What Must I Do?
Pastor Jerry Wilhite,
author
We must learn that to overcome to be of Christ, we must take up our cross and follow after Him, and learn that God's Grace is more than sufficient for our needs in this world.
As with baptism, overcoming relates to many things.
We are baptized in the name of the Lord, the knowledge of Him, the death and resurrection, etc. Much of the Bible in English loses a lot of meaning when translated from Greek and Hebrew to English. In English baptize means "to immerse," so we are to be immersed in the name of the Lord, which is, of course, is our salvation. We are to be immersed into the knowledge of Him; if we are not we can fall away due to a lack of knowledge, etc.
We are to overcome sin, the lies, the world, Satan, demons, lust, etc. But most of all we are to overcome sin and the lie.
John 8
10. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11. She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Jesus would never tell anyone to do anything he or she could not do. And here we read that He told a woman, who under the law was to be stoned to death due to being an adulteress, to go and sin no more. So if she, being of the law and not of Grace, could go and sin no more how much more should we be able to do it when we are of Grace?
Revelation 3
20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Jesus said, "I am at the door and knock," so why do we not hear Him? He says if any man hears my voice, not read His word, but actually hears His voice.
We do not hear for many reasons, but mainly because we are too busy in general and too busy talking to Him to listen. Then there are those who say, "we can not hear, so it is okay to talk to God as long as He does not talk back.’ But in John 14:26 and I John 2:27 as well as above we read we are to hear and be taught all things by God, and not by man.
So why would anyone say the opposite? Why would anyone be against anyone else telling people not to listen to man but to God and God only?
One reason is that they need to justify their salvation by what they do and not what is required of faith.
Matthew 23
13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Another reason we do not hear is that we have our own modern-day Pharisees who need to be seen and heard at the front in the special seating.
Mostly, we do not hear because we do not listen. Okay, I agree that a part of it is because we are not taught to listen, but that does not excuse us totally because we can read for ourselves and grow on our own.
In John 3:16 it states that God so loved the world, not just a part, but all of the world, that He sent His only begotten Son to die so that we may be saved. Now, I know He did not do that hoping for just a few, but expecting all, and knowing all would not be saved. God's intention was to save us all, so if that is His intention and will for us how can Jesus say in Matthew 7 that many (which means most) will be on the path to destruction?
Mat 7:13
Go in through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are the ones entering in through it.Mat 7:14 For narrow
is the gate, and constricted is the way that leads away into life, and few are the ones finding it.(Amplified Bible)
"Many" in this verse means most so how can most end up on the path to destruction when it is the will of God that we are all saved?
It is because He gave us free will and He wants us to choose Him; He does not want to force us to come to Him, but to come out of our free will. Therefore, He will deal with the many who do not make it for the few who will.
Mat 7:15
But beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are plundering wolves.Mat 7:16 From their fruits you shall know them. Do they gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
Mat 7:20 Then surely from their fruits you shall know them.
(Amplified Bible)
The many are deceived by false prophets, false Christs (Matthew 24), false teachers and false leaders. Jesus said we would know them by their fruit.
He was not referring to the fruit of their labors or hands that anyone can do, but a fruit that can only come from God and not from the world.
Galatians 5
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Mat 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but the
ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven.Mat 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power?
Mat 7:23 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; "depart from Me, those working lawlessness (iniquity)!" Psa. 6:8
(Amplified Bible)
The dictionary definition of iniquity is: Gross immorality or injustice; wickedness; a grossly immoral act; a sin.
The Bible's definition of iniquity is:
Strong's Ref. # 458
Romanized anomia
Pronounced an-om-ee'-ah
from GSN0459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (genitive case) wickedness:
KJV--iniquity, X transgress(-ion of) the law, unrighteousness.
Even though their works will appear to many as works of men./women of God and the fruit of those of God, Jesus calls them works of iniquity.
It really amazes me that people do not snap to one theme that runs throughout the New Testament, which is how many (most) are not saved and will not make it. What I did when I realized it was to look for what the many did and where and I did a 180-degree turnaround from them.
I read Revelations 1-3 where Jesus addresses the seven churches (there are many more than seven and He knew this so why did He address onlyseven?) and stated that only one of seven was of Him. When you look at the map of the world you will see seven continents of which only six are where people live, the seventh people visit and that is by a very few.
In so many words, the church of this world does not have a clue about Jesus and is not of Him and His church occasionally gets a visitor from time to time.
Who do you think is the harder to teach or get the message to stop, be quiet and listen to God, those lost or those saved? Of course those saved, they have all those walls of religion whereas those lost do not.
There are many who justify their salvation by what they can do and not what is the truth.
No one can go to the Father but by Jesus (John 14:6).
But there is a common belief we cannot be saved unless we are baptized of water. If this were true then Jesus would never have had to come to the earth and died on the cross.
Matthew 3
11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Even though that is not what John the Baptist said, He said the one who was to come was preferred before him (John) and that He would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.
John 1
15. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
They will take scripture out of context, and even out of the verse, to prove their point.
Mark 16
16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved
They will use the verse above but when you read the entire verse you notice that in the last part there is nothing about baptism, "but he that believeth not shall be damned".
Mark 16
16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Of course you have to be baptized, but not to be saved, and not of water, but of the Spirit and that baptism is needed for us to grow so we do not fall back into the ways of the flesh. Water cannot do this for you, only the Spirit can.
There are two types of walls in us, those of the world and those of religion.
Now I use the word religion in a negative fashion, because anyone can be religious to anything, ie, television, games, the internet, and so on.
But not just anyone can be of Christ. Actually there is a lot more to being of Christ and reaching that point than I have time to get into now.
What we need to know is that to overcome we must be strong at all times:
Luke 11
21. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
22. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
What does it mean when it says, "strong?" Strong where, how and when? How do we become strong, and how do we know the difference between being strong or weak?
Being strong in God is being weak in our being.
2 Corinthians 12
9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Paul was talking about a thorn in his flesh, how Satan had sent a messenger to mess with him.
Every time (3 times) Paul asks God for help, God responds with, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." As we let go of the ideas of this world, yield to the spirit in us and to that to which it is connected, we become strong. We do this not of our own ability but of that which resides in and on us.
How do we overcome to be of Jesus?
Romans 13
21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
2 Corinthians 10
3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Verse 5 above is one of the main keys, maybe the main one overall to overcoming sin, the lie, our walls in us, and so forth.
We are to take every imagination (thought, imagination, etc) that go in any way shape or form against the knowledge of God and cast them down. We are to get rid of them and not keep them.
For example, the internet is responsible for a new addiction, and pornography is there for those addicted to it. But if they would have in the beginning just said, "No," it never would have become a problem. What needs to be done now is the same as it was in the beginning. Every time they get an idea, image, thought, or whatever about or of pornography they should say, "No, I am not accepting that," and cast it down.
This can be done many ways: one is by just saying no; another is by getting your mind on another subject. Of course there is the idea of just getting up and leaving the area it came up and doing something else like riding a bike or cleaning house, but the best one would be reading the Bible.
John 16
33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Jesus has already overcome the world and we just need to follow Him. Do you understand what He meant when He said anyone who does not pick up their own cross and follow Him is not worthy of Him?
The cross is where He died, but it is also where He took all sin on Him from the world, and due to Him and His resurrection we have forgiveness of sin. So taking up our cross is doing to sin as He did, not do it, and to constantly work on overcoming it on a daily life.
Not being a saint sinner as some teach, but daily getting closer to being sin free.
What we must do is listen to God and allow Him, not man, to teach us all things, to cast down all that is against the knowledge of Him taking what is left into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
How Satan has gotten so many on the path to destruction is based on lies only.
Here are the top ten lies:
Understand that Satan forces his thoughts on us, not always directly, and most of the time he will find those that he can use who will reach the most people.
He will teach us through those we look up to in the present and from the past to get us to believe the lie, to deceive us as Eve was deceived.
Once we realize Satan forces his thoughts on us, and that we have to seek those of God we are on the right path. But then we have to stay consistent on controlling our thoughts.
While seeking God's thoughts, and this can only be done if we shut up and listen to Him instead of constantly talking to Him, we must take the time daily, dedicate it to Him. We must find a quiet place that is free of distractions and then sit there for at least 30 minutes a day. Do this for as long as it takes, weeks, months (average is 6 months).
At the beginning we will have to re-train the body not to fall asleep from sitting that long quietly. Then when we hear we have to ask a question to be sure that whom we are hearing from is not Satan but is, in fact, God.
1 John 4
1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
I have run surveys and polls on the internet since 1998. What I have discovered is that of those who say they are of Christ about 50 percent do not believe Jesus came in the flesh, that Jesus is not the only way to God and that we do not have to forgive to be forgiven.
John 1
14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 14
6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
We are not just to be taught of God about things of God, but all things. When I say "God" and the verse below says "Holy Ghost," read John 4:24 where Jesus states God is the Spirit(Ghost).
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Christ translated to English is the anointed one and His anointing. Jesus said in Luke 4:18 that He was anointed with the spirit of God.
1 John 2
27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Since He is the Christ and we are of Him we are to be of the anointing. Imagine a sponge dripping with water, it is anointed with water. And that is how we are to be with the Spirit of God when we are of Christ.
OVERVIEW
God created all. Adam sinned and though he did not die in the flesh, but he did die in the spirit. Adam gave all dominion over the earth to Satan. God had given it to Adam to do with as he wished.
Over the next four thousand plus years Satan worked hard at sowing his lies into mankind while God sowed His word into the earth. So one day one woman could by faith agree with Him and bring Jesus into this earth.
Luke 1
38. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Then Jesus came to bridge the gap between God and mankind that was the result of sin.
And Jesus died for us so we could live.
Over the next two thousand years Satan kept on with his lies, deceptions and ways to manipulate us.
What was it that Adam lost or died due to his disobedience?
The connection to God in the Spirit, and His spiritual life.
Since Jesus came to correct or fix what Adam broke then He came not for a physical kingdom and to rule as the Jews expected but to reunite us with God in the Spirit. But as time marched on due to good intentions and flat out misleading teachings the church of this world got off course and onto the path to destruction.
And, over time if anyone objected to the church and its ways there were those who would handle it, the best known is what has been called "the inquisition".As leaders of the church discovered that the church was off course and tried to correct it they were exiled, excommunicated and sometimes killed.
What is a real shame is that most believe all they read in the Bible, I am not saying the Bible in its original form is wrong, just that the translations into English are often wrong.
There is so much we cannot of our own be sure of, and that in itself is enough reason we need to listen to God, but mostly because He wants it and we should, too.
Here are some examples of the problems in languages.
Present day English in UK word lift means elevator; the United States it can mean ride or raise.
UK Solicitor means lawyer, in the US means door-to-door salesman
There are many more but you should get the idea. Then, add to the mix that out of all the English translations the King James Version is the closest to being correct. Mainly, the problem is the language used. In 1612 AD the King James was read and understood differently than it is today. For example, here is a verse many pastors have used to justify teaching that God tests us.
Job 1
8. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
We read the verse above that God was pointing out Job to Satan, so Satan would test Job.
8.
|0559| And said
|3068| Yahweh
|0000| to
|7854| Satan,
|7760| Have you set
|3824| your heart
|5650| on My servant
|0347| Job?
|3588| For
|0369| not is {any}
|0000| like him
|0776| in the earth,
|0376| a man
|8535| perfect
|3477| and upright,
|3373| revering
|0430| God
|5186| and turning away
|7451| from evil.
But when you read the literal translation you discover that God was not pointing Job out to Satan to be tested but, rather, God was questioning Satan about what he was doing with Job.
And now if you re-read the verse you can see it, but in 1612 they saw it the first time.
The problem is not just the difference in English in different countries or the time difference but how much of the Greek and Hebrew is lost in translation.
But if you hear from God, take your time, do not listen to anyone else and read the Bible a verse at a time you will understand better than those who read it in Greek and Hebrew and do not listen to God.
Let me throw another problem in the mix: how much of the time of the people when Jesus walked the earth do you understand? Here is an example how we miss things:
Mark 10
25. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
That when Jesus referred to the eye of the needle He was referring to the small (man sized) door in the huge doors of the wall of the city.
There are more like "you will not know the day or the hour" is referring to the last day of the feast of trumpets. Which by the way is the only one Jesus did not fulfill because it deals with His return.
So as you think about all of this, understand that when you read the Bible without God explaining it to you, you are interpreting His word not understanding it.
And without God to help all we get is the height and of the width of each word, but with God we get the full height, width and depth of His word.
It is like this: two men read a book and both got different meanings. One day they met the author and asked Him which was right and they discovered they both were wrong.
But until they asked the author they were believing a false belief and passing it on.
In the fifth century, due to good intention, the ruler of Rome passed a law intended to get everyone to believe in Jesus. Instead, in time it placed unbelievers in power in the church. From that we have the dark ages, the black plaque, 13 failed attempts at taking Jerusalem back from the Arabs, and the Inquisition.
So we had a church forming very much in the flesh and not the spirit. Then, in the sixteenth century when there was a breaking of the church and others started to form, all used some form of the model for worship service and the church in general for their model.
In so many words, we had a church and those of it perpetuating a lie, and then those who broke away based theirs on most of the same, again the lie. And since none had bothered to seek the author on it, in time they could not even teach about talking and hearing from God for fear of losing their place in the community. Somewhere along the line they had problems in the church in casting out demons. The public was wondering why they did not do as Jesus did, which was to tell it to be gone and it left. So they added a verse
Matthew 17
21. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
How we know it is added is in most versions they left a space after it signaling it had been added. In the original literal translation that has not been updated to be able to read easier it is not even in it. Plus, there are no other verses in Luke, Mark or John to back it up and it is so out of place it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Matthew 17
20. And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Why would Jesus, after saying if you had the faith of a mustard seed you could tell a mountain be removed and it would, then turn around and say but this requires fasting and prayer? Actually it was added to justify exorcisms and to explain why the church could not cast demons out immediately.
I believe today the church in general is thrilled with science that deals with explaining the mind (psychologists and such) so they no longer have to deal with demons or a person being possessed by demons. I am not saying all are possessed by a demon but more than likely there are a lot who are.
As you should be seeing by now we have a lot to overcome. What if I told you that every time you watched television, movies, played games on the internet, etc, that more than likely you are getting a lie sowed into you and do not even realize it. So for each lie there is a wall in us being built on that lie to divide us from God and keep us from Him.
This is why it takes time to hear from God and grow there are a lot of walls to overcome in us. And the main area of overcoming is not outward but inward, they are the walls built by years, decades even of lies, deceit and manipulation by Satan and the world.
And for each is a sin or a sin in the making. God is truth, the lie is Satan and the world.
Which do you think you honestly have more of? If you are honest you will not say God, because the lie, Satan, world is everywhere around us and has been since we were born.
Do not listen to man, but God and God alone.
Get control of your thoughts, listen to, and hear, what God has to say, and be obedient and you will become one of the few not many. This is not based on me or a man but on God and His word.