Present at the Birth (Part 4): The Creation of Man Reveals God’s Eternal Purpose

You can’t do this now, but you’ve got to never forget that you’re here when you gather to fulfill the purpose of God having created man, and that is to show forth the physical, visible image of Jesus Christ. That’s why you gather. You gather unto Him. You don’t gather to be blessed by songs. You don’t gather to pray for one another. You don’t gather to share your needs. You don’t gather in order to hear somebody speak. You don’t gather in order to bellyache. You don’t gather because it’s wonderful, and you don’t gather because it’s dry. You don’t gather because it’s good, and you don’t gather because it’s bad. You don’t gather because it’s wonderful, and you don’t gather because it’s boring. You meet. You are a meeting place. You meet for one purpose—that is, to project Jesus Christ, not for yourself nor your benefit, but for Him, unto Him, for Him, by Him, through Him, and to Him. Brothers, please never forget that your purpose in this city is to bear the image of Christ when you corporately gather.

Gene, why would you get ticked off by us? 7P.M. How y’all doing? It’s nice seeing you. All three of us here, 7 P.M. Well, would y’all like a Coke? While we’re waiting, I have some cookies left. If any of y’all got a Bible or songbook—I forgot to bring my Bible, songbook. 20 Minutes later, somebody else comes in. Were we supposed to meet tonight? 15 Minutes later, here comes some more. What are we going to do? Well, let’s sing. Amazing, amazing, amazing—let’s start there. A little higher—that’s too high. A little lower. Amazing…I can’t sing that. We got something else we can sing? Thank you, Kathy. I appreciate this. That’s nice, Kathy. Alright, I thought that was you, Kathy.

Brothers, are you listening to me? My only question is just really simple: where is His image? In this, where is His image? Where is His image? Brothers, I would almost take you back there to the Lord’s table the other night and say, Wait a minute. Are you committed to bearing forth His image? Now, this is going to take time, and you’re going to lose it. There really are going to be meetings this bad, but if there’s anything I would ask the saints here to remember, it is this—that when you assemble together, you’re assembling the parts of Christ. You’re assembling the parts of Christ.

Brothers, that’s why I asked you a few months ago in the conference this summer at Simpsonwood, and why I really admire the Chicago group. They have rules if you’re not there on time. I love that. There are two things I have said: I don’t know how to have church life with people scattered all over, and I don’t know how to have church life with meetings that don’t start on time. They’ll kill every time. And this is going to have to be a commitment not only to just be there on time, but to understand the importance of what you’re doing. That doesn’t mean that every meeting you have to sing and that every meeting you have to be, you know—you’re not sitting there under the oppression of, but you move in every way toward bearing His image.

And every once in a while…will you not forget what I’m saying to you right now? Because I said it to you once before, and you’ve already forgotten. You don’t even remember my saying this. Take one or two months to plan one meeting. You meet to plan a meeting—a meeting for His glory alone, a meeting concentrated on Him, a meeting in which you invite, with your own mouth and words, you invite the principalities and the powers to watch. Praise, hallelujah, amen! You invite them to attend. They come anyway. They do observe. They’ll hate you for it, but they’re going to hate you anyway if you begin bearing His image in the gatherings. We gather. We gather to bear His image on this earth visibly. You have no reason for meeting in Beaumont except primarily and first of all unto Him, to show forth the Lord Jesus Christ in living black and white. Praise the Lord. Amen. Amen.

That’s why I came to this city. This is my calling—to plant the image of God visibly on this earth. It is your purpose for existing. Say praise the Lord. Now then, if you will bear that image, someday He may give you a little exercise of dominion. Oh, the brothers love power. “We’ll meet, we’ll meet, we’ll bear the Lord’s image so we can have power. We’re going to have power. We’re going to zap them demons. Demon, you’re zapped.” And boy, we’re going to heal people. We’re going to be impressed. We’re going to heal. Just bring them over here, and we’ll heal them. That sure is poor motivation, saints. No, it doesn’t come that way. Just one day, you look up and you realize you’re in a battle. The brothers and sisters, holding on to one another very dearly, simply, calmly, quietly announce that on this earth, ultimate dominion belongs in the church. Ultimate exercise of authority on this earth belongs to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ under the headship of Jesus Christ.

And that doesn’t mean you’re just going to be in control of everything on earth. Brothers, if that were true, everybody would be joining the church so they could be exercising power. There just come times in the issuing and warfare with darkness that you simply exercise His authority upon the earth. I would ask you not to pay a lot of attention to that, because that does not come out of being a group of people. That comes out of a great deal of the growth of His life in you, and a great deal of suffering, and a great deal of His cross. Out of life will come the image and the authority.

Did you hear that? I know you three brothers, four brothers, kind of standing, sitting all the way right together. What is the purpose for your gatherings, brother? Brother? Brother? Praise the Lord. Okay, praise the Lord—to express the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. I could spend a week right here. I want to spend a week right here. I want to spend a year right here on what it’s like to come into a meeting and see God expressed in His church. It doesn’t happen very often; it won’t happen very much. Having a meeting under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ is rare, but oh, what a glory to Him. And all of this is unto Him. All of this is unto Him. It is not one bit for you. This is why I would put more emphasis on the image and not on the dominion. The dominion will come organically out of the life.

There are two other things here I want to mention to you. I don’t want to leave this, but I will mention to you. One of them is, there’s sonship here. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there is sonship. There are only three, I believe, that are called sons of God in Scripture. Help me here. One is angels, and one is Adam, and one is Christ. See, I turn around…let me explain why that’s true. I turn around and I see J.C. Edwards. J.C. Edwards turns around, and he sees Bill Edwards. Bill Edwards turns around, and he sees Steve Edwards. This is true; I know the lineage of my family. Steve Edwards turns around and sees Josiah Edwards. Josiah Edwards turns around and sees Joseph Edwards. Joseph Edwards turns around, and I don’t know what he sees, but he sees his great, great, great granddaddy.

When Jesus Christ turns around, what does He see? What does He see? How did the Father? When the angels turn around, what do they see? Do they see an older grandpa angel? No, no. They turn around, and who do they see? They see God. And when Adam turns around—not Cain—when Cain turns around, who does he see? Adam. But when Adam turns around, who does he see? God. They’re the only three who, when they turn around, they’re at the head of their lineage. All they see is God, so they all three carry the term “sons of God.” God had a desire to have some sons and daughters. It did not happen because Adam did not take on the genetics, the DNA, of God.

I’m sorry, I’ve got to come back to image. I just got to come back to image. What did God want when He gave Adam the task of bearing the image of God? He wanted sons of God who would bear forth His image. It could not be done by Adam alone, but by Adam and his family. And together, corporately, they could have shown forth God; it cannot be done by an individual, and Christianity is never going to get anywhere with its individualistic bent.

Now, brothers and sisters, did He ever get what He wanted? Did He ever get what He wanted? Do you realize that in what Adam failed to do, Jesus Christ did do? He was God in bodily form; He was God visible. He could show forth. He can do something you can’t do. But He ascended. Do you follow and understand that He ascended, that He is physically not here anymore? Who does it fall to, to bring forth and keep? Who are the keepers of the image of God? It wasn’t Peter. It wasn’t John. It wasn’t James. It was Peter and James and John and Thomas and so forth—but actually, brothers and sisters, it was the Ecclesia in Jerusalem that took over the task, the purpose, of bearing forth the Father’s image on this earth, and they did it corporately when He said, “Greater works than these will you do.”