The Wilderness

But your Bible says there, in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 5, that you are going to take every thought captive to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's the same thing you get over in Ephesians 3, 4, and then it's talking about you go on in and you better fear. If they had good news, them preachers, to get them to go in and possess the land, and you better fear lest you come short of it.

Hebrews 3 and 4 is saying you will go possess the land. There's no option. You will go and possess the land, and you're warned unless you fall just like they fell.

When you won't go in and possess the land, your bodies will fall in the world. Now, let me just show you. Any of those sins of the flesh up there, unforgiveness, envy, worry, greed, that's opposite.

How many agree that's opposite of a pure heart? Amen? That's opposite of a pure heart. And I'm going to show you in the Word of God how you go and you possess that land. I'm going to show you in your New Testament how you go in and possess that land.

That's what the gospel is. That's what you need the Spirit of God for. And you go in there and you're going to possess that land.

Now, the powers of darkness attach themselves to all of those sins right there in the flesh. Are you understanding what I'm saying? Every one of those things, I'm going to show you in your Bible, it breaks God's law. I'm telling you about it now.

I'm going to show you how it breaks God's law. Well, I've already told you, anything opposite of loving the Lord with all your heart and the nature of God breaks God's law. All right, now, this is where the powers of darkness get their ground when you practice these sins.

And when you practice them right there, see, this is the way we come to God. The wrath of God, the curse, the wrath, Romans 4, 15. The curse, Galatians 3, 13.

The law is a ministry of death, 2 Corinthians 3, 7. The law is a ministry of condemnation, 2 Corinthians 3, 9. And that's what's on the earth right now, condemnation, death, wrath, and a curse, and the powers of darkness fulfill it. It's a simple thing. If you're not in covenant with God, he doesn't protect you, and so they just kill you.

You can come and sit in a building and still get killed. The building's not church. The body of Christ is church.

It's living stones that make up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God and Jesus Christ. They're a holy generation, a peculiar people that show forth praises unto him and deliver that out of the darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son. Now, that's what the church is.

They're living stones. And by the way, that's what the evangelist, prophet, prophet, apostle, pastor, teacher, lead the body to be, the unity of the faith, to be the mature man. The mature man is complete man, pure heart.

See, you start out as children, and you go and possess the land. That's where he leads you. They believe you to be the same fullness of stature that was in Christ, and that's exactly the reason Jesus put the commandment there in John 15, 12.

This is my commandment. You're going to love one another just as I've loved you, and that's how the true apostle, pastor, teacher gets in under. They don't lord it over God's heritage.

They get in under and become examples of the flock and encourage you, and they take these craftsmen, and they become vessels, anointed vessels that God speaks through and works through that perfects you and leads you so you'll hear of God through them. And you hear the voice of Jesus. They don't become lords over their heritage.

You hear their voice of Jesus through them, and you follow after Jesus. Isn't that right? And that's what he's got over there in Hebrews 5, and it says you go ahead and be the mature man, and you lay aside the elementary things like raising the dead. See, fleshly people like to see this thing, raising the dead, because they can boast in some man and his ministry, and see people fall over and shake, rattle, and roll and all these things.

See, there's a power of God that can come on you. But every time there's real things like gifts and manifestations, Satan has hidden. There are people today who are not teaching this word of God.

If ministering in spiritism, they're calling fire right out of heaven, and powers of darkness are doing things to impress people, because they always look for the awkward things. They're not dealing with holiness and righteousness. They're calling fire right out of heaven.

They can tell you what your license number is, just like they do out there in spiritism in the world. And people are impressed with men like that. They look, flesh likes to follow men.

They don't want to go through the wilderness.