In the words of the apostle Paul, “Other foundation can no man lay, than that is already laid, which is Christ”. The knowledge within you, that Christ is the Son of God, was not revealed by any man, was not revealed by “the church”, and was not a conclusion that your former powers of reasoning arrived at.

The knowledge in you, which is Christ, the hope of glory, was delivered to you of the Father. The same of whom Jesus spake, en route to the Father, by the route prescribed for Him on our behalf…the crucible of the cross. “I go to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God”.

Careful reading of certain passages of scripture define the laying of the foundation in Peter. For when Peter was asked who HE believed Jesus was, he said “You are the Christ (anointed), the Son of the living God”. Jesus described what He found in Peter:

“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.”

Jesus did not call Peter “the foundation”. He called the revelation from the Father, in Peter, of who He… Christ, is: the foundation. Flesh and blood can reveal it to no man. No man can convince another man of it. Hence Jesus charged them, “tell no man”. No man, apostle or otherwise, can lay the foundation. I may find it in another, as Jesus did in Peter, I may expound it, but I can not lay that which only the Father lays. Paul repeatedly declared that he (and we) receive grace and apostleship from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul later stated, with an oath, that he received nothing by way of understanding, from those who were apostles before him. This was not said to belittle them, or magnify Paul. It was said to keep the correct and proper perspective intact, that everything we receive, every one of us, we receive directly and expressly from the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. The fall of that built upon a false foundation, with a false father of flesh, will be very great. Peter is not responsible for what has been created with his name. Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat. Wheat is bread…it is one’s word. Satan did not succeed with Peter, but has succeeded in perverting Peter’s word and baking a poisonous loaf.

Now, if that foundation be found in any individual, that foundation will be tried by fire. The main intent of this writing is to convey that fact. That Jesus is a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s soap. The refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap are in you. And as the apostle wrote, care is required in what one builds upon that foundation. Wood, hay and stubble will ignite upon contact and consume away. Gold, silver and precious gems will not. They were forged in fire, tested and brought forth in the crucible. Paul’s warning is not of a trial by fire to be accomplished off in the future. It is immediate and on going. Where the foundation is, there is a purging fire. Our God is a consuming fire. Judgment must begin at the house of God.

The treasures which we store up in heaven are not stuff and junk. They are Spirit and life. They last and endure. They are substance in truth, but ethereal in this life. Everything which the scriptures describe as having great value with God, have no means of exchange here. What is the price of wisdom? How do you purchase understanding? Where is the place I buy knowledge? In the world, it is said that when I die, I can’t take anything with me. Not so. Everything revealed in my by the Father, everything learned supping with the Father and Son in the abode they have made with me, all things whatsoever I have of God, brought forth in the secret place, tried in the crucible of flesh, and proved…all will survive, and all will I take with me.

This life is a crucible…if the Refiner’s Fire dwells with you. Knowing this makes this life a little easier to endure. Do not think it a strange thing if you are enduring it. Patience and Faith.

Malachi compares the Lord’s people as being made up (formed) jewels. I would highly recommend reading and studying a bit about how gems and precious metals are formed, refined, and processed…going all the way back to the death of stars, where the elements are rendered. A little studying of the subject will tell you that it is a long , difficult process , involving tremendous extremes of heat, pressure and time. And the refined materials are not found lying about casually upon the face of the earth. They must be sought for and brought out. The great “houses’ of religion are a flash in the pan. They will not endure this age. The Lord’s workmanship will. His workmanship we are.

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1Pe 4:12

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

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(Job 28:12) “…But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.”

(Job 28:20) “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

(Job 28:28) “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

(Pro 4:5) “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.”

(Pro 4:7) “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

(Pro 16:16) “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”

(Pro 17:16) “Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?”

(1Pe 3:3) “…Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

(Mal 3:16) “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up (form) my jewels (treasures); and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.”

(1Co 3:11) “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

(Heb 12:18) “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:For our God is a consuming fire.”