The Meaning of Life - 6. I Will Do It Through You — Norman Grubb

Thank you, Lord, you're the ever-present, living God, Father, Son, Spirit. Where we are, you are. Where you are, we are. Here, through this week, precisely the same person at home and everywhere. You're there, you've unveiled yourself to so many hearts and lives through the world, and you're unveiling yourself through us to others in the world.

So we thank you for your manifested presence these hours, these days. Thank you, in Jesus' name. Well, it's been a blessing and inspiration to share the joy and love and freedom and praise and fellowship and worship in this liberated bunch.

I meant body, I'm sorry. With the Lord in us and among us, my purpose through these hours we've had together, as I quoted from the scriptures at the beginning, was that maybe we who are already his saints may have the eyes of our understanding, enlightened, we may understand and know a little more.

Knowing the Way of God More Perfectly

Or, as it was quoted also from Acts, we might know the way of God more perfectly. So we've been seeking, haven't we, to look into, from the revelation of God's word, what the way of God is more perfectly.

And we've found that wonderful way to be his purpose of eternity. To bring into being a vast family of sons through his own son. And to level those sons up with his own son as brethren. To give them the inheritance of the universe.

And by his sons, to be his living manifested self. By his living manifested self. The lover father, by the lover sons. And to be so established in himself that that's just how we live. So we're not getting people, we are being people.

We're not becoming people, we're being people, we're in this living relationship. So we trace how, in order that we might know ourselves as who we are, we've had to go through these processes. The process of being the wrong kind of person.

And then having been disillusioned about being the wrong kind of person, he himself, who created us, who always is the head of his church, besides the fact that he's the head of the universe, himself came as one of us, identified himself with us, entered into our sufferings, and then by his act of death cut us off from this false spirit of error which had distorted our humanity.

And in his resurrection, relate us to himself, to begin the true life of being the true person. We find the beginning of that true person has been, as we moved in by faith, his witness, that we were his, redeemed, the sins blotted out, dead to sin, alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ, related to him as saviour, lord, and God as father.

And then we were led on to see that there was a final misunderstanding of the human self, from which we had to be delivered, that we may operate with the right understanding of how a human self operates.

And we find that was the illusion of being an independent self, which we picked up from Satan, and when we're in Christ it's an illusion, we're not an independent self. In Christ we're a self which is really his, his self, expressed by myself, in a union.

The Union Self and Freedom from Romans 7

But not knowing that, as redeemed people we went through the phase of the illusion of independent self, which in the Bible is put in the terms of Romans 7, when we're seeking to live the renewed life of the spirit in us by our own independent acts.

Until we finally become disillusioned on that level also. And we discover that the appearance of an independent self in redeemed persons is an illusion, there's no such thing. And therefore the last sin which we commit really is trying to be good, instead of trying to be bad, because trying is an independent self.

And so this second break takes place, second recognition, that what we really are is not an independent self but a union self, a united self, which the real self is not we but Christ. And we move in again by faith, into recognition that forever now our life is never we again, it is actually this living person expressing himself by us.

And we enter into this consciousness of union. And we live by a consciousness, because when we've got a consciousness it's we. And in that sense we never really need a blesser outside, because he's the blesser forever inside.

Well, we're so blessed we're a blessing now. See God from the very beginning said to Abraham, I bless you and make you a blessing. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. A dear friend came to me last night and said, will you bless me?

Well, I said, I'll tell you, you've got the blesser inside you so you don't need my blessing. He's forever your blessing. You see, we enter into a new relationship. We don't need the outside. We don't need it for fellowship and joy and friendship, but not for an increase.

Maybe for confirmation, not for greater reality. You can't have a greater reality. You can't have a greater reality. You are Christ in human flesh. Can you have greater than that? You are the living Christ in human flesh.

You're the living God expressed by your humanity. That's what this vine and branch union means. A branch is the vine expressed in its branch form. And we are the vine expressed in our branch form. So, the Lord's seeking to settle us into a permanent conscious relationship in which there never is a lack again.

Soul Reactions and the Present Reality of Christ

As we sought to explain, the lack comes through our soul reactions. Our soul is not our spirit. Our spirit is our inner self, which is united to his self. So, our real inner self, joined to Lord One Spirit, is he and we, and it's he and it's we, this oneness.

Now, in the soul life, we get disturbances. So, we may feel dry or feel cold or feel we need renewal. We never need renewal. Permanent renewal is here. What do I need renewal for? I never need an external drink of living water.

Living water is here. I never need a further bite of the bread. The bread is here. The recognition of this person is the eternal bread, is the eternal light, is the eternal life. He is the all. And so, we're moving into the I am life.

Not the I want life. Not the I need life. I always like to change that hymn. I need thee, oh, I need thee. When I sing it, I whisper to myself, I have thee, oh, I have thee. Thank you. There's no I need.

You need what you haven't got. You have what you have got. So, we've moved into a having life, an amming life, an ising life, a being life. And you'll find as you read through the scriptures, it emphasizes the present fact of who we are.

Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Who hath raised us up together with him. Who hath seated us in heavenly places. Hath put us far above the satanic power. And so on and so on.

So, again, I'm always stressing. All I am is my inner consciousness. I am my inner self. That's all I am. My inner knowing self. I operate always from my knowing self. And this is what this revelation has moved us into.

The knowing self. First of all, knowing I'm a saved self. Which has brought me into a relationship. That's the first step. The justified relationship. Knowing I'm a saved self. I'm a forgiven self. I'm an accepted self.

I'm a cleansed self. But there's a little tendency remain of self and he. Because I'm just beginning. So I see myself as a cleansed and redeemed and accepted and loved self and a member of the family of God.

But it's rather a little bit. I'm here and I'm in the family. And he's here and he's there and he's there. That still leaves us, as we point out, in this dangerous idea. Well, I'm still an independent self.

That's what I said. And we go through an area where we try to work it by ourselves. Where we have to have a second revelation somehow. That the real self is not I. The real self is a union. A tremendous fact.

A union. A tremendous fact. A union. A final branch of unity. Head and body are unity. And then, don't you understand? When this sinks into my consciousness, I live by my consciousness. As I kept telling you day by day.

You operate your profession because you're conscious. Not because you've got something out there. Because you know how to practice medicine. You know how to cook. You know how to teach. It's become you.

It's become a consciousness. You operate your profession or run your home, whatever it is, at ease because you know how to do it. Not because of the materials outside. But because the knowing is inside and the knower uses the materials.

At your home, in your cooking or your teaching or secretarial work or engineering, whatever it is. That's knowing. And so we've seen that this is what is the fact about us. What is the fact about us. That we are in this indescribable relationship.

The Gospel as a Change of Indwelling Deity

In which the human is the container, the manifester of the deity. And we've changed deities. We were manifesters of the spirit of error. As the Bible says. According to the course of this world, we're manifesters of the spirit of error.

So we were compulsively self-centered. We couldn't be anything else. Because the spirit of error is the spirit of Satan. Who is the spirit of self-centeredness. So we were compulsively eye for eye for me.

And everything was geared around that. Whether it was good works or bad works, it was eye for me. And that union has been changed. All the gospel is this change of union. All the gospel is this change of union.

Change if you regard yourself as a vessel. Of course a vessel is not a perfect illustration. Because the vessel and what's in it are not one. They're two separate entities. It's a stepping stone, if you like.

It's a change of what's in the vessel. That's a scriptural description. Because in Romans 9 it says everybody is a vessel. What's in the vessel? You're either a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy. A vessel of wrath is a human that contains the deities to whom wrath comes.

The false god. The god of this world. The vessel of mercy is the same human who contains the deity by whom mercy and all God's fullness comes. Jesus Christ. So all the gospel is this change of God. It's not a change of you.

And when we enter into this new relationship, you're a new person. Not because you're new. Your humanity remains the same. That's by how God gets out. God gets out through our humanity. If we hadn't got appetite, faculties and abilities, God couldn't get out.

Equally, that's why we can be tempted. Because our privilege is to be on the level with the world. So that doesn't change. But what has changed is the deity within us. And when it becomes a consciousness, it becomes an ease.

And you never go outside yourself. Technically, you'll never need prayer again. Technically, you'll never need the Bible again. Our father, in faith, had no Bible. But he walked with God. That was Abraham.

He had no Bible. He walked by an inner consciousness of an inner person. And he's our father. So don't try to be bigger than your father. He walked with God and knocked us all. He never remained down here at all.

He popped up. He was not. For God took him. So you see, technically, you won't even need a Bible or prayer. Because you are you. A Bible is an agency by which I can find I am who I am. And be thrilled to find a little more about who I am and how I operate.

And how He operates by me. That's all the Bible is. It's an agency to reveal to me or remind me who I am. Which is I'm not I. I'm the living God in one of His human expressions. Prayer is the same thing.

Prayer isn't to get something. Prayer is, in its one form, a recognition. Isn't it wonderful? Can it really be? I live the life I now live by Him who loved me and gave Himself for me? Yeah, that's my hope.

That's why we have a person of Jesus. We know what God is because He's like Jesus and Jesus loved. Therefore you love. So the prayer is partly to help us to refresh ourselves. And the fact is this is a real fact.

It really is. Quite apart from what appearance is, feelings don't go by feelings. Feelings you may feel absolutely blank. So prayer may refresh us in who we are. You see, there's a hidden secret if you see it.

Union with God and the Meaning of Conscious Recognition

You see, let me now get this over to you. You can't see an absolute, an unlimited, a universal. You can only be part of it. You'll only see universal by something which isn't universal, which exposes it.

One is known as one because there's a two kind of thing. Now you see, we move back to the universal. We're universal. We're part of the universal one. So there's a sense in which you don't even know God.

You are He. Do you get it? So you can know about Him. You can think about Him. That's not what you think about Him. That's it. But that's not it. You are He. He and I are one person. And you don't really know yourself.

You are yourself. You know yourself. You just say, I am. You may know a little about yourself. But who I am is all. But my new I am is, I am, I am. Yes, I am. But is Christ here? Is Christ expressed by me?

That's the I am. The union I am. So really, knowing Christ, knowing God is even beyond conscious knowing. It's just being. And ultimately God has to get us there. Because if it's by conscious knowing, why do I know Him?

Is He here? Then you get frightened. Is He gone? Is He lost? And often, you know, we come to conferences to get what we already have. Which is rather silly. It may help us. We come to conferences to get what we...

We oughtn't. We oughtn't to come to rejoice in what we have, not get it. We oughtn't to come to conferences to get refreshed. We oughtn't to come to conferences so refreshed we're going to be co-refreshers to each other.

See, we mustn't... Somehow, patiently, God's got to get us off the outer into the inner. And the outer is as if I'm a separate person. I've got to have this, got to have that, need this. And then I'm in my difficulties and I'm in and out.

But the inner is a fixed fact. And so patiently God has to teach us. Come back to the fixed fact. You can't have more. This living person is you. He's the all. You really are the universe, because He's the universe.

So the universe is inside you, really. We're all. So we've got to learn, He's the all. He's the wisdom here. He's the power. He's life himself. He's the love. He's the all. And begin to be conscious. That's what I am, therefore.

I'm the all. I'm the love, because I'm expression of Christ in me. I'm the power, I'm expression of Christ in me. I'm the wisdom, because I'm expression of Christ in me. This is the union. This is what the revelation is here for.

Because, you see, I'm to be permanently a person, detached from myself, involved in other things. I can't be involved in other things if I'm attached to myself. When I'm detached from myself, I can be involved with other people.

That's the whole principle. God's detached from himself. God's not caring about himself. He's himself. He's busy giving himself. He's busy being a lamb that's slain. He's busy pouring himself out. He hasn't got time to think about himself, because he just is himself, that's all.

So he doesn't think about that. When you know who you are, you're detached from who you are, and you can give yourself to others. When you're finding out who you are, you've got to come back all the time and have to be quite sure who you are.

And fuss around it. So God's purpose is to teach us to be defussed. And to cease to fuss. And the way not to fuss is the faith which constantly recognizes. The greatest word I know is recognition. See, recognition is recognizing a fact.

It's what faith is. See, faith, as I might say, disappears and becomes recognition. What I mean is this. I've put it to you before. Now, by faith you say, I'll come into this room. Now, you're not in the room yet.

But your faith believes there is a room. Your faith is your choice. I choose, I go to that room. So faith is, there's a room, there's a meeting, I'm going there. All right, your faith has, by faith, taken the fact of a room.

You haven't got there yet. Now, when you come in this room, you don't say, I believe I'm in the room. Do you? I am in the room. Faith dissolves and becomes fact. Faith always dissolves and becomes fact.

I take Jesus, that dissolves, you've got him. Oh, he's mine. You've changed faith to fact. You see what I mean? And so that's why the best word for faith is recognition. Because it's not getting, it's, oh, that's a fact, that's a fact, that's a fact.

So there's a certain element in this life, and that's sometimes where worship is valuable, and prayer, to refresh me in my recognition. Refresh me in my recognition. And I'm going to learn to recognize the fact.

And the whole pressures around me are to teach me to recognize. The negative pressures you into the positive. If a thing is too bitter, you work at it to make it sweet. If a bed's too soft, you work at it to make it too hard, you work at it to make it softer.

Life is negative, forces you into replacing it by the positive. If a thing's rough, you work at it to make it more smooth. If a thing's ugly, you work at it to make it more beautiful. That's what life is.

Recognizing God in Temptation and Difficulty

So all our negatives here are to press us into our recognition. Not getting something, recognizing something. So all our temptations and all our problems are to give us a chance, a chance to say, I feel like hell this morning.

I don't love God a bit. And God loves you to be honest. If you don't love Him, be busy telling Him. The best kind of prayer you can pray is to come and say, God, I don't love you a bit this morning, take that.

And God says, oh, I like that, now you're honest, I'll show you who you are. I'm you in me. I'm you, you'll find you love me, because your love's in me. My love's in you. So you see, you're honest. So you just have these outer pressures, whatever the hell they may be upon us, but they are the negatives which press us into recognition.

Recognition is facts of facts of facts. If I die, they're facts. Though He slay me until I trust Him, that's the facts. So that's really the basis of this. Now, as I say, when we're released from finding out facts about ourselves and settling in the facts about ourselves, we're released then to be an agency for bringing these facts to other lives.

That's this third level. That's this father level. When you're freed, you know who you are, you're Christ in you, you're God in you, now you're with God, you're operating, and how He manifests Himself through you.

And that's why we talked a little yesterday about the absurdity of external faith. Internal faith is absurd enough to believe I'm not either Christ. That's absurd enough, but for the Word of God, but for the revelation of Jesus Christ, who's going to believe that?

That's why those who haven't got Jesus Christ don't find God. In transcendental meditation, you don't find God. Of course, you only find God because He's been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. And He's made the Father, the Living Father to us.

So through Him you know Him. So that's absurd enough faith. When I move in and say, He is my Lord, who says so? He is my Saviour. And when you say, I'm a former hymn, you're saying something. The Bible says that.

You say those things. Now that's absurd, but we move on to the great absurdity of faith when you begin to operate with God in everything. And one of those first absurdities is cease to see evil. Oh, that's an important point.

We're all bugged by evil. We're bugged by it. Oh, I'm going home now. Look what I'll find there. I see evil. Oh, I shall meet this problem. I shall meet these things. Oh, oh, oh, oh. We're always, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Life is groaning and grunting until we get a bit of praise. You get some praise here, praise God. But we've got to have one that lasts at home as well, haven't we? See, we groan and grunt because we're seeing things that we wish they were different.

Is there one other thing not to see evil? It always catches me. I always start that way. Oh, goodness sake. I always start that way. I hate public speaking. That's my private hell. It's pretty well a hell for you who have to listen, but that's what I do.

But, so you see, I always have to say I don't like it. I don't want to do it. It's horrible. I say, well, all right, as you're getting on with it. You're all right. If you mean this, all right, you do the speaking.

What mistakes? It doesn't matter. Your mistakes. It's your fault anyhow. So I'll go to it. If I speak too quickly, it's your fault also. If I speak English, it's your fault also. So there we are. So you see, but isn't it a great thing?

I find every time when I see evil, oh, can I enter the absurdity of faith? That looks evil. And God meant it to be because it came out of freedom, which came out of my misuse of myself. So he's not responsible for the evil.

It came out of my misuse of freedom. But because I'm all these precious people, and because he's everywhere, he says, okay, because I'm the redeemer of God, I mean that to be a thing in which I'm going to show myself a new way.

I'm seeing a perfect God going to come out in perfect situations, in a horrible situation. Oh, you find a tremendous victory. So it sinks into me. I will not see evil. It's there. But my seeing is to be God's seeing.

It's self sees evil. It's the devil sees evil. It's there. You see, he's the person who redeems from evil. He's the person who transforms evil into good. He transforms sinners and saints, doesn't he? So you see, if I can begin to catch, it's a tremendous release.

Accepting Difficult People as Objects of Redemption

Oh, no, I'm not seeing that. God meant that to be. God meant a wrong thing to be wrong. Because that's our freedom. But he's there because he's going to change that wrong thing to a right one. He's going to put redemption in there.

To me, that makes a great difference in accepting people. That's why the word meaning means so much to me. See, we all have difficult people, haven't we? Of course, we're never difficult. It's always the other fellow.

We know that. We're surrounded by difficult people. Now, if I see a difficulty, well, if I even say God changed them, I'm still seeing a difficulty. If I say God meant the difficulty, oh. If a kid or an adult has gone way off.

We call adults go way off as well as kids. Have gone way off. Maybe us seeing things in our children or our children seeing things in us. Whichever way you like. Way off. Now, oh, I wish it wasn't. If I could say, God, you meant that person to be just like that now.

I'm released. You meant that person to be fulfilling their self just now in sin, if necessary. We all start that way. You meant it. Oh. Because you meant to be themselves, but you're there right in that self.

And you're going to use that thing to turn them back into yourself. Now, I'm released. I haven't got to fuss. I haven't got to fuss at them because they've gone wrong. I've got to accept they've gone wrong.

And maybe if I'm able to say so. If it's a thing in which I can tell a person they say so. But in saying, I say, God's going to change you. When an atheist comes and talks to me, I don't try and change his atheism.

I say, OK. If you enjoy your atheism, go to it. I say, you're tired of it. When you've had enough of it, I'll tell you a better way. I don't try and change the atheism. I say, enjoy your atheism while you can.

When you've had enough, I'll give you some theism in its place. That's all. So we release people. I always do that. When people come to me with problems, don't come to me with a problem. Because I say, you're the problem.

That's all. Why do I say that? Because you're seeing a problem. That's why. I don't say there isn't a problem. You're seeing it as a problem. That's why you bring it as a problem. If you say, OK. It looks like a problem.

God meant this. God meant that book situation. My wife to be like that. My husband to be like that. All right, God. You meant it to be like that now. I accept that. I don't like it. I accept it. There may be times, of course, when you say something.

But I'm here with saying, God, you're there. You're doing a changing job. You're purposed to change that person. I'm with you there. I'm thanking God by the word of faith. That's central. That person's changed.

They don't know it yet. That person's saved. They don't know it yet. That's the release. So the problem is in the person who sees it as a problem. Not the problem. My point. So be careful. You're the problem.

And when the person comes to me all fussed up about their husbands or vice versa, I say, I'm not fussed about them. I'm fussed about you. And when they say, will you pray with me? I say, no, I won't pray with you.

I won't waste my time. No, you don't need it. I won't pray with you. I'll tell you something. I'll tell you that what's wrong is you're seeing devil instead of seeing God. Now, if you have faith, and you can say with me now, God, my husband's precious, if it's her wife's husband, my husband's precious to you.

He's been bought by the blood of Christ. He's redeemed. He doesn't know it. He just doesn't know who he is. He's precious to you. And your love, you're pressing in on people. So I'm believing you're pressing in on my husband even in his alcoholic condition or whatever it is.

Now, when you say that, I'll say it with you. I won't pray with you. I'll say it with you if you want. God, I'm herewith believing, thanking you, my husband, what you meant to be at the moment. I'm watching now.

The change is there. The change is going to come to place. And I accept that fact. That this revolution has taken place by faith in that person. That's the release. So I say there are no problems on earth.

There's no hunger left for us. Nothing for us to get, just to enjoy. That's it. One last thing is, can I take the privilege of a personal commission? I think I'm correct in saying, you see, we're not under the law.

Freedom from the Law and the Commissioned Life

There's no more left. We are the law. You're not that. We died to the law. Read Romans 6, 7. We're dead to the law. The law is only there when I'm a you ought person. When I think I'm independent, I think I ought to do this.

Or I said, OK, do it. So the law's an item. And I say, well, you ought to do so and so. But I don't do anything. All I ought to do is leave Jesus to do it. So if the law comes, I say, you talk to Jesus.

Don't talk to me. Because I'm Jesus in my human flesh. See, I don't answer. There's no more law. So you see, we are the law. The law of God is the principle of love. The law of the universe is a person who is loved.

And we are united. We're persons who are loved with him. So we are the law now. So we're not under the law. We don't obey the law. We are the law. When we're tempted, don't come back and say, Lord, give me love.

Say, I'm in love with you, Lord. With you I'm loving. Come back. Always say, I am. The I am position from your temptations. Now, therefore, we're not under the law. We have, what can we call, imperatives.

That's the commands. The commands aren't law. The commands aren't. That's the only way it works. That's not the command. Therefore, the redeemed. That's the only way. Of course, that's the only way. You agree.

You don't say you're under the law that you come to this weekend. You agree. You haven't thought a command. You've got to take your meals at the right time. Okay. A command is just what you agree with.

It's different. Now, I'm only saying this. I think that the commission life is something we've all to accept. The commission life, can I take this, is where the Holy Spirit, he has done so many of our lives, has come to us and says, this is a thing I do by you.

See, a commissioned life is a local life. That's why it's a body life. Spirit life, spirit can go anywhere. Spirit can reach out and believe anything anywhere. That's the glory of this wonderful adventure of faith and living.

We can turn anything into faith. The word of faith can be offered on any level, thank God. Spirit is universal. Body is not. Body is local. So, a commission is a body commission. Now, it means the spirit can be a very privileged way to you and me saying, now, there's something I'll do by you.

There's something I'll do by you. I'm going to do it by you. It's a sense of commission. I'm sure this is meant to be for all lives. It depends how far I see it. It doesn't come from me. The commission comes from Him.

See, this life is an easier life because it's a driven life. It's the Holy Spirit who takes us this way. Into this third area, where you're for others. It isn't you. You can't help yourself. Isn't that so with most of us here?

From my early life, when I first found Christ, I made a battle about three months after about a girl. She was a good girl, and we had a good friendship, but she didn't want to follow the Lord. The Lord said, drop her.

That cost me something. It cost me more than my salvation. When I said yes to that, and the girl went out, which is a blessing for her, I'm sure, and for me, Christ got a hold of me. It was just when I was going into the army in World War I.

I couldn't help myself. The moment Christ got a hold of me like that, and I saw I had eternal life, whether it's heaven or hell, I had eternal life. I was going with my whole crowd of soldiers. We were going to have a year's training.

They were going to the front, as we said in those days, and many of us would say we'd be dead in a year's time. I got to get eternal life to them. I was driven. I had to go and witness to the officers and witness to the soldiers, and so I had to do it.

An awful life. I thought, haven't you? I can't do it. I'm under a compulsion that by some means my life may be some way in which other people may find Jesus Christ. So the third area is a drive. It isn't a need.

I always like that scripture in Ezekiel 36. It's worth marking down. Verse 37 or something, where it says, I'll put my spirit within you. I will cause you to walk in my ways. You don't try to walk. You've got to walk.

The Holy Spirit, he makes you walk. If you slip, he picks you up and puts you back again. That's all. I don't mind slipping into a by-road if I know where the main road is. I just come back in. That's all.

So you've got to walk. I like Paul's, love of Christ constrains me. So a commission is not something I get. It's not something I get. It's something that gets me. Do you get that? It's got me. I can't help it.

Now the point of commission is God saying to you, this I do by you. This I do by you. That's the highest privilege you can have. This certain thing. Now many of you know him in our lives. I've had him again and again in my life.

This I do by you. Now that's action. That's when my body goes into action. All right? I go and do it. Whether it's witnessing or self-sacrificing, whatever activity it is. You dear friends have formed up this conference.

God says this I do by you. It's cost you a year's hard work. This I do by you. And so on. Now this is what the Bible speaks of as intercession. Now in the this I do by you, there's always what's equivalent to a death.

There's a sacrifice. There's a law of sacrifice that operates. Jesus made it of nature. All nature we eat, we live by what's died for us. All this world's built on you, you live by what dies for you. And so Jesus said that corn and wheat falls and dies.

Unless it dies, it abides alone. Corn is just corn and wheat. If it falls on the ground and dies, if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. At death comes resurrection. So in these commissions, there's a giving of myself to his finishing.

Intercession, Sacrifice, and Harvest

Now do you understand what I mean? Some of you know this in your life. I believe it's God's purpose for every one of us to know it. To have a sense, that's what I mean. God puts me, all right God, I'm into that.

I give myself. I lay down my life for it. I'm poured out on that thing. It may be temporary, or it may be a life thing. Some of us, it's been a life thing. Other things arise. And you'll find along the way, somewhere comes a death.

You pay a price, there's a death in it, and out of that comes a life. And the life is God's purpose to complete through that, what's called intercession. I mean, if I may, just a little intercession, many for that matter, my own life.

A little thing, but there's a death. I remember when I went to college after World War I. Now, we hadn't got too much work, because our brains had gone to seed for five years. So they more or less gave us degrees on a platter.

They just took them. I like that kind of college. So we had plenty of time. Now, I was on fire for Christ. In our university, there were very few. We had not a single professor. Dons, as we called them.