Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

This book has been written as a sequel to the book, “My Sheep Hear My Voice.” It is primarily for those of you who have heard the first teaching or have studied it many times. I doubt that most of you are walking in the fullness of this teaching that you desire. Those of you who are not walking in that fullness might possibly appreciate further help in learning to walk in this truth. This book will help you do just that.

CHAPTER 1

TO KNOW TRUTH

It’s one thing to hear truth and even to acknowledge that something is truth. But it’s altogether a different thing for a particular truth to be in your spirit and ruling your life. There is a little hitch that comes between these two situations. Scripture warns that in the last days people will be ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7) There is a point when you know truth. The Word says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) There is a freedom that comes with knowing the truth, but you don’t really know a truth until that truth has become a part of you and is ruling your life. The greater knowledge and personal experience that you have with that truth, the greater freedom you have from any lies contrary to that truth, and the less power satan has to rob that seed of truth from you. There are things that I know that I know. Satan doesn’t even try to take those things away from me. It would be ridiculous. All he can do is try to distract me away from them.
Getting the truths in the book, “My Sheep Hear My Voice” into your lives is no simple matter. It wasn’t expected to be. Some of you may have assumed that you would have been walking in this quickly. You found that it isn’t all that simple. There is a tremendous amount of truth in that teaching and it represents many years of experience and walking with God. Much of it you already have settled within your life, yet there are some key areas that are not yet in your life. You don’t really get the flow and the function, the actual fruit of what should be produced through that truth, operating regularly in your life. You can get your environment under control, concentrate and acknowledge God, hear him, and he will direct your path. Then the first thing you know you have gone half a day and you haven’t done it, or you actually try to do it and suddenly you can’t hear him or you are hearing the wrong voice. There is a growing and maturing needed for you to get beyond that point.
The particular teaching that I feel the Lord wants me to address is a major area that makes a difference in whether or not you ever walk in the fullness of the teaching “My Sheep Hear My Voice.” I want to break it down so that you are able to obey God, hear his voice, and do what he is saying. You need to understand every part of it, how it works in you, why it doesn’t work, and how God sees it. Then it will be easier for you to examine yourself. Therefore the whole basis of this teaching is an outline for self-examination. This teaching will move you from only hearing to obeying what you hear. For that reason I am going to make one critical point, the most critical point that will determine if you will ever come into walking in this teaching. I want to break it down to the point that you fully understand it. I ask that you bear with me, because a lot of the things that I’ll share with you, you already know, just like you already knew them in the teaching “My Sheep Hear My Voice”. But there is something about putting all the pieces together, and getting every little piece, precept upon precept, line upon line, every little bit in its place. You need to get all the pieces of the foundation in the right place and when you have finished you can build your house on it. It will be laid correctly and solidly. It will stand the test of time and any storm satan tries to bring.
Too many people are wanting to grab something and take off with it when they don’t really understand it. It’s kind of like understanding electric lights. We can enjoy the lights by simply flickng the switch. Most of us are content to do that, but what if the lights go out and there are no electricians around? I’d better have more knowledge about lights and how they work than just flipping the switch, or we are going to sit in darkness from then on. I must at least have enough knowledge to check a fuse box, change a bulb or something. Every little bit of knowledge I get can make the difference in whether I sit in the dark or get the lights back on. If it’s more serious we have to pay so much an hour for an electrician so we don’t sit in the dark. Some people have learned how to check it all out and replace the wall switch or whatever. You can get a “do-it-yourself” book and learn how to troubleshoot problems. A little more study, a little more detail, and the first thing you know you are more efficient at maintaining the lights in your home.
Part of what I want to share in this book is along this line. I can tell you what to do, but when things don’t work right and you don’t understand, you have problems getting it to work again. I am going to give you an outline so that you can examine yourself. The scriptures say, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5). I want you to be able to examine yourself and know if you are walking in obedience to God or not, and to what level you are walking in obedience. If you are not walking in obedience to God, you need to find out why. Not only that, you also need to find out what to do about why you are not walking in obedience to him. We are going to get this down to the nitty-gritty. If you have already decided to be lukewarm and never come into the knowledge of the truth, then this teaching will be boring to you or very convicting, depending upon how calloused you have become. If you have come to the conclusion that you are not where you should be, or where you desire to be (because of ignorance or lack of knowledge) then this teaching will give you some valuable insight and knowledge on how to find out what is wrong within yourself and how to deal with it.
I am going on the assumption that you are reading this book because you have read the first book, “My Sheep Hear My Voice.” I assume that you are now reading this book because you are trying to walk in the first teaching. This teaching is going to help you move on in the Lord. There wasn’t enough time in the first book to expand every important area. So before I go any farther, I want to share with you a little more so you understand where we are going.
The first teaching was very important so you could realize that you can hear God and have a close relationship with him. It was revelation to a lot of people. Theoretically you knew it but in reality many of you didn’t think it was possible. The fact that you can hear God and have this fellowship, be in communion with him, and be led by his Spirit was a real revelation to some of you. Practical steps on how to prepare your vessel for that walk of fellowship is also what the other teaching is all about.
You need to understand that there is a purpose for hearing God. God didn’t just decide for you to hear his voice and have fellowship with him. It isn’t just for fellowship. God’s children are being trained for a purpose. “For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26) It, as well as the universe, have all been prepared for God’s children. We are the heirs of our Father’s heritage. There is a time set when he will place each one of his children in a position of authority in that kingdom of the universe. The Lord will begin now, in testing and trials, to determine your worthiness to rule in eternity. It will culminate in appointed positions with the authority and the glorified body that will enable us to do whatever God has commanded. During the millennial period here on earth, we will rule and reign with Christ. But that’s only the pre-game warm up. That’s only for a thousand years. At the end of that one thousand years, the Bible says that God will make a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 21:1) He will move the new Jerusalem down on this earth. (Revelation 21:2) From there his children will rule the universe. That’s us! What are you going to rule? Are you going to rule 40 acres over in the North corner of Nebraska somewhere or are you going to be in charge of a planet? Most of us never think in this realm but you need to understand that this is reality. This isn’t a “pie in the sky” story. It is reality. It is important that you understand that what happens in this life is going to determine your position in eternity. We are not going to be sitting around on the clouds playing harps. Our Father has a universe to run. The Bible says, “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) If you want to release the breaks and let your imagination run, you can get pretty overwhelmed when you realise your Father has such creative powers. There is no limit to what he could provide for you. Whatever your wildest imaginations could come up with, the Bible says that our Father has prepared things for us that have never even entered the heart of man. To realise that he has prepared some things that have never even entered into our minds is pretty awesome. I’m not dwelling on this but I want you to understand that this reality. If we are on the other end, if we are sons of disobedience, then we have hell to look forward to. We can try to ignore it all we want, but someday people are going to end up in hell, and they are not going to be able to ignore it anymore.
We can go through a false humility and say, “Lord, build me just a cabin in the corner of glory land”. I don’t want a cabin, I’ve lived in enough cabins down here! I’m not interested in a cabin anymore. I can tell by the description of that city that log cabins would not fit in very well. Rustic décor wouldn’t look good in a setting described as having streets paved with gold, gates of pearl, and walls of precious stone. We are not to be seeking God for the reward he has for us in heaven. That is not to be the motive for serving God. I serve him because I love him. But the Bible says,”…for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6b) That is reality. We are going to rule and reign with Christ for eternity. What we are doing now is determining what that position will be. This thing is more serious than just a doctrine. It’s a way of life for you to have fellowship with your Father, the greatest gift of all. It is not whether I have a gold mansion. The greatest thing is that I can have fellowship with my Father and my Lord for eternity. There will be no more sorrow, no more sadness. The beauty of it is that I can have that now. That’s what the other teaching (“My Sheep Hear My Voice”) is all about. I can start having the earnest of my inheritance now. I’ve got that fellowship and relationship with him now, but I’ve also got sorrow, pain, and suffering along with it. I’m looking forward to the day when I have that relationship in my glorified body, with no more suffering or sorrow, no more attacks from satan or anything else. That’s going to make it beautiful.
There is a progression. God is choosing those who can be led by his Spirit to determine how we are going to reign in eternity with him. You start off by getting to know him. How many of you, in your persuit of getting to know God and learning how to fellowship with him and hear his voice, found out that your flesh didn’t like some of the things he said to you? I think everyone can bear witness to that. He didn’t tell you all the good things that you would like to hear. He said, “I want you to deal with this and that. That’s hindering our fellowship.” God is against anything that separates you from him. For that reason part of what you have been hearing from God is dealing with things of your flesh that he has commanded you to get rid of. It isn’t pleasant. So we say, “I’m not so sure I like this so well or not. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind. Well I want to do this, but, but, but,…” We will put it off a little while.
I felt like I had everything in the world on me when I started on this walk. The Lord didn’t pat me on the back or anything else. I wanted a little sympathy after what all I had been through, but all he said was, “You did what I told you to do.” The Bible says, “…when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10) Now that doesn’t minister to our ego much, does it? If you ever get to the point where you finally did everything right, then you have only come up to the level of being an unprofitable servant. That’s not what our ego wants to hear. It’s not what our flesh wants to hear, but it’s truth. God is serious. The problem is that we haven’t gotten serious yet. God has always been serious. Yes, there is a wooing time. Arthur Burt said, “The Spirit on you woos you, but a work in you weds you.” God woos us so that he may wed us. Some of you have had the wooing, and now the wedding is coming and you are not liking that as much, because that requires a work within. The joining together (communion between you and God) requires a work in you. God is already perfect. He can only be joined with that which is perfect so that which is imperfect in you is being burned out and removed.
That is not pleasant. So, a little thing shows up in me called disobedience. I’m hearing God and he is commanding me, but I am perfecting the art of disobedience. A hypocrite is one who disobeys, but leaves the impression that they obey. We, as American Christians, have gotten especially good at that. We have learned how to paint a picture that tells the unlearned and undiscerning people that we are obedient leaders. Yet God looks at the heart and says, “I don’t know you. You are children of rebellion. You have not obeyed me.” This is far more serious than some of you may realize. He has brought us to him, he has wood us by his Spirit, and he has poured out his grace on us. Some of you have a fellowship with God even though you know deep down that you don’t deserve that kind of fellowship. God has covered everything in your life and you still have that fellowship by grace. That’s good. There is nothing wrong with that. But you need to understand that is not the end of it.
When you have a small child, you love that child and all it does is lie there, eat, and make messes. You are so patient with it. You can’t talk to it but you will make all kinds of noises and act like you understand what it’s saying. You smile at it and you think it’s so brilliant because it threw it’s rattler on the floor. You praise all these little accomplishments and are so proud. Then your six year old comes by and thinks you’re so proud because the baby threw something on the floor, so the six year old throws their food on the floor and they get their britches busted. They wonder what’s wrong! What was cute in the six month old was not cute in the six year old. And six year olds can do some things that are not cute when they’re sixteen. Sixteen year olds can do some things that aren’t cute when they are twenty-six.
Some of you haven’t understood this principle. You liked the way God treated you when you were six months old. He has fed you and had his shepherds lead you into green pastures. You’ve been weaned but you are still lying around waiting on someone to change your diapers. God says that it’s time to grow up. A lot of people never want to grow up physically, mentally or emotionally. Have you ever seen any forty year old teenagers? They don’t want to grow up, but it isn’t funny. Up to a certain age we all want to be older. Then when we are older we all want to be or act like we are younger. We are never content with the state we are in. Most people go their whole life wanting to be in another age group. They never want to be the age they are. That’s satan working in that old Adam nature from the very beginning to be in rebellion against what God has for your life. If God has you as a five year old you need to act as a five year old. He doesn’t want you to act as a ten year old. He wants you to act like you’re five, going on six. He doesn’t want you to jump from age five to age ten. He wants you to go from age five to age six. If you go from five to ten, then he may want you to minister to someone who is in the six, seven, eight, or nine age group and you don’t know anything about it. You have no experience. There is a growing up process that is necessary. Paul said, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Part of this training of knowing how to get to God, fellowship with him, and hear his voice is a process of purification. God said, “…Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) He is going to start making you holy. The only way for you to become holy is for you to get rid of what is unholy. That is not a pleasant process for your flesh, but you don’t need to make a Hollywood production out of it. You need to get that done and out of the way. Then he is going to train you, once you have yielded to that work, allowed him to break you, and have dealt with that old nature. The Bible says you then will be chosen to be a vessel of honour in the house of the Lord.
There is no greater honour than to be a Christian. The deciples were first called Christians at Antioch. (Acts 11:26) The term “Christian” means a follower of Christ. Some have labelled themselves “Christians” and then have been wrong in deeds or actions, but it doesn’t make the term itself or the principal of what God is saying incorrect. The United States calls itself a “Christian” nation. That almost makes me ashamed to call myself a Christian, but it doesn’t change what the Bible says a Christian is. It’s a name that you should be honoured to be called. That name has been dishonoured by people who call themselves Christians when they are not Christians in their behaviour and actions. A mature Christian not only follows Jesus, but they will also manifest his character and behaviour.
There is in this life a goal that we are to obtain as children of God. Our Father is not training and leading us by accident. He has a purpose in our lives in this time that we are living in; and in any age, the purpose of our lives remains the same. That purpose is described in Ephesians 4:11-16, “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; Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of me, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
Christ walked as the Son of God. He walked in that authority and power. He was the first fruit. But the Bible says that in the last days before Jesus comes back, all creation will be groaning and travailing, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:18-22) We are in the last days. We are in the preparation time when God is preparing the sons of God, both males and females. We are right on the verge of giving birth to the manifested sons of God.
There are at least three areas that God has called me to deal with. First, to teach people to hear his voice and have that fellowship with him, so that he can start that preparation in them (“My Sheep Hear My Voice”). Second, to teach people to obey his voice. If you will not obey his voice, you will never come into maturity (“My Friends Obey My Voice”). Thirdly, to teach people how, when and why God is producing his manifested sons, so they can carry out the final acts the Bible says they are ordained to fulfil (“The manifested sons of God”). This message of learning to obey God’s voice has a purpose in it, the end of which will cause you to become a manifested son of God. That is where God is going to take you in this book.
There is going to be a time in history when the sons of God are going to stand up as the church and they will have the authority of God and be directed by God’s Spirit. They won’t be self-made or proud, and they won’t be building their own kingdoms. It will be a people who are humble before God. They won’t be some goofy cult calling themselves “the sons of God”. They probably wont even be calling themselves that. They will just be called Christians, but they will be the manifested sons of God. That is the subject of my book, “The Manifested Sons of God,” but I’m not going to get into that now. You need to understand that this teaching on obeying God’s voice is maturing you into a manifested son of God. As he breaks you and changes you, he is moulding you to become another son like his first Son, Jesus. He wants you to become the fullness and the measure of the stature of Jesus, so that you can go forth in the authority of Jesus. Jesus said, “…He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.” (John 14:12) I want to tell you right now, God is going to have to do something with our vessels if we are going to do greater works than Jesus did. That is exactly what he is doing. He is having to reform us, remould us, and re-equip us. The old way we have been trained and the way we have been going is not getting us within a light year of where Jesus was. There must be another avenue. The only way you will ever be like Jesus is to let him be in you. You will never get good enough to live like Christ. The only way you are ever going to live like Christ is to let Christ live in you. That sounds hard on your flesh. It is hard on your flesh. It will kill your flesh. The whole purpose of this training is to get rid of “you” so that it doesn’t leave anything but Jesus. When there is nothing left but him, you will be a manifested son of God. I’ll tell you right now, God is not going to let up on you until there is nothing left but his Son. He is going to empty everything out of you that is not in agreement with his Son Jesus.
To explain how this works, let me use the example of a sculptor who had a big block of granite. He decided to sculpt a horse out of it. Someone asked him, after looking at that big block of granite, “How in the world are you ever going to get a horse out of that big block of rock?” He said, “It’s simple. You just cut away everything that doesn’t look like a horse.” Now that is easy for the master to say, because he could look at that block of granite and see a horse there. His approach was to cut away everything that didn’t look like a horse and he ended up with a horse. When our Father looks at us, he says, “I’m going to make you like my Son.” What he does is start cutting away everything that doesn’t look like his Son. When he get’s done, all he will see is his Son. By his grace, if you are submissive and obedient to him, he will only see his Son while he is working on you. That’s why we can have that communion and fellowship right off the bat. As soon as you submit to the master’s hand and he starts the work, all he sees is the Son. He just chops away what is not the Son and doesn’t concentrate on what is in the way.