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,,...-----JEIGlJRES OF StfECH _having joy in Christ and not relying onthe flesh.II Timothy 4: 17 and 18:Notwithstanding the Lord stood withme, and strengthened me; that by methe preaching might be fully known,+and that all the Gentiles might hear:+and I was delivered out of the mouth

of the lion.+And the Lord shall deliver me from

every evil work,=and will preserve me unto his heavenly

kingdom:to whom be glory for ever and ever.Amen.

Throughout this wonderful record,the emphasis is placed on how the Lordstood with Paul. Each instance is impor-tant, each contributes to the whole andthe sum would be greatly reduced if anypart were omitted.

Thus we can see God has usedasyndeton and polysyndeton in HisWord with the expertness of an artist

to paint for us the fullness of what Hewants to emphasize. The figures ofspeech add life and texture to thereading and understanding of God'sWord. The figures of speech are trulythe Holy Spirit's markings as to what isimportant in the Word.

For further study:Asyndeton: Judges 5 :27; I Samuel

15:6; Isaiah 33:7-12; Ezekiel 33:15, 16;Mark 2:27, 28; Luke 17:27-30; I Corin-thians 3:12, 13; I Corinthians 12:28-31;I Corinthians 13: 13; II Corinthians7:5, 6; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:32;I Timothy 1: 17; II Timothy 3: 10, 11;II Timothy 3: 16, 17; II Timothy 4:2, 3;James 1:19, 20; James 5:6; Revelation3:7, 8; Genesis 19:16, 17, 19; Mark16:6, 17, 18; Luke 1:17; Romans2: 19-23; I Corinthians 4: 8; 13 :4-7;15:42-44; II Corinthians 7:2-4;Hebrews11:33, 34, 37, 38; Revelation 7:5-8;21:19,20.

Polysyndeton. Luke 14:21; Genesis8:22; Genesis 19:12; Genesis 22:9, 11;Genesis 25:34; Genesis 43:8; Exodus1:7;] oshua 7: 11,24; I Samuel 17 :34-36;II Kings 2: 12, 14; II Kings 5 :26; I Chron-icles 29:11-13; Psalms 107:35-37; Isaiah2: 11-19; Isaiah 3: 17 -4: 1; Isaiah 37: 37 ;Jeremiah 31:28; Haggai 1:11; Matthew7:25, 27; Matthew 24:29-31; Mark3:31-35; Luke 1:31, 32; Luke 7:11-18;Luke 10:27; Luke 12:45, 46; Luke15:20; Luke 15:22, 23;John 10:27,28;Romans 8:29, 30; Romans 9:4; I Thessa-lonians 2:11; I Timothy 1:5; Hebrews13:8; James 1:14; James 4:13; II Peter1: 5-7 ; Revelation 1: 11 ; Revelation 3: 17;Revelation 6: 15; Revelation 13: 1-9;Revelation 18:12, 13; Numbe~s 20:2;II Chronicles 32:27-30; Isaiah 3:18-24;Zephaniah 1:15, 16; Mark /4:1-9;Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 4:9; Revela-tion 11:17, 18; 20:9-15; 21:8,22-27;22:1-6, 17. [~

OUR TJMES _WHAT IS THE WAY INTO GOD'S PRESENCE?

We in The Way Ministry believe withall our hearts, our souls, our minds andstrength that Jesus Christ is the way, thetruth and the life. There is no other wayinto God's presence than our wonderfullord and savior, Jesus Christ.

The Word of God records how thisway greatly aroused and troubled itsenemies, bringing them almost to a mobfever. In Acts 6, Stephen, one who wasfull of grace and power, did great won-ders and signs among the people. Becauseof his bold stand, certain men of thesynagogue of the Libertines and othersrose up and argued with Stephen.

When these disputers could not resistthe wisdom and the spirit by whichStephen spoke, they appointed men tosay that they had heard him speak blas-phemous words (Acts 6: 11). Then theyseized Stephen. and brought him beforethe Sanhedrin, the 70 ruling elders ofJudaism.Acts 6:13:And set up false witnesses, which said,This man ceasetb not to speak blasphe-mous words against this holy place, and

the law.These false witnesses were men who

were paid to lie, in an attempt to provethat he blasphemed.Acts 6: 14:For we have heard him say, that thisJesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place,and shall change the customs whichMoses delivered us.

In the eyes of the religious leaders ofthose times, the change in their customswas a serious matter. Today, changingreligious customs is a serious thing.

Standing in the midst of these menwho were so stirred up against him, thesemembers of the Sanhedrin and false wit-nesses, Stephen taught the greatness ofGod's Word.Acts 7:57 and 58:Then they cried out with a loud voice,and stopped their ears, and ran uponhim with one accord,.And cast him out of the city, and stonedhim: and the witnesses laid down theirclothes at a young man's feet, whosename was Saul.

At the time of Stephen's.death, there

was a great persecution against theChurch. Saul, whose Greek name wasPaul, was one of the chief persecutors.He went to the High Priest and desiredsigned documents, having the authorityof the top religious echelon, allowinghim to take any followers of the way hecould find and bring them bound untoJerusalem for punishment. This greatman, Saul, was later born again of God'sSpirit, converted to the true way of lifewhich is Christianity.Acts 22:3 and 4:I am verily a man which am aJew, bornin Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet broughtup in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,and taught according to the perfectmanner of the law of the fathers, andwas zealous toward God, as ye all arethis day.And I persecuted this way unto thedeath, binding and delivering intoprisons both men and women.

Paul had been adamant against theway, but after his complete change, hemakes the following momentous state-ment:

26 The Way Magazine/September-October 1979

Christ was crucified, the veil of thetemple was rent in twain from the topto the bottom. This new and living wayinto God's glorious presence is nowopen to all men. Jesus Christ is thatway.

Because there is none other namegiven under heaven among men wherebywe must be saved, Jesus Christ is theonly way. There have been wonderfulmen in the religious field, but in themthere is no salvation. In The Way Minis-try, we believe and follow Jesus Christ,the way. That is what we stand for nowand have stood for these 37 historicyears of The Way International, andthat is Jthe magnificent truth of God'sWord. ,

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Acts 24:14:But this I confess unto thee, that afterthe way which they call heresy, so wor-ship I the God of my fathers, believingall things which are written in the lawand in the prophets.

The word "heresy" is the Greek wordbairesis. Today, this word would betranslated "cult." Paul said that heworshipped God after the way whichpeople called one of the most influentialcults.

What is this way which so disturbedpeople, and still does? Why is JesusChrist called the way? The beginning ofthe answer to these questions lies in theBook of Hebrews.Hebrews 9: 12:Neither by the blood of goats and calves,

but by his own blood he entered in onceinto the holy place, having obtainedeternal redemption for us.

In this verse is a key-Jesus Christ iscalled the way because he entered inonce, obtaining our eternal redemption.Not only did he enter into the holy ofholies, the presence of God, once forall, but he is a new and living way.Hebrews 10: 19and 20:Having therefore, brethren, boldness toenter into the holiest by the blood ofjesus,By a new and living way, which he hathconsecrated for us, through the veil,that is to say, his flesh.

The way into God's presence wasnever opened to any but the High Priest,in the Old Testament, but after Jesus

we don't vacillate. " ... And [God can]increase your ability and your capacityto its fullness" which brings us to thetruth of Ephesians 1: "that the eyesof your understanding may be enlight-ened .... " See how all those prayersmesh together.

The second verse of Paul's benedic-tion of II Thessalonians 2 says, "Com-fort your hearts, and stablish you inevery good word and work." The Greekword for "word" is logos. The wordfor "work" is "deed." It is not just amatter of not vacillating on one seg-ment, a sentence, or a statement ofthe Word. It tells us never to vacillateon the whole logos, the whole Wordof God from Genesis 1: 1 to Revelation22:21. God can comfort our hearts,and we can establish our-selves in everygood word and deed.

God would not only have us prayin the spirit, but He would have us topray with our understanding. But whenwe pray with the understanding, prayershave to be in alignment and harmonywith the Word of God that is addressedto us in order to be answered. We cannotpray the Lord's Prayer today, which isaddressed to Israel, and expect Godto fulfill it. However, we can prayprayers such as the ones in Ephesians 1and II Thessalonians 2. God is stilldoing mighty things through prayer.He is still fulfilling His promise thatwhatever things we desire when wepray and believe that we shall receivethem, we shall have them. Speak tothe Father and know that your requesthas been answered. (~

thou shalt be saved." These two versestell us that a person who talks aboutGod's Word a lot isn't necessarilysaved. You've got to believe in yourheart. That heart is not the physicalpulsator. It is the innermost part ofyour being, the very fiber of yourbeing. Here in II Thessalonians it says,"Comfort your hearts [the innermostpart of your being] .... " What a tre-mendous prayer, a prayer that you andI can go forth with comforted heartsin the innermost part of our beings.With God as my Father and JesusChrist, His Son, as my savior, whyshould I be upset, distraught within,when He has given comfort to theinnermost part of my being? Theonly reason I might feel distraught anduncomforted is that I refuse to believein my mind the truth of what Godtold me He did for me.

"Comfort your hearts, and stablishyou .... " That word "stablish" isterrific. It means to strengthen to theend that we do not vacillate, plus toincrease our ability and capacity tomaturity. "Comfort your hearts, andstablish you"-strengthen you that youdo not vacillate, but rather, mature. Tovacillate means one day we are hot forGod and the next day we are cold asan ice cube. When we stand fast here, wecan't waver. God can strengthen us,stablish us, so that we don't move.And having done all, we must stand.Don't vacillate on God's Word, people." ... [God can] strengthen you to theend that you do not vacillate." That'sa prayer we ought to be praying-that-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~.

PRAYERContinued from page 7.

Not only have we been given ever-lasting consolation right now, but some-thing else: " ... and good hope .... "Not only do we have everlasting conso-lation, but we also have been given thegood hope. The good hope of what?The good hope of the return of theLord Jesus Christ when he comes togather his Church. All of this God gave:His love, His everlasting consolation,and His good hope. He did all of thisthrough grace or by way of grace.Grace is divine favor, perpendicular,God to man. It is unmerited. Anythinga person earns is not grace. God soloved that He gave. Salvation is ofgrace, not of works. We can't earnsalvation. And this prayer of benedic-tion, a prayer of blessing, which is thelast prayer in II Thessalonians, tellsus that all that has been given is oursthrough grace, unmerited favor.II Thessalonians 2: 17:Comfort your hearts, and stablish youin every gor;r1word and work.

To comfort is "to lovingly andtenderly embrace to the end that itproduces an effect." "Comfort yourhearts .... " The heart is the seat ofthe personal life, 'that which makes you,you. It is the innermost part of yourbeing. Remember Romans 10:9 and 10," ... confess with thy mouth the LordJesus; and believe in thine heart thatGod hath raised him from the dead,

The Way Magazine/September-October 1979 27