For many years I wondered if I was a sinful Saint or a saintly Sinner. Now I know: I am sinner and saint, together in one breast, and which one has the preeminence in me, this day, this moment, is dependent on my surrendering my will to His "Oh Father, not as I will, but as you wilt"....."Thy will be done" daily Father, may "Thy kingdom come" in my earth, in my flesh as it is done in Heaven. Father, may You look upon me, Your new creation through the transfusion of the blood of Christ, and see that I am good - "God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it (I) was (am) very good".

Father, may I never cease to hear Your voice, as You walk in the cool of the day in the garden of my heart. My old man runs away from you, my old man hides from You but my new man seeks Your face and Your voice - You are what my New man eats and drinks....my old man's flesh consumes itself - my new man consumes the flesh of my savior, Jesus Christ...my old man drinks the wine of Your wrath, my new man drinks the wine that makes glad both the heart of God and man, the blood of my Christ, shed for the remission of my old man's sins. My old man follows Satan, his will and his ways - my new man follows You, Father ,Your Spirit dwells in me now....my new man stands on the neck of my old man. My old man is Your conquered enemy Father, all that is in me that despises and hates You Father is now old, is now past, is now defeated.

Thank You for crucifying my old man on the Cross with You, Jesus. You had to kill him for he will not willingly lay down and die - he yet desires to live, he yet desires to crucify the new man....may Your word, Father, "quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword", pierce me, Father, divide my old man's soul from my new man's spirit - divide us asunder, discern the thoughts and intents of my heart, which I do not even know myself. May all that is of my old man in my soul perish in the flames of Your Holy Spirit's fire within me, that my soul may not perish in the lake of fire, oh Father! Bless the Lord! ALL MY SOUL! Every part of my soul that refuses to bow to the Lord of Heaven and Earth, die within me daily. I, Christopher Michael Tripp, the man of sin, must die that I, that disciple whom Jesus loves, may live.

"On Holiness" continued:

     This constant surrendering to Him, to His will - keeps the old man in us crucified, so we may "put on the new man", also in us, daily, like we put on our clothes. Daily I must confess - "I am a sinner", that daily i can then confess, "I am Holy because He is Holy and He lives in me". I confess I am not loving like Him, therefore, as I yield to to Him, as I walk in Him, His Holy Spirit, I am loving like Him. I confess I am not joyful apart from Him therefore I confess I am joyful He is in me. I confess I am not peaceful like Him, I have no peace with God or man, therefore I confess I am at peace with God and man because His Cross is ever before my heart. I confess I am not long suffering like He is therefore I confess I am long suffering, just like He's been with me, so shall I suffer long the faults of others. I confess I am not gentle like He is, therefore I am gentle for He donates His gentleness to me; I put on His rightness for I have no rightness of my own. I confess I have no goodness at all, absolutely none, therefore I am good because He looked upon my huge black hole of the absence of of anything good in me at all and filled it up with His goodness so that any good thing that ever comes from me is because of Him, therefore I may never glory in myself ever, for anything. I confess I have no faith, therefore I have great faith for where before I had none - Jesus took pity upon me and gave me His faith, which the Holy Spirit planted in my heart like a mustard seed "as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith" (so sinners unrepentant, unbelieving and unfaithful are without excuse for God has dealt faith to every man), and I confess I am not meek as He is meek now therefore I am meek for the One who said "I am meek and lowly in heart" has put His yoke upon my heart, to keep my wicked and wandering heart from straying from Him - His meekness is now my meekness, I am bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and His flesh is completely obedient to His Father's will therefore so shall I be. I confess I have no temperance (moderation or self-restraint in action or statement, habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion), therefore in the absence of my own temperance, I take within myself the very temperance of God, freely given to me by the Holy Spirit, who desires me to be just like Christ. So, indeed, as I must "I die daily". Daily I "have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts".
     My precious brethren, we, not a pastor or an evangelist or any other man, no, we must preach the word to our own hearts, to our own souls - "Bless the Lord, O my soul". We must tell, nay, command our hearts to obey Him daily, we must confess our sin and sinfulness to Him daily to be cleansed by Him daily. And when we are as He is, we must never glory in ourselves or in the praises of men, for He alone is worthy. Selah. 

       I confess, the following subject is a bit uncomfortable to write about but it's something I've given some thought to lately. Holiness. I believe, once we fully comprehend the depths of wickedness our own hearts are capable of reaching, it becomes one of the greatest "leaps of faith" any of us can take to believe that we can be "Holy as He is Holy". 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Leviticus 20:7 and 26 - "and be ye holy....for I the Lord am holy".
     I tend to define holiness as "a complete absence of sin". I have no problem believing and acknowledging that God is Holy, but in light of my sin soaked heart it's very difficult for me to believe I can be Holy. Yet, when the woman was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus, he forgave her but told her to "go and sin no more", so, it must be attainable, this idea of becoming holy and to "sin no more", or was he telling her to go and commit the sin of adultery no more? He had just told her accusers "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", in other words, you've no right to judge her for you are just as much a sinner as she is. He's saying "don't pay so much attention to the sins of others, when you're just as sinful as they are", but can any of us really "go and sin no more"?
     I've certainly never been able to. John tells us "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us". So, it's clear here we can know the truth, we can have the truth in us, in our hearts, right along side our sin at the same time, indeed, His Word can dwell in us, in our hearts and minds, yet we remain sinners all the while "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us". Paul himself confessed to Timothy "this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief". Now, had Paul said, the guy who wrote 3/4 of the New Testament epistles, if that guy had said "of whom I was chief", I'd be more able to accept "go and sin no more", "be ye holy for I am holy". But he says he is the chief of sinners, but in Romans Paul says "sin shall not have dominion over you", "for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness and holiness". Again Paul says to the Corinthians - "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God". Ephesians 4:24 - "and that you put on the new man - which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness".
     I don't know about you, but my brain is all tangled up in knots right now. I know that "God is good" and that "no man is good" (apart from Him). I know that I cannot say "I have no sin" but I also know I can be holy (without sin) because He invites me to be as He is. He tells me to "go and sin no more". I think, the understanding is in Romans 7 & 8, where Paul laments his sinful tendencies. I think if we truly sorrow over our own sinful condition, our inability to stop sinning on our own, our tendency to fall, over and over again and again - this keeps us close to Christ, desperately near Him, knowing how hopeless and weak we are without Him.
     Jesus said to Paul - "my grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness", then Paul concluded, this confession "for when I am weak, then I am strong". This makes no sense to our logical, carnal minds, but our hearts understand, we must live our lives acknowledging every day we are sinners, therefore everyday we need our Savior to deliver us from ourselves, from our sin "if we confess our sins, (daily), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". We are under a constant need to yield ourselves to Him, to "Christ in us, the hope of glory", the glory of holiness.....

Part two in five days.....

Brethren, embrace and love the truth, with all your hearts - turn not away from it, for it will set you free of every one of our enemy's deceptions and lies. Truly, in this day, we can know nothing, we can discern no truth, without Him - the Holy Spirit of Truth, abiding deep within us - Deep calls out to Deep, but what does He say? He says "from henceforth be no more children (in understanding), tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of man; and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive". Selah.

Yes brethren, we sacrifice self in service of others - the more we freely, joyfully, give our gifts away, the more we will receive from Him - whether it be the gift of Salvation or the Holy Spirit, or the 12 manifested gifts of the Spirit or our money, or homes, time or food, if we freely, joyfully give it all away - His kingdom will have come, His Will will have been done, in earth (our flesh) as it is done in Heaven. John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved" says no less than five times in his first epistle "LOVE ONE ANOTHER".....and so, a fitting end to this, my latest and longest epistle.....amen. 

Make no mistake, I've warned you now - If any church or denomination, man or woman, rejects the Holy Spirit - they will then serve and succumb to the Unholy Spirit, the spirit of the Antichrist, gone out into all the world. All will, in the end and even now, be filled with the Holy Spirit or the Unholy Spirit of  Satan. "Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that Antichrist  shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby know that it is the last time". Does 33,000 separate denominations, not even including the Catholic church, count as "many"? Each one claiming they are Christ's representatives on earth? I think so! Remember - in almost all of them, the Holy Spirit is not welcome. How do we know who is antichrist? Not only do they reject the Holy Spirit, they reject us, who are born of Him! We who love truth and welcome the Holy Spirit "They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us". This scripture, in 1 John 2, exposes the bedrock of denominationalism - there was then, and there is today, a genuine, Holy Spirit bred and raised people of God, under Apostolic and Prophetic leadership, united by their love for God and one another and everyone partaking of the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - all filled with the Holy Spirit, all gifted by him to minister to all, remnant though we may now be - and we who are of this, His actual Body on earth, we the "called" and the "called out ones", know who is of the antichrist because they will not fellowship with us. Now understand - Satan, in his deception, convinces those who "are not of us" that we are the ones not of God, while they are the ones obedient to and following God's will. But remember to taste their fruit, bitter though it may be. THEY will hate US and even kill us, believing they are doing God a favor (they ARE doing their God a favor, the god of this world, Satan). WE will love them, and forgive all who will not fellowship with us, showing genuine love for all who hate us "Be not shaken in mind, or be troubled" at these words my brethren "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come (that day when He shall appear in the clouds in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ), the gospel that I have been preaching to you with lo, these many words, and that day "when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in (not by) all them (us) that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day". Indeed, in that day "Behold, I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan (the thousands of denominations and churches that rejected the Holy Spirit choosing to follow Satan instead, because he promised to exalt them and glorify them - (flesh! flesh!, all is carnal flesh, in Satan's kingdom) which say they are Jews (slash Christians) and are not". Remember, many confess "Lord, Lord" but do not know Him. Many shall "come in My name, and deceive many".  but do lie. There you have it, as plain as can be - they are liars when they say they are God's people "behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I (Jesus Christ) have loved thee". Everyone that kills us, either with hatred within (their hearts) or without (their hands), everyone that accused us of being of the Devil, will hear Jesus himself personally telling them - these are mine, these truly loved me, even unto death (of reputation, of popularity, of finances, etc. as well as physical). These loved Me to the end and never forsook Me. These will abide with Me forever.
But before this day comes, it will not come "except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" - a state of final spiritual ruin, loss of the soul; damnation - the future state of the wicked. Now listen - because what God says here about him, this "son of perdition", is exactly what every church on earth that accepts the Name of Jesus but not the person of Jesus, manifested among us by His most Holy Spirit, is doing - they are simply following in their Father's footsteps "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God (and all that is of God) or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God (men's hearts) shewing himself that HE IS GOD". He doesn't just come against Christianity, he repudiates all religions, all that is worshipped and demands that all mankind worship him as God and they will do so because he will "pose as a man of peace, he will use flatteries, and "he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand (the common laborers) or in their foreheads (the intellectuals, the ruling class), and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast or the number or his name (666)" - he will do this for their own good, he will say, he will do this to bring peace and unity to the whole world, to benefit and bless the world, he will say, but his real motive is to bring the whole world under his dominion and will, for he will "show himself that he is God". He will even come after the working of Satan, Satan's very own "Christ", with all the power and signs and lying wonders at his disposal and all the world's peoples will believe him because they "received not the love of the truth that they might be saved". "And for this reason God shall (and is even now) send the strong delusion (like He did to Pharaoh) that they should believe a lie", "that they might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness". Selah.

"Let Us" series continued:

"As every man has received the gift (of the Holy Spirit) even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold (many kinds of, numerous and varied) grace of God"
Notice first of all - "every man has received", not just one man in the congregation, or a few who have been to Bible college but "every man" (you mean some unlearned fisherman can teach us about God? Surely not! Yes! in fact, those without their noggins full of man's doctrines are much better qualified and able to hear truth from the Holy Spirit!) Paul, a very learned religious, pious Jew, had to spend 14 years on the backside of the desert unlearning all he thought was truth. When Jesus physically blinded him as he knocked him to the ground, He was showing Paul how inwardly blind he was and how lifted up in pride he was. Jesus mercifully kept His word to "abase the proud" when He met Paul on that road to hell. Indeed, we are all, each one of us, meant to "receive the gift" and we are all meant to share Him with each other. "Freely you have received, freely give" remember "there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal", there are "differences of administrations", there are "diversities of operations", but it all comes from "the same God which worketh all in all". There it is again - God expressing His desire to work in all to all, not just one man or a few "experts" ministering to the "amateurs". Come to think of it "All in all" would be a great slogan for any church to put on their wall or sign outside "all God's gifts in all God's people". It's a worthy goal for any fellowship. Like President's who voluntarily step down every four (or eight) years, so should Pastors. I'm only half joking. The point is, men don't do well when we get in positions of authority and power, It's not healthy for us. This is one reason Paul would establish a fellowship then move on. All the gifts listed in 1 Cor:12 should be in operation in every local assembly. The Holy Spirit distributes them to whomever He wills but make no mistake, He WILLS us to have these wonderful manifestations of His presence and He WILL give them to every one willing to receive them. Each recipient of His largess is then to turn and share the gifts with the entire local Body - thereby edifying and encouraging one another. All so called "headship" ministries are there to serve the saints, not lord it over them their entire lives. We are put in the Body, strategically placed, for the "perfecting of the saints" - put another way, we are in the lives of God's people "for the maturing of the saints". They are not here for the "perfecting of our ministries", pastors, no, we want to present our Lord with a mature bride. Why hasn't He snatched her away to Heaven yet? She isn't mature (a remnant is). We want to guide them to maturity then step back so they can do "the work of the ministry". As leadership in a local assembly, we are not meant to do all the ministering in every service while the Saints sit on their buts (but I can't do it, I don't have a degree). Ministry was never meant to be a spectator sport - with thousands sitting around watching a few do what should be done. No! He wants to work "in all". Why? "For the edifying of the Body of Christ". Edify, for the instruction or benefit of - When "all" are ministering to "all" we will finally "All" come in the unity of the faith, you know, "One Body", "One Spirit", "One Hope", "One Lord", "One Faith", "One Baptism", "One God and Father of all".
Jesus prayed, to the Father "That they all may be One (not 33,000 separate denominations) as You Father are in me, and I in You, that they also may be ONE in us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me". The world will never believe that Jesus has been sent by God as long as all who lift up and confess His name remain divided from one another because of their extreme pride and arrogance or ignorance. Incidentally, this is exactly how the anti-christ will convince the world he is sent from God; he will bring peace and he will unify the whole world under his leadership, including many churches who operate under the anti-christ spirit and not the Holy Spirit, These false churches will flock to the anti-christ when he rises out of obscurity to become the leader of the world's first "one world government" (George Soros could very well be his "John the baptist", preparing the way for him to apppear). To be continued in five days.....