that He's after. He allowed the tares to grow. He forbade former messengers, former apostles and prophets to root it out, though some of them tried. He says, let them grow together till the harvest. I'll deal with it in the harvest. The tares will come to fruition. The wheat will come to fruition. I'll gather the tares first. I'll get them in bundles. I'll burn them. Then I'll gather the wheat. Then I'll burn up the chaff from my wheat. Getting closer to the meal offering. That's not the end even then. Got to get some of that grain and grind it up into fine powder with millstones. You think the threshing's bad? Wait till you get in the mortar. Wait till you get there in the mill. God wants fine flour. He wants fine flour. He wants us to lose our identity. Now remember, this is one aspect of truth. There's another sense in which you're very, very individualistic, very special in the heart of God. There's an individual. A sheep that he calls by name. Not just a sheep amongst his flock. He gives a name to his sheep. Every hair of your head is numbered. But this is another aspect where as the meal offering we lose our identity. We become all mingled, one with another. Fine flour, but who wants to eat fine flour? Mingled with oil. Mingled with oil. It's the anointing that's going to bring forth this precious unity that's going to be delightful to the heart of God. Mingled with oil. God has tempered the body together. The word is something like mingled. Mingled us together. Interwoven us. Caused us to so flow together that we lose our identity. Still not the end. There's some fire after that. Different types. In the oven. In the pan. In the frying pan. Different aspects of the fire. Some that you're completely enveloped in it. Maybe some can't take that complete enveloping in fire. So you're in the frying pan on top. Gets too hot, you can jump out maybe. But anyway, can't go too far in that. God is baking, bringing forth bread. God has an objective for the world. When shall we buy bread that these may eat? This he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. You've looked at the needs of humanity. God's challenged you. These tremendous needs. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? Some man says, I'll go on a crusade. I'll raise millions of dollars. I'll have a big TV program. I'll have a track program. You know? Just because God challenges you, doesn't release you to go ahead and figure and devise ways and means of meeting the needs of the hour. This he said to prove him. What are you going to do about it? Andrew had a little faith and a little fear of the disciples. There's a lad here. He's got five barley loaves and two fishes. But of course this isn't too much. He said that for the disciples' sake. They pounce on him. What are you mentioning five barley loaves for? Five little buns. Don't you know there's five thousand people here? Two hundred penny worth. We need a million dollars to do the work that God has to be done. Do you know all God wants in the earth? A people who are prepared to be ground together as fine flour and mingled with oil and bacon in the oven that they might come forth. Barley loaves. Which when placed in the Master's hand and broken, is sufficient to feed everybody that's hungry and there's much left over. So he takes the loaf and breaks it. Here's a piece for you Peter. Here's a piece for you Andrew. Bartholomew, take this and feed the five hundred out there on your left. With this? Yes, with that. He starts to feed the multitude and every time he breaks it off there's still just as much left. He breaks off some more and he's still got just as much left. Oh, if we could only come to that place where we understand God's ways. It's not by might nor by power but it's by my Spirit, saith the Lord. I don't care what programs you've got. I don't care what devices you've got. Church of the Living God wherever you are listening to this tape it's not by might nor by power but it's by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts For as truly as I take you in my hands as barley loaves and break you and distribute you to the multitudes, they shall be fed. Why do you go about it in man's ways? Why do you try to use human ingenuity? Why do you devise programs and devices and bring forth challenges to the people of God to rise up and to do the work that has to be done because the time is short? Don't I know that the time is short? But I know what I'm about to do and I want you to hear what I'm about to do. This is threshing time. I shall separate the wheat from the chaff. I shall gather the wheat into my garner but I shall also grind some of it into fine meal. I shall make loaves out of it mingled with oil, bacon in the oven Know ye not that ye are one body and one bread? Why do you partake of the communion? Why do you eat the flesh and drink the blood? Is it not that you might become bread to the hungry? That in partaking of what I am, you become what I am? And then as you are placed in my hand I take you and break you once again This time to feed the multitudes that lie helpless and impotent at the pool of Bethesda at the house of mercy longing for deliverance and crying out for God knowing not where to find him God has an answer for every human need and that answer is simply in a people who have come to the place where they know what it is to walk with God and in walking with God coming into total union with Him and therefore in total union with one another May the Lord bless this word to your hearts This morning hide it in your heart as you go on your way and don't think you're going away empty if you have cherished the truth that has come forth and is settled within you and don't look upon that plowman who is out there plowing the field and raising a dust and say I wish he'd do something practical for us instead of out there plowing the field and raising a lot of dust and sowing seed of course you don't do that in the natural you understand but in the spiritual I don't understand it I wish I could receive something practical The word of God drops in your heart as a living word it's going to bring forth in the fullness of God's intention in that seed it will bring forth the very image of Christ if you allow Him to do it if you simply submit to Him that He might do it according to His own way His own time, His own methods and it happens to people I believe it's because He saw that I could not be what God wanted me to be without this pain and brother and sister by God's help and courage and faith and trust not mine I hope to be able to stick to my guns and see this business through as the challenges get greater the older you get and more demanding more challenging more to reach up because it seems like your whole being is being fractured and if He isn't a personal, intervening, loving Jesus who's going somewhere with this doesn't make much sense you might better off die and get out of it make any sense to you? all I'm doing is testifying how else can you preach the Song of Solomon? I just have a little time here to mention another terrifically important concept and I think that this maybe I'm borrowing trouble but I think that as this doctrine of the kingdom and of tabernacles come forth and of course the Song of Solomon is an integral part of this and as Messiah draws closer and begins to reveal his heart to the church that this is going to be a tremendous stumbling block to evangelical people is this concept of a first fruits this concept that not everybody who believes will be raised in the first resurrection this concept that Jesus has chosen out of the churches some to approach himself in a unique way I think that that concept will grate the carnal Christian maybe more than any other concept because you see the carnal Christian kind of hides in the fact well we all have basically the same reward and if I'm with them in the church and I basically do right we'll all go up together the carnal Christian is trusting in that and if those big spiritual show offs want to do their spiritual number and prophesy and talk about overcomers that's fine but I know that I'm saved and basically we're all going to be in the same place I think that concept is really rooted in the evangelical some of them teach that there are no rewards we're saved by grace so how could there be rewards it doesn't make any sense many denominations vehemently teach that there are no rewards because we're saved by grace it's really a logical conclusion if we're saved by God's grace how can there be rewards well maybe you'll have a three story mansion and I'll have a two they'll buy something like that but see then that becomes a deal I don't have to serve God like they do and I'll get basically the same thing and when the idea gets across that what we're saying is that God is calling out from the evangelical churches one who is supremely beautiful and supremely desirable and whom he is going to bring into his first council and his first company I think you're going to see evangelical dust fly because then the fat is in the fire because you can't sit back then and say well they're always talking about this stuff but they're all hypocrites and I'm just as good as they are and anyway the Lord loves us all and it's all going to come out in a war that's all done away with this issue if you don't overcome if you don't make it through if you don't get at everything and it's not within you then you're not electing this company so it puts the bee on the bride to respond correctly to the Lord because many times we're tempted to throw in the towel say this is more than I can cope with Lord I'm losing my grip on reality and the other people don't care it doesn't mean anything to them they're doing fine it's me that's being ground to powder and when you realize that that's an election it helps you stand the dealings of God they're not all going to slop through it isn't by a greasy grace Jesus is not some kind of a promoter that's thrown out some kind of a formula and everybody's going to slip in there is and only one of her mother and if you're called to that group that fullness of maturity and fruitfulness and dominion it is going to cost you you will not be able to deal your way out of it you will not be able to coast in by proximity to a group of people in fact there's no group of people anywhere that can be identified as the bride it purely is one on one and if you're not sure where you are today if you're not positive and you think maybe I am dealing maybe I do have that attitude it's alright for those overcomers I've heard people say that in a mocking term those overcomers down there singing in the spirit tra-la-la-la-lee but we know they're playing the meat and potatoes Christian against our role as the flaky fringe while they hole up the church and pay the bills and we kind of warble around like a little canary somewhere that's an easy role to play the role of the settled sober religionist in whom we all trust as against these flaky people that game has been played with me I don't care I don't care about anything except I want to be what Jesus wants me to be and I don't care what people say that's an easy role to play but the Bible says my dove my undefiled is but one and when the Holy Spirit says something like that he means for it to be read to be perceived to be believed to be meditated upon to be evaluated to be lived by to become a hope to become a guide not to cause anything else there are all these queens and all these concubines where are they? and virgins without number they're in the kingdom they're a part of God's family and what God is saying is out of this group of people that are called by my name there is coming one and it appears many times in the Old Testament many times in the New by precept and by illustration she is the only one of her mother she is the choice one really in the text it says she is the one of her mother now the word only is interpolated she is the choice of her that bear her the choice that means there are others born by the same mother the mother is the church but this one if you look around and you know the churches and you know practical Christianity you can see it as plain as the nose on your face the true elect are few in number the rest will go with her to try to find the Lord and pray and do anything else that seems to quote work but they don't have this concept I am my beloved and he is mine the daughter saw her and blessed her and I believe they will in these last days they will note the glory and they will respond to it in different ways but as they are watching she is leaving slowly not coming out of the big churches that is not the point she is leaving religion altogether she is going on a honeymoon with Jesus she is not gathering in somebody's front room and criticizing the organized church that is not what I am talking about it is an affair of a heart what they will feel is we are losing our grip here what is it that these people are blessed I don't even understand this person in my congregation I can't get a hold of him return, return Shulamite come back here but the Bible says the voice of the bridegroom or the bride shall no more be heard now we are in the very early stages of this saying to Zion thou art my people very early stages and God has had to break my heart to even feel and see and understand this I went through the holiness thing I believed it lived it and preached it and I am sure I was a thorn in many people's side no compromise holiness like one fellow was an old holiness preacher rose up before he died he rose up in bed and he said be holy or be damned and he fell back dead that's right that happened in one of the old holiness Methodist preachers Nazarene preachers be holy or be damned and I preached it with all my might and then God led into this kingdom thing war I am coming to conquer the earth and I had to become in my spirit a warrior and God made that real to me he appeared to me many years ago as El Shaddai the mighty one when did I get raptured right then I thought as a soldier ever since I've learned secrecy I've learned other things about military operations from the Lord He is the Lord of armies that's been important to me and now comes this boy saying to Zion thou art my people shall we stand you must be the message it would be nice if we could just preach it instead of having to become it praise the Lord Lord Jesus we thank you that you are God Lord what you have held out to us is so marvelous it's a vision it's a burden so glorious so absolutely so totally wonderful our hearts leap up Lord and we say oh Jesus thou art a real intervening Christ Lord you are holy you are a warrior and you love your people with God's love so marvelous to lay the foundations of the heavens and of the earth to say unto Zion thou art my people oh Lord will wonders never cease will they never cease while we're here with every head bowed and every eye closed there may be some who would like to take communion at the altar let me repeat something that I said before I put no bee on anyone this is for you if it's for you if it's not it's not if you feel inside that you are playing the game this game that is played well I know those spiritual show offs but I know I'm alright and maybe I put a little burr under your saddle the Lord is not fooling around he wants everything and if you haven't given him everything if your job means more than Jesus or something else means more than Jesus you need his consecration his courage his faith I'd like you to come forward this morning if you would and take communion at the altar it's just between you and Jesus if you feel that need why don't you come if you feel that need you come you can take communion at the altar we have to do this sometimes several times in order to make steel hard to make steel hard that resolution I know he loves me I know he's a personal intervening Jesus and I'm going to bet on it I'm going to bet my life on it but I'm not going to hedge my bets I'm going to I want to be in that I feel the call within me to make him my beloved and I want to be his beloved if that's for me I want it and I'm willing to pay the price whatever it is if that's you if it speaks to your heart you can take communion at the altar that's between you and Jesus it's just a provision that we make for those who feel that at a particular time a need to have the blood touch you at the deepest level of your consciousness only Jesus only Jesus I realize that talk about coming up out of the wilderness leaning on your beloved I have come to the place in my life since I say to Jesus I don't know anything anymore I can't even think straight I don't know anything I don't know what I should do I don't know what I should preach on I don't know how to live I don't have the strength to live anymore I don't have anything anymore if you don't help me Lord I'm going to make a mess of things I've said that to the Lord I guess every day this last week by his strength that we live Hallelujah I'm going to ask now while these are praying at the altar I'm going to ask Hank and Paul in to prepare for the communion bring in the youngsters you may be seated and let's keep in an attitude of prayer the Lord is speaking such holy things to us so wonderful so marvelous it's really bearing his heart to his bride because the time is close he's coming and he wants you and me to be prepared not serving him just as a church person serving him afar off looking at a wooden cross somewhere so that when he comes he won't be coming just to you but in you with you by you for you all together so that he'll say to you you personally you are my beloved you are the one I died for you are the one I live for it's your life that is my life my life is in your life my fruitfulness shall come through you my dominion shall come through you it's for you the love affair it's intimate Jesus in you not Jesus in the church Jesus in you by your first name Jesus in you yes yes we ask that each of you hold both elements of our Savior's broken body and shed blood to evolve and serve him behold the Lamb behold the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for sinners crucified O holy sacrifice behold the Lamb of God behold the Lamb crown Him crown Him worthy is the Lamb praise Him praise Him heaven and earth resound behold the Lamb behold the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for sinners crucified O holy sacrifice behold the Lamb of God behold the Lamb Passover Lamb Passover Lamb perfect and undefiled your blood has made us holy your blood has made us free your blood has made us holy your blood has made us free Jesus the Lamb Jesus the Lamb you are our Passover Lamb your broken body has made us whole your blood has set us free your broken body has made us whole your blood has set us free Passover Lamb Passover Lamb perfect and undefiled your blood has made us holy your blood has made us free your blood has made us holy your blood has made us free For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread. Shall we hold the bread before the Lord? And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take heed. This is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus Lord, as we've been studying the Song of Solomon Lord, we realize these things were not done in an ecclesiastical or liturgical manner but they were done by a man whose heart was broken by love and who could not show his love in any less way than by giving us to eat of his flesh. Lord, we accept it for what it is not an abstract theological formula or ceremony or symbolism but an act of passion an act of passionate love to convey to us that you desire that we be totally one with you to the point of eating your flesh. Shall we partake together? After the same manner, He also took the cup. Shall we hold the cup before the Lord? When He had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye eat as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death till He come. Lord, I know what was in your heart, Lord, when you said that. I know it, Lord, as true as I'm standing here. Lord, you are looking forward to that day. You are saying that my love for you is so great that I cannot even drink of this cup. I will do nothing until my heart is with me and we can do it together. I know it, Lord, as sure as I'm standing here. And I pray, Lord, that during this Christmas season we will not for one moment forget that whatever the world is doing, they are doing. But you are bringing us into a relationship with you to where we begin to understand the love that prompted the giving of your blood and the denial of the cup to you until we are with you. Shall we partake together? Shall we stand? Those at the altar, just make your covenant with the Lord. What else is there in life? Union with Jesus? Union with one another? There's nothing else. Nothing else. Behold the Lamb Behold the Lamb Slain from the foundation of the world For sinners crucified A holy sacrifice Behold the Lamb Behold the Lamb Crown Him Crown Him Worthy is the Lamb Praise Him Praise Him Heaven and earth resound Behold the Lamb Behold the Lamb Slain from the foundation of the world For sinners crucified A holy sacrifice Behold the Lamb of God Behold the Lamb Hallelujah, hallelujah Thou art worthy, O Lord, Thou art worthy Thou art worthy, Lord, Thou art worthy Thou art worthy, Lord Thou art worthy, Jesus Thou art worthy, Jesus I'm going to ask Rob Wish, if he will, this morning to conclude in prayer. Yes, Lord. In the intervals, periods, that we are having in need, we are finding what to teach. Thank you for your words, Lord God, appear in the presence of the Lord and Jesus. Amen. God bless everyone.