How we are wearied of the "religious EMPTY SOUNDS" these days, that do not edify or nourish the vision within us, but only turn one's attention away from God, to be placed upon man, his ministry, his program, his personal kingdom.  Repetitive sermonizing that repeats tradition and commandments of men over and over again.  Vain speculations on things they know not, giving forth platitudes and cliches which appeal to the lusts of the flesh.  AVOID THESE EMPTY SOUNDS lest they begin to defile your vision.  This gives a new meaning to the proverb, "A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike." (Prov. 27:15).  The strange woman, known as the harlot Babylon, will condemn and nag and drip away until you are weary and agitated, distressed in your spirit, and so befuddled you might even find yourself questioning if the vision you received from God is true. it is time that we gather our garments about us, gird up the loins of our mind and set our affection on things above, and hold fast to the vision of God.
        Also, avoid "opposition of science falsely so called." The Greek word used here for "science" is "gnosis" meaning: knowledge.  There was a particular knowledge to which Paul made reference.  Gnosis was the characteristic word of the Gnostic school.  They claimed a superior knowledge peculiar to an intellectual caste.  Philosophic insight, as opposed to faith.  They would argue their propositions only from an intellectual standpoint, out of the carnal mind, being devoid of revelation, and a God-given insight into the truth which springs out of the Spirit.  And so Paul writes, "which some professing have erred concerning the faith."
        Professing─ the Greek word literally means: to announce, to assert some thing respecting oneself.  Far too much of this INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE is given over to SELF-EXALTATION, and has nothing to do with THE FAITH/VISION.  With a superior attitude, they preach "themselves," I said, I did, I think, I, I, I. "He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory." (John 7:18).  How we need to AVOID THIS SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE APPROACH.  "I have a vision far beyond all you people, let ME teach you, let ME show you the way, you just attend all MY classes and follow ME, and I will bring you into deep truth." Beloved, flee that realm like it was the plague, else it will defile your vision, and pollute the truth deposited within you.  It produces an elitism that mars the vision, and turns into a self-centered cult of egoism.
        So the challenge: "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience." (1 Timothy 3:9).  "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:14).  And all of this HOLDING─ KEEPING─ is done by the power of the indwelling Christ. May the Lord truly help us to learn to live out of His indwelling Spirit, not just out of the intellectual reasonings of the mind.  A beautiful way to illustrate this is found in the record of Noah and the dove.  "He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.  But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark." (Gen. 8:8-9).  So also we allow our spirit to DISCERN FOR US, and if there is REST to be found, well and good, but if there is NO PEACE IN OUR SPIRIT, then as the dove returned into the ark, so also we withdraw into ourselves, to wait for His guidance.  There is nothing to be said, nothing to be done, without the PEACE OF HIS SPIRIT.  You will not share your vision with others, when you sense they are not ready to receive it.  You will not receive what another tries to tell you, if there is no inner witness of life to your spirit.  It is when there is a sense of rest─ peace─ oneness of spirit, that you find you can freely share, and there is a refreshing flow of His life heart to heart.
        "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may BE OF GOD, and not of us." (2 Cor. 4:7).  How completely He is stripping us, so that we realize that "I can of mine own self do nothing." There will be tremendous manifestations of HIS POWER in the days to come, but let it be through purified vessels, so that all glory and praise is given to our God.  How dare we take the vision and write it out in a book, and SELL IT, as if it were "our vision" and "to be sold." When it is God's truth imparted into your heart, don't place your stamp on it, as if it were your possession to be dispensed with as you please, to profit your flesh, build your kingdom.  It is not yours!  We are what we are by the grace of God, there is no credit to be given to the flesh.  So Paul writes, "I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message." (2 Cor. 2:17, Williams Trans.)
        HIS IS THE POWER!  THE LIFE IS IN THE SEED!  It will fulfill itself when the time is ripe for it.  Many God-given visions have been violated when some man wanted to fulfill the vision prematurely.  They try to claim some fulfillment that is not there─ so they devise doctrines of "claiming it by faith," "positive confessions," etc.  And they announce their arrival, when actually they are but IN THE PROCESS of its growing and have a long way to go. Manipulations of speech do not fulfill visions.  "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life," (1 John 1:1) is the true witness.  Share out of the measure of reality that you have, and then KEEP─ GUARD IN YOUR HEART the vision He has given you of that which is yet to be.
        "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how.  For the earth brings forth of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come." (Mark 4:26-29).
        What a beautiful parable.  The life is in the seed, yet it draws forth from the ground.  There is an on-going relinquishment of the soil, that the new life may develop.  We are the EARTHEN vessel, the vision is IN US, and in the measure that we "die daily," He increases to become our everything.  So the "good ground did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred." (Mark 4:8).  Now, we could rightly say that THE SEED OF LIFE IS HIS, and we're the earth that receives Him.  Only in the measure that we yield ourselves up to Him─ our self-life decreasing, counted as nothing but dung (fertilizer), shall we find an increase in the expression of His new life.  You cannot force His growth within, but you can YIELD TO HIM─ and discover that "We are God's husbandry," (1 Cor. 3:9), and He arranges for the processings, seasons of cold, seasons of heat, cycles of rain, and cycles of dryness─ yet somehow there is a growth taking place which redounds to His praise.  What a work of grace! Significant that this is the one parable that also teaches for quantity.  Mostly the Word emphasizes QUALITY─ but the quality is assured in this parable, because it is in the SEED.  Whether it is reproduced in but one kernel, or in a hundred bushel, the quality is the same, ALL OF HIS LIFE.  Yet there will be those who have so relinquished themselves to Him, in such utter abandonment that they will bring forth to the maximum potential of an hundredfold.
        We have seen those who certainly had the life of Christ in them, and there was the potential for great manifestations of HIS LIFE, but the quantity was limited because there was much self that yet remained to be crucified.  So there is the challenge, in keeping the vision, in holding in trust the SEED which He has placed within, to surrender ourselves so completely to Him that He might bring forth the fullest expression which He has purposed for our life.  For truly, in divine restoration, every creature is to be brought into the fullest potential for which he was created.  When God is ALL IN ALL, there can be no lack─ no diminished quantity.  But what a deep inworking of His judgments might be required in us, until we do surrender totally to Him, that He might fill us with Himself.
        "We dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12).  The only Standard we have is CHRIST.  We measure to Him!  There is no competing of vessel against vessel, for we all are to be filled to overflowing with Him.  A thimble, a gallon bucket, or a huge barrel, when all are submerged into the ocean they all can hold no more─ thus is it all HIS LIFE!  When we are totally immersed into Christ, we'll be brought to the maximum for which we were created.  Thus we sing the beautiful chorus:

"O to be filled with His fulness, O to be lost in His love,
 O to know Jesus my Saviour, O to be found in God." Amen!