Living in the Invisibles (Part 1): How to See the Unseen in Christ

Now, I’m going to tell you a few things we’ll do to make this practical. One thing we’re going to do is we’re going to go through Paul’s epistles. We’re not going to study this through; we’re going to discover this through. We’re going to “revelate” this. We’re going to realize this through Paul’s epistles in chronological order, and we’re going to take a stand on all the glorious things that we are, that we are in Christ. We are going to bring them into the meetings and make them absolutely real. As much as you can and feel comfortable with it, you don’t have to be pushy about it, but as much as possible within your abilities, you’re going to speak to one another this way, not only in the meetings, but in other places. Not in a “tinny” way. You don’t have to walk up to somebody and grab him by the shirt and say, “You’re a holy one,” but you could end the telephone call by saying, “Don’t forget. You’re just as holy as holy gets. You can’t get any holier than you are.”

Then find other ways to say it. Not in rote, not flippantly, not lightly, not…I guess I’m going back to the word “rote”, you know, not just something that you trivialize by repeating it over and over, but work at stating the word of God, which brought things physical into being by means of things invisible. Therefore, we shall speak the word of God, and we shall convert physical things to invisible things, and things that are not spiritual into things that are of the spirituals.

Okay, that’s one thing we’re going to do. Another thing we’re going to do is start by saying something really wonderful about ourselves. “I am a holy one.” Then you can share, and tell us all the other things you are, and what other brothers and sisters are, and what we are. You don’t have to make it individual. Make it individual, but also make it corporate. I’m going to say a lot more about this, but I tell you, I have been thunderstruck by the realization that the saints in the first century had two “I’s”. They saw the individual, but also the assembly of people of which they were part…they saw the assembly as a person.

Now, that may be one of the most profound things you’ll ever hear me say or anybody else say. So, listen to it again. They saw that assembly of people just like you are here, as one person, and spoke of that one person, just as you might speak of the individual. And I’ll turn that around. They spoke of the individual as though they were that whole person. Let me go back to the other because it’s more powerful. There was a certain view the brothers and sisters in the first century had of the ekklesia as being just one human being. And the wonderful things said about that one human being are absolutely stunning. In addressing that one human being, the assembly as a human being, and seeing that human being as a human being, and the glorious person this human being was, that affected the individual. In other words, or to go a little further, it is one thing for me to say I am a holy one. That helps me. It is another thing to say we are a holy one. It’s another thing to say this person is a holy one.

I’m going to ask you to do a lot of things with these two “I’s” you have, and one of them is to let the scales drop off as to us being individuals gathered here, but to look around this room and try to see a person, and speak of that person and the wonders of that person, and the glories of that person, for the simple reason it’s in here. I’m trying to avoid the word “she” here for the first time ever, but I will say it. She was just spoken of as a person, and so incredible a person that it must affect the individuals who are part of that person; to put it another way, you are a member. That word has been corrupted in our language. We think of somebody you signed up to become a member, but that’s a member. That’s a limb. As a member, a “membered” part of that person, addressing that person in this glorious state that God sees, and to look at that person and address that person and speak of that person in such a high and holy way has got to affect you who are a member of it.

The blood that flows through my bicep here flows through that thumb, and the blood that flows through this whole body nourishes every member of it. So that’s another thing we’re going to do. I think we’re going to have to study this recording. Another thing we’re going to do is learn to and practice speaking the phrase “I am a holy one,” and mean every human being in this room included in that “I”. “I am a holy one. I am holy. I am holy.” Do you understand that? “I am holy.” Someday, one of you is going to do something really, really unwise, and you’re going to need to see that person as still holy, and that member in particular, as Paul said, as still holy.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know that, for right now, I’m going to drop some more on you tomorrow and the next day. As of now, I can say this is one of the deepest messages I have ever brought into my life. I am sitting out here on the outer edge of everything I know, and yet, one day we might look back at this and say, “Well, gee, that was really simple. Why in the world hadn’t God’s people done this a long time ago?” We will not say these things in arrogance. We will say them in the simple truth that they are. We will seek to go into invisible places and turn around and look at the visible things as being made out of the invisibles. We shall see the visibles as though they were invisible, and we will see that which is not spiritual as though it were spiritual. We will be in spiritual places by faith. We will do these things. How shall we do these things? We shall do them by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that what He has said is true. We will do it by the invisibles, and we shall look upon those things that are unseen as though they were seen.

Somebody make something that we can put in our homes that says, “We look upon the unseen as though it were seen. We look upon the invisible as though it were visible. By faith, we look upon the invisible as though it were visible.” Now, we’re going to say it out loud. By faith, we look upon the invisible as though it were visible. Now, brothers and sisters, having done that, we’re going to be able to say, “The invisibles are visible.” We will forget to glorify the word faith, and we will not put it in some future context. We will say the invisibles are visible. If someone says, “How’d that happen?” You say, “By faith.” By faith, the invisibles became visible.

Alright, anybody have a question? Does anybody want to say anything? Well, come on. I have done a classic job here. Audience: Besides by faith, how will that become a reality?

Are you asking for more practical things? Well, that’s why I came here this weekend. I don’t really know everything that we’re going to do, and I hope you’ll remember this. You’re going to teach me some of this. And sisters, I’m going to ask you to discover these things when you get together with other sisters. I’m not going to ask you to go flipping through your Bible to say, “Oh, look. I found one, y’all.” But you can go flipping through, but you’ve got to turn that thing. You have no right to bring it in here while it’s still visible, and it’s just up here on your frontal lobe. Some way or other, we have to take this thing into reality and bring it into the room in reality. I want to say that when we sing, I don’t think we should start trying to change anything…this should evolve, but when we share, let’s just see how far out we can get. That’s about it right there.

When we share, let’s see how far we can go. Let’s just see what’s in this ocean. Let’s see what’s in that other place. Let’s stick our heads up there in the visibles, look around, and find out what’s there. Then, while we’re there, let’s look down on the visibles and say, “Oh, the visibles don’t look all that visible when you’re invisible.” And the visibles don’t look like they did when I was standing in the visible. Now the visible looks very much like the invisible. We will go there and find these things. Audience: …and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim…

We’re going to have to get in Him to find some of these things. Do you not find it difficult to say, “I am holy?” You don’t. Who said that? Is that Donna over there? Okay, Donna. Yes, absolutely. It should be a little difficult, at least in the beginning, to say that I am perfect. I am complete in Christ. My name is Gene. Audience: I’m here because I am perfect.