Showing results by narrator "Russell Stamets" in All Categories

The word disciple means “learner”, and anyone who hears God’s pattern of salvation from one who has experienced it and believes, hungering to learn more, is a disciple. Tradition tells us Peter, James, and John were disciples. No, you are a disciple if you believe my words! Now, when I speak of Jesus, I am speaking of the pattern man, for “He has made known unto me the purpose of his will which he set forth in Christ as a plan (a pattern) for the fullness of time.”

Here we use the words "God" or "Christ" or "imagination" interchangeably. They mean the same thing. If I use the word "God" because I am moved to use it, or the word "Christ," it is the same thing. It is the fundamental power that created and sustains the universe, and which, also sustains our environment. We are told there is a secret to the whole creation "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, and by Him were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made."

The divine Logos, the Word of God, is within you. It is the source of God's creative power, the fountain-head from which spring living words of Truth. Words are creative. You can obtain every blessing you desire by thinking, speaking, reading, and writing only true, strong, upbuilding words. Your life outpictures your words. Word by word, in thought and speech, you build up your consciousness of God and Truth, or you lessen your consciousness of God, your ever-present good.

The unhappy man wants to be happy, the impoverished person wishes to become enriched, the sick man wants to be healed, and the lonely person wants love and friendship. These are fundamental needs of the human being and back of them is the need we all have to feel safe and secure in this world and in a world to come.

When asked "What must we do to be doing the work of God?" He answered, "Believe in him whom he has sent." That's all you have to do. Salvation is yours when you believe in him. There is no aristocracy of privilege, and to believe that Jesus exists means nothing. The question is: Can you believe in his story?

When you are discussing Blake you are discussing one of the greatest spiritual giants of all time. You might just as well discuss St. Paul, for they had the identical visions, the vision of reality. Tonight we can cover only a portion of his gift to the world. In his "Auguries of Innocence" he says: "To see a World in a Grain of Sand/ And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, /Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand /And Eternity in an hour." What is the sequence?

Today, we are going to talk about perseverance and the power of faith. In beginning our discussion I want to tell you about a man who maintained an orphanage through perseverance and faith, one who had a complete conviction that no matter what was needed, when he prayed the need would always be met. One day the manager of the orphanage came to him and told him they had no food for the children's dinner. Our friend who believed in prayer said that he would ask God for food, and retired to his room and prayed.

As I promised last Tuesday, I now want to give you my personal technique [I use] when I pray for myself or for others, but for the benefit of those who are here for the first time, I want to say that we believe here that Imagination creates Reality. And because only God creates Reality, your Imagining and my Imagining are one with the Supreme Power men call God.

You may ask how can a mortal man, born as we were born and who will die as we all will die, know that God only acts, but I tell you I know it from experience. I have experienced the Word of God and tonight I will tell you how I know that God and God only acts. The name of God is the key to understanding the biblical doctrine of God. In biblical terms the question is asked, "Does God exist? Who is our God? What is his name and what is his son's name?" For Israel, the personal name of God is I Am.

Christ is the reality, the God that is in man. It is he who breaks down the dividing wall between himself and man and makes of the two, one new man. Is this all done on the other side of the veil, or is there something that we can do on this side of that dividing wall? Let me share with you a story of a very dear friend of mine, one who has had most of my experiences. Listen to me carefully, for God speaks to man through the medium of dream and unveils himself through revelation.

At times I discover that I take too much for granted. Just because I read scripture all day, I'm inclined to believe most people do - and they don't. Yesterday a doctor who has been coming here for quite a while came to see me, and I realized that I had not made myself clear; so tonight I shall try to make this a very practical lecture, yet you will find it profoundly spiritual.

When asked: "What is the greatest of all the commandments?" God answered: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Accept this commandment! Live by it and you will be free from all secondary causes. There is only one God. He is the father of us all who is above all, through all, and in all. He is a universally diffused individuality whose name forever and ever is I Am.

Judas is called the betrayer, but what was it that he betrayed? Judas betrayed the great secret of the messiah and where Jesus might be found. His is the most important role in the great mystery of god.

Inspiration is a divine action which qualifies the individual to receive and communicate sacred revelation. The prophets, apostles, and incurrent eyewitnesses are those who receive such inspiration.

Scripture makes the most profound statements in the world. You can believe them or reject them, but you will never know their truth until scripture is experienced. When it is once experienced, you can no more deny it than you can the humblest evidence of your senses.

The world of imagination is infinite and eternal, whereas the world of generation is finite and temporary. In that eternal world, the permanent realities of everything exist. Their reflections are here, cast in a glass called nature.

The gospel is truly a mystery to be known only by revelation. In the 16th chapter of John we are told: "I came out from the father and came into the world. Again I leave the world and I return to the father." In these four short phrases we find the pre-existence of Christ, his incarnation, his death, and his ascension. I could put this in the first person, plural sense and say: "We came out from the father" for we're told in the first chapter of Ephesians: "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world."

Concerning the law, I can only acquaint you with the law and leave you to your choice and its risk, but we have scripture for it - to tell it, regardless of what they do with the law. In the 18th chapter of the book of Matthew, you see these words: "If any two of you agree on Earth about any request that you must make, that request will be granted by my heavenly Father" (Matthew 18:19).

God's promise is true; he who promised it is faithful, and is being fulfilled in every being in this world and the unnumbered beings to come. The first statement of it, you find in Genesis 17. We are told on the surface that Abraham was 99 and he was promised an heir, a son. If you are familiar with the story, he had a son who was described as a "wild ass" in the 16th chapter. That one was born of a servant of the household of Abraham, born of Hagar, born of a slave; and the Lord said unto her: "You will have a son and his name will be Ishmael ("God hears").

I tell you a truth: There is nothing greater than your own wonderful human imagination! It is he who inspired Blake, Shakespeare, and Einstein, for there is only one spirit in the universe! "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." That one spirit is the human imagination! When Blake was asked what he thought of the divinity of Christ he answered: "Christ is the only God, but so am I and so are you." Don't think of Christ as someone greater than yourself. He is the only God, but so am I and so are you!