CRUSHED GRAPES MINISTRY |
Frank B. Smith, Director, PO Box 3009, Vista, CA. 92085-3009 |
November 19, 2000 Dear friends and loved ones, Grace, peace, and mercy be multiplied unto you. May you be overwhelmed at the awesomeness of His presence. The knowledge that God loves us, and desires to fellowship with us, and lives within us, is too wonderful and incredible to fully comprehend. He is the King of kings, and His Kingdom is first and foremost within us. In our lives we have far too much looking out at the world and the things of the world, and not enough looking within where there is resident inside of us a power that allows Him to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. Imagine that! Imagine the most powerful sin you have struggled with, and imagine the greatest victory over that sin. The power within you is greater than that victory. Imagine that! Imagine the problem of injustice in the world and the victory of His righteousness and justice overcoming all of it. The power within you is greater than that. Imagine that! Imagine the good news being lovingly proclaimed in every nook and cranny on this terrestrial ball to every man, woman, and child. The power within you is greater than that task. Imagine that! If all this is true, and according to Ephesians 3:20 it is true, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." OK then, what’s the problem? Where’s the hang up? Why aren’t these things happening? For that problem, I must also look inside where there is an alien being at war with me actually living in my members. My old self which was put to death with Jesus on the cross in the waters of baptism is fighting against me. It was killed. It was given a mortal wound, but it rises to life again and beguiles me, snares me, tells me lies, and is anti-Christ. Herein is my problem. I tolerate this wretched thing. I feed it. I protect it. I pretend it’s really not so bad. I even identify myself with this enemy intruder as if that were still my essential nature. I want the blessings of God for this thing, and God has only one word for it –DIE. I am not to coexist with this unclean nature, this old man, this carnal self. This old, unbroken nature cannot please God, it cannot truly believe and be saved. Salvation is the death of flesh, not the sanctification of it. Salvation is for the new man, created in Christ Jesus unto righteousness and good deeds. "God loves you," is the pearl of the gospel which is not to be cast before the swine of self righteousness, self love, self justification. The old must die. A huge problem in Christendom today is the cults of the undead. We pamper the old nature and seek God on our terms. We learn His promises, demand He keep them for us, but we do not die. God is bound by His word to do everything He promised even to undead sinners. Many church gatherings are pep rallies for undead people to learn how to get God to do things for them whether they are dead or alive. The most frightening verse in Scripture is Matthew 7:23 where Jesus says to the "big time Christians" (those who prophesy, cast out demons, and perform miracles) "I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!" These are the undead. These are folks who learned how to get God to do for them, but never died, and never walked as new creations. He will not relate with our old nature. We can learn things about God and do things in the powers of God, and yet never know Him. To genuinely know Him we must first die and be born again from above. We must become a new person who in reality is Christ in me. My essential nature is my new man, a genuine child of God like Jesus Who is alive inside of me. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matt. 16:25 Yahweh says in Ezekiel 44, "No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary." All who come to the Lord legitimately, come through death. The cross is an instrument of painful, public, humiliating death and Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matt. 16:24 May our King graciously send disaster to every undead cult. May He bless our understanding and thinking with the reality of being a new creation in Christ; that my identity is Him, and may it become more and more difficult to see what is me and what is Jesus in me. May that line grow fuzzier and fuzzier as I go from glory to glory. And, may He severely shake the stupor from everyone who is insanely trying to relate to God in the old nature as a "sinner." (The proper definition of a "sinner" is one who is outside of Christ, an undead person. It does not mean a person who sins, as that would include everyone on earth, both the undead and those who have died and whose lives are now hidden with Christ in God.) May the saints of God arise and fill the earth with His glory which is resident within them. May all the undead sinners choose Jesus and His death and resurrection. May the drawing and urging of His Spirit bring them into this relationship of His new life being lived within. Sacred Assemblies The word "church" means literally the called out ones. A proper translation is "an assembly." The gathering of the called out ones into an assembly is church meeting together. Our Jewish roots go back to the seven Feasts or Festivals which the Lord required of Israel. They were to hold a sacred assembly during most of those times. The first of these seven Feasts is the weekly celebration of Sabbath. Every Friday at sundown, until Saturday sundown, God’s people were to honor God and identify with Him by resting just as He had done on the seventh day. They were also to hold a sacred assembly. This assembly was to take place weekly in a most holy place and manner. Most of us are so mentally corrupted that we immediately start thinking about larger professionally led gatherings at a synagogue or "church building." Not so. The sacred gatherings took place around the table at home. The family and some guests or neighbors and perhaps a stranger passing through assembled at the Sabbath meal or Seder. Each father blessed his children. Each mother prayed and lit the candles. Each person was part of the sacred assembly in a warm, loving, God-ordained environment – the home. The Synagogue came from Babylon. It was not part of our heritage until our fathers were taken into captivity. The Temple was destroyed, and the people wanted to meet together and the Synagogue somehow was birthed in Babylon. Most Protestant services and "church" buildings are patterned after the synagogue system. My question is whether God wants such a thing for His people. Today our Jewish cousins have Synagogues or "Temple’s?!?" And our Christian brothers have "churches" and services based on synagogues or temples which seem to have more roots in paganism than the Bible. What is this? How did we get so far away from the sacred assemblies of old? How did we fall into the trap of clergy/laity? How did we so effectively emasculate the head of the house and relegate him to a pew-sitting bump? The next great Feast, together with sacred assemblies was the Passover. The command of God was for each man to take a lamb for his household, sacrifice it, and put the blood on the sides and tops of the door frames. If the family was too small for a lamb, they were to get together with their neighbors. The sacred assembly again took place around the table in small, intimate God-ordained units. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, and every man is to see that his household is covered with the blood. Every man is to lead the sacred assembly with his loved ones gathered about. When Jesus fulfilled this sacred assembly part of the law for the final time, it was an intimate setting in an upper room with twelve friends. May all of our eyes be opened to see the truth of God’s first and foremost holy place for the gathering of sacred assemblies - the home. Today This is the Church’s finest hour. She is radiating the glory and grace of God worldwide. Our honored brothers and sisters are taking their place under the altar in heaven with the rest of the martyrs. The excitement increases as creation eagerly awaits the revealing of God’s sons, the overcomers, the first fruits unto the Lamb. Mighty God, be glorified in each one of us. As we are called upon to lose our lives for Your sake and the Gospel’s give us grace that we would eagerly yield and die to persecutions, insults, difficulties, and even to the final act of laying down our physical lives. The Beasts of the earth are showing more and more of their true colors: anger, prejudice, bigotry, racism, rebellion, dishonesty, secrecy, lying, cheating, vicious hatred. Even in America, where over two hundred years ago we chained it with a limiting constitution and by-laws, this beast has long since broken the chains. Our Presidential election, or lack thereof, is a sobering revelation of how far we are from the original intent of the founding Fathers. People look to the beasts for life, but the nature of the beast is to devour. He who has ears, let him hear. Very soon all these beasts will bow to another beast who will require a mark, a chip, or some means of identification physically implanted in the hand or the forehead in order to buy or sell. The reasons will make perfect sense, and no matter how wonderful it seems, DO NOT TAKE THE MARK. No matter how bad you want to give in and take it, DO NOT DO IT! "There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." Rev. 14:11,12 May your vision be so clear and pure that you do not cast off restraint. May the issues of your life be so founded on Jesus that the coming shaking of everything will only solidify your hope and confidence. May your expectations be so grounded in Jesus that they all be fulfilled and you do not lose heart over any unfulfilled, unrealistic expectations. I am leaving tomorrow for a trip to the northwest. Robert McMurray is going to Auburn, Washington, and after delivering him and spending a few days with the saints there, I will be meandering back with as many stops as possible along the way. Thank you for all the prayers and support of my peculiar crushed grapes type ministry. I thank God for you and our alliance together in His Kingdom. May your Thanksgiving celebration spill over into every day of your life. May you be surrounded by loving family - physical or spiritual - and walk in the thankfulness that pleases our Father and opens the way for His blessings. May spiritual Bethlehem be crowded this Christmas Season as true pilgrims seek to worship Him born King of the Jews. May your worship and adoration be in spirit and truth as you join the shepherds and magi and host of heaven at His feeding trough cradle. How significant that He Who is the Bread of Life was born in a manger. I love you and bless you in the name of Jesus.  Frank Smith |