If I Had One Wish*

Today is the Feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost, when God delivered His covenant to the children of Israel from Mt. Sinai. After Jesus' resurrection and ascension, it was also on Pentecost that the disciples of Jesus in the Upper Room received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as He had promised them. The Word of God is not just to be read, but to be absorbed into the inner man, and to be a manner of life for us: "Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her and she shall keep thee...Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not unless they have done mischief...unless they cause some to fall." (Prov. 4:5-8, 14-16). It is about what is in the heart: "Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." (Prov. 14:32-34). The Prophet Jeremiah prophesied the Word of the LORD promising a new covenant to His people that would not be like the previous covenant which Israel broke. In this new covenant: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people...they shall all know me...for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. 31:31-34). We claim to be believers in the New Covenant, but it is to be in our hearts - not just our mouths. If I had one wish, it is that we would walk in the New Covenant. Ezekiel wrote about the LORD's promise to sprinkle clean water on us, and cleanse us from all filthiness and idolatry. In the New Covenant we know that we are washed with the water of the Word of God. The LORD also then promised us a new heart and spirit: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." The LORD also promised to give us His Spirit for a specific purpose: "And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezek. 36:25-27). In Psalm 51, David repented for murder, and asked God to renew a right heart in him, and not to take His Spirit from him. David understood that there needed to be an inward work in him by God. Jesus told those who believed in Him that to be His disciples, they must abide in His word. He said, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jn. 8:31:32). The wages of sin is death, scripture says, but the power of the work of the truth within us makes us free. The religiously strict Pharisees rejected Jesus' implication that they were "blind", but Jesus told them that the fact that they claimed to be able to see, or understand, meant that their sin remained with them. They claimed to see, but they still walked as if they were spiritually blind. (Jn. 9:40-41). In the Book of Hebrews, we read that although the old covenant and tabernacle were a shadow or pattern of heavenly things, the new covenant is more excellent in every way, established on better promises. This true tabernacle of the new covenant was not pitched by man, but by the Lord Himself, and is the fulfillment of the prophecy we read in Jeremiah above. (Heb. 8:5-6-12). Jesus died to fulfill this promise of God. I have studied the Shroud of Turin for years and all of the evidence gathered, both scientific and scriptural, confirms the Gospel accounts of His suffering and His resurrection. How can we neglect so great a salvation? If I had one wish, it would be that this kind of message would go "viral" and bring in the harvest of God. What was a form of righteousness under the law of Moses, has become righteousness in fact for those who believe by faith. Faith is an inward work of the heart that becomes joined with the Word of God that is heard: "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Rom. 10:5-10). This salvation comes to both the Jew and the Greek, or Gentile, by the same manner, by faith. The Gospel is not just to be heard, but to be obeyed, making Paul ask the question that Isaiah prophetically posed: "Who hath believed our report?". Faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the Word of God (v. 13-17). If I had one wish, it would be to "blow the minds" of people here and around the world with the message, and with the book "NAZAH", because of the time. We were dead in our sins, but Christ made us alive. We once walked according to the course of the world, but now we are quickened in Christ through grace, raised up, and made us sit together in the heavenly places with Christ. What an awesome thing to be made to sit in heavenly places with Christ! We were once completely distanced and separated from Israel, without God, and without hope. But Christ has destroyed that separation, and joined us together and made both one through Him by the cross. "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." ( see Eph. 2:1-18). On this Feast of Shavuot, two loaves of leavened bread would be waved before the LORD, a symbol of two peoples being joined through Christ, and filled with His Spirit. We have become fellow citizens with the saints, of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone (v. 19-20). We are being fitted together to grow into a holy temple of God. All of this begins with faith in each heart, "For by grace are ye saved by faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8). If I had one wish, it would be that we have this understanding, for Jesus is coming soon for a church without spot or wrinkle. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 6/5/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and theshroudofturin.org, endtimeschool.com.