Clarence Schilt

The first clue that something was afoot came in the late spring, early summer, when the enemy frequently seemed to attack on weekends and so military bases which were particularly vulnerably were told to be on the alert during holiday time. The second clue came in the summer when the intelligence community was able to break and decipher the code and they began to collect and read messages that were going back and forth between the enemies. These messages were accumulated in a file that was interestingly enough called "Magic". During the summer this `Magic' file grew so much in thickness on information that on November 26 the third clue was sent out that our military basis in various parts in the world were told to be on the alert. There was no longer a question that there would be an attack. It was simply a question now of "when" and "where."

On December 6, a Saturday night, there was a social gathering for the military brass in Honolulu. Before the party was underway, some of the military brass were informed of an interesting phone call in which a newspaper reporter in Tokyo had made a call to a Japanese dentist living in Honolulu over public telephone lines, and that telephone call and that telephone call had been recorded, and they had talked about the weather in Pearl Harbor, they talked about the ships that were in the port and they talked about flowers. The military men wondered why they would talk about flowers in that conversation. But just then the party got under way and the wives, amid huddled conversations, retrieved their husbands, and they went back to the party and the conversations were never completed.

The next morning, Dec. 7, 1941, at 3:45 AM an alarm clock rang which woke up privates George Elliott and Joseph Lockhart to their tour of duty at the mobile radar station which they were responsible for manning between 4:00 and 7:00 AM. There were five mobile radar units around the island of Oahu and it was because of the mountains to scan the skies fully, they needed them in different spots, and so Elliott and Lockhart got up and turned on the mobile radar unit and began to scan the skies. It was a pretty quiet morning, not much was going on, and they sighted very few planes. About 6:45 they received word from the Information Center at Ford Shafter, `Go ahead, shut down the mobile radar unit and go for breakfast.' The Information Center at Ford Shafter was were all of the data from the five mobile radar units was collected and brought in, tabulated and projected on a Plexiglas as to how much activity there was in the sky.

The breakfast truck, however, had not yet arrived, that was the truck that went around to these units, picked up the military men and took them to the mess hall.

George Elliott was particularly `green' and inexperienced as to how to operate his radar unit, they were kind of new and temperamental, and Joseph Lockhart was more experienced; and since the truck had not yet arrived, they decided to leave it on and George could get practice to run the thing. So he watched, and suddenly at 7:02 AM George noticed a rather large blip forming on the radar screen. First he thought something was wrong and he couldn't figure out what was going on and so he called the more experienced Lockhart over to his side and Lockhart thought that probably there was just something temperamental with the radar screen and as he kept fiddeling with the dials and kept working them, he decided that what they were seeing was real; and there was a squadron of at least 50 planes headed towards them at a distance of about 137 miles to the north. They got a hold of a private McDonald at the Information Center at Ford Shafter and began to transfer (data) to him, so he then could track with a wax pencil on the Plexiglass where exactly the direction was of what was happening. At 7:15 AM the planes were 92 miles away and it was calculated that they were coming towards them at about 180 miles an hour. Private McDonald grew concerned and he drew the attention of Lieutenant Tyler at the IC at Ford Shafter - lieutenant Tyler was one of the pilots, and the pilots had to take a turn on the ground at the IC, to know what was going on the ground - it was kind of a boring assignment, but they all had to take their turn; so lieutenant Tyler was on this morning. As he listened to private McDonald's information about these planes that were being identified by this radar unit, and he noted a couple of things, he remembered that the aircraft carriers Lexington and Enterprise were out at sea on maneuvers and realized some of those planes may be doing some practice runs from the deck of the ship. He noted that the radio station from Honolulu had been left on all night, and usually when it was left on all night, and usually when it was left on it was to help guide the pilots that were piloting our bombers from the California coast out to Hawaii, and help them with directions out to Hawaii plus entertain them throughout the night; and noting all this he turned to private McDonald and said, `Don't worry about it.'

At 7:25 AM the planes were 62 miles out, at 7:30 they were 47 miles out, at 7:39 they were 22 miles out and just then the blips on the radar screens went off because the planes were so close that now the mountains were getting in the way and they could no longer track them. And besides the breakfast truck arrived and they shut down the mobile radar unit at 7:45 AM and got on the breakfast truck and went to breakfast. At 7:53 AM, December 7, 1941 the first bomb fell on Pearl Harbor. By ten o'clock when it was all over, in just two hours, 18 American ships had been either destroyed or badly damaged, 8 of them were battle ships, 28 airplanes had been completely destroyed and 159 more airplanes were in various needs of disrepair. 2403 of our service personal had died; nearly half of them when the battleship Arizona blew up, 1102 to be exact.

But it is interesting, how despite all the clues we had for 51 minutes, from 7:02 AM to 7:53 AM, when the first bomb fell, they had immutable, clear, absolute data, everything on what was going on, and yet they missed it.

It is very challenging and intriguing, and sobering to me, how we can have very clear cut evidence in front of us, that should seriously effect our life and our behavior and our attitudes, yet, when it shows up we miss it.

Those of us that had children or have raised children, how often did you have one of your children in front of your face saying something and you didn't get it. You parents know what that is like, you just don't get it.

So, it is very serious, that people can be very religious and extremely devoted, and well informed, rather sophisticated with religious information and knowledge and yet absolutely miss Jesus.

That is very sobering to me, especially as a religious leader.

May be, in the history of the world, no group was more disciplined, more faithful, more biblically informed than the religious leaders when Jesus showed up and yet, when he showed up, and was in their very faces for 3 1/2 years, tangibly, physically, they heard with their ear drums, saw with their eyeballs, could touch with their hands, touch him, they missed him.

Is that a little scary to you?

I think, that is very sobering.

Death Before Life

I want to walk with you through a passage of scripture, of a time when Jesus was very clearly communicating data, and yet, his own disciples were missing it.

It is not just his enemies who were not getting it. Jesus' own disciples often were not getting it.

You remember how Jesus often said, there are those who have ears to hear, they don't hear, and others had ears, and they do hear. Some have eyes and see, and some have eyes and they don't see.

Let us reflect on what is going on, and what makes the difference between blind eyes and deaf ears, in contrast to open eyes and open ears in Mark chapter 8.

We read (Incident #1),

"And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men." Mark 8:31-33.

There is this interesting phrase in italics, "thou savourest not the things of God," to which we will come back later.

Then we have the well known transfiguration incident where Jesus took his favored three disciples, Peter, James and John up on the mountain and there Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus and there was a conversation. And on the way down from the mountain.

We read (Incident #2),

"And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean." Mark 9:9,10.

Jesus did tell them without any fuzzy language at all, `I arise, come up from the dead,' - they heard it enough to even talk about it.

But when He died, were they ready?

They were blown away. And when He rose up from the tomb, did they believe it?

No!

The women were the first one's to announce it.

How amazing. Here Jesus says something explicitly, and they even talk about it. Its so sobering, we can hear the material, and we can discuss it and even talk about it, and yet, nothing sinks in.

That is sobering.

But there is more. Jesus comes down from the mountain with his disciples. The other nine had been left down below in kind of in a pity party, they often were, when they were taken to special events, like with the inner three, Peter, James and John.

So they came down and discover there is a real flap going on, because a man had brought a demon possessed boy to the disciples and asked them to cast him out. But the disciples couldn't do it; and so Jesus cast the spirit out and we go down to verse 28, we read,

"And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." Mark 9:28,29.

The fact that they asked this question means what?

What did they expect to be able to do? What would you say?

Drive the spirit out.

And we remember that Jesus, when he sent the disciples two by two, he empowered them to drive out demons and to heal the sick, . . . Mark 6:7,13.

They were used to doing this, but they were surprised that they couldn't do it now.

Two things are going on. The disciples are not able to

1. hear very critical spiritual truths for themselves; somehow they had lost that, and
   
2. they lost the spiritual power to minister in healing ways to others. That is significant.

That means when ears no longer hear and when eyes no longer see, something blocks our own perception of spiritual strength and power.

Something also blocks the flow of His power through us,

"Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in the life. By yielding up the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with divine power. We receive strength from above to hold us steadfast. A pure and noble life, a life of victory over appetite and lust, is possible to everyone who will unite his weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God." {MH 176.3}

Also . . .

"The Saviour overcame to show man how he may overcome. All the temptations of Satan, Christ met with the word of God. By trusting in God's promises, He received power to obey God's commandments, and the tempter could gain no advantage. To every temptation His answer was, "It is written." So God has given us His word wherewith to resist evil. Exceeding great and precious promises are ours, that by these we "might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1:4. {MH 181.1}

And . . .

"Our condition through sin is unnatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, else it has no value. There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the hearts of men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin. His grace alone can enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. The spiritualistic theories concerning God make His grace of no effect. If God is an essence pervading all nature, then He dwells in all men; and in order to attain holiness, man has only to develop the power within him." {MH 428.3}

So these concepts are very significant.

We continue reading,

"And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him." Mark 9:30-32

They asked Jesus the question about his death three times but did not understand what Jesus told them.

Jesus did his best, he couldn't have done better, by just plainly saying, `I want you to know I am going to die and three days later I am going to be raised. I wish you hear this, so you will be ready! And your won't be shocked and devastated when I die. And you won't be surprised when I am raised from the grave.'

Did the disciples get it? No! We read,

"And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest." Mark 9:33,34.

My simple suggestion as to what happened here is, the disciples were so wrapped up in taking care of #1, and their own agenda, and self-defensively worried about where they were going to be in the kingdom, so that nothing else could get through to them.

Remember, Jesus said to Peter, `You have not in mind the things of God but the things of man.'

So, what is the difference? How should it have been?

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. 2:5.

Paul is saying, `You need to have the mind of Jesus.'

The NIV says, `Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.'

And Paul explains what that attitude is.

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Phil. 2:6.

Here Jesus is spoken of, His very nature, His very being, who He was is God. Jesus did not insist on clinging and holding tightly, grasping and holding selfishly to His divine nature but emptied Himself, made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself.

Jesus was in very nature God, and He emptied Himself, He has died to that nature. He just let that nature lay dormant. . . . we may not understand this fully . . . but this is what comes through.

Paul says, `I want you to have the same mind, the same attitude that Jesus had.

How would we describe our nature at its core?

Somebody says `selfish, sinful . . .'

So, if Jesus' model was that He emptied Himself of who He was - which was divine nature - then He is asking us to lay aside or being emptied of our nature which is Self. Jesus had the challenge of staying dead to His divine nature; we have the challenge of staying dead to our selfish, sinful nature.

Let us consider some texts.

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20

What happens on crosses? People die there. `I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh I live in the faith to the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me.'

Paul says further,

"I die daily." 1.Cor. 15:31.

I die every day, I mean that brothers, I have no thought on wanting to lay on the Riviera for a sun tan.

And Jesus said,

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." Luke 9:23, 24.

In John we read,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." John 12:24

If a seed falls in the ground it is only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces many seeds.

The man who loves his life, will lose it; while the man who hates (strong word) his life in this world will keep it for eternal life, John 12:25.

It appears the difference is very, very simple. I think the difference between having closed or open eyes and ears, is this: Is `self' dead or is `self' alive?

So, it seems that the primary reason why we do not have more peace, joy and victories, more inner spiritual beauty and life, is, because `self' is still alive and shuts it out. And the reason that we are not more effective healers and ministers to other people with powerful impact when we touch them is because `self' is still alive.

And without knowing it, and we don't talk about this very much, without knowing it we have been very religious to some degree or another, we have come through the hoops, we may even have quite a devotional life, but if we are trying to overlay Christ and religious and spiritual life and even devotional life with `self' that is all alive, not much will get through.

Jesus can be standing there in front of us, saying in our ears, in our eyes, `I want you to know some things about me,' and we won't get it.

Let us consider this,

"It is the love of self that destroys our peace. . . ."

If I monitor myself, I say, `Lord, in what way am I loving myself that it is stopping peace?

". . . While self is all alive, we stand ready continually to guard it from mortification and insult; but when we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God, we shall not take neglects or slights to heart. We shall be deaf to reproach and blind to scorn and insult." {MB 16.1}

That is quite a goal to reach, isn't it?

While `self' is still alive, we are continually ready to guard it, but when we are dead, then what?

Here is another citation.

"Those who are dead to self will not feel so readily and will not be prepared to resist everything which may irritate. Dead men cannot feel. You are not dead. If you were, and your life were hid in Christ, a thousand things which you now notice, and which afflict you, would be passed by as unworthy of notice; you would then be grasping the eternal and would be above the petty trials of this life." {2T 425.1}

So, we cannot hurt a dead person. That does not mean that Christians do not feel; it just means that feeling like a Christian will be Christ in them rather then self in them. Jesus had all ranges of emotions.

That is why far too many people, when they are baptized, they are still "alive." Their self has not suffered anything. They have not yet truly died to "self."

What can we know by know?

God cannot and will not force His way into an alive self; and the way that we give open freedom for God to fill us and empower us and give us victories, and give life to others through us, as we surrender, is, "Let this attitude be in you that was in Christ Jesus," as we die to self, we realize that `self' is the enemy we most need to fear.

So, we seek to die to `self' for Jesus died to his divine `self', we die to sinful, selfish, self-defensive, self-protective sin. As we let go and learn to "die" and to surrender to self, then Christ can come flooding in, and we then have a life beyond belief, and now we will be able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.

Let us put this together briefly.

#1, We die to self and we watch God work.

Resurrection After Death

Its true, dying to self sounds like bad news; but sometimes on the other side we have wonderful news. For instance, "Last February I flew to Edmonton for three days of meetings. Edmonton is not the end of the world but you can see it from there. It is flat and barren and frozen. The day I arrived on a Sunday afternoon the temperature was around minus 40 degrees, a coldness that makes the air brittle, the ground rigid, the nights dark and long as death. Step outside and cold needles through every inch of your clothing, your breath plumes from your mouth specter like and swarms over you. In the night, probably around 1 am, an eighteen month old girl named Erika woke up. She was in bed beside her mother who slept on. Erika, in a sleep trance perhaps, got up, walked around the house and then somehow managed to get out the backdoor through the kitchen. She walked barefoot on the frozen earth leaving footprints in the snow, tiny and delicate like a thin stain that flower petals make when crushed between the pages of a heavy book. They're strewn aimlessly, those footprints, they are a shuffling tiny pattern. They don't go far. Twenty feet from the house, Erika lay down, curled up and died. Her mother woke early, around five in the morning. The first thing she noticed was, that Erica was missing. She felt her absence intuitively at first, an ache, a silence, a premonition, a hollowness in her own flesh. She jumped up and searched the house calling her daughter's name, and then she saw the backdoor ajar, and saw the loops of tiny footprints stitched in the snow. Round and round and round. A journey of desolation, going nowhere. And then she saw her baby. She ran over and picked Erica up, cradling her tight, calling her name. She took her into her house and wrapped her thick in woolen blankets -. Erica was frozen hard as porcelain. Maroon as the sky. Her mother wept, shouted, and prayed, `Jesus help, don't let my baby die.' She managed to phone 911. The paramedics came and they rushed Erica and her mother to the hospital, where a team of doctors waited. Erica arrived. She was pronounced officially dead, but the doctors worked anyway. They began a painstaking process of thawing her tiny, frail heap. An astonishing thing happened next, Erica's little heart twitched, fluttered and then began to beat with a slow aching throng. A moth shaking water off her rain soaked wings. A butterfly curling up out of its crystal net. Blood, warm red blood suffused her and rushed color down through her limbs, her body softened, her arms and limbs out of their angular rigidity. And then Erica woke up. That was Sunday. By the time I left on Wednesday morning, Erica had fully recovered. She was alert, hungry, smiling, laughing, even her toes and fingers had received back their life. And her mother? Her mother lives in a kind of reverie, permanently wonder struck, with no prognosis of recovery. I imagined at the moment Erica's heart started again, everything was forever altered. I don't mean this in some mocky fairy tale sense, I know that Erica's mother will have moments of aggravation and anger with her daughter, have experiences typically to all parents, wishing that their roe would shut the door without slamming it, or clean her plate before leaving the table. I doubt she'll ever kiss her good night again without a rush of dread and thanksgiving sweeping over her. I'm sure she'll never watch Erica thread a needle, or perk up in a belly class or twirl her hair on a pencil while she chats on a phone. And then she'd clap her own hands and walk and leap to her own feet exalting.

I imagine her mother and Erica will forever carry a sense of destiny. Erica will grow up hearing the story over and over. You died and you came alive. Dead as a stone, but even a stone shall sing. Her mother will remember all this, treasuring it in her heart, shouting it from the roof tops, even into her ineptitude when each bend's in crumpled series strips her memory clean as a bone. The bone will be that one thing unforgettable. You died, my little girl, and now you live. It will be more than just a pleat in their identity and the very cloth out of which their identity is cut. Erica is resurrected. And strange and astonishing is this, `So are you.'

Knowing that, hearing the story over and over again, that you died and were raised is meant to alter everything, its meant to be the corner stone of who you are. You consider yourself resurrected. You are someone other then the person who once wore your skin and bore your skin. You are now and forever more a new creation.

Paul says, `You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God, Christians are dead men walking.' We died with Jesus, entered into his saving death, where all the sins that condemned us is done away with and then He raised us to new life. Christians are not people who one day will be resurrected, we are already walking in the resurrection, we have already been infused with the same Holy Spirit and with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead." [Mark Buchanan, `Things Unseen.']

Consider yourself a dead person walking, living in the resurrection.

So we ask, `Do you live in a kind of reverie permanently wonder struck with no prognosis of recovery?

Do you live that way?

I remember when I got resurrected. When I was away in college and wasting away my life and a fellow student caught me alone, sitting on a bench in front of the library, where I should have been studying for a test, and he began to talk to me about God and about Jesus. I was enthralled and he could tell I was enthralled. And he had the insight and inspiration, encouraged, towards the end of this conversation to say, `Would you like to accept Jesus,' and I said, `Yes, I would.' And I got resurrected. And for a while I lived in a kind of reverie, permanently wonder struck, with no prognosis of recovery.

But I recovered. I recovered but I didn't stay that way. And I think a lot of you can identify with me at one time or another.

Is it a realistic situation that we should have the kind of experience where the majority of our days and hours is living in a kind of reverie, wonder struck, with no prognosis of recovery?

I recovered. I understand now what happened. But it took me a lot of years to understand it. I've been a Christian, I stayed a Christian, I didn't walk from Jesus, didn't do any of the juicy sins, but I lost the reverie. I lost the sense of peace, the sense of joy - I had moments, may be hours or even of a few days - but it wouldn't last long. And I found myself quite discouraged about that there seemed to be so little power, so little peace - especially so little victory - over self, just self in selfishness, just lie in my addiction to food or my addiction to escaping to television, or my resistance in attitudes towards my wife, none of the real juicy sins we like to gossip about, but nevertheless self was still alive.

I didn't know it and I wouldn't have termed it that way, but this was all through my life. And I never forget years ago when a pastor was preaching a series on the life on Solomon. You remember when God said, `Ask me anything you want and I give it to you?'

And he looked out at us and said, `If you could ask God for anything you want, what would you ask for?'

And I was sitting in one of the front pews and I was suddenly such a basket case of tears, I was shocked. If I had been alone I would have been absolutely sobbing. I didn't want people to see me that way and I controlled myself and I thought where did all this come from?

Because, it happened just like that.

`What would you ask God for,' and I was suddenly crying. - It didn't take me long to know why I was crying. I was crying because I longed to be more loyal to God. I wanted to for the right reason. Not because I was saved or that He didn't love me or that I was Bible thumping, no, I think one of the reasons was, because I know how much He loved me. I was strongly convicted of that. How much He held me and how safe I was with Him. And I felt for all the right reasons. I was sick that I was not responding in kind of love and loyalty back to Him. The attitude I wanted to have and that He seems to indicate in this book for us. Lets look at a scripture,

"And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power."

Paul wanted that power. That power is

"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." Eph. 1:19,20.

Paul says, you have that resurrection power. The Greek word for `power' is the word `dunamis,' from which we get dynamo, the older type light generator for bikes, and dynamite. I want you to have that reverie, I want you to be permanently wonder struck with no prognosis of recovery.

If I would say to you, that the power that raised Jesus from the dead, was a different kind of power than that which raised Lazarus from the dead? That power which was raising Lazarus physically. Jesus was death was the second death, the second death, and that incredible resurrection power compared to the resurrection power that raised Lazarus from the first death sleep, and Paul says, I want you to have that same kind of power that Jesus experienced when He got up from the grave. That is the kind of power I want you to have.

But let us look at the prayer in chapter three. Paul says, `I pray,

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Eph. 3:16-20.

Paul wants us to have power along with all these things, how wide and long and high, the love of Christ, and to know this love, Eph. 3:19. `Power' and `love' seem to be synonymous here in verse 20.

I would suggest to you, that when we struggle with self, something is keeping us from knowing how much we are loved. How marvelous the resurrection power of Jesus is.

Look at Verse 20 again.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Eph. 3:20.

Are you praying for something? God is able to do immeasurably more than you are even praying for, according to His power that is at work within us.

Paul is saying, `I want you to have resurrection power. You, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, I want you to experience and have inside you the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, and know a love that is beyond words - beyond all that we can ask or imagine. I want you to have resurrection power.'

Question: When does resurrection power usually show up?

Answer: It shows up after we are dead.

When did Lazarus need resurrection power? When he was dead. Not until then.

When did the widows son need resurrection power? After he died.

When do we experience resurrection power? When we are dead to self.

Here is the line we want to remember:

It will be there when we are dead to `self.' Its not needed, it will not compete, it will not force its way in, when there is live, you don't need resurrection power.

When there is death, resurrection power comes in to give a whole different kind of life. For, you see, where Erica's story doesn't match and falls apart, is, when Erica died, she came back to the same life she had before.

How about our life?

If a quadriplegic for many years in a wheel chair, would be lost in a storm and froze to death, somehow, and the medics would be able to bring the patient back to life, and something happened in the dying and coming to life that would heal the patient, who is now no longer a quadriplegic, and he or she can move around like healthy people. Such a recovered patient, would the be permanently wonder struck and not recover from it?

Let us read a text in the chapter that is a classic and comprehensive statement on baptism and beyond that.

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:3,4.

When we die to our sinful flesh we will live a "new" life. Not an old life anymore, but a "new" life will then be ours.

So, what we want to do is dying to self so that we may receive a new life. Resurrection power essentially cannot and will not show up except when there is death. So it is our agenda to learn to die to self and stay dead to self so that resurrection power can show up and keep us real busy in our life.

But remember, Paul says, `I die every day.'

Jesus said, `Whoever will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and on crosses is only one thing people do, they die.

So, what is it that needs to die?

Let us define the `self' that needs to die. It is any aspect of our life that is not under the control and the reign of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, in our life. That it is what needs to die.

So, when you decide that you want to follow Jesus it must be accompanied by dying to self and being raised to newness of life, to a new life, by His resurrection power.

But there may be one thing we perhaps may not understand, that is, we need to set our course, a moment by moment journey. We need to stay dead to self. But when self stays alive, yet you remain in the church, you remain to be a Christian, you are not bad but also not too good either, and you think you saved in God's hands.

So we ask, `Do you think, every time you sin, do you thinks God leaves you then?'

No. We should not believe that. Especially Romans 7 goes into that.

Let us look at this picture, even though it is a little rough.

When we accept Christ into our life, and we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, `Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and the Holy Spirit dwells in you.'

You are God's temple and you are sacred. So let us picture this as a large body of water, and all this water represents all the power, all the resources of heaven that is in us. - Yes, all the power that is actually in us.

But there is a dam with a gate which controls the flow of all the water. So, when self arises in me, don't think all that body of water leaves you, instead what happens is, by your power of choice, which let self arise, the gates are shut, and even though God is in me, by my choice, He is prevented and blocked from flowing through me and out to others around me.

That means, while we may be Christians and have accepted Christ, we are experiencing little joy, little power, little peace, little spiritual life and victory, little power for ministry to others, because there is so much self that the gates are shutting down, and every time we are convicted and we let the Holy Spirit show us the `self' in us - which happens primarily by looking a lot at the life of Jesus, read his words - but we can't keep self alive and at the same time look a lot at Jesus for "by beholding we become changed" - when we are then convicted, we surrender all, let go and die to self, the gates are then opened and the water can flow, God's grace and His power can flood through us again.

What does this mean? It means the agenda of dying to self is very huge. We cannot do that by looking at `self.'

If we primarily look at self rather than looking at Jesus, what will then happen?

One or two ways.

If I try to discover and learn looking at self, I will either rationalize, oh, I am really not that bad, at least compared to all those sinners out there.

If I look at the other side of what can occur, I may say, oh, I am so terrible, I am so bad and I brow beat myself and grind myself into dust.

And neither of these two ways work.

If we do a lot of staying by the cross of Christ, we learn two things.

We learn (a) how much we are loved, and (b) what basket cases we are.

At the cross of Christ we learn how deeply we are loved, and how desperate in need of divine assistance we are.

But we will see `self' very differently when God points out `self' in you or me in the context of how much I am loved. It overwhelms me and I become repentend rather than either rationalizing and justifying myself or just saying, `I am terrible, terrible, terrible.'

Or, when we dwell a lot at the empty tomb, and realize there is all the resurrection power available.

Let us read something in one of my favorite chapters in scripture. Let us compare two Bible versions to get the impact more fully.

Here at this state of things are all those religious leaders in the days when Jesus ministered among them.

Here are the disciples who loved Jesus.

And Jesus saying in their faces, `I am going to die and will be resurrected in three days,' and He said this plainly to them, yet Peter couldn't hear it. And Jesus said to him, `You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of man.'

Here are people who hate Jesus. There are people who love Jesus, and none of them really get it what He had come for, what His mission was. Even though He had explained it to them clearly.

Why? Because in some ways both sides are rapped up in self. How am I doing, self-protectiveness, self-defensiveness. Trying to make sure everything goes right. Being so sensitive about everything.

So we read,

"There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. All who consecrate body, soul, and spirit to His service will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical, mental, and spiritual power. The inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own Spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in mind and heart. Through the grace given us we may achieve victories that because of our own erroneous and preconceived opinions, our defects of character, our smallness of faith, have seemed impossible." {MH 159.4}

So, putting self aside, then there is room for the Holy Spirit to work in the life. That is the flow of the body of water.

We learn, if we put self aside, heaven just showers us and fills us with all the resources of heaven. God is willing and able to give you anything you need. Kind of like Solomon. Remember God's promises to Solomon?

God's grace is able to abound so that at all times, in all circumstances, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

But that resurrection power comes only to those who are dead.

That we must remember. It comes only to those who are dead to self.

What must our agenda be like? We must look a lot at Jesus on the Cross. Then one of our chief prayers ought to be, `Lord Jesus, show me the self I need to surrender. Show me at the cross where I need to hold tightly and die with you more fully to self. So that in three days we will be resurrected together to a whole new and a whole wonderful way of life.'

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us - if we die to self we open the flood gates.

We may then know that Jesus loves to forgive sins that have been confessed and repented of. He will then not remember our sins. In fact, when it comes to sins, Jesus has then a very poor memory. We may also know that Jesus does not simply forgive our sins, but He says then, `You are not guilty.'

That is a remarkable truth. It is one thing to say, `You are forgiven your sin.' (1.John 2:12) It is another thing to say, `You are not guilty.' (Micah 7:19; 1.John 1:9)

Where is that in the Bible?

"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." 1.John 2:12.

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Micah 7:19.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1.John 1:9.

But when do we sin? We may make a case that would show that we do most of our sinning against one another, when we think we are right.

Something happens to us then. Things should be fair. Life kicks us around. We feel we are not treated they way we should be treated. I didn't get this or that. I didn't pass this or that. Life is difficult. Not as much fun as we once thought.

And so, when life is difficult and things are not going our way, the way they ought to, how do we respond then?

Do we at times exhibit the anger of a demanding spirit?

When we are right, but things are not going our way, how do we respond?

What about such a demanding spirit?

Jesus taught what? Jesus taught that demanding things will make our characters unfit for the future life. All heaven will pronounce such unfit for the kingdom. They are disqualified for any position of trust in the great work of God in the courts above. Where ever we work, institutions are instrumentalities ordained of God, and the principles of equity, justice and righteousness must be maintained in them with fidelity. The work in which we are engaged must be done by people who are ordained of God as was Christ, to go forth with the spirit of sacrifice for the salvation of a lost world. This is the spirit that should characterize our work anywhere and everywhere.

Sadly, we do a lot, of not most, of our sinning when we are right and right is not happening.

So it can be that sometimes we think we are right, and we are right; but other times we may think we are right, but we are not.

We know God wants that we all have a happy life. But when things fell apart, and we have not that happiness we hoped for, what kind of a spirit develops then in us?

As Christians are we immune? No. We may last a little longer, but eventually we start behaving as anybody else around, and we remember the words, `It is the love of self that destroys our peace.' {MB 16}

While self is all alive and we stand ready to guard it from mortification and insult, but when we are dead to self, and our life is hid with Christ in us we not take neglect and slights to heart. We shall be deaf to reproach and blind to scorn and insult.

According to scripture, when God calls a person to "die", it includes dying to our rights.

What about long term, seemingly unending, unrelenting pain and problems, how do we react then?

Then temptation to sin, to develop a demanding spirit which then feels so good when we are right, is incredibly strong.

But it is a disease without symptoms is bad enough, but it is these that increases our feelings of well being, while it slowly destroys our health is worse.

When things are not happening the way they ought to, we were not treated the way we should be treated; it feels so good to rise up against that.

Demanding is such a serious problem but rarely feels like a problem. We may actually feel stronger and more alive when we pursue our demands and rehearse to ourselves their credibility - because we are so right.

When we feel so right, do we then also still have love, patience, forbearance, goodness, gentleness and self control inside (1Cor 13:4)?

We may remember all this by remembering this shortened admonition, `If pride and selfishness were removed most problems are solvable in five minutes.'

So why drag out our problems?

Lets solve them in five minutes.

To Him be glory in the church, now and forever more.