In Spirit and Truth.

 Joh_4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall WORSHIP THE FATHER in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to WORSHIP HIM.

Joh_4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that WORSHIP HIM must WORSHIP HIM in spirit and in truth.

Heb_1:6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God WORSHIP HIM.

Rev_4:10  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and WORSHIP HIM that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne…

Rev_14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and WORSHIP HIM that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Rev_19:10  And I fell at his feet to WORSHIP HIM. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: WORSHIP GOD: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We’ve confused the worship of God with the worship of self, disguised as worship of God. It's true. Israel of old, and currently, worship a religion set up by God but ruined by man. Jesus recognized this when He ministered upon the earth and pointed it out to them, but they refused to unstop their spiritual ears to hear. Today, mankind has many religions.  A quick google of how many religions are there revealed this…

'According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, which at some point in the future will be countless.'

This isn't to say there are 4,200 (or countless) religions based upon worshipping God alone, but there are many who lay claim to that worship of God.  In truth there can be ONLY ONE true worship of God. Yes, I said it and I believe it.  And this ONE true worship is the worship that comes to each individually from the heart in truth and in Spirit. There is no titled one church in existence that is God's true church. It is a people of God, Christ followers from all over the world, some from this organized church, some from the other organized church, some from this unorganized church, some from a house church, some that profess no church at all. People, individuals, worshiping God from their hearts- in spirit and truth! 

Did God set up the Jewish religion? Yes, it's origins are of God- the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the Only Begotten of the Father. God also is at the origin of other religions that veered away from Him and His truth in Jesus Christ. As soon as those religions leave the truth of God, they are no longer worshiping God but Satan, who has disguised himself as their God. This is truth.

What is also truth, is the fact God allows for sins of ignorance, meaning those who have no access to the truth in entirety but live up to all the truth they do possess, will be numbered as God's true believers as well. God alone can judge hearts, God alone knows the Spirit workings. God alone know us and our hearts. God help us be His in Spirit and truth now and always!

 

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Bible Echo - January 28, 1895  by A.T. Jones  

 'Unbelieving Israel, not having the righteousness which is of faith, and so not appreciating the great sacrifice that the Heavenly Father has made, sought righteousness by virtue of the offering itself and because of the merit of presenting the offering.

Thus was perverted every form of service and everything which God had appointed to be the means of expression to a living faith and which could not have any real meaning except by the living presence and power of Christ Himself in the life. And even this was not enough. For, not finding the peace and satisfaction of an accomplished righteousness in any of this nor in all of it together, they heaped upon these things which the Lord had appointed for another purpose, but which they had perverted to purposes of their own invention--they heaped upon these things ten thousand traditions, exactions, and hair-splitting distinctions of their own invention, and all, all, in a vain hope of attaining to righteousness. For the rabbis taught what was practically a confession of despair, that "If but one person could only for one day keep the whole law and not offend in one point--nay, if but one person could but keep that one point of the law which affected the due observance of the Sabbath--then the troubles of Israel would be ended and the Messiah at last would come." --Farrar, "Life and Work of St. Paul," p. 37. See also pp. 36, 83. 

What could possibly more fittingly describe a dead formalism than does this? And yet for all this conscious dearth in their own lives there was still enough supposed merit to cause them to count themselves so much better than other people that all others were but as dogs in comparison.

It is not so with those who are accounted righteous by the Lord upon a living faith freely exercised. For when the Lord counts a man righteous, he is actually righteous before God, and by this very fact is separated from all the people of the world. But this is not because of any excellence of his own nor of the "merit" of anything that he has done. It is altogether because of the excellence of the Lord and of what He has done. And the man for whom this has been done knows that in himself he is no better than anybody else but rather in the light of the righteousness of God that is freely imparted to him, he, in the humility of true faith, willingly counts others better than himself. Phil. 2:3.

Php 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

The giving themselves great credit for what they themselves had done and counting themselves better than all other people upon the merit of what they had done--this were at once to land men fully in the complete self-righteousness of Pharisaism. They counted themselves so much better than all other people that there could not possibly be any basis of comparison. It seemed to them a perfectly ruinous revolution to preach as the truth of God that "there is no respect of persons with God."

And what of the actual life of such people, all this time? O, it was only a life of injustice and oppression, malice and envy, variance and emulation, backbiting and talebearing, hypocrisy and meanness, boasting of their great honor of the law, and through breaking the law dishonoring God, their hearts filled with murder and their tongues crying loudly for the blood of One of their brethren, yet they could not cross the threshold of a Roman tribunal "lest they should be defiled!" Intense sticklers for the Sabbath, yet spending the holy day in spying treachery and conspiracy to murder.

What God thought and still thinks of all such ways as this is shown plainly enough for our present purpose, in just two short passages of scripture. Here is His word to Israel--the ten tribes--while yet their day lingered:

"I hate, I despise your feast days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer Me burnt-offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream" Amos 5:21-24.

And to Judah near the same time He said the same thing in these words:

"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations;  incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with;  it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you;  yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

"Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:10-18.  

The Lord Himself had appointed these feast days and solemn assemblies, these burnt offerings, meat offerings,  and peace offerings, but now He says He hates them and will not accept them. Their fine songs sung by their trained choirs and accompanied with instruments of music, making a grand display--all this that they got off for wonderfully fine music He called "noise," and wanted it taken away.

He had never appointed any feast days nor solemn assemblies nor sacrifices nor offerings nor songs for any such purpose as that for which these were used. He had appointed all these as the means of worshipful expression of a living faith by which the Lord Himself should abide in the heart and work righteousness in the life, so that in righteousness they could judge the fatherless and plead for the widow and so that judgment could run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Songs sung in the pomp and stylish intonation of a vain show are but "noise," while the simple expression, "Our Father," flowing from a heart touched by the power of a true and living faith and "spoken in sincerity by human lips is music" which enters into the inclining ear (Ps. 116:2) of the Heavenly Father and brings divine blessing in power to the soul.

This and this alone is what He had appointed these things for and never, never to be used in the hollow pretense of a dead formalism to answer in righteousness for the iniquity of a carnal heart. Nothing but the washing away of the sins by the blood of the Lamb of God and the purifying of the heart by living faith--nothing but this could ever make these things acceptable to Him who appointed them.'

Glory Through Jesus Christ.

 Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 16

(Excerpt)

Two-thirds of the last chapter of Romans consists of greetings:

"Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus." "Likewise greet the church that is in their house." "Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us." "Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen." "Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord." "Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved." "Salute Trypena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord." "Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nercus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them."

And so the list runs, including both men and women impartially. Let one but read that blessed list, realizing that it shows not only the largeness and heartiness of Paul's sympathy, but also the special care which the Holy Spirit has for each individual member of the household of faith, singling them out by name, and there will be no questioning as to why such things were written.

A Significant Omission. But one thing is very significant, and that is the fact that there is no mention of Peter,  who is claimed to have been "the first Bishop of Rome." We may sometimes learn as much by what the Bible does not say as by what it does say. From what is not said in this place we may learn that so far from being Bishop of Rome, Peter was not in Rome at all when Paul wrote, and that if he was ever in Rome it was after the Epistle to the Romans was written, and long after the church was established and flourishing there.

It is most certain that in saluting the members of the church by name Paul would not have omitted the name of the chief person in it, whose hospitality he had once shared in Jerusalem for fifteen days. Of course there is abundance of the most positive evidence that neither the church of Christ nor the church of Rome was founded upon Peter; but if there were no other, this testimony of the sixteenth chapter of Romans would be sufficient to settle the matter.

In Conclusion Romans 16:24-27

24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. 25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27 to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

What a Magnificent Conclusion! It reaches from eternity to eternity. The gospel of God is the thing of the ages.  It was kept secret in the mind of God from times eternal. Christ "was foreordained before the foundation of the world." 1 Pet. 1:19, 20. But now the mystery is "made manifest." Not simply is it made manifest by the preaching of the apostles, but "according to the commandment of the everlasting God," "by the scriptures of the prophets" it is "made known to all nations, for the obedience of faith."

The gospel plan originated in the mind of God in the eternity of the past. Patriarchs, prophets and apostles have worked in unison in making it manifest; and "in the ages to come" it will be both the science and the song of the redeemed "of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who shall gather with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and will say, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

God of Hope.

 Through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Rom 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. 

We can abound in hope THROUGH the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT. We don't abound in hope by our own power! We try to, we imagine we should be able to manufacture our own hope, but we can't! 

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 

Our hope founded in Christ through the Holy Spirit is a sure thing. There is no doubt that Christ is our hope, and we are allowed to revel in that hope as the Holy Spirit's power gives us this hope. We are to have all JOY and PEACE in BELIEVING.  This is truth our hope is founded on BELIEVING. When we believe we can have JOY, when we believe we can have PEACE. When our joy is HEAVEN, when our peace is HEAVEN, when HEAVEN is our all in all because Christ is in heaven we aren't looking to have earthly peace and joy. The peace and joy we experience through the Holy Spirit are not at all the peace the world offers. 

Joh_14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Our hearts can be troubled, our hearts can be afraid, but we are NOT to let them be so. The only way we cannot let our hearts be troubled and afraid is to accept the peace left to us by Jesus Christ, through the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT. 

God help us to this end!

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Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 15 Excerpt

Faith, Hope, Joy, and Peace. 

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Here we have faith and hope, joy and peace. The God of hope is to fill us with all joy and peace in believing, and this is to be by the power of the Holy Ghost. This connects the present instruction with that of the fourteenth chapter, where we are told that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Paul's Successful Gospel Outreach Romans 15:15-33

15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, 16 that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.  17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, 19 through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem,  and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation; 21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. 22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; 24 whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you,  if first I be somewhat filled with your company. 25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. 26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. 27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. 28 When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. 29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. 30 Now I beseech you,  brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 31 that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; 32 that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

The Gospel Commission. 

When Jesus was about to leave this world, he told his disciples that they should first receive power by the Holy Spirit, and then, said he, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8. "To the Jew first, and also to the Greek," but to all alike, and the same gospel to all. So Paul declared that his work as a minister of the gospel consisted in "testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:21. So in our text he tells us that as "the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles,  ministering the gospel of God," he had "through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God" "fully preached the gospel of Christ" "from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum."

Partaking the Same Spiritual Things. The apostle, speaking of his desire to visit the Romans, said that he hoped to see them when he took his journey into Spain. "But now," said he, "I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things."

A very simple statement, but it shows that the Gentiles received nothing spiritual except that which came from the Jews. The spiritual things of which the Gentiles had been made partakers came from the Jews, and were ministered to them by Jews. Both partook of the same spiritual meat, and therefore the Gentiles showed their gratitude by ministering to the temporal necessities of the Jews. So here again we see but one fold and one Shepherd.

The God of Israel. Many times in the Bible God is declared to be the God of Israel. Peter, full of the Holy Spirit,  immediately after the healing of the lame man, said to the people, "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus." Acts 3:13. Even in this age, therefore, God is identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel.

God desires to be known and remembered, and so we read his words, "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Ex. 31:13, 16, 17. God is the God of Israel. True, he is the God of the Gentiles also, but only as they accept him, and become Israel through the righteousness by faith. But Israel must keep the sabbath. It is the sign of their connection with God.

Life Happens.

 Life happens. What exactly does that mean? There are so many facets to life happening we couldn't begin to count them. When something not so nice happens, we tend to say stuff such as, life happens. We say it to perhaps remind ourselves that life is filled with things that we don't expect and don't like. The idea of living a life happily ever after is a huge fallacy if you're expecting that life to be here and now. The fairy tales tell us that we will suffer unjust hardship but in the end all works out and then you go to live happily. Not true. Fairy tale is named fairy tale for a reason, it's not real just as fairies are not real. The tale part is that it's a made up story, not a true story. True life stories have a much different meaning. That's not to say we don't have true life stories of people suffering and overcoming hardships, that occurs all the time. But a true life story will never end with that person living happily EVER AFTER. That person's life will be filled with ups and downs because that is what life now is all about. The richest person alive will have ups and downs. The richest person alive may not have to suffer hunger, cold, discomfort in most any way, but they will still have to deal with illness, diseases, the common cold. The richest person will still have to lose their loved ones. The richest person will still suffer accidents. The money of the richest person may make all these things out of their control a bit better to handle, but it won't take away all of it by a long shot. 

Life happens and life happening in our world is filled with the unknown. We have no clue what tomorrow may bring, not a clue. We live in a constant state of the unknown. We fill our lives with constants as we attempt to have some knowledge of tomorrow, but in a blink of an eye everything can be turned upside-down on us, and often is. 

Such turmoil mentally and emotionally, yet this is what we call life happening. Some roll with the inconsistencies a lot better than others. Some have adopted an attitude of dealing with life as it comes without letting it upset them. Some go through major tragedies and continue with the belief it's all a part of life, can't change it, can't do anything so why let it bother me.  I'd say those people are mostly rare. Most people rage against life's upsets and then only after raging do they come to some sort of terms with what's happening so they can continue to live their lives.  Some rage on and on and on letting the rage become their lives. 

Life happens. We are blessed with life happening to us because without life happening to us we would never have the opportunity to comprehend that the very fact life has happened to us can give us the knowledge that all these life happening events we dread are not how life was intended for us.

We have knowledge of the wrongness of life happening events, and the mere understanding there is a wrongness mean there is a rightness. There is a rightness that tells us life shouldn't be this way. Suffering shouldn't be a part of life. We know this deep down in our very core, that something messed up the way life should be for us. We know this every time we seek to get better from some illness, accident, disease and so on. Life is not supposed to be suffering, we know this because we don't always suffer, or haven't always suffered, and if for some reason you have, you can see others who don't suffer through life as you have.  We know, we truly know this is not how it is all supposed to be. This knowledge can be painful to confront because it means either it will never change and this truly is going to be how it is going to be without any true consolation, or that there is something different intended for us that can become a reality. 

Yes, this is how it is. But, no, this is not all there is to our lives. The problem arises when we come to realize that we have to believe without actually experiencing our future reality. We have to believe that there is more after this part of our life, that in fact, because life isn't how it's supposed to be and we know that, we know there is hope for how it is supposed to be. Hope.

Expectation. 

With truly irrefutable proof from an historical logic perspective that has been researched in depth countless times, we know that one man died and rose again and many were witnesses to this happening. That man wasn't knocked unconscious, he wasn't in a coma of any sort, he was conscious when he died and not in a position to receive any head injury that would result in a brain injury that would only incapacitate him for a short few days. The historic facts from more than one perspective speak for themselves and tell us this man died completely- brain, body - cold stone dead, lifeless, no chance to recover- we've had lots and lots and too numerous to count dead people in the same position of death- no breath at all, not even the tiniest. No heartbeat, not even the faintest. The life blood gone and the body cold, stiffening quickly as they tend to do, within hours after death.  He was dead, dead, and dead. Yet, this man came back to life after his body went through the beginning of the decaying processes. It happened. Doubt if you choose, but many have doubted and sought proof and delved into the study of it with the ability to research it in ways the average person can't seem to, and they have come to the conclusion it happened just as we are told it happened. 

A movie (book) called The Case For Christ….. If you want proof watch/read it. If you'd rather stick with your own suppositions based on your own study, that's your choice.  Here's a blurb on it from the internet--

'“The Case for Christ” is an upcoming film that is based on Lee Strobel's 1998 best-selling book of the same name. ... The true story follows Strobel (Mike Vogel) as a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter in 1980, as he tries to disprove the newfound Christian faith of his wife Leslie (Erika Christensen).'

This is just one man, there are other people who have undertaken the same journey in different ways. C.S. Lewis was a staunch Atheist, but something changed his view. Do some reading, some studying. If you're reading this you have internet access. 

This man who died and rose did so to ensure that we ALL have a chance to do likewise- have a life after dying promised to us when this man returns for us. 

1Co_15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

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

This man came and lived among us to leave us with a rich history of the truth that there awaits us all the opportunity for the life we know we should have had, the life that awaits us without-  life happens - events we resign ourselves to. 

We have hope through this man- Jesus Christ, Son of Man, God's only begotten Son.  He gives us the truth that we all know deep down whether we want to admit to it or not. Life as we know it will not always happen, there is so much more.

All through His grace and mercy, His love, now and forever! Amen.

Choose God First.

 What does it mean to put God First?

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 

The FIRST command. LOVE GOD.

What does it mean, to love God? We choose to love. Love is a choice. Love isn't some emotionally charge, physical reaction, a feeling, but a choice! 

You can be mated to someone and not love them, marriage doesn't automatically mean love. Being physically active with someone doesn't mean love. Love is a choice! We CHOOSE to love one another. No one is forced to love someone. If you pretend to love someone, that's your choice. No one can make you love them, not a single person can force that on another. You can be ordered to act like and talk like you love someone but each action and each word could be fabricated, a lie, not truth, not love. How many parents mouth the words of love to children but have no real love for them? A mother is told she'll automatically love her newborn, but that isn't true. A mother will choose to love her newborn, or not. Yes, there are maternal factors of hormones that can mess up brain chemistry and interfere with the choices we make, not just between mothers and newborns but in a lot of life's facets. A choice for me might be easy to make while for another it could be something that takes a long, long time, if ever to make. We have knowledge and with that knowledge we make decisions. We choose even to not make a choice. We choose to love. Even after we're raised to believe we owe love to those who share our bloodlines, we choose. We like to say family first before others. This isn't always the case. Some people have absolutely horrendous family members and why should a person be forced to love them simply because they're family? We aren't forced to love. We choose. We choose to love the seemingly unlovable. We tell ourselves we have to love our family members, we make that choice often to our own detriment. How many people have chosen to love a family member who has hurt them, when they know if it were any other person other than family they would cut off all ties with them? We can choose to love the unlovable, there is nothing wrong with making that choice. God did.

When God chose to love us first, He was choosing to love creatures that had the potential for great hatred of Him. God was choosing to love the seemingly unlovable. God was choosing to love those who would break His heart over and over, and over again in countless ways. 

What does it mean to love God? It means we CHOOSE GOD. When we choose God, we choose all that He is and He is love. He chooses us. 

As God chose us unlovable, detestable, people He showed perfectly how to love the unlovable. God chose to love His professed enemies giving them ample opportunity for enough knowledge to make a choice for Him or not. 

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

He chooses us for ETERNITY! No exemptions! We are all CHOSEN for eternity! We all have received the GOLDEN TICKET FROM GOD. HEAVEN HOME FOREVER. 

We are chosen by God for ETERNITY and that doesn't mean we aren't going to suffer horrifically right now. God offers HEAVEN ETERNITY, God doesn't not offer supplications answered now so life might be lived in a way endurable to you. You pray for a roof over your head and that roof is taken away. You pray for a life of a loved one to be spared, and you watch them suffer and die. You pray for just enough to live comfortably, and you are often very uncomfortable wondering day to day where your next meal will come from, where the means to stay living an acceptably livable life are. You pray for pain to be taken from you only to feel it increase. You pray for the good fortune for others, just to witness life torture them making them life lives of extreme discomfort. You pray for an innocent child's life and they slip away to death's sleep. You pray for so much, you make supplications to God and you want Him to hear your supplications and grant your requests how you perceive them to be best answered. God hears every word you think, every prayer prayed by you He has heard, but He did not promise you comfort now…

2Co 6:5  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 

2Co 6:6  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned

2Co 1:7  And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. 

2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 

2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us

Whipped, imprison, despairing of life itself all wrongfully, all unwarranted and yet choosing to remain Christ's! 

This world PROMISES temporary tortures - the minimum to the extreme and all in-between for all of us. Prayers or no prayers those tiny to extreme tortures will beset us all. A prayer, a supplication, a praise, a worship, a glorying, a beseeching, we cry out in agony and in joy to our God. We know He offers us ETERNITY A HEAVEN HOME after all is said and done with our temporary to eternity life.

We choose- and God must be FIRST CHOICE, not once, but ALWAYS.

If we do NOT have God first, then any attempt to put others second will fail. If we put others first before God, we fail them and us.

God FIRST, the spiritual FIRST, the heavenly FIRST. In EVERY and in ALL situations GOD NEEDS TO BE FIRST.  

When God is first, then others will be second, and we will be last.

God first is eternity all else is temporal.

God help us to this end, to this finish line, to be winners of eternity through our Savior, Jesus Christ now and forever! Amen.

Lay Aside All Sin.

 Lay aside- ALL malice (all intent to wish or do harm, hatred, spite, meanness, nastiness, cruelty, wickedness, mischievous) 

Lay aside- ALL guile (cunning, deceitfulness, treachery, slyness, wiliness, craftiness) Lay aside- ALL hypocrisies (insincerity, pretenses, duplicities, double standards, falseness) 

Lay aside- ALL envies (jealousies, resentments, spites, greed, bitterness) 

Lay aside- ALL evil speakings (morally bad, deliberately harmful, causing misfortune, maliciousness) 

We have to determine to be without any hatred of any kind, without any evil, we cannot deliberately hold onto anything untoward in any way at all. We can't cling to anything that would keep us from being open to the truth of God. We need to be willing to let go of ALL we are as sin corrupted beings. We can't defend our sinful selves in any way. We can't make excuses for our sins not the greatest of them, not the least. We can't justify our sins. We are tempted to give a reason for the sins we commit as if that can excuse them and make us righteousness somehow, it can't. There isn't a single good reason for sin. We sin because we are weak beings of flesh. We strive not to sin and pray constantly for the power of Christ in us to overcome the evil, the temptations, the sins in our lives. We can't overcome by our own power, but Christ in us can. All glory to God, all glory! Let us lay aside any and all sin we knowingly cling to. Let us renounce it right now, and if we find ourselves overcome by any of the sin we've laid aside- let us lay is aside again and again and again, never ceasing to comprehend we have to fight, to strive against sins that truly so easily beset us.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us

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Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 15 Excerpt

"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 1 Pet. 1:1-3.

"One Faith." We may now stop to see how this that the apostle has said connects with what he has said in the fourteenth chapter, about Christ's being the minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, in order that the Gentiles might glorify God.

"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." Mark this: They who are to be received "as Christ also received us to the glory of God," are those who have the faith. Now there is but "one faith," as there is but "one Lord." Eph. 4:5. And faith comes by hearing the word of God. Rom. 10:17.

Since there is to be but one fold, and Christ, the one Shepherd, is not divided, there must be no division in the fold. Disputings, which come from human wisdom and human ideas, are to be left out, and the word of God alone followed. That allows of no disputing, since it tells ever one and the same thing. This is the rule:  "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 1 Pet. 1:1-3.

One Fold, One Shepherd

 Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 15 Excerpt

"One Fold, and One Shepherd." 

In the tenth chapter of John we find some of the most beautiful, tender, and encouraging words of the Lord Jesus. He is the Good Shepherd. He is the gate by which the sheep enter into the fold. He gives his life to save them. Then he says, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd." Vs. 16. Therefore when his work is completed, there will be but one fold, and he will be the Shepherd. Let us see who will compose that flock.

The Lost Sheep.

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, that wonderful bouquet of blessed illustrations of the love and mercy of the Saviour, Jesus represents his work as that of the shepherd going to seek the lost and wandering sheep. Now who are the sheep that he is seeking? He himself gives the answer: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matt. 15:24. This is emphatic. Therefore it is evident that all the sheep whom he finds, and whom he brings back to the fold, will be Israel. And so it is just as evident that the "one fold" will be the fold of Israel. There will be no other fold, since it is to be "one fold." And he will be the Shepherd. To-day, as well as in the days of old, we may pray, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;  thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth." Ps. 80:1.

The Characteristic of the Sheep. 

Those who are following Christ are his sheep. But he has "other sheep." There are many who are not now following him, who are his sheep. They are lost and wandering, and he is seeking them.

What determines who are his sheep? Hear him tell: "The sheep hear his voice." "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice." "Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice." John 10:3, 16, 26, 27. When he speaks, those who are his sheep will hear his voice, and come to him. The word of the Lord is the test as to who are his sheep. Every one therefore who hears and obeys the word of the Lord is of the family of Israel; and those who reject or neglect the word, are eternally lost. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal.  3:29.