Last week, God took us back to the firm foundational basic of living by faith.  Faith is where our salvation began.  At some point, each one of us heard the good news about Jesus; His sinless life, death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, and His resurrection again to eternal life.  We chose to accept this truth and this salvation by faith alone.

After choosing to put our faith in what we heard, then we experienced the grace of God, the forgiveness of our sin, the weight of our shame and condemnation lifted, and so much more!

When it comes to God’s word coming to pass in our lives, it begins with our faith.  It begins with our faith, endures by our faith, is spoken and prophesied by our faith, manifests by our faith, and is freely given away to others by our faith.  It is all God at work in cooperation with us through our faith.

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus is alive and well and still desires to seek and save the lost, fill them with the Holy Spirit, and cooperate with them to continue to do all of the works that He did in the flesh and even greater things!

As we saw last week, however, there is one thing that can stop these things from happening to the degree that God has planned and purposed them to; our faith.  Even Jesus, God, Himself in the flesh, could not do any miracles in His own hometown among His own family and friends for one reason:

Mark 6:5/Matthew 13:58

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them because of their lack of faith.

It was not only the faith of those intended to receive miracles from Jesus, but also His own disciples ministering out in His name who had issues with their faith.  Right after the transfiguration, we find this account:

Matthew 17:14-20

14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

According to Jesus, it does not take much faith at all for the impossible to be possible for us.  The disciples discerned that it was a demon causing this boy’s seizures.  However, they could not drive it out. 

It was an issue of the faith of this boy’s father and also the little faith of the disciples that caused them to be unable to drive out that demon and bring healing to the boy’s life.  

The father cried out to Jesus, “I believe, but help my unbelief.” according to the same account recorded in Mark 9.

And again, this was one of the concerns that Jesus had about His return:

Luke 18:8

…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Unfortunately, we don’t have to look very far in history beyond the death and resurrection of Jesus to see why He was concerned.  In fact, the very same day that He rose from the grave, He dealt with the issue of the lack of faith of His own disciples.  The very same people who lived and ministered with Jesus and were firsthand eyewitnesses of His power and authority still lacked faith in Him.

Mark 16:9-20

[The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]

9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demon

This morning, I felt that God wanted to take us back to a foundational basic.  Although this is a foundational basic at the very start of following Christ, it is also a key in continuing to grow and develop and experience all that God has for us.

Faith – Greek pistis – an assurance or guarantee, firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (ESV/NASB)

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. (GNT)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. (NCV)

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (NLT)

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. (AMP)

Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. (TPT)

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. (MSG)

Faith is how our new life in Christ begins.

Ephesians 2:8-10

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We’re saved by the grace of God through our faith.  We cannot earn our faith through works.  We cannot ever do enough good to outweigh the consequence of our sin.  That’s not how our nation’s civil laws work and it’s certainly not how God’s laws work.  In fact, the penalty for breaking any of God’s laws is the same, so effectively if you broke one, you’ve broke them all.  And all of us have done exactly that.

We cannot and do not earn our salvation through good works, however, we were created to do them.  It is through our works that we can express and live out our faith.  Not to get saved, but because we are saved.  Not to earn God’s love or grace, but out of gratitude for God’s love and grace freely gifted to us.

Faith at the beginning.

Romans 10:9-15

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Believing in our heart and professing our faith with our mouths.  Two crucial components of our new life in Christ. 

Most of us are comfortable with the believing in our heart part.  It’s the professing with our mouths part that we have a tendency to hold back on.  We speak so many idle words.  We speak so many words that are far from faith-filled.  That’s another message for another time, tho

You go to the kitchen and grab the cereal out of the pantry, the jug of milk out of the fridge, walk over to the table and pour out the cereal and then the milk on top of it and then get a bowl out of the cupboard and place it on the table.

What you end up with is a huge mess and nothing to eat!  You could empty an entire box of cereal and entire gallon of milk and you still would not have enough on the table to fill you up. 

You did everything right, but you did it in the wrong order.  If you had first gotten the bowl out of the cupboard and placed it on the table, prepared a place to receive it, and then poured the cereal into the bowl and the milk over the cereal, you’d be ready to eat with no mess at all!  Not only that, you would have some left over to share with others AND ALSO the container necessary to carry it to them.

You can do all of the right things in life, but still completely fail if they are not done in the right order.

You can do all of the right things in life, but still completely fail if they are not done in the right order.

Just like the old idiom says, “First things first.”  Priorities are so critically important in life and especially in our new life in Christ.  We have to roll before we crawl, crawl before we walk, and walk before we run.  Well, generally speaking at least.

Firsts are important in life.  Our first step, first kiss, first home run, first word, first game animal harvested, first car, and so on.  Firsts are important to God, too.  Throughout the scriptures, under both the old and new covenants of faith, we see the importance of firsts; especially the first born and the first fruits.

These were both to be consecrated to God.  They are holy, hallowed, set apart, sacred, devoted to God.  God first.  At the very beginning, even before the law was given to Moses, we understood that everything we have comes from God and that He deserves our first and best.

Genesis 4:2-5

2…Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

They both brought an offering.  Abel brought the firstborn to give to the Lord, Cain brought some of the fruits.  Although we often hear the difference in their offerings being the content; fruits and veggies versus meat.  However, I feel that it wasn’t necessarily the content of their offering, but their attitude in what was being offered.

Abel brought the first and the best to offer to the Lord where Cain just brought some of what he had harvested.  Do we give God our first and best or whatever we have left over if we have anything left over?

We also see this happening with Abraham and Melchizedek long before Moses and the old covenant law.  However, it was certainly a part of the law as well.

Exodus 13:1-2

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

Leviticus 23:9-14

9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted

This morning, we’re going to begin with communion.  It’s a reminder of why we’re here, how much God values each one of us, and how simple the gospel truly is.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This morning’s service is all based on Psalm 105.  It begins this way:

Psalm 105:1-4

1 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;

    make known among the nations what he has done.

2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;

    tell of all his wonderful acts.

3 Glory in his holy name;

    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

4 Look to the Lord and his strength;

    seek his face always.

Let’s put this word into action and do just that!  Let’s give some praise to the Lord through song and glory in His name as we seek His face!

* Worship *

Life can be challenging and it’s so easy sometimes to get overwhelmed by our circumstances and to lose sight of God.  That’s why we routinely have communion together as a reminder to us of what really matters in life.  This Psalm goes on to encourage us to do exactly this; to remember Him.

5 Remember the wonders he has done,

    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,

    his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.

7 He is the Lord our God;

    his judgments are in all the earth.

To be honest, I kind of struggled with this at first.  I love remembering in awe at all of the miracles and wonders that God as done, but I’m not as fond of the judgments of God. 

Remember the encounters such as when Korah and the other 250 leaders rose up against Moses and Aaron and God split open the earth to swallow them up and then burnt alive the 250 leaders.  Or remember Ananias and Sapphira when they lied about keeping back some of the money of their house sale for themselves and how they both died.

Sometimes, the salvation of some meant death for others such as the Israelites crossing the Red sea after fleeing Egypt and how that same miracle was both their salvation, but the death of the Egyptian chariots.

What this reminds me of is to not take lightly our salvation and the new covenant of God.  We are saved by God’s grace through our faith thanks to Jesus paying the price for our sin.  Since we are saved by faith, we should also live by faith in Him and in a healthy fear of the Lord.  We’ve been forgiven and set free from the power of sin.  Why then, would we choose to continue to live in sin?

It’s not that we are to be afraid of God, but that we live rightly in fear of the judgment of wrongdoing.  In fact, under the New Covenant, what we experience isn’t really the judgment of God, but the discipline of God.  We all deserve Hell, the right punishment for our sin, but Jesus took on that punishment.  We deserve Hell, but are instead freely given Heaven.  We’re not punished, but we are disciplined.

We are given the freedom of choice, but not freedom from the consequence of our choices both good choices that bring blessing and bad choices that bring curses.

If you had a good father growing up, then you understand this.  Your father loved you and you weren’t afraid of Him.  He was your provider and protector.  However, when you did what you knew was wrong, you feared his discipline.

Hebrews 12:4-11

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his so

This morning, we continue to learn and grow in our understanding of how God brings revelation to us.  After all, just one single revelation from God can radically transform our lives, our communities, and even the entire world. 

We learned about God revealing Himself through His word and how important it is to dedicate time to just pursuing the Presence of God just like the students of Asbury college are doing now. 

We learned the powerful reality of what happens when we choose to pray in the Spirit making perfect intercession.  We also learned about how God, through the Holy Spirit within us, often speaks to us inside our minds through our thought life and imagination.  We often call these dreams or visions or even just hearing the voice of God.

This morning, we turn back to the beginning as we see how God pours out His revelation and speaks to us through His creation.  We call this general revelation.  This general revelation breaks all barriers of language or education or wealth or access to a Bible translation or anything else that can prevent understanding between God and man.

However, God can certainly also speak specifically to us through what He has created.  Just ask Moses about the burning bush or Balaam about his donkey. 

God can also just show up in creation like Jesus in the flesh or the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove when He was water baptized or those in the upper room having tongues of fire on their heads and the sound of a mighty blowing wind when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost.  God’s creation can reveal Him quite specifically as well!

Psalm 19:1-4 (A psalm of David.)

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

God’s creation reveals so much about Him that we so easily miss because it has become so common to us.  His invisible qualities are clearly revealed through His visible creation all around us.

Romans 1:20

…since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

In the beginning, God spoke and created the entire universe all around us.  He spoke and in six days created everything that we experience with our senses and even those things which we are still exploring and discovering. 

He then rested on the seventh day as a rhythm and pattern for us to follow later commanded as the Sabbath day.

We very literally depend on the word of God for our life every day.  Every single aspect of our lives are sustained by what God spoke.  God’s word upholds us.  Whether we acknowledge God’s existence or His power and authority or not, it doesn’t change the reality that we live by His word in the most literal sense.

John stated it very poetically this way:

John 1:1-3

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

God spoke and created everything with one exception – mankind.  We were literally made different from the rest of all of creation.

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:5-7

5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the e

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This year is going to be a year of revelation!  We’ve been reminded of how transforming just one revelation from God can be and how it is the person of the Holy Spirit within us who brings us this revelation.  Jesus said:

John 16:12-15

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

We learned of the importance of praying in the Spirit as we pray the perfect intercessory prayer without even one intelligible word as the Spirit intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8::26-27).  We learned of the critical role of God’s written word to training ourselves to discern His voice.

God’s word is powerful and alive as the Holy Spirit is still pouring out revelation to us through it and breathing new life into it.  In fact, the Bible, itself, is a written record of God’s revelation.  66 books written by at least 40 men over the course of about 1,500 years and yet all with one author and general theme.  It’s by no means a collection of story books or fairy tales, but historically accurate accounts and poetic expressions of God’s revelation.  Peter explained:

2 Peter 1:16-21

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Peter physically heard the voice of the Father with his own ears, he personally saw the miraculous power of God through the ministry of Jesus and then through His followers, the church.  He knew that none of it was a made-up story, but that it all certainly took place. 

He also was convinced that the prophetic messages of the written word were completely reliable.  He explained that, though written by humans, that their true origins were God, Himself, through the Holy Spirit.  Paul also described the written word in this way.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

One of the ways in which we regularly hear God’s voice is through our minds.  It can be by means of our thoughts, our dreams as we sleep, our imaginations through visions while awake, or what we commonly call gut-feelings.  The Holy Spirit uses all of them to speak to us.

Joel 2:28-29

28 “And afterward,

    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

    your old men will dream dreams,

    your young men will see visions.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women,

    I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

I know that these have been my own personal experiences and we do see many examples of dreams and visions.  However, those internal thoughts and “gut-feelings”, which are most common by experience, I really couldn’t find clearl

This year is going to be a year of revelation!  We’ve been reminded of how transforming just one revelation from God can be.

Last week, we learned that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to bring revelation to us.  We learned how to pray the perfect intercessory prayer without using even a single word; praying in the Spirit!  Praying in the Spirit is such an awesome privilege that we don’t take advantage of often enough.

Like Paul to the church in Corinth, we strongly encourage everyone to pray in the Spirit, sing in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, learn from the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit in every aspect of life.

However, the Spirit does more than just intercede for us in prayer through unintelligible sounds that we can’t understand.  The Holy Spirit also brings us knowledge and wisdom and a greater degree of understanding than we could ever possess on our own.  The Spirit brings understanding of not only spiritual things, but also of the natural world around us that He created including our relationships with others. 

God is constantly speaking and pouring out His revelation.  The question is, “Are we listening? Are we watching?”  If God is pouring out His life transforming revelation and we’re not receiving it; what could we be missing?

Matthew 13:13-14

13 …Though seeing, they do not see;

    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

You will be ever hearing but never understanding;

    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

This thought crossed my mind when we were driving together as a family last week.  Nate is moving on into adulthood and as I was driving, I was sharing some financial advice.  As I was sharing some practical ways to budget so that we can pay all of our bills and still enjoy life, I stopped to ask what he thought.  After a long, awkward pause, I started to say his name.

Turns out, he had his earbuds in blasting music, bobbing his head, and didn’t hear a single word that I said.

How often does this happen with God and us?  How often is God pouring out life-changing wisdom right to us, but we’re too busy scrolling through our phones or watching TV or whatever else we distract ourselves with to receive it?

It’s like the old-school TV bunny-ear antennas or AM/FM radios or like the cellular data of today.  Radio towers all over the world are transmitting radio waves that travel all around us and even through our houses and bodies.  However, without having the right receiver to interpret and translate those radio wave signals, they go completely unnoticed by us. 

With the right cell phone, network access is granted and we are free to communicate.  Of course, that cell phone needs to be charged up, powered on, not in airplane mode, and within our reach to function as intended, right?

Everyone who has put their faith in Jesus for their salvation has received the Holy Spirit.  We have all that we need to freely communicate with God.  We have full access to His Kingdom resources.  The Holy Spirit is like that TV or radio or cell phone.

However, we have to choose to be filled with the Spirit just like our cell phone needs charged.  We have to choose to be trained in the Spirit just like we needed to learn how to use our cell phone.  We need to be intentional about being present in the Spirit’s Presence just like having our cell phone with us to be of any use to us.

If our cell phone battery is dead or we have no idea how to use it or if we leave it on our night stand at home, we’re missing out on what it offers to us.  It may be ours and it may grant us access to a world of knowledge and wisdom and resources and it may connect us to our loved ones, but it won’t be able to manifest any of these things unless we are intentional about using it.

Before going into more analogies, let’s go to our training manual of how to operate in the Spirit; the living word written by people as they were led

This is to be a year of revelation!

Brand new insight, a fresh perspective of that which we thought we already fully knew, a new depth of understanding.  All of the things that we need to be successful and to more fully reach our God-created potential.

Just one revelation from God can change so much in our lives!  A relationship that is falling apart, finances that never seem to make ends meet, healing that seems hopeless; people that you just can’t seem to ever see eye-to-eye with; whatever our need might be, just a single revelation from God can radically transform it!

A few things that we can clearly see from cover to cover of the Bible is that there is nothing too hard for our great God, that He intentionally chooses to cooperatively work in and through people, and that His ways are far, far from our ways.

Marching around silently for six days, then shouting on the seventh day isn’t recommended by the world’s smartest engineers as a method to crush a great wall surrounding a city.

A trumpet and an empty jar aren’t the primary weapons issued by the world’s strongest armies.

Optometrists aren’t trained to rub spit-formed mud into their patients eyes.

A financial consultant would never tell someone behind on their taxes to look in the mouth of a fish for the funds they need.

No caterer would order five loaves of bread and two fish to feed thousands of people.

A town with poisoned water killing people would not be told by a scientist to throw a bowl of salt in the spring sourcing it to purify it forever.

I could go on and on, but the entire point here is that all of these things historically, actually happened.  Each one resulted in success as a result of a revelation from God. Success was not achieved by worldly knowledge and wisdom, but by obeying a revelation from God that made absolutely no earthly sense. 

They were also not a permanent pattern to follow.  I’m sure that Peter checked hundreds of fish mouths after pulling that 4 drachma coin for the temple tax out of one, but found not a single one.  It had everything to do with obediently doing what God said to do when He said to do it and how He said to do it.  Only in that place was success found.

Proverbs 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight

All of these events were recorded to reveal the limits of our understanding and the limitlessness of God’s knowledge.  As He stated it:

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It is only through relationship with Him that we can receive His revelation and only if we humble ourselves that we can excel beyond the limitations of our own thoughts and ways.  As far as the humility part is concerned, Paul reminds us that most of us don’t have that far to bow intellectually…

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

So often, we over-complicate things.  We exist because God created us; knitting us together in our mother’s womb.  Then, we begin to think that we are something and know best who we are and why we exist.  We live according to our own flesh.