To Be Elohim

Wayne Matthews

October 22, 2011

This sermon is entitled To Be Elohim.

The Feast that we have just observed was a time of rejoicing and I experienced a different level of God’s spirit being poured out.  And as Mr. Weinland had said, last year it was about knowledge, we had lots of truth and a lot of knowledge, whereas this year I found it different again.  I found there was a lot of knowledge but it was more around the application of what is required of us as members of the Body of Christ.

I found the Last Great Day very sobering for myself because it actually posed a question for the mind, to actually establish what I was really thinking.  What are we, as people, really thinking?  Where do we stand in our relationship with God?  So as we have now left the Feast and have had to come back into a world system of which we’re not really part of on a spiritual level, but we have to operate physically in it, it draws a challenge, and that challenge often is to remain focused.  To remain focused on what life is truly about, the purpose of life; to remain focused on what is the purpose of life.  Because no sooner do we come back into the world and problems will start, because that’s normal.

We operate on a different level spiritually in the mind; our focus is different.  We are looking for something soon to take place on the 27th of May, 2012, the return of Jesus Christ.  That’s our desire, to get to that point.  We look for it!  We look for the world to come out of this bondage.  We see mankind in this captivity.  We see the thinking.

I remember not long ago I was in a particular line queuing up for something (I can’t even remember what it was) and people just behind me were bitterly complaining about different aspects of things and they came to the conclusion that someone’s conning you.  No matter what queue you’re in in life, no matter what you’re buying, no matter what you’re doing, someone’s trying to get something from you, you’ve just got to work out what it is.  And I agreed.  They were mature and they’d seen that no matter what you’re dealing with someone’s conning you, maybe we just can’t see it at the time, but someone’s trying to get something out of you somewhere along the line.

So that’s what we’re operating in; we can’t afford to get caught up back into that world’s thinking.  We’ve got to stay focused on our spiritual growth, our personal spiritual growth.  That’s the most important thing.

So what were the lessons from the Feast that we individually took out, that we now can try to apply in our lives?  Because we will be challenged, because that’s normal in our lives.  We will be challenged.  So what is the main lesson you took out of this Feast?  What is it you have come back with to say, “This is where I’m going to focus in my life in relation to spiritual growth?”

One of the lessons that we were shown by God was that mankind since Adam and Eve have been in bondage, and that bondage is in the mind.  We’re held captive by our thoughts.  And we in the Body of Christ are still held captive, to different degrees, by our thoughts, by our prejudices, because we have them.  We have them!  Only that generally we don’t see all our prejudices, we just simply don’t see them, but we have them.  I know I have them and I grew up in a particular environment where I knew I was prejudice.  I knew because that was just what I was; I was educated that way, to think that I was better than another nationality.  So over time we come out of those things.  But then we realize there are other prejudices that we actually hold and we are just not aware of those prejudices because they may not have been revealed to us.

So one thing, of course, of coming out of this bondage – it’s a lifelong process, and the purpose of it is conversion.  As we are called, we come out of it, which is a conversion, a changing of the mind, changing of the way we think.  So God is the only one who can really change our thinking. So on a physical level, yes, people change their mind about things, but a true conversion is to have the mind of God placed in us so that we think differently, we totally think differently about matters and topics.  And in particular we think different towards all humanity because the prejudices that are there about height, race, colour, colour of eyes, where you’re born – there’s a prejudice tucked away there because we’re human.

So God is calling us out of that bondage, the captivity of our mind, and that is the process of conversion – and it takes a lifetime.

The greatest miracle that God can perform is that of transforming the mind of man into oneness and unity with Himself so that man can become of the God-kind, Elohim.  That virtually is a statement about a process of life, but more importantly it’s the purpose of life.  So if we in the Body of Christ are not in the process of transforming our mind we are standing still, in actual fact we’re regressing, because there’s no standing still in the Body of Christ.  We are either growing spiritually and having our minds transformed by the power of God’s holy spirit, or we’re regressing, we’re relying on our selfishness or our self thinking to get us through situations, we’re not relying on God to provide a new way of thinking.

This process of the changing of the mind began first in His only begotten Son so that through Him, Jesus Christ, the rest of mankind could begin this process of change.  Now, Jesus Christ was born with the mind of God, He was the Word of God, so His thinking was like God’s.  Now, we struggle to fully comprehend that, but to have the ability to think clearly on a spiritual level at all times about every situation takes God’s power, God’s spirit to be in it.  That’s the way Jesus Christ thought, that’s the way He was, that’s the way He grew up.  He thought like God did because He had God’s mind.  But because of what Jesus Christ went through and what God appointed Him to we can now enter this same process, only ours is coming from what we’d call a dead start.  It’s a carnal mind so it’s a dead start, raw to something else.

The first step of this change is accomplished by being forgiven of sin through our Passover.  So once called we enter this process, and of course through Passover we realize that sin can be forgiven, then when sin is not present (has been forgiven) God and His Son can dwell in us to bring about a change of our thinking.  Now, it’s a wonderful thing!  It is a wonderful process that we have to go through, but it does take time.  It does take time and it never, ever stops.  It never stops!  And the day we feel comfortable with our thinking, the way we think towards others (which is the biggest issue in life) we’ve got problems, we really have.  The way we think towards God is a continual process of change, and I can strongly admit to you that I see God totally differently than when I was first called; totally differently!  And for what God has revealed of Himself to me through the Church, the only way that you can think differently is through the Church.

The statement is; ‘Let this mind be in you,’ so this is what God is saying, ‘Let this mind be in you which was in Jesus Christ.’  Well, we know that the mind was the way God the Father thought.  We cannot put on a new way of thinking independent of God.  And I’ll repeat that...We cannot put on a new way of thinking independent of God.  So people put on a new mind. We can see that over time we can’t think in a spiritual way without God’s spirit in us.  Quite often we operate in an environment where our thinking is operating on a carnal mind and therefore we will made mistakes.  But over time God reveals to us that way of thinking is wrong.  There is a right way to think but that takes years – that’s called conversion.

That is the purpose of life, the more that we can think like God.  So during the hundred years, the main focus of life that last hundred years, when man is resurrected, the main purpose of life is ‘...that this mind be in you which was in Jesus Christ.’  Now, that should be our focus as well.

Mankind was created with a natural mind that resists God.  The rest of the creation that God created did not resist Him, it just came into being.  We were made with a mind purposely that would be at odds with God, that we would resist God.  We have been called to transform our minds; and that can only be done by the power of God’s holy spirit.  And that transforming is the ability to think differently.  We are being called from one way of thinking, which is inward and competitive, to God’s way of thinking which is outward and peace.  All mankind must go through this process to enter Elohim.

Mankind has a choice; once it is given to him by a calling in God’s perfect timing we then have to choose to follow God.  This process of choice and change, transformation of the mind, takes a lifetime to accomplish.  Holy righteous character is the thinking of God.  We have been called to put on the mind of God, to think like God.  But holy righteous character, what God is, is to think like Elohim.  And that is our destiny.  That is our destiny.  So, to be Elohim is to think like God in all situations.  It is not something that God could just command and bring into existence in a human; it has to be chosen by the individual.  Holy righteous character cannot be accomplished instantly, not even in days or months, it takes years for the process to become complete.  And that’s what we’ve entered.  And some have started that process in the last 2-3-4 years, others have started it 20 years ago, some 30, some 40 years ago.

God’s purpose for mankind is that they, after a process of conversion, enter His holy spirit Family, into Elohim.  So to be Elohim, that’s our destiny.  That’s what God has called us to.  It’s a free gift if we accept, to choose what goes with that gift.  But it is a gift, it’s free, God is not obligated to give it to us, it’s a free gift that He is offering us.

To understand what a person would be like when they enter Elohim is difficult for the natural mind to comprehend because we have all our faults and emotions.  So to begin to understand the Almighty God’s character we will have to see, on a spiritual level, what He reveals about Himself, because if we can see more of God we can see what our destiny is, what our purpose of life, what God has called us to.  So we can see what Elohim is like, because that’s our destiny.  Once we see His character, His way of thinking, we will begin to understand what it will be like to be spirit in Elohim.

Isn’t it exciting?  People talk about what the purpose of life is, but our purpose of life is life to life, physical life to spiritual life, and it takes time.  But we can actually see what we have the potential to become.  Mentioned it previously, Galatians 5:22.

Galatians 5:22 – here is an outline of what should be seen if God is living and dwelling in us.  What should be seen?  And what is a fruit?  Well, when we see a tree and we see something being born, like fruit is born, so a pear tree delivers a pear, an apple tree delivers an apple, so there are fruits that can be seen, they’re obvious what it will bear. A fig tree doesn’t bear apples.  So this is what this is talking about as far as the ‘fruit of the spirit’.

Galatians 5:22 - But the fruit of the spirit, so what should be born in us out toward others because God’s holy spirit is in us.  In other words, the mind of God is dwelling in us, what will we bear?  What will we show?  What fruit will we produce?  But the fruit of the spirit is love – So the first fruit that should start to be revealed is the change of the thinking we have toward God and toward others, because it’s an outgoing concern.  Now, by nature we cannot achieve this.  Our love is, on a human level, selfish in nature.  And that’s been covered in a lot of sermons: the fact that it’s our child, that we will save our child – someone else’s child we don’t have the same feeling towards.  But God loves everybody, everything He’s created.  We’re not capable on a human level to love somebody the way God loves.  He loves all of His creation, He loves everybody. So this is a different way of thinking; this is something we must put on – the mind of Jesus Christ.  That’s what we have to put on – God’s mind.

God reveals love.  In scripture it talks about how will we know this fruit ...how do we know we are loving?  How do we know that we’re putting on the mind of God?  Scripture says that we would love the brethren. How we think towards the brethren – that’s how we know.  So, how we think toward the brethren is important and we should analyze our thoughts towards the brethren, because that is evidence that God is living in us.  If we have no ill-will, we desire no harm; we actually think positively toward them, we don’t pull down.  That’s a revelation of the way God thinks.  God builds up because God has outward concern.

The next fruit that is shown is joy.  So what are we to reveal?  Joy.  What is true joy?  It’s about giving.  There’s a joy in giving. There’s actually a human joy in giving but there’s a spiritual joy in giving.  Seeing others receive at our own expense.  Now if you look back on what God is like and you see from what we’ve heard in the sermons about sacrifice, God is joy – because that’s one of the fruits He is.  He is a joyous being because He wants to give and share. That’s His motivation - to give.  Now, we’re not owed anything in life.  Not a single thing!  But God is joy and He has created something from nothing and He’s going to give it what He is.  Isn’t that incredible?  From nothing?  So that is joy and He takes great joy in that, the fact that He wants to share.  Everything that God has He wants to share with something that’s not worthy of anything.  Now, that is joy!  And He takes great joy in that.  So this is the way God thinks.

Then it says another fruit would be peace.  Well, this is a state of mind.  It is not where we just think in the sense of the way man creates peace.  In other words, it’s just quiet – peace.  It’s just a state of mind.  This is what God was. So God was peace, He is peace, and the only way to create a Family was to create evil so the end result would be Elohim which is peace.  So it’s from peace to peace; that’s what God is doing.

This is a way of thinking, of no competition.  It’s not measuring one against the other, who’s better, who’s taller, who’s whatever... that is competitive.  When people say, “Ah, let’s look at different spiritual fruits or gifts that people are given,” or have in times past, that’s comparing.  Now, if you just take it from a logical point of view, when anybody compares one with another on any level, physically or on a spiritual level, comparing – that is evil.  And the reason it is evil is because God allocates all physical things and all spiritual things.  So if God decides to give three talents to a person on a spiritual level, and another person seven, why would the person with seven look down on the person with three and measure and compare.  That’s actually evil, because what we’re really doing when we do that is we’re judging God.  We are judging God!  So, on a physical level it’s the same thing.  We need to be very careful to bring our minds into subjection to the way God thinks.  We should focus on ourselves and we should not compare.  The scripture actually says that it’s not wise to compare one with another about anything in life, because it’s God that gives all things.  It’s God’s decision who has what.

Longsuffering – so we should be patient with one another, suffering long.  It’s like an endurance.  So we’ll be in an environments where it doesn’t feel comfortable, things aren’t going exactly the way we wanted.  Well, we have to learn in our minds, it’s a spiritual gift, to endure, suffer long, but in a right attitude.  Because I know in certain environments I have suffered long, but with the wrong attitude. Well, it was all a waste of time.  There’s no use suffering long with a wrong attitude, because what we’re really doing is we’re sinning in that.  We’re actually sinning!

Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (verse 23) gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.  So this is how God is, this is how God thinks.  There is a time that God is offering us the ability to enter into a state of spirit where we think like He does therefore there will be no competition, there will be peace, there will be outgoing concern for everybody in Elohim and the angelic realm, the righteous side of it, and since God has created them and allowed them to exist.  So we will just think differently.  There’s no need to compete, and there will be joy because whatever God has decided for us as individuals, as spirit beings to share, we will be joyful about it, we’ll be thankful about it knowing that we didn’t deserve anything, accepting the fact that God owes us nothing, but in His great love and mercy He’s created us, made us Elohim, and we can then share whatever God’s decides.

So if God decides that this particular group are going to do this particular thing, the rest of the body of Elohim will be joyous and happy and excited for them.  And they’ll be joyous and happy and excited about what they’re doing because everything will be done for the benefit of others.  It’s not a selfish thing!  So everything that’s done is for the benefit of others, the benefit of other Elohim, or other angelic beings.  It’s just a totally different way of thinking from the way that we think, because we do things to benefit ourselves.

So, here we have seen a brief outline of God’s character.  This describes how He thinks.  So we, if we’re putting on the mind that was in Jesus Christ, will begin to see this process.  And I hope, brethren, that you can see within yourself this process; and it does take time, but over time we think differently about different subjects and in particular we think differently about God and about mankind, all mankind. Because with the natural carnal mind we pull down, we compete, we look at everything that we can judge to pull others down, but with God’s mind none of that matters.

And it’s no different than was brought up during the Feast, that Jesus Christ, when reviled He reviled not.  And you think, “Well, how is that possible?”  Well, if you’ve got God’s mind you’ll understand the person reviling you.  One, it doesn’t matter what he’s doing so why would you worry about it.  No matter what is said or done why worry about that, because they don’t know what they’re doing.  It’s a carnal mind reacting.  A spirit mind accepts that very quickly and says, “They’re not under judgement.  They’re not under judgment at this time; their time will come.”  But it’s how we respond to that reviling will reveal the mind of God, what level we are not at in our ability to think it through and understand, “Well, probably a lot of what they’re saying could even be right and that we can learn from it.”  That’s what’s brought out.

So this is one area that we can soon learn whether we’re thinking like God; when reviled and attacked.  Now, if you’ve been in the Church of God, the Body of Christ, it’s something we should get used to, because it’s something that’s coming.  It’s something that’s coming!  Most of us have been reviled, put down, and spoken evil of.  But we shouldn’t flinch, shouldn’t make any real difference to us, because we worry about what God thinks about us, not what others think, because it’s not their time.  So it’s coming again, probably in a greater tense way because Satan and the demons, as it gets closer, this reviling, putting down, is looking to do what?  What’s the purpose of a reviling?  What’s the real purpose?  To see how we will react. Satan desires that we sin.  That’s the outcome.  Because the moment we fall into that trap and revile and take it all personally that’s the issue, taking it personally.  So when reviled we shouldn’t take it personal.  We tend to because we’re human but if we don’t we just sit back and say, “What is Satan looking for?”  Sin in us, so that we react, we revile back and say, “Well, let me tell you about what you did!”  And then we sin.  What do you believe that Satan does?  Well, scripture says that Satan often goes to God and... in times past it said he goes back and says, “You see what they do?  ...those people?  You just press a little button and they go boom!  They’re pathetic creatures!  They’re easy for me!”  But that’s our potential.  But God knows that we will repent and we’ll have another go at it.

And over time when people mock we have God’s thinking, the mind of Jesus Christ, we will not revile back.  Now, there’s different forms when we’re reviled.  Another way is that because we take things personally, correction is another way.  So reviling is different, when you’re just being mocked and put down.  Normally you can sense it; they say things, how you react.  Another one within the Body is along the lines of when we’re criticized, or perceive criticism about self – it can be anything.  To be on guard about justifying why.  So someone can say, “Well, I asked you to do this and that and we wanted the room set at a particular temperature, whatever...” (I’m not pulling anything out about this room.)  ...could be that, and then afterwards someone comes up and says, “Well, you didn’t do a very good job on that!” Now... we have a choice here; are we thinking clearly about it?  Who’s got the problem?  The murmurer?  The complainer?  ...or do we have the problem because we’ve taken it personally?

Or we’re at a restaurant, we’ve booked a restaurant and 2 or 3 people complain about the menu and we take it personally because, well, the service is slow.  So because we’ve booked it we then take it personal.  But we shouldn’t because they’re the ones murmuring.  We have no control over the menu or over the service – true? – but we tend to take it personal, that they’re criticizing us.  Now they could be, for organizing it, but now comes the test... Will we justify ourselves?  “Well, see, you don’t understand.  The thermometer in the room just wouldn’t work properly -  or, what’s easy to understand – we’ve not booked the service - last time it was really good and I don’t understand what’s gone wrong – because there’s a level of justification within ourselves.  Now, that is a trait within us all, particularly when we’re criticized in different environments.  So there is a time to speak up, but there’s a time also to stand back, and that’s when wisdom becomes involved.

So this process of entering Elohim is what God has called man to – a process of entering Elohim.

What were you thinking when you heard the Last Great Day sermon?  What were you thinking, really?  Now, only you can answer that truthfully within yourself.  It doesn’t matter whether you... it doesn’t really matter, in one sense, that you don’t have to go up and justify what you’ve thought you were thinking to someone else, or not be truthful (because there’s a pressure there), not to be truthful about what you were really thinking...what you were really thinking...because see, human nature will justify it.  Because I can tell you, from experience, that when a statement is made like what Mr. Weinland made, the mind goes physical, and it begins to whirl.

So if I said to you, “What were the next 10 words that were said after that statement?”  Most people never heard the next ten minutes.  Reality!  Don’t feel bad about it, accept, just admit what was going on in the head and work through it.  And the reality is a lot of that sermon is probably not really... hasn’t really been heard in the spiritual context, because, see, when the mind goes into shock it’s very difficult.  Now, everyone thinks... some people think differently.  We know what the conclusion was, that Jesus Christ is returning on the 27th of May, 2012, but what is it that will shake our conviction?  Are we really convicted that this is God’s true Church?  Now, it somewhat is easier for those that have been through the apostasy, because there’s been challenges all the way along.  And as I’ve said previously, this is not the first challenge to the mind; but for most new people in the last three/four years, this is a big challenge of the mind.  But one thing that God does, in His mercy, He always prepares a people in advance, that He gives them what is needed.

So, in reality that sermon was designed to challenge the thinking, to say, “How committed are we to the truth?”  And the conclusion would have/should have been (if we’re true with ourselves), the conclusion was if the date did change (not that it is), but if it did change should it make any difference to us as members of the Body of Christ with God’s spirit?  In other words, why are we in this?  We’re in this for a way of life, and therefore if there is a change of something happening in the future should it really be that big an issue?  ...if we truly believe this is God’s true Church and this is the only place where God is working?  True?  But God in His mercy and over time has always given us the ability to handle something in advance.  Always!

So, traditionally, within the Body of Christ, the Church of God, doctrine or a change of doctrine has been the biggest stumbling block within the Church.  It always has.  It was like when Mr. Armstrong had to address Pentecost – it’s a change of doctrine – and then some left.  So, no different than the truth that came out in 2005 at the Feast, that Jesus Christ did not pre-exist – change of doctrine.  So brethren, I believe that God in His mercy has prepared us to work it out in our minds; How committed are we to the truth?  And if there is a turning to the right or turning to the left, does it matter?  If we believe this is God’s true Church, does it matter?  Does it really matter?  And that’s really the challenge of our minds.  So we will be tested in ways we probably don’t fully understand yet, because we are held in bondage in our minds and we have prejudices.  And God is, in His mercy, allowing us now to commit.  There is such a short time before the return of Jesus Christ, and we are going to face things beyond even our thoughts, possibly.  But if we’re committed, no matter what has happened, no matter what is said to us or about us, that this is God’s Church and we’re committed to the truth, to whatever the end is for us individually.  That’s what God is looking for.  “Now I know you.”  I think that’s one of the most beautiful statements in the Bible, when God said to Abraham.  “Now I know you.”

Well the Last Great Day’s sermon was similar to that, “Now I know you.”  God knows us but do we know ourselves and if we had any quaking or doubts we should just go back and cry out to God, because God is the one that keeps us in the Body.  It’s God that places truth in the mind.

John 5:30 – This particular scripture has not really been fully understood by any means in times past.  John 5:30 - I can of myself do nothing: now that is a state of mind that we have to come to.  Jesus Christ was making a statement. What did He really mean when He said, ‘I can of Myself do nothing.’  Well, this is on a spiritual level when we’re looking at it.  Of ourselves we can do nothing spiritual.  Nothing!  It’s God the Father that does it all on a spiritual level, because He is the one, through the power of His holy spirit, that places thoughts into the mind and then those thoughts can live out to the benefit of others.

In times past one of the problems through the era of Philadelphia and in Laodicea was that we had thought, as a people, that we did the works...that we did the works, that we did good.  That came from a lack of understanding of a particular scripture in Romans where ‘The carnal mind is hostile to God, it’s not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be.’  There is no good in humans.  None!  There is no spiritual good that can be done by human reasoning or thinking.  Independent of God we are nothing!  ...we are absolutely nothing.  All good works come through God the Father.  So when we can understand that, that’s when we can cry out to God to bear the fruits of the spirit in us because it’s God that does the works.

So when Jesus Christ turned around and said, “Of Myself,” just a human, “I can do nothing...” because it’s God that does the works.  And you will go through scripture – Jesus Christ gave all the glory to God the Father at all times.

To begin to understand what it’s going to be like to be Elohim and to explore more about what God is like and where good works come from, where the thinking of God comes from (which is from God – it’s the only way it can come), we’ll look at John 1:1.  We’re going to establish a foundation, to come to understand that it’s God in us that does all spiritual works.

John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, which is the Logos, and the Word was, and that word is ‘unto’ with God, and that is of course not side by side.  In other words here is God’s thinking that was with God, and the Word was God...because it makes up God’s mind, who God is, how God thinks.

Verse 2 - The same was in the beginning unto God. So this is one single being with a way of thinking.  All things were made through Him; you could say, in God, or the Logos, because they’re the same being, if we understand it; it’s God thinking, it’s God.  That’s what God is.  ...and without Him/God/Logos nothing was made that was made. In the Greek the word there of course, is the word ‘Logos’ which is the revelatory thought.  So it’s a thinking, it’s the way God is, it’s the way God thinks.

There has never been a time without God or what identifies Him.  In other words there’s God and His thinking; are one.  It’s just one.  So you can use that interactively.  As with every individual, we are identified by that which we think in the mind.  So when people say we know somebody, I can guarantee you on a human level we don’t.  Because we don’t know what people are really thinking.  Someone can come up to you in the world and they can shake your hand and say, “Oh, how are you doing?”  We have no idea what they’re really thinking!  They can be thinking all sorts of things. Because I’ve been in organizations where people have been brought into organizations for one sole purpose – they raise them up as a manager sometimes or even a general manager and the sole purpose of that is to downsize the organization by 30%-35% because otherwise the company will go broke.  So when that person comes in, after a couple of weeks people say, “Oh, I know him...”  Haven’t got a clue what he’s thinking!  He’s been told to terminate 30% of the group.  And so you go up and shake his hand and say, “How are you doing, John?”  You think you know him.  He’s thinking, “Boy, its bad I’m going to have to sack you next Tuesday at 3:00...”  Because see, only God knows us.  Only God knows us because God knows our thinking.  God knows how we think, how we operate.

So every individual is identified by the way they think.  And it’s the same with God.  We can identify God by the way He thinks.  The Word was unto God and there was no other. Because there was no other.  Everything that can be explained to man, began from or came from the Word, which was God.  So here we should grasp from this that we should take no credit to ourselves for intellect.  We should take no credit to ourselves for intellect because it’s God that places everything into the mind.

I had a conversation some time back about Adam and Eve.  When God made Adam God did not sit down and say, “Okay Adam, I’m going to teach you the alphabet.”  No, God placed language and thought into his mind at his creation.  At his creation He put it in the mind and Adam could think and he could speak a language (he didn’t have to learn it), instantly.  So Adam couldn’t take any glory to himself about the way he thought or the language that he understood.  All the glory has to go to God and we’re no different.  We’re no different!

The focus of the Millennium and the hundred years that follow is going to be about one thing – God.  And you know what mankind’s going to learn?  All the glory goes to God.  Electricity was invented by God, if you want to look at the word invented, which is a wrong word really, because everything... everything that’s come from man had to come from God.  God is the source, because God existed first and it was God’s thinking.  So mathematics was not something that man has worked out.  God has got it, He knew it and He gave it when He saw fit, and He gives it to one mind.  So if one person knows algebra and is mathematically, what you would consider in today’s terminology, a genius, should he take glory to himself for that?  But that’s what man does.  But man will learn that the glory goes to God.  That God in His mercy granted me this ability to think and know algebra and work out mathematical equations.

And I think I’ve said how our grandson at different times has different issues in trying to be academic, what you call academic, because the academic system takes 35 children of all different types of backgrounds and abilities that God grants, way of thinking, minds, genetics, and jams them down this big funnel and tests them all identical to make them all square with little blocks at the end.  And if you’re not a square block you’re considered what in man’s eyes?  There’s something wrong with you.  So we tell him the most important thing is to be a nice boy.  It’s far better to be polite to your parents, to honour your parent’s, to not use bad language, to be patient, to be gentle, to not hit your sister.  That’s what we look to.  Now, whether he knows his ten or twenty words that he’s supposed to know – that’s good to acquire - but is that really that important compared to being patient and a nice boy?  Well, guess what’s going to be taught?  You’ll have an academic level, but in reality there’s no use being that intelligent and being an arrogant person.  If you’re an arrogant person you don’t have friends in the end; you just don’t have them! The arrogant person says, “Why is it that nobody seems to like me?”  Because you’re arrogant!  You’re arrogant and people don’t like it.  Whereas if you’re a nicer person and not academically sharp guess what?  You’re going to have a lot of friends.  It’s about character.  In the end life’s about character, whereas today it’s not.  Today’s society has nothing to do with developing character, it’s about academic, and with that academic or intellect people look down on others.  That’s society, just looks down.

So everything that can be explained to man began and came forth from God’s mind, now therefore we within the Church can give glory to God for everything....for everything, because that’s where it came from.  Man did not generate these things from himself.

God’s plan is to share His understanding, His wisdom, His very Word with mankind.  Isn’t that amazing?  That’s what God is doing.  God is sharing what He is.  So God’s plan is to share His understanding, His wisdom, His very Word with mankind so that we can all come into unity of spirit with the same purpose and the same will, the same thinking.  Atonement; to be at one.  What a great plan that God has.

John 1:4 – The truth is that there is only one God, and God sent Jesus Christ with that same mind for a purpose.  But mankind could not comprehend the light and the truth that God had sent, because light is truth.  So no matter what the truth that God had put out, mankind couldn’t see it because we’re in darkness, we’re in bondage, we’re held captive by our thoughts; and that we just can’t, as a carnal mind, comprehend what God is and the truth.  The only way is through a calling. God must put His spirit in us.

Isaiah 45:5 – Because in the end everything that happens on a spiritual level, the credit must go back to God.  I am the Eternal one/Yahweh, and there is no one else, there is no God/Elohim except Me: I strengthen you, speaking to Israel here which is the same as the Church, anyone called, although you have not known Me: So that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none/no one except Me.  I am the Eternal one/Yahweh, and there is no one else.  So there was only God.  So everything that exists has to come out of God’s mind.  There is no other way.  The fact is there is one Eternal God that has always existed.  He reveals Himself through His names like ‘The Almighty’.  God is all mighty!  ‘The Eternal’ – He’s always existed.  ‘The Self-Existing One’ – life is in Him, and therefore any other life has to proceed out from God, out from God’s thinking.  So the only way life can exist, no matter what it is, whether it’s physical or spiritual, has to radiate from the Great Eternal God.

God’s plan is to give us life forever more, and yet we can’t earn it and it’s not through our works.  A lot of scriptures talk about our works, in other words, we’ll set out and do all these things, we’ll pray for four hours and we’ll study for eight hours and therefore God will give us life.  No, that’s a delusion of the mind.  We can only do good if God lives and dwells in us.  He has to place it in our mind to think differently, so we can’t take the credit to ourselves.  Our part in all of this is simply the ability to choose.  We have thoughts and God gives us the ability to see evil, good and evil, and we have to choose what is right.  That’s in our desire.  So if we sent our mind at every instant to please God, simply to please God, God will fulfill what He has set out to do.

It was the Eternal God that created all things.  He created all things composed of spirit and all that is physical.  It is the Eternal God that sustains all life; life comes from God Himself.  The only conclusion we can come to is that God alone existed therefore everything good spiritually must be generated by and from Him, therefore the statement Jesus Christ made; ‘Of Myself I can do nothing.’  Now, that is something brethren, that we too have to come to see, that of ourselves we can do no good.  It’s only by the power of God’s spirit flowing through us to the benefit of others that good can be achieved.

Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed Himself for all mankind’s sins.  And that, of course, was God’s plan.  It was God’s thinking, and that’s what God did and achieved through Jesus Christ.  The only way God can bring the mind of mankind into unity with Him is for God to place His thinking into the very mind of man.  That is the process of conversion.  That’s why conversion starts.  God will not be in the presence of sin and therefore will not dwell in those who are not being forgiven of sin.  So our choice is to repent.

Somebody mentioned about the possibility of committing an unpardonable sin.  Oh, that’s a possibility, but what is unpardonable sin?  It’s a wilful deliberate desire not to repent.  So as long as we have a desire to repent we can’t commit the unpardonable sin.  God will give us that ability, but we have to be very wilful and say, “I don’t want to repent of this particular sin.”

The only way that man can be turned into Elohim by God the Father is for God to dwell in us over our lifetime once we are called, and that’s our desire.

John 10:23 – And Jesus walked into the temple in Solomon's porch.  Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, How long do you keep us in doubt?  If you are the Christ/the Messiah, tell us plainly.  Jesus answered them and said, I told you and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.  In other words the evidence and the proof from what Jesus Christ was doing, because it wasn’t Jesus Christ.  The evidence was that God was with Him and it’s God doing it.  Because if we understand that it’s God the Father that does everything, everything must radiate out of God’s mind through us, therefore the credit’s got to go back to God the Father.

Verse 26 - But you do not believe because you are not My sheep, as I have said. In other words, if you’re not called, My sheep hear My voice, understand the spiritual matters.  So we are the sheep and what we were asked to do on the Last Great Day was to think through  “Are we going to follow no matter what the Shepherd leads us to.”  ...no matter where the Shepherd... which is God through Jesus Christ leading the Church.  So will we follow?  Did we hear the voice that was spoken?  Well, we will to the degree that God’s spirit is living and dwelling in us, because it’s God that places truth in the mind and it’s God that maintains us in the Body of Christ, but we have to have that desire, we have to be willing to do it.

I know them and they will follow Me.  Why?  Because it’s the same thinking, it’s the same mind.

Verse 28 – I will give them eternal life; and they shall never perish; isn’t that a beautiful promise?  That’s what God says, that if we’re willing to continue to choose, to humble ourselves, that God will give us the gift of eternal life and we can become Elohim.  I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any one snatch them out of My hand. It’s not within anyone’s power to do that.

Verse 29 – My Father which has given them to Me is greater than all; so it’s God the Father that’s doing it.  It’s God the Father doing the work in us.  ...and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand....  I and My Father are one; in other words, one mind, same thinking, complete unity of spirit, in full agreement.  And that’s our desire; our desire is to become at one with God, to be in agreement with God, therefore if a challenge comes up in our thinking where God decides to place a change of a doctrine in the Church we should be of the same mind.  We should be in agreement with what God’s doing IF we’ve proven to ourselves through the conviction of God’s spirit that this is the only place that God is working...if we’ve done that.

God is preparing us for the Kingdom of God.  Whether it’s at the next resurrection, or the second, either way God is still preparing us.  That’s God’s goal; He’s preparing our minds by our choice to allow God to live and dwell in us.

Verse 31 – Then the Jews took up stones against Him to stone Him.  And Jesus said to them, Many good works have I shown you from My Father, isn’t that incredible?  Jesus Christ never took the glory to Himself, He gave it back to where it came from.  For which of these works do you stone Me? Kind of incredible really, and He says, “Why are you stoning Me?  Everything I’ve done is because God the Father gave it to My mind and it’s gone out to benefit you.”  The works were from the Father, God the Father performed the works, Christ shared in them.  It’s the same for us, brethren.  Jesus Christ did not take the credit for any spiritual works.  Christ knew that without the Father in Him He was nothing.  He knew why He existed, He knew who He was, and He knew that it was God the Father.  So, God the Father placed thinking into His mind.  Jesus Christ could only think a particular way because He had God’s mind, where for us it’s different, totally different.

John 10:33 – And the Jews answered Him and said, For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man make Yourself God. In other words He’s saying I’m the Son of God.  Well, I wouldn’t strongly recommend that you go out to anyone and tell them you’re a begotten son of God not yet born.  It will not go down well.  Mankind with a carnal mind can’t understand what you’re talking about.

Verse 34 – Jesus answered and said, Is it not written in your law, I say you are gods? You are Elohim.  Isn’t that an incredible statement?  Because this reveals God’s purpose for us.  Our purpose is to be Elohim, and God is revealing it here; this is God’s purpose, this is God’s desire, and it should be ours as well – the purpose of life.  If He, God, called them god’s, called man god’s because that’s our potential, to whom the Word of God came, and the scriptures cannot be broken. Do you say to Him/Christ whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You are blaspheming; because I say I am the Son of God?  In other words, they couldn’t comprehend it, that He was saying He’s a begotten... He was the Son of God, He was actually begotten as the Son of God.  We are begotten sons of God because there became a point where we were carnal but our potential was beginning to be realized in the sense that we were begotten of God’s spirit; now we can call ourselves begotten sons of God with the potential to be born.

Only God can do the works.  These works were physical miracles, in what you would say physical, but they were all spiritual in nature because they have to come by the power of God’s holy spirit.  God has to do it.  These works were everything to do with spiritual because God is spirit and everything He does comes from His mind.

Do we see God in the 57 Truths?  Do we see God in it?  Do we see God’s mind in it?  Because it is important that we see God in it.  And if we see God in those truths we will begin to believe God more because we see God in it.  And there are certain truths that are there that you can actually see God in it, because it can only come from God’s mind... it can only come from God’s mind.

John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, except through Me. So the only way to enter into a relationship with God the Father is by accepting Jesus Christ as our Passover and our High Priest and soon coming King.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father, because what He’s really talking about is the same mind, the same thinking.  So if you’ve met Jesus Christ and spoken to Him, it’d have been the same as meeting God the Father and speaking to God the Father – same thinking.  You would get the same answers because it’s God living in and through Jesus Christ.  ...also: and from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. Because it’s the same mind.  It’s not about a physical thing, it’s spiritual in nature.  You get the same reaction, hence we should be able to see God in the Church.

Verse 8 - Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us. Still thinking physically here, Phillip is.  Jesus said to him, I have been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?  Because it is about a mind, a way of thinking.  ...he who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father?  It’s incredible isn’t it, because with our ability we just do not see on a spiritual level this mind, this thinking, which we can enter into.  Only in part through the power of God’s holy spirit, but that’s our destiny.

Verse 10 -  Do you not believe that I am in, in complete unity of thinking, with the Father... Do you not believe I am in the Father, in other words, complete agreement, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak of My own: but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.  That’s a very clear statement, but they couldn’t understand what He was actually talking about.

Verse 11 - Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the sake of the work’s themselves.  So it comes to the point that we have to come to understand that the works are not our efforts.  And there has been a misunderstanding in the Church for a long period of time in times past where people took credit to themselves for perceived good works.  So all credit for righteousness must be given back to God the Father, because He is the one who created it all.  Only God the Father can do good, and Jesus Christ knew this very fact.

Drop down to verse 16 - And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, taking about the holy spirit; and it’s not talking about an individual, but it’s God’s very power...and it may abide with you forever; The spirit of truth; which the world cannot receive, but we can.  We can receive this spirit of truth; because it neither sees it, nor knows it:  but you know it.  We know it brethren.  ...for it dwells with you and will be in you. So this very spirit of God can dwell in us.  And of course a lot of that is up to us.

I want to turn to a particular group of scriptures in John 5.  John 5:18 - Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, in their eyes, their perceived view, their bias.  Now that’s that bondage and the perception that they had in the mind, that... What’s a Sabbath’s day’s journey? Do you have to measure it out to the inch or the metre?  Because they’re held in bondage to a way of thinking.  ...but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God.  Well, God is our Father, but does that make us equal with God? Well, we’re never going to be equal with God in the same that He has eternally existed, but we’re going to have the same mind, we’re going to think like Him.

Verse 19 - Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, I think that’s an incredible statement, because we should come to that same conclusion, brethren, that without God we can do nothing.  ...but what He sees the Father do: in other words, what God placed in His mind, and for whatever He/God does, the Son also does in like manner.  So it’s the ability to come into one process of thinking, one way of thinking.

Verse 20 - For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does: and He will show Himself greater works than these, that you may marvel.  So there is the only way that we can do good works, it’s through the power of God’s spirit living and dwelling in us.

John 15:1 - I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away: so the responsibility we have is to bear fruit – Galatians 5:22 – and the only way we can bear fruit is if we’re connected to the vine, in other words, God’s spirit is going to have to flow through us out to the benefit of others.  And if we’re not willing to do that, what does the pruner do?  Prunes it off to get rid of it, because it’s not bearing fruit.

...and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes; in other words, we’re going to have trials, because by cutting us back a bit more we’re going to think differently about situations and it takes time.  Just like grapes, or a branch, or fruit to be born, it goes through seasons, and therefore it has to grow, it has to bear the fruit.  In other words, it’s pruned, we go through trials so that we’ll bear more fruit.

Now you are already clean by the word, which is truth, the truth, the Word of God in us cleanses us.  We can’t cleanse our self –our thinking can be changed because of it. ...that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine; neither can you unless you abide in Me.  So Christ is covering the same statement, ‘Of Myself I can do nothing.’

I am the vine, you are the branches: He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, because it’s God doing it: for without Me you can do nothing. Now that is a spiritual understanding that should be burnt into our brain, that it’s God doing the works in and through us, therefore we cannot take credit for our calling. We would still be in our bondage and our ignorance.  We didn’t do anything, we didn’t do extra study or prayer or decided we’d find God, or jumped from church to church looking for God of and by ourselves.  If we ended up in the Body of Christ through repentance and baptism, the laying of hands, we received the holy spirit; of ourselves we did nothing! God brought us to this point!  It’s God that did the drawing, who worked with the mind to get to this point.  We have a point of choice and that’s where it goes.  Our part is choice, desiring to follow this process, follow the lead.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Well symbolically you can say it’s the second death.  It’s the second death, that’s the end result if we’re not going to stay connected to the vine.  In other words, we’re going to refuse to allow God the Father and Jesus Christ to dwell in us. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, in other words, My thinking abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  Now this is talking about spiritual fruits.  If we desire a gift - not really, that word is wrong - but if we desire a fruit of God’s character to be in us, like we all desire all of it, but if we would like to be more longsuffering we should ask God because He’s the only one who can give it.  Of and by ourselves we can do nothing.  So if we’d like to love the brethren more, we should cry out to God to answer us, and as it says, ‘the Father will not deny the son.’  We’re begotten sons so we should cry out to God.

So it all goes back to our desire for what God is offering, and if we go through Galatians 5:22, that’s what we should bear, that’s what we should ask for. And do you know what?  God will not deny us.  If we desire spiritual growth, spiritual perception, spiritual understanding, and spiritual wisdom – the mind of God is wisdom – we should ask God for it.  Because you know where it comes from?  God!  He’s the only one that can give it. So hours of running off by ourselves and trying to do things independent of God is just a vanity.  We cry out to God to live and dwell in us, to flow out to the benefit of others.

Verse 8 – By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit; and you will be My disciples.  So again, the credit and the glory is going back to God the Father.  As the Father loved Me I also have loved you.  Abide in My love.  If you love Me, keep My commandments, which is God the Father’s commandments and Jesus Christ, because it’s the same mind, same thinking.  ...you will abide in My love.  So if we keep the commandments in spirit and intent, we know its God dwelling and living in us.

Verse 13 - Greater love has no one than this, than they lay down their lives for his friends.  So here it’s about sacrificing, the desire to sacrifice.  Now, we know when this happens because God through the power of His spirit places a thought in the mind and we have a choice.  We know when we’re sacrificing, or we can choose to go one way or the other.  That’s when we say, “I’m going to deny myself and go with what God is leading me to do,” so that God can live through us to the benefit of others.  So there is no greater love than if we’re prepared to lay down our lives for one another.  In other words, willing to sacrifice for one another, no matter what it is, to deny the self.  And it hurts at times.  That’s good, because the thinking is now being changed; we’re denying our selfish thinking and allowing God to live it through us.

You are My friends if you do whatever I command.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what His master is doing, but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you, so that the thinking of God has been transferred through what we call the Bible today – God’s mind, so we can come to understand it.

So just drawing this sermon to a close brethren, we can see and understand what Jesus Christ meant when He said, ‘I can of Myself do nothing,’ because that same mindset should be in us, and it’s talking on a spiritual level.  There are many physical things we can do with our abilities that God has granted us, but on a spiritual level the only way that we can love is if God lives in us –other than that we can’t love.  The only way to experience peace of mind, true peace of mind, is if God places it into our thinking.  All the works of righteousness came from God the Father who lived in Jesus Christ by the power of the holy spirit.  We also must come to see and believe the same thing, ‘of ourselves, separate from God, we can’t bear fruit.’  It’s just impossible, we can be cut off.

As Yahweh Elohim is the one Eternal God, all good has to come from Him.  All righteousness comes from God the Father.  His desire and purpose is to have a Family of spirit beings in which righteousness dwells forever.  So that’s our potential, to be Elohim, where God will dwell in us forever.  We can never be cut off from God. Even as a spirit being we’re not independent, it’s God maintaining, sustaining our thinking, because He’s going to give us this download and we’ll have the same mind, the ability to think correctly, finally, with no sin, no competition, no hate, no impatience.  It’s a wonderful mind to have, but that’s the mind of our potential, that’s what we’re aiming for, and in between this, no matter how long it takes, we’re going to experience both parts.  And we know when we’re impatient.  We know when we’re talking about others.  We know when we’re murmuring.  We know those things!  The desire in us must be to fight it so that God can live in us and dwell in us, to suffer long.

Mankind was created to fulfill that desire and purpose.  It’s God’s Family!  Only God is good.  And when Jesus Christ was challenged He said, “Why do you call Me good?  Only God is good.”  Because only good can come from God.  We of ourselves can’t do that; we can’t do good, so whatever we’re doing is going to be selfish.  We cannot take credit for good works, because that’s vanity – lift yourself up, did good works.  No, God the Father does all good works.

Now is the time to draw closer to God.  This is the time to hold fast to the truth that God has given us; this is the time.

James 1:16 - Do not be deceived, my brethren. So, what’s this talking about?  This is talking about how we can deceive ourselves that we, with our natural minds, can do good.  We can take credit to ourselves for good works and delude ourselves, deceive ourselves that it’s us, that we’re good.  No, of and by ourselves we’re not.

Verse 17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift, which is spiritual in nature, is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  There’s no doubt, we just simply get to share in what God is doing in and through us.  We just get to share in it; and it’s a marvellous blessing that we have been given.

Matthew 19:16 – Now behold, one came and said to him, Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? In other words, here is somebody physically saying, “Well, okay, what good works do I have to do.” ...on a human level.  They’re trying to do it on a human level.  And so He said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but one, that is, God: but if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. But this is talking about... here’s Jesus Christ talking spiritually, and this person is asking on a physical level.

“Okay, what do I have to do?”

And He says, “Well, keep the Ten Commandments.”

He says, “Yeah, I put God first.  I keep the Sabbath.  I do these other things.  I haven’t killed anybody.”

Well, that’s just all physical effort, and there are thousands of people out there that on a physical level are striving to obey the Ten Commandments without knowing and understanding that only God living in us can fulfill the intent of the law.  Because although they may not have killed anybody every human with a natural mind has broken ‘Thou shall not kill.’ On a spiritual level, each and every one of us has hated or wished ill-will to another human, because that’s the way we are.  But it’s only God in us that can actually help us to overcome that thinking, change our thinking, that we just desire, look outwardly and desire the benefit of everybody irrespective of whatever.  We just have a desire for the benefit of that person.  It’s an incredible way to think but that’s the mind of God; that’s our potential.

The last scripture is Matthew 7:17 - Even so every good tree bears good fruit; but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  It’s talking about an individual.  Either we’re of God and it’s God doing it or we’re of ourselves and it’s us doing it.  There’s no grey; it’s either God living in us or He’s not.  It’s either coming from God or it’s not, it’s us.

Verse 18 - A good tree, with God’s spirit, cannot bear bad fruit, in other words, God can’t sin; so if we are in a frame of mind and where we see sin in it, those thoughts weren’t from God at all, they were from us because God can’t sin.  So a good tree cannot bear bad fruit; God cannot sin, nor can a bad tree, carnal mind, bear good fruit.  So it’s not possible for the carnal mind to show righteousness.

Every tree that cannot bear good fruit, in other words have God’s spirit dwelling in them, is cut down and thrown into the fire, is destroyed.

So brethren, we have a potential to be Elohim, and once Elohim our thinking is going to be different.  It’s just going to be completely different.  One thing that came up a long time ago was in relation to, well, what if you have a family and you are in Elohim at that point in time and one of your family members, whether it be your wife, or your husband, or your son, or your daughter, or your relative, or your grandchild, makes no difference, that they are about to face the second death – how would you feel about that, because you’re spirit, you’re watching it.  They’re physical and they’re now about to be destroyed and have no consciousness for eternity, forever.  How would you feel about that?  Someone that you’ve loved dearly on a physical level and a spiritual level to be destroyed?  What emotion will go through you?  You know what will go through you?  Love, joy, peace...why?  Because you’ll know in your mind that that’s what they chose, and you in your mind will think out of love for them, to stop their suffering mentally, spiritually in the mind, it’s best to destroy them.  It’s not going to be emotional at all – “No, this is unfair!”  No, you’ll be at peace with it because they don’t want what you are and what God has made you.  They’ve rejected it wilfully, deliberately... So how will you feel?  At peace, with joy because they don’t want it!

Can you see the different way of thinking?  And you know what?  It’s more merciful to not let them carry on with that stinking, filthy mind and instead better to just destroy it forever, get rid of it, because that’s love.  That’s just love, because they’ve rejected God’s offer.  So you can see it’s just a totally different way of thinking.  But on a physical level, if we were to now think that our husband or wife or our daughter or our grandchildren were there, emotionally we’d go, “Whoa!  That’s a bit hard.”  No, it’s not.  With a different mind we’ll understand what God is doing is just showing great mercy to that person who doesn’t want God.

So what God has promised us is incredible!  We don’t deserve it.  The most important thing that we can learn in life is that it requires God’s power, God’s spirit, to live and dwell in us to achieve the works; because of ourselves, with our natural minds, we can do nothing good spiritually.

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