Winona Conference Part 5 – Outside of Time and Space Fellowship with Christ

The biggest book in the Bible: do you know what it is? Do you know what the longest book in the Bible is? Oh, forget Psalms. I’m sorry, that’s not exactly a book; that’s a hymnal. Job. I believe that’s correct. Job. This great big book. Some man wondering around trying to figure out why God. Why God? He was a Calvinist, or he was a doubting Calvinist, or maybe he was an Arminian attacking Calvinism and all these big problems, and he was just griping and complaining and asking and asking, and then it all ends for him. Do you know what happened? He tells what happened. He didn’t get a single question answered. He said, “I have seen the living God.”

Thomas Aquinas was probably the greatest intellectual that church history has ever produced. He has something called Suma Theologica. It’s about that big and was never finished. A theological statement. I don’t even know if he was saved during that time, frankly, but what is not known about him is that in his old age, he had a profound encounter with the Lord, probably somewhere out here. It changed his life completely in his old age. And someone said to him, “Does that mean, Thomas, that you no longer believe all those things you wrote?” And by the way, they’re still studied in all Protestant seminaries today, and you better believe it all is there. He is still the theologian of Christianity, not just the Catholic Church. “Thomas, do you mean you don’t believe this anymore?” And his answer was, “Oh, it’s not whether I believe it or don’t believe it. It simply doesn’t matter.” Praise the Lord.

And that is true for you. No matter what your problem is, it’s whether or not you can reach Him. And my dear friend, the best way for you to reach Him is out there without you being involved. I’m going to describe it this way. It’s something like looking through a peephole, and you see the Father and the Son fellowshipping with one another, and you have little or no consciousness of yourself. It’s simply Him, and that’s the way it ought to be.

Now then, Roy and Mark…where are you, Tim? Tim, is that an honest description of your experience? Say it really loudly. Thank you, brothers. I appreciate you all being here, because people sometimes think I’m cracked. No, that’s not true. They just wonder.

Well, Gene, you mean you’re going to leave us right here and leave? You’re going to take it right here and leave us? Well, I just gave you something. I gave you Psalm 23. So, I’m going to give you a couple of assignments, and then I’m going to see some of you again. We’re going to take up right here. The saints in Chicago…I have been invited to Chicago to stay and meet with you once a week for six or eight weeks. Now, I’m going to talk to Michigan about this. I don’t know what to say to the rest of you, but I’ve learned the lesson. I can’t do this as well in a week as I can in six, eight, or 10 weeks. This way, it sticks in the life of those who touch it. But I would offer to you that I have not damaged Psalm 23. Then I would recommend that you go to that great Christological passage in Colossians. Turn to my Colossians right quick, would you? Take Psalm 23. Take that great Christological passage in I believe it’s Colossians 1. You may not know what Christological means. So let me read it to you.

For He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation. For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.

I’m going to move that to right here. Listen to it. Son, my Son, you will be My image. You will be the physical expression of Me, the invisible One. You will be the first thing ever created. In You, I will create all things in You. I will create the heavens in You, and I will create the earth in You, and I will create all things on the earth in You. Everything that is visible will be created in You, and everything that is invisible will be created in You. If there are thrones, they will be created in You, and dominions, they will be created in You, and authorities, they will be created in You. And all of these things will be created through You, and my son, they will be created for You.

For You are before all things right now, and in You, everything created will hold together as long as it is in You. And you will become the head of the body, the bride. You are the beginning; You will be the first to ever rise from the dead, that You might have first place in everything. For it is my good pleasure for everything to dwell in You.

Now tell me if I have done damage to that passage. Have I done damage to that passage? Have I changed its meaning in any way? I have only moved it where it first took place, somewhere within the community and communion of the Godhead. But now you have two passages. Well, you need the body. You need a little bit more, but I would invite you to get up one morning real early, and I’m going to close with an assignment, and get alone and get still before the Lord, and open Psalm 23, and don’t rush anything, and turn that psalm into prayer. But move it somewhere.

Hey, you have got a spirit, saint. You’ve got to believe me. You’ve got a spirit. And honest to goodness, your spirit really is free from this world. Move it somewhere. I don’t care where you move it. And I don’t care what you do with it. Just make sure there’s not an “I” in there. You understand what I just said? Make sure there’s not an “I” in there. Make sure this is, hey, just get it off this planet; move it somewhere out here. I shall never forget the first time this ever happened. And you know, I can lead Christians to this, and they can go explore their own world. They don’t need me after this becomes part of their life. They come back and tell me things that just stunned me.

I remember one day, a sister, her name was Sandy, came up to me with eyes as big as saucers. And she said, “Gene, I found somebody else out there.” I knew what she was going to say. Would you like to guess who she found that was there? And she discovered this all on her own. And I don’t know that anyone else has ever, I’ve never found anything else out there but this. You know what she found out there? Why saints? She found the only other thing that is out there. She said, “I found the bride out there.”

Have you had that experience, brother? Have you found her out there? Have you? There is no way for me to explain to you the riches that can be yours if you’ll just get out of the picture. I’m going to take just a second here to show you just what the English language can give you. I hope there’s an English teacher in here. We have the past. Is that correct? And we have the present. And then we have the future. What else do we have? The future, Imperfect. We have the past perfect. Bless you, sister. I was hoping you’re out there. Alright, I understand. What else do we have? There is another one. What? Can anyone help me here? The past participle. I think that was the one I was looking for. Okay. Is there another one? Okay. I left out future perfect. Okay. And there’s future perfect. That’s just an English language; this isn’t in the language of heaven yet. You know what else you got? You got “I”; you got “you”, and you got “he” or “she”. Then you’ve got “we” and “y’all”. And you got “they”; with that, you can go anywhere with anybody.