Our Conversation Is In Heaven.

Do you want direct instructions from God? Do you think He is silent, not telling you what you need to do? Read on…

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

STUDY.

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

LABOR.

ADD the following…

2Pe 1:5  …giving all diligence, ADD to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 

2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 

2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 

Study, labor, add… these are ACTIONS, these are INSTRUCTIONS.

2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

IF we ADD to our faith… virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity then we will NOT be left in the dark when it comes to KNOWING our Lord Jesus Christ!

2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 

Oh, how incredibly easy it is to FORGET we were purged from our old sins! Especially when they slip in once again and strive to take mastery over us, and they will! Make no mistake about it, the life that was buried in the grave, the old us who died so that we could rise in the newness of life in Christ, that old life will be clawing its way back to us in desperation. The old life filled with the sins that were purged from us will do everything it can to reunite with us. We CANNOT let ourselves forget that we were purged from our old sins, that we died with Christ on the cross and were buried with Him, and rose again with Him. We need to take a good hard look at our lives and ask ourselves if we are striving against sin. You heard me STRIVING, are you STRIVING!

By definition striving means to try hard to achieve or get something, to fight in opposition to something, to compete resolutely against somebody or something.

Heb_12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

STRIVING against sin.  

We are NOT to lay down and roll over and let sin have its way in our lives! We are NOT to say, "Oh well, I can't help it, that's the way it is. I'll always be this way."  We are to FIGHT! FIGHT! Do you hear me! FIGHT! We have to FIGHT against sin! If we really take stock of our lives and this--

IF we ADD to our faith… virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity then we will NOT be left in the dark when it comes to KNOWING our Lord Jesus Christ!

--asking ourselves if we are adding to our faith, to our belief in our Lord, virtue…are you adding virtue? Knowledge, are you adding knowledge? What about temperance and patience, and godliness, and brotherly kindness and charity! Do these thing permeate your life? Would one who knows you say you are a faithful believer in Christ, that you strive against sin, that you are adding virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to your life? Would they know that you despise the lack of these things in your life?

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall

Did you read that?  Read it again.

YE SHALL NEVER FALL.

How will  you never fall? IF YE DO THESE THINGS.

It doesn't say you will never fall if you simple do nothing at all, adding nothing to your faith. We are told what to do! We are instructed!

2Pe 1:11  For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

2Pe 1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 

We need to be established in present truth.

We long for an entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  When our Lord returns we want to be KNOWN by Him! When our Lord returns we want to be HIS, wholly His and no others! We can't let Satan worm his evil way into our lives by trying his utmost to bring us to despair. We must STRIVE towards the mark!

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 

Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 

Php 3:17  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 

Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 

Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 

Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. 

Made New Through Christ Our Passover.

1Co 5:6  … Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 

1Co 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

Leaven- yeast that creates bread that rises. You put a little bit of yeast into dough and the whole pile of dough rises. I made dinner rolls today using yeast. The recipe called for 4 1/2 tsp of yeast, and 4 and 1/2 cups of flour.  There are 216 teaspoons in 4 and 1/2 cups of flour.  Think about ratio….216 tsp to 4.5 tsp. And that's just the flour, that's not including eggs, butter, sugar, water the other ingredients that made up this dough. The tiny bit in comparison to the much larger bit is very significant.  Truly a tiny bit of leaven can leaven a whole lump.

What we are being told here is that a tiny bit of sin will affect the entire person's life and the life of others. To make allowances for sin is to endanger your spiritual life. To accept sin without calling it sin, excusing it…is wrong.

A little sin will destroy a spiritual life. The sin needs to be purged out before it destroys the spiritual life of the sinners and those who allow and condone the sin.  We need to purge out sin so we can walk in the newness of life. Christ died so we can be purged of our sins, not so we can excuse them. We need to live our lives not with the sins that will destroy us but with sincerity and truth in our lives. Sincerity and truth cannot live in the lives of lies and cover ups of sin.

Sin can't be hidden, don't think it can for even a single moment.

Purge out the sin by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, through His love!

A Daily Death to Self, A Daily Resurrection to New Life In Christ.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 

Col 2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses

Buried with Christ. Risen with Christ.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

Buried with Christ.  Risen with Christ.

The new life we live when we are raised from the death of our old life- it has to be different, it just has to be if we are truly brought back to a newness of life.  Too many of us take our new life and slowly watch it decay until it resembles our life prior to death, and then it is as if we'd never been brought back to life, as if we'd never died.

We need to die daily. Oh, I know we aren't baptized daily, just imagine if we were - what a recognition of our new life, but I suppose if it became a daily baptism it might become something that would lose its meaning too.  I know another recognition of our new life is the Lord's Supper, the taking of the bread and wine, the symbolic act we are to do often in remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection. And as soon as we are brought into remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection we need to be reminded of our dying and being resurrected spiritually with Him. We need to think about our baptism, and about our new life. We need to acknowledge that the old us is dead.

Luk 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

Deny himself. We have to deny ourselves daily. The cross we take us is one of self-denial.

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world

Denying ungodliness- recognizing there is a lot of ungodliness in our world and denying that ungodliness. All too often we call evil good and allow ourselves to be deceived that there is nothing that is ungodly. We live in a world where lusts are accepted and encouraged as being a natural part of ourselves that we shouldn't have to deny. Wrong. The natural part of us has been corrupted and if we refuse to believe that then we are denying God, we are denying Christ Jesus, we are actually saying we have nothing to be rescued from and this is how everything is supposed to be- simply because it is how it is, that we are what we are. We call evil good. We declare that sin doesn't really exist. We says all the pain and agonies of life are fine because they are naturally occurring. WRONG! Pain should never be! It is, but that doesn't mean it SHOULD BE! It's existence is not proof that it is natural and acceptable! It's wrong and should never have existed! We need to deny all the worldly lusts, all the things that should NEVER be. Just because a worldly lust may rise up in you and you can't keep it from rising up doesn't mean you need to yield to the lust within you. If you do yield when you are striving against sin then you need to repent and seek forgiveness- every single day if need be, fighting against the world, seeking Christ Jesus persistently never giving in to despair!

Rom 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 

We know how easy it is to yield to iniquity, to worldly lusts, to sin, we need to choose to yield to righteousness and holiness instead, no matter what!

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

A LIVING SACRIFICE TO GOD that is what we are to be! NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD! TRANSFORMED! A RENEWED MIND!  A daily death to self, a daily resurrection to new life in Christ all by His grace, by His sacrifice!!!!!!!

Buried With Christ.

Christ Jesus was brutally tortured and nailed to the cross. Upon the cross His life left Him, He died. No spirit other than that of His breath returned to God the Father when He took that last breath and released it to breathe no more. All of His thoughts ended, complete and utter unconsciousness, darkness descended upon God in the flesh. There was nothing but death's sleep embracing our Lord and Savior. His lifeless body was taken down from the cross and as those who loved Him looked on their sorrow was deep. The very Son of God was dead. Something they thought impossible, even though they were forewarned, had happened to their leader, the Messiah. The devastation was heart breaking, soul crushing, life altering, their grief overwhelming. They weren't happily awaiting the resurrection of Christ, they were filled with doubt, with sorrow, with that very awful pain that only death can give, the anguish of loss filled their every thought. That lost feeling you get when you aren't quite sure how life will go on without your loved one being in it, was in all of them. Things didn't seem right, their whole world had tilted off kilter and they let that grief fill them to its fullest. The Sabbath day they entered into after Christ was laid in His tomb, was  heart wrenching. They kept the Sabbath, not a single one of them was accused of breaking that Sabbath, they kept the seventh day holy as God commanded and Jesus Himself kept the Sabbath every week of His entire life. This Sabbath, Jesus was sleeping death's complete sleep of utter darkness. Jesus was truly resting in the peace of nothingness. Jesus no longer felt the horrific pain of his tortured flesh. Jesus no longer felt the anguish of the lost people all around Him, people who refused to believe God's truth. Jesus rested in that grave and the world was without God the Son for the very first time ever. The void caused by His absence was huge. God the Spirit lived on, God the Father lived on, God the Son was dead.

We were a part of His death. Our sins warranted His death. We were crucified with Him, we died with Him IF we accept Him as our Savior.  Think about that for a while. We died with Him, we choose to die with Him. We choose to let our flesh tendencies, our lusts, our sinful selves, our world loving beings die.

Are they dead? The old us must remain dead. We are given newness of life because the old us is now dead. The love of the world in us is now dead.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of God, may His will be done! All through Jesus Christ always and forever and right now!!!!!!!

Baptized into Jesus Christ-Baptized into His death.

We are crucified with Christ.

We who are Christ's have crucified the flesh - our affections and lusts.

We glory in the Lord Jesus Christ's cross. The world is crucified to us and we to the world.

Buried with Christ through baptism, we are raise with Him. We are forgiven. Christ nailed the ceremonial sacrificial system to the cross as He became our ultimate sacrifice.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 6:14  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 

Col 2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 

Col 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 

Walk In Newness of Life.

'Salvation is essentially a present exit from a doomed order which is Satan's.'

'It is by baptism that you declare this: "Lord, I leave my world behind. The cross separates me from it forever!"

'So the same water on one hand puts you and me on salvation ground in Christ, and on the other hand buries Satan's whole system of things. Not only does your own history as a child of Adam end in your baptism; your whole world ends there. In both cases it is a death and a burial with nothing resurrected. It is the end of everything.'

'This means you cannot carry over anything from the former world into the new one.'

'When you pass through this water, all that system of things goes, never to return. Instead you see yourself in Christ…'

1Pe 3:21  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

We are buried with Christ by baptism.

We are raised from the dead like Christ.

Our death is to the world, to our life prior to our baptism.

We want a newness of life.

Our old life has to be done with.

The world still exists all around us- unchanged. We are changed. This is truth. We are given a new life, a heaven bound life. Our old self is crucified with Christ- we should not serve sin.

Sin should be our enemy, sin should be despised, not cherished, not alive in us.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May we live a new life, not serving sin. May we comprehend the truth of our old sin-filled lives being crucified with Christ. Heaven is our home, we are NOT of this world- right now, we are not of this world if we have been baptized in Christ.

Jesus Says He Is Not of This World.

Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Not of the world.

The definition of world is- the planet Earth, Earth and everything on it, human race, society, universe, domain … you can look it up for more if you like. The word world here in this verse is taken from the word Kosmos.

Kosmos- Probably from the base of G2865; orderly arrangement, that is, decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally]): - adorning, world. (From Strong's Definition)

Jesus says He is not of the world.

We know factually that Jesus took on flesh, He was not born of two human flesh parents. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit (God) and Mary (human flesh). Jesus divested Himself, emptied Himself to become human flesh. Jesus gave up His spirit form and took on the form of flesh. Jesus was formed in Mary's womb like all human babies are formed and He was born as babies are intended to be born. He grew from a baby into a child, into an older child, into a teenager, into a young adult and then simply an adult- as we all- who live that long grow to be. He lived out the natural flesh cycle of a human being. Jesus was born human in this world, a human with the spirit of God. God, as we know has His inhabitance in the heavens and not the atmospheric heaven but the spiritual realm of existence- heaven. Jesus- God with God, Jesus- the declared Son of God, Jesus- the only begotten Son of God. Jesus cannot be separated from His Godhood, it's impossible. Any more than we can separate ourselves from our heredity, our inherited ancestry, could Jesus separate Himself from being one of the three God's which exist in agreement with each other. The trio of Gods live in heaven, and the heavenly existence is theirs always. Even when Jesus was in flesh upon the earth, He knew where His true home was and it was not the earth, not this world.  This world was made by Him.

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him

He was outside of this world in order to create this world. He was spirit form, not flesh. He wanted to be a part of the human family as a Creator, not as a Redeemer, but was willing to become the world's Redeemer when man yielded their allegiance to Satan. He knew that deception tricked Eve and Adam. He knew that not all human beings would choose to yield to Satan when offered a choice. God with God, both in spirit form, and one God declared to be the begotten Son. They lived in heaven their world, their place.

Jesus was not of this world.  And we are not of this world if we belong to Jesus, if Jesus is our God.  We give up this world and accept the world of Jesus. We place our treasures in heaven, our home.

Jesus gave us God the Father's words. As a human being and God, Jesus knew the words of the Father and He gave those words, those truths to mankind.

Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 

Jesus doesn't want those who are His to be of this world. In fact, those who are His cannot be of this world. We have to have heaven as our world, right here, and right now. Heaven is our world as we choose to LIVE for heaven and not for this world and the worlds possessions. Our treasures are to be in Heaven! Heaven is our world! We are strangers and pilgrims here, we really truly are.

God help us!

Keep Us From Evil.

'The natural trend of all the "things that are in the world" is toward Satan and away from God. Some of them may have been set going by men of the Spirit with a goal that is Godward, but as soon as the restraint of divine life is removed from them, they automatically swerve around and take that other direction. No wonder then that Satan's eyes are ever on the world's end, and on the prospect that at that time all the things of the world will revert to him. Even now, and all the time, they are moving in his direction, and at the end time they may be expected to have reached their goal. As we touch any one of the units of his system, this thought should give us pause, lest we be found inadvertently helping to construct his kingdom.'

Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

Not of the world. Truly as the world's course is ever Satan bound, we cannot be of the world. Jesus was not of the world. Jesus prays to the Father and tells Him that the world hates those who have been given His word and are not of the world just like He is not of the world. The world HATES those who are like Jesus- NOT of the world.

Jesus gained a lot of notoriety as He began His ministry, why? Because of the miracles He performed- the healing, the helping. Jesus spoke with a knowledge of Scripture, a knowledge of God all with authority. Jesus healed and as He healed He pointed those He healed and those around witnessing the healing - all to God and the gospel of salvation. Salvation - the restoration of man with God without the existence of evil. Satan's grip on the world would end.

 Until our Savior returns Satan will continue to rule this world turning everything He can to his way, the worldly way. We need to ask ourselves where Satan is trying to get His hold on us. He is in the world and wants us to be of the world with Him.

We need to constantly submit to God, and strive for God's rule in our lives, in all aspects of our lives. Please God, please may Your only begotten Son's words ring loud in Your ears and please KEEP US FROM EVIL.

Evil surrounds us, it is on every side no matter where we turn. We scarce can live without coming face to face with evil daily, and several times a day. Please, keep us from evil as it threatens to overcome us. Please. Please. All through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever. Amen!!!!!!!