This, My Tabernacle-Part 1

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

Part 1

Initial Experience and Need of Milk


In the 21st chapter of Matthew, we see Jesus making His
"Triumphal Entry" into Jerusalem. He was preceded by
praise and immediately upon His arrival, the city "was
moved" and when His name was proclaimed and they all
knew who had entered into their midst, Jesus proceeded to
cleanse the temple of God:

    Matthew 21:12-13  And Jesus went into the temple of
    God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the
    temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers,
    and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them,
    It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer;
    but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Look at the parallels in this passage, beginning back at verse
9, to our own initial experience with Jesus. First, He makes His
way toward the city just as He makes the first step toward us all.
Then upon a greeting of praise, He enters in and the very first
thing He does is clean out our individual temple, healing our
wounds from this life. However, we need to take note of verse
15:

    Matthew 21:15  And when the chief priests and scribes saw
    the wonderful things that He did.....They were sore
    displeased,

Satan and his minions become displeased immediately and
begin to conspire about how they might bring these wonderful
works done by Jesus to an end in your life immediately when
you experience the saving, cleansing power of Jesus for the
first time, and believe me, they will never let up so long as Jesus
lives in you.

This is where the lack of laborers becomes a problem in our
lives. At that point when we are "born again" into the Kingdom
of God, we are as newborn babes-Matt. 21:16-and as newborn
babes, we require the sincere milk of the word-1Peter 2:2- which
we gladly take and consume quite often at an initially rapid pace.
It is also apparent in scripture that, whether you like it or not,
there is a need for teachers of the word as Paul makes known to
us:

    1Corinthians 3:2, 6  I have fed you with *milk*...-6-I have
    planted, Apollos *watered*; but God gave the increase.

    Ephesians 4:11-12  And He gave some, apostles; and some,
    prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
    teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
    ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Though there be scriptures that say that we have no need that
any man teach us because we have the Holy Ghost who teaches
us all things-1John 2:27; John 14:26-that does not make any
contradiction in scripture, nor does it take away from the need of
spiritual advisors in the body of Christ. We have no need that any
man teach us because the anointing teaches us according to John.
We need no earthly or worldly teacher and if we are in the body of
Christ and we have been given an apostle, prophet, pastor, etc.,
we have been given an *anointed* preacher of the Word of God
and when we hear the Word preached, by which faith cometh-
Romans 10:17-we receive the anointed Word into our heart and
the anointing that we have within us bears witness that those
things being preached are the truth; remember that Jesus said
that the Spirit would bear witness of Him.-John 15:26

The need for teachers and those who we can confide in remains
evident:

    Proverbs 27:17  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the
    countenance of his friend.

    James 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one
    for another, that ye may be healed...

    1Peter 1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always
    in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be
    established in the present truth.

    2Timothy 1:6  Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou
    stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my
    hands.

Lastly, in order to learn and grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ-2Peter 3:18-we need to allow ourselves
to be open and teachable and let the desire to learn more and
get closer to Him daily must become top priority and when it does,
you won’t be the same as you used to be. Those old friends you
were once loyal to will look at you different and they, themselves
will not want to be around you anymore. When this happens, don't
hold on...sever those old ties to the old man and let your prayers
and testimony be what speaks for you over time.

    Psalm 69:8-9  I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and
    an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house
    hath eaten me up...


On to Part 2...before you respond please.

In Jesus' Name,
Bro. Daniel M. Westbrook, Sr.