Anchor Of Truth

Episode 81 Direct Revelation of Jesus Christ Paul said that the gospel he preached did not come through any man, but by direct revelation of Jesus Christ. Is the experience of Paul unique to Him or is he an example of what each one of us should expect today? Today we continue the series by T. Austin-Sparks based on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this message, Sparks focuses on the subject of direct revelation of Christ to Paul and what we should expect in our relationship with God. Here is a short quote from this ministry: How did we get what we got? That is going to decide everything for the future. Sooner or later the stresses of life will come upon our position. The Lord will allow our position to be tried in the fires. And His object in so doing will be to find out exactly what we are resting upon. So Paul said, "I received it not from men, nor from a man. Peter may have been a very important man, but I did not get it from Peter. James may have been the Lord's Own brother in the flesh, and he ought

Episode 80 Is Christianity a Legal System or a Spiritual Movement from Heaven Is Christianity a legal system on the earth or is it a spiritual movement from heaven? Or to put the question in other words, is what we see in the world that is called “Christianity” what God desires? If not, why not and how do we deal with that? The question that we pose is a very critical question for us. How does God view what we call “Christianity”? To answer this question, I want to share with us some ministry given some years ago by T. Austin-Sparks in a gathering in Manila, Philippines. It was given in some morning meetings in February 1964. At that point, Sparks was an older man and near the end of His time of ministry. I think the insight God gave him can be very helpful to us in answering this all important question. The transcript from the ministry is available on the Sparks web site (link below) so the reading is from that. Meeting 27—Is Christianity a Legal System on the Earth, or is it a Spiritual Movement From Heav

Episode 79 Christ is Head of His Church Christ is head of His church. Authority is at the very center of that statement. Moving under the authority of Christ is our place of safety, grace, and fulfillment. Today we share some ministry by Gordon Gentry on this subject. The scripture is Colossians 1:12-18. Some of the subjects mentioned are as follows: • Exercising our will in God • Made by Him and for Him • Fulfilment is found in submission to His authority • God’s order in the man/woman relationship • Thinking in God • Life in God is a continual growth in experiencing God • Faith requires that we put our whole self into God’s word • There is no balance between the natural and spiritual • Christ is working now in and through every member • Our lives must command our children • Additional resources at http://www.ntchurchsource.com/ • Theme song “Will Your Anchor Hold” sung by J. Ashley Milne • Comments and questions welcome. Email David@AnchorOfTruth.com  

Episode 78 Discerning the Body of Christ Paul said that if a person partakes of the Lord’s Table but does not discern the Lord’s body, he eats and drinks judgment to himself. What does it mean to discern the Lord’s body? What is the “Lord’s body”? A critical foundation truth pertaining to the purpose and working of God in our time is that we are charged with being an expression of the Body of Christ in our locality. This is a great privilege and at the same times a grave responsibility. God has chosen to work in and through a many-member body to express His life. “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27, NKJV) Partaking of the Lord’s Table together is a statement that we are in a right relationship with God and one another, and have accepted this responsibility before the Lord. To make the statement falsely invites the Lord’s judgment. • The focus of a true expression of the Body of Christ is Christ Himself o Christ must be the foundation (the work of God in the cross

Episode 77 Judgment It seems that there is one statement by Jesus that the whole world knows about, Christians and non-Christians alike: “Judge not that you be not judged.” Yet Paul said that the spiritual man judges all things. How do we reconcile these two statements? The subject of judgment often brings a host of responses, some of them quite passionate. Is there ever a place that we are to “judge” another person or is that entirely in the hands of God without human involvement? What do we mean by judgment? Sometimes we use the word judgment when we mean discernment. What is the difference between these? Today we look at this subject and especially in light of the Lord’s Table where we are told that “if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” (1 Cor. 11:31) • Judgment o To make an evaluation for the purpose of choosing the course of action o To make an evaluation in a spirit of condemnation o To pronounce a final verdict on a disputed matter • The final judgment on spiritual matters is always

Episode 76 The significance of the Lord’s Table The Lord’s Table is central to Christian doctrine and experience. The Lord Himself initiated this on the night of the last Passover. “Do this in remembrance of Me” was His command. What does this mean? How do we fulfill this commandment? Today we want to look at what we term “The Lord’s Table” and its significance to us in the gathering together of God’s people. We will concentrate on two passages of scripture, namely I Cor. 10:14-22 and 11:23-34 Our focus is on the following: • This is the New Covenant expression of the Old Covenant Passover • This is how Jesus commanded us to remember Him • We express our love for Jesus by obeying Him in this. God’s love is defined ultimately at Calvary • To partake of the elements declares that I am partaking of His life • To not partake is also a statement that something is wrong and we are not loving Jesus in some way • Partaking together gives forth a testimony that God is in our midst and His love is prevailing • Individ

Episode 75 Love never fails Love never fails. That is Paul’s statement in writing to the Corinthians. How can that be possible? Has our love failed at times? Why did it fail? How can we know God’s love that never fails? The subject of love is perhaps the most common subject among Christians, yet at the same time the reality of a love that never fails is probably a rarity. None of us want our love to fail, but the challenges of relationships seem to bring us to the very limit. Today we share some ministry by Gordon Gentry on this subject. It was given in 1995 to a small home gathering. I pray that God will use this ministry to strengthen all of us in this very critical area of knowing the fullness of love that passes knowledge and never fails. Some scriptures passages referenced are as follows: Eph. 3:14-21 I Cor. 13:4-8 Eph. 4:1-6 • Additional resources at http://www.ntchurchsource.com/ • Theme song “Will Your Anchor Hold” sung by J. Ashley Milne • Comments and questions welcome. Email David@AnchorOfTruth.

Episode 74 First Love When God addressed the Ephesian church in the book of Revelation, He said that they had lost their first love, and that if they did not recover that He would remove their candlestick. What is first love? How do we get that? I think that all would agree that love is the critical element in our relationship with God and with one another. The Ephesian church was commended for their love, yet by the time John wrote to the church it appears that they had lost that element God called “first love.” Is this also a danger to us? If so, what is our defense against that and if we are already in that position, how can it be regained? • The truth in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 is for all ages • The Ephesian church had a very good beginning (Acts 19-20) o They began in the Holy Spirit o Their faith was seen in deeds o Their love for the truth and one another was very real • God commended them for many things (Rev. 2:1-7) o Works, labor, patience, against evil, identified false apostles, perseverance

Episode 73 The Revealing of God in Jesus Christ The last book of the Bible is entitled “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul said that the gospel he preached did not come from man but from the revelation of Jesus Christ. What do we mean by “the revelation of Jesus Christ”? How does that come to us? When we use the term “revelation” many become reserved or even afraid. They begin to think of some strange supernatural appearance and associate the statement with the devil or deception. But the word “revelation” is very scriptural and we need not be afraid of using it in the right way. In fact, it speaks of something very critical that we need today concerning Christ our Lord. Let us come to the Lord and ask God to give us a proper understanding in this matter. • Revelation means “unveiling something that was hidden” o Christ was hidden (or veiled) to the natural man o It required a supernatural act of God to reveal who He really was (Matt. 16:13-17) • A foretaste of who Christ really was came on the mount of

Episode 72 The Message of the Cross What is the message of the cross? Paul said it is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. Do we know the fullness of the message or just a part? I think that all Christians know something of the cross of Jesus Christ. Perhaps some just know it as a symbol of their religion or maybe as some kind of “magic charm.” But most know that Christ died on the cross for their sins, and have believed that because of that they are forgiven and look forward to being in heaven one day. But the cross is so much more than that. I would go so far as to say that very few really know the cross as “the power of God” in experience in their daily lives. Let us ask God to give us a fresh vision of what Christ did at Calvary and how we enter into His provision in all things. • The cross has two basic aspects o Judicial (the foundation for redeeming mankind from sin) o Practical (deliverance from the power of sin into the righteousness of Go

Episode 71 Our Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ Christians speak often about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. What do we mean by that? What is this relationship? What makes it personal? How do we know if our relationship with Jesus Christ is what God intended? We do not find the term “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” in the Bible, so on what basis do we use this term? We do not even find the word “relationship” in most English translations, but the concept appears everywhere. How has God designed for us to relate to Him? How do we relate to Jesus Christ? And how does God intend for us to relate to each other? As we seek spiritual reality, these are critical questions to be answered in truth. The answers need to be based in the scriptures and true to our experience. Today we share ministry by Gordon Gentry on this subject. The ministry was given in the year 2000 in a small home setting. Gordon concentrates on what we should be looking for in our relationship with God and how we exper

Episode 70 Righteousness Can God make us righteous, and if so how? Does He require us to be righteous to take us into eternity with Himself? Many today think that Jesus came to forgive our sins so we can go to heaven, but that true righteousness is not possible in this life. Is that true? Is it possible to do righteously if we are not righteous? Many today think that righteousness is only an “imputed” or theoretical righteousness but does not work out in a reality in our lives. Because we have been taught that “all of our righteousness is as filthy rags” in God’s sight, we should not worry too much if we see unrighteousness in our lives. Our comforting thought is that God overlooks our unrighteousness because we have believed in Jesus as our Savior. I think this is a great misunderstanding of God’s salvation. Christ not only made a way for us to be forgiven of our past sins, but He also made provision for us to become righteous in God’s eyes. • There are three aspects to our salvation. All are based on Calv

Episode 69 Do Christians sin, Part 2 The consequences of sin in a person’s life here on earth are severe. The end result of un-repented sin is eternal judgment and separation from God into hell. We dare not play around with sin. God has made full provision for us to be delivered from sin. We must not miss the way. God paid the ultimate price for us to be delivered from sin. Because of this, we have no excuse to continue in sin. Yet in spite of God’s provision, many believers still live in bondage to sin. What shall we say when we stand before God on the final day? What excuse will we give? I do not believe that any excuse will stand before God. We may have been subjected to bad teaching, bad parenting, and a host of other things, but on the final day God will sweep all of that away and ask us “what did I reveal to you”? Lest we be found condemned on that day and cast away from His presence forever, let us give great diligence to being delivered from the bondage of sin and live each day pleasing unto Him. •

Episode 68 Do Christians sin? Do Christians sin? Some say yes, all the time since we are not perfect in this life. Some say no, because after we have experienced sanctification we cannot sin. What is the truth? Can we know the truth? Surely this is a very important area because Christ died that we may be delivered from sin. If that means that we can be delivered from sin in this life and yet we do not experience this deliverance, what shall we say to God when we stand before Him on the final judgment day? The scriptures speak much about this so I don’t think we have any excuse not to know God’s mind. Let us ask God for clarity regarding what He has done for us in Christ Jesus that we may experience all that God has provided and please Him in all things. • Sin in the life of unbeliever: o Sin reigns in death (Rom. 5:21) o A controlling disposition (Rom. 7:18-20) o Cannot please God (Rom 8:8) o All “righteousness” is rejected as self-effort (Isiah 64:6) • Sin in the life of the disciple o Not the “norm” if we

67 The Beginning Work—Love The working of love is a very familiar topic to most of us. Yet the width and depth of this work is far beyond our natural ability. Jesus said that we are to love as He loved, and that love was fully demonstrated at Calvary as He laid down His life for us. We are told that love is the bond of perfection and without this love we are nothing. We find ourselves challenged at every turn to experience and express this love. Our provision is God Himself, because He has put this love in our heart by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now our responsibility is to work that love out through these bodies of clay. Our program today is taken from some ministry given by Gordon Gentry in a home meeting in February 2001. The gathering was being prepared to recognize eldership in the foreseeable future. The emphasis in the ministry was that without fervent love, recognizing elders and benefitting from their ministry would not be possible. Thus the exhortation was to “give ourselves to fervent lov

Episode 66 Sanctification What is sanctification? We are told this is the will of God but how does it take place? Is sanctification optional or is sanctification a necessary part of our salvation? How are we sanctified unto God? In the Old Testament we see many references to sanctification. The priests were sanctified in a very detailed way for their service in the temple. The altar was sanctified before the sacrifices were offered on it. The people were commanded to sanctify themselves before they approached God. Instructions for sanctification are brought into the New Covenant but on a higher plane.   Christ sanctified Himself that we might be sanctified unto God. • The basic meaning of sanctification is to be separated from the world and set apart to God • Sanctification has two basic parts ( by Jesus and the Holy Spirit) o We are set apart to God because of the blood of Christ (Heb. 10:5-14) o The Holy Spirit brings truth into application in our lives (2 Thess. 2:13) • Christ sanctified Himself on the c

Episode 65 Experiencing God in Relationships At the heart of what God is doing is proper relationships. Thus it should not surprise us that the enemy does everything within his power to destroy relationships and create enmity between us and God and between one another. We are commanded to not be ignorant of his devices. How can right relationships be established, maintained, and strengthened? To see all relationships established and maintained for the purpose and glory of God takes nothing less than the power of God. We must avail of God’s provision, and that provision is experienced in union with Him, our spirit joined with His Spirit. Our relationship with God must first be right before we can work out other relationships in a proper way. Today we share some ministry by Gordon Gentry on this subject. This ministry was given in January 1986 and followed other ministry on this subject. As he begins, you will hear him refer to some questions that were given the week before for serious consideration before the

Episode 64 Pursuing Holiness God is holy beyond anything we can imagine, but we are commanded to “be holy for I am Holy.” We are also commanded to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. How do we do this? How can we be holy? When we try to comprehend the holiness of God, we may feel so inadequate that we give up before we even start. How can we be holy as He is Holy? But we cannot just put this subject aside because the admonition in scripture is very real and critical. Today in looking at this question, I want to read a chapter from a book by Tozer entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy.” I think the direction and encouragement there can be helpful to us all. May God shed light in each of our hearts as we press in to know God. Scriptures: Lev. 11:44 I Peter 1:15-16 Hebrews 12:14 Here is the link to Tozer’s “Knowledge of the Holy” https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Holy-W-Tozer/dp/161895198X • Additional resources at  http://www.ntchurchsource.com/ • Theme song “Will Your Anchor Hold” sung by

Episode 63 A Beginning Expression of the Church What should we expect in a beginning expression of the church? We see in some degree what God wants, but how do we begin? What is our responsibility? We want to obey God, but what truth is important at the foundation?  How does an expression of the church come into being? We may have come out of a more formal institution of some kind in hunger for more reality but are not clear in what we need to do.  What truth is essential at the foundation? How do we know that God is gathering a people together and it is not just an effort of man? We face these and many related questions in a beginning gathering of God’s children.  Today we share with you a time of ministry by Gordon Gentry on this subject. The setting is a home in which a few brothers and sisters had been gathering once each week for several years for a Bible Study. Gordon was encouraging them in take their responsibility before God seriously and act on the truth that they had already received. I think an

Episode 62 Evaluation and criticism Paul said in one place that we are to examine ourselves, to test ourselves. He was speaking to a church that was struggling with some serious issues, and He was admonishing them to be honest with where they were in the Lord. Are we always willing to face honest evaluation? To evaluate ourselves honestly is not easy. Our first tendency is usually to defend ourselves when criticized in some way. But when we do that, we usually close the door to progress in that area. If we are at rest in our relationship with God, we should never need to fear what comes to us through others. In addition, we need to be able to honestly evaluate ourselves before God, allowing the Holy Spirit to search us as He chooses. This is an essential element of spiritual progress. • Accusation is usually hard to deal with o It touches our person o Our humility is tested (Phil. 2:3) o Others do not know our hearts, but they see our actions • Evaluation of our actions may be accurate o They can be more ob