Grace Bible Church
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree Of Life
Week Ending 1-16-22

“PSD 10 Graduate Course – Exetazo (Examine Intently)”

In this week’s synopsis we will examine the following:
- First we will take a deeper look at PSD 10 and its application
- Christian fellowship
- What it is and what it isn’t
- Fellowship with God > fellowship with people
- Be of one mind in Christ Jesus
- Fellowship with the Trinity
- Results of Occupation with Jesus Christ
- PSD 10 to pass momentum testing
- 8 testing gates in the PPOG
- Gates 1 – 5 examined

Let us as always take a moment to prepare ourselves for the study of the word of God in the usual manner, by obeying the mandate of 1Joh 1:9 so that we can ensure the filling of the Holy Spirit and obtain metabolized epignosis knowledge, converted to spiritual phenomena in the soul, through His enabling power and ministry.

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2Pe 1:1-3 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

Jm 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Now that we are prepared to receive the word implanted and obtain epignosis knowledge from our PMAOBD (Perception, Metabolization or assimilation, Application Of Bible Doctrine), let’s get cracking. Last time we wrapped up the 10 PSD’s with PSD # 10, Occupation With Jesus Christ. This time we are going to take some time to examine the application, in particular how PSD # 10 can help you pass momentum and evidence testing, on a much deeper level. We are going to take a college course and receive a bachelor of happiness.

Wouldn’t you like to have a degree in that? Who wouldn’t? Only those who think they already have all the answers – but are they really happy? If they long for anything, or fear of anything so that it affets their choices and cases them to hold back, then they don’t have +H. We know there is only one way to get that!

But you can have it! Then you can teach a course of your own, without stepping into a classroom – your life will be the classroom and anyone who takes the time to notice your m.o. and your poise and ‘elpis’ - your confident conviction in the faithfulness of God - will be your student. We are told to be “living epistles” as in 2Co 3:2. This is the witness of every believer in Jesus Christ who takes up their cross and advances through PMA of BD to the high ground of spiritual maturity! How’s that for a pep talk? Now let’s get busy!

PSD # 10 – Occupation With Jesus Christ – Deep Study

Part I. The Divine Perspective on Christian Fellowship as it relates to Occupation with Christ.

Now, when it comes to the word fellowship, lets look at a passage that reveals to us the fellowship that counts.

We begin in

1CO 1:1-8 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then here is the important verse I wanted you to see.

1CO 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The fellowship with Christ is the fellowship that matters most. If you have fellowship with Jesus Christ, if you “abide in” Him and Him in you (Joh 15:4), your fellowship with others will be blessed and lovely. You will live under impersonal love toward others and personal love toward God. Problems won’t be problems for you, but rather welcome challenges. It’s hard to even imagine for us when we are in spiritual adolescence. But we believe that this is possible for each one of us because it does not depend on our own power but on His divine power which He pours out into us (Phi 4:13) more and more as we have more capacity for it.

The Corinthian church was having a lot of division and infighting because they were “as babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-3a) and were out of fellowship, AWOL from the PPOG. Remember that we cannot grow spiritually apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is why we practice rebound before we study the word to ensure we are using “the power which God supplies” (1Pe 4:11) and worship in spirit as well as in truth [doctrine] (Joh 4:24). When we do not practice this consistently and keep “short accounts”, we end up regressing and all kinds of petty disputes and arguments and divisions will happen to any group of believers, resulting in the destruction of the congregation, which is what the great divider – Satan - wants! He knows the principle of Sun Tzu (The Art of War) – divide and conquer!

If the Corinthians had been staying in the PPOG and living the faith-rest life, operating in virtue-love, they would not be having all these problems and living “as men of the flesh” aka unregenerate unbelievers. We are supposed to be set apart, and be a “light unto the world”; how can we do that if we are out of fellowship? Those unbelievers in our periphery will not say, “maybe there is something to Christianity after all, because this person is really different from anyone else.” They will say “he/she’s just the same as anyone else, there is nothing special about them. Just another religious nut.” This is a failure of the Royal Ambassador warrant!

Paul continues on,

1CO 1:10-18 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,5 that no man should say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
And then the divine solution which is the ultimate manifestation of occupation with Christ, and that is the Cross.7 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Pay close attention to the way the devil brings division into a church. He knows that we are supposed to be one body in Christ, but what happens in your body when your organs are not working together, when one or more is not fulfilling their role, or operating at reduced capacity? How does that affect the body as a whole? If a car engine has even a minor electrical problem or if one piston is out of whack, if one spark plug is not firing or the timing comes out of sync, what happens to the car? The rest of the engine has to work harder to cover the slack and eventually those other parts start to break down, right? Same in the human body. Same in the body of Christ! So the devil always works through his cosmic evangelists to sow discord and divisions in the local assembly and in the entire body of saints. Notice how many sects and factions and denominations there are in Christianity today, and what feuding there is among all of them. Are we not all collectively like the Corinthians, arguing and feuding?

Now there is legitimate need to stand firm against false teachings, especially false gospels and works programs which take the spotlight off of Jesus Christ and put it on man, to feed into our little malignant egos, this is another tactic, another “flaming dart” of the devil, who is the great genius of subversion and sabotage, and the original revolutionary. He divides us along doctrinal lines. But are we to take one another to court over it? Are we to form posses and attack them? Are we to fight against one wnother, or wage character assassinations, etc? Or are we to stand firm and state the truth “with gentleness”? Some believers will find fault with something a Pastor teaches and rather than set it aside and keep moving, or quietly leave and go to another PT if it is a “deal-breaker”, they will go around and slander the Pastor/church, they will devote energy to attacking the ministry.

This is a sign of arrogance and the devil will utilize this vulnerability to his own ends. Stay with a ministry long enough and you will see it. But point is, we should not “set aside doctrinal differences and sing Kumbaya by the fire”, but we are to find our right PT and submit to his teaching. If all believers were living inside the PPOG and advancing to maturity, though we might have differences of opinion on certain doctrines, we would not be at war against one another, we would be too busy minding our own business and serving in our spiritual gifts. How many believers in the world right now even practice rebound or believe in it? Therefore those who do not are continually out of fellowship and cannot live in God’s plan producing gold, silver, and precious stones (1Co 3:11-15) but rather, at best, produces a mound of dead works, or at worst, becomes a psycho Christian in cosmic 1 and 2, causing havoc wherever they are and doing more harm than good!

The big mistake believers make, even those who do rebound and operate inside the PPOG, is caused by confusion about the true meaning of Christian fellowship. That is what we are going to focus in on. Christian fellowship is not necessary for a believer to reach spiritual maturity! It is similar to how personal love for other human beings is not necessary and has no spiritual value or merit in the PPOG. Only personal love for God has merit because only God has intrinsic merit. Personally loving God is commanded throughout the scripture, but personally loving humanity is not, only IM-personally, aka agapao love. ‘Phileo’ or “brotherly/friendly which refers to personal love, is not mandated. Personal love is an enjoyable thing when properly motivated and enjoyed within the PPOG, personal love between two mature believers can be a fantastic thing. But it isn’t necessary. Similarly, Christian fellowship isn’t a bad thing, but it isn’t necessary. The confusion comes from the common translation of Heb 10:25

HEB 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

Now, when it says this, it is a very poor translation and I will show you why. It all centers around the word “encouragement” which is the present active participle of the Greek verb “parakaleo” which means to be encouraged or edified and built up. Remember this definition because we will come back to it again.

Because of fellowship with the Trinity through Bible doctrine, the believer in spiritual adulthood understands that Christian fellowship, which is social life and interaction with Christians, is not the basis for fulfilling the PPOG with the ultimate manifestation being occupation with Christ. Christian fellowship is a result of taking in doctrine, whether you assemble with other believers or get it on your own in certain places where one is isolated.

Christian fellowship is not possible for isolated believers due to their geographical location such as military service, illness, handicaps, or a job that conflicts with Bible class. But, that doesn't mean they cannot grow. It means that other ways must be a substitute for assembling so they can learn doctrine. In fact, being deprived of Christian fellowship may be just the blessing they need to get a good start in doctrine before they come into contact with other believers.

Other believers can really become a distraction. Often positive believers will not assemble in a local church because of false doctrine or wrong emphasis. And what happens when a Christian who is growing spiritually and has momentum has fellowship with a Christian who is out of fellowship and in reversionism? That could be good if the positive believer gets the negative believer back on track, but most often it goes the other way around. As they say, “the drowning man also drowns the saver.” If the negative believer comes to you for help, you had better give it! But if the postive believer is hanging out with the negative believer, and the latter has no interest in getting back on track, then this fellowship will not be positive for the former. The point, if it’s not clear, is that fellowship with believers is only good of those believers are “of one mind” and in fellowship with Jesus Christ, but can just as well be disastrous if not. But even in the best case, that fellowship is not a necessary part of the PPOG, and believers can reach maturity with or without it. What happens as a result of this confusion, is that believers think that social events and singles dances and hay rides and bonfires etc are spiritual and a part of the CWOL, and pretty soon those kind of things take over and PMAOBD gets put on the backburner. You see this in so many churches today, where doctrine is barely taught or not taught at all, and the main focus is having a good time, which they think is the definition of “worship”. This is destructive.

So, like everything in the eusebeia life, we always must put virtue first. Whatever is motivated by and produced by virtue, genuine virtue, which means personal love for God and impersonal love for mankind, which are interlocking PSD’s, is going to produce agapao, or intrinsic good, good that is rewarded at the judgment seat, but whatever is not, is wood hay and stubble which goes up in smoke when tested with fire (1Co 3:14-15). In God’s system, virtue is first.

Virtue rejects both legalism (moral degeneracy) and lasciviousness or immorality (immoral degeneracy). Lasciviousness refers generally to loose living, especially unrestrained sexual behavior and lusts. However, make sure that when you hear the word lust you don’t automatically think of sex but you recognize that there are also other different lusts. “Lust” means a strong desire which drives the individual’s modus operandi, it is their “raison d’etre” or their reason for being. It’s why they get out of bed. That can include not only sexual lust but approbation lust, power lust, material lust or greed, etc. All forms of lust other than doctrine lust will result in not only sins, but the sin trend dominating the believer’s life so that they enter into reversionism and become lost in the cosmic system, suffering under increasing discipline.

If you do not put God first, your relationship with people in any periphery will be a mess and will have no spiritual significance. If you have fellowship with positive believers who have virtue, integrity, and who recognize and respect the privacy of your priesthood, then you can make some great friends because you are not depending on them; you're depending on the Lord, and they’re doing the same. That way you are not leaning on one another and putting pressure or expectations on one another, getting upset when they aren’t met, etc. the best friendships are those between people who do not need one another, but can enjoy each other’s company without strings or conditions. That is the best kind of fellowship.

If you have to get your encouragement for the Christian life from fellowship with other Christians by depending on people for strength instead of depending on the Lord, then you are a weak believer. The only way you will ever depend on God is through perception, metabolization, and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church-age. If you have a fantastic and wonderful relationship with God, you can have fantastic blessings either in the company of other people or without the company of other people.

The problem is stated in

JER 17:5 "Thus say the Lord, `Cursed is the man who puts his trust in mankind, who depends on people for his strength, and whose right lobe turns away from the Lord.'"

If we our trust in people or base our confidence, self-image or self-esteem, or value on the judgments or approbation of people, then we are violating a command and building an idol of ourselves, a false self-image or confidence. People only know what we show, what is visible, but God knows us truly, we can’t hide from Him. We need that, not flattery and praise from people, who will likely turn on us later when we do something they don’t like or when they see the part of us that we hide away. Besides that, we open ourselves up to approbation lust and all kinds of sins and evil. All this will take you away from the PPOG and away from God.

At the end of verse 5, if your "right lobe turns away from the Lord," you have negative volition toward doctrine. Inevitably, the more you depend on people, the more you turn away from Bible doctrine. People turn away from the Lord when they are trying to change everyone else to comply with their expectations, instead of changing themselves.

The Christian life doesn't say to change people or circumstances; it says "change yourself!" (Rom 12:2). Grow up spiritually, yourself, utilizing the 10 PSD’s to pass your momentum and later evidence testing. Don’t forget that you will be a rock of stability as well as a source of blessing by association to all those around you when you reach spiritual maturity. So the best thing you can do for your loved ones is advance to maturity.

PHI 2:12 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

ROM 14:12 each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Therefore, as a believer you must be occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ and your relationship with Him. The Christian way of life calls for the inner changes produced by Bible doctrine and occupation with Christ. Fellowship with God the Father is found in

1JO 1:6 "If we say we have fellowship with Him [God the Father], and yet we walk in darkness [cosmic involvement], we lie and we do not practice doctrine."

The "practice of doctrine" is fellowship with God the Father. If you have people emphasis over God emphasis, you are in a state of hypocrisy, and are not practicing the doctrine.

Pro 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him” means you are always acting according to doctrine, in that way you acknowledge Him and His superior wisdom in everything you do, and doing that, without any doubt, will make your path straight! Put your trust in God and His word and promises, not in people or humanism or any human power, institution, system, or philosophy. You can never put people before God and get away with it. That is the problem with churches that emphasize Christian fellowship over fellowship with God. They end up lost at sea with no map or compass because Bible doctrine is the source of both of those things!

Fellowship with God the Son is found in

1CO 1:9 "God [ Father] is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

The value of faith is in the worthiness of the object, not the faith itself. If someone puts faith in a wooden idol, the faith is without value, merit, or substance, because the wooden idol has no reality or power, let alone omnipotence, or perfect character! Faith in Jesus Christ has merit because Christ is worthy and is able to reward that faith. Likewise, the usefulness or value of your fellowship is based on the merit of those you have fellowship with. But even the best of people can’t generate spiritual momentum, only ease your time in the cosmic system and encourage you to remain in the PPOG, or help you to get back in when you’re AWOL.

We were called in common grace when we heard the gospel, followed by the divine call to believe. When we believed, we still need help so God gives us efficacious grace in which God the Holy Spirit made our faith effective for salvation. This verse teaches that at salvation we were not called into fellowship with people, but into fellowship with God’s Son. If fellowship with people is more important to you or more satisfying to you than fellowship with Jesus Christ, your spiritual life is doomed, point blank period. Sooner or later (sooner), you will come to a fork in the road where you are unable to please both parties, and with your friends/loved ones/family right in front of you and Jesus seated at the right hand of God the Father (out of sight, out of mind), who are you going to choose? This is why Jesus said

MAT 10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

In truth, this “fork in the road” is happening every day throughout the day for most of us, so don’t think this is something in the future. The world and people are constantly tempting us away, and all our hobbies and pleasures and social life and love life and work and career etc are always telling us, “you don’t need to study, come on, it’s one night, that’s all you do is study! It’s too much! You gotta live and enjoy your life sometimes, right? Forget study tonight, let’s have a good time!” This is why spiritual maturity is not the result of one choice, but thousands of choices throughout our lives, choices for or against Christ. We hear about “fair weather friends”, but we are more like “bad weather friends” to the Lord – we only call when we are in over our heads! But those who continue to advance will find that we lean on Him more and more not only when things are going wrong but when they aren’t as well.

Fellowship with God the Holy Spirit refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit as a problem-solving device and being enabled to handle all things through Christ; PHI 2:1-2.

PHI 2:1-2 "Therefore, if there is any encouragement in christ, if there is any comfort in virtue-love, if there is any fellowship with the Spirit, bring to completion my happiness that you might be thinking the same things."

Notice that there is fellowship with the Spirit. How do we bring to completion or share God’s happiness? Through having fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit; not with people. Fellowship with the Trinity is revealed and mandated in the New Testament. It is reveled in passages like

2CO 13:14 "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [Son] and the love for God [Father] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you."

The "grace" of our Lord refers to grace orientation as a problem-solving device. The "love for God" refers to personal love for God the Father as a problem-solving device. "The fellowship of the Holy Spirit" refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit as a problem-solving device. It is commanded passages like

MAT 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Occupation with the Lord and concentration on Him produces the following;

1. Protection from embarrassment in time, and eternity, Ps 119:5-6.

2. Occupation with Christ is the expression of the believer’s gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

PSA 119:7 I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when (When?) when I learn Your thy righteous judgments.

3. Occupation with Christ protects the believer from wandering away from God. Ps 119:9-11.

4. Occupation with Christ protects the believer from the criticism and disrespect of people. PSA 119:22-23.

5. Occupation with Christ gives the believer comfort in affliction, Ps 119:50-57.

6. Occupation with Christ protects the believer from the lies of the arrogant, Ps 119:69.

7. Occupation with Christ gives the believer the power to handle undeserved suffering, PS 119:92.

8. Occupation with Christ makes us wiser than our enemies, PSA 119:98.

9. Occupation with Christ protects the believer from the wickedness of persecution, PSA 119:161

10. Occupation with Christ protects the believer from stumbling. PSA 119:165.

Now, all these ten principles I just gave you reveal that occupation with Christ is commanded by God, It is not an option. Like all God’s commandments, they are for our own good. God wants us to have His greatest and best, but we can’t understand, appreciate, enjoy, or apply it as infants and toddlers, or even as teenagers. It would be like giving tremendous wealth, a kingdom, and the throne to an infant!

We can only see God and love Him through His word. The apostate doesn't love God because he is under Satan's policy of evil. The immature believer doesn't love God because he too lacks doctrine in the soul.

And that is why you cannot love God unless you know God, and you cannot know God unless you have metabolized enough pertinent doctrine. By pertinent doctrine I mean the special doctrines that apply to the subject being studied.

COL 3:1-4 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

You can't start out in ignorance of Jesus Christ and even give him a priority status.

First you must know Him, which requires perception of doctrine. This #1 priority is established through perception, metabolization, an application of doctrine (or wisdom) inside the predesigned plan of God. How can you know Jesus Christ when you can never see Him or spend time with Him or talk with Him? He has revealed Himself to you in great detail so that you need not see Him or spend time with Him or talk with Him in person – that is what the Bible is, God’s revelation of Himself, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – but Jesus Christ is the only way to have access to the other members of the trinity. The path to fellowship and eventually occupation with Jesus Christ is Bible doctrine.

You concentrate on this #1 priority through the application of doctrine. You also concentrate on the problem-solving devices as you learn them and use them. It takes concentration to use a problem-solving device. The key to life is concentration. Your concentration expands from learning doctrine into the utilization of the problem-solving devices. Then you organize your life around your #1 priority in the reception, retention, and recall of the mystery doctrine of the Church-age.

That covers the notion of “Christian fellowship” and the correct viewpoint of it and its correct place in the priorities of the CWOL/PPOG.

Now, let’s shift our perspective to another aspect, testing. The purpose of the 10 PSD’s is to enable the believer to achieve spiritual autonomy through empowering him or her to handle anything the cosmic system can throw at us on our own by relying on God’s word and the techniques it teaches us, and furthermore, to pass momentum and eventually evidence testing, resulting in the attainment of spiritual maturity and the reception of the escrow blessings – God’s greatest and best, set aside for each of us in eternity past before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:3-4).

We will take a look at the kinds of testing and how to use the 10 PSD’s to pass them and advance to maturity. This is the real meat and potatoes of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age! No one ever before in human history has had the great advantages, privileges, and empowerment that we have, and no one has had the potential for both visible and invisible impact, the potential to be major protagonists in the completion of God’s good pleasure (Isa 46:10). God teaches us His word, His mind, His values, His norms and standards, His ways, He gives us exercises to build spiritual muscles and provides the gym equipment (testing) so that we have the opportunity to grow stronger and maximize our capacity to be used by God. God is the ‘epichoregeo’ or the supplier, he furnishes everything needed for both earthly life and spiritual life (2Pe 1:3).

Part II. Testing – Opportunities For Advancement

1. Old Sin Nature Test.
2. Cosmic 1 Test
3. Cosmic 2 Test
4. Disaster Testing
5. People Testing
6. System Testing
7. Thought Testing
8. Prosperity Testing

Test #1: Old Sin Nature Test.

The old sin nature originated from human volition, the free will of Adam and the woman. Note that the sin nature was not brought forth by mental attitude sins or sins of the tongue but it came from human volition or the free-will of man rejecting the commandment from God.

Of course, I am talking about

GEN 2:15-17 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die."

Now, we call the sin nature the “old sin nature” because it has been around ever since the garden of Eden. Man with his own volition brought in the old sin nature. We also note that the old sin nature is the inside source of temptation. However, no one ever sins apart from human consent, for volition is your authority over your soul. Volition is the guardian of the soul from the temptations thrown up by the old sin nature. We therefore can accept Gal 6:7 which says “Whatsoever a man sows, this also shall he reap.” This is known as the law of volitional responsibility. It means that God accepts no excuses! We are all responsible and accountable to God for the decisions we make, regardless of circumstances or pressures or any excuse we may invoke. The result of Satan’s appeal trial is clear: Satan chose his path freely and so his sentence is just!

When the old sin nature temps the believer, then the believer must use his volition or his free-will to reject the temptation. Temptation doesn’t produce sin, volition always agrees or rejects it. Therefore we cannot blame temptation or the source of temptation! The devil did not make you do it! Temptation also does not come from God but it comes from our sin nature [internal] or from Satan [external] says MAR 1:13

Also, we need to recall this fantastic passage concerning temptation

1CO 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.

Notice that God is faithful, who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that we may be able to endure it. He has provided us with this fantastic system of doctrine, and His promises and the faith-rest technique, and the other 10 PSD’s by which we may endure anything that life can throw at us – IF - we are faithful in utilizing them.

James really makes this principle of being tempted crystal clear in JAM 1:12-16.

JAM 1:12-16 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which {the Lord} has promised to those who love Him. [or those who are occupied with Him]. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

GAL 5 teaches this inner struggle and how to overcome it.

GAL 5:16 but I say, walk by means of the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

This means living inside the divine dynasphere, inside the PPOG, under the filling of the Holy Spirit. When we filled with the Spirit we cannot sin, that is, we can choose to, but as soon as our volition turns negative toward God’s plan (positive toward sin IS negative toward God), we lose the filling of the Spirit and are now walking in darkness (the cosmic system) rather than in the Spirit. Our soul is controlled by the sin nature and self-indulgent lust. If we say “no” to the temptation, and remain in the PPOG, we will not sin! It always depends on volition and free will, there is no escaping from this, there is no easy way out.

But if we continue to be faithful in doctrine and rebound/recover/faith-rest, we will grow up spiritually and eventually our desire to be faithful to God (based on genuine appreciation and personal love for God) will be greater than our desire for immediate self-gratification which is outside of His plan (sin). It is not a “one and done” but rather a process built on consistent, persistent, moment-to-moment positive decisions, like exercise or bodybuilding. Stay with it, and when you fall, get right back on that horse. No time for wallowing in the mire or feeling sorry for self. Get over it (with rebound) and get back in formation (recovery)!

There are two results of failing the O.S.N. test;

a) The old sin nature controls the soul either through self-righteous arrogance or sin.

b) The believer enters the cosmic system, either Cosmic 1 or Cosmic 2.

Cosmic 1 = self-absorption and emotional/arrogance sin.
Cosmic 2 = antichrist, anti-doctrine; hostility and antagonism toward doctrine/truth/positive believers.

Most temptations come from within, from the old sin nature, whereas some come from without, from someone else's old sin nature. Only positive volition, as the guardian of the soul, can protect the believer from the pressure of temptation.

The second test is

2. The Cosmic #1 test.

This test involves grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30). We can find the command to pass the cosmic two test in 1 John. Let me give you my corrected translation;

1JO 2:15 "Stop loving the cosmic system, or anything in the cosmic system. If anyone keeps loving the cosmic system, the love for the Father [personal love for God] is not in him.

Why?

1JO 2:16 Because all that is in the cosmic system, the lust of the flesh [OSN], and the lust of the eyes [evil of cosmic one], and the arrogant pattern of life is not from the Father, but is from the cosmic system."

The cosmic one test will answer the question will the believer submit to the ministry of the Holy Spirit or will the believer grieve the Holy Spirit? The cosmic one test emphasizes arrogance; self in contrast to God. The cosmic one test emphasizes Satan's thoughts of independence in the prehistoric Angelic Conflict;

ISA 14:13-14 "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

In the cosmic one test the target is self and the main temptation is the pride of the believer. It is a test of humility, personal love for God, motivational virtue, which is the counter to motivational evil. Motivational evil are mental attitude sins, sins of thinking, attitude, such as pride, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, anger, hatred. Functional evil are sins of arrogance and overt sins which result from mental attitude sins which have not been neutralized and isolated via the rebound technique, such as gossiping/maligning (a form of passive-aggressive warfare), lying/conspiring, revenge activity, verbal or physical assault, violation of privacy, blackmail, etc.

The test will involve attacks on your person via those sins (often carried out by negative and/or reversionistic believers in your periphery) which tempt you to operate in those same sins which exiles you from the PPOG and cuts you off from the filling of the Spirit, effectively ending your spiritual advance until you rebound and recover. Remember: Satan and his cosmic system have two main objectives when it comes to mankind – First, to keep the unbeliever from accepting Christ and becoming a witness for the prosecution, and Two, to neutralize those who do believe by keeping them from executing the PPOG and glorifying God to the maximum through reception of their escrow blessings (Eph 1:3). In immaturity, every little thing knocks us off our equilibrium and we go right back to our old ways. Growing up spiritually means we are able to handle greater and more intense attacks without losing our poise and relaxed mental attitude, so that emotions and arrogance don’t take the wheel and wreck the car!

Occupation with Christ is the ultimate grace provision which protects the believer from being knocked out of the ring in this intensifying spiritual Sumo wrestling match we call the Angelic Conflict. When we are in fellowship we are knocked out of the circle, the divine dynasphere or God’s power system, and out in the cold with the unbelievers and reversionistic believers, in the cosmic system. The PSD’s are designed to enable us to pass testing and grow strong in His power (Phi 4:13) and stay in fellowship longer and longer. That is the spiritual endurance James 1:2-4 talks about:

JAM 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various testing, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Passing momentum testing produces endurance, that is the point! So do you understand that the things that make us say, “why does God let this happen to me?” in childhood are really not cursing but blessing – God wants us to grow up, and He provides us with everything we need (2Pe 1:3), right? Is it clicking? Testing represents opportunity for advancement. If we can shift our mindset from one of fear and apprehension to one of “bring it on Lord, I’m ready”, we will really excel. We just have to grow up enough to be willing to place our comfort on the altar. Stay with it and don’t quit, and you will get there by God’s power and grace.

Next, we have

3. Cosmic #2 test.

This is Satan's interlocking system of antagonism toward the Christian way of life and toward our Lord. This is especially an attack upon the word of God. This is quenching the ministry of God the Holy Spirit (1Th 5:19).

Quenching the Spirit is relying on creature credit rather than creator credit. The direct attack of cosmic two is to cause believers to become antagonistic toward the word of God and toward the plan of God to glorify the Lord.

While cosmic one produces arrogant preoccupation with self as a distraction to the plan of God, cosmic two involves the means by which one becomes antagonistic toward spiritual things. These are people who are not only indifferent toward God’s plan and too busy living their own lives for self, but they are actively hostile toward it and attack positive believers and ministries. God allows them to live so that they may be used to test positive believers!

The PPOG is a system designed to produce winners; the cosmic system is a system designed to produce losers and prevent winners!

The next test is

4. Disaster testing.

Before the believer reaches maturity, there are one or two major disasters in their life. How the believer handles these determines whether he accelerates his spiritual growth or retreats and goes backward.

There are two categories of disaster testing.

(a) Personal disaster testing is designed as suffering for blessing for acceleration of momentum.(b) Historical disaster, collective disaster, or national disaster testing is related to the bad decisions of others in which you are involved by association.

There are at least six characteristics of disaster testing.

(1) Pain, e.g., physical or mental pain and anguish.
(2) Crime, where you are the victim.
(3) Persecution (not paranoia).
(4) Privation, meaning hunger, thirst, exposure, fatigue.
(5) Loss of loved ones, property, success, money, etc.
(6) Disease and handicaps.

There are also four characteristics of national disaster.

(a) Violence, crime, terrorism, dope, murder.
(b) Warfare.
(c) Weather includes heat, cold, storm, blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes.
(d) Cycles of discipline.

Disaster testing always tests our emotions. Once we become emotional we lose the ability to recall doctrine which means we lose the ability to apply it! Emotionalism is the enemy of the spiritual life of the believer, and what does the cosmic system constantly try to do to us? Watch the news or politicians or almost anything nowadays that wants to change how we think, what is their most common strategy? Emotionally charged words, images, videos, headlines. They want to get you upset first and foremost, right off the bat, because they know that shuts down your rational faculties and makes you receptive to the message, which comes after. If this is something you haven’t noticed, check it out and see if you can spot it.

In disaster testing, if we fail to recall and apply bible doctrine and operate in divine viewpoint, we will almost invariably default to emotion, self-pity, anger, blaming, resentments, and end up in the spiritual gutter. We also may be vulnerable to licentiousness or hedonism/recklessness, escapism/denial, lashing out/acting out, or depression and suicidal thinking. Disaster testing is a very difficult form of testing, but God only allows us to be tested according to our preparedness (doctrine in the soul), so if we find ourselves under it, that means that we have everything we need to pass the test, only our volition can get in the way.

There must be maximum faith, maximum spiritual self-esteem, maximum spiritual maturity if you are going to have your escrow blessing and pass the disaster test. Relying on the faith-rest drill as you grow will eventually become second-nature and you will shift into divine viewpoint, remembering God’s promises and knowing without doubt that He is always faithful, because time and time again before that time, He has been!

JER 17:17 "Thou art my refuge in the day of disaster."

In disaster testing, it can be very difficult to trust in the Lord and not fight back or seek revenge and self- survival and that's why PSA 4:5 says.

PSA 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord.

Trust in the Lord is called a sacrifice because in time of disaster the tendency is to trust in yourself! Another good one is

PSA 50:14-15 "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High; And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."

The fifth test is:

5. People testing.

People testing comes in two categories.

a) In personal love or admiration, the object of your love often controls your life or provides for you unhappiness.

Unless, of course, you have attained occupation with Christ at spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, or spiritual maturity. In wanting to please the object of your personal love, you find yourself being a different person and not following your normal standards and functions.

The second category of people testing is in;

b) The personal hatred or animosity where the object of your antagonism or irritation often has control of your life or happiness, unless you have advanced to occupation with Christ.

Under the predesigned plan of God, God designed his plan so that your happiness will always reside in you, and you do not depend on people or things for your happiness.

People are easily led away from the PPOG and doctrine by their friendships, love life, and even hatred. Unless you attain spiritual adulthood, every time you fall in love or acquire a friend, the object controls your life and your happiness. Without impersonal love from spiritual autonomy, you become a slave to people. When you fall in love, look how you act, how you change your modus operandi, your manner of operation and how you begin to think in different terms relating everything you do to that person.

Occupation with Christ as a problem-solving device belongs primarily to the spiritual adult (that’s why it’s number 10!). Without it, you are constantly surrendering the control of your life to others. And personal love for God/impersonal love for mankind are prerequisites for getting there. Impersonal love is based on personal love for God. It is love for Him that motivates you to practice love toward others, to love them as He loved you when you were in your sins and walking in darkness. When we begin to develop impersonal love, people and situations which used to baffle and wreck us are not a problem and we are able to navigate them without breaking a sweat in many cases. Even people who others can’t deal with and run away from, you will have rapport with them or at least not be afraid or avoiding them. They won’t get you ruffled. It’s really amazing. Remember: God uses difficult people in our lives, and often family and loved ones, people we can’t avoid, to test us. But that means that if we are positive, we will have plenty of opportunities to advance, and also if we fail, don’t worry, there will be another chance again soon enough!

Once you attain spiritual adulthood and begin to function under the three categories of suffering for blessing, God becomes the source of your blessings because you are occupied with Christ. People can only become a distraction to the fulfillment of the God's plan for your life when human relationship becomes more important to you than Bible doctrine. False priorities exist when social life, business life, sexual life takes precedence over your residence, function, and momentum inside the PPOG. When personal ambition is stronger than Bible doctrine, then the believer has lost his scale of values, his priorities.

The cosmic system represents the default setting for homo sapiens. We all were slaves in Egypt, comfortable in that state or at least accustomed to it, it was familiar. There is always a part of us that wants to go back, even if we can’t sense it at times. That means as soon as we start to turn away from God’s word and become inconsistent in our PMAOBD, we will ALWAYS revert back to those old ways, and begin to forget all that we learned. It’s like addiction: it doesn’t matter how many years of sobriety the addict has, if they allow themselves to be knocked out of their equilibrium, and fall away from their routines and correct thinking, they will be right back where they left off so fast it is hard to believe. It takes so little to fall off and yet so much to climb back up again. But we only need to rebound and get back into a program of daily study and application to get back on track. Better not to fall in the first place, so we are encouraged to “keep short accounts” which means rebound frequently, reflexively, and avoid long periods of carnality.

We will continue next time with the next test, # 6 System Testing.