For our learning

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Our learning. We have much to learn, don't we?  Will there ever be a time when we can say we know it all, that we've learned enough of the Bible that there is no more to learn from it?  I don't think that is possible, not for me anyway.  Each day by the grace of God I try to study a little bit, some days a lot, others very little or not at all but thank God that hasn't happened too often. What prompts a lot of studying over a little bit, I don't know. I suppose that all I'm really trying to do here, is what I perceive from my studying, God's will. I desire to be led of the Spirit, and hope and pray that through CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS to belong to the Savior, to be known of Him.  Often I'll repeat things I've said before but it's not intentional to the point I've run out of things to study. Rather it's I need to impress these things upon my own heart more and more.  These studies are not for any one person, but for myself and any who may find them even a little bit interesting, informative, helpful in any way towards believing in the Way, the Truth, and the Life- Jesus Chrsit our Lord and Savior.  There's a good chance these studies are very confusing to those who try and read them, I don't know.  I have to leave all that in God's hands and just do what I'm led to do, praying it is His will.

Here in Roman's 15:4 we are told the 'thing were written aforetime were written for our learning'.  Those aforetimes are the Old Testament writings, the only Scriptures the Apostles knew.  We tend to forget that they didn't have the great wealth of spiritual knowledge we find in the New Testament, they were pen men of it through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

All the scriptures they had were the Old Testament and it is these that Paul speaks of here. The Old Testament was written for OUR learning- through PATIENCE and COMFORT of the scriptures we might have HOPE.

This tells us that we cannot ignore the Old Testament of believe in any way that it was done away with. 

Jesus said this--

Luk 24:25  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

Luk 24:26  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luk 24:28  And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

Luk 24:29  But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

Luk 24:30  And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

Luk 24:31  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Luk 24:32  And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Jesus expounded on the scriptures- the OLD TESTAMENT. Truly we must seek to learn all of God's word from the Old and New Testaments not daring to neglect either of them for the other.

Tomorrow we will read more on the prophecies of our Savior, all by the grace of our God, the forgiveness of our Lord, and through the help of the Holy Spirit.

In their love always!

Amen

Uncreated

Php 2:5-8  'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. '

Christ Jesus, equal with God. 

Satan wanted to be equal with God. Satan strives for this--

Isa_14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Satan wanted a God position.  He was created. God and Jesus Christ were not created.  Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting.  Some might argue He was created when He took on flesh, but I will argue right back that the uncreated God who divested Himself of His God-spirit form and took on flesh, is still the same uncreated One alive within the womb as the uncreated One in a miraculous unknown manner.  Did He retain all His memories of divinity as an infant, as a child, as a youth, as a teenager, as an adult?  I can't say. We do know that  at 12 He knew who His declared Father in Heaven was and that His declared Father had a 'business'. 

Luk_2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

He wasn't talking about the carpentry business either, which His stepfather, Joseph was involved in. He was in the temple talking with those learned men there.  So we know that Jesus knew that He had a declared Father in heaven who had a hand in His miraculous transformation from God-spirit to God-flesh,  that Father-God becoming His Father at that moment of declaration.  When they were creating the world they were God with God, both God's equal in all ways, both God's distinctly-separately- agreeing as one in purpose. When undertaking the plan of Humanity they had the foresight to plan for a worst case scenario and that was when it was 'planned' that should Satan bring sin to Humanity then and only then would One God become the declared Father, while the Other God would take on the role of the Son being born into human flesh, flesh that was created mingled with uncreated spirit- God, an entirely new and different being altogether, a unique being was born.

Truly -

Php 2:5-8 '... Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (((or Slave)))), and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'

As that new creation- God-Man, Jesus could have chosen not to humble Himself further than He had in taking on flesh. He could have divested Himself of the flesh rather than suffer death, the death of the cross, but instead He stayed true to the plan, He stayed obedient to the will of His Father and His own will.

We cannot let ourselves forget the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  He wasn't just another human being giving up his life for a fellow human being, he was GOD-HUMAN. He willing renounced His own powers using ONLY those of His declared Father. Every healing, every miracle, every word spoken was in accord to the will of His Father, and HE knew that His will was the same because He and His Father were One in agreement on everything, even the plan that death would be a reality for the Son.

And you and I, well we are told this…

Php 2:5-8  'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. '

LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS.

We have to become obedient unto the death of our own will, choosing rather to align our will with that of the Father and the Son. We must have the same mind about us, a determined mind, a faithful  mind believing come what may in a God who loves us and a God who died for us, a God whose righteousness must be ours because we have none of our own. We must become obedient in our surrender to God in all things, knowing through HIS power, HIS mercy, HIS grace alone that this will be possible. 

All in HIS LOVE!  Keep us in YOU FATHER, through the SON.

Amen!

Jesus in flesh faced the same temptations we face

Mat_4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them

The devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, but not just that, he showed them the glory of those kingdoms.  What do you imagine he showed to Jesus? What was the glory he believed would entice God in Flesh, the declared Son of God, the One he knew had a part in his own creation, the creation of the world he claimed as his?  We can't forget that satan knew Jesus in heaven, He knew him as his creator, he knew Him as God with God.  He knew Him in His spirit form. Satan also knew that when He brought sin into the new world created by Jesus, that God the Father and God who was to become the declared Son told Adam and Eve that an enmity would be put between Satan and mankind.

Gen_3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Satan knew that the One who could bruise his head- killing him- was before Him as God in the flesh. He KNEW the prediction that while he would hurt the One before him, the One before him would destroy him.  He needed to go by all He knew of God in the flesh, God now subject to temptation because He was flesh.  He knew of God's love for the world He'd created so he offered them back to Him.

Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

He was telling Jesus, God in the flesh, that He needn't be bruised at all, that He could have what He wanted, the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. 

Again, what did he show to Jesus, what was the glory that would entice God in the flesh to be tempted to give up His purpose for taking on that flesh?

What did Jesus die for?  You and I, right? But Satan was tempting Him with THINGS, with all the glories of the kingdom, all the things any human would find tempting and even Jesus would find tempting, but He would NOT yield His mind to the temptations before Him not even when they were everything He could want as a human being, yet lacked everything He wanted as God. He wanted the end to sin, an end to the thing that separated Him from His Human creations.

Mat_4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them

Jesus was shown everything the world had to offer any human being and He through His Father's power resisted the temptations that we face.  He felt the temptation it was REAL or else there wasn't a single point in satan tempting Him, not one. He knew the temptation, the force of the temptation, and none of us can ever say that our temptations are greater than His ever were.  Our temptations may be more complex because of our technology but they all have the same root causes every single one.

Are we choosing the world over Jesus because of the temptations we succumb to, the temptations we fight against?  Temptations are REAL, temptations are STRONG, temptations are going to come at us all the time with the SOLE objective to separate us from Jesus.

We choose- the world and all the glories of it, or Jesus.

By the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, may be choose JESUS. Please Father, keep us from EVIL, all in YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE.

Amen.

The World or Jesus?

The world or Jesus?

2Ti 4:10  For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica

Loved this present world.

Do you love this present world?

Do you love the pleasures of this world more than the sacrifices needed to belong to Christ?

People don't like to believe they need to make any sacrifices, that Christ doesn't ask us to make sacrifices at all, that it would be wrong of Him to ask that of us. People want to believe that everything they do shy of outright civil law breaking is acceptable.  These are untruths we tell ourselves so we can get away with all sorts of things- loving this present world.

We are told we have to love this world by virtually everyone. If we profess a dislike for this world in any REAL way we are told we are psychologically damaged.  We are quickly told all the wonderful things about this world- family, friends, beauty, etc. We are told we need to love this world because God made it.  This present world is awful!  And yes, many will agree to that too, all the while loving it. Is it confusing?  Of course it is, Satan loves to cause confusion. Satan wants us to say we hate this world, while our actions prove our love for it. Satan could careless about what we say as long as our heart is his.

Do you love this present world?

Do you want the pleasures of this world over the sacrifices of a contrite heart, and a broken spirit?

Psa_51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Again, people want to shout out that God doesn't want us to have broken spirits, or broken and contrite hearts. They'll say that Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted,  and I can't dispute that but I can say this--

Jesus said- Mat_5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus said- Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

DENY himself.

TAKE up his cross.

We are NOT to indulge ourselves and live our lives seeking ease over all. Yet we have been raised to believe this is our right- to live to please ourselves.

We need to make sure we do NOT love this present world as Demas did, choosing to leave God and God's truth, God's ways to indulge in his love of the world.

Please LORD, please help us NOT to choose the world over You! Keep us from EVIL, Father in Heaven, please, keep us from evil!

Sleep

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

*******

Who sleeps in Jesus?

What does it mean to sleep in Jesus?

We know this isn't the ordinary sleep for just a verse later we are told this--

'That we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.' 

So those who are asleep are not alive.  Again a verse later--

'..and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain…'

The sleeping in Jesus are those who have died in Christ secure in the knowledge they will rise again to immortality when their Savior returns and calls them forth from their graves.

Yes, I keep on with this and I'm going to continue on with this because our Savior preached the gospel of His kingdom for 3 years and gave His apostles, His disciples the command to continue to preach of this gospel of the kingdom. They never stopped. They shared the news endlessly. 

Today in my particular world I know of no one personally who does not know the message of Jesus' salvation, the message of His kingdom.  I don't live in a world where the message has been kept secret. The message is has been spread widely and people have chosen to heed it or ignore it.  I have no way of knowing who in the entire world might read these blogs, but if even one person seeks the truth of our Savior, the whole truth not just the bits that serve their idea of a proper religion, I will have been blessed.

By the grace of God the truth must be told.

The truth is death is a SLEEP.

The truth is heaven is NOT filled with our loved ones.

The truth is Christ will call forth the dead from the graves upon His return.

We need to know this truth, our Savior did not die in vain.  Our Savior came to bring the good news of a future promise of a life with Him. If people already died and went on to heaven after death in the 4000 years prior to Christ's why would our Savior need to have come at all? This was said…

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Clearly Paul was making a point that David was dead and buried, and not living up in heaven.

There are many facts to the truth, but Satan loves to twist things to suit his purposes.  It suits his purpose to get as many people as he can to believe his lies so they are duped when it comes to Christ's truth.   When Satan impersonates Christ's return it will be to deceive people to get them to believe lies and follow him in his disguise. And these people will be among those who hear the beloved Savior tell them to get away from Him, that He never knew them.  Please Savior do NOT let us be among them! Keep us in YOUR TRUTH in ALL TRUTH even when that truth destroys beloved fables we believed to be true.

All by YOUR grace and LOVE!

Always!

In Jesus' name!

A good conscience

1Ti 1:19  Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck

Faith and a good conscience.  What is a good conscience?

Do you have a clear conscience? We know what that question means. If your conscience is clear that means you have nothing to feel guilty about, right?

If we have FAITH in our Savior's ability to save us through His forgiveness, through His sacrifice, through His righteousness  then we have to realize that through Him we are guiltless.  Through our Savior our conscience can be good.

If we look to ourselves for salvation we are truly wrecking our faith and we cannot have a good conscience if we are looking to ourselves for salvation. 

When we put away our good conscience we are also putting away the truth that we need to live with Christ in us and according to His will. We are NOT stupid! We know right from wrong in many things. When we choose purposefully to do wrong, we are choosing to turn from a good conscience, and covering ourselves in guilt. 

We get enough guilt by not purposely striving to commit sin, our sins of ignorance are more than enough for us.  We are told right from wrong and told not to do wrong. 

Truthfully it is only by our SAVIOR we can have a good conscience but we can make a terrible mess of our faith when we stop even thinking about needing a good conscience. 

Have we gone to Christ and sought forgiveness for ALL our sins, every single sin? We need to! We need to do this DAILY, and several times of day if need be. We cannot depend upon ourselves! We need to know this, this needs to be a reality for us as we live day to day, saying things maybe we shouldn't say, disparaging someone we know better than to do, we simply need to recognize the sins not COVER them up as Satan would have us do. Not make excuses for our sins! We need to lay prostrate before our God and beg His forgiveness because we are creatures prone to sin and prone to wanting to hide from our sins, to talk them away, to explain them away and we cannot do that! Please LORD, help us not leave a single sin unconfessed, unrepented of.

All by YOUR amazing LOVE, YOUR forgiveness!  

Please God

1Th 4:1  Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

Isn't this what we want? To know how to walk and to please God, so we can abound more and more in Him?

1Th 4:2  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

1Th 4:3  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication

The Will of God--this is how we are made holy in HIM.

Seek NO other God, not a single one.

1Th 4:4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

Possess ourselves in being made holy in honor.

1Th 4:5  Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God

Not letting our lusts rule us, and they will, they will rule us if we do not yield ourselves to God and His will.

1Th 4:6  That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.

Defraud NO ONE in ANY MATTER!

1Th 4:7  For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

1Th 4:8  He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

1Th 4:9  But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

1Th 4:10  And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

1Th 4:11  And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you

STUDY to be quiet.

Study to be humble, unassuming, study to become what God wills.

We must STUDY this- it won't come to us without studying and yet we imagine it should. We imagine that God should allow us to just go on as we are without us having to study to do His will.  Being God's is a true walk- a true way of life.  And this walk with God must be first in our lives, not second to our will and ways.

All by GOD'S Grace is this even possible, all through the HOLY SPIRIT is this possible, of our own accord we fail miserable all the while Satan would have us everything is just fine. We must be on guard unendingly praying and seeking the Lord and His will.

Please Father, keep us from EVIL, every aspect of evil.

All in YOUR love.