THE ESSENTIAL THINGS: WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN POSITIVELY NEEDS
TO UNDERSTAND TO DISCOVER THEIR LIVING POTENTIAL IN JESUS CHRIST!

My friends, much of what circulates regarding the Christian experience is at best distraction and at worse, heresy. This has always been so it seems, even from the evidence of Scripture. In this regard I have listed some essential topics that I hope you will finding edifying and instructive to your new life in Christ. Items will be added and removed from this section as the Spirit leads. If any of these items infringe on restricted or copyrighted materials, please advise and I will speedily remove or attribute them as appropriate.

1. THE DEMAND OF CHRIST (by Robert Govett)
   What is Christianity? Not merely a splendid picture, painted by the hand of a master. Else it were sufficient homage that we gazed on, and admired it. Nor is it simply a glorious melody, composed by some high master of harmony. For then it were sufficient, that we listened to it with delight. Nor are we to look upon it purely as a set of opinions respecting the great truths of the unseen world, and the eternal state. For then it were enough, that we held those opinions in all their strictness and orthodoxy. Nor is it the partaking, or the having partaken of certain rites and ceremonies, administered after an approved form. For then, a Romish priest at the head of a troop of dragoons might baptize, and so convert a country (like Mahomet) by force of the sword, and send them to heaven even against their will.

2. WHEN THE LAMB OF GOD BECOMES THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH (A. Edwin Wilson)
   The fact of the matter is, there are two distinct lines of prophecy running throughout the Word of God. One line shows the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God making atonement for sin by dying on the cross. The other line of prophecy portrays Him as the King, Ruler, Conqueror, coming in power and glory, putting all enemies under His feet and reigning for a literal thousand years upon the literal throne of David in the literal city of Jerusalem. One must understand both lines of prophecy to have a clear concept of the Word of God, else he will find himself in despair and despondency because of misunderstanding and misconception similar to that of John the Baptist...

3. Jesus is Coming! (William E. Blackstone)
   William E. Blackstone (1841-1935) would be the first to disclaim credit for any of his achievements. Blackstone wrote one of the most popular books on prophecy, simply entitled: Jesus Is Coming. Over 1 million copies have been printed since the book was first published, and it has been translated into at least 47 languages. Because of his humble nature, Blackstone would only use his initials W.E.B. as the author.

4. Types in the Bible (A. Edwin Wilson)
   The Old Testament has been called, "The Neglected Continent of the Bible." Many know the Old Testament for just a few favorite chapters. Others think of it only as giving a few biographical sketches. But few realize that for every New Testament doctrine, there is a type in the Old Testament. Historical events took place as recorded in the Old Testament in order to illustrate, typify, or symbolize New Testament truths

5. Jesus Only! (Vance Havner)
   In this wondrously refreshing little book, Vance Havner reminds us that nothing else really matters but Jesus Christ. Here is but a taste of what's inside... "Why did God make the universe, anyway? He made it that one day Christ might be all in all, that one day, from tiniest electron to mightiest planet, it might glorify Jesus. Scientists cannot give the reason for the universe: Christ is the reason. Creation is now enslaved in corruption, but one day it will display the glory of Christ, the bondage of sin will be broken, the Sons of God be manifested. And Christ not only created the universe and is its object but He sustains it now. The very existence of each of us, to say nothing of our salvation, depends on Him. Without Him the universe would fall apart."

6. Our Vital Union with Christ (A.H. Strong)
   Excerpted from A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, 1907 and still one of the most comprehensive and readable treatments of this foundational truth. Lots of study here folks, but it is definitely worth it. Open your Bibles and discover that this thing called Christianity is so much more than "knowing Jesus" or "having a relationship with Jesus" or "keeping a set of rules or regulations". This essential truth of our vital union with Christ is pivotal in understanding everything at the heart of our lives and hope in Christ: regeneration, justification, conversion, sanctification and redemption. In so many powerful ways it all starts here my friends, and failure to grasp this can only lead to frustration, defeat, legalism and idolatry.

7. The Importance of Faith in Christ! (Ray Stedman)
   In this compelling two-part commentary on Hebrews 11, R.C. Stedman unveils the awesome truth of what faith is and how it works. Dear Christian, our reality as followers of our Lord requires that we see and experience life on a far different level than those around us. Faith represents spiritual sight and reality and it is one of The Essentials!

8. Jesus Christ and His Church (Chip Brogden)
   Indeed, my brethren, our Lord is building His Church and it is essential in this hour that we know exactly what His Church is. I believe Chip Brogden has been given much divine insight concerning the Church, and this link will take you to a number of his articles currently online.

9. The Normal Christian Life (Watchman Nee)
   This classic book by Watchman Nee holds within its pages the vital elements of our faith, and I believe every believer would do well by adding it to their library. Caution: those not born of the Spirit will get little from this message, as it treads deeply into the rudiments of our faith and lives in Jesus Christ!

10. Christ is God's Everything! (Watchman Nee)
    What in fact is this thing called Christianity? It is nothing less than Christ himself, as Watchman Nee so powerfully conveys in this compelling message!

11. The Centrality of Christ in the Scriptures
    He is the essential theme and focus of the Scriptures, is He not? – Is He not there “In the beginning” and in that final “Amen”? Does His glory and promise not shine on all pages in between? As we approach the Book is it anything less than He we are searching for? If so, then we will surely not see Him there, for He is the All and Everything in time past, time present and time future.

12. The Spirit of Christ (Andrew Murray)
    In this timeless book, Andrew Murray reveals the reality and wonder of the Holy Spirit, as He exists to enliven this new race of humanity born again in Christ Jesus. I dare say that every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ would do much good by reading this material. Ask Him to lead you in the Spirit as you encounter this spiritual truth! Link is to an external source, so please report any broken links.

13. Christ Increased and Everything Else Decreased (Chip Brogden)
    The Scriptures indicate that God is about the work of filling all of His created universe with the glory of His Beloved Son. This includes each of us, and we will never advance in this living walk in Him if we fail to apprehend this. I believe Chip Brogden has been given much divine insight concerning this truth, and this link will take you to His site.

14. The Reality of the Body of Christ (Watchman Nee)
    What is true spiritual life? How can you recognize it? What is the Body of Christ and how can you discern its life? In what ways does the natural man and natural religion attempt to simulate true spiritual life and true body life? These questions and more are addressed by Watchman Nee in this article.

15. In the World But Not of the World (Watchman Nee)
    This world, and all that advances and empowers it will be judged. In addition, the god of this world will be judged. We are saved out of, and from this world. Yet we are here in it - it is all around us, and knocking at the door. So what do the Scriptures, and John in particular have to say of this world? I think you will be surprised by how Watchman Nee fleshes this out for us. Quote - "For understanding never moves us; only revelation does that."

16. The Release of the Spirit (Watchman Nee)
    Here is a quote from this momentous book by Watchman Nee - "We must recognize two very different ways of help before us. First, "there is a way that seemeth right" in which help is received from the outside-through the mind-by doctrine and its exposition. Many will even profess to have been greatly helped through this way. Yet it is a "help" so very different from that help which God really intends. Second, we must see that God's way is the way of spirit touching spirit. Instead of having our mentality developed or acquiring a storehouse of knowledge it is by this contact that our spiritual life is built up. Let no one be deceived; until we have found this way we have not found true Christianity. This alone is the way of having our spirit edified or built up."

17. The Flesh Amounts to Nothing (Chip Brogden)
    In order to advance, to grow, and to become all that Father wants us to be in His Son, we must come to acknowledge a basic principle, and it is this - Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ we can do nothing! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us yes, but nothing of ourselves, in the power of the flesh! In this compelling article, Chip Brogden lays it all out, and this is powerful and essential stuff folks.

18. Jesus as Messiah and God (Ray Stedman)
    In his marvelous summary to the Gospel of John, Pastor Ray Steadman lays down John's compelling presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Living God. Here's an excerpt - "Yet, so overwhelming and convincing was the evidence they saw and heard that when they reached the end of the story, when John began to write down the recollections of those amazing days, he began with declaring the deity of Jesus, "This is the One who was in the beginning. He was the Word who was with God, who was in the beginning with God, and was God."

19. The Life of Elijah (A.W. Pink)
    Considered by many to be the quintessential prophet by Jews and Christians alike, Elijah stands apart for many reasons as God's man of the hour in the midst of universal idolatry and defiance. Yet what can we glean from his life that is recorded in so sketchy a fashion in the Scriptures. Well, folks, A.W Pink, in this classic exposition goes further and deeper than any other this writer has seen. On our Lord's faithfulness, on stewardship and duty, on just about every aspect of the believer's life. I highly, and I mean highly recommend that you take the time to read this. Pink takes us on a whirlwind journey, sweeping through both old and new testaments, and touching on just about every essential aspect generic to our service to the Lord God and His Christ.

20. Jesus is Our Sabbath (Ray Stedman)
    What does it mean for Christians to keep the Sabbath? What did God's rest picture for those faith and life is now lived and embodied in the Lord Jesus? This and other related questions are considered by Ray Stedman in this timeless message.

21. The Vast New Covenant Transition (A Wilderness Voice)
    What is the church truly - and what does it mean to assemble together in Christ? What is the singular hope of the Christian? What is the true gospel really all about - what does it say about our Lord's ultimate creative and redemptive purpose? Think you know? You may just be be surprised! Our friends from a Wilderness Voice provide biblical answers to these as well as other essential questions.

22. The Mysterious New Man of Ephesians (W.E. Smith)
    Have you ever wondered if we have ever fully appreciated what God the Father is doing down here in and through His Beloved Son? And is this somehow wrapped up in this "mystery" revealed to the Apostle Paul and conveyed in his letter to the Ephesians? Maybe there is more to it all than we have realized?

23. Spirit and Soul (Jessie Penn-Lewis)
    THE ignorance of Christians concerning the distinction between " soul " and " spirit " is very general, and is a primary cause of the lack of full growth in the spiritual life in many devoted and earnest believers. G. H. Pember points out as the cause of this ignorance the popular phraseology of " soul and body ", which has caused a deficiency in the English language. He says that although we have the nouns " spirit and soul "which are too often treated as synonyms-we have no adjective from the latter, with the consequence that the omission of such an adjective has almost concealed man's tripartite nature in the versions of the English Bible, where the " Greek word which signifies ` pertaining to the soul ' " is sometimes rendered " natural " and sometimes " sensual " (see I Corinthians 2:14, James 3:15, Jude 19).

24. Abide in Christ (Andrew Murray)
    
    "Come unto me."--MATT.11:28    "Abide in me."--JOHN 15:4

    "IT IS to you who have heard and hearkened to the call, "Come unto me," that this new invitation comes, "Abide in me." The message comes from the same loving Saviour. You doubtless have never repented having come at His call. You experienced that His word was truth; all His promises He fulfilled; He made you partakers of the blessings and the joy of His love. Was not His welcome most hearty, His pardon full and free, His love most sweet and precious? You more than once, at your first coming to Him, had reason to say, "The half was not told me."

    And yet you have had to complain of disappointment: as time went on, your expectations were not realized. The blessings you once enjoyed were lost; the love and joy of your first meeting with your Saviour, instead of deepening, have become faint and feeble. And often you have wondered what the reason could be, that with such a Saviour, so mighty and so loving, your experience of salvation should not have been a fuller one." Andrew Murray

25. Love Revealed (George Bowen)
    We profess to love Him. We profess, there lore—the inference is unavoidable—to desire to enjoy higher and more satisfactory manifestations of Him than have been yet vouchsafed unto us. It follows, then, that we ought to feel very greatly the pressure of the obligation to seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Blessed be God I the Holy Spirit is being poured out in many churches, and many Christians are at this very hour enjoying such views of Christ as fill them with a preternatural joy and love and strength. But we have not yet entered into the fullness of this glorious dispensation. If We love Christ, we will press deeper into it, believing that Omnipotence will find ways of revealing itself in the spiritual world of which we have as yet no conception.

26. The Days of Noah (GH Pember)
    Our Lord suggested that His final return will be preceded by worldwide conditions "as in the days of Noah". In order to understand what He was actually inferring we must revisit the days of Noah, and yet sadly, men have gotten it largely wrong. GH Pember is the the exception.

27. The Judgment Seat of Christ (DM Panton)
    A powerful yet concise message, in the form of a small paperback, presenting the Scriptural truth that our lives, in thought word and deed, shall be judged by Christ Himself, and this according to the rules of His kingdom. Coming face to face with this reality it is a transforming experience. If everything about us will be judged according to the brightness of His understanding and counsels, then shouldn't we be more open to what the Spirit would teach us, that we can be fully prepared to meet Him in this judicial capacity?

28. Worthy of the Kingdom (Thomas Finley)
    Now as committed and heaven-borne disciples of Christ, all of our expectations of what lies ahead must be grounded solely in the prophetic truths of Scripture, which as we all know, can be confusing. There are a myriad of explanations and interpretations for any given topic to be sure. Only the Holy Spirit can guide us in rightly dividing all of the various passages related to the Kingdom, the ages, judgment, reward, eternal life, rapture, tribulation and chastening. That these matters are not so spelled out as clearly and directly as perhaps we would like, is maybe by design. The deeper things always seem to ask more of us don't they? This book by Tom Finley explores the largely uncharted territory of the Saints Reward, and the promise of entering into the Kingdom (in its millennial aspect) as fellow-rulers with Christ the King.

29. No Place to Call Home (Mae Shurow)
    
    I don't fit. Is there anybody else out there who feels the same way? Every time I talk to the Father about this, He tells me, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Luke 9:58).

    It took me a while to understand what this passage is saying. Jesus, in addressing a man who said to him "Lord, I will follow thee withersoever thou goest," reveals what following Him will entail - those who choose to follow Him will have no place to call home! Jesus is telling this man there will be no longer be ANY PLACE where he can feel at home; no place where he can lay his head; no place that he can rest; no place where he will feel accepted in this world. THIS is the cost of following Christ!

    I DON'T FIT ANYWHERE.  Is there anybody else out there who feels the same way?  I certainly don't fit in the world any more, but what has been hardest for me is the fact that I don't fit in any of the established churches.  I don't fit under the Evangelical umbrella because they have embraced a gospel of easy believism that leaves the conviction of the Holy Spirit out of the redemption process.  I can't live in the Reformed camp because I believe their teaching of unconditional election is void of the faith response God requires from those who will enter into covenant with Him.  I cannot settle down with Catholic, Church of Christ, or Methodist because I believe baptismal regeneration is foreign to Scripture.  Neither am I comfortable in the groups that are moving away from established denominations, such as the emergent movement or simple church groups--they are much too liberal for taste buds that have grown accustomed to feeding on the meat of the word.  Sadly, I have no where to lay my head. . . . 

30. The Christ, the Anti-Christ and the Church (T. Austin-Sparks)
    With the Christ, the one all-inclusive issue is the rights of God. He is the very incarnation and embodiment of those rights. You ask now the meaning of Christ? Get back behind the fact of Christ, behind the Person, behind the Christ presented to us, whom we accept personally, whose teaching we accept, whose work we accept and wonder at, the facts of whose life and death, resurrection and ascension we believe in; get back behind it all, and what is the meaning? What does He mean? Why Jesus Christ? The answer is, “The rights of God in this universe”. Now that goes to the heart of our first point about Christ, namely, of His being a type of creation; a kind of being, a man, in whom the rights of God take the entire place of concern and devotion. Here you have a Man, “The man Christ Jesus”. “There is... one mediator... between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). “What is man... the son of man?” “We see Jesus”! or in the familiar designation of 1 Cor. 15:45, “the last Adam”. Here you have a type of creation, and the explanation of that particular type of creation is the rights of God. He is a Man whose spirit, being in living union with God, is governed by God’s Spirit, and all in relation to God’s rights. He is governed by God’s Spirit. He is governed in His mind, His heart, His will, His reason, His desire, His choice, by the Spirit of God in relation to God’s rights.

31. Address to the Clergy (Immediate Inspiration) (William Law - 17th Century)
    What really is the Christian life folks? How does it work? What does it require of fallen man? Does it have a price? What is the true blessing? What did our Lord really offer us - a new religion, a restored and perfected natural kingdom? The answers are all here little ones. If you are tired of the heavy burdens imposed by fleshly religious zeal and the religions of man and the devil, then read this, and pray the Father would deliver you into His grace and truth; into the true Christian (Immanuel) experience. Oh that the clergy of today would know this; oh Lord save us from what we have done to your most Holy Name and testimony.

32. Ten Shekels and a Shirt (Paris Reidhead)
    One of the most powerful and mighty sermons every delivered by the Holy Spirit through a man, touching the themes of God's Glory versus the happiness of man (humanism). This link leads to the transcript but you are encouraged to listen to the audio message.

33. Resting and Wrestling (Robert Govett)
    Now there appears, at first glance to be a stark contradiction in the Scriptures, related to how one is to be saved. This contradiction is duly clarified in this tract from 19th century English teacher, Robert Govett. This is important material my friends; so please be sure to review this in the Spirit.

34. On Rewards (DM Panton)
    Our last meditation was on Work it is appropriate therefore that we now turn to REWARD. Scripture regards each disciple as a runner racing, an athlete wrestling, a warrior fighting, a farmer sowing, a mason building, a fugitive flying, a besieger storming; and all this strenuous intensity rests on a fundamental of revelation - that God is, and that “He is a Rewarder” (Heb. xi. 6). “With many disciples,” in the words of Dr. Pierson, “the eyes are yet blinded to this mystery of rewards, which is an open mystery of the Word. It must be an imputed righteousness whereby we enter: but, having thus entered by faith, our works determine our relative rank, place, reward.”

35. The Theocratic Kingdom (George Peters)
    This massive three volume work is the most comprehensive scriptural treatise on the kingdom of God ever undertaken, and we highly encourage all disciples to venture forth into this work, to discover what the Bible actually says of the kingdom past, present and future. You can read it online at Google Books, or purchase the set for your library on Amazon or Schoettle Publishing.