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On the Road Again, Autumn 2008 -- Final Installment
(with John, Boyd and Fred)
By Fred Pruitt
Sunday morning, October 12th, we left the Corcorans after nearly four wonderful days with them, and made our way from Connecticut, through New York and into Pennsylvania. We spent the next few days in three different Pennsylvania towns. First we went to Helen Overly's and Freda Raker's house in McConnellsburg. After an evening with them we backtracked a ways to Morgantown and Rod and Grace Hoober's house. Then we went to our last stop in State College, home of Penn State University, to visit with Joe and Laura Sullivan.
It was hard to leave New England and the fall colors that were so vivid everywhere, but the autumn had made it to Pennsylvania as well as we discovered riding through the beautiful mountains and towns. The approach into McConnellsburg took us over a high mountain that gave an incredible view of everything around at its summit.
Helen and Freda were waiting on us as we made it in about 4:30 PM. They had supper ready for us weary and hungry travelers, giving us ample time to get settled before a number of their friends came in for another meeting and we got down to the real food: the Living Word of God!
We got underway about 7:00 PM and had a full house. We have been with Helen and Freda on several other occasions and many who come we have met before. It was not different this time as it seemed that we knew everyone who attended. Of course we don't discourage new people -- almost everywhere we went there were quite a number of people new to us -- but it is doubly a blessing that the ones we know come back!
It is no secret that sometimes these truths we discuss meet with opposition and even scorn. We speak of an invisible God and of walking by faith and not by sight. Our brother Burt Rosenburg calls "the invisible" a hard sell, and it is. To believe in "the invisible" when the visible is so much more convincing, is not only tough as a concept to "sell," but it is sometimes no picnic to live, either. So when we see people again and again and they are holding fast to what we have shared by the Spirit, we know they have paid a price to continue to walk in the truth of Christ who lives in us. It can only cause us to thank God and praise His Name because He is the One Who keeps us, and we see His handiwork everywhere we go, as it seems like angels prepare the way.
All of us three gave a word as we were moved by the Spirit, and at the end we encouraged anyone there who had not made "Christ in me" his "own," to make a confession in some way, by heart and mouth, that we agree with God that it is no longer us living, but Christ Who is living in us, in this present moment. We pointed out how just as our initial entering into the kingdom was by our committed choice, or in a moment of decision and capped off by some sort of prayer or mouth confession, saying, "Christ is my Savior," or some such as that, in that same way entering into our union reality is another and further step of faith, entered into in the same way by which we received our salvation by grace -- through faith -- i.e., by a committed act of receiving and agreeing with God.
As at first we said, "Christ is my Savior," in this further act of faith, we say in some way, "Christ has been formed in me so that He is living and expressing Himself in my world as me." It is a bold thing to say and we always say it when it looks exactly the opposite, which is the point. If we looked and acted like we think Christ would look or act, we would not be taking it by faith. But faith always starts out in the invisible, in something not seen, before faith gives us its evidence.
Faith's evidence is the simple law that what we take, takes us. By faith we sit in a chair; then the chair holds us. We took the chair, now the chair takes us. We enter into Christ by faith, and then Christ takes us, and performs His promises in us. At first we have no evidence and our faith is really a stab in the dark. But the witness comes back to us in our spirits, and we KNOW that what we have believed and committedly received, He has done it!
This is the beginning of "possessing our possessions," i.e., entering into God's "rest" in the Promised Land. It is a crossing of sorts, out of the wilderness of self-effort and self-responsibility, over the Jordan, finally and completely leaving the former "old self" in its death in the wilderness, and entering in by faith as a totally and only a "new self" in Christ, Christ in us as one person with us. It is this one unified person, Christ plus me which equals this new "me," who from now on lives out of the rest of God (Heb 4: 9,10), rather than by our own efforts and labors. This is finding the "easy yoke" and "light burden" Jesus offered us all in Matthew 11:30.
The next morning, Monday, Oct 13th, we left McConnellsburg and went back east to Morgantown PA, near Lancaster. Dr. Rod and Grace Hoober have also been our friends for many years, and always have a lively get-tegether whenever we come. We stayed two days and nights with them and this was no exception to the past.
At the first night's meeting Boyd spoke first; I followed and then John finished up. When we turned over the meeting for discussion one of the first subjects that came up was about sin. This is probably our most common question, since it seems almost as if "sin" is more on the minds of believers than righteousness, since the fear of sin and what to do about sin is most often on the top of believers' minds. I don't mean this as a criticism but rather an observation that has remained consistent through all the years I have been sharing Christ in us.
It is only right that people ask these questions of course, because as long as it is an issue to someone, it is an issue to them. It cannot be put to bed until the Spirit puts it to bed in us. But there is good news: the sin issue CAN BE PUT TO BED!
When we finally come to the place by the Spirit where we see we are kept by the power of God, (something we cannot learn in a book or a class but by the actual experience of BEING KEPT), the issue of sin is put to bed as far as we are concerned, because it is no longer our issue. It is done away in the Cross and the new life of the resurrection, and as Paul said, "How can we, who are dead to sin, live any longer in it?" (Rom 6:2) It is very simple.
People will be quick of course to point out that the possibility of sin still exists, and we do not disagree. Of course it is still there, since we are still in the camp of the wicked one he can still throw his darts at us and it is possible to get a sting now and then. But we pointed out that when we take a journey and we go by car, we drive in the general assumption that we will make it to our destination, rather than by a journey-stopping fear keeping us from ever starting the car, that if we do we'll have an accident. Of course the possibility exists for an accident everytime we drive, but we would go crazy if we allowed that thought to become the predominant thought. We would never get in our cars and go anywhere.
And yet Christians are often the same way regarding living in freedom and the fullness of our humanity. They are frozen in fear of going the wrong way, listening to the wrong voice, that our emotions are amok and all wrong, and in that fear allow themselves to be held almost as the servant who hid his talent in a napkin and buried it. We become afraid most of all of ourselves, afraid we'll do wrong, say wrong, think wrong, emote wrong, and thus become inactive and unfruitful in Christ because of this unnecessary fear that keeps us more mindful of the possibility of sinning (to which we are already dead if we would just acknowledge it), rather than the unction that is in everyone of us in Christ to righteousness and to bear the fruit of God.
We encouraged everyone that in Him we ARE righteousness, and for us to live in the green light and full assumption of the righteousness of God as our own through Jesus Christ and the completed work of the Cross (2 Cor 5:21).
Another issue that came up was the issue of "feeling God's presence." Again, we stressed faith, simply remaining in our confession and not going back on it, that we who are joined to the Lord are "one spirit," (1 Cor 6:17), and as such we walk around being ourselves with maybe no special feelings or "sense" of God, because as we mature in Christ everything settles into an inner "knowing" that is ever present, whether we have warm or intimate "feelings" of God or not. In our early days the Spirit did make Himself known often by that way to us, meeting us on the level of our needs. But as we have grown up in Him, we live in something much deeper than transient feelings or a sense of God's presence, which is there sometimes and sometimes not. We need to know God is ALWAYS present, not just when we "feel Him."
Too often believers think they must do something special to "get God to come down" and be with them, when exactly the opposite is true. To be blunt, that idea that we must "do something" to make God act, is really Christianized heathenism. God is ever present in our innermost selves, and as we come into this inner awareness of oneness with Him (see John 17:11; 21-23), we realize to the uttermost that we living is He living. We are one. It is a continuous reality and therefore we do not have to "do" anything to be ourselves. We simply are. And through the Cross and Resurrection and our subsequent receiving Him, He has joined Himself as One Person with us so that we simply "are" ourselves (how could we be anything other than ourselves?) and this "ourselves" that we are is also He. We don't need to "feel" our own presence. He is embedded so deep within us that He is beyond feelings or senses. God is Spirit, and those "feeling" things are really flesh things, flesh feelings, flesh sensations, which God often uses in our beginning days. But we grow into a more mature love that does not need those kind of assurances any longer.
We had another great night with the Hoobers the next day, and then we left on Wednesday morning, Oct 15th, for our final destination before heading back to Louisville where we split from each other to go to our respective homes or elsewhere.
The drive to State College was another gorgeous ride through the mountains of Pennsylvania, and it was a real treat because I had never been through those mountains before. It was gorgeous, with the autumn leaves in full colors.
We arrived at Joe and Laura's in mid-afternoon, and had a time to relax with them and discuss questions they were having about our union reality. Joe and Laura have a wonderful and very unique ministry. They belong to "China Outreach Ministry," which primarily reaches Chinese students who are attending universities in the United States. Their goal is to bring Christ to them and assist them in finding salvation in Christ. They have great success and are having an impact that I know we'll be seeing in years to come as many of these students return to Mainland China when their studies are finished. They came to the United States to get a particular education in some field, but along the way got an extra added bonus of eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the real treasure they will take back to China in their earthen vessels.
Our afternoon with Joe and Laura was a great discussion on many of the aspects of our union with Christ, how it walks out, how we act, how we feel, all of which seemed to dovetail into one issue only, "And this is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent." (Jn 6:29). We just believe.
They had planned a pot-luck supper with the students they work with in the evening, at one of their apartments. A good group arrived, and after a wonderful dinner consisting of everything from Chinese vegetables with shrimp, to pizzeria pizza, we got down to business.
They are such a great group, for these young Chinese students are often totally clean slates regarding the things of God. They are taught mainly atheism in China, and as we know the Christian church in China is often underground and there is much persecution, even sometimes imprisonment and torture for some. It is no easy thing to be a Christian in China. But these precious young students had an innocence and a desire to know God like I have rarely seen. The young man who sat next to me was an exception, in that he had been brought up to be a Christian. But his father had been the pastor of their rural house church, and had been imprisoned by the authorities for several years for "running an illegal church."
It is good that we remember our brothers and sisters in China and other nations that do not have the freedoms of speech, assembly and travel that we do, in order to preach and live the gospel.
Because this was a different sort of group and the students were for the most part just beginning, on the part of some of them, whether they wanted to become Christians or not, the Spirit adjusted our talks more to their level. We never pre-plan our meetings or our talks with each other, but do as the Spirit leads. And this was the direction the Spirit took us all in. We probably spoke about the salvation of Christ a little differently than most, because for us it isn't just about God "up there" forgiving our sins and sending Jesus "out there" and "back then" to accomplish this forgiveness, but it is always about God whose desired house to live in is US, and Jesus came to make us to be the place of the habitation of God -- "not visitation" as Boyd put it -- but habitation -- the place where He takes us residence and remains, because it (us) has become His house.
We all spoke somewhat to this theme, and again opened up the meeting for questions and comments. These young Chinese were so bright and animated in their innocence regarding Christ, we were blessed just being with them, though their questions were more beginner questions than the type we are used to answering. But as we gave our answers from the reservior of grace God is inside us all, all their faces brightened and they were nodding in agreement. It was obvious to us that, though they may not have fully understood what we said, the love of God spilled out over everything, and they were fully basking in it.
And that is, after all, what it has always been all about.
The next morning we were up early. Joe and Laura made us a great breakfast of eggs, venison steak and sourdough bread. Joe makes incredible coffee with beans he roasts himself. Being a coffee lover (especially extra bold dark oily beans) I loved it! Then we piled in the car for one last time on this trip, left State College about 8:00 AM, and rolled into the Buntings' driveway about 6:00 PM, in time to have some of Linda's leftover fried chicken.
That was home for John and temporary home for Boyd, but I still had another journey to make the next day to Nashville, to get back to my wife, who had been pining away for me since the day I left.
Oh, what a wonderful, gracious, faithful God we live in and out of Whom we love.
Amen. Our Autumn Northeast tour, 2008, comes to an end.
E-Mail Fred at fhpjrrom@gmail.com