JesusLaw v2

Chapter 1
The Lost Command

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 1 because he has not believed in the Name of Gods one and only Son. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God: God the Father has a Son. His Name is Jesus Christ. And He is coming soon. This is the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the Son who came to seek and to save what was lost to God His Father. If we want to understand what is lost, we need to know what God seeks, because God seeks what He desires. Jesus testified that His Father seeks worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Jesus said, God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit 2 and in truth. He also said that the Father is seeking glory for Himself: I am not seeking glory for Myself; but there is One who seeks it and He is the 3 Judge. What was lost to God from the beginning is a world where the fullness of God dwells in all Creation and all Creation exists through Him as it lives and prospers out of His Oneness by the glory of His love and by the power of His Spirit and the fullness of the truth of His Word. The world was prepared by God for God, and it belongs to God as surely as the glory of the 4 Lord fills the whole Earth. It was created in the mind and heart of the One who is the Father, spoken into existence by the Word, who was begotten as the Fathers beloved Son Jesus, and made manifest by the power of the Holy Spirit who hovered over the waters of a formless Earth until God sent forth His word. God the Father, God the Word, and God the Holy Spirit created the world for Their enjoyment and out of Their imaginations and aspirations
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John 3.16-18 John 4.24 3 John 8.50 4 Numbers 14.21
Chapter 1 The Lost Command
for life, love and glory. God created the Heavens and the Earth. He created all the creatures on the Earth and in the seas, living things both large and small. 6 When God sent forth His Spirit, they were created. He created man, male and 7 female, to fill the Earth and subdue it. They are His sons and daughters who were made in Their Image and Likeness, whom God created for His glory, but are the same ones who have rejected His Name and scorned His word. God lost the perfection He had intended for His Image and Likeness when the first male, Adam, disobeyed His word, causing Him to cast Adam and Eve and their descendants out of the garden from His presence. But His Son, full of love for the Father, came charging from Heaven mighty to save what was lost to His Fathers kingdom. He was the Lamb that was slain from 8 the creation of the world. The Son of God was sinless because He is the fullness of grace and truth, but He became sin to be Gods sin offering for the world. And it was as the Son of Man that He came to seek what was lost, not as the Son of God. In the NIV, Jesus only acknowledged Himself as the Son 9 of God four separate times in the four gospels and once in Revelation. Compare it to the numerous times He called Himself the Son of Man in the same four gospels. Have you asked the Holy Spirit why that is? Did you pay attention to Jesus words in this regard? What was so significant about the truth in John 5.25 that the Father specifically referred to Jesus as the Son of God? Have you learnt to recognise the voice of the Truth speaking the language of Truth? Do you believe Jesus when He said that He is the 10 Resurrection and the Life? God in the flesh was a form that was recognisable by the Jews as Jesus made His dwelling with them to draw all men back to Himself, so that He may raise them up on the last day in the fullness of eternal life. And eternal life begins now on Earth, as you come to know the only true God and Jesus 11 Christ whom He sent. Have you ever imagined the pleasure of falling in love 12 with God the Father through His Son Jesus, and maintaining that love for Him as you remain faithful, even to the point of death, to overcome the battles of this age in resurrection triumph? When we were lost to God, we lost our oneness with Him and we became lifeless to Him. He is the God of the living; a living God as all are alive by Him. But Adam chose death when He
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Isaiah 45.12 Psalm 104.24-30 Genesis 1.28 8 Revelation 13.8 9 John 5.25; 10.36; 11.4; Luke 22.70 / Matthew 26.64; Revelation 2.18 10 John 11.25-26 11 John 17.3 12 John 14.21, 23-24
disobeyed the Fathers command. And we, the church together with the world, continue to perish because we do not repent of disobedience to Jesus commands. As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have 13 14 life in Himself. Because the Son lives, we also will live. This is the privilege we receive in the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. All who reject the pure, solid stream of the words of Jesus are not in oneness with the Father because they have rejected the narrow path of following Jesus, listening to Him and fellowshipping with the Holy Ghost. They have no life in them. The words 15 Jesus spoke to us are Spirit and they are life. They are the words that the Holy Spirit reminds us daily as He teaches us ALL things and guides us into 16 ALL truth. If Jesus is not in us, we do not have salvation, life and resurrection. Yet there are some of us in the church who still do not believe ALL the words of Jesus because they have confused living or lifestyle with eternal life. For mankind, disbelief of the sovereignty and disregard of the authority of Gods word began at the time when Adam chose to listen to Eve instead of the Fathers command to refrain from eating from the Tree of the 17 Knowledge of Good and Evil and of Blessing and Calamity. Gods command ushered in the entrance of death. By the trespass of Adam, death reigned through that man, and we ourselves fill up the measure of the sin of our forefathers when we refuse to believe in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, and refuse to obey and practise all the commands of Jesus under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. What is the Fathers command to the disciples of Jesus Christ? It is the one that the Father had commanded Peter, John and James on the Mount of Transfiguration: This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. 18 Listen to Him! But the church, the body of Christ, has turned from listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and from putting ALL of Jesus words into practice. How has the church turned, you ask? How has the church failed? Have the churches confused themselves with synagogues? Why is the Law of Moses preached in churches? Why are the flocks fed teachings that consist of parts of the Levitical Law, mixed in with a few verses of Pauls teachings, and one or two lines of the commands of Jesus Christ? Should
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John 5.26 John 14.19 John 6.63 16 John 14.26, 16.13 17 Genesis 2.17 AMP 18 Matthew 17.5; Mark 9.7; Luke 9.35
Scriptures be used to support the requirement of tithing? Does this fulfil the standard to which we are called by our Heavenly Father to listen to Jesus? Did God the Father command us to listen to Paul, Moses, James, or the man speaking under the spotlight at the pulpit? Yet we preach the words of Jesus by mixing the new wine with the old. Do you know what covenant you live under? We have adulterated the pure word of God and we wonder why the church is so powerless and weak against its enemies. Unclean spirits run amok among the aisles of the churches and shepherds take hours to drive out one demon. Fundraising is a powerless word that replaces the miraculous power of God. The church is called to do so much more than charity work. In general, the church is drained in power and strength because we have failed to listen to Jesus and failed to practise His commands under the New Covenant. Our primary obligation under the New Covenant is to practise and preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. What is the difference between the church and a motivational speaker or a concert, when we do not practise and preach the words of Jesus? Maybe you would hear the words Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost and ten per cent tithe tossed around a bit? But is that the standard by which we were raised up to preach the Gospel, care for the sheep and prepare the world for the return of the King to reign? Praise be to God that the Father can still draw people to Jesus our Saviour despite our careless treatment of the words of Jesus and His glorious Gospel, which is a razor-sharp sword. How great is our shame that we, the church, have ignored, deserted and dishonoured the Word of God! We have twisted the Way, the Truth and the Life with our words that reek of the foul odour of death and decay. We have manipulated Gods laws given through Moses into church traditions and rules taught by men. We mixed the obsolete old wine with the new wine, and replaced Gods single perfect command to listen to Jesus with mountains of traditions, rituals, songs and programs. We have trampled on the holy ground of truth and scorned it as if it was dust sticking to our sandals. Out of complacency and ignorance, we have let the fullness of the words of Jesus fall from its rightful place in our hearts to the ground, as if it was a loathsome burden to our flesh. We see the birds of the air come and eat them up, but we lack the knowledge and the wisdom and the miraculous power to defend our inheritance. And the poison of mans words and the deceitfulness of traditions have caused a bitter root to grow fruits that are neither everlasting nor pleasing to our Father the Gardener. It is the very poison that is destroying the churches today. What is this poison? It is the words of men who do not have in mind the things of God, but of themselves, whether out of ignorance or malice aforethought.
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We soil our priceless robes of salvation, which our Lord gives to us without cost, and we exchange Their glory for filthy rags at the handsome price of thirty pieces of silver. Yet in all this, we think that we are dressed in fine clothes and living in kings palaces. What is the general attitude of the church? Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry all week, attend church on Sunday mornings, for tomorrow we will go up to Heaven without a single care. 19 Are we ashamed of our loathsome conduct? No, we have no shame at all. 20 We stand at the altar with our tithes and ask God, How do we rob You? We blame God when our prayers are not answered, as if our Father is a vending machine. We self-righteously look up to the Heavens as if our rightful place is the throne of God and the Holy Spirit is the footstool of our feet. Arent we robbing God who gave us His one and only begotten Son when we skimp and count a tenth of our net income for tithe? What did Jesus teach the Pharisees who were under the old covenant about tithing? Dont be lazy read Matthew 23.23 and Luke 11.42 for yourself. But what does the Father want from the church for His Son? Would the Father be pleased to receive only a tenth of His Son from each of us? Is this good maths? Who among us is causing our Father to declare a loss every year? Does God care for your wages, or does God care about justice for His Jesus? What is your attitude? Do you know what the true tithe is? Are you negotiating a trade with God when you tithe? I was not aware that I should bribe my own Father. Under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, what did Jesus command His disciples to tithe? I tell you the truth, Jesus said nothing about tithing ten per cent of your net income. But He did uphold the old covenant, the Levitical Law, for those who remained under it. We have neglected the more important matters of the law the 21 22 double portion of justice, mercy and faithfulness, and the love of God. For the law of tithe for the church is about justice for Jesus, mercy to the Father, and faithfulness to the Holy Spirit. This is what the church can achieve and is meant to achieve when it fully obeys the Fathers single perfect law to listen to Jesus. The true tithe and offering was never meant to be about a tenth of your mint, dill and cummin. It was always about justice for Jesus, mercy to the Father and faithfulness to the Holy Spirit. This is accomplished by our listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and by putting Jesus commands into practice. The true spirit of tithing is not tallying one tenth of our income and giving it to God so that He is bound to pour out His blessings on you. That is
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Jeremiah 8.12 Malachi 3.8 21 Matthew 23.23 22 Luke 11.42
Balaams way of worship. Are you a Balaamite in the house of God? Indeed there are many. Therefore, be earnest and repent. Was it written that Jesus gave God a tithe from the five loaves and 23 24 two fish that He multiplied, or from the seven loaves and few fish? Rather, did not the Lord give thanks for the word of His Father in the time of Elisha, 25 They will eat and have some left over? The disciples had twelve basketfuls left over from the five thousand people who were fed, and seven basketfuls left over from the four thousand people. Or is your heart also hardened that you prefer to tithe cash rather than your ears and heart? When you listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you are tithing your time and heart to the Lord. It is not right to substitute the true tithe under the New Covenant for the tithe under the old covenant. 26 The true spirit of tithing is: Freely you have received, freely give. Jesus said, Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the 27 measure you use, it will be measured to you. Have you learnt to give as Jesus gives? True tithing is: Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses 28 his life for My sake will find it. Tithing is not about skimming off a portion to God so that He may bless you. True tithing is the acknowledgement that all the good things we receive come from God. It is a gesture of gratitude and honour, and it has nothing to do with percentages. Tithing, as Jesus gave, is absolute commitment. 29 Do you give to Jesus as the world gives? Do you know the difference between the economies of the world and of God? I am not saying that money is not useful at a time when we can still buy and sell. Money is useful at this time due to its liquidity. But when we enter into the days of 30 distress which will bring on the mark of the beast, will you be able to multiply your food? Or will you have to sell out for survival? We need to ask ourselves this question everyday as we draw nearer to the day of the arrival of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. Is this on your mind at all?
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Matthew 14.13-21 Matthew 15.29-39 2 Kings 4.43 26 Matthew 10.8 27 Luke 6.38 28 Matthew 10.37-39 29 John 14.27 30 Revelation 13.16-17
In your time of need, do you practise combining the words of Jesus with the counsel and power of the Holy Spirit to meet your needs, just like Jesus did when He said to Peter, Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax 31 and yours? Do you at least try? Why is it more natural to rely on our next pay cheque or help from others rather than miracles? Isnt there something wrong with this attitude? So what is the solution for the church? Go back to the Mount of Transfiguration and obey the Fathers singular command to the disciples to listen to Jesus as the priority and exclusivity of all else. The purpose? To prepare yourselves, the church and the world for the arrival of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords! And the desired outcome? Justice for Jesus! Church: We have been robbing from God each time we do not 32 honour Jesus to live on every word that comes from the mouth of God. We say harsh things to our God when we say, It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirement to listen to His Son and to His Holy 33 Spirit? I already know the Bible, I went to Sunday school! We sniff at His word contemptuously by saying, It is defiled. The Bible was written by men! 34 And we profane it by saying, What a burden! The Bible takes too long to read! I could be watching the game! The priests do violence to His law and profane His holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the common. They teach that there is no difference between the clean and 35 unclean. But there is an almighty difference between the words of God and words of men. What is holy and clean are the words of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost that proceed directly from Their mouth as recorded in the Bible. Those words reign supreme. And so we perpetuate the same error since the day of Adam, for we are no better than our forefather. We continue dying since the day we were conceived, instead of fully living in God and God in us by remaining in Jesus and His words. We broke faith with Jesus words in John 11.26 because we only live by John 11.25. Are you content to go to Heaven as the goal of your faith? Do you realise that you make a mockery of the fullness of Jesus and His words when you only believe in living after you die, and do not keep His word
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Matthew 17.27 Matthew 4.4 Malachi 3.13 34 Malachi 1.12-13 35 Ezekiel 22.26
to live and never see death? Or do you also say, This is a hard teaching. 37 Who can accept it? Because of our ignorance and disbelief of the full counsel of the word of God, we let die our desire and dedication in oneness of heart and soul, flesh and strength, mind and spirit, to follow Jesus and His words, listen to His voice alone, and testify about the power of the Truth by putting Jesus words into daily practice. By obeying His commands and being lovingly obedient to the Holy Spirit in humility, with the desire to honour God the Father and be in eternal fellowship with Him from this present time on Earth, and to be in constant repentance and forgiveness before His throne of grace. The desire to be in deep fellowship with God through His Word and His Spirit was long lost to us, as it was buried alive by our disobedience, wickedness and rebellion against the sanctity of the Word of God, the sovereignty of God Almighty, the sacrifice of His Son and the precious counselling of the Spirit of Truth. 38 Therefore, repent and live! WAKE UP! Will you read the words of Jesus, not just once, but over and over again until His words are like fire in your heart? Will you also eat them, drink them in, inhale their fragrance, caress and consume them with such urgent zeal that it might match the passion of the One who penned the words into eternity? Will you read His words with the preciousness and affection of a love letter? For we, the church, have forsaken the words of Jesus under the New Covenant because we have not obeyed Jesus commands at the standard which meets Gods requirements. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of 39 God. For Christians, the lack of knowledge of the power of the words of 40 Jesus is destroying us. We do not know the Scriptures or the power of God 41 at the standard to which we are called, nor do we practise the power of God with the same dedication and perseverance as one does for a marathon. We practise and preach tithing more than we practise and preach unceasing repentance and forgiveness. How do I know this? From the reaction of a disbeliever when I preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first thing she asked me was whether I tithed ten per cent of my income. Why arent the churches known for preaching and practising repentance and forgiveness? Dont you find this disgraceful? By forsaking the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, the church has fallen from a great height, and we continue to sail off-course from Jesus and His destination for the
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John 8.51 John 6.60 Ezekiel 19.32 39 Romans 3.23 40 Hosea 4.6 41 Matthew 22.29
church. In a presumptuous state of error and lack of repentance, the pastors and leaders, which include teachers of the Levitical Law and Pharisees in todays churches, have bound on Earth what should be loosed in Heaven, and have loosed on Earth what should be bound in Heaven because they do not know the covenant they live under. The experts of the law have continued to 42 take away the key to knowledge, and have hindered those who are trying to enter into the kingdom of our Father. Do you see the church? It is the shabby boat with a grand name, stuck in the middle of the lake fighting the tempest winds with only a wooden oar, and going nowhere fast because it does not know the command given by God the Father. What is the key to knowledge for the disciples of Jesus Christ? What is the Fathers sole command to the disciples of Jesus? The command, which has been largely ignored, forgotten, unappreciated, untaught and unpractised, with the repercussions of its disobedience and negligence echoing discordantly and rudely into the highest Heavens, has tested the patience of the Father for the last two thousand years as it has reached Gods throne. This is our Fathers command to the disciples of the New Covenant: This is My Son, whom I 43 love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him! If you did not know the command, then be earnest and repent. If you knew but have not obeyed, be earnest, repent, and forgive one another. Thanks be to God for the conviction of the Holy Spirit. May He be exalted as surely as Jesus is glorified.
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Luke 11.52 Matthew 17.5; Mark 9.7; Luke 9.35
Chapter 2
Listen to Jesus
But even as he [Peter] spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 1 This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy. Listen to Him. In the four gospels, it is written that the Father spoke three times during the time Jesus was on Earth. The first time the Father spoke was to Jesus at His water baptism in the Jordan River. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, John the Baptist saw Heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. A voice came from Heaven and said to Jesus, 2 You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased. This event is also significant because all three Persons of the Godhead were clearly present, the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The second time the Father spoke was to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said to them from a cloud that enveloped them, This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to 3 Him! The third time the Father spoke was to Jesus, but it was for the benefit of the crowd. It was before the Passover that preceded the crucifixion of Jesus and was in answer to Jesus prayer when His heart was troubled. Jesus knew the evil and suffering that the Father, the Holy Spirit and He would have to endure. He knew the reason why He had come to this hour. And through it, 4 the Son of Man would be glorified so that God is glorified in Him at once. Jesus cried out to the Father, Father, glorify Your Name! Then a voice came 5 from Heaven and replied, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. Those who heard the Fathers voice said it sounded like thunder or an angel speaking because they did not recognise the voice of God that spoke for their benefit. Perhaps the Israelites had long forgotten the voice of God when they chose to stay at a distance from His presence. For, after God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He called His first public assembly with Israel at Mount
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Matthew 17.5 NLT Matthew 3.17; Mark 1.11; Luke 3.22 3 Matthew 17.5; Mark 9.7; Luke 9.35 4 John 13.31-32 5 John 12.28
Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus
Sinai. The Father spoke out of the darkness in the desert to the Israelites, and 6 Mount Sinai was set ablaze with fire and billows of smoke. God said to Israel, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of 7 slavery, and He gave them the Ten Commandments. However, the Israelites responded by saying to Moses, Speak to us 8 yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die We will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. 9 Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey. Note that the Israelites did not have the courtesy to say this to God directly. The splendorous display of His presence, the thunder, lightning and smoke, intimidated and terrified them. So they chose to remain at a distance while Moses alone approached the thick darkness where God spoke with Him face to face. Did they think that God rescued them from slavery in Egypt just so He could kill them by speaking to them? By Gods word, the Israelites would not have died if He were to speak to them directly. God had desired to speak directly to His people and have them hear Him speak with Moses. For He said, I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear Me speaking with you and 10 will always put their trust in you. It is not the sound of Gods voice that would bring death. Gods voice carries life in abundance. His voice is the voice of life. It is when we disobey His commands that bring life that sin and death have power over us. When Adam and Eve sinned in eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and Blessing and Calamity against Gods 11 command, they were bound by Gods word that they would surely die. However, is the church any better than the Israelites who reacted to God in this way? Dont we also ask God to stay at a distance from our lives and ways of living? Dont we invite Him into our living rooms and offices, but not into the most intimate places? We mark boundaries with our relationship with Jesus. Just like God said to the waves of the sea in Job 38.11, so we say to Him, This far You may come and no further. Here in my heart is where You halt. We put time limits on our fellowship with the Holy Spirit, placing men between the Holy Spirit and ourselves, just like Moses went before God between the Israelites and God.
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Exodus 19.18 Exodus 20.1-17 Exodus 20.19 9 Deuteronomy 5.25-28 10 Exodus 19.9 11 Genesis 2.16-18 AMP
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At the second time of Gods coming to us, the Father did not send His Son Jesus to come in a frightening display of thunder, lightning and billowing smoke. He did not design for the birth of His Son to be a grand entrance with many witnesses and worshippers. Only Mary and Joseph, the 12 magi, the shepherds and some cattle were present to testify to the dawning of the new age of the bright Morning Star. The Father did not announce the place of Jesus birth by a show of fireworks and a loud trumpet call. The magi saw the bright star of the east that led them to the first place of worship of the Son of Man. But things will be different when Jesus returns because the Son of Man will come on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. The Father poured out the glory of His excellence and perfection into the flesh of the Son of Man, who is the Word become flesh. Jesus, the Word in flesh, is a form that we can relate and listen to, receive and love. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. The Father draws us to Jesus, the Word in the fullness of truth and grace, faithfulness and unfailing love - so that those who hear the words of Jesus, and put them into practice, 13 will not fall. For eternal life is that we may come to know the only true God 14 and Jesus Christ, whom He sent. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives 15 them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. If we hold to Jesus teaching, we are really His disciples, and we will know the truth, 16 and the truth will set us free. For the words that Jesus spoke to us are 17 S/spirit and they are life. The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The flesh of the Lord would have counted for nothing if not for the fullness of grace and truth living in Him to do the Fathers work. Do you know what is so eternally special about our Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus carried in Him ALL truth in the fullness of grace, so that we may stand under the weight and enormity of the holy majesty of truth. The Father had deposited the glory of the Word into flesh, and as He released the word to Jesus in perfect timing, Jesus spoke the word with grace and precision in selfcontrol learned through the training He had received from His Father. The Sons time with His Father began before the foundations of the Earth were laid. He was with His Father when God marked out the horizons on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above and fixed securely the foundations of the deep, and when He marked out the foundations of the
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Matthew 2.1, 7, 16 Matthew 7.24-25 John 17.3 15 John 5.21 16 John 8.31 17 John 6.63
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Earth. Jesus, as the Word, was the Craftsman at His Fathers side, rejoicing 19 with His Father and delighting in Him, delighting in all of Gods Creation. But Jesus training on Earth in the flesh was a new thing for both Father and Son. Jesus Christ, mighty to save, overturned every injustice unto God by His dedicated love to honour and glorify the Father, to save and resurrect every lost dream and delight of the Father. He reclaimed everything under Heaven that belongs to the Father in full restitution, including every word of God trampled, buried alive and stolen by men. He did so by taking on the ultimate injustice Himself - death on a cross for the sins of all mankind. 20 Gods word is truth and the fullness of truth had sanctified the body of Christ before the creation of the world to prepare the Holy One as the Passover Lamb. For the Father had given Jesus the glory because He loved 21 Jesus before the creation of the world - the glory the Word had with the Father before the foundation of the Earth. The same glory Jesus has given us 22 so that we may be one as They are One. Oneness of spirit in word - in truth - in understanding - in life - in glory - in justice - in love - and in eternity. For it is all about Gods eternity - Gods love - Gods justice - Gods glory - Gods life - Gods understanding - Gods truth - and Gods word, from everlasting to everlasting. It has never been about us. But it is all about us in Them, for that is the paradox of God. Just as it is not about what we are going to do for God, but what God is about to do for His own glory through us. It is not about whether God is for us or against us, but whether we are for Him or against Him, regardless of how much we think it costs us. And it is not about whether we can trust in God, but how much God can trust us. He is God, the only one 23 who is good. Why shouldnt He be trusted? Who are you not to trust God? But ask yourself whether He can trust you. Will you be trustworthy in handling worldly 24 wealth that He may entrust you with true riches? Will you be faithful in a 25 small matter so that you can take charge of His cities? Absolute power does not corrupt. If that were so, God would be corrupted beyond recognition. However, just a drop of His power can corrupt you if your heart is not
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Proverbs 8.27 Proverbs 8.30 John 17.17 21 John 17.24 22 John 17.22-23 23 Matthew 19.17 24 Luke 16.11 25 Luke 19.12-17
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constantly and completely on Jesus, and if you have in mind the things of men and not the things of God. All eyes are on Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh. The eyes of the Father, the eyes of the sevenfold Spirit of God, the eyes of the saints in Heaven and the eyes of the holy angels are all on Jesus. The reason our eyes are not perfectly focused on Jesus is because we are blind, though we claim that we see. The Father never takes His eyes off Jesus. And because whatever 26 the Father does the Son also does, Jesus never takes His eyes off His Father. 27 His eyes are never on Himself because He seeks glory not for Himself, and He looks to no one but His Father. The Father, who always listens to Jesus, tells us to do the same. We must listen carefully to His Son because the Son is disciplined with razor-sharp precision to speak only what He hears from the Father. Our focus should be on the words of Jesus Christ - every command, lesson, instruction, warning, parable, prayer, encouragement and rebuke. The focus should not be on this popular phrase, What would Jesus do? Rather, seek understanding from the Holy Spirit by asking, What did Jesus say? What did He mean and how, why and to whom did He speak it? How can we learn what Jesus would do, if we do not listen to Him in the first place? The focus is not on our words, our understanding, our honour or our lives. But when the Father sees you listening to Jesus, His focus will also be on you like a father whose heart is relieved and delighted because he knows his son or daughter is on the right path. Then you will begin to take on the likeness of Jesus who is the perfect, avid listener of the Father, as is the Holy Spirit. There is no unity or oneness in the church if we are not listening to Jesus at the standard to which we are individually called and is our duty to fulfil. No one can listen to Jesus on your behalf. No one can fulfil your destiny for you. If we do not follow and listen to Jesus, cry out for understanding, obey His commands and put His words into daily practice, love His justice, seek the truth and wait at His door for His return, we might as well close shop now. Which is exactly what will happen as the church age comes to a close. The church will not manifest the power of unity or the glory that flows from the oneness of our abiding in Jesus and His words abiding in us under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, if we do not receive the Holy Spirit through the baptism of the Spirit and of fire. For it is not by might nor by 28 power, but by Gods Spirit that all power in the W/word of God streams and surges forth. The focus is not one-dimensional. It is not by might or
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John 5.19 John 8.50 28 Zechariah 4.6
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power, but by the fullness of the Person of the Holy Ghost. No can see and 29 enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born again of water and of the Spirit. The power of the W/word of God is not designed to come upon us like the weak trickle of a dripping faucet. It is a mighty and splendid waterfall where the deepest depth of the Holy Spirits wisdom, the widest width of the Fathers glory and the highest height of Jesus love calls forth to each other in the roars of the grandeur of eternities, as its boundless opera of waves and breakers sweep and wash over mankinds ignorance and indifference towards God Almighty. But how much power of the Word of God will flow from us if we have not read Jesus words and His words do not remain in us? How can the power of God respond to us when it roars out of Him, but it does not find the fullness of truth living in us, active and ablaze like fire and a hammer that 30 breaks a rock to pieces? How can the church make preparations for the return of Jesus Christ and remain alive during the days of distress unless it is entrusted and operating in the full power of the Holy Spirit? You want to talk about trust? How can God trust you with His power if He cannot even trust you to take time to read His words over and over again? You see yourself as powerless. God sees you as wordless. That is, lacking in the knowledge of the words of Jesus, which we acquire when we read and practise His words. If you are W/wordless, you may still be used in His campaign to fight the battles to win Gods war, but how far can He bring you into the full stature of Jesus the Son? Like an opera to be seen and heard, experienced and beheld, the Father released His Son, the Word of God, when He said, Let there be 31 light. As the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters, His power went forth with the Word who contained in Him all the details of the Fathers heartfelt dreams and imaginings. The Holy Spirit created and brought into existence that which the Word of God spoke from the Fathers heart to be made manifest. Heres a side question to those who deliberately do not speak in tongues or consider it evil. Do you think that God spoke in English, Korean or Aramaic when He said, Let there be light? Or did the Lord use His beautiful native Heavenly tongue, the same as the gift from the Holy Spirit that 32 is a sign which accompany believers? 33 The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Power. He is the power in the miracles that allows the invisible traits and qualities of a miraculous God to
29 30
John 3.3, 5 Jeremiah 23.29 31 Genesis 1.3 32 Mark 16.17 33 Isaiah 11.2
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appear before our eyes and touch our hardened hearts, so that we may repent and believe in Jesus, follow Him and listen to Him as we witness the miracles and accept the seed that is sown into our hearts. The Lord said, Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand 34 that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come 35 upon you. Performing miracles is what the Father does. He is a God of miracles. Miracles come naturally to Him as He is God and not a man. We call them miracles, but they are the very nature of God. Jesus did the same things to show us that He is from the Father and 36 He is now seated in the place of power at Gods right hand. To elaborate, this is my understanding of the Lords words in John 10.38: Even if your hearts are so hard and your minds so stubborn that My words find no place in you, then at least open your eyes and witness the power of God which flows from the Father. Those miracles support My words and prove that I am doing the work of My Father and My God. These impossible events performed by unexplainable, supernatural power are incontestable evidence of the truth that I am from God, and that He has sent Me and He is with Me even as I am talking to you. We have been given two Counsellors. Follow the pattern in Genesis 1.3. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. If the Father declared light to be and the Holy Ghost did not act upon it, He would have made a liar out of the Father. The word was first spoken as it was released by the Father to the Word of God, then the power of God went forth to back up the word. Truth is our first Counsellor. Truth is the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ in the flesh. Power is our second Counsellor. We received power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us for the purpose of testifying for Jesus and the word of 37 God. Jesus sent us the Counsellor to be with us forever - the Spirit of Truth. When we are baptised with the Holy Spirit, we receive the gift that Jesus 38 promised, for our Father promised in the book of Joel that He would be poured upon all people when He said, And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, 39 both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
34 35 36
John 10.38 Matthew 12.28 combined with Luke 11.20 Luke 22.69 NLT 37 John 14.16 38 Acts 1.5, 8 39 Joel 2.28
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All believers of Jesus are meant to manifest the following signs in His Name: Drive out demons, speak in new tongues, pick up snakes with their 40 hands and drink deadly poison but not be harmed, and heal the sick. We believe in Jesus at the preaching of His Gospel: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be 41 preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. But we are to go and make disciples of all nations, not just believers, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them 42 to obey everything Jesus commanded. For those who will receive the Holy 43 44 Spirit, Jesus baptises us with Him and with fire as our entry into discipleship training under the Holy Spirits counsel. We are clothed with power from on high for we receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us. The purpose is for us to testify for Jesus with the Holy Spirit. But we are also meant to befriend and be close to the Holy Spirit, for He lives with and is in 45 those who receive Him. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the gift from God. We did nothing to deserve to have the Spirit of our God living in us. We did nothing to deserve such holiness of His presence. Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be honoured to the highest degree and with the deepest affection, for our proximity with the Holy Spirit qualifies Him to be more intimate with us than any parent, best friend or partner. There is no one else who lives in us like the Holy Spirit does. No one searches our mind, heart, understanding and strength like the Holy Spirit does. No one else but the Spirit guides us into the ALL truth and teaches us ALL things. No one else but the Spirit shows us how to minister to the Father and Jesus. No one else but the Spirit convicts us who believe in regard to righteousness, because Jesus has gone to the Father, so that we may continuously repent and forgive sins as we practise Jesus word. For this is the practice of righteousness. For if man, though he is evil, knows how to give good gifts to his children, how much more our Father in Heaven gives good 46 gifts to those who ask Him! Yet we never had to ask the Father to send us a Counsellor as wonderful and wise as our beloved Holy Spirit! Jesus said, If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
40 41 42
Mark 16.17-18 Luke 24.46-47 Matthew 28.19-20 43 John 20.22 44 Luke 3.16 45 John 14.17 46 Matthew 7.11
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how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who 47 ask Him! Our Father sent into the world two amazingly wonderful Counsellors, the Truth and the Spirit of Truth, because He seeks true worshippers who 48 49 worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is Spirit, but the world could not accept the Truth or the Spirit of Truth, for They are not of the world. For Truth and the Spirit of Truth could find no resting place in a sinful and rebellious world that is defiled and ruled by unforgiveness, violence, greed and lies. Even the temple that bears His Name has been desecrated by traditions, customs and doctrines that have nothing to do with worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. Do we think that we are dressed in splendour and living in kings palaces, when we are covered with the powerlessness of our traditions rather than powerful truth and the regal justice of Gods Word? Does reading a hymn or prayer book fulfil the command to listen to Jesus? Does listening to a 20minute sermon fulfil the command to listen to Jesus? Does reading religious self-help books or controversial fictions and prophecies fulfil the command to listen to Jesus? And does daily reading of a few random verses of the Epistles or the Psalms replace the actual eating of Jesus words in a continuous format? Why are we taught to highlight the apostles words in preference to Jesus words? Listening to Jesus carefully means that you have to search out His words in the Bible and highlight them and read them over and over. Reading Gods words as recorded in the Bible is like going through a doorway that leads to a hall, which takes you to more rooms and hallways of understanding and knowledge as you explore His written word. And by Gods words as recorded in the Bible, I dont mean the Epistles or Psalms or Eliphazs preach in Job. I mean the words which proceed directly from the mouth of our Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Highlighting Gods words is a process that helps you discern between the holy (Gods words) and the common (all other words). 50 Therefore knock and the door will be opened to you, because what you are truly knocking on is the door to Gods heart. You may find that as you increase your consumption of Gods words in the company of the Holy Spirit, He will open up more of His words to you personally and directly. He is the 51 Spirit of Revelation. The realisation of how much of the Father and Jesus
47 48
Luke 11.13 John 4.23 49 John 4.24 50 Matthew 7.7; Luke 11.9 51 Ephesians 1.17
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you can come to know will overwhelm and humble you. It will draw you back to His Word every night, like a man in the desert would reach out for a cup of cold water. When you listen to Jesus, you may even see the words of Jesus as jewels because they have become so precious to you. Each word He speaks is like an array of colourful stones and you treasure them in the jewellery box that is your heart where only God has access. You will have an unexplainable urge to pick the gems off the pages of your Bible and eat them. The more you listen to Jesus, the more of a purist you will become. You will guard and protect His words with your heart, spirit and understanding in jealous love and fierce loyalty. You will become so jealous for Jesus that you will lose all desire to listen to anyone else unless you know they are also listening to Jesus. And you would sooner die of thirst than reach out for the glass of seawater, which is mans lifeless words. You dont even have to pay attention to me. This is my testimony. I love listening to Jesus. You should go and acquire your own testimony of Jesus and the word of God. Jesus words are all the pure river of life we will ever need. But when we chose to disobey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, we began to foil the Lords plans for the ministry of His church. We abandoned truth and took on half-truths, even lies. And we renounced the righteousness of God that comes from obeying the command to listen to Jesus. We took on the ugly rag that is stubborn pride and self-righteousness, rather than the glorious cloak of humility and grace that is mighty to save. This is the garment of our Lord that even the Roman soldiers knew not to rip into shreds. We developed a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe church traditions that have nothing to do with listening to 52 Jesus and practising His words. Did not Jesus say that His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink, and that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man 53 and drink His blood, we have no eternal life in us? So, did it truly seem good to the Holy Spirit, or was it purely James own judgment that we should 54 abstain from food polluted by idols and from blood? Didnt the Lord teach us that what goes into a mans mouth does not make him unclean, but what 55 comes out of his mouth from his heart makes him unclean? What about when we accept that our brothers in Christ have become our fathers through 56 the Gospel and we address them as holy father in a priestly context?
52 53
Mark 7.9 John 6.53-55 54 Acts 15.19-29 55 Matthew 15.10-11; Mark 7.14-16 56 1 Corinthians 4.14
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Arent we contradicting the word of Jesus: Do not to call anyone on Earth 57 father, for you have one Father, and He is in Heaven? If the enemies of God slapped our Lords face with this one, congratulations, they did so using our hands. Where did Jesus teach us about holy water? Where did Jesus say to worship His Earthly mother, or to pray to her or the saints to intercede for them? And where in Jesus words did He tell us to bind demons? It is not 58 written that Jesus bound demons. He just drove them out. The incorrect practice of binding demons circulates in the churches because we have not listened to Jesus and the Holy Spirit carefully. Do not misunderstand the words of Jesus when He drove out a demon from the man who was mute. When the demon left and the man who had been mute spoke, the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, He is driving out demons. Others tested Him by asking for a sign from Heaven. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and 59 divides up the spoils. You must also read Mark 3.22-29: The teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons He is driving out demons. So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin. He said this because they were saying, He has an evil spirit.
57 58
Matthew 23.8 Mark 1.34 59 Luke 11.14-22
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Shepherds: Please note that Jesus taught the tying up of the strong man as a parable because some people were saying He had an evil spirit and was driving out demons by the power of Satan. He was showing them that His power, the power of the Kingdom of God, exceeds Satans power and overpowers his kingdom. Jesus did not mean for us to tie up Satan or demons literally. Neither did He practise this Himself. He did not teach us to rob Satans house, but to set the people free from what allowed Satan to bind them 60 as captives. God does not rob. He is not a thief. The souls that are held in bondage by Satan because of their sins belong to God rightfully. Parables are illustrations that help us to understand better. If we were to act on a parable literally, it would mean that we should sow seeds along the streets instead of preaching the Gospel, lose a coin and sweep the house to find it in order to experience the joy, or go mix yeast into a batch of dough. No, what Jesus meant is that His power to drive out demons does not come from Satan, but from God, and such insinuation of the crowds (either in their hearts or from their mouths) came very close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This is why He tied together the two teachings in a parable. 61 Shepherds: Jesus gave His disciples authority to drive out demons. 62 He also said it is a sign that accompanies believers. The authority of a disciple to drive out demons is different from a believer being able to do it in Jesus Name, just as driving out demons is different from binding them. Your disobedience of Jesus words alone ensures that you will have no power over the demons. Repent and stop binding demons. Stop teaching the flock to bind demons. Disciples did not receive the authority to bind demons, but to drive them out. Therefore, obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus words first and foremost by prioritising them in your heart and spirit, mind and understanding. Actively practise His words in your daily life. Jesus is 63 the true Bread of Life that came down from Heaven. He came and released the truth into the world for the benefit of His Father so that we may feed on His words and not die, but have eternal life. We were not created to die. This is the harvest of resurrection glory and resurrection justice for God. The words of the Lords apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are not life unless they are repeating the words of Jesus Christ and speaking the exact words the Holy Spirit gives them. While it is true that
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Luke 13.16: Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" 61 Mark 3.15; Matthew 10.1 62 Mark 16.17 63 John 6.47-51
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apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given by Jesus to the 64 church that the body of Christ may be built up, the food we are given to grow and mature is in Jesus Christ. And in Jesus is His nourishment which comes from doing the will of God who sent Him and from finishing His 65 work. Therefore, treasure His words, the truth, and the counselling of the Holy Spirit. We were meant to achieve oneness with the Father through Jesus and in Jesus, and return to God a hundred-fold of ALL that He has given us. His Word is the Chief Cornerstone and His Word is the Capstone. He is the First 66 67 and the Last. The first stone is the chief cornerstone for a sure foundation, and the last stone is the capstone. And for us, all that is in between the Alpha and the Omega is the glory and joy of the oneness of our remaining and 68 abiding in Him, and of His words remaining and abiding in us. This is what falling in love with Jesus and the words of God is all about. It begins with listening to Jesus carefully. For the words of Jesus, which come directly from His own mouth, reign supreme. Gods words from Gods mouth reign supreme. We must place His words above and beyond the words of any man, even men of God. Check all their words against the Lords words and check with the Spirit of Truth, who is the Spirit of Wisdom calling out to you. For not every word spoken by men is precisely as the Holy Spirit intended in terms of timing, power, purpose, audience and content. But every word of Jesus is just as the Father purposed it to be. Every word spoken by Jesus is directly from the Father, for they flow from the Fathers heart unto Jesus sinless lips. The world must learn that Jesus 69 loves the Father and He does exactly what the Father has commanded Him. But how would the world learn if the church hasnt learnt? The Lord is a man of truth. He is the Man of Truth. He works for the honour of His Father and speaks to gain honour for the One who sent 70 Him. For the words that Jesus spoke to us were not just His own, they 71 belonged to the Father who sent Him. Jesus did nothing on His own but 72 spoke just what His Father had taught Him. Whatever Jesus said was just what the Father told Him to say. He testified about Himself, and His
64 65 66
Ephesians 4.11 John 4.34 NLT Revelation 22.13 67 Isaiah 28.16 68 John 15.5 69 John 14.31 70 John 7.18 71 John 14.10, 24 72 John 8.28
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testimony alone is valid because He is from God and has gone back to God. And He is coming back to us. But the Father also testified about Jesus when He said, This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to 74 Him! So are you listening to Jesus? For us to become men and women of truth just like Jesus, the only starting place and launch pad is the command, Listen to Jesus. The practice of this command in obedience to our Father is the only way to dig deep and lay the foundation on the Rock - the Word of God, and to have a steadfast mindset to listen to Jesus first and foremost. The rock of the church is not Peter. The rock is the truth Peter declared, that Jesus is the Son of God. And we must listen to Him.
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How do we listen to Jesus? Listening to Jesus is simple. It only takes your time, a Bible and a highlighter. Highlight the words of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit only. Personally, it was easier to start with the New Testament, as the Old Testament may be daunting at first. It is not about highlighting the words that apply to you or sound good to you. This is not the purpose of this exercise. The Father did not command us to listen to Jesus selectively. The process of highlighting the words spoken by God is the differentiation process of the holy and unholy. It is a sanctification process for growth. As you progress, the Old Testament will become like a treasure hunt as you learn to distinguish between the words of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This takes discipline, effort and time on your behalf, but it is more than worthwhile. It is where worship, fellowship and discipleship merge into one to form the greater level of sonship or daughtership and friendship, and it is truly a treasure. The book of Leviticus is never boring. It is an entire book of the Father speaking! It just depends on how hungry you are for God to come to know Him. For the churches in the literate parts of this world, the words of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the only place where you will fall in love with Jesus and stay in love with Him. And to fall in love with the Father, you must first be in love with Jesus because no one comes to the Father except through 75 Jesus. And if you are not in love with Jesus and the Father, the Holy Spirit will never reveal His Person to you. If the Holy Spirit does not reveal Himself to you as you fellowship with Him, how then can you fall in love with the Spirit of God? When you are in love with God, the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because you have come to know Them and you begin to tell Them apart,
73 74
John 8.14 Matthew 17.5 75 John 14.6
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you will be even more in love with the words of God. It is indeed a circle of love that begins with the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. You might even become so attached to Gods words that you hold your Bible to sleep because it is the closest thing to hugging Jesus for now. Your first highlight may be difficult and labour-intensive. You may even want to give up. But think of it this way, it is nowhere as hard as carrying two heavy slabs of wood after being flogged, only to end the journey by being crucified on the cross for sins you did not commit. Every other task pales in comparison in terms of difficulty - whether physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. Make up your mind and commit yourself to highlighting the whole Bible. It is truly not that hard. No excuses will stand up in the presence of God. In Australia, we live in a country where Bibles are as common as pigeons, and we will not be punished if we own a version of the Bible that is not approved by the government. Excuses like I have to work, I have children, or I am too busy are unacceptable. Where theres a will, theres a way. The New International Version Bible published by the International Bible Society consists of 880 pages. If you read two to three pages a day, you would complete one reading within a year. Reading three pages would take you less than fifteen minutes a day. If Jesus cared enough so as to die on a cross for the forgiveness of your sins and remain there for six hours until all was finished, what is stopping you from willingly and lovingly giving Him at least fifteen minutes of your day? Once you get past your first read, you may develop an insatiable appetite for Jesus and His words, and hunger for more. 76 You will become like the merchant looking for pearls. This means you have become more like your Father. Also the moment you say, I know the word of God and I dont need to listen to Jesus, you have not only revealed your lack of humility, but also your ignorance. Is it truly that daunting a task to read the Bible? Havent you read a novel from beginning to end? I tell you the truth; Leviticus is not overwhelming or dull once you have acquired the taste for the voice of God. The pleasure of Leviticus is God uninterrupted. Why should we listen to Jesus Why should we read and highlight the words that proceed directly from the mouth of the Lord, the Lord and the Lord? Why should we do so with diligence, determination and urgency, as if we are training for a marathon, sitting for an exam or preparing for war?
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Matthew 13.45
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Because a storm is coming; a storm of colossal proportions and distress unequalled from the beginning of the world until now and never to 77 be equalled again. In the days when the fullness of the cup of Gods wrath is poured out first on His house and then on the world, there will be nowhere to 78 run or hide from He who sits on the throne or from the wrath of the Lamb. 79 For the great day of Their wrath is coming, and who can stand? Listen to Jesus. He has told us who can stand in that day of Gods wrath and vengeance against His household and against a world that scorns the perfect sacrifice of His beloved Son. It is the house that is built on the solid rock of His words with no impurities mixed in to weaken the base. That house will stand. The rain will come and the streams rise, the winds will blow and the torrent will strike and beat against the house, but it will not be shaken because it was well built on the foundation of hearing the words of Jesus 80 Christ and putting them into practice. The church needs the words of Jesus Christ and the power that comes from the abidance and practice of His words to withstand the force of the coming tempest storm that will come upon the whole Earth and its inhabitants. A thousand may fall at its side and ten thousand at its right hand, but that house will stand firm in faith, stay rooted in solid understanding and grounded in the love of justice for Jesus. For there will be ones who have come to Jesus, heard His words and put them into practice. Those houses will answer the Lords call, However, 81 when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith? They are ones who have gone the miles with the Holy Spirit to ensure that Jesus will not only find faith upon His return, but He will also find forgiveness, delight, knowledge, understanding, righteousness, justice and rejoicing, arranged beautifully as a fragrant bouquet of welcome back flowers at the Mount of Olives, and triumphantly presented by those who have steadfastly remained alive to welcome the King on His return to reign. They are the Lords elect who He will gather from the four winds with a loud trumpet call, from one end of the 82 Heavens to the other. They will be caught up together with Jesus in the 83 clouds to meet Him in the air, and reign with the King of kings and the Lord 84 of lords for a thousand year. This is the first resurrection.
77 78 79
Matthew 24.21 Revelation 6.16 Revelation 6.17 80 Matthew 7.24-27 81 Luke 18.8 82 Matthew 24.31 83 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17 84 Revelation 20.4-5
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Listening to Jesus is about knowing what He said, and how and why He said it. What tone of voice did Jesus use? When did He speak those words? Who was His audience? In fact, if you are earnest, you can write out all of Jesus words in the New Testament as part of your consumption. You can also highlight His words in different colours to differentiate between the words He spoke to His Father, His disciples, the crowds and His enemies. You may learn that words you thought were given to His disciples were actually spoken to say, the Pharisees who were His enemies at that time. These details are important in understanding the Lord and the meaning of His words. This is coming to know the Father and Jesus whom He sent. And it is only the Holy Spirit who counsels you in the words of Jesus and reminds you of what Jesus said. The Holy Spirit alone gives us understanding and revelations on the words of Jesus. This leads us to the next chapter.
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Chapter 3
Receive the Holy Spirit

Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you. And with that He [Jesus] breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; 1 if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. If you had run with the Fathers command: Listen to Jesus, without delay, you would have realised that what was written in Chapter Two about the Father speaking only three times in the four Gospels is technically not correct. The Father only spoke directly three times, but in truth, He spoke continuously in the gospels through Jesus. Through Jesus, the Father is at His work to this very day because no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws 2 him. Even after our salvation, our Father continues to draw us closer to Jesus. 3 And the Word of God, as the Son of God, is always working. The Son testified that He can do nothing by Himself. Jesus could only do what He saw His Father doing and He followed His Father, because the Father showed His 4 Son all that He did. Jesus said, These words you hear are not My own, they 5 belong to the Father who sent Me Whatever I say is just as the Father has 6 told Me to say. Jesus also said, All that belongs to the Father is Mine. This is why I 7 said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you. All that belongs in the kingdom of the Father is the Sons. Jesus is the kingdom of abundance, glory and majesty, which He has conferred on those who have 8 stood by Him in His trials. And the Holy Spirit brings glory to Jesus by taking 9 what is His and makes it known to us. Jesus said and did everything for His
1 2 3
John 20.21-23 John 6.43 John 5.17 4 John 5.19 5 John 14.24 6 John 12.50 7 John 16.15 8 Luke 22.28 9 John 16.14
Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit
God and our God, for His Father and our Father; and whatever He said is just what the Father told Him to say. The Lord, the Holy Spirit, was given to us to be our Counsellor on Earth for a season, so that we are not left alone as orphans but are given the privilege to grow under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth. So that we may mature as sons and daughters of our Father in the stature and likeness of the One who is the Firstborn over all Creation, to then be entrusted with true riches of the kingdom to bring gladness to our Fathers heart. We come to Jesus as children, as it was the Fathers good pleasure to 10 draw us to His Son and reveal the things of Jesus to the little children. Jesus said that unless we change and become like little children, we would never 11 enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus also said that no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again, and no one can enter the Kingdom 12 of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Once we enter, we are to grow and develop in the stature of Christ and in favour with God, whilst preserving our child-like humility and innocence in our relationship with Them, as we outgrow our orphan stage under the care of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of 13 Sonship. We grow by adding knowledge and understanding to faith, and seeking to have a complete testimony of Jesus as we continuously put His words into practice. Those who have received Jesus and believe in His Name are given the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, 14 human decision or a husbands will, but born of God. As is Gods will, the little children are purposed to grow up to be kings and lords in a manner worthy of the Name of Jesus Christ by standing with Him in His trials. Jesus 15 confers on them a kingdom, as the Father conferred one on Him. The Lord said, Wisdom is proved right by all her children, and Wisdom is shown to 16 be right by the lives of those who follow it. 17 The Spirit of Sonship is the Spirit of Wisdom. And Gods wisdom will be proved right and vindicated by the lives of the sons and daughters the Holy Spirit raises up for God in Christ. Our growth and development is part of the work of the Holy Spirit. He wants to entrust the church with His full power to bring justice to Jesus, together with the complete understanding of
10 11 12
Matthew 11.25-26 Matthew 18.2 John 3.3, 5 13 Romans 8.15 14 John 1.12-13 15 Luke 22.29 16 Luke 7.35 NIV / NLT 17 Ephesians 1.17; Isaiah 11.2
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what is justice to Jesus. The Father wants sons and daughters who can serve in His household and kingdom as lords and kings. Sons and daughters who are humble, loyal and focused on seeking glory for God, just as the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always humble and loyal in seeking glory for One Another. On the heights where we climb the mountain of God, as we walk along the way to meet with Christ Jesus - at the place where we make our choices as the broad road that leads to destruction intersects with the narrow road of Jesus who is the W/way that leads to the Father - and from the gates of salvation, Wisdom, the Word of God, calls out to all mankind: To you, O men, I call out; I raise My voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; You who are foolish, gain understanding Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open My lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for My lips detest wickedness. All the words of My mouth are just; None of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; They are faultless to those who have knowledge. Choose My instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare to her. I, Wisdom, dwell together with Prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech. Counsel and sound judgment are Mine; I have understanding and power. By Me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by Me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on Earth. I love those who love Me,
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and those who seek Me find Me. With Me are riches and honour, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love Me 18 and making their treasuries full. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, 19 Power, Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the 20 beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. He is the Spirit of Truth, Holiness, Life, Grace, Wisdom and Revelation, and 21 Glory - the Spirit of God in whom we manifest the effect of righteousness, 22 which is quietness and confidence forever. He is the Spirit of Judgment and 23 the Spirit of Fire who convicts the world in regards to sin, righteousness and 24 judgment, and purifies and refines us like silver, causing the spirit of those who receive Him to be born again. We are no longer sons and daughters born of women as we shed the mark of the beast, which is lack by powerlessness. But we take on the official mark of Sonship and Daughtership with God as sons and daughters born of the Spirit, which is loving mercy to our Father, so that we may serve the living God not only as faithful servants, but as mature son or daughters who love and honour Him just like His beloved Jesus Christ. For we did not receive a spirit that makes us slaves again to fear - a fear of the world and its ways of wickedness and rebellion against God. We 25 received the Spirit of Sonship (and Daughtership) in the abundant majesty of the Most High God, so that we would return to Him thousands upon thousands of the hundred-fold of who He has sown into us - His Son Jesus, the Overcomer and Author of our salvation who was perfected through 26 suffering. God sowed His Jesus Christ into His eternity, into the world, into our hearts, flesh, soul and mind. He who is the Way and the Truth and the
18 19 20
Proverbs 8 Isaiah 11.2 Proverbs 9.10 21 John 14.17; Romans 1.4; 8.2; Hebrews 10.29; Ephesians 1.17; 1 Peter 4.14 22 Isaiah 32.17 23 Isaiah 4.4 24 John 16.8 25 Romans 8.15 26 Hebrews 2.10
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Life, the Resurrection and the Life, the True Bread of Life from Heaven, 30 31 32 the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, the True Vine, the Bright 33 34 35 36 Morning Star, the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty and the Amen, 37 the Son of David, the Son of Man and the Son of God. But our Father did not only sow His Son into us. He also sowed Himself through Jesus because He is in the Son, and the Son is in Him. The Father sowed the Image and Likeness of God into us and He poured out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh. His Image and Likeness pertain not just to appearance or height, for the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. 38 Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So 39 how much more should we stop judging God by mere appearances, and look into ourselves to see Gods Image and Likeness in us? Gods Image and Likeness are both His appearance and His tendencies. This includes His truth, His eternity, His grace, His creativity, His righteousness and justice, His beauty and splendour, His glory and majesty, His kindness and peace, His humility and patience, His perfection and mercy in His love for us while we were still His enemies, and all of the generous abundance of the sovereign God who is the Beginning and the End of the great I AM. How can we not make every effort to enter through the narrow door to come to know someone as wonderful and amazing and perfect and eternal as God our Father, Brother and Lord? How can we hold back on the Lord who loved us first, so that we may love Him beyond reason, instead of hating Him without reason? We have received the Spirit of Sonship and Daughtership so that we may, with open arms and receptive hearts, return the perfect harvest of His dreams to our Father. A harvest of sons and daughters in whom is the Image and Likeness of God, who are each unique and special in every way, yet are like Jesus Christ with whom the Father loves and is so well-pleased. They each bear fruits everlasting as sweet and fragrant as the ones found in Jesus, the Tree of Life. They are like Jesus in the stature and likeness of His grace, truth,
27 28
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28
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John 14.6 John 11.25 29 John 6.32, 35 30 John 10.11 31 John 8.12 32 John 15.1 33 Revelation 22.16 34 Revelation 22.13 35 Revelation 1.8 36 Revelation 3.14 37 Matthew 1:1 38 1 Samuel 16.7 39 John 7.24
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justice, love, strength, courage, faithfulness, wisdom, understanding, and mercy to the Father and the Holy Spirit; and all that He was, is, and is to come, in perfection. So how important is it for us to listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, and put all of Jesus words into practice? Listen to Jesus in the parable of the vineyard owner in Luke 13.6-9: A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, For three years now Ive been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and havent found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil? Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year, and Ill dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, cut it down. It is time to stop testing our Fathers patience. Therefore, we must be in continuous repentance and forgiveness before the Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us our faults. Because even if we claim to do many great and mighty things in the Name of Jesus, we may still have in mind the things of men, and not of God. We may only have in heart the courage of men, and not the courage of Jesus. And we may have in us the strength of men, but not the strength of the Holy Spirit, which is His full power. All fruits have ripened, whether they are good fruits of righteousness or rotting fruits of corruption, because Jesus told us to open our eyes and look 40 at the fields. The fields are ripe for harvest. God has allowed the good trees and bad trees to grow together so as to not disturb His harvest. But the time is coming and has now come when the harvesters, who are the angels, will collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned. Then they will gather the wheat, from one end of the Earth to the other, and bring them into Gods 41 barn. The barn is Gods house with many rooms, where Jesus has gone 42 ahead to prepare a place for us. Jesus came and paid full price for the sins of the world in fulfilment of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins between the Father and Himself. We are each led to our place of repentance so that we may accept Their gift of salvation when we believe in the One God sent. Jesus showed us the way to the Father, then went back to the Father to prepare a place for us, and He is returning to reign on Earth for a thousand years. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Do you understand why it is so important to remain alive to prepare the Earth for Jesus and His saints arrival for His millennial reign? If so, do you know what you need to survive the coming days of distress? Because the
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John 4.35 Matthew 13.30 42 John 14.2
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sequence in Jesus words to His disciples is clear, In My Fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 43 back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. We remain on Earth. He comes back to Earth to reign for a thousand years. Then we go with Him after the Millennium because this present Earth will pass away. If we do not strive to remain alive on Earth but pray to be taken away before the coming disasters, how will the correct sequence of Jesus words be fulfilled? If your prayers involve you being raptured and taken out of the way to then return with Him, you are clearly not a disciple in whom God has purposed for this word to be fulfilled. Therefore, how important is it to now learn the secrets of staying behind, which are not really secrets, as they are plainly written in the word for us to practise? How important is it for us to be guided into ALL truth by the Spirit of Revelation, so that we are able to survive the disasters that will come upon the whole Earth in the fury of Gods wrath against all its inhabitants, starting with Gods household? We must not only survive, but overcome in the strength, courage, boldness, power and authority of Jesus the Overcomer. 44 We need to bear all twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we may qualify to run for the first resurrection, and not wimp out and make an escape to Heaven when the days of distress come upon the Earth. The fruits of unfailing love our Father delights in and desires are the fruits of holiness that Jesus bears - fruits of holiness, which blossom in our hearts and spirits out of our separation unto the Holy Spirit. Separation unto the Lord, which is holiness, is not about food or long prayers, rules or outward appearances. The fruits we bear out of self-righteousness and ignorance of the W/word of God are of no value to Him. They are perishable and are detestable in Gods sight. Separation unto the Holy Spirit begins with who you lend your ears to, and it must be first and foremost to Jesus if He is where your loyalty lies. It is from the initial conviction of the Holy Spirit, which takes root in our hearts that we confess with our mouths that we need a Saviour. We are but sinners saved by grace through faith who have believed that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to save the world. We do not even 45 have the ability to say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Spirit of Truth. We
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John 14.2-4 Galatians 5.22: The 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Ephesians 5.9: The 10th and 11th fruits are righteousness and truth. Hebrews 13.15: The 12th fruit is sacrifice of praise. 45 1 Corinthians 12.3
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have no good thing apart from the Lord. Apart from Jesus we have no truth, love or righteousness that is everlasting. Apart from the Lord, we can do 46 nothing. Our fruitfulness comes from Jesus alone when we remain in Him and He remains in us by having His words remain in us as we listen to Him 47 and Him alone and by our eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And only by the Spirit of Sonship and Daughtership do we cry, Abba, Father, as the 48 Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are Gods children. The Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus. And we are called to be witnesses of Jesus the Son and partakers of the New Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. For whoever Christ forgives is forgiven, and whoever He does not forgive, is not forgiven. By His word, we are made co-heirs of this New Covenant, even in the forgiveness of sins. So let us all use this time wisely and productively to seek the counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The power of love that comes from recognising the depth of Gods enjoyment in forgiving sins, which in turn encourages a humble unselfish love for our Father and Brother, is the most potent power in this age. For the one who has been forgiven much, loves 49 much. When this power of love is poured out onto the enemies of Jesus in forgiveness and into loving our fellow disciples as Christ has loved us, therein lies and manifests the perfection of the Father. Forgiveness is our weapon against the ranks of enemies who have risen up against the Holy One of God, because forgiveness is something that the devil and his sons would never submit themselves to. It is the very power of the cross of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. Mercy to the Father Mercy to the Father can neither be taught nor lectured. It is to be lived because mercy to the Father is the fullness of sacrificial love by a son or daughter. But God did send His Son to lead us by example and He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into ALL truth. Mercy to the Father is following Jesus footsteps in the temple that lead us into the Holy of Holies. It is the footsteps of mercy and sacrificial love. It is a narrow path and few find it. Even fewer would persevere to stay on it. It is only made possible by the strict adherence 50 of the basic, primary law of the temple, which is Absolute holiness! 51 through the diligent, strict practice of these words of God: Listen to Him,
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John 15.5 John 15.5, 7; 6.56 Romans 8.15-16 49 Luke 7.47 50 Ezekiel 43.12 NLT 51 Matthew 17.5
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and Follow Me. We are to listen to and follow the One who is the Truth and the Way and the Life, for no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, the Great High Priest forever. The design of the temple is intricate and private and calls for loving, humble, obedient submissiveness to the Holy Spirit, who takes from what is Jesus and makes it known to us. He takes the Lords footsteps in the temple and makes it clear to us. It calls for the complete dying of ourselves and a holy reverence for the sanctuary of God so that we may abandon rewards, rank or attention for ourselves, but focus on the other sons and daughters of God, and even Gods enemies, so that Jesus may be glorified in all. For mercy to the Father requires sacrifice of self. God sacrificed justice for Himself to show us mercy in the forgiveness of our sins. And sacrifice must come from a love that is not selfish or self-seeking. For the Father sacrificed His Son for the world, and the Son sacrificed His flesh and blood for His Father. Have you considered what the Holy Spirit sacrificed for Jesus and the Father? This is neither a philosophy nor an airy-fairy theory, because mercy to the Father is a seed of desire in your spirit and heart before full understanding comes to light. Wisdom is given by the Lord to apply the knowledge acquired. Mercy to the Father requires strict adherence to the footsteps of Jesus in the temple into the Holy of Holies so that your sole desire is to glorify the Father and see Jesus glorified in the fulfilment of the Fathers will, at the expense of yourself and in total abandonment of your own will. It is your daily cross, and it is the same cross of mercy to the Father that Jesus had submitted Himself to without a single word of complaint or outburst of bitterness. If this yoke seems tough and the burden heavy, then consider the yoke and burden that was upon our Lord and what He achieved to be the Overcomer. Every step Jesus took while on Earth as He was finishing the task of His Father was the Sons act of love to His Father. Jesus did the things commanded by the Father that only He could do. And He spoke the words given to Him by His Father that only He could speak. Each step towards the cross, even with the detours His apostles had caused to His walk, was the precise and calculated execution of mercy as He listened to the Holy Spirit and the Father. Jesus came from the Father, but His walk on Earth ended on a cross, the place where the Son of Man released these words: My God, My 53 God why have You forsaken Me? How would you like Jesus second walk on Earth to end? How do you see it?
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Matthew 4.19; 8.22; 9.9; 16.24; 19.21, 28 Matthew 27.46; Mark 15.34
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From whom do we seek such guidance if not the Holy Spirit? Who grows us and develops our God-given gifts if not the Holy Spirit? Who makes known to us what is Jesus Likeness - likeness in His zeal for His Fathers house, His love, His enjoyment of forgiving and more, so that we may rise up to His stature to glorify the true purpose of why man was created and what exactly Jesus was sent to save? Who is man in God? We speak of the passion of the Christ, but do we truly understand that the passion of Jesus was His 54 suffering? His passion was to give increase to Gods perfection and the only way was by His suffering and submission to Gods will. The writer of the book of Hebrews testified that although Jesus was Gods Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered and having been made perfect, He became the 55 source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Who reveals the Word of God to us as we eat of His words and feel them burning in our hearts, if not the Holy Spirit? Who else but the Holy Spirit opens up the Scripture to us so that we may fathom what God has done from beginning to end? How can our brains wrap around the concepts of eternity or God or Man if not for the Spirit of Revelation who speaks to us in visions and dreams, and expands our understanding as we delight in seeking truth in the words of Jesus? It is the Spirit of God who sees past the filthy garments of the world in which we proudly dress. He sees the diamonds in the rough that we truly are in our Fathers eyes. Not because of any righteousness of our own but because of Gods righteousness, and because God made man in Their Image and Likeness. Now do you begin to see what God has lost when we forsook Him? Now do you begin to see the height, depth and width of the gift of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Name? Now do you see how far the church has fallen in its failure to honour the Lord of the Sabbath by obeying the commands of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? For the true spirit of the law of the Sabbath is not refraining from work. The true spirit of the law of the Sabbath is to give God rest and peace. This is what makes the seventh day blessed and holy: God at rest. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath because He came to do the will of God to give God rest and peace. But the church does neither, and has become even more depraved and hypocritical than the world itself. For the Spirit of God, who is holy, was poured out upon all flesh upon a human cesspool of the clean and the unclean, the defiled and the sanctified. Do you think it was and is a pleasant experience for Him?
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Acts 1.3. Compare NIV with the King James Version. Hebrews 5.8-9
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Who picks up the pieces of an unattended vineyard when we say to God we will do something for Them, yet do not do it, either because we get distracted or shift our focus onto our own agendas? It is the Holy Spirit who fills in all the gaps that we leave wide open when we do not fulfil our duty at the standard to which we are called. It is the Holy Spirit who executes damage control when we are lazy and wicked servants, and delay the second coming of Christ. The churches should not say, If the Master wants to come back, He will do so at His own accord. I do not know the day and hour anyway. What part do I have to play in it? God can do it. Neither should we make a twoway bet between our plans in this world and the soon coming return of Jesus, for they are not one and cannot be reconciled without compromising our faithfulness to our King. Do not be a wicked and lazy servant who does not have it in your heart to watch out for Jesus return daily, nor care to know the signs of His imminent return so that you may make the necessary preparations in the prescribed way. Do not be a wicked and lazy servant who engages in foreplay with the world and commits adultery with the ways of the world. For though you appear to be doing the work of the Lord in the eyes of the world and the ignorant, the Lord can see that you are actually aligned with the enemies of God when what you are doing has nothing to do with the urgency of bringing Jesus back. The reign of Jesus Christ on Earth is on Gods mind. What is on your mind? The Holy Spirit works overtime to compensate for the height from which the church has fallen in its line of duty in our preaching of the Gospel in its fullness, and testifying for Jesus and the word of God. The Holy Spirit makes sure that we do not further disgrace the Name of Jesus and bring the kingdom into further disrepute. Yet He is the One who is shut out of our churches and our hearts. Do the churches say, God forbid if we should let the Holy Spirit have His way in the churches. It doesnt look right to the world, does it? Then how would we get numbers on seats and jingle in the tithe bag? Better to stick with our endless programmes of entertainment? When the churches say, The Holy Spirit has left, or Miracles are not for this time, arent we accusing Jesus of being a liar when He said, And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth, and You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes 56 upon you? If we believe Jesus words, we must put them into practice to prove them true. This is justice for Jesus.
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John 14.16; Act 1.8 NLT
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Would the world perceive Jesus as irrelevant if His churches were healing every sick person, driving out every demon, opening the eyes of all the blind, healing the lame, mute and deaf, and multiplying the bread as they practise and preach the words of Jesus? Instead of healing the sick, we send them to hospitals. Instead of raising the dead, we send them to the morgue. Instead of giving dead mothers back to the children, we build orphanages. And instead of driving out demons, we send them to psychiatrists. It is time to wake up and grow up, take responsibility for the mess of this world and be in continuous repentance and forgiveness every time you feel even the slightest conviction of the Holy Spirit in all areas of your life and ministry before God. Do you think you have command of the word of God, know the Father and Jesus, and understand Their relationship with One Another just because you are a teacher, pastor, evangelist or apostle? Do you think that your office in the house of God automatically means that you understand Them? Or do you perceive that you know Them just because you are in full-time ministry or spare 20 minutes listening to sermons at church each week? Do you consider yourself an expert in the words of Jesus on the basis that you have heard it preached on a number of occasions? Do not think that it is the years of being a Christian or going to church that count. Not now, not ever. Especially not as we approach the last days before Jesus arrives. It is not about the duration of time, but what you have done with the time given you to come to know the Father and Jesus. And how would you come to know the Father if you do not listen to His Son? Have you filled yourself with the word of God that you are solid truth like Jesus - pure Word like the river of the water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb? Or have you been drinking water muddied by the feet trampling the courts of God? Have you followed the pure Word of God firstly and lastly - or do you run here and there to 57 increase knowledge? Have you learnt to tell the difference between the holy and the common? Have you acquired the exquisite taste and desire for the words of Jesus? Do you care to? Or do you perceive it to be good in the eyes of God, who has endured the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, to worship Him from a distance? Can you even see your Father from where you are standing, complacent in your lukewarm love and lack of understanding? Do you honestly think that listening to men can replace reading the word of God in the delicious solitary times you spend with the Holy Spirit, just you, the Lord and the word with no distractions, even television, so that you may actually hear His quiet voice when He speaks to you?
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Daniel 12.4
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Dont you care that you do not know the words of Jesus as well as you should? What does Jesus hate? Who does He honour? What does He seek? What were His last words on the cross? Dont you find it wrong that there are many believers who have read books on reading the Bible, but have not read the Bible itself from cover to cover, again and again? Doesnt it infuriate you that we have not been taught by our shepherds to follow the Fathers command, Listen to Jesus, as individuals, and to follow Jesus command to listen to the Holy Spirit as a church? Doesnt it bother you that we cannot heal the sick and drive out a demon with a word as Jesus does, yet He said in John 14.12 that we would do the same things He has been doing and even greater things also? So then, how can we blame the world for its depravity when we do not testify about Jesus with authority and power? Jesus testified about the Father with authority and power, and we have been given authority and power to likewise testify about Jesus. Do you consider that the church has fulfilled this duty? If not, then be earnest and repent, for any injustice committed against the Word of God must be corrected by your taking the plank out of your eye, lest the Lord calls you a hypocrite. Do you diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them 58 you possess eternal life, but yet refuse to come to Jesus to have life? Do you prefer the verbose counselling of men, rather than the power of the ministry of the Counsellor sent in Jesus Name? Do you prefer human theories and church doctrines that have nothing to do with listening to Jesus, rather than a clear demonstration of the power of God coming from your hands as surely as 59 Moses parted the Red Sea with a raised staff and an outstretched hand? Do you think that your Fathers priority is your prosperity, which is evident in your job, car and house? Rather, dont you think that Jesus Christ is the first Person on His mind? The Father is focused on His Sons return, His Kingship, His millennial reign, His bride, New Jerusalem and His eternal victory over all His enemies, the final enemy being Death. It is all about your Father, Brother and Lord - and no one else. Do not be deluded with visions of grandeur of your position in your Fathers heart or the place of the church in the kingdom. The church is the means, not the ends. The church is not the bride and the Lord is not rapturing the church to usher in the wedding of the Lamb. Read Revelation 21-22 carefully. The wedding of the Lamb will occur after Jesus reign for a thousand years on Earth, not before or during.
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John 5.39 Exodus 14.16
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The church was formed to be His body to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the testimony of Jesus and the word of God from Jerusalem, 61 in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the world, so that the end will come and Jesus can return to reign on Earth for a thousand years, and then the time of New Earth may begin. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News of the kingdom: God is a Father who has an only begotten Son named Jesus, who is coming soon. The Holy Spirit was sent so that the church may fulfil this purpose. We receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us to testify for Jesus and the word of God. The church age will conclude to make way for the kingdom age upon the return of the King. It was never about the relevance of the church in modern times, its popularity or longevity, but how soon we were to get Jesus back on Earth to reign. This Earth needs its King. The church needs our King. Our complete salvation hinges on Jesus return. Unless Jesus returns, His resurrection in the flesh and our salvation remains only a theory. A hopeful theory based on faith in Him - but a theory nonetheless. You know that, right? Jesus is our Proof of Life. He is the Resurrection and He is the Life. The writer of Hebrews wrote: Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to 62 bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. Or better yet, listen to Jesus in Revelation 22.12, Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. The first resurrection is one of the rewards for His overcomers. Jesus instructed His apostles as early as Matthew 10, When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish 63 going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. However, did the apostles listen? Apparently not, because Acts 8.1 testifies, On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. It has been said that the failure to listen to Jesus is an apostolic tradition, so why put the apostles on a pedestal? They are fellow servants and brothers in Christ. It was not the Fathers original plan for Jesus to stay away so long. It is the churchs disbelief and disobedience against Jesus, beginning with the alpha apostles, that delayed the Father in setting an appropriate date for His Sons return. The obedience of His disciples has not been made
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1 Corinthians 12.27; Romans 12.5; Ephesians 1.22-23 Acts 1.8 62 Hebrews 9.27-28 63 Matthew 10.23
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complete. Doesnt being a Christian mean that you must believe in everything Jesus said? Doesnt it also mean that you must receive the Holy Spirit? In the first place, we have to know His words before we believe them. In Jesus absence on Earth the church has deceived itself. She should 64 never sit as queen and boast in her heart that she would never mourn. Do you have an ear to hear this parable spoken against her: When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, Give this man your seat. Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, Friend, move up to a better place. Then you will be honoured in the presence of your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and 65 he who humbles himself will be exalted. The church is not the bride of the Lamb. She is the wedding guest who thinks she is the bride! The source of this misunderstanding comes from the lack of knowledge of the words of Jesus and misreading the words of Paul by taking his verses out of context. Pauls writing to the Ephesian church in Chapter 5 is an analogy of the relationship between Christ and the church. He compared the love of Christ, which is the ultimate sacrificial love, and likened it to a husbands love for his wife. And the love of the church for Jesus, which is nurturing and faithful, is like a wifes love for her husband. For male and female play different roles in Creation. We have different weaknesses in which 66 the power of God is made perfect. Male and female live differently, and they love differently. It is in this same context of faithfulness and monogamy that God the Father expressed Himself as a Husband to Israel, even though He is her 67 Maker. Israels rebellion against God is like the betrayal of a promiscuous and faithless wife. The Lord enriches our understanding of His relationship with us by showing us the different facets of His love for us. Though He is our Father, our faithfulness to Him must include the passion and loyalty that is between husband and wife. The law of jealousy is encoded in the relationship of husband and wife, and it should be held in high regard. Read Numbers 5.11-31 and let the Holy Spirit show you the Fathers intentions in the test for an unfaithful wife. Do not judge by mere appearances. God is not being odd or sexist. He is showing us how sacred and special faithfulness is between a
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Revelation 18.7 Luke 14.8-11 66 2 Corinthians 12.9 67 Jeremiah 3.14
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husband and wife, because they alone live in exclusion of all others and become one, just as we can live with God in exclusion of all else to be one with Them as They are One. So let us set free the words of Paul with the correction of our understanding of the revelations that he received from the Holy Spirit. Open your heart. The Lord does not live in a box. Neither should you. Amen Holy Spirit It is not when you profess that you know and understand God that you do. It is only when the Father says you do and unveils you as He unveiled Jesus, This is My son (daughter) whom I also love. With him (her) I am well pleased. Listen to him (her) also, that you have begun to step into your shoes as an avid listener and son or daughter of God. It is when you desperately cry out for understanding to come to know God as your Father, Brother and Lord, that your heart will begin to open up and discard worldly wisdom and the pursuit of perishable desires. For out of your desperation to know God does shine the beauty of a child who is content to sit cross-legged at her Fathers feet, hand under chin, listening to Him and watching Him with delight all the days of your eternal life. We are not to speak on our own, but speak what is given to us by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is our present training until we have developed and perfected the art and skills of speaking and listening to the Lord. If we are constantly speaking, we would not stop to listen. We are called to listen in stillness with dedication and self-control, which is the way the Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Father listen to Each Other. And we are to speak in the same manner as Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father speak to Each Other. How much insight and understanding of God do you think this requires? Imagine the absolute delight of sitting in on Their agreement meetings! For disciples of Jesus, it is about the refinement and perfection of listening to Jesus, not as we would, but as Jesus listens to the Father, as the Holy Spirit listens to Jesus, and as the Father and Jesus listen to the Holy Spirit. This is an important lesson, for as a church, we must listen to the Holy Spirit 68 who has worthy things to say and speaks what is right, true, just and faultless. We should be perfect listeners of the Holy Spirit - just like He is the perfect Listener of the Father and Jesus. And when we open our mouths to speak, we should speak exactly like Jesus who is the Truth. It is not until we have learnt to listen acutely like the Holy Spirit, and speak the truth as Jesus does, that our words would cast off the foul odour of crooked and perverse speech, evil
68
Proverbs 8.6-9
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behaviour and prideful intentions. Only then can we give back unto our Father the perfection of the Word He sowed into us from the beginning to the end 69 when He set eternity into the hearts of men. Jesus told us to consider carefully and pay close attention to what we 70 hear. And it will be from those who have been given much ears to listen, that much more will be demanded to deliver results, reap returns and develop 71 growth to blossom all twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit. The standard and quality of hearing and speaking that the Lord requires is not a careless or complacent standard. We must learn to listen and speak and practise with the same zeal as Jesus does. It is our Brothers standard we aspire to. It is indeed the standard where faithfulness meets precision. It is also the standard of perfection coming into its increase. If your heart and spirit are set to go the extra miles with Jesus to glorify the Father, then you must not only follow Jesus, but you must also learn to agree with the Holy Spirit by saying, Amen Holy Spirit! The apostle Paul has a valid point. In our present imperfect and incoherent state of oneness with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we do not know what is beneficial to pray for. Even when we think we have a clever idea for what the Father wants for Jesus, especially when it come to His will for Jesus return, or when we think we are hearing from the Lord accurately, we have yet to come to a level where we know the fullness of Gods will to consistently pray in the right words and speak in the Lords prescribed way. The Holy Spirit comes to our rescue as He intercedes for us in perfection with 72 groans that words cannot express, and moves us to speak in a language that this world cannot decipher without His gift of interpretation. Since the Holy Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with 73 Gods will, shouldnt we agree with everything the Holy Spirit speaks purposefully through our mouths in His languages? When you receive someone, you do not oppose them. You honour and respect them by your agreement and co-operation. We are called to pray in agreement with the Holy Spirit so that He may achieve all that He has to do within the strict time schedule appointed by the Father. Should we further delay and hinder the work of the Holy Spirit by our babbling lengthy prayers and words without knowledge that darken the counsel of our Counsellor? Isnt it time we stop building subsidiary empires in
69 70
Ecclesiastes 3.11 Mark 4.24 NIV / NLT 71 Luke 12.48 72 Romans 8.26 73 Romans 8.27
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the Name of the Lord by our own strength and knowledge? We cannot live in panelled houses when Gods house remains a ruin. For it is in your desire to have a resolute attitude of willing, loving, humble, obedient submissiveness to the Holy Spirit to be in close fellowship with Him, not craving the counterfeit spotlight of the world, and not setting up idols in your heart - that the Lord may reveal to you the most intricate details of the plans and will of God. What are the words that are still unspoken, unwritten and unsung, the plans that reflect His hearts desires and the highest mountains of Gods ambitions for His future? It is your relationship with the Holy Spirit that guides you to desire the things that are not only possible, but beneficial to the Lord, to help solve Gods problems. As you desire them and listen to the Holy Spirit, you will speak the right words in the prescribed way to advance the Lords interests. As you grow in oneness with the Lord, your personal interests will progressively and flawlessly melt into His so that you are truly one in spirit, heart and mind. It is the Spirit of Sonship that makes the difference in you that will echo on into eternity. Not just your eternity, but your Father and Jesus eternity. Or will He merely be a Master or Employer to you? God is not a puppeteer controlling an empty vessel of hollow thoughts and mindless actions. He gave you the gift of freewill. It is entirely your choice. A drop of an ocean of sonship or daughtership has been deposited in each of us. But if you do not treasure that drop, or you despise its smallness, you will never go the extra miles to reach behind the shielding curtain to take hold of the greater things of the Lord, for the Lord. You will be blind to the true value of the treasure. And since you cannot see it because your heart is hard, you will not know to desire more of God. If you do not desire, it will not be given to you because, even if it was given you, you will probably not treasure it for its worth. The invaluable worth always is that each treasure comes from your Fathers heart. The Holy Spirit knows what is best in Gods perspective. We say, Amen to the Holy Spirit for the glory of God, so that all He must complete will proceed smoothly without further interruptions and disturbances that test His patience and abuse His grace. Praise God for the moment when the Holy 74 Spirit can say, It is done! as Jesus did on the cross. For the Holy Spirit has much work to do in us after we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour in repentance of our sins and Jesus baptises Him into us. These are the seven tasks allocated to the Spirit of God:
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Revelation 16.17
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
The Holy Spirit lives with us and is in those of us who have been baptised 75 with Him. The Holy Spirit teaches us ALL things and reminds us of everything Jesus 76 said to us. 77 The Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus - which we must also do with Him. The Holy Spirit convicts the world in regards to sin, righteousness and 78 judgment and will expose the guilt of the world. 79 The Holy Spirit guides us into ALL truth. 80 The Holy Spirit tells us what is to come and what He hears. The Holy Spirit brings Jesus glory by taking what is Jesus and makes it 81 known to us.
Therefore, learn to say Amen Holy Spirit in your daily fellowship with Him. Practise it in your daily worship of God. Say it and mean it until it is an automatic response from your heart. And then see the difference in your life with the Holy Spirit. Adjust your mind accordingly, because it is not your lengthy prayers that He needs. He may just need you to agree with Him by saying Amen Holy Spirit. Practise speaking in tongues at any given time of the day. Let Him speak through you in His native language and say Amen Holy Spirit when He is finished. If you have nothing worthy or beneficial to say, say Amen Holy Spirit. If you are tired and weary, say Amen Holy Spirit. If it is too early in the morning and you cant think straight, say Amen Holy Spirit. If you feel lost and disoriented, say Amen Holy Spirit. If events have you disappointed, even in the Lord, and you feel despondent, just trust in Him and say Amen Holy Spirit. Your agreement is your alliance with the Holy Spirit. And that alliance begins as a desire in your heart, which then overflows from your heart to your lips. If you watch the news and hear of wars and rumours of wars, famines and earthquakes in various places, do not panic but listen to the Holy Spirit. He will remind you that Jesus said, Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these
75 76 77
John 14.17 John 14.26 John 15.26; Acts 1.8 78 John 16.8 and footnote c 79 John 16.13 80 John 16.13 81 John 16.14
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are the beginning of birth pains. Do not pray against them, because in so doing, you are sending prayers up to the throne that may delay our Fathers plans to bring Jesus back to reign on the Earth. If you do not understand or are afraid, say Amen Holy Spirit, and let the Spirit guide you and give you peace through His understanding. If you pray against the disasters out of human compassion or social consciousness, you have gone against Jesus words. Do not be like king 83 Hezekiah and ask for peace and security in your lifetime in these last days. Do not pray that the disasters would be postponed, because you are selfishly asking the Lord to delay the fulfilment of His Word and the release of His jealous anger in judgment of the church and the world, just so you can accomplish the minor plans you have made for yourself. That is not righteous. And if this is the case, the Lord may come and say to you, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of 84 God, but the things of men. Understand that Gods judgment is not an act of cruelty. It is to bring the church and the world to correction through repentance. The Father has been reluctant to execute judgment because He loves the world. But He will do so in justice and righteousness in His perfect timing when the obedience of one or ones of Jesus disciples is made complete. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with us, not 85 wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Sin must be dealt with righteously because God cannot live with sin for eternity. Praise be to God for the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. Therefore, be in full and perfect agreement with the Holy Spirit at all times and feel the difference in your closeness to Him. Feel the peace and the quiet confidence that comes with the understanding, because that which Jesus and His holy angels have declared must happen. And then feel the seriousness of the coming days of distress and the urgency of preparing for Jesus return. 86 The Scripture cannot be broken. The Son of Man went just as it was written 87 about Him, and He will return as it is written. Our focus must be on carrying out Gods plans and making an alliance with His Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who guides us into ALL truth, including the truth about Gods will and strategies.
82 83 84
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Matthew 24.6-8 2 Kings 20.19 Matthew 16.23 85 2 Peter 3.9 86 John 10.35 87 Mark 14.21
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An Amen Holy Spirit whispered or shouted from the top of the mountain shows the Father where your heart is - with His Holy Spirit who gives revelation and witness to Jesus Christ His beloved Son. There are no boundaries to where we wish to go with the Holy Spirit in the physical and in the spirit if we remain true and faithful to Him. For Jesus said that the wind blows wherever it pleases, and if we are ones truly born of the Spirit, we will 88 hear His sound and be able tell where He comes from or where He is going. So it is and so it shall be that to all which the Holy Spirit will unleash in the fury of Gods judgment, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. To all that the Holy Spirit is doing so that the man of lawlessness will be revealed at the 89 proper time, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. To all that He is doing in refining and training His elect whom He has chosen, and for whom the days of 90 unequalled distress will be shortened, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. To all that the Holy Spirit is doing to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment and to expose the guilt of the world so that the enemies of Jesus will be brought to a place of repentance, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. To all His plans to prepare the world and the church for the return of the King, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. To all His counsel to the disciples of Jesus Christ, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. To the silence of the Holy Spirit, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. Whether we are asleep or awake, staying still or travelling in the S/spirit, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. All that the Holy Spirit must finish before He is taken out of the way, we say, Amen Holy Spirit. Lord, do all that You have in mind to do, for we are with You heart and soul. Please give us the understanding as we cry out to You so that we may know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent. We testify for Jesus and the word of God with you. Amen Holy Spirit. Be blessed forever with the unity of our everlasting agreement with You, Lord. So now, lets talk about the New Covenant.
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John 3.8 2 Thessalonians 2.3-8 90 Mark 13.20
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Chapter 4
Welcome to the New Covenant

He [Jesus] took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me. After supper He took another cup of wine and said, This cup is the New Covenant between God and His people - an agreement confirmed with My blood, 1 which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. The first covenant A covenant is an agreement between two people to fulfil their promise to each other. It is different from a gift because there is an exchange of benefit. A covenant is like a contract. In mans law, a valid contract must have four distinct features. There must be an offer, an acceptance of that offer, an intention between the parties to create a relationship and mutual benefits. These four features are also present in Gods covenants. While it may seem crude to compare Gods covenant with contracts, I believe that man hijacked the concept of covenant from God and turned it into a requisite tool for commerce. God enters into covenants because He keeps His word and His word is worth keeping. Man enters into contracts because no one is trusted to fulfil their word. For in todays world, you would be considered utterly foolish to enter into a commercial transaction without ink on paper. Gods covenant is a sign of His righteousness. Mans contract is at best, a legitimate platform on which to litigate and seek remedy. The first covenant God established with man was with Noah. It is the covenant of God with a righteous man. Noah found favour in Gods eyes 2 in a generation of extreme wickedness, and the Lord saved Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with their wives, from a flood 3 that destroyed all life under the Heavens on the Earth. God commanded Noah to build an ark according to His prescribed way, and then bring into the ark seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a
1 2
Luke 22.19-20 NLT Genesis 6.1.5 3 Genesis 6.17-18
Chapter 4 Welcome to the New Covenant
male and female, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, male and female, and also seven pairs of every of bird, male and female, to keep their 4 various kinds alive throughout the Earth. Seven days after Noah had finished building the ark, the floodgates of the Heavens were opened and all the springs of the great deep burst forth. The Lord sent rain on the Earth for forty 5 days and forty nights, and the waters flooded the Earth for a hundred and 6 fifty days. God brought the flood on all the ungodly people and the Nephilim 7 who had corrupted the Earth in Gods sight, and filled it with violence. No one was spared except Noah and his family. The Nephilim The Nephilim first appeared in Genesis 6. They were a race that resulted from the sons of God going to the daughters of men and having 8 children by them. The sons of God here refer to the angels. The Nephilim were the heroes of old, men of renown. They were fathered by angels who rebelled, but were born in the likeness of man, in whom is the image of God. They were half-man, half angelic beings, so God sought to wipe them out in the flood because they were a race not intended by Him. Just as clones do not belong to the Lord because a soul is not given to them by God, for God said, 9 Every living soul belongs to Me. A clone has life but no soul, and like the Nephilim, is an abomination to the Lords plans for procreation because it attempts to by-pass God to make life. It is hard to contemplate that the Nephilim existed when we look at Creation as it today, isnt it? Just like it is hard to contemplate, and thus is easily dismissible, that it was normal for man to live to 900 years of age in the time of Genesis. The flood was Gods first attempt to eradicate the Nephilim from His Creation. However, the Nephilim later re-surfaced in Numbers 13.33 despite the flood. It is written that the Israelites saw the Anakites, the descendants of Nephilim in the land of Canaan, also known as Rephaites. 10 They were a people tall and strong. The only way it could have happened after the flood was if the Canaanites offered their women again to demons to produce children by them. The power of the Canaanites obviously came from the Nephilim, whose descendants were the Anakites and the Rephaites. They
4 5 6
Genesis 7.2 NIV / AMP / NASB Genesis 7.11-12 Genesis 7.24 7 Genesis 6.11; 2 Peter 2.5 8 Footnote of Job 2.1 in NIV / AMP 9 Ezekiel 18.4 10 Deuteronomy 9.2
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were also known as Emites to the Moabites, and Zamzummites to the 12 Ammonites who lived in the region of Ar. Og King of Bashan was a Rephaite. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and 13 six feet wide. The giant Goliath, whom David defeated with the stone of a 14 sling embedded into his forehead, was a Philistine champion from Gath. It was written that no Anakites were left in Israelite territory in the days of Joshua, except in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. Joshua totally destroyed all the 15 Anakites in the hill country, and Caleb drove them out of their fortified 16 cities. It was not the first time that the Lord used His people to wipe out an abominable race. The Lord also used the Ammonites, who were the descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, to destroy the Rephaites, a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Ammonites 17 drove them out and settled in their place. Noah and his family, and the animals and birds spent about twelve months in the ark. When the Lords fury was spent and relief washed over 18 Him, He exhaled and sent a wind over the Earth and the waters receded. 19 They left the ark when the Earth was completely dry. Imagine their shock when they saw that everything else on the face of the Earth was wiped out, all 20 men and animals with the breath of life in them. (Note: The Nephilim also had the breath of life in them because they were born of female man.) After the water had completely receded, the first thing Noah did was to build an altar to the Lord. He took some of all the clean animals and clean birds, and 21 sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord then gave to Noah and his sons this decree and command, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the 22 Earth. He gave into their hands all the beasts of the Earth and all the birds of the air, all the creatures that move along the ground, and all the fish of the sea. All these creatures became food for them. Prior to this, God had only given Adam and Eve every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole Earth 23 and every tree that has fruit with seed in it as food. Before Adam sinned and the first animal was killed for its garments of skin to cloth Adam and Eve,
11 12
11
Deuteronomy 2.11 Deuteronomy 2.20 13 Deuteronomy 3.11 14 1 Samuel 17 15 Joshua 11.21, 22 16 Joshua 14-12 17 Deuteronomy 2.20-21 18 Genesis 8.1 19 Genesis 8.13-14 20 Genesis 7.23 21 Genesis 8.20 22 Genesis 9.1 23 Genesis 1.29-30
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God had intended Creation to be death-free. Read Genesis 1.29-30 for yourself to see that life was supposed to sustain itself by eating green plants for food. When Noah and his family disembarked from the ark, God also said to him, But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for 24 your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. In days to come, the Lord would bring to light the gravity and significance of the law of the blood, revealing His mastery of His word and His mercy as the Law-Giver and the Judge. God further expanded His covenant with Noah by extending it to all Noahs descendants, and to every living creature that was with Noah (all the birds, the livestock and the wild animals that came out of the ark): Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a 25 flood to destroy the Earth. As a sign of the covenant He made between Himself and Noah and all the living creatures with him, and for all generations 26 to come, He set His rainbow in the clouds. And whenever God sees the rainbow in His sky, He remembers the everlasting covenant between Himself and all life on Earth - never again would He bring a flood of water to destroy 27 the Earth. Gods covenant with Abraham God established His second covenant with Abram. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and gave him a new name, 28 Abraham, the father of many nations. This was Gods covenant of blessing with a friend. The Lord confirmed an everlasting covenant of blessing between Himself and Abraham: I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be 29 their God. The Lord not only gave the whole land of Canaan as an everlasting possession to Abraham and his descendants, but He also promised 30 to make Abraham very fruitful, and make nations and kings come from him. In return, Abraham and Isaac and his descendants were to keep the Lords covenant in their flesh as a sign of the everlasting covenant between
24 25 26
Genesis 9.4-5 Genesis 9.11-12 Genesis 9.12-13 27 Genesis 9.11 28 Genesis 17.1-4 29 Genesis 17.7-8 30 Genesis 17.6-8
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God and themselves. Every male of Abrahams household was to undergo circumcision - those born into the household when they had reached eight days old, and those bought with money from a foreigner. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his 31 people because he had broken the Lords covenant. On the mountain of Moriah, the Lord re-confirmed the covenant with Abraham when he obeyed Gods command and did not withhold the sacrifice of his only son, Isaac, from the Lord. Is God cruel in asking this of Abraham? Would the Lord ask for anything He does not expect to give Himself? Would He ask another to do unto Him, if He did not expect to do unto others first? Jesus, the Son of God, is the Lamb of God who was slain from the foundation of the world. The Lord loved Abraham and was pleased to bless him because Abraham obeyed the Lord and kept His requirements, 32 commands, decrees and laws. The Lord was pleased with Abraham because 33 he had not withheld his only son from God. This was part of Abrahams righteousness that came by faith. 34 After Abraham, the Lord appeared to Isaac and Isaacs son, Jacob, 35 and He re-confirmed the oath He swore to Abraham. God promised the land of Canaan to Isaac and Jacob, and He gave them His word that their descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the dust of the 36 Earth. All nations would be blessed through their offspring. To Jacob was 37 given a new name, Israel, the father of the twelve patriarchs. Through 38 Israels son Joseph, who was put in charge of the whole of Egypt, God preserved for Himself a remnant on Earth, and saved the lives of Jacob and 39 his household by a great deliverance at a time of severe famine. When Israel united with Joseph, he and his eleven sons and their whole households left 40 Canaan to settle in the land of Egypt. In Egypt, Israel and his descendants became fruitful and exceedingly numerous and posed as a threat to that nation. Then a Pharaoh, who came into power but did not know about Joseph and his contribution to the prosperity of Egypt, rose up against Israel. He enslaved the Israelites and
31 32 33
Genesis 17.9-14 Genesis 26.5 Genesis 22.16 34 Genesis 26.2; 28.13 35 Genesis 22.15 36 Genesis 26.2-5; 28.13-15 37 Genesis 35.10 38 Genesis 41.41 39 Genesis 45.7 40 Exodus 1.5
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oppressed them with forced labour. But the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they multiplied. To annihilate the Israelites, Pharaoh 42 ordered that every Israelite male infant be thrown into the Nile. From the family line of Levi, Moses as a baby escaped this fate. Pharaohs daughter found him in his own little ark while she was bathing in the Nile. She adopted him as her son, and named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the 43 water. For Gods purpose, Moses was spared. The Lord raised him up as a deliverer of Israel. Moses was Gods chosen vessel to free the Israelites from the yoke of slavery, and to bring them up out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand, so that the Lord would be their God as He had covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After a magnificent display of the power of the Holy Spirit, Moses led the Israelites departure from Egypt with six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting women and children. Remember, Israel first arrived in Egypt as a household of seventy. At the end of 430 years, the 44 Israelites left Egypt as a nation. Gods covenant with Israel After Israel left Egypt, the first thing the Father did was to carry out a major reform. During the 430 years in Egypt, the Israelites had adopted numerous detestable practices that had to be removed from the Lords sight. 45 They had adopted the worship of foreign gods, and had been offering sacrifice to the goat idols, which are demons, to which they prostituted 46 themselves. The whole nation had to be disciplined and sanctified in order to come close to the Lord as His treasured possession in worship and fellowship, 47 for the Lord desired them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The Lord began by giving Israel His regulations about the Passover. The Israelites saw with their own eyes how the ten plagues of the Holy Spirit had crippled the greatest nation of its time, yet not one fly or one drop of hail 48 affected the land of Goshen where they lived. On the night the final plague struck Egypt, the Israelites ate their first Passover when God struck the final blow on Egypt by striking down all the male firstborn in Egypt. From the
41 42 43
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Exodus 1.11 Exodus 1.22 Exodus 2.10 44 Exodus 12.40-41 45 Leviticus 18.3 46 Leviticus 17.7. Also see footnote b in the NIV. 47 Exodus 19.5-6 48 Exodus chapters 7-11: The plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and on the firstborn.
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firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of the livestock, no male firstborn in Egypt was spared. The Israelites first witnessed the power of the blood of the sacrificial lamb that spared them from the dreadful plague of the Lord. And they were to commemorate the Passover for the generations to come and 49 celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. The Father also gave Israel His laws about the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of rest in the Lord so that they may honour the One who created the Earth and the Heavens in their entire vast array in six days, and then rested 50 from all His work on the seventh day. The seventh day the Father did bless 51 and make it holy. He is the Lord who makes us holy, and our obedience to His commands makes us holy unto Him. Israel was commanded to observe His Sabbaths as an outward sign of the lasting covenant between God and the 52 generations to come. Like the rainbow that spans across the sky, the observation of the Sabbath was purposed to be a sign between God and the Israelites forever. They were not to desecrate the Sabbath, which is holiness by separation unto God in upholding His righteousness in His word, and to refrain from defiling their relationship with the Lord founded on a lasting covenant. Cut to Ezekiel 20.21-26 and consider why the Father said this to the second generation of Israelites who had been freed from Egypt: But the children rebelled against Me: They did not follow My decrees, they were not careful to keep My laws - although the man who obeys them will live by them and they desecrated My Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out My wrath on them and spend My anger against them in the desert. But I withheld My hand, and for the sake of My Name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries, because they had not obeyed My laws but had rejected My decrees and desecrated My Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their fathers idols. I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by; I let them become defiled through their gifts - the sacrifice of every firstborn - that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the Lord. Why did the Father say that the statutes were not good? Why couldnt the first and second generation of Israelites live by the laws? Didnt
49 50
Exodus 12.14 Genesis 2.1-2 51 Genesis 2.3 52 Exodus 31.13-16
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He give the commands to the Israelites through Moses as it is written in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers? What happened there? Open your Bible and read what Israel had said to Moses in Exodus 20.18-21: When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. How did the Lord respond to this? How do you read it? It is written in Exodus 20.22: Then the Lord said to Moses, Tell the Israelites this In the AMP and NASB, it is written: Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel The two words Then and Thus here denote Gods response to the words and action of the people. Since Israel wanted to keep their distance, it invoked Gods sternness. The Father gave the Israelites over to their desire to keep a safe distance from God. As a result, Israel received rules upon rules, laws upon laws; so that the only way Israel would come to know God was through His grace and mercy in the atonement of her sins. For where there are many laws, there are bound to be many sins, heaping sin upon sin. Since coming close to God to listen to Him personally was a burden to the Israelites, God gave them over to rules and commands that were physical burdens and laborious to do. This is known as the Law of Moses and many in the church fail to see that this body of law was not Gods original intention for His covenant with Israel. So then, how much more was the Law of Moses never intended for the church under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? But you should ask, Why then did the Lord say to Moses in Deuteronomy 5.28, I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. In the NASB, it is written: I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. Do you read this as God approving what the Israelites said when they valued their lives more than coming closer to Him? In truth, Israel did well in openly voicing their rejection of God their Saviour, so that God in turn may do what He must in response to such rebellion. So the word of the Lord did become to Israel: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there, so that they will go and fall backward, 53 be injured and snared and captured. Then what? Then perhaps they would
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Isaiah 28.13
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cry out to the Lord and He will hear them and forgive them, and love them as Israels Husband once more. What then were the laws that the Israelites could live by and statutes that were good? Consider what the Lord spoke before Exodus 20.22. He gave them one set of instructions, one decree, one law and ten commandments: One set of instructions in Exodus 12 for their first Passover as a lasting ordinance to commemorate and celebrate it as festival to the Lord. One decree in Exodus 13 to consecrate every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to the Lord, whether man or animal. One law about the Sabbath in Exodus 16 - a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Ten commandments in Exodus 20, which if you think about it, were not as hard as a tenth of the book of Leviticus to follow.
Now many would disagree, if they had missed the juncture that God faced in Exodus 20.18 when the Israelites declared their choice to stay away from God and not listen to the Lord directly. But in truth, we, the church, have missed many junctures like that, and we have taken the Lord on a course They never intended. Why? Because we also do not listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Even if we listened, we did not obey fully. And if we obeyed, we did not persevere with practice. When we have tasted success in practice, we became proud and strayed. And when we strayed, did we repent? Consider the missed opportunities when Jesus instructed the apostles to go straight to Bethsaida after the feeding of the five thousand, but they 54 went to Capernaum instead. Consider the fact that the church had gone off on a tangent when the apostle Peter failed to give the complete command of the Father to the church when he left out Listen to Him [Jesus] in his letter in 2 Peter 1.17 and the command became lost to the church. And consider the error the church had fallen into when the apostles first accepted money that was placed at their feet in Acts 4.37. For the ministry of the church has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. Just like we, the church, have made our share of mistakes and hindered the Holy Spirit in His work in preparing the house of God and the world for the arrival of our King Jesus. Each pivotal juncture brought the
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Mark 6.45; John 6.17; Matthew 14.34 - Read all three for the full account of the apostles disobedience against Jesus instructions.
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church further off-course from bringing our precious Jesus back to Earth. So dont tell me that my God does not have the right to respond to us and bring the church on a course of discipline that He had not originally intended as He responds to our characters, words and desires, so that He may grow and perfect us in our continuous repentance and forgiveness of others. God is Freedom and there is no way that Gods original plans for Israel and the church involved rules upon rules, laws upon laws, that we could not live by, but get so choked up by their sternness. If you think about the present church age, it is the people who keep a distance from Jesus and the Holy Spirit who adopt rules upon rules, laws upon laws, in a worship of God that has nothing to do with the honour of the witness, remembrance, imitation and embrace of Jesus. As the apostle Paul wrote, Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in 55 restraining sensual indulgence. Therefore, have nothing to do with the old wine and the traditions of old wineskins, for they have nothing to with freedom and justice. Such doctrines and traditions are far from what God had intended in His exercise of kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth. Listen to Jesus is the Fathers single perfect law of the New Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins from which freedom in all its splendour stems. This is the freedom of the New Covenant that would begin to bring about untainted justice for Jesus on Earth, culminating and setting up the stage for His return to reign upon the Earth for a thousand years. Untainted justice is justice that has nothing to do with sin, but everything to do with freedom of the Alpha and the Omega. We could have achieved it except for the juncture where our freedom was taken away by James letter in Acts 15.24-29, when James spoke against the words of Jesus. He selected parts of the Law of Moses for the Gentile believers to follow by directing them to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, blood, the meat of strangled animals and sexual immorality. James, the younger brother of Jesus and firstborn son between Joseph and Mary, introduced the partial observance of the Law of Moses to the Gentile believers. Through time, our own ignorance and disobedience compounded the effect of James letter, and it led the disciples and believers of Jesus back into the dark age of rules upon rules, laws upon laws. So the church backslid into the old covenant where the statutes were not good. We could not live by those laws anymore than Israel could. Remember, the Levitical Law was Gods response to the Israelites in rejecting
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Colossians 2.23
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the Lord. Jesus came and fulfilled the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. He did not abolish them because they were the means by which His Father exercised kindness, justice and righteousness in His response to sin, wickedness and rebellion. If a church wants to follow the Law of Moses, then it should do so in its entirety, for old wine cannot be mixed with new wine without ruining the wineskin. All the best with all the daily sacrifices! The new wine is all the words of Jesus. One cannot pick parts of the old wine to mix with the new wine. That was exactly what James did in Acts 15 with his own judgment. It is only by obeying and delighting in the Fathers command to listen to Jesus that we would begin to have a taste of the freedom of the Alpha and the Omega. Only in the freedom of the perfect command of listening to Jesus are we freed from meaningless traditions and doctrines that drown and bury alive our passion for the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Do you think the Holy Spirit has genuinely enjoyed the same rigid, lifeless, ritualistic worship service week after week for the last 2,000 years? I am talking about passion for the Lord that is beyond the service of a church, or good deeds for the poor. I am talking about passion for eternal life, which is coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent. Have you experienced the freedom in listening to Jesus? Freedom to come to know God as your Father, Brother and Lord, understanding Them as They understand you and seeing Them in the Light of Love and of the Resurrection, instead of the all too familiar light of fear. Freedom is seeing what and who is unseen; hearing what is yet spoken, and peering into what is yet to be created. Do you desire it? If so, just pick up your Bible and read the words of Jesus to listen to Him, and cry out to the Holy Spirit for understanding. Has the church experienced such freedom? Does the Holy Spirit enjoy such freedom with the believers and disciples of Jesus Christ? God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. John 4.24 was not a new development of Gods character. If Israel had listened and paid attention to the Lord, she would have learnt to follow both the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. For the Spirit of God was in the sight of Israel during all its travels. The cloud of glory was over the tabernacle 57 by day and the fire was in the cloud by night. But Israel went backward and not forward. Israel backslid to the point where they gave a tenth of their spices to God, but neglected the more important matters of the law mercy,
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Matthew 5.17; Luke 24.44 Exodus 40.36-38
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faithfulness, the love of God and a double portion of justice. The Israelites heard the voice of the Father but they hardened their hearts. They tested and tried Him even though they witnessed the power and majesty of God the Holy Spirit. So what of the church of Jesus Christ that has not enquired nor known the ways of the Spirit of God with a heart that is soft towards the Holy 59 Spirit? A church that rejects the Holy Spirit when He calls, ignoring all His 60 advice and rejecting His rebukes? Church: Obeying parts of the Law of Moses instead of only fully obeying the commands given by Jesus is like one who diligently studies the Scriptures because he thinks by them he will possess eternal life, yet he refuses 61 to come to Jesus to have life. Coming to Jesus means to listen to Him, put all His words into practice and obey His command to receive the Holy Spirit to be counselled by Him. Following Jesus without practising all His words is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great 62 crash. Practising Jesus words without listening to the Holy Spirit is like ones who say to Jesus, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Jesus may tell you 63 plainly, I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers! You may display signs, wonders, miracles and super anointing; and you can even call yourself an apostle, but these are merely outward signs of success in ministry. What makes an evildoer is when you perform signs, wonders and miracles with the things of men in mind, rather than the things of God in mind. You become a stumbling block to Jesus. If this happens, be earnest and repent. Church: Following the world when you should be listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit is like a dog returning to his own vomit, and a fool 64 repeating his folly. However, mature disciples of Jesus who claim to know and fellowship with the Holy Spirit should be careful, lest they misuse His Name and speak against Him. Be careful not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. 65 The Father and the Son will not hold us guiltless of this eternal sin. Yet how many of us even truly know the Holy Spirit sufficiently to step into this territory? Do you know what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is?
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Matthew 23.23; Luke 11.42 Psalm 95.8-11 Proverbs 1.24-25 61 John 5.39-40 62 Matthew 7.26-27 63 Matthew 7.22-23 64 Proverbs 26.11 65 Matthew 12.32; Mark 3.28-29; Exodus 20.7
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The writer of Hebrews defines maturity in Hebrews 6.1-6: Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace. Also read Hebrews 6.1-6 in the NLT: So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we dont need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You dont need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened - those who have experienced the good things of Heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come - and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding Him up to public shame. It is the increase of understanding of the word of God and God Himself that brings maturity to our understanding. If you do not listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit who gives growth as He takes of what belongs to Jesus and makes it known to you and guides you into ALL truth, how then would believers and disciples mature into the full stature of the Image and Likeness of Christ? The words of Jesus are spirit and they are life. We are to call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding of Gods word and ways, searching for 66 it as for hidden treasure to receive the growth. His understanding then gives increase to your commitment and focus. Listening to mens doctrines and following traditions does not give growth. They might even cause you to lose focus on Christ. The maturity of a church depends on the standard by which each shepherd, disciple and believer of that fellowship is listening to Jesus under the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Remember, it is your personal responsibility to listen to Jesus, and to hear and understand what the Holy
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Proverbs 2.2-5
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Spirit is saying to the churches. No one else can listen to Jesus for you. No one else can fellowship with the Holy Spirit on your behalf. Church: Following Mary, the mother of Jesus, without obeying Jesus words is like the children who gather wood, the fathers who light the fire and the women who knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the queen of Heaven. You are provoking the Father to anger and harming yourselves to 68 your own shame. If you are worshipping Mary the mother, you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ because you do not hold on to His teachings. Jesus said that if we hold onto His teachings, we are really His disciples. Then we will 69 know the truth and the truth will set us free. As it is, you do not hold onto His teachings because you have not listened to Jesus. Jesus never told you to worship Mary. This is why you do not enjoy the freedom that is in Christ, nor display the power of the Holy Spirit with your testimony of Jesus. The Spirit of Truth will only back you up with His power when you bear true testimony of Jesus, the Son of God. If you had listened to Jesus, you would know the truth of your actions and the bitter poison of your deception. Mary the mother said about 70 herself, From now on all generations will call me blessed. A woman in the crowd called out to Jesus, Blessed is the mother who gave You birth and 71 nursed You. How did Jesus reply? He said, Blessed rather are those who 72 hear the word of God and obey it. He did not say, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of My earthly mother Mary and obey her. And what did Jesus say about His mother and brothers? He said, For whoever does the will 73 of My Father in Heaven is My brother and sister and mother. What is the will of the Father for the church? To listen to Jesus! This is the Fathers command given to Jesus disciples, Peter, James and John. Mary is not the mother of the church or the mother of the body of 74 Christ. We are the body of Christ because we who follow His word by eating His flesh and drinking His blood remain in Jesus and He in us. Our oneness with Christ does not come from the flesh of the womb of Mary, but from the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Sonship and Daughtership, who is baptised by Jesus into us, the body of Christ. Jesus said, It is the Spirit who gives life - the
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Revelation 2.7, 11, 17, 29; 3.6, 13, 22 Jeremiah 7.18-19; 44.15-28 John 8.31 70 Luke 1.48 71 Luke 11.27 72 Luke 11.28 73 Matthew 12.50 74 1 Corinthians 12.27
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flesh counts for nothing. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, for we are the temple of the living God. So why do churches still prefer to worship Mary who was not sinless over the Spirit of God who is holy? Was Jesus born sinless because Mary was sinless? Or was it because God the Holy Spirit sacrificed His Holiness so that Mary would conceive Jesus for Gods master plan of salvation and resurrection to be put into motion? Do you now see the true holiness of the Holy Spirit and His love for the Father and Jesus? Or does it offend your sense of religiosity and perception of God? Have you not read how Jesus addressed Mary as He hung on the cross? He said, Dear woman, here is your son, and to John, Here is your 77 mother. How is this gesture interpreted as Mary being a gift to the church? This was the Lords way of bringing His earthly mother into the church for she had not followed Him as His disciples had. Mary and His brothers had said Jesus was out of His mind earlier on in His ministry because they did not 78 understand His purpose. Through John, Mary would be able to receive Jesus teachings as he explained them to her and took care of her as if she was his mother. Just as Jesus did not leave us as orphans, He did not leave His earthly mother uncared for. 79 Who is the true gift sent to Jesus disciples in His Name? 80 The gift to the church is the Holy Spirit, our Counsellor, who the 81 Father promised us. We receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us, and we are witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and 82 to the ends of the world. We are not witnesses of Mary the mother on behalf of Jesus. We testify for Jesus on His behalf and for His benefit. Wake up! Harbouring a delusion and so-called relationship with Mary the mother will only distance you from having a personal relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father. Did Jesus tell John or any of His disciples to worship Mary? Did He instruct His disciples to receive Mary the mother? Rather, did He not say, 83 Receive the Holy Spirit? Is receiving Mary the same as receiving the Holy Spirit? No, receiving the Holy Spirit means that you have to stop worshipping any other name,
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John 6.63 1 Corinthians 6.19 John 19.26-27 78 Mark 3.21 (31-35) 79 John 14.26 80 John 14.16; NASB: Helper 81 Acts 1.4 82 Acts 1.8 83 John 20.22
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because the Father seeks worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Our Father is not seeking worshippers who worship Mary, thereby walking in 84 ways in pursuit of their own vain imaginations. Church: Your religious faade is a travesty and an insult to God. Therefore, repent! Church: You even dishonour the one you claim to worship. Mary said to the servants at the wedding in Cana regarding Jesus, Do whatever He 85 tells you. Have you followed the words of the one you claim to worship by listening to Jesus in the entirety of His words and doing what He told you? Turn from your idolatry of the mother and move on. You have lingered in this desert of dry bones far too long. Why have you not crossed the Jordan yet? Move forward into Jesus, the Son of God, Son of Man. He is no longer an infant in the arms of His earthly mother. Our Saviour is not a baby anymore. A child was not hung on that cross of salvation. So what sort of deception depicts Him this way? Jesus is the Son of Man who had grown in wisdom and 86 full stature, and in favour with God and men. The birth of Jesus happened, and after that Mary was no longer a virgin. It is written, Joseph had union with 87 Mary after the birth of Jesus, and Jesus had brothers and sisters. Yes, we praise the Lord for His salvation, and we commemorate His miraculous birth and the vessel through whom God used to bring His Son to Earth in the flesh. Mary was Gods perfect choice in this. But why, after the Father has brought forth His Son and commanded you to listen to Him, would you turn from the Son and worship His earthly mother? You are ignoring the gift, yet admiring the ribbon-wrapped box that presented the gift but is now emptied because its purpose was fulfilled. Which is greater: The gift of God, which is His only beloved Son, or the package that delivered the gift of God? Why are there false doctrines about Mary and the rosary? Where in the word of God does the rosary appear? Like Israel, the churches have been led astray by daughters of the people who prophesy by their own imagination and ensnare by magic charms sewn on 88 wrists. Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before! Yet there are some of you in the church who do not believe. Churches: Your focus is askew if you do not obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus at the standard to which you are called. You will
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Isaiah 65.2 John 2.5 86 Luke 2.52 87 Matthew 1.25. See Mark 6.3 NLT: Then they scoffed, Hes just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph (Joses), Judas, and Simon. And His sisters live right here among us. Also see Matthew 12.4647; Mark 3.32; Luke 8.19-20 88 Ezekiel 13.17-18
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forever go backward, and not forward. Whether Mary is the heavenly mother or the mother of the church is a non-issue. But go, listen to Jesus - listen to the Holy Spirit - and form your relationship with the living God directly through the words of His Son as He so desires. There is no doubt that Jesus loved His earthly mother, Mary, very much. But His focus is always steadfastly on His Father, and so should ours be. The Father is the One Jesus honours, but you 89 are dishonouring Him. Listen to Jesus! Church: What are you doing worshipping idols and images within the house of God? What is canonisation? What is Sacrifice of the Mass? Did Jesus teach us to follow a rigid and non-changing pattern of worship that has nothing to do with listening to Him? Would the Holy Spirit choose to reveal His form in rigid structures? Who makes the wine change into blood - the Holy Spirit or man? Why is there a Catholic Encyclopaedia? These are but evidence of self-inflicted rules upon rules, laws upon laws, in the church. The house of God remains in ruins, do you not see? Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees of the church, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you 90 make him twice the son of Hell as you are. Woe to you experts of the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not 91 entered, and you have hindered those who were entering. Is it a time for you to be busy with your own house and live in panelled houses, while the house 92 of God remains a ruin? You have planted much, but have harvested little, for 93 whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. Church: What fault did you find in Jesus and His words and His deeds that you have strayed so far from the truth? You follow worthless idols 94 and have become worthless yourselves. The idols are less than nothing, their 95 works are utterly worthless, and you who choose them are detestable. The priests do not ask, Where is the Holy Spirit? Those who deal with the law do not know Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit; and the leaders rebel against 96 their Counsellor. The prophets prophesy by that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and misleads the Lords servants into sexual immorality 97 and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. True sexual immorality here means
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John 8.49 Matthew 23.15 Luke 11.52 92 Haggai 1.4, 6 93 Matthew 13.12 94 Jeremiah 2.5 95 Isaiah 41.22-24 96 Jeremiah 2.8 97 Revelation 2.20
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breaking faith with Jesus and His words and His deeds. And eating food sacrificed to idols is following mens doctrines and traditions. 98 Has the church changed its gods? Yet they are not gods at all. We have exchanged the glory Jesus gave us in John 17.22 for countless worthless idols within the house of prayer. An idol within a church is still an idol - be it the worship of saints, apostles and their teachings, customs or doctrines, or prosperity teachings. As the prophet Jonah said, those who cling to worthless 99 idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. For what does financial prosperity have to do with the return of Jesus? Does cash replace or add to full power in the church? Do we even realise that we are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and 100 naked in Gods eyes? So justice for Jesus is driven back, and the righteousness of God is made to stand at a distance. Truth is unnoticed in the broad street that overshadows the narrow road that leads to life, and honesty cannot enter the houses we erect for God. All day long, the Name of the Father - the Name of 101 Jesus - the Name of the Holy Spirit is being blasphemed because of us. But our God does have concern for His Holy Name, because He is God who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, for in these He 102 103 delights. Our Father has been watching. And now what does He have 104 here? A weak and powerless church that is defenceless against the weakest of its enemies because it has not repented of its disobedience against the Fathers direct command to listen to Jesus. It is also weak and powerless because we do not obey Jesus in practising and preaching forgiveness and repentance at the standard required under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. Wake up, church, repent and realise the full length and depth and width of the forgiveness you have received through Jesus. Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only in spirit and in truth. Turn your eyes away from worthless things - from the worship of idols and the vanity of idolatry, and 105 preserve your life according to His word and His ways. Do not do these 106 107 detestable things that the Lord hates. Give careful thought to your ways.
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Jeremiah 2.11 Jonah 2.8 Revelation 3.17 101 Isaiah 52.5 102 Jeremiah 9.24 103 Jeremiah 7.11 104 Isaiah 52.5 105 Psalm 119.37 NIV / AMP 106 Jeremiah 44.4 107 Haggai 1.5
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Listen to Jesus and practise His words. Agree with the Holy Spirit and work with Him, not against Him. Focus on a monogamous relationship with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit so that there is no room for anyone else, not even your loved ones. For the Lord said to His disciples, Anyone who loves his father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone 108 who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. If you are a believer who holds on to Jesus teachings, you are really Jesus disciple. Count the cost of your discipleship and not the rewards. Such cost cannot be paid by anyone if the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit did not first pay the cost of redemption in full. This is Their grace and loving-kindness. Will you love Jesus above all else - more than the flesh of your flesh, or fame and fortune and the creature comforts of this world? From Exodus 20 to John 13 The way of the Lord is that He loves to reveal Himself in parables and patterns. Consider the pattern of the old and New Covenant. Israel was to the Father as the church is to Jesus, and the former covenant of the Father was to Israel as the New Covenant of the Father with Jesus is to the church. However, the glory of the New Covenant is greater than the glory of the former covenant because in this New Covenant, the Lord has granted peace. For an everlasting covenant based on love and grace and mercy is the eternal covenant of peace. The Father re-confirmed the established covenant with Israel after Exodus 6.2-8, and He began to expound His commands and regulations about Hebrew servants, personal injuries, protection of property, laws of justice and mercy, the Sabbath laws and the three annual festivals. These laws were a prelude to the Levitical Law. They pertain to worship and fellowship with God. The laws in Exodus 20-23 relate to human interaction, not Godly interaction. The Lord laid the first foundation by teaching Israel justice and righteousness in their relationship with one another. That is why Jesus said, So in everything, do to others what you would have them done to you, for this sums up the Law 109 and the Prophets. The Father also gave the Israelites His word to bring them into the Promised Land - a land flowing with milk and honey, and to give the land to them as a possession. He promised to bless their food and water, take away sickness and infertility from among them, and to give them a full life span. He
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Matthew 10.37-38 Matthew 7.12
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said He would be an enemy to their enemies, and wipe out the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, thereby establishing the borders of Israel. All upon this condition: If Israel would listen to the angel sent in His Name to guard and guide them, and do all that the Lord said. The Israelites were not to make a covenant with the people of those nations or their gods. They were not to bow down to foreign gods and idols, but 110 demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. The Lord was to be their God, and Israel was to be a people holy to the Lord. And if they obeyed Him fully and kept His covenant, then out of all nations, Israel would be His 111 treasured possession. It was not a bad deal, was it? In Exodus 24.3, Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had commanded them thus far, and they said, Everything the Lord has said we will do. Moses then wrote down the Lords commands for them, and he built an altar for the Lord. He set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Israel then offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for fellowship offerings. Moses took half of the blood from the offerings and put it in bowls, the other half he sprinkled on the altar. He took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the Israelites. They responded again in Exodus 24.7, We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey. Then Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the Israelites and said, This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in 112 accordance to all these words. This covenant was sealed with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. That is, until Jesus came to do the will of His Father, offering up His body as a sin offering, a perfect and complete sacrifice for the sins of mankind once and for all. By His own blood, Jesus paid for the wages of sin, which is death, for 113 the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. He freed us from the power that sin derives from the law. We are freed by the law of the Spirit of Life as we live according to the Holy Spirit and are led by what He, the Spirit of God, 114 desires. But how would we know what the Holy Spirit desires unless we listen to Jesus and practise hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit? The first flood was sent to inundate the world, wiping out all life from one end of the face of the Earth to the other. But the true flood is the Holy Spirit of God, who is the living water that flows from the Rock. The Rock is the Word in the flesh, Jesus Christ our Saviour. And the Father has
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Exodus 23.20-33 Exodus 19.5 112 Exodus 24.8 113 Romans 6.23 114 Romans 8.2, 5
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given us to drink from the spring of the water of life without cost. This spring of satisfaction is His words, for His words are S/spirit and they are 116 117 life. And His words will never pass away. For Jesus told the Samaritan woman, If you knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water ... Those who drink the water I give will never become thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling 118 spring within them, giving them eternal life. The gift of God that Paul spoke of in Romans 6.23 is eternal life, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus poured out His blood for many for the forgiveness of sins. We do not have to do a thing to be saved, but just believe in Jesus Name and receive. Jesus preached at the beginning of His ministry in Mark 1.15, The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News. A gift costs the giver, but the one it is given to only has to receive it, then use it. As such, gifts do not require an exchange of benefits, but covenants do. The Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is forged between the Father and the Son. It enables salvation through faith in Jesus Christ who is the only begotten Son of God, and it calls for repentance of sins and baptism of the Holy Ghost in Jesus our Saviours Name. That is each persons part to do, just as it was Noahs part to build the ark so that he and his family may be saved. The gift of God came through the New Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins because we are beneficiaries of this covenant when we believe in Him. And as beneficiaries of this covenant, we receive eternal life. The Father gave His only begotten Son to the world without cost to us, and it is up to us to come to Jesus to have life and have it to the full. If you do not recognise yourself as a sinner, you would not think that you need salvation from the consequences of sin. If you think that you do not need salvation, you would not repent. Faith in Jesus and repentance of sins in His Name is the first proof of your belief in the Good News of the kingdom: God the Father has a Son and His Name is Jesus Christ. The Father first introduced to Israel the power of His Word when He asked Moses to go to Mount Sinai where Moses sat in the presence of God for forty days and forty nights. There Moses received the entire statute of the 119 covenant with Israel. God gave Moses His laws for the tabernacle and the
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Revelation 21.6 John 6.63 and footnote a 117 Matthew 24.35 118 John 4.10, 13-14 NLT 119 Exodus 24.18
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design of the tabernacle, regulations about conduct, commands in the Levitical Law about the priesthood, and the prescribed way of worshipping and 120 fellowshipping with the Lord. These commands relate to the relationship each Israelite was to have with the Lord their God and with each other. He also gave them instructions about the destruction of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites and their idols, so that Israel 121 would not be ensnared by them and led astray. Yet before the Lord had even completed the enactment of the entire Levitical Law, which is a preach by the Father that flows with the intensity of a waterfall, the Israelites broke the promise they made to God in Exodus 24.3 122 and 24.7. The Israelites ate and drank, and indulged in revelry. They turned away from the Lord and worshipped a calf fashioned from melted gold earrings. It is written in Psalm 106.19-22: At Horeb they made a calf and worshipped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. The ingratitude and gracelessness of men, especially anointed men of God, saw Moses brother, Aaron, leading the rebellion against the Lord. Aaron not only condoned the actions of the Israelite by casting an idol in the form of a calf, saying, There are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt, but he also led the people in worship by building an altar for the 123 calf. They celebrated a festival to a cow when the Lord had said to them earlier in Exodus 20.4-5, Do not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the Earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down and worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Was Aaron not on Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses? Did Aaron not hear God speak with his own 124 ears? Aarons position was second to Moses. Joshua was only Moses assistant at the time of Exodus. The Lord used Aaron as well as Moses to bring the people out of Egypt. The Lord spoke to both Aaron and Moses, and Aaron spoke to the people for Moses. The Lord purposed Aaron as Moses
120 121
Exodus chapters 25-31; Leviticus Exodus 34.10-16 122 Exodus 32.6 123 Exodus 32.1-6 124 Exodus 19.24
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mouth and Moses as God to Aaron. Aaron performed just as many miracles with the staff as Moses did. Did you know that it was Aaron, not Moses, who stretched out his hand and brought forth the plagues of blood, frogs, gnats 126 and boils? Yet Aaron rebelled so swiftly. When confronted, he even lied to the Lord and Moses. He said, Then they [the Israelites] gave me the gold, and I 127 threw it into the fire, and out came this calf! This is not true because Exodus 32.4 testifies that Aaron took the earrings from the Israelites and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Aaron did this with the gold that the Lord had commanded Israel to take from the Egyptians as their wages, showing them to be servants and not slaves. Aaron not only personally knew the power of the Lord God Almighty that went forth from him. He also saw God and worshipped Him at 128 a distance on Mount Sinai. Aaron witnessed the God of Israel - the 129 pavement of sapphire under His feet, as clear as the sky itself. He ate and drank with God that day together with Moses, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel, and God did not raise His hand against them. How could this experience not change you for life? How could the sight of God not be emblazoned in your memory in everlasting fondness? How could Aaron meet with his God and then turn so quickly? How easily we do miss it. Be it a subtle sign from the Lord, a small prayer answered or an extraordinary event that should change our outlook and actions forever. The mistake of Aaron could easily be made by anyone. Therefore consider carefully how you listen to Jesus and treasure His words in your heart. At the time when Aaron was knee deep in rebellion, the Lord was speaking to Moses about giving the priesthood to Aaron and his sons by a 130 lasting ordinance. Aaron was being set apart by the Lord, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before Him and to pronounce blessings in His 131 Name forever. Note that the Lord did not give the priesthood to Moses, or to his sons Gershom and Eliezer, despite the fact that the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, and he was faithful in all Gods house and saw the form of the Lord. The descendants of Moses did not receive the priesthood. They were however,
125 126 127
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Exodus 4.14-17 Exodus 7.9, 19; 8.5, 16; 9.8 Exodus 32.24 128 Exodus 24.1-2 129 Exodus 24.10 130 Exodus 29.9; 30.30 131 1 Chronicles 23.13
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counted as part of the tribe of Levi, which was set apart from the other 133 Israelites. Why and when were the Levites set apart? They were set apart for the Lord the day Moses returned to camp and found the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. The Levites obeyed Gods command, Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each 134 killing his brother and friend and neighbour. That day, three thousand Israelites died for the terrible sin they committed against the Lord. And because the Levites were more zealous for the word of the Lord and were not afraid to go against their own brothers, the Lord blessed the Levites with the priesthood, for they showed that they had the things of God in mind, and not the things of men. Phinehas of Israel - Phinehas of the church If the Levites being commended by God for killing their brothers does not make you query the worlds presumptions of right and wrong, and compare it with Gods perspective (for often there is a grave error in thinking they are one and the same), what will? If it doesnt cause you to cry out to the Holy Spirit for understanding of God, how will you reconcile the fact that God does kill? If you do not reconcile this, how then will you understand the justice and righteousness of God? Read Numbers 25 where Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, turned the anger of the Lord away from Israel when the Israelites engaged in Baal 135 worship with the Moabite women. The Lords anger burned against Israel, and He said to Moses, Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lords fierce anger 136 may turn away from Israel. When Moses and all of Israel were gathered in repentance before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman right into the camp. When Phinehas saw them go into a tent, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and drove the spear through them, killing them both. Phinehas actions caused the plague against the 137 Israelites to cease, but the rebels who were killed numbered 24,000. The
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132 133 134
1 Chronicles 23.14 Numbers 8.14 Exodus 32.27 135 Numbers 25.1-3 136 Numbers 25.4 137 Numbers 25.9
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action of one man saving tens of thousands of lives - does it remind you of anyone? That day, the Lord said to Moses, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned My anger from the Israelites; for he is as zealous as I am for My honour among them, so that in My zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore tell him that I am making My covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honour of his God and made atonement for 138 the Israelites. But how did a murderer make atonement for the Israelites? Doesnt the sixth commandment forbid murder? Why didnt God order against Phinehas his due punishment according to the law, but granted him a covenant of peace instead? What did Phinehas achieve that the Lord said he was jealous 139 with Gods jealousy? Unlike the other Israelites, Phinehas had understood the significance of the higher command of the Lord to the judges of Israel. And though the command to kill his rebellious brothers was not directed to priests but to the judges of Israel, Phinehas was prepared to suffer the consequence of disobedience. Is not the first commandment: You shall have no other gods 140 besides Me? And did not Jesus teach us that the first and greatest commandment of the old covenant is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your 141 strength? Phinehas was jealous for his God and he had Gods jealousy in him. He was jealous for the things of God, and not the things of men. And this jealousy is not the worldly one that stems from possessiveness and fear. Godly jealousy is a consuming zeal for Gods honour, which includes jealousy for those He loves to come into their full inheritance in Him, for this brings Him honour. Our Lord is a God who, for His own Names sake, cannot let 142 Himself be defamed, so He will not yield His glory to another. In Phinehas was a Godly jealousy that was so similar to the Lords jealousy for His own honour, that the Lord commended him and set him apart from the lineage of Aaron. Remember God said in Exodus 34.14, Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous God. What is the Lords jealousy, and what or who are They jealous for?
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Numbers 25.10-13 Numbers 25.11 AMP / NASB 140 Exodus 20.3 141 Mark 12.30; Matthew 22.37 142 Isaiah 48.9-11
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In truth, Phinehas not only disobeyed the sixth commandment, You 143 shall not murder. He also contravened the Lords requirement that His 144 priests are not to be defiled by a dead body. Even though the Lord had given the order to the judges to kill the men who joined in worshipping the Baal of Peor, Phinehas technically broke two commands and his punishment was death. For the Lord said, Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death 145 as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses; and The priests are to keep My requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating 146 them with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy. So isnt a person who kills another man unholy in the sight of God? Apparently not in the case of Phinehas. For God also kills; and He is not unholy. He is the only One who, after killing you, can raise you back to life; and He is the only One who, after destroying you, can restore and resurrect you. God testifies about Himself in Isaiah 45.7, I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. And Jesus said in Luke 12.5, Fear Him who, after killing the body, has power to throw you into Hell. If a person kills men in Gods Name to offer a service to God, and wants to be declared innocent by God who is Justice, he better learn to kill as God kills, and to raise men back to life as God raises back to life. Otherwise he is no different from Satan whom the Father declared a murderer from the beginning. He had better learn the difference between God who kills but takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and Satan who murders, for Satan takes no pleasure in mercy. Phinehas followed an order from God at the risk of his own life, and the Lord commended him for it. He put his neck on the line when he threw the spear into two fellow human beings because Gods honour was more important to him. In truth, Phinehas had displayed the qualities of Jesus, because the Son was so jealous and full of zeal for the honour of His Fathers house that He laid down His life for His Fathers world. Jesus did so with perfect knowledge of God and His Fathers plans for Creation. This command He received from the Father directly. Phinehas reminded the Father of His Son that day, and God loved him for it. Perhaps Phinehas even surprised himself, or it was an act of impulsive zealousness for God. He may have even been fully prepared to accept the consequences of his actions in standing up for His God. But God
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Exodus 20.13 Leviticus 21.1-4 145 Number 35.30: but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 146 Leviticus 22.9
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knew what was in Phinehas heart, because He judges us from the heart and not by mere appearance. Suffice to say, God liked what He saw in Phinehas. He was pleased to see Jesus in Phinehas. The lesson to be learnt here is zeal for Gods honour. This is Godly jealousy. Only the Lord can thoroughly examine the heart of a man and make the light shine out of the darkness. The impurities of our thoughts and motives cannot be hidden from Him, for there is nowhere to run and hide from God. The prophet Elijah would know. He ran away from Jezebel in fearfulness and hid from the Lord in a cave in Horeb, the mountain of God. But he was found 147 by the Lord, the Lord and the Lord. The deepest caves cannot hide you and the highest mountain cannot cover you because the Lord will always find you to correct you in His love, no matter how soft or stern, so that you may turn and repent and be saved. This is His love and grace for you and He does not change through all the ages. Where is there to hide when the Holy Spirit has been poured on all flesh and lives in those who have received Him through Christ Jesus? For the church, following Gods orders is a strict liability. In legal terms, this means that you are held responsible for your actions even if you did not intend to commit the crime. It is a duty of care that must be exercised with precision and due diligence in the prescribed way, but we have deviated from listening to Jesus carefully and exclusively like a runaway train. The higher command from God the Father to the disciples of Jesus Christ is Listen to Him! Instead, the church commits sexual immorality and listens to everyone else except Jesus first and foremost, dividing Jesus words by the words of men, and making our Father a laughingstock to His enemies. Do not be surprised if the church does not even know this command, for many shepherds have failed to feed the flock properly. True sexual immorality in the church is not about sex outside of marriage. Sexual immorality is unfaithfulness in your heart and actions to all the words, deeds and Person of Jesus. Our true motivation should be doing 148 everything as Jesus did. He always did what pleases the Father, because therein lies your relationship with your Father. And relationship with the Father never comes from mens doctrines of rules upon rules. Did not Moses teach the Israelites this principle: Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also 149 the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled? Jesus sowed into our hearts the
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1 Kings 19.1-18 John 8.29 149 Deuteronomy 22.9
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seed, which is the word of God, and the message about the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. He is the True Vine and His Father is the 151 Gardener. The vineyard of Jesus is His church, just like the house of Israel and 152 the men of Judah were the Fathers vineyard, the garden of His delight. The Lord hired men to work in His vineyard, from the first hour to the eleventh hour, instructing them to sow the good seed by spreading His Gospel to the world. Instead, the workers, who are those who believe in Him, have sowed bad seed by diluting the truth of Jesus Christ, deserting the power of the Holy Spirit, and mixing the word of God with their own common doctrines consisting of lifeless rules and customs and boringly pompous ceremonies. (Not to say that God is not glamorous and splendorous, but pomp is about elevating ones importance whilst disguising ones lack.) The church has done this because we failed to listen to Jesus and to practise ALL of His words, so full power to testify for Jesus was lost to the church. The church could no longer be trusted by the Holy Spirit who was sent to raise up mature sons and daughters of God for the purpose of entrusting them with His full power. So, it had to rely on financial, political and intellectual power, and it exchanged the glory of God for something disgraceful. The church has fallen into the trappings of the enemy who sows 153 weeds among the good seeds. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, the weeds also appeared in the church. This is the church in its present state. So what do you think the Father will do to the poisonous works and the weeds, and the sons of the devil who are working doing their fathers biddings in the church, the vineyard of Jesus? In Gods infinite wisdom and grace, the Father has let both the wheat 154 and the weeds grow together so as not to disturb the harvest. And for a long time the Holy Spirit has kept silent. He has kept quiet and held Himself 155 back. Night and day, whether the owner of the vineyard sleeps or get up, the seed sprouts and grows. As soon as the grain is ripe, He will put the sickle to it, because the harvest time has come. I tell you, open your eyes and look at 156 the fields! They are ripe for harvest. See, it stands written in His word: He 157 will not keep silent but will pay back in full. The Father will avenge the
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Luke 8.11 John 15.1 Isaiah 5.7 153 Matthew 13.25, 39 154 Matthew 13.29-30 155 Isaiah 42.14 156 John 4.35 157 Isaiah 65.6
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blood of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ that has been trampled underfoot. And judgment always begins in His own household. Those within the church who trust in idols and who say to their 158 images, You are our gods, will be turned back in utter shame. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the Lords fierce anger against 159 them. This is what the Sovereign Lord said, Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to Me, and have neither remembered Me nor pondered this in your hearts? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me? I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you. When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols 160 save you! Soon the Father will release this command to His holy angels: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat 161 and bring them into My barn. The vineyards that have been defiled by the 162 planting of good and bad seeds will be ravaged. They will not be destroyed completely, but their branches will be stripped. Even though Jesus said to 163 them, I am the Vine and you are the branches, they are ones who did not remain in Jesus and His words did not remain in them, so they bore only fruits of bitter poison from unrepentance and unforgiveness. The fruits that they display are defiled because a tree cannot bear good fruit if it does not remain in 164 Jesus. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown 165 into the fire. But every good tree bearing the complete set of twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit will display His strength in the coming days and be raised up in the stature of Jesus. For the Kingdom of God will be taken from the 166 fruitless ones and be given to those who will produce its fruit. Has God ever taken a kingdom away from someone who was weighed and found wanting? Read 1 Kings 11 when God took ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel from Solomon and gave them to Jeroboam, because Solomon had forsaken the Lord and led Israel astray with the worship of false gods. And so by their fruit you will recognise the brothers, sisters and 167 mothers of Christ. They are the ones who hold onto Jesus teachings even if
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Isaiah 42.17 Jeremiah 12.13 Isaiah 57.11-13 161 Matthew 13.30 162 Isaiah 5.5-6 163 John 15.5 164 John 15.4 165 Matthew 7.19 166 Matthew 21.43 167 Matthew 12.49; Mark 3.33-35; Luke 8.21
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it costs them everything. Their fruits feature the fragrance of the Son of Man, which is sacrificial love, and a sweetness that is better than honey. It is the sweetness of a son or daughter of God, brother or sister of Christ and most loyal servant of the Holy Spirit. And its aroma and exquisite taste cannot be counterfeited because it is only meant for their Father. From their hearts, sweetness flows from their mouths and into the ears of their Father, yet it is private. Their fruits only respond to the touch and voice of their God. They bear fruit in season according to His wishes for they know, understand and love their Gardener and the True Vine, which makes them flourish in everlasting fruitfulness. With gratitude, they know that it was the Father who drew them and the power of the Holy Spirit that grafted them into the Vine. They know which covenant they live by because of the blood of the Lamb that was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And they delight in unceasing repentance and forgiveness, for they know they were bought at a price not paid by their own lives. Without the Spirit of Life who draws the living waters from the throne of God and of the Lamb to nourish us, His living temple, we cannot even retain Gods breath of life in us. For no one is able to say, Jesus is 169 Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. If the love of money is a root of all kinds 170 of evil, then the love of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is the root of all kinds of truthfulness. Gods truth exists within and beyond this Creation. His truth exists with or without us, for before we were born, He IS the great I AM. Consider how the Holy Spirit will reveal the disciples of Jesus who have listened to and understood the higher command. They are the Phinehas of the church who are faithful in drawing near to Jesus and in practising His words, and they are loyal to the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Disciples who are prepared to wait night and day for the return of Jesus. Their lives are not complete until they are with Jesus in the flesh. Disciples who feel the pain of separation, and whose desire for the nearness of God is more than the flesh can bear. Their spirits hunger to grow and reach out to touch God, not just His hem, but His face. Disciples who burn with such holy passion in their aloneness with God that a thousand nights enduring the loneliness of separation from Jesus is ill-spent in crowded rooms with familiar faces speaking words about nothing. Disciples who are as jealous and zealous for Gods Son as the Father and the Holy Spirit are. Disciples who are frustrated with their own shortcomings and
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Luke 14.33 1 Corinthians 12.3 170 1 Timothy 6.10
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are in constant repentance for being a stumbling block to the Holy Spirit. Disciples who enjoy forgiving sins and debts just like God. Disciples who are filled with Godly jealousy, which is righteous, and not worldly jealousy, which is selfish. The worlds jealousy is one that looks out for its own glory and gain. Gods jealousy is based on the truth that only He can give us anything worthwhile, because apart from Him we have no good thing. God is never jealous of us or the images we put on a pedestal at the expense of our closeness with Him. No, He has always been jealous for us. He is the Parent who is jealous for the well-being of His children and wants the best for them. Gods jealousy for us is holy, and it bears fruit from love and patience, not envy or malice. God is so jealous for you that He gave you His Son, so that all that you were destined to be, you will be in Christ Jesus. For in this, you are the image and likeness of God. Can you see yourself as the younger brother or sister who is more jealous for Jesus than your Father? Is it possible to be more determined than God Himself to procure justice for Jesus? When you start to see God in family mode, you will begin to understand how the passion of Jesus Christ can tie in with your purpose in life. When you can view your ministry from this perspective, however great or small it is in the eyes of men, your ministry will be put in priority mode on the Fathers list. How such ascension will change your relationship with God, only God knows, and it is for you to find out. Live justice for Jesus and see if the Father will not open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will be successful in your mission to procure justice for Jesus and His reign on Earth. For how else will this word of Jesus be fulfilled: In that day you will ask in My Name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I 171 came from God? If you love someone, would you not cry out for justice for him? I have seen the world cry out for justice for convicted drug traffickers. Why have there been no consistent reports of churches crying out for justice for Jesus night and day before our Heavenly Father? Where do you stop yourself saying to Jesus, This far I will come with You and no farther? Do you ask the Lord, This is a hard teaching, who can accept it? Is it easier to chase the perishable things of this world? Is there no need for you to go further with Jesus? Do you put God in a box and leave Him in the closet, tucked away for your time of need?
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John 16.26-27
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Or are you too busy? If you had understood the Fathers purpose for the church and for you, would you make time? Do you shy away when God challenges you with His word? Are you offended by the convictions of the Holy Spirit in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment? Can you handle the searing heat of the truth that forces you out of stiff-neck complacency and religious hypocrisy, to bring you to a place of repentance before the throne of grace? He who gives His Spirit without limit would not cease the outpouring of revelations of Himself, if only you would cry out for understanding without judgment of God. Most of the Jews in Jesus time, who had believed Him, did not remain His disciples. When He gave the Jews this teaching in John 6.53, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you, many of His disciples ran the other way. They turned back and no longer followed Him because the Law of Moses forbade them to drink blood. But in truth, what did they have to turn back to except the desert of the old covenant with its stringent rules and regulations? This zeal for the Mosaic Law afforded an opportunity for James, the brother of Jesus, to lead the church back into Judaism when he wrote the letter in Acts 15 to the Gentiles believers. James re-introduced selective parts of the 172 Mosaic Law and mixed them into the New Covenant. Was this sect not the first denomination in the church of Jesus Christ? A denomination is just a fancy word for division within the church, because we did not achieve unity by listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and loving our fellow disciples as Jesus has loved us. Denominations exist because of disunity and unforgiveness within the church. Do you know the commands of Jesus New Covenant? Do you suppose Jesus gave us new commands that are exactly like those of the old covenant? What would be the point then? Can you tell the difference between the commands of the old covenant and of the new? Or are you one who, after drinking the old wine, does not want the new wine, saying, The old is 173 better? Are you an old wineskin who cannot accept new wine, because you fear that the new wine will burst your skin, the wine will run out and you will be ruined? How extreme was it in those days for a man to drink blood and eat the flesh of a man by faith? Do not take the repercussions lightly, but think it through. For if you gloss over it, you will miss the impact of the first strike of the sword of the Lord and the explicit details of the Creators master plan for
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Acts 15.1-35 Luke 5.39
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the salvation of His Creation. God wields His word as a skilful Warrior. He knows exactly where to strike at the heart of men to set His measuring line and to bring them to a place of repentance. He is the Master of His word. He uses His word to resurrect, restore and redeem all according to His original purpose and status. Do not be fooled, God is indeed as shrewd as a serpent and innocent as a dove. Church: If you do not listen to Jesus, you will not know the commands of the New Covenant. In truth, you are a garment torn between the new patch and the old. You have one foot in the old covenant and the other foot in the New Covenant. You are not a complete listener of Jesus, or of the Spirit, or of the Father. Or even of Moses and the prophets for that matter. You are neither here nor there, and you will be split in two when God sends His earthquakes to shake the nations and to break the gates that bar the way to His return on Earth. You will fall between the jagged cracks of an Earth that is passing away, because your foothold is not placed firmly on the Rock and the solid foundation of the New Covenant. This Rock is not carved by human hands out of the imposing 174 mountain of God. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary. He entered Heaven itself, and by one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those 175 who are being made holy. It is no longer water that is poured out from the 176 rock as in the days under Moses leadership, but it is the blood of the Lamb that flows freely from the Rock. He is the Overcomer. The forgiveness that pours from the Rock breaks down all substances that men use to build a towering wall between God and themselves thinking that they will reach the Heavens and make a name for themselves. The Rock will break the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces, who are those who fall upon 177 it, and those upon whom it falls will be crushed. It will humble man to the dust from which he was first formed, and the wind of the Holy Spirit will 178 sweep him away without leaving a trace. It is written: In the last days, the mountain of the Lords temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised up and all 179 nations will stream to it.
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Daniel 2.45 Hebrews 9.24; 10.14 Numbers 20.8 177 Daniel 2.45 NIV / NLT; Matthew 21.44; Luke 20.18 178 Daniel 2.35 179 Isaiah 2.2; Micah 4.1
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What is this chief of mountains? Is it Mount Sinai or Mount Zion? Is it the hilly outcrop of Golgotha? Or is it the Mount of Olives, where the 180 Lords feet will touch down east of Jerusalem? Look no further than the area from the hilly outcrop of Golgotha through to the Mount of Olives as the chief among the mountains that will be 181 raised up. The Lords new temple will be established there for His millennial reign because there is no other place like it. Why? Because it is the only place in all the universes where the Lord poured out His precious blood unto death into the dust of the Earth. Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, will be the place for the house of the first resurrection. It is the place where Jesus blood marked the spot of the New Covenant. For the Lord said, I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, the mountain of the 182 Lord of Heavens Armies will be called the Holy Mountain. This entire area - including the sacred lands and the city - is a square that measures 25,000 cubits on each side. The entire area will be holy. And a section of this land, 183 measuring 500 cubits by 500 cubits will be set aside for the temple. His kingdom endures forever. Amen. A new offering - a New Covenant In Hebrews 10.1-4, the writer wrote that the same sacrifices of the old covenant, repeated endlessly year after year, could never make perfect those who draw near to worship, as it is impossible for the blood of the bulls and goats to take away sins. It is indeed impossible because the blood of the animals is tainted with sin. Everything on the whole planet is affected by the sin of mankind. And, what is with sin cannot take away sin, except as an annual reminder of sin and a means of temporary atonement. It is therefore disturbing and deceiving that studies on the homosexual behaviour of monkeys conclude that God condones homosexuality. Did He not command Noah to bring in pairs of animals into 184 the ark, male and female? Did not God say, You shall not lie with a male 185 as one lies with a female, it is an abomination? I am not saying that a gay person is a bigger sinner than a straight person. All men have fallen short of the glory of God. We all need to come
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Zechariah 14.4 Zechariah 14.10; Micah 4.1-6; Isaiah 66.20 Zechariah 8.3 NLT. See also Isaiah 25.6 NLT and footnote 183 Ezekiel 48.20; 45.1-2 NLT 184 Genesis 7.2 185 Leviticus 18.22 NASB
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into complete repentance and change our ways. We are each like the Israelites who adopted all sorts of detestable practices from our time in Egypt. My point is: Look at what man has achieved with the dominion of the Earth given to Adam by God. We were deceived and we sinned. We then continued in our sin, wickedness and rebellion. And in our refusal to repent and return to God in all fullness, sin in the world turned the monkeys gay. We cannot look at the animal kingdom to make a judgment about mankind, because God gave man authority and dominion over all the living creatures. That is backwards thinking. If there ever was a correct theory of evolution, it would be the evolution of sin that occurred when we forsook our Father the Creator and joined in the rebellion with the devil, thereby defiling and corrupting the Earth with our wickedness. The world is so contaminated by sin that all of Creation finds it hard to breathe and it groans in suffocation. It is a totally inaccurate perspective to look at the living creatures of the sinful world today, and then make a reverse judgment about Gods plan for this Creation and mans original role in it. We have fallen from such a great height that our minds are closed to what was intended by the Lord. Our flesh lives amongst a concrete jungle that masks the true beauty of our God. And our eyes are blinded by an intelligence lifeline called logic, which leaves no room in our hearts for faith in Jesus Christ. 186 It is written that Adam lived to be 930 years old. How do you explain that with logic or scientific theory? But the world prefers its deceptions so that it may sleep soundly at night. Yet there is no rest for the wicked. People say God is nature. He is in the trees and the fishes of the sea and so on. So if the monkeys engage in homosexual behaviour, then didnt God create this? No, He did not. God is the Creator, but He did not create sin. So how did sin come about? From our choice in forsaking the Lord by disobeying Him and refusing to believe and repent that we are sinners who need salvation. We refuse to acknowledge that we are powerless to save ourselves in any way that lasts, and we have a fine way of building fortresses to keep God Almighty out of our lives. This Creation had been marred by sin. But God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to save it through Him, and then 187 there will come that day when everything will be made new. Do you understand? You cannot judge the Creator by His Creation when it has been ruined by the people He created for its inhabitation.
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Genesis 5.5 John 3.16-17; Revelation 21.5
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God gave dominion over the creatures of this world to man twice. The dominion is power and authority to rule on Earth. The first time was in Genesis 1.28 when God said to man, male and female, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the Earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. The second occasion was His reaffirmation to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9.1-3: Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the Earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon the all the beasts of the Earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But what did we do with the dominion and power given by the Lord to us? Did we treasure and protect it by His word, and use it according to His purpose? Rather, have we not, time and time again, joined in the rebellion of the devil and his demon hordes, as we use it to test the Lord in our attempt to overthrow Gods throne and make a name for ourselves? Freewill on one hand and Gods dominion on the other - we did not use both our hands to exalt and lift up the Name of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but we used them to push God away. In the days of Noah before the flood, we pushed God so far from us that His Spirit could not contend with man for more than 120 188 years. When we joined in the rebellion of the devil with his suitcase of sin crouching at our door and Death, the surprise package, close behind him, we allowed sin to have mastery over us, instead of the other way round. Remember, it was not Satan who had the power over death, but by Gods own word to Adam, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat 189 of it you will surely die. The crafty serpent used the word of God against us. He deceived us, and we were deceived because we did not know the word of God. We let ourselves be deceived, and we let the dominion and authority slip from our hands. Can we blame anyone but ourselves? What if Eve had said to the serpent, No, God definitely said that if we ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we will surely die. Who are you to speak against the word of God? Away from me, you evildoer!? Or what if Adam refrained from eating the fruit, and got on his knees before God to intercede for Eve? Did Adam not say Eve was the bone of my
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Genesis 6.3 Genesis 2.16-17
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bones and the flesh of my flesh? He was quick to claim her as his own, so shouldnt he have taken better care of her? Shouldnt he have gone to find that crafty serpent, confronted him, and stood up to protect his wife from evil? For it is when we do not seek to know the full counsel of the word of God and keep it in our hearts through daily practice, that Satan may sneak in with his words of lies, doubt and flattery. Before we know it, with a dash of ignorance, an ounce of arrogance and a dollop of envy, we are sinning right 191 alongside the original sinner, Satan, who is filled with pride. Dont blame Satan or his deception. Just like you cannot blame a thief from entering your house when you left the door wide open. We should have known better. What does Satan have that he did not acquire by means of cheating, lying and scheming? Would the father of lies build his kingdom legitimately? The legions of fallen angels only succumbed to him through his dishonest 192 trade and lies about ascension. And now the fallen angels are trapped between their judgment and their fears. But the Sons love for redemption of what belongs to His Father goes beyond the depths of this Earth into its darkest dungeons. For Jesus was made alive in the spirit by the Spirit, through whom He went to preach to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being 193 built. Glory be to the Holy Spirit who led the Lord to the most unlikely places to do the will of the Father. And blessed be the Holy Spirit who guides the sons and daughters of God along the narrow path trodden only by the feet of Jesus as He fulfilled the work of redemption. That was how Satan, the liar and father of lies acquired the kingdoms 194 of this world. The so-called splendour of this world comes from a system of widespread trade. It is where the ancient serpent has his power and his throne 195 and great authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. The system of trade is loved by those who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, but have forsaken the Lord and forgotten His 196 temple on His holy mountain. But Gods wrath is coming, and such trade of riches and wealth will vanish in one hour when doom comes to Babylon, the city of power, when all her riches and splendour vanish, never to be 197 recovered. Their cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls and fine
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Genesis 2.23 Ezekiel 28.16-17 Ezekiel 28.18 193 1 Peter 3.19-20 194 John 8.44 195 Revelation 13.7 196 Isaiah 65.11 NLT / NIV 197 Revelation 18.10, 17-18
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linen had been traded for her favours as she prostituted the things of God and 198 desecrated the sanctuary, for even bodies and souls of men were sold for 199 gain under a deceptive magic spell that led the nations astray. For it did not advance Gods interest and purpose when we inadvertently turned the Kingdom of the Earth over to a murderer and the father of lies. Jesus testified that the devil was a murderer from the beginning, 200 not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. But now we must learn from our errors and the errors of past generations because Jesus Christ our Lord came to show us the way and gave us eternal life through faith in Him. He opened our eyes and turned us from darkness to light; and from the power of Satan to God, so that we may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Him. Now this is eternal life, said Jesus, that they may know You, the only true God, and 201 Jesus Christ, whom You sent. Now that we can see with unveiled faces, know that we are to be armoured in the full armour of our God. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation 202 and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Let us fight with the Lord in His battle for God to win His war, for victory only comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the 203 Heavenly realms. We attack our enemies to take back the kingdom of the Earth, and reinstate it to the dominion of the iron sceptre of Jesus and the 204 kingdom of our Father, a kingdom that Jesus has conferred on us. The Lord will reign until He destroys His last enemy, Death, and He will hand over the kingdom to the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and 205 power. When He has done this, the Son Himself will be made subject to 206 Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.
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Revelation 17.5-6; 18.24 Revelation 18.11-13, 23 John 8.44 201 John 17.3 202 Ephesians 6.14-17 203 Ephesians 6.12 204 Luke 22.29 205 1 Corinthians 15.24-26 206 1 Corinthians 15.28
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He who is seated on the throne will make everything new, for Heaven and Earth will pass away, but it will not do so by the word or the false authority of the enemy of Truth. It will only happen when God is truly ready and satisfied, so that the new may come forth in holy perfection. Satan is only the condemned prince of this world. He will be driven out and defeated by the sword of the Lord. A prince has no real authority or lasting power because there is One above him: The King of kings. Are we not children of God who have been brought into the glorious 208 freedom of the Spirit of Life? The Spirit Himself testified that we are Gods children. Paul writes that if we are children, then we are also heirs of God and 209 co-heirs of Christ. Repeat this confession to yourself: I am the co-heir of Christ - with Christ. Do you know what this means? Do you know what it means to be a son or daughter to your Father in Heaven? Look to the Rock from which you 210 were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn. Look to Jesus Christ the Son of Man, the Son of God. For your Fathers will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and He will raise 211 us up at the last day. For it was in Jesus that all things were created, both in Heaven and on Earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him 212 and in Him and for Him. Say it again and again, in word and in tongues, until the reality and the enormity of this truth sinks into your spirit. We are not subjects of the kingdom of the Earth even though we live on it, because we are called to be citizens of New Jerusalem. Gods dominion endures through all 213 generations. To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honour, glory and majesty and splendour, dominion and power and might 214 forever and ever, through the eternities of the eternities! The devil has put on a bedazzling show for far too long. It is time to put Satan in his place, which is the footstool of the Lord. Enough is enough.
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Revelation 21.5 Romans 8.21 Romans 8.16-17 210 Isaiah 51.1 211 John 6.40 212 Colossians 1.16 AMP 213 Psalm 145.13 214 Revelation 5.13 NIV / NASB / AMP
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He is from above In Isaiah 1.11-14, the Father said to Israel, The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to Me? I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of My courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. You ask, But wasnt it Gods requirements for Israel to bring Him offerings according to His law? Why would He be tired and burdened by them? How can a nation weary God Almighty? A nation wearies God Almighty, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, by doing the opposite of what He delights in. Remember the Fathers words in Jeremiah 9.24: Let not the wise man boast about his wisdom or the strong man boast about his strength or the rich man boast about his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, for in these in I delight. What delights the Lord does not burden or trouble Him. However, Israel wearied the Lord by their evil deeds, injustice and unrighteousness, and also because they refused to hear the word of the Lord 215 and obey the law of their God. In the same way, the church has wearied God the Holy Spirit since the days of the eleven through the dishonouring of the Fathers one command, which is injustice to Jesus and His words, and hostility and indifference towards the Holy Spirit. We weary the Lord by works that seem holy and upright but have nothing to do with the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is His goodness and perfection in doing whatever He pleases. Yet how many of His churches let the Holy Spirit do what He pleases with His people - some of whom He has been baptised into? And so, without repenting, we continue to rebel against the word of 216 God and despise the counsel of the Most High, the Lord Almighty, 217 wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom, and His Spirit of Counsel 218 and of Power. In this, the church has blasphemed Jesus by forsaking the Holy Spirit, just as the Father said that Israel had blasphemed Him by
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Isaiah 1.10-17 Psalm 107.11 217 Isaiah 28.29 218 Isaiah 11.2
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forsaking Him and provoking Him to anger when they ran after their idols 219 under every high hill and leafy tree. When we do not exercise kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth as God does, we distress and weigh the Lord down with religious events that leave His Holy Spirit standing at the door. He is invited by Name, but rejected in reality. Do you think we please the Father when we use our mouths to boast about the wisdom, strength and riches of the church, and then use the same mouths to sing praises of Jesus, not even knowing or understanding what brings His Father delight? Why do preachers spend more time talking about tithes and money than feeding the flock with the words of Jesus and revelations from the Holy Spirit regarding the words of Jesus? At Sunday services, how many churches allow time for the Holy Spirit to minister to His people and have them speak in tongues with Him? How many of us are taught to savour the wine because it is the precious blood of Jesus, or have been inspired to spontaneously kiss the bread because it is the closest thing to touching Jesus until He returns in the flesh? Church: You say, We want to be like the nations, like the people of the world, who serve wood and stone. But what you have in mind will never 220 happen. The Father and the Holy Spirit will not allow Jesus to be defamed. The Father does not want an idol cast as an imaginary image of Jesus for you to worship. Remember God said, You shall not make for yourself an idol in any form of anything in Heaven above or on the Earth beneath or in the 221 waters below. He does not even like dressed stones because we defile it 222 with the tools of our hands. So what shape of wood and stone can man make that would capture the formless beauty of our eternal God? Moses the prophet warned, Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, 223 whether formed like a man or a woman. Look around the house of God. It is filled with detestable idols of wood and stone and lifeless words. They are not beautiful or grand, but disgusting. They disgust my Father, insult my Brother and grieve the Holy Spirit. Get rid of the idolatry in the temple. Do you think the Holy Spirit feels at home when He walks into the idol-filled, yet empty buildings? You dont think it makes His hair stand on edge, while His simmering rage rises to the
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Ezekiel 20.27-28 Ezekiel 20.32 221 Exodus 20.4 222 Exodus 20.25 223 Deuteronomy 4.15-18
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surface of the wounds we had inflicted upon our Fathers heart when we reject listening to Jesus at the standard to which we are called? Church: Why cant we see that what we do is meaningless to the Lord because we went off on a tangent by failing to listen to Jesus? The church is not where it is supposed to be. The church is not at the full power of the Holy Spirit. There is no use pretending. Accept the truth and repent. What we do now in worship and fellowship with Him is only a vague shadow of what His heart truly desires. What is in the Fathers heart? Do you know? Can the Holy Spirit trust you with the deepest secrets of God? If He does, would you go sell them through books, tapes and conferences? Would you have a fancy website named after yourself? Or would you keep His secrets until He tells you to give them away freely by proclaiming it on the highest rooftops? Jesus taught His 224 disciples to freely give what they have received. Yet we love to sell the truth to our own family within the house of God. Where do we get off making money from family? The time of the old covenant has passed for those who believe in Jesus. There needed to be an offering that was pleasing to the Father, because God desires mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than 225 burnt offerings. This need was fulfilled even before the creation of the world. It is time to follow the Law of Jesus, not the Law of Moses. Enter His Son. Enter the New Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins - the covenant of the blood sacrifice of Gods own Son that completely, instantly and permanently rendered the offerings of bulls and lambs obsolete. The old covenant has been superseded. It is written: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given Me the capacity to hear and obey. My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, Here I am, I have come - it is written about Me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will, O My God; Your law 226 is within My heart. What is the will of the Father for Jesus? Read Jesus testimony in John 6.40 (NLT): For it is My Fathers will that all who see His Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day. The New Covenant and its commands replaced the old covenant and its commands. In truth, the old covenant was so tainted that when Jesus spoke 227 to the Jews about the law, He sometimes referred to it as their own law.
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Matthew 10.8 Hosea 6.6 226 Psalm 40.6-8 NIV / AMP / NASB combined 227 John 10.34; 15.25
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This was not because the law belongs to the Jews in the meaning of Moses words, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of 228 this law. No, it was because the Jews changed the law through both ignorance and manipulation so that it became a vehicle for customs and traditions, rather than an instrument in Gods hands to exercise kindness, righteousness and justice. For Jesus said to the Jews, Has not Moses given 229 you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. And to the Pharisees and teachers of religious law, You ignore Gods law and substitute your own traditions. You skilfully sidestep Gods law in order to hold on to your own 230 tradition. Count the kings of Israel who had followed the Lord in all His ways in the books of Chronicles and Kings. And count the kings who began their kingship steadfastly in the Lord but then strayed from Him. Is it written that any of the kings of Israel followed the rules of kingship in the book of Deuteronomy 17.18-20: When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. No wonder the kings and their descendants did not reign over the kingdom of Israel a long time. In fact, the Book of the Law was so misplaced 231 that it was found in the temple of the Lord during the reign of Josiah. How could it be found unless it was lost in the first place? How could the Book of the Law be lost unless it was not used regularly? I imagine that people nowadays use their mobile phones more than the kings of Israel did the Book of the Law. If you delight in the restoration of the Fathers direct command to disciples to listen to Jesus and understand its importance in these last days, would you go the extra mile and write your own kings scroll, that is, your own set of the words spoken only by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as recorded in the Bible? If so, it would be easier to highlight Their words first before you commence the writing. To me, the task is not taxing. It is a delight and deeply satisfying.
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Deuteronomy 29.29 John 7.19 230 Mark 7.8-9 231 2 Kings 22.8
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With the New Covenant came new commands. According to Leviticus 17.14, we are not fit to return to the old covenant once we partake in the New Covenant. The Lord said, You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off. Entering into the New Covenant by drinking the blood of Jesus forbids us from returning to the old covenant. We are cut off from God according to Gods word. So where does this leave us? Well, squarely in the arms of our Saviour Jesus Christ, of course. The New Covenant requires us to commemoratively drink the blood and eat the flesh of the Son of Man by faith. He was One who can change the very substance of things and situations by His words and thoughts. And so by His word, the wine is His blood and the bread is His flesh. By faith, we have drunk the wine, which is the lifeblood of Jesus, and we are cut off from God by the Fathers own words in Leviticus 17. We have nowhere to turn except to Jesus, the Fathers Son. The old covenant does not serve a purpose for us, for we are flesh-eaters and blood-drinkers. We have been irrevocably cut off from the laws of the old covenant, so that we may serve under the New Covenant as we are being led by the Spirit of Sonship. About the sacrifice of Christ, the writer of Hebrews wrote: The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says, This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds Their sins and lawless acts I 232 will remember no more. Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. He is 233 234 the Resurrection and the Life. He is the Beginning and the End. Death came because Adam first disobeyed the command of God. Death was never intended for this Creation. Look at the way life was meant to sustain itself in Genesis 1.29-30. Man, the beasts of the Earth, the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground were given plants and fruits for food. It was not until after the flood in Genesis 9.3 that God gave Noah everything that lives and moves for food. Life with God was meant to be a beginning in which there is no end. We were not created to die and go to Heaven. Think about it There is a standard the Father wants us to commit to His Son and His words. For disciples, the only sin against our Father is the disobedience of His direct command to listen to His Son Jesus. Jesus words are the building blocks of a structure that is of the everlasting and ever-rising. With one command regarding the blood of the New Covenant, Drink from it, all of
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Hebrews 10.15-17 John 11.25 234 Revelation 22.13
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you, we have been given a certificate of divorce from the old covenant because of our marital unfaithfulness. We are not to return to our first husband. Anyone who looks at the old covenant lustfully now has already committed adultery with it. This is true sexual immorality. So if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose 236 one part of your body than for the whole body to be thrown into Hell. Church: It is time to move into the New Covenant completely. For through the Holy Spirit, the Lord is spring-cleaning every religious nerve and stiff-necked bone in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit works so hard to prepare the church for the R/resurrection and the L/life. He is ushering us into the new treasures of the Kingdom of God where the doors previously stood closed for us. Are you for Him or against Him? If the Fathers command resonates in you like a long lost love song that has at last anchored your faith, pick up your Bible and highlighter and start consuming the words of Jesus in the company of the Holy Spirit. Thats just taking us back to kindergarten because of the height from which the church has fallen. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into ALL truth, just as the Lord had led us all the way to the extreme edges of the Law of Jesus, so that it is possible to go beyond the beginning of time when there was no sin, no wickedness, no rebellion and no ache in the heart of God. Dont be afraid; just believe. The commands of the New Covenant Will you be an extreme follower of the New Covenant? If you dare, then you have more of a reason to listen to Jesus. For how else would we learn the commands of the New Covenant except through listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Jesus is our first Counsellor. He is entrusted by the Father with the commands, decrees, regulations and instructions of the New Covenant. This is the Law of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our second Counsellor who guides 237 us into ALL truth and teaches us ALL things, for indeed we are all being taught by God personally and collectively. And that is life! This is the first command about love under the New Covenant: 238 Love your enemies. And this is the new command about love under the New Covenant: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if
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Matthew 26.27 Matthew 5.29 237 John 16.13; 14.26 238 Matthew 5.44
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you love one another. Jesus repeated this command in John 15.12, My command is this: Love each other has I have loved you. And again in verse 17: This is My command: Love one another. Both commands about love were given to disciples. The obedience of the new command is a proof of our discipleship, because by this all men will know that we are His disciples. Then the world will learn that Jesus loves the Father and He does exactly what the Father commands Him. And we have become friends of Jesus, even brothers and sisters, who are no longer servants because we know our Masters business. But can we learn the Masters business when He is not around? How can you love one another as Jesus has loved you, if you do not spend enough time to experience the delight in coming to know Jesus through His words and deeds by the counsel of the Holy Spirit? Do you have a rich store of testimonies of Jesus and the words of Jesus? Do you know that His words are truth and they work? For example, has more been given to you who have, until 240 you have an abundance? As you seek first the righteousness of the Father 241 and His kingdom, have you asked and it has been given to you? Did you knock and the door was opened; did you seek understanding and it was 242 found? For your testimonies about Jesus and the word of God are your treasures on Earth that no moth can destroy and no thief can steal. Enter the Holy Spirit who brings glory to Jesus by taking from what 243 is His and makes it known to us. The Holy Spirit - with whom we are called to testify about Jesus. I love the way He shows us something in the word, which has always been right in front of us, but He takes away the smoke screen that veils our vision to give instant understanding. It *clicks* and we are one step closer to knowing and understanding God. Each revelation from God is a wonderful gift. It is what makes reading the word so exciting. The commands of the New Covenant build a foundation of discipleship that is based on love and forgiveness for one another as Christ has loved and forgiven us. And it is powered by the Holy Spirit, for He is Jesus Witness. The first command of the New Covenant goes far beyond, Do to others what you would have them do to you, which Jesus said, Sums up the 244 Law and the Prophets. For the old covenant is a covenant of worship and fellowship.
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John 13.34 Matthew 13.12 Matthew 6.33 242 Matthew 7.7 243 John 16.14 244 Matthew 7.12
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The New Covenant is a covenant of worship and fellowship, and also of discipleship, friendship and sonship or daughtership, leading to kingship. The commands of the New Covenant also reveal the role of the Holy Spirit in discipleship. Love for your fellow disciples like Jesus love for you is not only a fruit of the Holy Spirit; it is the hallmark of disciples who are dedicated followers of the New Covenant. It is about the love you have for your fellow disciples, not the world, and it is based on a personal love that Christ has shown you. It is relationship love that you share with Jesus, which you then take to love your fellow disciples in fulfilment of the new command of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. And that love includes continuous forgiveness. However, if you have not established and nurtured a relationship with Jesus by listening to Him and putting His words into practice today, how would you experience a personal love by Christ that is beyond the love of John 3.16, which is Gods love for the world? How then will you fulfil the first command, let alone the other commands that follow? You must obey the first command of the New Covenant, which is love of enemies, so that your obedience to the other commands will produce fruits that are pleasing and lasting to the Gardener, our Father in Heaven. This love begins in the word, for in the beginning was the Word, and 245 the Word was with God and the Word was God. Thats why it is so important for us to listen to Jesus. The 10 commands of the New Covenant Just as there are ten principal commands that were set apart as the cornerstone of the Fathers Levitical Law, so there are ten commands set apart as the cornerstone of the Law of Jesus under the New Covenant: 1. 2. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near The Kingdom of God is 246 near. Repent and believe the Good News! Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you, and lend to them without expecting anything back that 247 you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. 248 Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
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John 1.1 Matthew 4.17; Mark 1.15 247 Matthew 5.44-45; Luke 6.27-28, 35 combined. 248 John 13.34
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4.
Take [the bread] and eat; this is My body Drink from [the cup], all of you. This is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for 249 the forgiveness of sins. This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, 250 which is poured out for you. 5. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; 251 if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. 6. He who has an ear, let him hear and understand what the Spirit says to the 252 churches. 253 7. Do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit. 8. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the 254 beginning. 255 9. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 256 Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 257 Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod. 258 10. Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all Creation Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching 259 them to obey everything I have commanded you. Do you see that there are New Covenant commands? Can you tell the difference between the commands of the old and the New Covenant? These are the New Covenant commands we must obey as beneficiaries of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins made between the Father and Son. The New Covenant is powered by the Holy Spirit when disciples put Jesus words into practice. Who are Jesus disciples? Jesus said to the Jews who had believed 260 Him, If you hold to My teaching, you are really disciples. The New Covenant is a covenant of discipleship under the counsel of the Holy Spirit when we are baptised with Him by Jesus. It was not an angel that the Father sent, but His Son and His Holy Spirit. The New Covenant is
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Matthew 26.26-28. Also read Mark 14.22-24. Luke 22.20 John 20.22-23 252 Revelation 2.7, 11, 17, 29; 3.6, 13, 22 NIV / NLT 253 Luke 12.10; Mark 3.29 on a separate occasion. 254 John 15.26-27: We are to testify with the Holy Spirit. 255 Luke 12.1 256 Matthew 16.6, 11 257 Mark 8.15 258 Mark 16.15 259 Matthew 28.19-20 260 John 8.31
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forged between the Father and the Son, and we benefit from this covenant. If you do not listen to Jesus carefully and faithfully, how would you know His teachings to hold onto them? If you do not receive the Holy Spirit, how can He disciple you in Jesus words and deeds under His supervision and counselling? The New Covenant introduces us to the higher level of love. It is the sacrificial love of Jesus for His Father. It is not a wishy-washy gesture of weakness, but a calculated, pre-destined and powerful act of redemption. Jesus love and honour for His Father saw Jesus lay down His life to become Gods sin offering for the world. Jesus took on the fullness of the wrath of God against the sins of mankind. By His blood, the Son of God sealed His eternal signature as our Saviour so that we may receive Gods mercy, even though He received no mercy Himself. Jesus did not receive mercy from God, nor from you or from me. He suffered the full weight of the sin of mankind from the days of Adam, and He finished the work of salvation in fulfilment of His covenant with His Father. Love and honour for His Father is the passion of the Christ. By drinking the blood and eating the flesh of the Son of Man, Jesus said we would remain in Him and He in us. His disciples are authorised to forgive anyone their sins so that they may also receive Gods forgiveness in 261 Jesus Name. This ties in with the Lords earlier teaching, For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your 262 sins. Jesus taught this to disciples at the beginning of His ministry to prepare and soften their hearts, and sharpen their minds for the revelation of the New Covenant. The extra mile or the higher level of forgiveness must be practised on enemies, as well as on your brothers and sisters in Christ. The love of enemies is your first love under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. What is the significance of the love of enemies? By this, we fulfil the Lords decrees, Be 263 merciful, as your Heavenly Father is merciful; Be perfect, therefore as 264 your Heavenly Father is perfect; and You must be compassionate, just as 265 your Father is compassionate. This is the beginning of sonship and daughtership because Jesus said, your Father. He did not say, your God.
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John 20.23 Matthew 6.14-15 263 Luke 6.36 264 Matthew 5.48 265 Luke 6.36 NLT
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If you only forgive those who love you, what credit is that to you? God forgave you and reconciled you to Him through the death of His Son when you were still His hostile enemy. So who are we to withhold forgiveness for a much smaller debt? Since God showed us mercy when we were His enemies, who are we to withhold mercy from our enemies? And who are we to question the Lords methods by which He disciplines and trains us into His perfection through love for our enemies? Gods ways are higher than our ways; His thoughts are higher than ours. Therefore, listen to Jesus: Love your enemies, do good to those who 266 hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be 267 sons of your Father in Heaven. And when your enemies are blessed, do not be bitter. Rejoice! For you have become a little bit more like Jesus. You are the redeemed image and likeness of God. For the Lord did not pour out His blood for sins He had committed. Jesus was no sinner. But He intercedes before the throne of grace for the sins we commit against God. Jesus was not appointed as a judge or arbiter between 268 men, but there is one God and one Mediator between God and men: The Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men - the testimony 269 given in its proper time. We all need a Saviour and salvation, but we are mostly too rebellious and self-righteous to accept the truth about ourselves. 270 So if you preach the Gospel to the condemned and the Good News is rejected, do not convert them or force the truth upon them. Gods gift to mankind is freewill. Our duty is to neither convert nor force, but to compassionately preach the Good News and testify about Jesus Christ who died for our sins but was resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to convince them with a demonstration of the Spirits power. Jesus is the Son of Man who is authorised to forgive sins. Our display of signs, wonders and miracles is purposed to back up our testimony about His authority. That is why Jesus said, When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the 271 beginning. The purpose of power is to testify about Jesus and His words.
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Luke 6.27-28 Matthew 5.44-45 Luke 12.14 269 1 Timothy 2.5-6 270 John 3.18 271 John 15.26-27
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He is the Resurrection and the Life. And He is coming soon to reign on Earth for one thousand years. Do not resist an evil person but go on your way to meet the King at Jerusalem if the Holy Spirit instructs you. The primary goal is to prepare the church, the Earth and the people of the world for Jesus to arrive back for His millennial reign, without further delay. Dont worry about the condemned who are rejecting the Lords beautiful Gospel. Remember the words of a wise woman in 2 Samuel 14.14: But God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him. God has a grand plan for the salvation of ALL He has created. Keep your eyes on Jesus and the Lord will reveal the details of His plans to you, so that you may share in the understanding of a brilliant mind that mercifully delights in kindness, justice and righteousness. If you believe Christs testimony about the power of forgiveness that is in His blood, and the truth of the gesture of drinking wine and eating bread by faith, then you are in the New Covenant. There is no room in your life for the old wine. To look back now after Christ died for you is worse than Lots wife who looked back at what or who she left behind in Sodom and Gomorrah. She was turned into a pillar of salt. To look back at Egypt now means turning your face from the Lord who is bringing you into the promised time on eagles wings. So how do we reconcile ourselves between the old and the New Covenant? How do we practise listening to Jesus in obedience to the Fathers command, yet still uphold the laws of the old covenant? The Father has made it so simple for us. Jesus said in Matthew 7.12, So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. If someone accuses you of dishonouring the laws of the old covenant because you listen to Jesus first and foremost, this is your answer, I do not dishonour the Father when I do not abide by the Law of Moses. The Father commanded Jesus disciples to listen to Jesus. As His disciple, I must obey Jesus commands and hold onto His teachings. Jesus said that do to others what you would have them do to you sums up the Law and the Prophets. So when I practise these words of Jesus, I am upholding the laws of the old covenant and listening to Jesus at the same time. So let us place ourselves firmly in the New Covenant. The next time you hold the cup of wine and piece of bread in your hand; inhale the sweet fragrance of forgiveness and consider that which came at such a price to our God, but is not charged against us.
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Give thanks to Jesus for the fate that we have been spared, and imagine the future that we have been given by Jesus who hung on the cross for us. Say to the person on your right and left joyfully, Your sins are forgiven you, and give cheers to our Saviour and Lord. We have a God who enjoys being the Forgiver! Praise be to our Lord Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen Holy Spirit!
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Chapter 5
The Gospel of the First Resurrection

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ 1 and will reign with Him for a thousand years. What is the first resurrection? The first resurrection is the resurrection of those who overcame and remained alive for Christ to receive the authority to judge, together with those who are dead in Christ having been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God, where both groups will come to life to reign with Christ. Both groups will be given their glorified bodies at that time because they did not worship the beast or his image, nor took on the mark of the beast. They are true worshippers who worship the Father in spirit and truth. Lets call them the first resurrectioners. They are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. They speak of what they know and testify with the Spirit of Truth to what they have seen. Just as the Father and the Son spoke to us what They know and testify with the Holy Spirit to what They 2 have seen. And what the first resurrectioners do know is that the Word of 3 God is Jesus, who is the Truth, the only begotten Son of the Father whom
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Revelation 20.4-6 John 3.11 3 John 14.6
Chapter 5 The Gospel of the First Resurrection
Jesus had made known to them. And what they have seen is the power of the Holy Spirit in the W/word of God, for the words Jesus spoke to us are spirit 5 and life. The first resurrectioners are ones who fulfilled Jesus words in Mark 16.15 to go into the world to preach the Good News to all Creation. And in the process, they have lost their heads for Jesus and the sake of His Gospel, figuratively or plainly. Porcius Festus told Paul the apostle, You are out of 6 your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane! Because Paul 7 understood that if we disciples have lost our mind, it is for the sake of God. When you testify about the truth of God, it is too much for the world to handle. In their discomfort, they will say that you have lost your mind because they refuse to believe the truth. As disciples, we need to lose our mind and change our motives under the counsel of the Holy Spirit, according to Gods purpose for us and not our purpose for Him. We who are one in Jesus should have the mind of Christ, and Christ in mind. And we who have faith in Jesus should bear the fruits of the Spirit with a mind of wisdom. So that we may do the things Jesus 8 has been doing, and greater things we are called to do, lest we make our Lord out to be a liar and His kingdom to be a powerless charade. For who knows the mind of Christ if not the Holy Spirit? And who is the power of God if not the Holy Spirit? Consider the reason why Jesus could not do any miracles in His 9 hometown, even though He wanted to. It appeared that Jesus own hands were tied because the Holy Spirit was not willing to move. Perhaps the lack of faith in the people did not move the Holy Spirit. But the first resurrectioners must have faith that not only overcomes the worlds lack of faith but overwhelms the Holy Spirit, if it were possible. Except that it is, because all things are possible for God, especially the things that are beneficial and pleasing to Him. It is not imperative that the first resurrectioners testimonies are 10 accepted, for even the Jews rejected the Lords own testimony. Their rejection did not hinder the Lords work of salvation from being completed. Rather, it paved the way of His walk to the cross, though they did not understand it at the time. Every step of the Lords walk to the cross was
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Matthew 11.27; John 14.6-7 John 6.63 Acts 26.24 7 2 Corinthians 5.13 8 John 14.12 9 Mark 6.1-6 10 John 3.12
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designed and precise. It is like an actor in a play who knows the exact spot to stand on the stage, and the exact timing to deliver his lines. He knows each of his next scenes until curtain call. And in the Lords case, it was when the curtain in the temple was torn in two. The important thing is that first resurrectioners persevere, hold their place in the battle, and fight with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 11 God. They fight in righteousness and justice in oneness of spirit and with the same sword that comes out the Lords mouth; the sharp double-edged sword 12 that Jesus brought to the Earth for division instead of peace that will strike 13 14 down all nations and the enemies of God. They know the right time to draw the sword and the right time to return the sword into its scabbard. And they are not afraid that all who draw the sword of truth will die by the sword of truth. For the first resurrectioners have more than a mustard seed of faith, they have the knowledge of the power of unbroken faith in Jesus and His words. And they are fully equipped with wisdom, knowledge and understanding, courage, strength and patience, loyalty and passion, delight in His word, the love of God, and mercy for their enemies. They are not like the 15 wicked, lazy servant who hid the masters talent in the ground to bury the truth deep down inside themselves. Rather, they bring it into the light. They live by the truth, practise it and trust in it by remaining true to Jesus and His words. They know Jesus and they practise His words with the mind of Christ and heart of Justice to the degree of perfection, so that, whether they live or die, they belong to Jesus. And when they sin, Gods mercy flows over them as they have practised being merciful, perfect and compassionate by loving their enemies just as their Father is merciful, perfect and compassionate. They rejoice and give unto the Lord the sacrifice of praise when they suffer disgrace and persecution in His Name, and they remain faithful to the T/truth of Jesus, even to the point of death. They have earned their place to take part in the first resurrection to the glory of God, as the Lord deems them worthy to reign alongside Him for a thousand years with the guarantee that the second death will have no power over them. They will have no fear or anxiety on Judgment Day, but will sit on thrones as kings and judges and co-heirs with 16 Christ. The first resurrectioners are overcomers because of Christ.
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Ephesians 6.17 Matthew 10.34; Luke 12.51 Revelation 19.15 14 Revelation 19.21 15 Matthew 25.14-30 16 Matthew 19.28; Revelation 20.4; Romans 8.17
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Know the difference: There will be ones who reign with Christ for the thousand years of the Millennium, and after that, will live within New Jerusalem. And there will be ones who serve the Lord shoulder to shoulder as it is written in Zephaniah 3.9. Born and raised in the Spirit of Sonship and of the fear of the Lord, the first resurrectioners are mature sons and daughters of their Father who considered their lives as nothing when compared with the 17 glory that is being revealed - and less than nothing when compared to the complete joy and glory of the realisation of their Fathers majestic empire of dreams. Leaving their houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or 18 children or fields for Jesus and His Gospel may not be an easy thing to do and it may be a daily struggle, but it is the fire in their hearts to see Jesus enthroned in Jerusalem on His holy hill that keeps them hot, and not lukewarm. In truth, they are peacemakers for they want peace for God first and foremost before all mankind. And their loyalty is steadfast and prioritised in their Father. They seek glory not for themselves, but for the One who seeks it because they do not rob from God. The One who seeks glory is seeking to glorify His Son. The first resurrection is indeed a high standard the Father has set because it is an honour and a privilege that will be bestowed on those He has called, elected and refined. It is beyond our wildest dreams and a ride of the greatest adrenalin rush when we have done nothing worthy to deserve this opportunity. God is gracious and generous. And the time is now to prepare yourself and circumcise your hearts to take on this role in God, for God. This train is stopping at the station only once. If you miss the opportunity, it will be gone. The saints who are dead in Christ are waiting in Heaven for the day of glory. But the ones who are still alive on Earth should prepare themselves under the guidance and counsel of the Spirit of Truth to ready themselves for all that leads up to Jesus return by listening, testifying and remaining alive to meet our Lord on the Mount of Olives when His feet will touch this Earth again. They are living martyrs who hold onto Jesus words in John 11.26. They lay down their death to stay alive to greet Jesus upon His return to reign for a thousand years on Earth. But the first resurrection is not for the cynical ones who say that the Bible is defiled because it is written by men, or ones who doubt the power of God to protect His own word. It is not for the complacent ones who think, God is the Almighty, He can get it done Himself. Neither is it for ones who
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Romans 8.18 Matthew 19.29; Mark 10.29-31
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do not understand that service is doing the will of the Father as a mature son or daughter in the Image of Jesus. And the first resurrection is definitely not for ones who complain that the Bible is too arduous to read, or that the book of Leviticus makes them fall asleep. The book of Leviticus contains the spoken words of God mainly. Are you saying that God bores you and does not hold your interest? If you do not treasure the words of the Father when He delivered His Levitical Law to Moses, do you think that He would be pleased to elect you to be the first listeners to understand His justice in the ages to come? What a pleasure it would be to sit in the Fathers presence on the holy hill on New Earth and listen to His dictation of the entire volume of laws and understand the justice of the age that has finally come. What a delight to have complete understanding of Gods justice! What a privilege to enjoy such a gift! The first resurrection is certainly not for ones who say that miracles are not for this time, or the Holy Spirit is too radical to be given freedom by the churches in their congregations. Or even that the Holy Spirit has left the church as a feeble excuse for their own lack of power, when it is a direct result of their disobedience of the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. How loosely the Name of the Holy Ghost is thrown around, but do we truly honour Him by giving Him time with His people? The Holy Spirit stands at the door and knocks, but how many of you have heard His voice and let Him in? Do His people patiently sit in silence waiting on the Holy Spirit? Or is His gentle voice drowned by songs and sermons of many words that have nothing to do with listening to Jesus at the standard to which we are called? If you do not include the Holy Spirit in your congregation when you gather together to worship the Lord, then you cannot begin to worship the Father in spirit and truth, and you can never fulfil Jesus command: Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the 19 Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. Yet in all this He has been patient and gracious to us, the church, because He is intent on glorifying Jesus. The first resurrection will not be for ones who are too embarrassed to speak in tongues in public, or are only half prepared and partially eager for the Lords return, but take it for granted because of their complacency, deficiency of desire and lack of knowledge of the word of God. Nether is it for those whose fire for the Lord is only lukewarm, for they will be spat out of His 20 mouth. The first resurrection is for ones who have set their minds on the things of God in full humility and Godly compassion. They have taken the
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Revelation 2.7, 11, 17, 29; 3.6, 13, 22 NLT Revelation 3.16
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time and effort to focus and persevere to hold on to Jesus teachings, even in times of despair and sorrow, and when it seems to cost them everything. They remember that the meagre price they pay is nothing compared to the full price paid by God when Jesus was sent to save the world. Aiming for the first resurrection is not arrogance. It is ambition at its finest, because complete salvation is the fulfilment of every detail of Gods perfect plan of redemption through Jesus Christ for His glory, pleasure and honour. They understand that if they can accomplish what the Lord has predestined for them to achieve, they pave the way for their sisters and brothers as they freely give what they have freely received and achieved. It follows the principle of war decreed by king David in 2 Samuel 30.24: The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike. It is not for the selfish and selfrighteous who want to get ahead to lord it over their brothers and sisters or even leave them behind. This is not love. It is not the legacy of the royal 21 bloodline of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. The first resurrectioners will not be ones who are too distracted today by the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for the other things, to focus on His Son and His words to do Gods will to the 22 end. The Lord said, That servant who knows his masters will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment 23 will be beaten with few blows. Therefore, listen to Jesus: Those whom I 24 love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. If you have sisters and brothers fighting a battle alongside you, would you want them to be ill-prepared, fearful and distracted? Likewise, the Lord will also send back those who are afraid or faint-hearted, so that those who 25 remain will not become disheartened. Therefore, repent of any cowardice or unbelief about the greater things of God. We were not saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ to let Him settle for second best. But what of the ones who were given ample opportunities to enquire and search out the Lords will, but did not bother to do so? They will still be judged according to what they have received but failed to use. Gods judgment will always be more severe against the shepherds than the flock because, from
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Revelation 5.5 Mark 4.19 23 Luke 12.47-48 24 Revelation 3.19 25 Deuteronomy 20.8
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everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the 26 one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Woe to the shepherds who failed to teach the sheep of Gods 27 pasture, His people, about the first resurrection and how to attain it. Instead they have muddied the clear waters of Gods words by making up false doctrines and visions such as the rapture and teaching people to aim for Heaven (or avoid Hell) as the highest goal of salvation. Anyone who prays and teaches the rapture instead of John 11.25-26 has gone directly against Jesus prayer to the Father, My prayer is not that You take them out of the world 28 but that You protect them from the evil one. Amen! Answer me this: If the church was meant to be raptured and return with Jesus from Heaven, why then would Jesus ask us, However, when the 29 Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the Earth? Isnt Jesus asking whether He would find a faithful faith-filled group of brothers and sisters, who are also His friends, remaining on Earth to greet Him and His saints upon their return? How do you read Jesus words? The goal of your faith The first resurrection should be the alpha of the goal of your faith. It is the beginning of the greater things to come. Why would you want to lounge in Heaven when all the excitement and action will be on the Earth where Jesus reigns for a thousand years? What could possibly be the attraction of Heaven when Jesus is on Earth and the Fathers attention is solely directed on Earth? Why would anyone want to watch Earth from a distance, with a sinking feeling that you have missed your mark and judgment is pending? Is the goal of your faith just to have a nice, easy life on Earth - eat, drink and be merry, and then die to go to Heaven? Heaven and Earth will pass 30 away, but Jesus words will never pass away. So what would you have after Heaven passes away? Is it not a better choice to live in the word of the Resurrection, because it will never be taken away from us? When you are reading the Bible, dont you wonder what it was like to walk the Earth with Jesus as Mary Magdalene did, or walk the Earth with the Father as Enoch did? When you read Jesus words, do you wish you could have been there to hear His tone and watch His facial expressions? What stops you from desiring to come to know and understand more about the only true
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Luke 12.48 Ezekiel 34.31 28 John 17.15 29 Luke 18.8 30 Matthew 24.35
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God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent? And how would you come to know Them unless you seek Them in Their prescribed way, which is by listening to Jesus? Ministry in Christ is not about building a bigger church, having the biggest chandelier in the foyer, or gathering the biggest congregation. Nor is life in Christ about tithing your income, doing good works, listening to sermons or attending mass and then going to Heaven. Heaven is not the end game. The Lord set the perfect goal for each of us to achieve in Him, if only we would step up and reach for it with both hands. It is the first resurrection and it begins with reigning with Christ in the Millennium. But you must listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, for Jesus is your Teacher and the Holy Spirit is your Counsellor. If you ask, Why should I care about the first resurrection? Why bother when all are alive in Christ anyway? then consider how much the Lord has achieved in His finished work of salvation. Consider also what God has prepared for you to accomplish for Jesus and with Jesus. You are merely selling yourself short by being short-sighted and narrow-minded. Yes, aiming for Heaven is short-sightedness (lovely as Heaven is, I imagine). Why shouldnt you first strive and make all the effort to participate in an opportunity of a life-time: To be with Jesus Christ on Earth, reigning as kings and lords who are one with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit? This is the time to do it now. Today is the day. How can anyone not want oneness with Them? How can anyone shy away from it? Even if there were no rewards, why shouldnt you strive to be as close to the Lord as much as possible? Is it about your relationship with the Lord, or is it about rewards for you? How can a true son or daughter of God prefer the comforts of Heaven to the excitement of being with Jesus as He reigns on Earth for a thousand years? If the Father is so excited about justice for Jesus in His return, shouldnt you be excited as well? If His Sons return is always on His mind, shouldnt it be constantly on your mind? What do you want in life, in this age and in the age to come? The end of the age The Lord told us that the events leading up to the first resurrection 31 will involve distress unequalled from the beginning of the world until now. We will all experience emotional, physical and spiritual hardship in different degrees as surely as Jesus experienced distress to the extreme maximum from the time at the Garden of Gethsemane until He breathed His last on the
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Matthew 24.21
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Roman cross. His distress began before He was flogged and the nails pierced through His flesh and bones, for He had previously said, But I have a 32 baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! The Lord asked His apostles James and John, Can you drink the cup 33 I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with? What is the baptism that Jesus was baptised with? 34 It was none other than the baptism of suffering, which saw God withholding mercy from His Son when He was given into the hands of men. Jesus impending death caused Him untold of distress because He knew the 35 bitter cup of suffering that lay ahead of Him. Jesus knew that God would have to withhold mercy from Him at the hour when darkness reigns. Without the full suffering as the sin offering upon the cross that brought Him death, He could not be resurrected, and none of Gods Creation could be resurrected through Him. However, have you considered that the distress Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane was not so much for Himself but for the suffering of His Father and the Holy Spirit, because They were the Ones who had to hand Him the cup of His baptism? Have you considered that Jesus heart broke for His Father and the Holy Spirit that night when His sweat was like blood dropping to the ground? The cup Jesus drank was the cup filled with the wine of the fury of Gods wrath against all mankind. He drank the last drop until He could say, It 36 is finished. Only when He was finished could we access the New Covenant by drinking the life in His blood and partaking of the resurrection in His flesh for the forgiveness of our sins. So next time you hold the cup of the fruit of the vine in your hand, do so in holy reverence of God and consider the baptism by which you were spared. Instead, we received the baptism of the Spirit of our Father without cost from the spring of the water of life. Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit all paid the full price of redemption because God so loved the world He created. And Jesus so loved the Father, with whom He has always been. According to the word of God, a time is coming and has now come when the pending storm of disasters will be released through earthquakes and hailstorms, famines, wars and plagues when the corresponding seven seals open, the seven trumpets sound, and the seven bowls of Gods wrath are
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Luke 12.50 Mark 10.38 34 Mark 10.39; Luke 12.50 NLT 35 Matthew 20.22 NLT 36 John 19.30
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poured out. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in 38 various places, and fearful events and great signs from Heaven. There will be wars and rumours of wars, but the Lord has told His disciples not to be 39 alarmed for all these are the beginning of birth pains. He said that because He knew the Father would be sending the Holy Spirit in His Name to all believers and disciples. The power of the Holy Spirit would be entrusted to the 40 elect of the Holy Spirit who are chosen from Jesus disciples, so that there will be ones who survive and remain alive on Earth during the coming days of distress without succumbing to the mark of the beast. They will preserve the Earth for Jesus to return and reign so that Scripture will be fulfilled. A series of events must occur before the Lord returns and it will call 41 for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. This applies to the saints who call out from beneath the altar, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the Earth and avenge our 42 blood? It also applies to the elect of the Lord who are asking now, How long, Lord of Heavens Armies, faithful and true, until You return to establish justice on Earth and avenge the blood You poured out for mankind at Golgotha? These dreadful events must happen because the word of God must be fulfilled and the Scripture cannot be broken. If the words of Jesus are not fulfilled, God is made out to be liar, and this would have more catastrophic effects on Gods eternity than the sum of us. If the Scripture is broken, the devil, who is the father of lies, would have won. I imagine that nothing pleases Satan more than to delay Jesus arrival until there would be no Earth for Him to return to reign upon. This way, he would avoid being thrown into the Abyss 43 for a thousand years. For in truth, Satan is like one who is on death row. He is like a dead man walking. So consider carefully how you pray. If you are praying against the earthquakes and pestilence, by your words you have established whose side you are on and who you gather with. In the midst of the distress and havoc, Jesus said that many false Christs and false prophets will appear to perform great signs and miracles to 44 deceive even the elect - if that were possible. For with God, it will be impossible to deceive those who have been carefully listening to Jesus and the
37 38 39
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Revelation chapters 6, 8, 16 Luke 21.11 Matthew 24.6-8 40 Acts 13.2 41 Revelation 13.10 42 Revelation 6.9-10 43 Revelation 20.1-3 44 Matthew 24.24
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Holy Spirit, and who have been adhering to the truth and the Spirit of Truth by the diligent faithful practice of Jesus words. Their ears will tingle and the hairs on the back of their necks will stand up when they hear lies and pretensions spoken by those who set themselves up against the knowledge of God under the pretence of compassion, humility and rightfulness. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create 45 disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things, declared the Lord. False Christs and false prophets will deceive the inhabitants of the Earth when they perform great signs and miracles, which go against the disasters that God has decreed for the end times. These disasters are purposed to bring the world to repentance, and to set up the beast, the false prophet and Satan for judgment. Peace, peace, these false Christs and false prophets will say, when there is no 46 peace. Prosper, prosper, they will say, when God has decreed famine and lack. By their accent of lies you shall recognise them, for they hate what God loves and love what God hates. Do you know what God hates, and what Jesus hates? It is as simple as doing a keyword search on hate in accordance to what was spoken by God. Be wary of the ones who say, You will have peace, or, No harm 47 will come to you, but leave out the word repent from the preaching of the Gospel. Repentance is the first thing Jesus called for when He began His ministry of redemption on Earth in Matthew 4.17 and Mark 1.15. It is the refusal to repent that holds so many back in coming to Jesus. And it is unforgiveness and unbelief in Jesus and His words that hinder believers from coming to know Jesus Christ and the only true God. How often have you heard these words, I am not a sinner. I try to do good and be good. Why do I need Christ? Why should I be judged? So how much more palatable the Gospel of our Saviour would be if repentance and forgiveness were no longer preached at the pulpit? How much more can the nations be deceived when they do not believe all the words of Jesus? Be dressed and ready for service In truth, if you have not been listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit to the degree of precision and faithfulness required of you, you will not recognise a lie or deception when you hear it. Just as a woman who exclusively drinks Evian mineral water can tell the difference between Evian and tap water. A person who does not know the word of God will mistake any word in the Bible for the words of God, for they never knew the real thing in the first
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Isaiah 45.7 Jeremiah 6.14; 8.11 47 Jeremiah 23.17-18
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place. Jesus did not say that man does not live on bread alone but on every word written in the Bible. He said, People do not live by bread alone, but by 48 every word that comes from the mouth of God. But how perfectly would one, who lives and breathes and walks only on the razors edge of the word of God, be able to distinguish a lie from the truth, a liar from a man of truth, a deception from a vision, and a demon from an angel? Is that not the wisdom of discernment and training we urgently need for the coming days of distress? And does not this preparation start now? Or have you only been taught to prepare your way to Heaven, and that is all? Go your way, then. If the be-all and end-all of the game plan is Heaven, why is Jesus coming back to reign for a thousand years? Is the thousand years figurative speech because you have misread the apostle Peters words in 2 Peter 3.8: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day? Understand that Peter was speaking in the context of the Lords patience. But Revelation 20 speaks of Jesus reign on Earth for a thousand years when the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ. Jesus will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords on the present Earth for a thousand years. Then after the Millennium and after He has destroyed every dominion, authority and power, with the last enemy, 49 Death, being destroyed, He will hand the kingdom to God the Father. Heaven and Earth will pass away and there will come a new Earth and new 50 Heaven. What king reigns for a day, really? The sentence of Heaven or Hell is only an interlocutory judgment. An interlocutory judgment is an interim judgment, and can be overruled by a higher verdict. Heaven and Hell are not the final judgment. If it was, each person would not be judged before the Great White Throne. Revelation 20.11-15 writes: Then I saw a Great White Throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His Presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the
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Matthew 4.4 NLT 1 Corinthians 15.24-26. Also see Revelation 20.14 50 Matthew 24.35; Mark 13.31; Luke 21.33; Revelation 21.1
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Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire. Although Revelation 20 does not directly say that Heaven will give up the dead in it, it does say that both death and Hades gave up their dead, both great and small. Revelation 20.13 of the NLT writes: And all were judged according to their deeds. All the dead refers to ones who did not partake in the first 51 resurrection. Only the overcomers who had remained alive for Jesus, and those who were beheaded for their testimony for Jesus and those who were 52 beheaded for the word of God throughout all the ages, have earned the privilege of the first resurrection. All those who are not partakers of the first resurrection will be subject to the judgment before the Great White Throne, where their share in the tree of life and in the Holy City will be determined. On that day their lips will be purified that all of them may call on the Name of the Lord, so that those who had not done so before will be given a final chance to receive the salvation Jesus wrought for them. Saved from the second death, which is the Lake of Fire, so as to be salvaged for the second resurrection. This is Gods mercy and grace to man. Jesus said in John 11.25-26, I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Revelation 20.6 writes: Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. Do you believe this? How much of Jesus and His words have you believed in? A bit, some, or all of them? Do you pick and choose the easier teachings or the plausible words? Do you even know the full counsel of the word of God? Dont you think it is important, since you call yourself a Christian? If you read only parts of a novel, do you think you would understand the entire plot? So what makes you think reading parts of the Bible is good enough and gives Jesus justice? Do you believe that Jesus is only a Prophet? Do you believe that Jesus words are equal to the Mosaic Law and so you practise both? Do you listen to James above Jesus? Will you die the second death? Do you believe and want to know about the first resurrection, or do you just want to close off your ears? Is knowledge of the second death more than you can bear, because it throws you off completely? If so, shouldnt it make you want to read the word of God to seek out the answers for yourself? Or do you just wave your
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Revelation 2.10, 17, 25-26, 28; 3.5, 12, 21; 1 Thessalonians 4.1 Revelation 2.10; 6.9; 20.4
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hand as if this information, this truth, is an irritation to your way of life? What is justice? Do you know? Jesus told His disciples to follow Him, but we know that many disciples turned back and no longer followed Jesus in John 6.66 when He opened up on the harder teachings of the drinking of His blood. This is because the new teaching directly contradicts the Levitical Law, and many disciples were zealous for the Law of Moses. John 6.66 is the place where any one of us may turn away when the Holy Spirit opens up on the harder teachings of Christ or steeper revelations because we take offence and say, This is a hard teaching. I will not accept it. Do you think you are any different from those disciples who turned away? Do you know your personal John 6.66, if any? Remember Jesus said to the eleven at the Last Supper, I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all 53 truth. If the Holy Spirit takes the harder teachings of Jesus and makes them known to you, things that are difficult to accept because you cannot instantly see Gods full purpose and justice behind it, would you turn back and no longer follow Jesus? Would you turn away and be frozen in place? If you are not listening to Jesus solely in delight of your relationship with Him, how would you push through and overcome your personal juncture of John 6.66? Therefore, striving to overcome and to partake in the first or second resurrection is a choice we must make for our Lord today, because He has revealed to us the secrets of the Kingdoms of Heaven and of God. I hope this answers any questions about why one should aim higher than Heaven to place your faith in the first resurrection. And I hope you are thinking about Gods heart when you answer this question, and not your own ambitions. Salvation is not by works, it is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ 54 the Son of God. This is the revelation given to Paul the apostle. But to aspire to the first resurrection, you better work your butt off with perseverance and patient endurance in listening to Jesus, fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit, and putting Jesus words into practice, including, but not limited to, loving your enemies in the prescribed way that He taught us, and loving your fellow disciples as Jesus has loved you. Unceasing repentance and forgiveness are paramount under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. We enter into this New Covenant, which is forged between the Father and Son when we eat the bread as His body and drink the wine as His blood in remembrance of Him. If we fail to practise forgiveness in obedience to Jesus commands under the New Covenant, we are not fulfilling our duty under the
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John 16.12-13 Ephesians 2.8-9
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covenant as its beneficiaries. We cannot receive the forgiveness of God in one hand, and withhold forgiveness on the other hand. For that is unrighteousness. All things happen by the grace and kindness of our God. But we should always be mindful not to become ones who say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name drive out demons and perform many miracles? and risk Jesus telling us plainly, I never knew you. 55 Away from Me, you evildoers! Have you considered why Jesus would say this to a believer, claiming He never knew him? It is because this believer did not do the will of the Father in Heaven. What is the will of the Father? Read John 6.40 to begin with. If you do not listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, how will you come to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life? Do you think that eternal life will be dished out in equal shares? If you do, then indeed there is no point in striving for the first resurrection, and I bid you well. Yet, do you think God, who is Justice, is blind? The worlds justice system has an icon that is blindfolded to depict its fairness. But I tell you the truth, God is 56 not blind. He is watching. He searches our hearts and examines our minds to know our desires and motives. This is why God is the only eligible Judge of our conduct and deeds. Salvation is so much more than avoiding condemnation to Hell and the assurance of Heaven. If it is, Jesus would not say that Heaven and Hell will pass away, but His words will never pass away. I do not know of a verse in Scripture where Jesus said that if you dont believe in Him, you will go to Hell; and if you believe in Him, you will go to Heaven. Jesus did not say these statements straightforwardly. Therefore we must seek to understand why. Is it because the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is not about the judgment of Heaven and Hell? Because we do not always have the things of God in mind, but the things of men, we often say and ask the wrong things, and we focus on the smaller picture because our view is smaller than Gods. Read Acts 1.6 when the apostles asked Jesus, Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? But Jesus replied, It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in 57 Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. Jesus replied this way to direct their focus on to the Kingdom of God; that they are to preach the Gospel to all nations. And by doing so, they would understand
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Matthew 7.22-23 Jeremiah 17.10 57 Acts 1.7-8
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that Jesus finished work of salvation is beyond the kingdom of any one nation, because He has authority over all nations. Have you not read Isaiah 49.6 when the Father said to Jesus, It is too small a thing for You to be My Servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make You a light for the Gentiles, that You may bring My salvation to the ends of the Earth? So why has the church been preaching a fear of the Lord that has nothing to do with respect for the sovereignty and justice of God, but rather of intimidation and fear tactics? It is incomplete to only preach about Heaven and Hell. In doing so, we insult the Lord! Do we realise that by this, we have darkened Gods counsel with words without knowledge, and we have done an injustice to His justice? If we had listened to Jesus at the standard to which we are called, we would not focus on preaching Heaven and Hell. Did Jesus ever say, Believe in Me, or go to Hell? How did we come to summarise judgment this way? The Lord spoke of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven: For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of 58 the law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he 59 who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven. I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom 60 of Heaven. Listen to what Jesus said to His disciples about Hell: But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But 61 anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of Hell. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go 62 into Hell. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in 63 Hell. And Jesus said this to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, who
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Matthew 5.20 Matthew 7.21 Matthew 18.3 61 Matthew 5.22 62 Matthew 5.29-30 63 Matthew 10.28
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were hypocrites: You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape 64 being condemned to Hell? Did Jesus die on the cross for our sins so that we may go to Heaven and avoid Hell? No. He came so that we may have life, and have it to the 65 full. The focus of His teachings by the letter and the spirit was always on eternal life, not Heaven and Hell. Now this is eternal life: That we may know 66 the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Anyone who 67 preaches John 3.16-18 with the focus on Heaven and Hell has missed the point completely. If we had listened carefully, we would focus on preaching eternal life, which Jesus said in John 17.3 is coming to know Jesus Christ and the only true God. Of course, I am not saying that someone who believes in Jesus would not go to Heaven. Rather, I am saying that the church has missed the focus of Jesus words on this issue because we disobeyed the Father by failing to listen to Jesus at the standard to which we are called. So, we have led the world astray with our lack of knowledge and understanding, and we are in truth, the blind leading the blind. Church: When will you realise that it is not about getting into Heaven, or staying out of Hell? This was not the focus of the ministry of Jesus Christ, and it should certainly not be the focus of the ministry of the church. It is so clear that many mistakes are made because the church has not listened to Jesus. We have offended enough what little sense of righteousness there is in the world with words that were not spoken by Jesus, and by revelations that were not given by the Holy Spirit. I am not surprised that the world sees through the hypocrisy of the church. We ourselves do not worship the Father in spirit and truth, for we have failed to listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The focus was, is and will be on eternal life, which is knowledge of God based on relationship. It starts with repenting and believing and listening to Jesus, and then hearing the Holy Spirit as He counsels us in our personal walk, as well as the church as a group. The question is not, How do I get to Heaven? Rather it is, How do I come to know You, Jesus, and the only true God? Eternal life is the bigger picture. Consider carefully why there is the second death, which is the Lake 68 of Fire. Hell is not the Lake of Fire or the second death. How can it be if the apostles testimony in Revelation 20.14 is true? It is written that the sea, death
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Matthew 23.33 John 10.10 66 John 17.3 67 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son. 68 Revelation 20.14
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and Hades will empty their inhabitants on the day of the Great White Throne judgment. Then death and Hades will be thrown empty into the Lake of Fire. (Lake of Burning Sulphur and Lake of Fire are one and the same - they are 69 both the second death. ) Consider also why there will be humans who are referred to as dogs who are not permitted to go through the gates of New Jerusalem. There will be those who practise magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practises falsehood who live outside the gates. Though they will not suffer the second death in the Lake of Fire, their 70 place is outside New Jerusalem. Compare the two groups in Revelation 21.8 and Revelation 22.15. Revelation 21.8 writes: But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery Lake of Burning Sulphur. This is the second death. Then Revelation 22.15 writes: Outside the city are the dogs - the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. What happened in between Revelation 21.8 and Revelation 22.15 that caused the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie, to be saved from condemnation to the Lake of Burning Sulphur? The event in Zephaniah 3.8-9 happened, where the Lord declared, Therefore wait for Me for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out My wrath on them - all My fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of My jealous anger. Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the Name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder. For as the Lord said in Joel 3.32, Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved. This day in Zephaniah 3.8 is the Day of Judgment before the Great White Throne in Revelation 20.11. To understand this, you must first understand what Gods judgment is. Gods judgment is simply a pronouncement of the truth. It is God telling you the truth about yourself. It is Gods testimony of man. So what is the universal truth for all men? We have sinned against God by disobeying His commands, beginning from His first command: You must not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, 71 for when you eat of it you will surely die. How men accept Gods testimony
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Revelation 20.14; 21.8 Revelation 22.15 71 Genesis 2.17
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of them on Judgment Day will determine their share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City. As Jesus said in Matthew 12.37, For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. In our ignorance and disrespect of the Lord, we criticise God, saying God is cruel and His judgment is sinister. We fail to acknowledge that only He, who knows and understands the truth, can deliver judgment and bring justice to the purpose for which He created man, male and female, in His Image and Likeness. And this is the Fathers and Jesus the Son of Mans right to judge mankind: We were made in Gods Image and Likeness God who loves justice. So when They judge man, man is judged with justice in Their righteousness. If you listen to Jesus and read His words carefully, you can decide whether the church has been incorrect to simplify Gods judgment as, Repent and believe in Jesus and go to Heaven. If you dont, you will be sent to Hell forever. If Christians or believers are exempt from judgment because they made it to Heaven through grace, why would all the dead, great and small, still be subjected to the judgment before the Great White Throne, according to 72 what they have done as recorded in the books? And why would Hades (Hell) give up the dead that were in them for judgment if their condemnation was already final? If Hell is eternal and the final judgment, why would there be another judgment before the Great White Throne? John 3.16-18 is so much more than meets the eye, dont you think? For what meets the eye is nothing compared to what pierces the heart. Dont you want to know your Fathers justice, which is perfection in judgment? Why would you want to gloss over details of such majesty that God has hidden in the truth of the words of Jesus Christ, yet reveals them to us when we ask, seek and knock with hearts that burn to come to know and love the Lord? Do you think that our Father has nothing further planned for you beyond Heaven and Hell, when He has set eternity in the hearts of men? Do you think the Holy Spirit is baptised into you by Jesus so that you may deliberately ignore Him and His commands and counsel, or exclude Him from the fullness of your worship and relationship with the Lord? Would God ever give us anything redundant? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is a gift. Have you under-estimated the power of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins that is forged between the Father and the Son? Have you under-estimated God the Forgiver?
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Revelation 20.4-6, 12-13
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If two or three come together in Jesus Name, but do not allow the Holy Spirit to take over in prayers of tongues with open hearts and minds, or allow His anointing to physically manifest as He desires, or hear what He says to the churches and agree with Him by simply saying, Amen Holy Spirit, then they have not included Him in their program of worship. We are to worship the Father in spirit and truth, for Jesus said in John 4.24, God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And as Jesus taught us to pray in secret in Matthew 6.6, why do we gather in His Name to hold public prayer meetings? But Jesus did teach us to agree with each other when we meet together: Again, I tell you that if two of you on Earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in Heaven. For where two or 73 three come together in My Name, there am I with them. If we are taught to agree with each other, shouldnt we also agree with the Holy Spirit, our Counsellor and Comforter, who prays with perfect wisdom, knowledge, insight and understanding through us? Do you have it in your heart to be a comforter to the Holy Spirit? Living with the Holy Spirit, and Him living in us, is not about throwing His Name around and darkening His counsel with words without knowledge. We need to learn to listen to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit as 74 He guides us into ALL truth, tells us what is yet to come, reminds us of 75 everything Jesus said and teaches us all things. It is not just about what is to come concerning yourself, but principally about WHO is coming, and that is Jesus Christ. This is forming an alliance with the Holy Spirit. It must be an alliance based on humble, submissive obedience and faithful loyalty from us to Him. Proclaiming His Name when your heart is not with Him and for Him, and when you have in mind the things of men, does not an alliance make. Remember the Lord said, Whoever blasphemes against the Holy 76 Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin. Yet how many of us truly know the Lord well enough to blaspheme Him? Do you know what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is? If you never or rarely listen to the Holy Spirit, nor spend quality time with Him, and if you do not treat Him as your Best Friend whom you respect and adore; if you do not respond to His rebukes and accept His corrections, and if you dont feel like you cannot live without Him, then He may choose to not respond to you in the fullness of His Person and His power. His Person is
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Matthew 18.19-20 John 16.13 75 John 14.26 76 Mark 3.29
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His power, and His power is His Person. It is just that we have always grabbed the power to build subsidiary empires in Gods Name, and left out the Person of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit may never pour out His heart to 77 you and make His thoughts known to you. Then you will not come to know Him personally. And if you havent come to know Him, then you cannot say that you love Him. And you will not miss Him until He is taken out of the way 78 of the secret power of lawlessness, when wickedness will increase. For all too often we do not appreciate what we have until it is taken from us. Have you been ignoring the Holy Spirit, individually in your daily life and corporately in church? If so, we must repent because the Lord instructed us to receive the Holy Spirit. If you have not been fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit and listening to Jesus at the personal standard that you have been called, then you are not worshipping the Father in spirit and truth. And you 79 are not a worshipper whom the Father seeks. It is the Holy Spirit who will reveal to you your personal standard in listening to Jesus. How would you come to know the voice of the Holy Spirit unless you have listened to Jesus in the first place, so that the Holy Spirit can remind you of Jesus words? Shepherds: If you have not fed the flock by teaching them to obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus and Jesus command to listen to the Holy Spirit, then repent as the Holy Spirit is convicting you in regard to 80 righteousness. Be earnest and repent. Amen Holy Spirit The apostle Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way to reveal the man of lawlessness at the proper time when He will no longer hold 81 the power of lawlessness back. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be 82 saved. But the Holy Spirits elect, who have been discipled by the Holy Spirit Himself, will know the details of the plans of God that will unfold regarding the lawless one. The false prophet is the man of lawlessness and the beast of the earth of Revelation 13.11. The false prophet is a man who will perform many great
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Proverbs 1.23 2 Thessalonians 2.7 John 4.21-24 80 John 16.8 81 2 Thessalonians 2.3, 6-8 82 2 Thessalonians 2.9-10
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and miraculous signs. He will look like a lamb but speak like a dragon, and 84 he will set himself up in Gods temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Is the false prophet the antichrist, or just an antichrist, as written by the apostle John? An antichrist is not a man who does not believe in Jesus, the Son of God. Those who do not believe in Jesus already stand condemned according to Jesus words in John 3.18. Read 1 John 2.18-19: An antichrist is one who went out from us, the church or a fellowship, and did not remain with us. He is one who followed Jesus and then turned on Him, denying his own testimony that Jesus is the Christ. He is a liar. There is a difference between the deceived and the liars. According to the word of God, believers will perish this way, My 85 people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. In truth, the church of Jesus Christ sits in a perishing state from prolonged malnutrition due to the lack of 86 knowledge of the Scriptures or the power of God. We lack deep understanding of the word of God and true fellowship with the Spirit of God. We fell so far from the mark because the disciples failed to listen to Jesus right from the word Go. And the church perpetuates the same mistakes in our failure to listen to Jesus. What with their holy water, rosary beads and bodyguards for famous preachers, how can the church stand, but be deceived when the deceiver comes with his attractions and razzle dazzle of counterfeit signs, wonders and miracles? Men of God have always tried to control the Holy Spirit by not allowing Him His rightful place, and restricting His freedom by not letting Him have His way in His churches. In Acts 1.4-8, the Lord said to the disciples, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with the water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Yet in the first instance, the disciples already disobeyed the word of the Lord by failing to wait for the Holy Spirit. Before the Holy Spirit was baptised into them, the eleven took it upon themselves to appoint the twelfth person to replace Judas place in the apostolic ministry. They only had to wait for a few days for the Holy Spirit. Did not Jesus teach them that the Holy Spirit would guide them into ALL truth and teach them ALL things? So why didnt they wait for the Lord? The apostolic ministry belongs to Jesus Christ. Prior to the appointment of the twelve, did Jesus choose men by His own authority and then cast the lot
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Revelation 13.11 2 Thessalonians 2.4 85 Hosea 4.6 86 Matthew 22.29
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among them? Rather, did He not go into deep consultation with the Father 87 when He went to the mountainside and prayed the entire night? The disciples designated two men, Joseph and Matthias. They cast the lot, and whoever the lot fell on, they called it the will of God and an act of God. But the word clearly says that the disciples, not Jesus or the Holy Spirit, 88 proposed the two men. Common sense dictates that if you pick two candidates and cast the lot, it will fall on one of the two. What is so miraculous about that? Where is the Holy Spirit in that? Couldnt they wait for the Holy Spirits arrival for the appointment of the twelfth apostle? By what authority did they have to designate an apostle? And who did Jesus have in mind as the twelfth? Do you know? Have you asked the Holy Spirit? How different would the state of the church be in terms of power and strength if the twelfth apostle was correctly appointed? So how can it be said that God chose Matthias when he was clearly appointed by men? From Acts 1, men have ventured to displace the power of the Holy Spirit by not listening to Him or waiting on Him, and by not following His counsel. For the Holy Spirit was sent to us so that we are not left as orphans, but would grow under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth to mature into the stature of Christ as living testaments of the wisdom and righteousness of God our Father and Creator. And so there will be a civil war in the house of God as surely as the 89 Lord came to bring division. Soon will come the defining moment of a clearcut division in Gods household between those who firmly acknowledge and faithfully practise the Fathers command to listen to Jesus and Jesus command to listen to the Holy Spirit, and those who disown the direct command of the Father in preference of the old written code of the Levitical Law mixed in with the decay of the traditions of men. This move is purposed by the Lord, the 90 91 Good Shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats. He will differentiate between the ones who are loyal to the law and interested in blessings for themselves, and the ones who are loyal to Jesus and faithful in procuring blessings for His Father. Question is: Which side will you be on, and will you be weighed on the scales and be found wanting?
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Luke 6.12 Acts 1.23 89 Luke 12.51 90 John 10.11 91 Matthew 25.32
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Freedom You may think that there is no difference between the Levitical Law and the words of Jesus because it all comes from God. But a hasty oversimplification of the things of God never takes us into further understanding of Him, does it? You may even think that because God, who is One, never changes. It is true that His Oneship never changes and His principles do not change. But if it is all the same, why did God send His Son and command us to listen to Him? Why would He tell Noah to build the ark, but Abraham to walk the land? What if Noah walked the land and Abraham built the ark against God commands? Why did the Father command Israel not to drink blood, yet Jesus commanded His disciples to drink His blood? We were cut off from the Levitical Law when we obeyed Jesus to drink His blood and eat His flesh. We are cut off, yet still spiritually intact by a spirit of love of justice, righteousness and kindness under the New Covenant. The new wine replaced the old wine, and God laid another foundation since 92 Jesus came to fulfil the law and the Prophets and all righteousness. The transition from the old covenant to the new was instantaneous. The New Covenant clicked into place smoothly and flawlessly, undetected by the naked eye. For who at Golgotha could tell that, when Jesus said, It is finished, 93 bowed His head and gave up His spirit, the New Covenant was enforced and the old covenant was made obsolete? Since we drank blood and disobeyed one command, then we have broken the entire Levitical Law and are under the curse of the disobedience of the law. But the Son has set us free into the new way of the Spirit. For where 94 the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom is the distinctive feature of disciples who listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit. No rulers lord it over them spiritually, nor do high officials exercise authority over them except Jesus Christ their Lord. They follow Jesus and His teachings firstly and lastly with all their might. Their eyes are glued to Jesus, their ears are opened to hear the Holy Spirit and their hearts beat for the Father. Mans voice has no place in them because their hearts are full to the measure of the pure words of God, which are overflowing unto the Fathers lap like precious gems. Words of men would be mere noise to them unless they feel the voice of God burning in their hearts. You can tell them from a mile away, for their freedom is offensive to those in the house of God whose
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Matthew 5.17; 3.15 John 19.30 94 2 Corinthians 3.17
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commitment is everywhere but steadfastly in Jesus and His words, and to the Holy Spirit. It is obvious. The freed ones have young children who can partake in the communion at any age. They do not have to take tests before being baptised in water. After all, it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that gives life when we are born again. In their congregations, the women do not have to sit on one side and men the other. Women are allowed to preach and their children are encouraged to practise ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit. Their freedom is in the Lord because Gods word is not chained. Yet it will be seen as unholy to those who have been too busy binding demons to bind themselves to the word of God. Jesus came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a mans enemies will be 95 members of his own household. Within the house of God, there are enemies of the Fathers royal command: Listen to Jesus. They who are not with the command are against it, and they who do not gather in fulfilment of the command scatter. Yet Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for 96 those who persecute us, that we may be sons of our Father in Heaven. We are to imitate Him in His perfection, which is manifested in mercy and compassion to our enemies. This includes in-house enemies, for Jesus said our enemies are the members of our own household. We are to always pray and encourage those who backslide from the command to listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because small is the gate and 97 narrow is the road that leads to life. At the same time, we should not let anyone hold us back or slow us down in finishing the good race for the Lord, because at the end of the day it is still between you and the Lord, the Lord and the Lord. Jesus was preaching, healing the sick, driving out demons, cleansing those with leprosy and raising the dead in His ministry on Earth, but nothing deterred or delayed Him from His destined purpose, which was the work of salvation. So with us, we should do the same and always keep our eyes on the 98 treasure. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also. What is your treasure? What is your destination? Is your face resolutely set for Jerusalem to 99 remain alive for Jesus by keeping His word to fulfil John 11.26 and to meet Jesus at His soon arrival? Or are you Heaven-bound?
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Matthew 10.35 Matthew 5.43-48; Luke 6.27-36 97 Matthew 7.14 98 Luke 12.34 99 John 8.51
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The will of the Father is for all to come to Jesus and listen to Him, to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness in fulfilment of Jesus command. For it is not just about what you do or say, give or give up, but whether you 100 have held onto Jesus teachings first and foremost as His disciples. The rest just flows as the Holy Spirit polishes you like a diamond in the rough. What you are meant to do or say, give or give up for Jesus will come gradually and naturally. The Holy Spirit takes you through those steps as He gives growth and matures you, and it is wonderful. It may hurt at times, but it is wonderful, because whatever God does to and for us is good. He is a good Father - the only perfect Father. How can you hold to Jesus teachings if you do not direct yourself to His words and cry out for understanding? Do you think you are holding to His teachings by listening to a twenty-minute sermon and tithing ten per cent? Tithe all you want; or dont tithe. But listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit before you do or say or give anything else in His Name. That is the freedom of the Spirit of the Lord - to tithe as the Holy Spirit guides you. Is it written that Jesus tithed? When did tithing become a central part of worship? Does God look for givers who give out of obligation instead of love? He is not looking for worshippers who tithe in spirit and truth. He is looking for worship that is first established in your love of listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Whatever you do in His Name outside of the command, Listen to Jesus, may be counted worthless because the Lord can still say to you, Away from Me you evildoer, I never knew you. The true tithe is not in your income. Jesus said, Give to Caesar what 101 is Caesars, and to God what is Gods. The true tithe is our holiness to God in our commitment of our whole heart and life to Them. We tithe our time, our lives and all our hopes and dreams to seek first our Fathers kingdom 102 and His righteousness. And the true offering is the full return of love from sons and daughters, because what He gave the world was His Son - the One most beloved to Him. True tithing is not even about percentages. It is an act of freewill. It is a gesture that overflows from the heart to the hands, which acknowledges this truth: All our fruitfulness comes from the Lord alone. Whatever you give to the Lord out of what you received from Him, is based on gratitude, appreciation, respect, honour, praise and awe. Read Moses teachings in Deuteronomy 12.5-7: But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put His
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John 8.31 Matthew 22.21 102 Matthew 6.33
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Name there for His dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you. The Father has blessed us with His Son, who is the Resurrection and the Life. So this is what we return to God: Jesus in us and us in Jesus - in His fullness. Now that is the true tithe worth giving. However, is true tithing taught in our churches? Is it taught by the churches that it is imperative for everyone, big or small, young or old, to read and highlight the spoken words of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Bible, to listen to Jesus and put Jesus words into practice? Rather, havent we loved to highlight and quote the Psalms, Proverbs, Pauls letters and even our church founders words before Jesus words? Is it written that they are S/spirit 103 and life as Jesus said His words are? And when Heaven and Earth pass 104 away, was it also said that they will never pass away? Do you know? Is the church of Jesus Christ famous for listening to Jesus and powerful in testifying about forgiveness in honour of the New Covenant? Or rather, is the church of Jesus Christ renowned for asking for contributions? Why is this so? Why do unbelievers know more about the Levitical ten per cent tithing rule than the command to listen to Jesus? Does the church truly love these things more than Jesus? Therefore teachers of the law and shepherds of Gods sheep, repent. Due to our continuing ignorance and rebellion against the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, there has been an increase of wickedness in the 105 church as its sin is reaching its full measure. How will the church be judged 106 for the sin of the world, which is that men do not believe in Jesus, because of its failure to spread and preach the Fathers command to listen to Jesus and its shocking inability to testify with the Holy Spirit? God, who is Justice, will hold accountable every sin of the world. The world should have been correctly warned by the church, His watchman. Therefore He will remit the worlds sin 107 upon the shoulder of the church. This is the accountability of a watchman. Are you discontented with the state of powerlessness of the church and are you looking for the power as it is written in the words of Jesus? Are you dissatisfied with a few hours at church because you want so much more
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John 6.63 Luke 21.33 105 Genesis 15.16 106 John 15.22; 16.9 107 Ezekiel 33.6
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from this life with God? Do you read the words of Jesus and cry out for understanding because it hurts to have gaps in your knowledge of Jesus and the word of God? Are you preparing yourself to survive the coming days of disasters, or do you have your hands up for a quick exit to Heaven when the days of distress come upon us? Will you be the Lords lampstand illuminating the way for others to find refuge in Jesus as you shine through the darkness and confusion of the coming days, whilst remaining alive to honour your King on His soon arrival? The vengeance of a just and mighty God Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes, will fall and be destroyed when God avenges against her the blood of the saints and the prophets; for in her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the Earth as the nations were led astray by her 108 magic spells. The Lord Almighty has reserved a separate cup filled with the wine of the fury of Gods wrath just for her. But before it happens, in His mercy and kindness, God your Father will say to the churches, Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to Heaven, and God has 109 remembered her crimes. Then the great city of Babylon (a symbolic figure, which when revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, will shock and disgust you as 110 surely as John was greatly astonished ) will be thrown down, never to be 111 found again. Jesus said that immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from 112 the sky, and the Heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all nations will see the Son of Man coming 113 on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. There will be great 114 rejoicing, praise and worship in Heaven as Jesus Christ our King makes His comeback to Earth to reign for a thousand years. And what a great comeback of glory and victorious justice it will be for all Creation and for those who have not only faithfully desired this day, but stood firm in their faith in Jesus words of John 11.26 to stay alive that they may witness and receive the return of the King!
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Revelation 16.6; 17.6; 18.24 Revelation 18.4-5 Revelation 17.6 111 Revelation 18.21 112 Matthew 24.29 113 Matthew 24.30 114 Revelation 19.1-8
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This is the general sequence of the events that are to come as recorded in Revelation 18-21. Remember, the timeframe in the apostle Johns vision may not be clear in its revealing, but it does provide us with an idea of the timeline: Revelation 18: Babylon the prostitute falls. With violence it will be thrown down, never to be found again. Revelation 19: A great multitude in Heaven shouts praises to God for His just judgments and in anticipation of the wedding of the Lamb that will take place after the thousand years. Heaven opens, and the King of kings and Lord of lords, riding on a white horse, leads the armies of Heaven to Earth. The beasts, the kings of the Earth and their armies gather together to make war against the King and His army. But the beast and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the Lake of Burning Sulphur. The rest of them are killed with the sword that comes out of the mouth of the Rider on the horse. Revelation 20: An angel seizes Satan and throws him into the Abyss for a thousand years. Those who are eligible to take part in the first resurrection reign with Jesus for a thousand years. When the thousand years are over, Satan is released. He goes and deceives the nations to gather them for battle. They surround the camp of Gods people, the city He loves. But fire comes down from Heaven and devours them. Satan is thrown into the Lake of Burning Sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. The sea gives up the dead that are in it, and death and Hades give up the dead that are in them. Each person, the dead and alive who did not make it into the first resurrection, is judged before the Great White Throne. Then death and Hades are thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is in fulfilment of Zephaniah 3.8: I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out My wrath on them - all My fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of My jealous anger. Then the Fathers mercy and grace reveal their true depth as He fulfils Zephaniah 3.9: Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the Name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder. For everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will 115 be saved. Then, if anyones name is not found written in the Book of Life, he too is thrown into the Lake of Fire.
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Joel 2.32
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Revelation 21: Heaven and Earth pass away. A New Heaven and a New Earth come, and New Jerusalem comes down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a beautiful bride for her Husband, Jesus. God has indeed made everything new, and even now is making all things new. Make no mistake. Our Lord Jesus Christ will return to reign as King on Earth for a thousand years with His called, chosen and faithful 116 followers. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who is called 117 Faithful and True. His kings and lords will be gathered with a loud trumpet 118 call from the ends of the Earth to the ends of the Heavens. And He will strike down the nations with the sharp sword that comes from His mouth and 119 rule them with an iron sceptre. The apostle Paul wrote that those who are dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with 120 the Lord forever and will reign with Him for the thousand years. These are the saints who have been slain because of the word of God and the testimony 121 they had maintained. They are ones who have held onto their testimony and the greater testimony, which is the testimony of God that He gave about His 122 Son. The saints have waited in Heaven for the unveiling of Gods majesty and have cried out in a loud voice, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, 123 until You judge the inhabitants of the Earth and avenge our blood? This blood that God will avenge against Babylon is the blood of His saints, those who bore testimony to Jesus and the word of God, and is in the golden cup that she holds. It is the maddening wine of adulteries that she has been drunk 124 with and has intoxicated the kings and inhabitants of the Earth. In one hour, her doom will come and her wealth will be brought to ruin as God takes 125 righteous vengeance for the blood of His saints, prophets and apostles. But what about the blood of our Lord and Saviour, the blood that was poured generously and freely into the cup of the New Covenant? Will the blood that was shed by Jesus, each precious drop of salvation which carries in it the gracious promise of eternal life, be avenged by His Father? How will
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Revelation 17.14 Revelation 19.16, 11 Mark 13.27; Revelation 2.26 119 Revelation 19.15 120 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17 121 Revelation 6.9; 20.4 122 1 John 5.9 123 Revelation 6.9-10 124 Revelation 17.6; 18.3 125 Revelation 18.10, 17, 20
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God His Father correct the injustice suffered by Jesus? One drop of His Sons blood would have been sufficient to sanctify and save the whole world. Yet in His mightiness to save and in His mercy, Jesus shed blood from the moment He was flogged and whipped, and from the crown of thorns that pierced and lacerated His scalp. And then unto His death on a cross where the Son of God was disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human 126 likeness. Even during His anguish in the Gethsemane Garden, His sweat 127 was like drops of blood. Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. But the degree of rejection, violence and cruelty inflicted on Him was purely of men, not of God. Psalm 22.6-8 writes of Jesus pain of suffering: But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see Me mock Me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him. 128 As surely as it is Gods to avenge and Gods to repay, how will the Father take holy vengeance to avenge the blood of His beloved Son of the eternal covenant? The covenant of God called for the shedding of blood, for the life of a creature is in the blood. He gave the blood of His Son to the 129 world to make atonement for our sins. The Israelites were commanded to abstain from drinking blood until the time came when He whose blood was sinless had been poured out for the forgiveness of sins upon a Roman cross, so that we may all obey the Law of Jesus under the New Covenant and serve in the new way of the Spirit. Then we are no longer under the judgment of the 130 law, which is the old way of the written code. However, do we treasure the Lamb of God to the full extent of the sacrifice made by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit? Our forgiveness and salvation are gifts, for we did nothing to earn or deserve them. All we have to do is to repent and believe in Jesus. So do we cherish the New Covenant sealed by Jesus blood, which was poured out for us? Or is it something we take for granted and glaze over with a wave of our hand, Yeah sure, whatever you say. Jesus died for me. Whats new? Where do you stand? There were, are and will be ones who treasure each amazing gift from God. They are disciples of Jesus who love to obey the command to listen to
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Isaiah 52.14 Luke 22.44 128 Deuteronomy 32.35 129 Leviticus 17.11 130 Romans 7.6
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Jesus. They love the One who gave the gift, more than the gift itself. They listen to Jesus and practise His words. They are taught well by Jesus because they listen attentively to the Holy Spirit. They persevere to overcome and remain alive on Earth, because Jesus said, Everyone who lives in Me and 131 believes in Me will never ever die. And His word is truth. Jesus is the Truth. There will be disciples of Jesus who strive to survive the distress of the end times by the power of the Holy Spirit that has been entrusted to them. For how else, except by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, will we survive this coming storm of unequalled proportions? Will it be by financial power, political power, or by technology? Do not be fooled again. It was our unfaithfulness to Jesus that caused us to abandon the testimonial power of miracles and the counselling of the Holy Spirit in the first place. As Jesus arose on the third day in resurrection glory - so will the dead in Christ rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The sweet and mighty trumpet call will sound, and we will be changed in a twinkling of the eye. We will be raised imperishable, eternally cloaked in the regal robes of the immortality of the first 132 resurrection. And we will be with the Lord forever. Tell me, are there any sweeter words than these? We shall be with the Lord forever. So there will be ones who will love Jesus more than they love their 133 father or mother or son or daughter. They have left whatever was necessary for Jesus and the Gospel because their faith is completely in Him and His words, and their trust is in God. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the Gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields and with 134 them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. Does this word seem hard to you? Did you judge God harshly here? Did you dislike or take offence at the leaving part, or the persecution part? The Lord guaranteed that we will receive a hundred-fold of what we give up in this age and eternal life in the age to come. In truth, what are we really giving up but time, since we know that we will get back what we give up in an incomparably far better form eternally? Isnt that good maths? It is Gods maths! It only means that we cannot have what we want when we want it, but
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John 11.26 NLT 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17 133 Matthew 10.37 134 Mark 10.29-30
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we should first follow Jesus and wait for Gods perfect timing. This indeed takes patience and trust in God. Disciples who have chosen to be led by the counsel of the Holy Spirit 135 to strive for the first resurrection will understand this. They will not boast to the Lord, We have left everything to follow You! What then will there be 136 for us? They know that everything they have accomplished was first done by God, and then through them by God, and brought to manifestation by humble, obedient submissiveness to the Holy Spirit that they might even do things for God. So what is there to boast about? In the process of following Jesus, listening to Him and being refined and matured by the Holy Spirit, they know better than to ask what the Lord has in store for them like a demanding child. They know what the Lord has in store for them and it is kept private in their hearts. By the fire in their eyes, you will recognise them. Their delight is in Jesus and His words, for whom they consider more than worthy to lose their heads as His witnesses. Their delight is also in repentance and forgiveness, because they know the covenant they live by, and by which they were spared. This takes true humility, patient endurance, perseverance and the good courage of the Lord. They will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony for 137 they will not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. For they live by this truth: Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for 138 Jesus sake will find it. Is this too dramatic for you? If so, it is because you have yet to fall in love with Jesus by listening to Him and consuming His words as if there was a famine inside your heart. Falling in love is dramatic. It is not for the fainthearted, the weak-willed or the self-seeking. 139 Here is another facet of Mark 10.29-30 for us to live by: We who remain in the Resurrection as His words remain in us will begin witnessing the resurrection of our dead hopes and fallen dreams. For there is nothing you leave behind or leave for dead in Jesus Name that He would not give back to you in the abundance of resurrection glory. It starts with sprinkles of resurrection in your personal life, which is like drops in an ocean. May it be a buried childhood dream to write a book or a forgotten desire to perform before thousands of people, the glory of the resurrection of the Lord will take
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Galatians 5.18 Matthew 19.27 137 Revelation 12.11 138 Matthew 10.39 139 I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the Gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
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hold of them. He will call out to them, Come forth, and the results will be far better than you could ever imagine. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Him will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Him will never die. 140 Do you believe this? Did He not tell you that if you believed, you would see 141 the glory of God? If smaller events of resurrection in your life are thrilling and touching for you, consider the way that the resurrection of His saints, prophets and apostles moves and excites the Lord, the Lord and the Lord? What honour what glory - what majesty - what joy - what delight - and what a treasure to behold! First resurrection: Two requirements So if you are interested to be eligible for the first resurrection, you must learn these two requirements and you must watch out for the signs of the times. Indeed, it is a privilege to strive for. These are requirements to knowingly and faithfully fulfil if you wish to reign with Jesus on Earth for a thousand years. Is this not the ultimate desire of your heart and the aspiration of your walk with God? What is the great reward of your faith if it is not Jesus - the Man, the God, the Word, the Lord and the King - and to be one with Him forever? What else is there, but to never be cast from the presence of God again? 1a. To be an overcomer and remain alive for Jesus to be given authority to judge The apostle John saw in the Spirit: I saw thrones on which were 142 seated those who had been given authority to judge. These are ones about whom Jesus said, Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does My will to the end, I will give authority over the nations He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like 143 144 pottery. They are those who overcame and remained alive to fulfil Jesus desire of Luke 18.8 that when He comes He will find faith on the Earth, and 145 to prove Him the Life He testified to be. OR
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John 11.25-26 John 11.40 Revelation 20.4 first part of verse 143 Revelation 2.25-27 144 1 Thessalonians 4.17 145 John 11.26; 14.6
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1b. To be beheaded because of your testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God The apostle John also saw in the Spirit in the same vision: And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of 146 Jesus and because of the word of God. This second group is those who are dead in Christ, having been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the Word of God. These are the saints who were beheaded for their testimony for Jesus and those who were beheaded for proclaiming the word of God throughout all the ages. They will return with Jesus to reign on Earth. In the NASB, it is written: And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of 147 God. The AMP writes: Also I saw the souls of those who had been 148 slain with axes for their witnessing to Jesus and for the Word of God. The NLT translates: And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of 149 God. So the fullness of Revelation 20.4 taken from the four versions is that we must be beheaded because of the following: Testifying and witnessing for Jesus - of Jesus - to Jesus - about Jesus; and For the Word of God and for proclaiming the word of God. Those of us who have practised the words of Jesus and witnessed the truth of those words, have been commanded to testify together with the Holy 150 Spirit for Jesus, who is the Word of God in the flesh. This is the entirety or fullness of your testimony so that you may qualify to run in the race to be a part of the first resurrection. As an exercise for yourself, look up the other versions of the Bible to further understand Revelation 20.4. Let the Holy Spirit open up His revelations to you. This is pivotal if you are serious about the first resurrection and being qualified to reign with the Lord on Earth for a thousand years. My Father is extremely serious about this, are you? If we see that our testimony of Jesus and His word, in truth and in spirit, is our sword, then we can understand why the Lord said that His yoke is
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Revelation 20.4 second part of verse Revelation 20.4 NASB 148 Revelation 20.4 AMP 149 Revelation 20.4 NLT 150 John 15.26-27; Acts 1.8
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easy and His burden is light. To testify of what you know and what you have 151 seen (i.e. the truth), that yoke is easy and that burden light. Do not be deceived. The work of salvation, which belongs to the Lord alone, is as complete as it is perfect. Do not think that we are called to add, decorate or amend His perfectly finished work, but we have been called to be witnesses of it. That is it. Whatever we do and whatever we say must be to gain honour for Jesus who sent us to testify for Him with the Holy Spirit. We cherish and respect the precious Holy Spirit because we testify by the power of truth and the truth of power, which we have received from on high. Johns baptism of water was a baptism of repentance for restoration, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism for resurrection. For even the Lord had a baptism to undergo and He was distressed until it was completed. By 152 one sacrifice, the Author of salvation was made perfect through suffering 153 and He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. He was resurrected by the power of Holy Spirit and now sits at the right hand of the 154 mighty God, and is due to return to reign on Earth for a thousand years. 2. Do not worship the beast or his image and do not receive his mark The apostle John then said in the same vision, They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their 155 foreheads or their hands. Here, they refer to both groups above, for both groups refused to take on the mark of the beast and worship him; meaning they did not betray God. The AMP expands Revelation 20.4: Also I saw the souls of those who had refused to pay homage to the beast or his statue and had not accepted his mark or permitted it to be stamped on their foreheads or on their hands. The second requirement is two-fold. To qualify for the first resurrection, we must not worship the first beast or his image, nor bear the mark of the beast on our foreheads or hands. All who refuse to worship the 156 beast will be ordered by it to be killed. The mark of the beast is figurative of the spiritual sign and physical gesture of the effect of lack and powerlessness. The mark is figuratively on our foreheads and hands because it is in our thinking and actions. It can also be a physical institutional mark.
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Matthew 11.28-30 Hebrews 2.10 Hebrews 10.14 154 Luke 22.67 155 Revelation 20.4 third part of verse 156 Revelation 13.15
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When the mark of the beast comes during the days of distress, how many in the church will succumb to the mark for survival because they have not listened to Jesus or practised His words, thereby showing themselves to be ones who could not be trusted by the Holy Spirit with His power? No wonder fruitless minds have concocted such useless theories of rapture. It is worse than an emu sticking its head into the sand. I must warn you: If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand will drink of the wine of Gods fury, which will be poured full strength into the cup of His wrath; beginning first with ugly and painful sores. They will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or 157 receive the mark of his name. Why? Because for believers and disciples, if we worship the beast, we have in truth substituted Jesus Christ with the beast. The attitude we must have is the refusal to worship the first beast or his image and to refuse his mark into our minds, flesh and actions. To inadvertently or unintentionally avoid the worship of the beast and the mark will not qualify you as one who fulfils this requirement. The required attitude is a fierce and blanket refusal to accept the beast, and to actively and deliberately reject and decline its ways. This must be based on freewill and knowledge. And yes, you will need a degree of power if you desire to survive the days of coming distress, so that you will overcome any fear to not worship the beast and refuse to receive his mark. Living in His grace and mercy should mean that you would rather perish than go against Jesus words: Worship the Lord your God, and serve 158 Him only. For, if you lose your life in your refusal to worship the beast or his image, you would not have forfeited your soul. Rather, you will have qualified for the first resurrection because you have lost your head by maintaining your testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. This may not be an easy concept to grasp. The teachings on the first resurrection may seem heavy. But remember Jesus said to the eleven in John 16.12-13, I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into ALL truth. He will not speak on His own; He will only speak what He hears, and He will tell you what is to come. Could it be that the first resurrection and the second death are words that the eleven were not able to bear at the time, but the Lord later showed the apostle John through visions as recorded in the book of Revelation?
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Revelation 14.9-11; 16.2 Matthew 4.10; Luke 4.8
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There is no Rapture The battles that lead to the final battle and the final battle itself are not designed for the ignorant, the disheartened, the distracted and the disloyal. Your understanding of Jesus and His words, and your knowledge of the Holy Spirit must be driven by your love for Them, which you will need to obtain and sustain your courage and faithfulness. It is the core from where your testimony flows. It is the very foundation you have dug deep and laid out your life upon to consider that which you gave up for Christ as nothing, so that the only weight on your shoulder is your daily cross, and your only weapon is the sharp sword of the word of the Lord, which comes out of your mouth. If the sheer thought of meeting the Lord at the Mount of Olives does not make your heart skip a beat - if the anticipation of seeing your King 159 enthroned in Jerusalem on His holy hill, as all bow down and worship in silence, does not fill you to the brim with excitement - if you are not hanging out for the moment of the Lords return with your neck stretched and eyes bulging - or if you do not yearn for His return so much that you can almost hear the atoms in the air crackle and pop from the electricity of His nearness, then the final battle is not for you. It is definitely not for those who are praying for the so-called rapture before the end times so they may avoid the hardship and terror of the wrath of their God. In the parables Jesus taught us, did not the master who went away on business put his servants in charge of the household? The master did not leave his household unattended. If he did, wouldnt the thieves break in and rob his house? Do you think God would leave His house and His Earth open to plunder by His enemies? Do you think the Lord a fool? He is God and His Name is Jealous. The Father is so jealous for the world that His Son laid down His life for its redemption. And Jesus is jealous for the world that His Father created through Him. And the Holy Spirit is jealous for the glory of the Father and the Son. Should we not be in total awe of Their Oneness? If the church of Jesus Christ is taken out of the way before the end, then who is going to greet Jesus upon His return on the Mount of Olives? What then would be the greater things that we can do in Jesus Name? I tell you the truth, John 11.26 is one of the greater things we can achieve in the Lord. For the Son of Man died on the cross, but He said whoever lives and believes in Him will never die. He also said that if anyone keeps His word, he 160 would never see death. Is it too much of a fairy tale for you? Where is your
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Joel 3.17; Psalm 2.6 John 8.51
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child-like innocence and imagination? Where have you placed your faith in Jesus and your trust in God? It is easy to spot a church that thinks that the Holy Spirit will be staying and it will be raptured. It is the church that thinks it does not need the power of the Holy Spirit, albeit for a few healings and deliverance to bless itself with. No wonder that church does not listen to the Holy Spirit - it has already planned its retirement. So go. Be blessed and go. Church: There is no pre/mid/post tribulation rapture where the entire church will be delightfully whisked away from the disasters and beamed up to Heaven in the twinkling of an eye. The twinkling of an eye that our brother Paul spoke of will occur at the last trumpet call, which is at the first 161 resurrection when the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable. It is not a pre-tribulation trumpet call. Why would the dead in Christ be raised before Jesus returns? The word of God testifies that the first resurrection will occur upon Jesus return to Earth, and the souls of those beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and the word of God will come to life and reign with Him 162 a thousand years. We need to get the timeline right. The church has a huge problem and she knows it. Do the churches practise healing the sick by laying hands on them as Jesus commanded? Did Jesus ever command us to pray for the sick? No, He did not. He taught His disciples to pray in secret and to pray for those who persecute and mistreat 163 them. Can the churches deliver those who are troubled by demons by driving out the demons with one word? Do they constantly practise? A great concert hall does not a church make. A church should be a fellowship of believers and disciples who can drive out demons, speak in tongues fluently, pick up snakes with their hands with no fear of the enemy, drink deadly poison and not be harmed, and lay hands on sick people for healing, as they preach 164 the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus gave His disciples authority to drive out demons and to heal the sick, but He also said that these signs will accompany believers. Since churches cannot do these things, what tangible proof can we offer that we are believers and disciples of Jesus Christ? Is that justice for Jesus? Or do we make His words out to be lies by our disobedience? The wonders and miracles are just the signs that accompany believers! What of disciples who hold to Jesus teachings and remain in Him and His words remain in them?
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1 Thessalonians 4.16; 1 Corinthians 15.52 Revelation 20.4 163 Matthew 6.6; 5.43; Luke 6.28 164 Mark 16.17-18
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But the church knows that the signs, wonders and miracles do not manifest consistently and constantly in its midst. That is why false doctrines such as The Rapture have been concocted and preached, which is a cowardly and disgraceful doctrine for any believer of Jesus Christ to follow. The Rapture is not the goal of our faith, and it is not what draws us into patient endurance and perseverance in Jesus Name. The Rapture is a quick exit plan to Heaven because the churches know they are not prepared for the coming disasters. It shows that churches do not know the righteousness and justice of our God. Holy Spirit: We have a problem. We are stuck somewhere between the old covenant and the New Covenant, between the desert and the outskirts of Jericho. We crossed the Jordan when we accepted the blood of the New Covenant, and drank the Son of Mans blood and ate His flesh. Jesus circumcised our hearts just as Israel was circumcised in the flesh at Gilgal. And He rolled away the reproach of slavery to sin from us, which is our forsaking of God. Between the Jordan riverbanks and the walls of Jericho, we were given considerable time and ample opportunities to live the New Covenant, listen and practise the words of Jesus, and speak the languages of the Holy Spirit, to prepare us in His power for the battles ahead when the Holy Spirit 165 will be taken out of the way of lawlessness. But the church has not formed an alliance with the Holy Spirit so that it can bring the thick walls of Jericho down with a triumphant shout carried out in the prescribed way. The church wants to go to Heaven for a wedding feast and leave the Earth unattended the very world that Jesus died to save. They plan to leave the Holy Spirit behind to do all the work, and the unbelievers to suffer the distress that will come upon the whole Earth as Gods punishment to them. Therefore, judgment will come harder on the house of God than on the world because the servant who knows his Master's will but does not get ready will be beaten 166 with many blows. Do not doubt Gods justice, and do not judge Him as cruel. Do not think of the Lord as only a happy-clappy God, but remember He can be as shrewd as a serpent and as innocent as a dove in His exercise of kindness, righteousness and justice on Earth. Do you honestly think that being whisked away from the distress, which Gods wrath will bring because His love is a consuming fire that overcomes all sins, is worthy of these words of the elders, These are they who
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2 Thessalonians 2.7 Luke 12.47
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have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made 167 them white in the blood of the Lamb? When you read Revelation 9.20-21 and Revelation 16.11, do you think that the rest of mankind and men who are unrepentant refer to nonbelievers only? Consider how many Christians worship idols of gold, silver, bronze, wood and stone in the house of God? How many Christians have repented of their failure to listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit? That is if the Fathers command to the disciples of Jesus Christ has been restored to them. And how many Christians store unforgiveness in their hearts? We live by grace under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. Shouldnt we practise unceasing repentance and forgiveness before the Lord, the Lord and the Lord? Therefore, listen to Jesus. Be earnest and repent. You ask, did not Jesus say that the Holy Spirit will remain with us 168 forever? Yes, of course the Spirit of God will be with us forever. The Lord is merely taken out of the way of lawlessness for a specific period of time for a specific purpose: To glorify God. Havent you ever met parents who train and raise up their children to take over the family business completely? How then will the words of Jesus about our doing the greater things in John 14.12 be fulfilled? Read Daniels prophecy regarding the end times: From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the 169 end of the 1,335 days. There is a gap of 45 days, be it literal or figurative, which we may have to survive without the Holy Spirit on Earth. That is when we will need the power of the Holy Spirit deposited, developed and perfected in us for our survival on Earth, and not for our departure from Earth. Read about the two witnesses in Revelation 11.6: These men have the power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. These two men have the power of the Holy Spirit entrusted to them. It is not written that the Lord will do it for them. They have the power and authority to shut up the sky and turn the water to blood. How much training and refinement of the Holy Spirit do you imagine it takes for mere men to be raised up to the full power of the Holy Spirit? It would take a lot of training and refinement to bring men to the maturity of the Godly nature, so that the fullness of grace and truth dwells and overflows
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Revelation 7.14 John 14.16 AMP 169 Daniel 12.11-12
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from them, as surely as Jesus came full of grace and truth. The Father would not entrust a man with the full power of the Holy Spirit unless he can be trusted absolutely. Listen then, for we the church have taken the great height from which we have fallen to a new low since the day we disobeyed the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. We abandoned the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit for Mammon. Jesus came full of grace and truth because we have a God who covenants to forgive sins. But we have broken faith with the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins because we live in and perpetuate unforgiveness to our enemies and fellow disciples. Understand that power was given to testify that the church exercises the authority to forgive sins in Jesus Name. A church should be a place where all who walk through the gates believe, know and understand that we have a God who covenants to forgive sins, and that covenant is forged between God the Father and Jesus the Son. We have failed to understand the enormity of this truth, and the eternal consequences of Gods generous grace, because we did not listen to Jesus at the standard to which we are called. When we listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, our attitudes begin to change. Our thoughts will be made obedient to Christ, and our desires will be led by the Holy Spirit. The joy of the knowledge and the gratitude of the forgiveness of our sins should be flowing from our hearts to our mouths constantly. Only then we would know the destiny from which we were spared. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and our God is the joyful Forgiver. But the church has failed to set the standard of forgiveness under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. We tried to attain grace, truth and power from outside of the words and deeds of the Son of God, the only One who knows the Father and has seen Him. To acquire power, we replaced miraculous power and the counsel of the Holy Spirit with physical, financial, political and intellectual strengths that, even at the pinnacle of their peak, could not even vindicate one word of Jesus. For God will not let His Son be defamed when we have exchanged our glory for worthless idols. To attain grace, we built empires of charitable works that do not display the power of the Holy Spirit, and we submitted ourselves under the partial observance of the Levitical Law (but only the parts that suited us). To acquire truth, we read the Psalms, the Levitical Law, the Prophets and the Epistles without first and foremost listening to Jesus, and combined them with science and a body of human wisdom called logic that works overtime to deny the existence of God or the relevance of our Saviour, Jesus. No wonder the church in general is not united about evolution, or the truth of John 11.26 that it is possible to live and never die because Jesus said so. Since many do not believe Jesus words in
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John 11.26, the gospel of the first resurrection is not preached or taught. We have cast aside the full body of the words of Jesus and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. The church does not take Jesus at His word. Any doctrine that does not have in mind the things of God but things of men, and is not firmly based on the first words of Jesus ministry when He carried over from John the Baptists preaching of Repent, for the 170 Kingdom of Heaven is near, to then proclaim, The Kingdom of God is 171 near. Repent and believe the Good News! to His last words in Revelation, 172 Yes, I am coming soon, plus all His words in between, is a worthless idol in the house of God. The prophet Jonah said it well, Those who cling to 173 worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. You forfeit the grace that could be yours when you fail to see yourself as the sinner that you are and the gift of life under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, which is attainable by all through faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is no truth in you when you dont admit that you are a sinner in need of salvation. And you have no fear of the Lord in you because you are ignorant of your final destination due to the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ. For those in Christ, the full power of the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the fullness of grace and truth. The fullness of grace and truth in us will manifest full power. We are fighting the good fight and running the race not to attain full power for the sheer sake of it, or even for the Lords return. That is not the bigger picture. The focus should not be on full power, but on the fullness of grace and truth just as Jesus came full of grace and truth. Because full power is the physical manifestation of the One in whom the fullness of grace and truth dwells and overflows. If your focus is askew, you will say the wrong things and do the worst of things in the eyes of the Lord. And you may end up as an anti-Christ, for no one is above it. Nor is it beneath any man. The bigger picture goes beyond the return of the King. The bigger picture is the harvest of mature sons and daughters for our Father who is good. The Father is after sons and daughters who are full of grace and truth, just like Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Church: We are called to preserve the Earth with the knowledge, understanding and wisdom that we have received from on high, and by the
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Matthew 3.2; 4.17 Mark 1.15 172 Revelation 22.20 173 Jonah 2.8
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power of the Holy Spirit entrusted to us, so that when the Son of Man returns, He will find faith and He will find many with faith and much more. What type of faith was He referring to? The faith of new-borns in Christ? Or the faith of extreme disciples who not only take every word that belongs to Jesus as truth, but have endeavoured to prove them true by faithful practice? Men have extreme sports. The Son of Man should have extreme disciples. For it is not about being safe or non-controversial or non-offensive. That is irrelevant. It is all about Jesus and the vindication of His every word because Heaven and Earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. This is justice for Jesus. 174 Did not Jesus say that we are the salt of the Earth? If the whole church is taken away in rapture as it so prays and desires, who will have authority over the Earth and subdue it before Jesus comes back? Will it be the new-borns in Christ, the unbelievers, or the false prophet? Would God be so careless as to leave Himself without at least two or three trustworthy witnesses on Earth? Shame on you who read Jesus words, Be always on the watch, and pray that you will be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you 175 will be able to stand before the Son of Man, and interpret them as a quick getaway route to Heaven. I have news for you. Among the seven churches the Lord spoke to in Revelation 2-3, only the church of Philadelphia was rewarded the privilege of being kept from the hour of trial that is going to come upon 176 the whole world to test those who live on Earth. That is because it kept the Lords command to endure patiently. It kept His word and did not deny His Name. Are you a church that obeys Jesus commands, keeps His word and is true to His Name? If you are, then you have displayed courage and faithfulness, and the Lord may come to you with the same reward. But perhaps if you are this church, you may find it in your spirit to stay and fight for the Lord instead of retiring early. Gods grace is as boundless and amazing as His wisdom. However, if you are a church with only a reputation of being alive because of your deeds, or if you are lukewarm, or if you hold onto the teachings of everyone else except Jesus, including the teachings and practices of the enemies of God that have infiltrated His house of prayers Jezebels, Balaams, Nicolaitans and Satans so-called deep secrets (his lies, deception and intrigue) - then it would dishonour my Father to reward you with the
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Matthew 5.13 Luke 21.36 176 Revelation 3.10
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privilege of the first resurrection. A wicked and lazy servant does not glorify or please the Father. Church, please, it is not that we are called to escape the tough times before it comes. Listen to Jesus! His word is law! He said to His disciples that we should always be on the watch and pray that we may be able to escape all that is about to happen, so that we may be able to stand before the Son of 177 Man. This brings justice and honour to Jesus: To have waiting for Him His true disciples who are not cowards or traitors, but are His friends, brothers and sisters, and faithful followers. If the whole church is be raptured, who is going to greet the Lord and His saints upon His return? Who is going to guard our Masters house? If you still want to escape the end times, fine. It is of course your prerogative because Gods gift to you is freewill. If you prefer dying for your faith rather than living for your faith, then may I suggest that you strive to be deemed worthy in Gods sight to escape by doing everything you were told to do. This way you may at least stand before Jesus and say, We are unworthy 178 servants; we have only done our duty. If you want to die before the end times, isnt it better to go out by a death that will see you being qualified for the first resurrection by losing your head because of your testimony of Him and for His word and your refusal to worship the beast? The battle of God is fitting for those who are craving the Lords return every minute of their lives. They are so desperate for Jesus to reign on Earth that they would get down on their hands and knees to dig the road for His return if it helped, even if their nails rip off and their fingers bleed into the soil. These disciples of Jesus are so desperate for the will of God to be completely done through them that they would rather die than to stand in the way. And because they do to others what they would have others do to them, they would destroy any plan that hinders and delays the fulfilment of the word of their God. The desperation comes from understanding the urgency that God Himself feels about Jesus reign on Earth. For there is a no-nonsense, indestructible fervency in their hearts and spirits to bring the justice of God into its eternal victory and to witness Gods kingdom conferred on Jesus in triumphant glory. An irreplaceable, fervent zeal that is also a sense of urgency to set in place all that is needed to position each player in fulfilment of the word of God, so that Satan has not only fallen like 179 lightning from Heaven as the Lord witnessed, but he will be thrown like
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Luke 21.36 Luke 17.10 179 Luke 10.18
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lightning from the Earth to the Abyss, and after being released at the end of the Millennium, be thrown into the Lake of Burning Sulphur to join the beast 181 and the false prophet. It is a desperation that becomes a constant heartache in their daily lives, where the pain of separation from God can only be eased by the thought that each passing moment brings them closer to the time of Jesus return. Each sunset, each birthday and each New Years Eve as the clock strikes twelve, what they are truly celebrating and thankful for is the truth that they are getting closer to the promised time when Jesus shall return. Once again, is this too dramatic or far-fetched for you? The battles of God are not for those who do not desire the presence of Jesus in the flesh more than gold and silver, splendour and authority. The battles are not suitable for those who have not developed a yearning so intense that it gives off a scent of desire that is pleasing and private to their Father. It is a yearning to be reunited with their Heavenly Father on New Earth - to see His face, to smell His fragrance, to look beyond the unapproachable light in 182 which He lives, and to understand the plans He has for His Son Jesus and those who love Him. All that leads up to the first resurrection is for those who have such overflowing centred determination and sheer desperation for the Lord that they cannot help but open their mouths to passionately testify for Him. The Holy Spirit constantly refines them by the word of God and by His corrections, rebukes and discipline, so that stumbling blocks such as worldly fears, self-righteousness, unforgiveness, delusions of grandeur, distractions and selfish desires are skilfully and gracefully removed from them, each at the proper time. And the process begins by listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The words pour out from hearts that have been forgiven by Jesus and personally loved by the Father - hearts that know that the full price of eternal forgiveness was not paid for with their own flesh and blood, and hearts that do not find it a burden to practise forgiveness. For even if we crucified ourselves ten thousand times, we would not be able to save even one corner of the world, because we are not Gods only begotten Son who is without sin. Will you be a disciple of Jesus who truly loves Him more than these? If so, everything and everyone else would pale in comparison to the increasing eternal love you have for your Father through Jesus. You would not be afraid 183 of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul because you know that
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Revelation 20.1-3 Revelation 20.7, 10 182 1 Timothy 6.16 183 Matthew 10.28
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your soul belongs to God. How does one get to this place? It is for you to know and the Holy Spirit to show you, when you begin to listen to Jesus as the forefront of your fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is with us like a Mighty Warrior 186 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His Name. With justice He 187 judges and makes war. Out of His mouth comes a sharp, two-edged sword 188 with which to strike down the nations. The Lord knows that we need the Holy Spirit for our ministry because we are called to minister in the power of the Truth, the Word of God, and in the power of the Spirit, the Person of the Holy Ghost. Our ministry in Jesus is the preaching of His Gospel and testifying for Him as His true and reliable expert witnesses. This is the full Gospel of Jesus Christ and the double-edged sword that comes out of His mouth, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of Gods one and only 189 Son. We cannot preach half the Gospel, that is, God so loved the world He gave His only Son to save it. The complete Gospel is God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to save the world through Him; for all who believe in Him receive salvation from the condemnation that leads to the second death. We cannot shy away from preaching His Gospel fully in case people take offence. His Gospel will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which He sent it. We must testify by knowledge and not by faith alone. This is why 190 Jesus taught us to hear His words and put them into practice. The practice becomes our daily life and produces our testimony. And we testify with power from on high, not in meekness or weakness, for even our weaknesses are made 191 perfect by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our weaknesses are tools by which the Holy Spirit refines us and helps us overcome them, so that they are no longer stumbling blocks to us. True meekness comes from a state of power
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Ezekiel 18.4 Jeremiah 20.11 Exodus 15.3 187 Revelation 19.11 188 Revelation 19.15 189 John 3.16-18 190 Matthew 7.24 191 2 Corinthians 12.9
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and strength exercised under perfect self-control and humility. It is not a fumbling weakness that comes from powerlessness and sin. Blessed are they who are meek like the Lamb who is the Lion of Judah, for they will inherit the Earth with Him. The purpose of our ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit is not to complete the work of Jesus. His work of salvation is finished. To say of the 192 contrary is to call Him a liar when He said on the cross, It is finished. Rather, our job is to testify about the Good News of the ministry of Jesus Christ: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, 193 beginning at Jerusalem, and Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is 194 with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. This is the Good News (and the best is yet to come): For the Lords work of salvation is finished and the Scripture has been fulfilled and it can never be broken. Therefore, know for certain that the purpose of our ministry is not to finish the work of the Lord. Our ministry testifies to the finished work of the Lord as we stand with Him in His testimony about Himself and His Father when we preach the words of Jesus, The time has come. The Kingdom of 195 God is near. Repent and believe the Good News! and Yes, I am coming 196 soon! When the people repent and confess Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, we should immediately have them baptised into the Holy Spirit by Jesus, then teach them to obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. Give them a Bible and tell them to highlight the words of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as they fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Teach them to speak continuously in their new Heavenly languages so that the Holy Spirit can build them up. Teach them to keep their eyes on Jesus and their ears tuned into the Holy Spirit. Teach them to follow Jesus and obey everything He commanded us - and not anyone else. Do not follow your pastor, or the up-and-coming television evangelist, or your Bible study leader, without first listening to Jesus. And do not follow any man who markets himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Jesus 197 said, Follow Me. He did not tell us to follow Peter or Paul or John or any of His apostles. And I will say this much: True and mature disciples who have received their seal of apostleship would prefer to be hidden in the Lord. For
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John 19.30 Luke 24.46-47 Revelation 22.12 195 Mark 1.15 196 Revelation 22.20 197 Matthew 4.19; 8.22; 9.9; Mark 1.17; Luke 9.59; John 1.43; 21.19, 22
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they are but fools for Christ, displayed at the end of the procession like men 198 condemned to die in the arena. The last thing they desire is to gallivant around the world in search of limelight. As we act in humble obedience, minister in truth and testify in power, we are the living testament of the only true God, the Father, and Jesus Christ whom He sent. If you do not listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you are not eligible to teach others to do so. Because when you do not practise what you preach or preach what you have practised, you are a hypocrite in Gods sight. How can you take the speck out of your brothers eye, when all this time 199 there is a plank in your own eye? Therefore, shepherds and flock alike: Listen to Jesus carefully. Each person in the flock is personally responsible to the Father to listen to Jesus because the command came directly from the Father. And each shepherd working under the Good Shepherd has a duty to teach the flock to follow Jesus first and foremost. It is that simple. The Lord is not interested in a pyramid marketing scheme. Each believer and disciple of Jesus is called to follow Jesus so that they may mature as a son or daughter of God. We are not called to remain as servants forever, but to grow to be mature sons and daughters of God who stand with the Son to serve the Father. We first believed that Jesus came from the Father and we believe everything He told us. We know that everything He said was exactly as the Father taught Him. We know that He is the Word of God, the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection and the Life, the True Vine, the Good Shepherd, the Lamb, the Gate, the bright Morning Star, the Alpha and the Omega, and the Amen. He is Gods Son and the Christ, the Last Adam. He is Gods sin offering for 200 201 202 the world who brought us peace, but a sword to the Earth . He is the 203 Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the rightful sole Heir of Gods kingdom and the eternal King of glory. And we know without a shadow of doubt that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him, and we who remain in Him are in Jesus and He is in us. We overcame a degree of hardness of heart and stubbornness of mind, and had a bit of sense to take the step of faith and now we know Him as the Truth, the only truth. And it feels right. It feels natural, it feels familiar and it feels so good to be in His presence. For if we speak of what we do not know, or have not seen, we are false witnesses. Our testimony is invalid and
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1 Corinthians 4.9-10 Matthew 7.4-5 Romans 8.3 201 Isaiah 53.5 202 Matthew 10.34 203 Revelation 5.5 (Testimony of one of the elders)
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voidable. If we merely repeat the Lords testimony without supporting it, we darken His counsel with words without knowledge. It is hearsay and is not acceptable as evidence. And if we testify about Jesus without the Holy Spirit and His power, we are not declaring the truth about the power of the Kingdom of God and the Almighty King. For without the pre-requisite of knowledge and witness, our testimony is invalid. It will be thrown out of court and be trampled underfoot by men. Once more and as always, it all goes back to the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. The Lord said, I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me - just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them in also. They too will listen to My voice, and 204 there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. To qualify as one who knows Him, you must listen to His voice. You must not follow a stranger but be able to recognise Jesus voice. We know we are Jesus sheep already because He has laid down His life for us, but do we accept His testimony about Himself? Do we judge Jesus by human standards? Do we believe Him when He said He came from above and has gone back to Father, and will soon return? Church: Do we listen to the voices of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as our priority? Should we not heed the watchmans warning to listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit as He tells us what is to come? And we certainly should not 205 listen to false prophets, who are ferocious wolves in sheeps clothing. More importantly, when we believe and accept Jesus testimony, do we then obey His command to put all His words into practice? Do we respect Jesus words as law under the New Covenant? Or do we bury His words in the ground or drop them on the floor where the birds will come and eat them? When we accept the seed into our hearts, which is His word (the truth), do we let it grow and bear fruit, so that the beauty of truth may overflow from our hearts to our mouths to gladden up the heart of God? If we never knew Jesus, we would never know the Father, for no one comes to the Father except through the Son. Note that Jesus did not say, No one comes to God or the Creator or the Master except through Me. He specifically said, The Father. This is about Sonship and Daughtership. The Lord said to the crowd at the temple courts in Jerusalem who were questioning about Jesus and saying that He couldnt be the Christ, Yes, 206 you know Me, and you know where I am from. And He cried out to the
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Pharisees who did not believe Him, You do not know Me or My Father. If 207 you knew Me, you would know My Father as well. Are you in either of these groups? If we have listened to Jesus with due diligence and in exclusiveness of all else in the world that distracts us from our delicious closeness to Him - if we have been following His footsteps, listening to His voice, reading His word and putting it into practice: Congratulations! As surely as the Lord said to Philip, so He may say to us individually: From now on, you do know Him 208 [the Father] and have seen Him. This is the Law of Jesus that makes us eligible to testify for Jesus about the Father, as surely as Jesus was eligible to testify about the Father. By Gods authority, Jesus said, If you really knew Me, you would know My 209 Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him. From that day on, you will be a personal witness of the Father because Jesus has presented you before the throne as a matured son or daughter. In that day you will no longer ask Jesus for anything. Jesus said that He will no longer ask the Father on your behalf. The Father Himself will love you because you have 210 loved Jesus and have believed that He has come from God. You have just been granted a direct line to the Father. So this is how we step out to testify for the Lord: The first foot by faith and the next foot by the knowledge that our faith procured, secured with the understanding that Jesus word is always the foundation on which we proceed from. We cannot withstand the enemy if we are hopping on one foot of faith. And we certainly cannot run a race on one leg without injuring ourselves. Who are the wise servants who put their faith in ALL the words of Jesus Christ and their time into practising His words? And who are the servants who will get to share in their Masters happiness because they were faithful in all His house? How far do you think you can go on faith only? Look at the general state of the church - we run on misplaced faith and grossly insufficient knowledge, understanding and wisdom because of the disobedience and ignorance of the command to listen to Jesus. Our faith is misplaced in doctrinal stumbling blocks and imperfect, perishing words of men. I tell you the truth, Listen to Jesus is not a new doctrine. It is a simple but important re-direction of our focus to the command of the Father given to the disciples of Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is the command all
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believers and disciples of Jesus should have been practising in faithful obedience. We, the church, have sinned against the Father when we failed to listen to Jesus, practise His words and carry out His commands. In our sorry state of disobedience, lack of repentance and dishonour of the Name of Jesus, we have become another problem to God, rather than Gods solution to a hostile world. And so the world blames our God for babies dying, the bird flu, hurricanes and rising nuclear unrest, when it is we, the church, who have not carried out our duties in the prescribed way given by Jesus. What strand of virus, strong winds or weapons of the world could stand against a church that could be entrusted with full power by the Holy Spirit? In our failure to listen to Jesus and carry out His commands, we have become worse than the world in the eyes of God. Church: Face up to the truth. It is our fault the storm of the wrath of God is coming upon the whole Earth. Yet we even have the nerve to concoct a theory called The Rapture, which basically highlights the ignorance, cowardice and total misunderstanding of the righteousness of our God and Saviour. Wake up and repent! The leakage of faith in Jesus and all His words led to the lack of practice of His words, which caused the leakage of power. So two thousand years later, the church of Jesus Christ has become a joke to the enemies of God because of the height from which it has fallen. We have fallen right into the depths of the strongholds of the enemy whose power is deception. At best, the church is fulfilling its duty to preach the Gospel to all nations, and for this I thank God for His grace and kindness. But there is no glory in at least. Do you think that we can minister before God and form an alliance with the Holy Spirit based on faith alone? We are to speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen - just like Jesus, who testifies with the Holy Spirit. Faith and knowledge are the basic footwork of our waltz with the Father in His opera. Who gave man his mouth to speak and feet to run after God and dance with Him? If you have not learnt how to walk with God, you will never learn the rhythm of gliding and dancing with Him on His clouds of glory. Although the Lord said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, it is not always an easy task to be a witness for Jesus. Ask the apostle Paul. The calling itself from the Lord is uncomplicated, but the opposition is strong and numerous. Persecution comes from within the house of God and the world, but mostly opposition comes from within ourselves and our struggle with sin
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as it crouches at our door. That is why we have the Holy Spirit with us, and why we are to receive Him to live in us, helping us to master sin and do what is right by God, for God, even as we testify for Jesus. But always remember, the focus is not on avoidance of sin but on the practice of righteousness and unceasing repentance. Avoiding sin is a futile exercise for it does not bear the fruits of unceasing repentance. Humans are generally self-righteous and self-centred. We need to look no further than Adam who said about Eve, This is now the bones of my 212 bones and flesh of my flesh. What a way to claim something for yourself, when there is nothing we have that did not belong to God in the first place, and nothing we can achieve that did not originate from Him. So what credit can man give himself except unceasing, sincere repentance before God and forgiveness of others to honour the New Covenant? We need the conviction of the Holy Spirit in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment so that we may be in constant repentance. Do not ever under-estimate the value of repentance. It is indeed a continuous process because we sin even as we practise righteousness. The treasure of repentance lies in your relationship with the Lord and your attitude towards Him. It is not about being obsessed with sin or holiness, but being in constant gratitude and awareness of the grace you have received through faith in Jesus Christ. Nor is it about human commands and teachings, which have an appearance of wisdom, but their false humility and harsh treatment of the body lack any 213 value in the eyes of God. They are destined to perish with use. God will ensure this because they are not His ways, and thus not His justice nor His righteousness. So why hide in a dark little room to confess your sins to one man? Rather, be in your room alone with God to confess your sins to Him in private. Why not repent and forgive others before the Lord, or do so before the whole congregation so that your brothers and sisters may practise Jesus commands to forgive sins and to love one another as Christ has loved you? Did Jesus command us to go into a little room and confess our sins to a man in secret? No, Jesus taught His disciples to pray to our Heavenly Father in secret: But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, 214 will reward you.
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Genesis 4.7 Genesis 2.23 213 Colossians 2.22-23 214 Matthew 6.6
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True separation of holiness unto the Lord is our obedience in listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And true sexual morality is being faithful to the words and deeds of Jesus our Saviour. The rest falls into place as the Holy Spirit matures and gives us growth. Jesus said the Father is the Gardener who cuts off all the dead branches that are not bearing fruit, while every 215 branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that we will be even more fruitful. But it is the Holy Spirit who brings forth that new growth from the Fathers work, as He guides us and counsels us to grow us into maturity in Christ. Thank God for the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ that covers over a 216 multitude of sins. We are the Lords witnesses - this is our primary calling. But it is up to you to make the choice and ignite the fire to take your testimony to new heights and depths and widths, where you are ready and able to lose your head for Jesus and the word of God. Let the whole world call you insane - that would be a good sign. And indeed, have you not lost your mind if you are still praising the Lord - still keeping His word and remaining true to His Name and rejoicing when you suffer persecutions and hardships from all sides? Rejoicing because of these words of Jesus, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same 217 way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Yet how many of us rejoice at persecution and take the opportunity to practise forgiveness in accordance with the words of Jesus, which is law? Do you take offence because you think I am nave, or because your heart is hard against grace and truth? Does it offend you that Jesus words alone are laws under the New Covenant because you are zealous for the laws of the old covenant? Be inspired by the church in Smyrna to whom the Lord said, Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who 218 overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. The reward from the Lord to the church of Smyrna is the first resurrection. The churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia were the only churches out of the seven that did not receive a
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John 15.1-2 1 Peter 4.8 217 Matthew 5.11-13 218 Revelation 2.10-11
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rebuke from the Lord because they were living testaments of endurance, obedience and faithfulness to Jesus. But regarding the Lords heart-felt question, However, when the 219 Son of Man comes, will He find faith on Earth? The answer from those who have gone the extra miles will be, Yes, Lord! You will find faith when You return. You will find faith placed wholly in You and Your words. And You will find knowledge, understanding, courage, delight, passion, love, brotherhood, loyalty and much more, because the Holy Spirit helped us. So what does it take? What does it take to be trained into perfection? It takes holding on to Jesus teachings and obeying everything He commanded. It includes loving our enemies so that we may be sons of our Father in Heaven, who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain 220 on the righteous and the unrighteous. Because the first resurrection is a reward for overcomers, whether they be ones who were martyred because of 221 the word of God and for the testimony they maintained and were faithful 222 even to the point of death, or whether they remained alive, doing His will to 223 the end to attain kingship to rule over the nations, for they kept Jesus 224 word, or those who attained to the full stature of the Christ to sit with Him 225 on His throne. And what does it take for disciples to be raised up in the full stature of the Christ? It will take the Holy Spirits counsel, an unparallel measure of absolute commitment, sacrifice and death to self, practice of unceasing repentance, forgiveness and perfection, depth of knowledge, understanding and wisdom about the words of God and the power of God, patient endurance, the Lords truth, strength, courage, passion and loyalty, and our complete trustworthiness, all driven by our love for Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is strictly and solely built on a foundation of faith in Jesus and His words and the practice thereof. It is indeed a high standard that the Father has set, for the only standard He has set is Jesus. If it seems difficult and overwhelming, it is because the Lord is Perfect and He is searching for the perfect pearl to set in His signet ring. We in Christ are that pearl, and the ring is His eternity. The Lord is not freely giving away these front row seats, because the first resurrection is such a high honour and supreme privilege that is only fit for His kings and lords who
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Luke 18.8 Matthew 5.44-45, 48 Revelation 6.9 222 Revelation 2.10 223 Revelation 2.25-26; 20.4 first part of verse 224 John 8.51 225 Revelation 3.21
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come from among His sons and daughters. Take your time and consider this about your God. Examine yourself and your plans for this life. It is a right you are to take up in the manner and mindset of a mature son or daughter of God, the great and Almighty King of Glory, and it is an entitlement you inherit when you partake in the blood of the New Covenant. Remember, the harvest that God is after is a harvest of sons and daughters who are in the Image and Stature of Jesus, the only begotten Son. If the seed 226 of desire is stirring in you - if these words I am coming soon, feel like fire shut up in your bones and you are melting with desire for Jesus - then lift up your heart to Him and confess it to the Lord right now. Give glory to His Name. Speak in tongues to let the Holy Spirit pray through you. Let His anointing wash over you. After all, it is between you and your Lord, and nobody else. And remember: With man this is impossible, but with God all 227 things are possible. There is no shame or condemnation if you do not make it for the first resurrection, but an eternal lifetime of regret if you dont try. Since you know now, what is stopping you from believing in the greater things of the Lord? Why play it safe? Go for the Alpha and Omega and everything in between because it is your unbroken faith in Jesus that pleases your God. Love your enemy Jesus not only refused to worship Satan, He practised His own words, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you 228 may be sons of your Father in Heaven. Jesus died for us while we were still hostile enemies of God. The Lord decreed, Be merciful, just as your Father is 229 Merciful, and, Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is Perfect. Perfection is achieved through loving your enemies. This is Gods decreed way, and thus it is the only way. So it is with us. We are not to fear the devil and his sons because we, who have the Holy Spirit in us, are the light of the world. Nor should we resist and hate them. But go and learn from your only Teacher what it means to show love to your enemies by preaching the Gospel to them and not resisting them. Love and forgiveness combined is a very powerful weapon because they filled the cup with Jesus blood of the New Covenant, which was poured out 230 for the forgiveness of sins. It has the divine power to demolish strongholds.
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Revelation 3.11; 22.20 Matthew 19.26 228 Matthew 5.44-45 229 Luke 6.36; Matthew 5.48 230 2 Corinthians 10.4
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It is a weapon that our enemy has no means of imitating or withstanding because he knows not mercy, and neither love nor forgiveness. Therefore we must practise unceasing repentance and forgiveness. We cannot hold any grudges against anyone, because by doing so, we violate the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. Know your enemy In order to practise the Lords command to love our enemies, we must know who our enemies are. If you have accepted the Fathers command to listen to Jesus in your heart and by your actions, you would have received this understanding from the Holy Spirit: It is not about you. Nothing is about you. It is all about the Lord, the Lord and the Lord. It is not about your enemies, your grudges or your battles. When you mature in the Lord by way of listening to Jesus and putting His words into practice in continuous repentance and forgiveness, you will come to a place where your enemies are no longer your enemies because your personal vendettas do not matter anymore. Gods enemies will become your enemies. It will be as personal as family business. Whoever wrongs your Father has wronged you. Whoever persecutes your Brother is persecuting you. And whoever dares insult your Lord, the Holy Spirit, is insulting you. You will walk in this word as Jesus walked in it, Zeal for Your house consumes Me and has 231 made Me courageous, and the insults of those who insult You fall on Me. The purpose of having our own enemies is for us to practise loving them, doing good and lending to them without expecting anything back, and in doing so, growing to the next level by practising the same towards the enemies of God, so that you may be a mature son or daughter of the Most 232 High, who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. However, do be wise to remember these words of Jesus, Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and 233 innocent as doves. How do we love our enemies? Do not think it is the lovey-dovey ways of the world. It is unrealistic to love someone who persecutes you as you would a loved one. This is how Jesus taught on the love of enemies: 234 Pray for those who persecute you. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for 235 those who mistreat you.
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Psalm 69.9 Luke 6.35 233 Matthew 10.16 234 Matthew 5.44 235 Luke 6.27-28
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And remember, Jesus taught us to pray to the Father in secret. Know Gods enemies Actually, forget your enemies. We should focus on Gods enemies in bringing justice to Jesus. Who is Satan? How much do we know about public enemy number one? Sin is Satans specialty because he was the first one to rebel and forsake the Lord. In the Old Testament, it is written in the lament concerning the king of Tyre that Satan was anointed as a guardian cherub in the Garden of 236 Eden. He was a model of perfection (not perfection, but only a model). He was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. His heart became proud on account of his beauty and splendour, and the only throne he saw himself worthy of was the throne of God. Through his widespread trade, he was filled with violence. And by his many sins and dishonest trade, he 237 desecrated his sanctuaries. Satan trespassed into the Garden of Eden disguised as a serpent to deceive Eve. He roamed the Earth and appeared before the assembly of God 238 to accuse God of playing favourites with Job. He incited God against Job 239 and also against David. Then there was war in Heaven when Jesus was on 240 Earth and Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. Michael and the holy angels overcame Satan and his legions. Then the great dragon lost his 241 place in Heaven and was hurled down to the Earth together with the angels he deceived to join in his rebellion. Jesus said in John 12.31, Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And he was. Listen to what Jesus had to say about Satan, He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of 242 lies. The devil knows that his time is short and he knows that his sons would betray him in a second if they had a chance. For Satan is not a good father. God is the only good Father. God the Father has a beloved Son who laid down His life for Him in unconditional sacrificial love. The father of lies would be hard pressed to find a demon who would lay down a jacket for him
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Ezekiel 28.12-14 KJV / NIV Ezekiel 28.15-18; Isaiah 14.13-14 Job 1-2 239 Job 2.3; 1 Chronicles 21.1 (also read the corresponding verse in 2 Samuel 24.1) 240 Luke 10.18 241 Revelation 12.7-9 242 John 8.44
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without demanding something in return, for he deceived them in the first instance. How much discord and fear are now amongst the ranks of Satans armies of fallen angels since they have heard the Lords word, The One who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be in the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in 243 the kingdom of their Father. So these are Gods enemies: The devil, death, the first beast that came out of the sea and the second beast that came out of the earth (the false prophet), Gog and Magog and all the sons of the devil, flesh or spirit. The sons of the devil can even be people in the house of God. You can be an enemy to Jesus if you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Listen to what Jesus said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the 244 things of men. Was this a harsh rebuke when Peter meant well? Why did Jesus say this? Because Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him saying, This shall never happen to You, concerning His cross and resurrection. Peters words went directly against the plans of God. For even though he said them out of human compassion, it showed that he did not listen to Jesus carefully to have in mind that the will of God be accomplished in the prescribed way. In truth, believers of Jesus have said more false, hurtful and evil things about God out of ignorance, misunderstanding and self-righteousness than those who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Darker and viler deeds have been committed by the church than by the world. God counts much less what this group of unbelievers say about Him because they dont know Him nor profess that they do. For the church was called to be the light of the world, to shine the light out of the darkness. Do the lampstands of Jesus burn brightly in the world? Did not Jesus call the teachers of the law and the Pharisees sons of Hell in Matthew 23.15? So how many sons of Hell live in the churches today because of the darkness, decay and decadence that spread like a virus when we fail to obey the commands to listen to Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit at the standard that we have been called?
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Matthew 13.37-43 Matthew 16.23
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Why is Babylon the Great a home for demons and a haunt for 245 every evil spirit and every unclean and detestable bird? Consider carefully why John was greatly astonished when the mystery of Babylon the Great 246 was revealed to him. This is the apostle who witnessed Jesus transfiguration and His death, touched the resurrected Christ and saw the ascension of the Son of Man. But regarding Babylon the Great, John was so astonished that the angel had to ask him why that is. Is it because he did not expect that something he helped start could end in such a mess that the righteous wrath of God would be released upon it? Do you think the current state of the church is pleasing to God? Do you think that God takes delight in punishing us for our errors? For the Sovereign Lord declares, I take no pleasure in the death 247 of anyone. Repent and live! If you should ask, If God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, why is His wrath forthcoming upon the inhabitants of the world? Then I shall also ask you this question, Should God have to live with our sins forever? Or should He deal with sin in His Creation in justice and righteousness, since Jesus paid the full price for the redemption of the world so that God will not carry any of our sins and their effects, or even the memories of sin, into His eternity? In order to practise the Lords commands to love your enemies and not to resist an evil person, yet still be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves, we must know the power and tools of Satan. Note that the Lord never told us to overcome our enemies. We are commanded to love our enemies by doing the things He taught in Matthew 5.43-48 and Luke 6.27-36. However, Jesus gave us the authority to overcome all the power of 248 the enemy. The One who overcame the world gave us the means to overcome the power of Satan, which is deception. Jesus said, I will not speak with you much longer for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on Me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly 249 what My Father has commanded Me. As long as you remain in Jesus and He remains in you, Satan also has no hold on you. He cant touch you. So how do we remain in Jesus? He said, Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood 250 remains in Me, and I in him. Now do you see how important it is to listen to Jesus and put His words into practice? It is not only for your own edification and protection. It is your collection of testimonies to prove His
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Revelation 18.2 Revelation 17.7 Ezekiel 18.32 248 Luke 10.19 249 John 14.30-31 250 John 6.56
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words true, so that knowledge is added to your faith, for by the blood of the 251 Lamb and the word of your testimony you will overcome the accuser. Know the tools of the enemy The matter of Eve versus the serpent is a classic example of the devil working his tools of the power of deception, which are lies, doubt and flattery. In Genesis 3, Satans first strike was to plant doubt in Eves mind. He said, Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden? If you do not know the word of God at the standard to which you are called, one flicker of doubt and a moment of hesitation could get you in trouble. Eve misquoted God saying, God did say, You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will 252 die. However, God made no mention about the position of tree in the garden, nor commanded them not to touch it. Likewise, the serpent will come to you and say, Did the Father really say to the disciples of Jesus Christ to listen to the Son? Did Jesus really say to the churches to hear the Holy Spirit? Did Jesus really teach you to love your enemies? If you do not know the command, you may answer, God commanded us to listen to the four gospels and the apostles in the New Testament. Gotcha. The devils second strike was lies. He said to Eve, You will not 253 surely die. This was a lie. The third strike: Flattery. The serpent appealed to Eves desire for gaining wisdom and said, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes 254 will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When Eve saw that the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was good for food, delightful to look at and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she reached out and took hold of what was not purposed for her and Adam at that time, for they had not yet eaten from the Tree of Life. 255 So, Jesus, the Righteous One, became for us the Tree of Life. If you should ask, If God did not want Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, why did He put it there in the first place? Isnt that like entrapment?
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Revelation 12.11 Genesis 3.3 253 Genesis 3.4 254 Genesis 3.5 255 Proverbs 11.30
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The apostle Paul understood this about our God, No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, 256 He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Knowing the Lord, He would have given Adam and Eve the ability and training to withstand the temptation of eating from the tree. Adam and Eve were not children. They were workers in the garden. So it is not like putting babies in a cot with apples and oranges and a knife, and then telling them to stay away from the shiny object. How do you see or judge God in this? Dont you think that if God wanted to put His tree in His garden, He should have that right of enjoyment? Since He told you not to eat from the tree, then dont eat from it. If however, you do eat from the tree, how can you turn around and blame God? That is absurd. Three strikes, and Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. However, Eve had her revenge against the condemned one through 257 her Offspring. Jesus crushed the head of the serpent when the crafty one struck His heel. And whoever believes in Jesus can fulfil the words of Jesus to 258 pick up snakes with their hands, and His disciples can trample on both 259 snakes and scorpions, and overcome all the power of the enemy. They will walk with heads held high because of the power that comes from holding onto the Truth, Christ Jesus, and putting their faith wholly in Him. They will be triumphant over the enmity that is between the serpent and his offspring and the O/offspring of Eve because God deserves to be glorified over and over again, especially in our repentance from our sin of disobedience. What a marvellous day it will be when our God enjoys the resurrection of the Garden of Eden! I am looking forward to that day with much delight. The mark of the beast Revelation 20.4 should be read together with Revelation 13, particularly Revelation 13.14-18: Because of the signs he [the second beast] was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the Earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused
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1 Corinthians 10.13 Genesis 3.15 258 Mark 16.17-18 259 Luke 10.19
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to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the number of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is mans number. His number is 666. The first beast is the system of lack that has enslaved every tribe, people, language and nation. It is the economy of the world, and not the economy of the Kingdom of God. It is so entrenched in us that we have traded it for the ways of the Lord - which are miraculous abundance and miracles in abundance. It started when Eve reached out for the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because she looked at what she did not have, and we inherited this weakness from her. For as soon as she coveted what she did not have and reached out to take of its fruit against Gods word, even what she had was taken away from her. But Jesus came to show us the way. He showed us that it is possible to shed the mark of the beast and take on the seal of God. Ask yourself, when Jesus fed five thousand men, did He buy the fish 260 and bread with eight months worth of wages, or did He use miraculous power to multiply five loaves of bread and two fish? When Jesus multiplied the fish and bread, did He then sell it to the people at a price? After He distributed the bread and fish, the people had their fill and they had twelve baskets left over. There was neither lack of food nor lack of miraculous power. And the Lord gave the double portion when He multiplied fish and bread to feed 261 another four thousand men. When the Israelites ate the manna that fell from the sky and drank 262 water from a rock, did the Father ask for their gold and silver in return? Does not the Lord say, To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost 263 from the spring of the water of life? This is the economy of the Kingdom of God: Freely receive, freely give. Yet in the economy of the world, value is based on supply and demand. It is a system that preys on lack. The second beast, who is the false prophet, will introduce the mark of the first beast so that no one can trade without it. Gods ways are not in lack or trading, but abundance by way of freely receiving and freely giving. The second beast will mislead and coerce people to worship the first beast and his image that was given breath so that it could speak, and will force them to
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Mark 6.37 Mark 8.1-10 262 Exodus chapters 16-17 263 Revelation 21.7
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obtain the mark in order to buy and sell for their survival and comfort in lifestyle. The beast will stamp this mark on foreheads (our ways of thinking) and hands (our ways of acting). It is a direct attack on Moses' words in Exodus when the Lord struck Egypt with ten plagues and set free the Israelites from the yoke of the Egyptians. Moses taught the people about the regulations of the Passover, Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the Lord is to be 264 on your lips. The mark on the forehead and hand is the enemys direct assault against our God that we have not listened to Jesus at the standard to which we have been called. The words of Jesus are not on our lips. Yet this is all still within the control of the sovereignty of God. Is He not a God to be feared and revered? It will truly take an eternity for us to come to know the ALL of God So who will have the courage to hold the line and stand against the enemy to bring down its fortresses with a shout? Who will fellowship with the Holy Ghost to be trained to overcome all the power of the enemy and resist the mark of the beast? Those who have been too lazy to practise every word of Jesus and too stubborn or fearful to believe John 11.26, or those who have gone the extra miles to have His justice written in their minds and on their hearts? Which group will the Holy Spirit entrust with His power to turn wood to gold, bread crumbs to piping hot loaves, bloody sea water to clean water, a drop of petrol to a full tank and so on? You call this hyper-faith? I call you a sell-out because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of my God, nor understand the desire and purpose for which God sent His Word and His Spirit. And you insult my Family. My Father never lets a problem manifest itself without speaking the perfect solution into you because He is a good God. He is so good, He is Perfect! Would you need to buy and sell under the whip of the beast if you have taken on the nature of God to do miracles in His Name? Not so that you may make a name for yourself with a fan club or a fancy website, but so you may escape and survive the coming days of distress to stand before the Son of Man to greet Him at His arrival on Earth and fulfil John 11.26. Or would your crawl back to Egypt, betraying the Lord for thirty pieces of silver and re-
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Exodus 13.3-9
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enslaving yourselves for the memories of a few pieces of melon, leeks and garlic? Therefore, be earnest and repent. There is an abundance of lack now because we have forsaken the Lord and renounced His ways. We have not listened to Jesus at the standard to which we have been called. And we have neither repented nor forgiven continuously. We rely on our own strength and methods and build our shoddy fortresses in the air. We turn our backs to our Father and hide our faces from Him, yet we still expect Him to bless us and answer our petty prayers whenever we want. Oh Lord, we pray, Give me a job, a house and a car! Much of the church acts like and is a childish brat who has no regard for the well-being and dreams of her Father, Brother and Lord. We accuse God for everything that is wrong with the world, when 265 He authorised us to overcome the world and empowered us to reject its depravity. We blame Him for everything that is wrong with our lives instead of looking at ourselves with hearts softened by repentance, and minds sharpened with the understanding of the word of God through listening to Jesus and hearing what the Holy Spirit says to the churches. For the root of the problem is sin in us, not God. God is never to blame. Not for famines, cancers, dying babies or hurricanes. Sin, together with our lack of repentance and forgiveness of sins, is to blame. We are nothing but sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, yet we are called to be sons and daughters of God Most High. It is our unrepented sins and lack of forgiveness that give the enemy a legal avenue to disturb our lives, and hinder the fulfilment of Gods plans for the church to glorify Jesus. Please stop blaming the Father for what is wrong in our lives and in the church. Rather, lets examine ourselves. Repent and love our enemies and one another. Pray for your enemies in secret. Sanctify yourself by Jesus words. Be disciples who hold onto Jesus teachings, and love one another as He has loved you. Do not forsake or break faith with the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. And this is the biggest unrepented sin of the church of Jesus Christ: Our unbelief in Jesus Christ, that is, in ALL of JESUS, in ALL of His words, which is His way, His truth and His life. This stems from our failure as individuals to obey and teach the Fathers command to listen to Jesus and our failure as a church to obey and teach Jesus command to listen and understand 266 what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches. Church: Repent, for you are more like the world than the world itself. Woe to you, for you act like a brazen prostitute and lavish your favours on
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John 16.33; 1 John 5.3-5 Revelation 2.7, 11, 17, 29; 3.6, 13, 22 NLT
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anyone who passes by. The church is like Israel in the days of Ezekiel when she did not conform to the standards of the nations, but had become more unruly than the nations around her. Israel did not follow the Lords decrees and laws in the Levitical Law, as surely as the disciples do not obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, and the church does not obey Jesus command to hear and understand what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches. Israel suffered the punishment and the curses attached to disobedience of His commands under their applicable covenants, so what do you think the Father will do to all churches that have continuously ignored His Holy Spirit and disobeyed His command to listen to His Son? How much more severely do you think the people of the house of God deserve to be punished, who have trampled the Son of God under foot, and treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and have insulted 268 the Spirit of Grace? Church: Repent if you are weak-willed in relying solely on good works and on the words of men, rather than personally eating the words of Jesus and displaying the power of the Holy Spirit for the sole purpose of glorifying Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit is not for the purpose of acquiring real estate. Stop setting up in the house that bears His Name 269 abominable idols, which defile it. Do not separate yourself from the Lord and set up idols in your heart and put wicked stumbling blocks before your face and then go to a prophet to inquire of God, for God will answer you Himself by setting His face against you and making you an example and a 270 byword, cutting you off from His people. Remove all the vile images and detestable idols within your temple. Do not devote your hearts to vile images and idols, or the Lord will bring down on your own heads what you have 271 done. Do not trust in deceptive words that are worthless, and say, This is 272 the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! Our current ways must be changed for they are neither righteous nor pleasing in the sight of God. Church: The justice of God causes Him to judge His own people 273 first. Repent! Listen to Jesus today and answer when the Holy Spirit calls. Whoever said, Greed is good, attacks the words of Jesus, No one 274 is good - except God alone. Since God is not greedy but He is generous
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Ezekiel 16.30, 15 Hebrews 10.29 Jeremiah 32.34 270 Ezekiel 14.7-8 271 Ezekiel 11.18-21 272 Jeremiah 7.4-8 273 Ezekiel 9.5
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and righteous, then greed is not of God and greed is not good. Why then is the church greedy for money? We live and thrive by a worldly system that is fuelled by greed, which rewards the conduct of self-indulgence. We call it success and lust for living. All the while, we think that this life is exactly how it should be, that this is the life. Did Jesus die for us so we can upgrade our possessions and pay our phone bills? We have all fallen short of the glory of God. Listen to Jesus and repent! Forgive one another of this sin! Wickedness is what we signed up for when we sinned in disobeying the Lord and joined in the rebellion with the devil. For believers and disciples, disobeying God under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is disbelief in Jesus, the Son of God, and all of His words. Wickedness is a heritage we received from Adam as his descendants; but through our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we are born again by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire. Then the image and the likeness we have of God since the day man was formed will be restored and resurrected. The Image and Likeness of God in us is more than what we see in a mirror. His Likeness is all that constitutes goodness: Holy thoughts, eternal life, sexual morality, justice and righteousness, faithfulness, self-control, generosity, kindness, grace and mercy, truth, gentleness, peace, praise, humility and wisdom. It is the opposite of what Jesus said comes out of the hearts of men: Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, 275 slander. So we must not only refuse to worship the system, we must also refuse to worship its mentality and character if we want to survive the days of distress and remain alive to greet Jesus in Jerusalem. I know it sounds daunting, but the Father did not send the Holy Spirit for nothing, if only we would receive Him. Jesus commanded the churches to hear and understand what the Holy Spirit is saying for a perfect reason. For He is the Spirit of Truth who guides us into ALL truth, tells us what is to come, and reminds us of everything Jesus has said. By all means, make use of the current system of the world until it is no longer available to us as we enter into the days of distress and count down until Jesus arrival in Jerusalem. But do not worship it and do not serve money. Jesus said, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You 276 cannot serve both God and money. So what is stopping you from kickstarting your mind in gear into the economy of the Kingdom of God and seeking deeper understanding from the Holy Spirit? Worship the Lord your
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Mark 10.18 Matthew 15.19. Also see Mark 7.21. 276 Matthew 6.24
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God in spirit and truth and serve Him only, for you cannot worship God and serve money. Nor can you serve God and worship money, because what is 277 highly valued among men is detestable in Gods sight. God knows we all want nice things, but nice things are not the best of all things. Imagine what God has in store for each of us in Jesus. Jesus said, Behold, I am coming soon. And My reward is with Me, and I will give to 278 everyone according to what he has done. So what have you done with Jesus words, which He personally sowed into your heart? Therefore, take the hand of Jesus and wipe the mark of the beast from your forehead, and command your every thought be made obedient to Christ. Receive the Holy Spirit and worship the Father in spirit and truth. To recap, the two requirements of the first resurrection are as follows: 1. Be an overcomer and remain alive for Jesus to be given authority to judge; or be beheaded because of your testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God; and Refuse to worship the first beast and its image; and refuse to receive the mark of the beast on your forehead and hand.
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Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do How we may achieve these requirements brings us to the next
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Luke 16.15 Revelation 22.12 279 John 13.17
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Chapter 6
The Pleasure of Faith

Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are you hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And dont you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? 1 Do you still not understand? Jesus directed this question to His disciples but they did not understand what He was showing them through the miracles of the bread and fish. They failed to understand the miracles to the measure God had destined for them to start and end the church age. Simply from the fact that the eleven had accepted money that was laid at their feet in Acts 4-5 proves that they had missed Jesus point about the miracles. The early church had taken itself onto a path never intended by God, so when it is old, someone else will dress it and lead it where it does not want to go. Acts 4.32-35 testifies, All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. What if the eleven had understood Jesus in the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand, and they relied on miraculous power instead of slipping back into the ways of the world? Would Acts 4.32-35 read as follows: All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had multiplied within their households. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There were no needy persons
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Mark 8.17-21
Chapter 6 The Pleasure of Faith
among them. From time to time those who owned precious stones or gold and had leftovers in their ovens, multiplied them and put them at the apostles feet, and they were distributed to anyone as he had need? If the early church had started the church age in the prescribed way of the Lord, the Holy Spirit would be able to entrust the church with His full power because of her consuming zeal for Jesus and His words. Can you imagine what delight and honour the church at full power would bring to Jesus, and what a bore the ways of the world would be in comparison? The forsaking of the power of God Consider why it is written in Acts 4.33 that much grace was on the apostles. If the apostles were not in error when they neglected to meet with 2 Jesus in Galilee as instructed by Jesus and the angel, and then, after He ascended, forsook the power of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ by accepting donations of money at their feet, would they be under Gods grace? Grace is the suspension of a law of God, be it a command, rule or decree that was disobeyed, so that we may be pardoned and live. This applied under the Law of Moses. And it applies for the church under the Law of Jesus. For mercy and grace flow according to the law you are under. The prophet 3 Isaiah wrote that grace is shown to the wicked, not the righteous. Where sin increased, grace also increased, as Gods power is made perfect in our weakness. However, consider the steady decline of the apostles miraculous power as it is recorded from Acts 2 onwards. What went wrong? On one hand the apostles in Acts were preaching the glory and 4 miracle of the resurrected Christ, who at that time, was due to return shortly. But on the other hand, the apostles were accepting money into their velvet bags. Hypocrisy in the church was never more blatant. What does money have to do with miracles? Does the Book of Acts testify that multiplying food and raising the dead were common practices of the apostles? No wonder the apostles were under the grace of God. What was money to Jesus Christ, except that He acquired it by miraculous means? But what was miraculous power to Jesus Christ? We only need to look at His birth, His entire ministry and His resurrection to understand. In truth, miracles are natural to God. Miracles are Gods very
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Matthew 28.7; Mark 16.7 in accordance with Jesus own words in Matthew 26.32; Mark 14.28: But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. 3 Isaiah 26.10 4 Jesus said in Matthew 10.23, When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. But the apostles disobedience to His command to flee when persecution came in Acts 8.1 prevented the fulfilment of this truth at its proper time. This disobedience stemmed from their failure to carry out the Fathers command to listen to His Son.
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nature. So for the church, miracles should have been first nature to us. But instead we allowed the worship of Mammon to defile this temple when money infiltrated the way we practise our worship. The world will not hate you if you happily go along with its system of lack and money when you are in submission to the ways of the world. You pose no threat to the system. However, the world will hate you out of fear and jealousy, and will plot against you if you rise up against it with miracles of abundance and an abundance of miracles. This would fulfil Jesus words, If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, 5 but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. As early as the days of the eleven, the church has not understood the significance of the miracles of multiplying the fish and bread. We, the church of today, continue to live in ignorance to the power of truth and the power of miracles, so it is easier to raise money than to practise turning wood to gold. It is easier to go to the store and buy fruits, instead of practising Jesus words and multiplying what you have. It is easier to buy wine than to turn water to Shiraz, 6 because we have not honoured Jesus at His word. We have taken the lazy way out. In general, churches have become like weekly concert halls with a few announcements. They give encouraging teachings, which are not for the mature, because the words of Jesus are not listened to, practised, taught and honoured above all else. The churches are still not ready for solid food. As Paul wrote to the church of Corinth: I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting 7 like mere men? And the church is still slow to learn, as the writer of the book of Hebrews penned: We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves 8 to distinguish good from evil. Why havent the churches reached maturity by now? Because they have not been taught to listen to Jesus and put His words
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John 15.18-19 John 14.12: I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 7 1 Corinthians 3.1-3 8 Hebrews 5.11-14
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into practice under the supervision of the Holy Spirit as the forefront of their worship of Jesus. In general, Jesus has not been able to give the churches His harder teachings, just like He said to His disciples, I have much more to say to you, 9 more than you can now bear. We are unable to receive them because we have, by and large, remained as children and have not gone on to maturity. And why not, you ask? Because we have not listened to Jesus. We do not take 10 Him at His word, and we do not put all His words into practice under the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Do you know what we have denied ourselves when we fail to listen to Jesus and hear what His Holy Spirit says to the churches? In turn, have you thought about what we have denied God? For example, how can a church receive the harder teachings when its believers and disciples do not believe in John 11.26? Sure, there is a certain degree of faith in Jesus and faithfulness to God, but where is the full power to back up our testimonies about the word of God and Jesus? Where is the display of signs, wonders and miracles that accompany our testimony of Gods unfailing love and faithfulness, grace and truth, and His forgiveness, mercy and generosity under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? Do scattered handfuls of miracles fulfil these words of Jesus in Acts 1.8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth? That was the purpose of the church. To testify with the power of the Holy Spirit to prove Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that He has a covenant with the Father to forgive sins. It is our training and duty to testify with the Holy Spirit until He can entrust us with His power. Consider the two witnesses in Revelation 11.6. They are men who have the power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. It is not God doing so for them. The power and authority are vested in them. Imagine the level of training one would have to undergo in these words of Jesus before full power and authority may be vested in a man. Consider the obedience and understanding they would have in this command from Jesus: But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your 11 Father is merciful. Why wouldnt the Holy Spirit deposit His full power in
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John 16.12 John 4.50: The royal official took Jesus at His word and departed. 11 Luke 6.35-37
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us if we are pleasing and trustworthy in His sight? Yet how much do our characters have to be refined by Him to receive full power, lest we bring more ruin to Gods plans for Jesus? The church chases the world and wants to be accepted by it. It thinks that by placating the world, Jesus would appear more palatable and the world would accept His gift of salvation. It is not our job to please the world because it must hate us so that Jesus words are proved true. It is our job to testify to the truth of Jesus Christ. This is how Jesus taught His disciples to preach the Good News of the kingdom: If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You 12 must follow Me. (Firstly, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and not on anyone elses walk with Him. It is Jesus alone whom we follow, and His message alone that we preach.) The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all 13 nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (This is the Good News that we are the beneficiaries under a covenant that forgive sins.) You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with 14 power from on high. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea 15 and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. (This is what Jesus commanded His disciples to do, where to go and what He armed them with for His purpose.) Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all Creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their 16 hands on sick people, and they will get well. All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
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John 21.22 Luke 24.46-47 14 Luke 24.48-49 15 Acts 1.8 16 Mark 16.15-18
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everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to 17 the very end of the age. (This is the seal of authority and the second command. The first command is to testify to all nations. The second command was to make disciples of all nations.) Do you observe the sequence according to the words of Jesus? Has the church discharged this duty to the standard required of it by God? If we dont listen to Jesus and believe in all of His words and the plans concerning Him, what are we really testifying about, and what is the depth of our testimony? Think about it. A recent example of the church chasing the world instead of the other way round is that the world loves its celebrities and celebrities love yoga. Thus, the church now has Christian yoga, which is the marrying of Hindu practices and principles with Scripture. Again, what does Christ have to do with yoga? What has the church done in its quest to be popular and accepted by the world? It is so desperate that it has compromised the Spirit and the Truth. Do we really think that doing a form of exercise can attain everlasting peace? It seems to me that we have really lost the plot on this one. What gives everlasting peace? Or rather who gives peace? Listen to Jesus: I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put My sanctuary among them 18 forever. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as 19 the world gives. It is the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins that holds the promise of everlasting peace from God. Doing animal-inspired exercises in a heated room does not. Is the church a place where the Holy Spirit feels at home? Is it a group of people who fellowship with the Holy Spirit in spirit and seek to know Jesus and His Father in truth? For the churches have as many idols as Judah had towns. Because of the disbelief and disobedience of the church, suffering beyond anything that the Lord, the Lord and the Lord ever planned or intended has come into the church. This was not the way it was meant to be. Because the early church never fully grasped the understanding of the significance of miracles, it permitted the introduction of money into its aisles. These days, money infiltrates its pulpits and poisons the minds of Gods people, keeping them as children and servants. It prevents them from growing into disciples, sons and daughters, friends, lords and kings. This poison is the amalgamation of all the various teachings that lead to any forsaking of the
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words and deeds of Jesus Christ and the power and Person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. It substitutes the things of God with the plans of men, which may be valuable to men but are detestable in Gods sight. Following closely behind the footsteps of a god named Mammon are the idols of political, military, intellectual and technological powers. We have travelled so far off the mark that miracles are surprising to us, even very unnatural. In this day, a fellowship that opens the eyes of a blind man is considered to be a cult. We do not drive out a demon by one word like Jesus did. Rather, we need an entourage and a tool kit. Seriously, no wonder the world stays away. But praise be to the Father who continues to enable people to come to Jesus for salvation, despite our erroneous ways. Werent we meant to drive out demons just by saying, Go? Where did Jesus teach that we need the cross, the holy water and a prayer book? Did Jesus need all those things? Didnt Jesus say in John 14.12 that anyone who has faith in Him will do what He has been doing and he will do even greater things? The fulfilment of John 14.12 is not about arrogance. It is about honouring God in the way prescribed by Jesus. The reason a believer or a disciple cannot drive out demons by one word, just like Jesus did, is due to broken faith in Jesus and the failure to listen and practise the words of Jesus at the standard to which he is called. We have broken faith with Jesus and His words and deeds. When we gather around the foot of the cross to share in the supper, do we also break the bread in remembrance of our Lords ways? The miracles teach us that the ways of the world are not our Lords ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, as surely as Heaven is higher than Earth. Each miracle vindicates our faith and proves our enemies wrong about Jesus, so that our enemies may be drawn to Jesus and we may have a firmer foothold in the Kingdom of God. Yet we still keep talking about money in the churches. Money, money, money. Money to feed the poor, money to help hurricane victims, money to buy a building, and money for our programs and ministerial salaries. The more we rely on money in the work of God, the less we rely on the power of God and the Person of the Holy Spirit. The less we practise the words of Jesus under the training of the Holy Spirit to prepare ourselves for the days of distress, the more side-tracked we have become. Therefore, we are under Gods grace more than ever due to our many errors. From the beginning, man has not listened to God. Do we rely on multiplying bread to feed a thousand people, or do we buy a thousand loaves of bread instead? Do we rely on the power of translation to get us from A to B, or do we pray to the Lord for a car? If we
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have a headache, do we rely on healing power first, or do we automatically reach for a Panadol? Do we at least give it a go? Is it on our minds and in our hearts? But enough about the problems, lets talk about the solution. This is the universal truth for all believers and disciples in Jesus Christ, the Son of God: Every single problem that we experience corporately in the church and personally in our homes as Christians comes from our sin of forsaking the Fathers single direct command to listen to Jesus. Every emotional, physical, health, material, psychological and spiritual problem in your personal life manifests because of your unrepentance and unforgiveness through the sin of not believing in Jesus, because we have not listened to Him. For faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through 20 the word of Christ. And because we do not believe in Jesus, we do not take Him at His word, nor practise His words and obey all His commands. If we had truly believed Him, we would practise His words and obey His commands. The fact that we dont practise shows our unbelief in Jesus, which is the one 21 sin the Counsellor convicts the world of. What did you expect when you have violated the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? Do you think that God, who loves you, would not discipline and correct you? Isnt that what a good Father does when His children go astray? Forget, The devil is attacking me. Are you so important that Satan should personally attack you? He is not omnipresent as God is. And dont you dare say, God is against me. Did not God send His only begotten Son, the love of His life, to save you? What more do you want from Him? Do you want to draw more blood from Jesus? Do you want to crucify Him all over again? Or are you just too stubborn or slow of heart to accept responsibility for your failure to carefully obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus and Jesus command to receive the Holy Spirit? The Father did not send His Son and Spirit so we can listen to Them in a casual way. We are called to listen to Them and receive Them in a manner befitting of the King of kings and the Lord of lords! In our failure to hear and understand what the Holy Spirit says to the churches, we are disobeying Jesus because the Holy Spirit takes from what is Jesus and makes it known to us. Therefore, the solution to every problem begins with repentance and steering your eyes, ears, heart and mind steadfastly and exclusively back to the words of Jesus by the counsel of the Holy Spirit. To those who love the Law of Moses: What is the key word in Deuteronomy 28.58-59? Moses said, If you do not carefully follow all the
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words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome Name - the Lord your God - the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses? It is the word carefully, which denotes the measure of interest, mindfulness and diligence required when following Gods commands and practising His words. Listen to Jesus. In the same way, He said to His disciples, Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you 22 and even more. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be 23 taken from him. The principle of carefulness applied to the Israelites in Moses time and it applies to the church now. God may change the covenants that we live under according to His seasons. He may send different messengers to speak His words. He may even inconspicuously declare the Law of Moses and the Prophets obsolete because Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, the Prophets and the Psalms, and He is now 24 ministering a better covenant before God for us. Yet Gods principles will never change. You can count on Him because His principles are based on His delight, which is His exercise of justice, righteousness and kindness on Earth. Kindness is a display of Gods mercy, for God is Love. Righteousness is Gods commitment to honour His word, even at great personal cost. And justice is perfection of judgment. God loves justice, and so 25 He always judges with justice. This means His judgments are always correct. Who else but God is able is do this? He declared: I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to 26 27 what his deeds deserve. But God also desires mercy. After God delivers His perfect judgment, He can choose to have mercy on whom He will have 28 mercy, and have compassion on whom He will have compassion. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of the Fathers throne; love and 29 faithfulness go before Him. So instead of wasting an hour of the Holy Spirits time preaching about tithing our finances, can we please have weekly discipleship sessions practising the words of Jesus? For example, we could practise turning water to
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Mark 4.24 Luke 8.18 Hebrews 7.22 25 Isaiah 61.8; Revelation 19.11 26 Jeremiah 17.10 27 Hosea 6.6 28 Exodus 33.19 29 Psalm 89.14
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wine and multiplying bread under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. Instead of hosting youth camps that feature loud music and guest speakers, we could organise them at swimming pools to practise walking on water. Let us first practise in secret with the Holy Spirit, as well as practise with our fellow disciples in public. Imagine and see each church as a cell group operating under the command of the Holy Spirit in the mission to usher in the arrival of Jesus Christ. Each cell group should aim to be entrusted with the power of God to remain alive till the end of the days of distress to greet Jesus in Jerusalem. The size of a church group matters not to the Lord. What truly matters is the degree of power that the Holy Spirit is able to entrust the group or individuals because of their depth of fellowship with Him and their love of the Father and the Son. Church: Be practical. When the days of distress come, it will be most useful and imperative for the survival of you and your family if your thinking 30 has been transformed to multiply a bread crumb into a loaf, and turn dirty water into clean water, because you have put in the practice. When Jesus told us to pray that we can escape all that is about to happen, He did not mean a quick exit to Heaven. He meant escape like Noah did. Noah was smack bang in the middle of the disaster zone. Yet he and his family survived the flood because he was a righteous man. Noah obeyed exactly the Lords command to him to build an ark in accordance with Gods instructions. What kind of ark do you think the church needs to remain alive during the days of distress unequalled since the beginning of the world? You would be kidding yourself if you think money or political power will help, or that taking on the mark of the beast would benefit you in the long run. Church: Let us obey the Fathers direct command to listen to Jesus and follow Jesus instructions to put His words into practice. Have unbroken faith in Jesus. He said if we have faith in Him, we can do what He has been doing, and do even greater things than these because He has gone to the 31 Father. Between the time the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way of lawlessness and Jesus arrival in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit will leave this Earth in the care and authority of His elect, who are the sisters and brothers of Jesus. They are servants and students of the Holy Spirit who can be entrusted to exercise dominion over the Earth as co-heirs of the Kingdom of God. Imagine the glory and honour it gives the Father when we can accomplish His will, not
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at times of peace but in a time of distress unequalled from the beginning of the 32 world, lest the devil taunts our God as he did in Job 1.9-11. Churches: Stretch your imaginations and fire up your aspirations. Nothing is impossible for us if we are speaking the language of the Holy Spirit 33 that unites us! Understand that the church of the end time is being raised up to hold the line and guard our Masters house against attack during the period between the Holy Spirits absence when He no longer holds back the secret 34 power of lawlessness and Jesus arrival. This is when the Earth will be at its most tumultuous state. Do you think money will help when a third of the sea turns to blood and a third of the waters turn bitter as it is written in 35 Revelation? What good is an athlete training for the Wimbledon, when his game is actually the World Cup? Wouldnt the devil love to destroy this world so that Jesus does not have an Earth to reign upon for a thousand years? How Satan would love to make a fool out of Jesus and a lie out of His words. But we cannot allow that. This is our Jesus we are talking about, our Brother and our Saviour. He is our King. We have a part to play in the fulfilment of Jesus words because we are His witnesses. Does this seem impossible? With God, everything is possible. Does it seem too far-fetched? Gods ways and thoughts are higher than ours. God is seeking glory for Himself, and rightly so. Thus, we should live to honour our King. This is why the Holy Spirit was sent to be baptised into all believers who would receive Him, counselling them to hold on to Jesus teachings as 36 disciples. And from them, He raises up ones in the stature of Christ the Son, for they are the ones who willingly obey Jesus commands out of their love for 37 Him. This is why the Holy Spirit has tolerated the church for so long. It is all about the Fathers plans for Jesus. Everything else is incidental. The Holy Spirit is jealous for the Father and Jesus sovereignly. That is why the Holy Spirit does not speak on His own. The Holy Spirit puts up with our unbelief in Jesus, our loose and careless words, our hatred for our enemies, lack of repentance, our disrespect, arrogance, incessant whinging, immaturity and selfishness, because of His love for Jesus and the Father.
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Job 1.9-11: Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied. Have You not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face. 33 Genesis 11.6: If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 34 2 Thessalonians 2.7 35 Revelation 8.8, 11 36 John 8.31 37 John 14.15, 21, 23
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In the process of our refinement, which begins by listening to Jesus at the standard to which we are called, the Holy Spirit looks for ones who respond with humble, submissive obedience to Him. Out of Jesus disciples He calls His elect. They will carry on His task of glorifying Jesus and honouring the Father throughout the devastation that will hit the Earth so that it is preserved for Jesus millennial reign. This is not childs play. This is our kingdom too, solely by Gods generosity and grace. Is God contradicting Himself? He sends storms and disasters on the Earth with His left hand, yet with His right hand He sends healing. Then He shows us that the Holy Spirits elect at full power is the answer to the distress that will come upon the whole world before Jesus arrives. Has God gone mad? Is God cruel? No, God is neither contradictory nor mad. And He is definitely not cruel, because God is Love and God is Justice. Judgment must come upon all the inhabitants of the Earth because justice cannot come without judgment. Jesus Christ is the peace offering of God to the world. God will take vengeance and avenge the blood of Jesus when the rejection of His Son and His Gospel has reached its full measure. God always commences judgment in 38 His own house. And now is the time for judgment on this world. All who have trampled the Son of God underfoot, treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who have insulted the Spirit of Grace will be held accountable for their detestable conduct and careless words, yet they will be given a last chance to repent on judgment day before the Great White Throne. Read Zephaniah 3 for yourself to understand Gods desire for mercy in His ultimate act of mercy under the Covenant of the Forgiveness of Sins. Therefore wait for Me, declares the Lord, for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out My wrath on them - all My fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of My jealous anger. Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on 39 the Name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder. A man would only think that God is cruel if he does not value the discipline that comes from love, and the correction that comes through discipline. However, in His wrath, the Lord always remembers mercy. In His kindness and righteousness, He has raised up His people called the elect, who will hold justice for Jesus as the measuring line and righteousness in Jesus alone as the plumbline. Do you understand the link between the purpose of
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the elect of the Holy Spirit and Jesus teachings of the end days in Matthew 24? Remember Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 5.13, You are the salt of the Earth. Salt is an ingredient for preservation, is it not? Our Father is not like human fathers who can little change our circumstances. He always has the perfect solutions to our problems and He is preparing us through the Holy Spirit for what is to come for Jesus. He never leaves us empty-handed and unequipped. Moses and the power placed in his staff by God destroyed the strongest nation of its time. The power to part the Red Sea is the same power that will prepare the Earth for the return of the King. Did Jesus leave us as orphans, helpless and powerless? No, He didnt. We have a wonderful Counsellor who is able to guide us into ALL truth and has the graceful patience to match. Does our Counsellor live in the next town and only visits us fortnightly? No, He doesnt. The Lord lives in us. He is in us and will be with us forever. At this point, you should ask, How can it be said that the Holy Spirit will be with us forever, yet He will leave this Earth in the care of His elect? The Holy Spirit will leave His post on Earth, where He had been 40 poured on all flesh, to return to the Father in Heaven at the appointed time. He will entrust His power to those He has raised up, disciplined and refined unto perfection. This is the time of the calm before the storm when the Lord Holy Spirit continues to guide us into ALL truth and tells us what is to come to prepare us, if only we would listen and learn from Him. The Holy Spirit is our Counsellor, just as Jesus is our Teacher. He counsels us in the words and deeds of Jesus so that we may do the same things as Jesus did and greater things we shall also do. Though He is taken out of the way, He will remain in 41 42 His elect and His elect in Him. To say that the Spirit lives in us forever means that the Father does not take a gift back once He has given it. How else can Jesus fulfil His promise in Matthew 28.20 to be with His disciples always, to the very end of this age? However, what started as a small boat in the lake carrying the alpha disciples of Jesus Christ has grown into a heavily bloated Titanic that manages to stay afloat on a few miracles and a whole lot of cash by Gods grace. Does the omega church know how to minister to the Lord, heal His people, raise the dead or multiply bread? Does it practise so diligently? If not for the Holy Spirit, the church would not be able to complete the preaching of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations. The church cannot take credit for
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Joel 2.28 KJV John 14.17 42 Matthew 3.11; Luke 3.16 NLT subtext: He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.
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anything because the Holy Spirits own hands made it possible for us. He is the One who executes damage control. Has every nation heard of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ? If you say, Yes, where is the proof? Have you cared enough to take such account? If you say, No, then know for certain Jesus cannot come back until it is done. Otherwise, He would have gone against His own words in Matthew 24.14: And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Note that Jesus did not command us to preach the Gospel to all men. Neither did Jesus say that all men must believe at our preaching of the Gospel. We only have to open our mouths to testify. The end cannot come until the Gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. The perfect storm of the wrath of the Lord is coming upon all the inhabitants of the Earth in judgment of the blood of the Lamb that was spilt for the salvation of this world. No one will escape the judgment of the second death except those who are proved worthy for the first resurrection. Gods love is an all-consuming fire, and judgment will begin in the body of Christ. The Titanic that is the church will sink and its people will be thrown into the waterfalls of Gods justice. So if you have not been listening to Jesus carefully and practising ALL His words diligently, as one who completely believes in Him and His words by not only eating them but also actively living them regardless of success or failure, your chances of surviving the end days to greet Jesus in Jerusalem, and to be eligible for the first resurrection so that the second death has no power over you, are slimmer than slim. If you do not have the power to withstand hurricanes such as Hurricane Katrina, which was only a part of the beginning of birth pains, do you think you will be able to withstand the perfect storm of the Holy Spirit? And what is the storm of the Holy Spirit? It is not natural elements like rain, wind and floodwater. The storm of the Holy Spirit is the power of the Holy Spirit unleashing the fullness of the words of Jesus in wrath. The perfect storm 43 In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. Through the Word all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been 44 45 made. And God saw that it was good, and it was very good. 46 Who has gone up to Heaven and come down? No one has ever gone into Heaven except the One who came from Heaven the Son of
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Genesis 1.1 John 1.3 45 Genesis 1.25, 31
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Man. He was with God in the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, 49 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of His hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the 50 Earth? What is His Name, and the Name of His Son? He is called 51 Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you 52 cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. Does the rain have a 53 father? Who fathers the drops of dew? Who cuts a channel for the torrents 54 of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm? Who is this? Even the wind and 55 the waves obey Him! God established the force of the wind, measured out the waters, 56 made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm. He stilled the 57 storm to a whisper; and the waves of the sea were hushed. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the 58 storehouses of the hail? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do 59 they report to you, 'Here we are'? Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, 60 stormy winds that do His bidding. Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a 61 flood of water? Do you have an arm like Gods, and can your voice thunder 62 63 like His? Who then can understand the thunder of His power? God's voice thunders in marvellous ways; He does great things beyond our 64 understanding. And if you call out for insight and cry aloud for 65 understanding ... when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into
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Proverbs 30.4 John 3.13 John 1.2 49 John 1.1 50 Proverbs 30.4 51 Isaiah 9.6 52 John 3.8 53 Job 38.28 54 Job 38.25 55 Mark 4.41 56 Job 28.25 57 Psalm 107.29 58 Job 38.22 59 Job 38.35 60 Psalm 148.8 61 Job 38.34 62 Job 40.9 63 Job 26.14 64 Job 37.5 65 Proverbs 2.3
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ALL truth. He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man, He who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places 67 of the Earth - the Lord God Almighty is His Name. And He said to man, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is 68 understanding. Declares the Lord, As the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and do not return to it without watering the Earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the 69 purpose for which I sent it. And Jesus said, The words I have spoken to 70 you are S/spirit and they are life. The Lord does whatever pleases Him in the Heavens and on the Earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the Earth; He sends lightning with the rain, and brings out the wind from His 71 storehouses. The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to 72 thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have 73 compassion, said the Lord. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds 74 are the dust of His feet. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like 75 the wind our sins sweep us away. We feed on the wind; we pursue the east 76 wind all day and multiply lies and violence. I know that it is our fault that this 77 great storm has come upon us. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In My wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in My anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with
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John 16.13 Amos 4.13 Job 28.28 NASB 69 Isaiah 55.9-11 70 John 6.63 and footnote a 71 Psalm 135.6-7 72 Exodus 34.6-7 73 Exodus 33.19 74 Nahum 1.3 75 Isaiah 64.6 76 Hosea 12.1 77 Jonah 1.12
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destructive fury. A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward My people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for 79 that comes from Me. Now I pronounce My judgments against them. My people are fools; they do not know Me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they do not know how to do 80 good. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practise deceit. They dress the wounds of My people as though 81 it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace. Because this people draw near with their words and honour Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists 82 of tradition learned by rote. Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbour, but in his heart he sets a trap for him. Should I not punish them for this? Should I not avenge 83 Myself on such a nation as this? It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord 84 will be shattered. Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the 85 Lord Almighty. He who is not with Jesus is against Jesus, and he who does not 86 gather with Jesus, scatters. A sword, a sword, drawn for the slaughter, polished to consume and 87 to flash like lightning! These are the words of Him who has the sharp, double-edged sword: Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you 88 89 and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. Now will I arise, says the Lord. Now will I be exalted; now will I 90 be lifted up. You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, 91 acknowledge My power! I will make justice the measuring line and
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Ezekiel 13.13 Jeremiah 4.11-12 80 Jeremiah 4.22 81 Jeremiah 6.13-14 82 Isaiah 29.13 NASB 83 Jeremiah 9.8-9 84 1 Samuel 2.10 85 Zechariah 4.6 86 Luke 11.23 87 Ezekiel 21.28 88 Them here in Revelation 2.16 means those who hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans have their origins in Acts 6.5 when the twelve delegated their responsibilities of service to the widows to the seven. It was not written that the twelve chose the seven by consultation with the Holy Spirit. One of the seven was Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. Question is, what was a convert to Judaism doing in the front line of the work of the disciples of Jesus Christ? 89 Revelation 2.16 90 Isaiah 33.10 91 Isaiah 33.13
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righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and 92 water will overflow your hiding place. Suddenly, in an instant, the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a 93 94 devouring fire. His thunder announces the coming storm. He will thunder 95 against them from Heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the world. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey His command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can 96 endure it? Jesus said, I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the 97 torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 98 The great day of the Lord is near - near and coming quickly. For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near - a day of clouds, a time of doom 99 for the nations. In the fire of His jealousy the whole world will be consumed, 100 for He will make a sudden end of all who live in the Earth. By standing firm 101 you will gain life. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against 102 that house, and it fell with a great crash. Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is 103 rising from the ends of the Earth. The east wind will break you to pieces in 104 the heart of the sea. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in 105 His day. For as lightning comes from the east is visible even in the west, so
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Isaiah 28.17 Isaiah 29.6 94 Job 36.33 95 1 Samuel 2.10 96 Joel 2.2, 11 97 Luke 6.47-48 98 Zephaniah 1.14 99 Ezekiel 30.3 100 Zephaniah 1.18 101 Luke 21.19 102 Matthew 7.26-27 103 Jeremiah 25.32 104 Ezekiel 27.26 105 Luke 17.24 NASB
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will be the coming of the Son of Man. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the Earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the Heavens to the 107 108 other. The Lord will come, and all the holy ones with Him. For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be 109 with the Lord forever. Even now, declares the Lord, return to Me with all your heart, 110 with fasting and weeping and mourning. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and 111 live? Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. 112 Repent and live! These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will 113 come to you. Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will 114 give to everyone according to what he has done. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the 115 will of My Father who is in Heaven. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter 116 rains, like the spring rains that water the Earth. Indeed, the water Jesus gives
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Matthew 24.27 Matthew 24.30-31 Zechariah 14.5 109 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17 110 Joel 2.12 111 Ezekiel 18.23 112 Ezekiel 18.30-32 113 Revelation 3.1-3 114 Revelation 22.12 115 Matthew 7.21 116 Hosea 6.3
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us will become in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Now this is eternal life: that we may know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He 118 has sent. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the 119 Name of God's one and only Son. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your 120 heads, because your redemption is drawing near. If you do not stand firm in 121 your faith, you will not stand at all. Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be Your glorious Name, and 122 may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. Amen Holy Spirit! The knowledge of faith Jesus said, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I 123 am going to the Father. So what is faith in Jesus? What do we know about faith, and how important is faith in Him? The writer of Hebrews opens it up for us, and surely this verse has been quoted to the bone: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and 124 certain of what we do not see. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the 125 conviction of things not seen. Therefore, faith is an intangible substance pertaining to the invisible things we hope for. It is a state of being and a mindset of certainty, even though the thing or person we believe in cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt or by a balance of probabilities yet. Yet Jesus said that a mustard seed of faith is sufficient, giving faith a tangible aspect. Logic is the worlds thinking, which is this flawed human intelligence that bars us from the Lords blessing, Blessed are those who have not seen 126 and yet have believed. But faith has nothing to do with logic. In fact, God
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has nothing to do with logic. Is it logical that God should send His one and only Son to die on a cross? Faith calls for the perfect mix of courage and innocence, which are two qualities found in children. You only have to watch an eight year old fly down a mountain on skis, or watch their faces at birthday parties to understand this. This is why Jesus said in Mark 10.15 that anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. However, once we step into actual knowledge, faith becomes redundant and disappears. For example, I dont believe that I am female, I know I am female. Thus, I dont need faith to believe I am female because I know I am. By the same token, I not only believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I know that He is. Yet I cannot prove it until Jesus returns, except to combine it with the testimony of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth and 127 Knowledge and Revelation. Even then, there is always room for disbelief in weaker minds and slower hearts. Remember the Jews did not believe that Jesus is the Messiah even though they were looking straight at Him. But truth does not depend on faith because truth exists and retains its integrity regardless of faith. Truth gives rise to knowledge. Knowledge replaces faith. When the thing or person you believe in is brought into a state of irrefutable knowledge, truth has vindicated your faith. Your faith (which is personal) and the truth (which is universal) have become one. There is no reasonable doubt in irrefutable knowledge, for that would be stupidity. And there is no balance of probabilities because the scale has irrevocably tipped to the side of truth. Mans legal doctrines of reasonable doubt and balance of probabilities were created by a perennially flawed justice system that does not know nor delivers the truth, because the Holy Spirit does not reside as Judge. When Jesus returns to reign for the Millennium, we will have the privilege of a perfect justice system here on Earth - the way God meant for it to be. How glorious that will be! The Law of Faith Concerning the two parables of the mustard seed, Jesus said in Matthew 13.31-32, The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches. In Mark 4.30-32, Jesus said, What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed,
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John 15.26; Isaiah 11.2; Ephesians 1.17
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which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. Linking on, Jesus taught His disciples that the mustard seed is faith. If we have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for us. 128 We can command a mountain to move from here to there and it will move. Jesus specifically taught on two kingdoms - the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. Spiritually speaking, the Kingdom of Heaven is the kingdom of faith, and the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of power. Are the two kingdoms the same? Do they both start with the same mustard seed of faith and end with the same result? At a glance, they appear to be the same, but read the verses countless times and ask for understanding from the Holy Spirit, and the answer is no. The key to understanding the distinction between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God in the parables is faith. First let me explain the Law of Faith under the Law of Jesus. It is one law with four building blocks to the understanding and exercising of the Law of Faith. It is as if Jesus was adding onto and expanding the understanding every time He taught His disciples. And so we should know which building block we are standing on. This is related to who you have faith in and how far you take your faith. 1. The first building block to the Law of Faith is the basic law that anyone with faith in anything can access. Read Matthew 17.17, 20-21 where Jesus said to His disciples who could not drive out the demon in the boy, O unbelieving and perverse generation Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
Now the key to this verse is not the mountain or the glamour of moving the mountain. The key is why Jesus called His disciples perverse. Sure, they were unbelieving because they had so little faith. But why were they perverse in the Fathers sight? To answer this question, let us go to the second building block of the Law of Faith. 2. The second building block of the Law of Faith is in Luke 17.1-10. Because of the second building block, the first building block is capped.
Matthew 17.20
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This means that a believer of any faith can only exercise the Law of Faith in limited consistent success. Now the key to understanding Luke 17 is to ignore the heading and formatting in the NIV. Also ignore the apostles interruption when they said to Jesus, Increase our faith, because it will mislead you into thinking that Jesus is teaching three separate concepts of sin, faith and duty as the heading in the NIV suggests. He was not, as it was a continuous teaching interrupted. If we read Luke 17.1-10 through without breaking attention, what do we have here? Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, I repent, forgive him. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you. Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, Come along now and sit down to eat? Would he not rather say, Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty. Jesus linked faith with forgiveness in this passage as He was opening up His teachings under the New Covenant. Jesus was teaching us that things that cause your brothers to sin are bound to come. To save him from his fate, forgive him when he repents. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, and you apply that faith to forgiveness so that you are constantly forgiving your brothers, then the mulberry tree will obey your command. This is the power in the authority to forgive sins under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. However, after you have applied your faith to forgive your brothers and you can do miracles, do not be proud. You have only done your duty to your brothers in Christ under the covenant. Have you considered that it is important to believe that God will answer your prayers about your brothers and enemies, just like you believe that He will answer your prayers about your own needs? It is just as important, if not more, because of the covenant we live under. And in doing so, you have listened to Jesus and applied your faith to honour His words.
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The Father had called the disciples perverse in Matthew 17.17 because they were unforgiving. The opposite of perverseness is 129 blamelessness. So, perverseness is also blamefulness, which is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes from self-righteousness, which comes from pride. Pride gives rise to bitterness through unforgiveness, which poisons everything you do and say, leading to perverseness. When the disciples argued about who was greatest among them in Mark 9.34, they were perverse in Gods sight because 130 they were boasting and blaming. 3. The third building block to the Law of Faith is Mark 11.22-26. Here our Teacher teaches us who to believe in, Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your sins. Here Jesus further linked faith in God with forgiveness. Jesus taught that when we pray, we must forgive the sins of those we hold anything against, and have faith that the Father will forgive our sins. Do 131 not doubt this truth: Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Do you see the relationship between faith and forgiveness now? Do you understand that we have not applied our faith correctly, but selfishly? This is why it is so important to listen to Jesus and seek the full counsel of the word of God. Otherwise, you risk isolating a few verses and taking Jesus words out of the context of the covenant you live under. This is how we violate the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sin and go off on a tangent. And this is why there are denominations in the body of Christ under the covenant. We forgot that forgiveness is our primary duty under the covenant. The fourth building block is John 14.12-14: I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask for anything in My Name, and I will do it. Here,
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Proverbs 11.20; 28.18 To boast is to build yourself as the greatest, this comes from pride. To blame is to degrade or demean someone else due to their faults or errors, which comes from unforgiveness. 131 Luke 6.37
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Jesus taught us to have faith in Him. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man - the Alpha and the Omega. This means unbroken faith in Jesus. It includes His whole Person as Gods one and only Son, all His words and testimonies, and all the plans concerning Him, including the testimonies of the holy angels about Him. Unbroken - complete - resilient faith in Jesus, not in God, will result in you doing the same things He has been doing, and the greater things, so that He may bring glory to the Father through you. Whereas faith in God will move mountains and increase your faith. But merely doing your basic duty does not honour your Father. It only warrants you as an unworthy servant in Gods sight. Is there a difference between faith in God and faith in Jesus, you ask? How many times have you preached the Gospel or the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, and you get the fuzzy reply, Yes, I believe in God, or Yes, I go to church? And you think, But I wasnt talking about God or church, I was talking about your relationship with Jesus. What we profess reveals what our hearts are full of and whom our minds think of. People skim over details and miss the point. The point is always who we are called to be in Christ for the Fathers glory. If you can accept that there is a difference between a mustard seed of faith in God and faith in Jesus and that they bring different results, then understand that Mark 11.22-26 is the Law of Faith in the Kingdom of Heaven (the kingdom of faith). John 14.12-14 is the Law of Faith in the Kingdom of God (the kingdom of power). Have you been listening to Jesus carefully? If you have, you would not mix up the two parables in Matthew 13.31-32 and Mark 4.30-31 just because they both refer to mustards seeds and trees. The parable in Matthew 13.31-32 refers to the Kingdom of Heaven: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches. The parable in Mark 4.30-31 refers to the Kingdom of God: What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. Jesus used the size of the mustard seed to show that both kingdoms begin with a drop of faith, and they both grow into beautiful big trees. But the comparison of the mustard seed for both parables does not mean that they are
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the same tree. Since they are not the same tree, then they are not the same kingdom. Kingdom of Heaven is not the Kingdom of God, and vice versa. It is two distinctively separate kingdoms. Just like North America is not the same continent as South America. The Kingdom of God is figuratively the kingdom of power that 132 manifests the full power of the Holy Spirit with the full authority of Jesus. It begins with a mustard seed of faith in Jesus, not faith in God. Because we 133 cannot come to Jesus unless the Father draws us, so that we may come to know Him and the Father, the only true God, through listening to Jesus and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Notice the way the Lord responded to the apostles exclamation to increase their faith with the parable of the servant. Jesus was teaching the disciples to acknowledge their true position to fulfil their duty as servants of the Most High God. It is not just faith that has to be increased, but knowledge too. But you will never step into the knowledge of the glory of the Lord if you do not first have faith. You can diligently study the Scriptures till pigs fly, but you still have to come to Jesus for eternal life, and this requires faith for as long as He is not here on Earth in the flesh. Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a 134 robber. It is not faith that makes the small seed grow into a big tree. It is the knowledge of the truth of His words manifesting in power that makes the tree grow. The seed is no more, because when the knowledge of truth comes in power, faith disappears. Let us look deeper into the Laws of Faith because Jesus asked us, However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on 135 the Earth, and how many will He find on the Earth who have faith? Law of Faith of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 11.22-26) The two elements in the Law of Faith of the Kingdom of Heaven are forgiveness and belief. Both come from the heart, not the mind. Remember Jesus told us in Mark 11.23 not to doubt in our heart and He said the disciples were slow of heart to believe in Luke 24.25. He also taught us to forgive our brothers from the heart in Matthew 18.35. The Law of Faith of the Kingdom of Heaven is Mark 11.22-26: Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, Go,
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Matthew 12.28: But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. 133 John 6.44 134 John 10.1 135 Luke 18.8 NIV / NLT
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throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your sins. So why did Jesus say that from the time John the Baptist began preaching, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing and suffers 136 violence because violent men lay hold of it? It means that since the time John Baptist preached the message of repentance until even today, those who have faith in God, regardless of the umbrella of religion which they profess to belong, do not apply their faith in God to forgive others. They do not apply their faith that God would answer their prayers of forgiveness. And they do not apply their faith to come to know God as God the Forgiver, who enjoys forgiveness. Mens unforgiveness has caused the Kingdom of Heaven to suffer violence. This violence refers to physical violence that comes by unforgiveness and vengefulness, even committing murder in their heart. For Jesus linked murderous thoughts with forgiveness in His teachings in Matthew 5.21-26. The prescribed way of the Kingdom of Heaven is not faith in God in one hand, and unforgiveness in the other. Violence also means taking or doing something by force because of division. This means that the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered unforgiveness due to violent men. However, Jesus said about the Kingdom of God, The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the Good News of the Kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it, 137 and strives violently to go in. 138 The violent striving in the Kingdom of God is the division in the church of Jesus Christ because those who profess to have faith in Him reject the way given by the Father in His command to the disciples of the New Covenant: This is My Son Listen to Him. Just like the priests of Israel who profaned the sanctuary and did violence to the law by failing to obey and 139 uphold the Law of Moses for those who were under that covenant. The violence or division comes from within the church of Jesus Christ where some follow Paul, some follow Cephas, some follow James, and
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Matthew 11.12 Luke 16.16 NIV / AMP 138 Luke 16.16 AMP / NIV 139 Zephaniah 3.4
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some follow Jesus with partial Levitical Law, each enforcing their own way rather than Jesus way. Jesus word is law. This denotes the authority of His word, which also means that disobedience of His words carries consequences. Only we never saw His word as law because we did not listen at the standard to which we are called. Believers and disciples of Jesus Christ are called to hold 140 onto His teachings and obey His commands under the New Covenant. This is the Law of Jesus. It is about believing, obeying and living all His words, for His law is the way, the truth and life. It is time to stop the idolatry of the Levitical Law in the church of Jesus Christ. We are to follow Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and obey the Law of Jesus, which is the way, the truth and the life in Christ. Yet at the same time, we are to uphold the Levitical Law for those who remain under that law. Without forgiveness, there is no unity. But if there is unity, there would be no division. If there is no division, there would be no need for violence. And if there is no violence, the peace of God will flow. We cannot be a peacemaker making peace for God unless we are careful and faithful listeners of Jesus. Only the Son and the Holy Spirit know the Father and what everlasting peace with the Father is, rather than peace with the world, which comes to a certain end. Only Jesus and the Holy Spirit can educate you on how to be a son or a daughter to the Most High God. Jesus is the Firstborn Son who received the hardest teachings from the Father and He sent us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Sonship, to counsel us in His path of righteousness. Jesus paved the way for man because we fell away from the original plans of God, so that we may fulfil and testify to His words, Blessed 141 are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, 142 for they will be called sons of God. Are you interested in making peace for your Father, Brother and Lord? If so, fall behind Jesus and start listening to Him with care. This leads us into the Kingdom of God. Law of Faith of the Kingdom of God (John 14.12-14) The two elements in the Law of Faith of the Kingdom of God are the powerful combination of Jesus declaration, I tell you the truth, and our unbroken faith in Jesus, who is the Truth. The practice of the Law of Faith involves actions and words that result in the Sons glorification of the Father. Jesus said in John 14.12-14, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My
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Matthew 28.20; John 14.15-21, 23-24; 15.10 Matthew 5.5 142 Matthew 5.9
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Name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My Name, and I will do it. Why is the distinction relevant? Why should we care that there is a Law of Faith that applies to the Kingdom of Heaven, and a Law of Faith that applies to the Kingdom of God? Simply this: We need to know which kingdom we are establishing when we exercise our faith. This is part of our testimony of Jesus and our work as disciples serving in the kingdoms of our God. You need to know which kingdom you belong to and which kingdom you serve. Because though both these kingdoms belong to God, there are differences. Otherwise Jesus would not teach two separate kingdoms by way of different parables. If you thought the two kingdoms are the same, it is because you have not listened to Jesus carefully. It is up to you to carefully read Jesus words in the parables and search out their meanings by crying out to the Holy Spirit for understanding. Our authority comes from above because knowledge and understanding come from the Holy Spirit who lives in us and takes what belong to Jesus and makes it known to us. The Laws of Faith are about the seed. The seed is the alpha. Coming to believe and know God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, starts with faith. The omega will be revealed to us as the alpha seed begins to bear fruit for God. It is also important to know that the Kingdom of Heaven will be absorbed into the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God will never pass away. Jesus said Heaven and Earth will pass away but His words will 143 never pass away. We dont settle in faith, we settle in truth because we exercise our faith to acquire the knowledge of the truth of Jesus words. If you settle in faith, you will never grow and mature in the stature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. The Kingdom of Heaven will be absorbed when all that needs to be salvaged and used to glorify God is fully achieved at the Great White Throne judgment. If we want to look at it in worldly terms, it is kind of like mergers and acquisitions. The parent company is the Kingdom of God. We understand now that forgiving our brothers and enemies, and exercising our faith for the impossible, such as moving mountains, establishes the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts by our faith in God. Moving mountains is a parable of God doing the impossible for us, for what mere man can move a mountain by his own might? But the Kingdom of God is established by putting our unbroken faith in all of Jesus, by what we ask for in His Name and by our practice of
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Matthew 24.35; Mark 13.13; Luke 21.33.
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doing what Jesus did and the greater things. Jesus said that He can bring glory to the Father by doing whatever we ask in His Name. Jesus has included us in this circle of love if only we would participate in strict adherence to His words. But apparent as it is, and this is worth saying: Just because we are able to do the greater things does not mean we are greater than our Teacher. A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the 144 student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. We are like Jesus when we stand with Him to unconditionally love and glorify the Father as sons and daughters who are also Gods faithful and true witnesses. The Holy Spirit will counsel us in finding the specific greater things to practise and succeed unto victorious justice for Jesus. However, consider what Jesus meant by greater things. Do our minds automatically think of grand displays of power, worldly glamour and instant success? Perhaps, but remember what is valued by men is detestable in Gods eyes. Listen to Jesus: Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one 145 who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. The greater things are done by the least among us due to the ability to humble themselves in willing loving obedience like a little child, and doing all the things to increase their service as kings and lords of the Most High God out of love for God their Father, Brother and Lord. The greater things call for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. They also call for understanding and knowledge of God. It is precious and a true treasure, for coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ is eternal life. The greater things may even look wrong or stupid to the world, just as the cross of Jesus looks weak and irrelevant to some people. But looks can be deceiving. If we do not share in the Lords sufferings by carrying our own daily cross, we will not bear the fruits of patient endurance and faithfulness. We will not be entitled to share in His glory as children of God and we will not get the chance to honour God as His children. We are the heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ in His kingdoms and on His throne of grace. And we are only entitled to be co-heirs with Christ in His Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God because of His loving-kindness, enormous generosity, grace and mercy. The purpose of learning about the Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God in their distinctions and commonality is to know which kingdom you belong to, for they are not one and the same. Ultimately, Jesus
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Matthew 10.24 Luke 22.26-27
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will hand over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all 146 dominion, authority and power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life, will not hand over the kingdoms to His Father in shattered pieces or when the enemy still has his mark on them. To understand the differences is to understand why the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of Heaven went off in a tangent in the first place. But Jesus did come to save all that was lost to bring everything under His feet and to ultimately make Himself subject to the Father so that God may be all in all. Grace and mercy What is grace? It is the suspension of the application of a law so that we will not perish, but will live. What is mercy? It is the suspension of judgment so that we will not perish, but will live. The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God! In Gods freedom, He delivered Israel from Egypt. He complied with Israels demands and appointed Saul as their king. He dethroned Saul, the first king, and gave Israel a second king. He forgave David, the second king, and promised him an enduring kingdom. He then split the kingdom into two when Israel rebelled. Yet He still kept His promise to David through Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God and the Son of David. And this is why He is God and why we love Him so much. In all of Gods freedom and despite the heartaches we have caused Him through the ages, He still chooses grace because He knows His purpose must stand. The Father applies His wisdom in such amazing grace that ultimately, and no doubt about it, His purpose does stand forever because only He is good. God, our Father, our Brother and our Lord - in Their universes and eternities of unlimited complete abundant perfect freedom - still choose to be full of grace to us all the time, every time, without fail, without injustice, without weakness and without compare. Now that is amazing and it is why grace is amazing. In all His freedom to do whatever He pleases, God chooses grace. This is the righteousness of our God. So why shouldnt salvation come by grace through faith in Jesus Christ? For as our brother Paul preaches, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, 147 it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. How can anyone say salvation is by deeds? There is nothing we can do or say that will access the treasure of Gods grace, except by simply
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1 Corinthians 15.24-26 Ephesians 2.8-9
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believing in His Son, Jesus. Dear unbelievers and believers who disbelieve, it is so simple and righteous. Just believe in the Name of Gods one and only Son because only His Name has the power to save, condemn and protect you. God is righteous in His perfect grace. He is Justice in His perfection of judgment. Justice and righteousness are the foundation of His throne that endures forever. Long live our King in glory and honour! The Temple of the Holy Spirit The glory of the temple of the Holy Spirit is love driving the unity of faith, purpose and knowledge of the Son of God in the body of Christ, where believers and disciples are one as the Father and Jesus are One. How do we ensure that when Jesus returns, He will find faith in the body of Christ, and not decay, death and doubts because of our unbelief in the fullness of His words to Martha in John 11.25-26: I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? How would Jesus find ones with faith in John 11.26 if most within the church are focussed on going to Heaven and are only interested in testifying to John 11.25? By our attitude and actions, we make Jesus out to be a liar if there is no one who lives and believes in Him and never dies. A common mistake - much like the apple being depicted as the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - is the pearly gates of Heaven. Where does the Bible say that there are gates of pearl in Heaven? The word clearly records the testimony of the apostle John in Revelation 21.21 that the twelve gates, each gate made of a single pearl, are in New Jerusalem on New Earth. Have we even mixed up Heaven with New Jerusalem like we have mixed up Hell with the Lake of Sulphur? This is not misunderstanding of the word of God. It is negligence. New Jerusalem does not have a temple. John stated that he did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple. There will be a new physical temple for the Millennium, but what of the spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit on Earth now? Consider the words of the apostle Paul when he asked the church in Corinth and those sanctified and called to be holy together with all those everywhere who call on the Name of Jesus: Dont you know that you yourselves are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys Gods temple, God will destroy him; for Gods temple is sacred and
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you are that temple Do you not know that your body is a temple of the 149 Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? What is a temple of the Holy Spirit? What is the Lords purpose in giving the revelation to Paul, besides disciplining the Corinthian church that 150 151 had become divided with denominations, sexual immorality and litigation 152 amongst brothers ? What do we understand about the temple of the Holy Spirit? And please, let us go beyond the shallow understanding of It is the body of Christ and the elementary teaching of avoiding sin to achieve holiness. First of all, it is impossible to avoid sinning due to our very nature. The practice of sin avoidance rarely leads to continuous repentance. We were never meant to 153 practise avoiding sin, but to repent of our sins and to master sin so that sin has no hold over us. Jesus taught us in the combined teachings of Matthew 5.43-48 and Luke 6.27-36 that perfection and mercy do not come by avoiding sin, but from love of our enemies in the prescribed way. Secondly, true holiness is not a matter of eating, talking and drinking. True holiness for a disciple is complete separation unto Jesus that you live for Him alone, you listen to Him alone, you talk like Him alone and you love your fellow disciples as Jesus loved you. A holy person is not necessarily someone who goes to church, dresses a special way or speaks in a certain way. A holy person is someone who would do anything and go anywhere just to maximise glory, honour and pleasure for Jesus. A holy nation is a group of people who are not lazy or indifferent, but would passionately risk and sacrifice every treasure, exhaust their imaginations and leave no corners unturned because there is nothing that they wouldnt do, if only it would maximise glory for the Lord. A holy people are fearless, except for the fear of the Lord and the dread that Gods enemies will taunt Him. And a holy people are mighty in their will to bring justice for Jesus. A people who merely celebrate festivals, sing hymns, abstain from sex and pray to be raptured do not a holy nation make. A nation that looks so upright and pristine to the world does not mean that it is pleasing to God. It could be like a whitewashed tomb in Gods eyes, looking beautiful on the outside but on the inside is full of dead men's bones and everything
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1 Corinthians 3.16-17 1 Corinthians 6.19 1 Corinthians 1.11-13 151 1 Corinthians 5.1 152 1 Corinthians 6.6 153 Matthew 4.17; Mark 1.15; Genesis 4.7
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unclean. Consider how wrong it looked for the Son of God to be chosen over a notorious prisoner to be nailed on a splintered wooden cross like a common criminal - yet Jesus was being holy unto the Father. Consider how wrong it would seem for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on all people, clean 155 and unclean - yet the Holy Spirit was being holy unto God. Consider how inappropriate and immoral it looked to the disciples of Jesus when Mary, sister of Martha, poured perfume on Jesus - yet Mary was holy unto Jesus, and so she did a beautiful thing to Him. Let me tell you, if you perceive that there is nothing you wouldnt do, nowhere you wouldnt go and no word of Jesus you wouldnt practise, even to contemplating giving up even your eternity just so God would be exalted and honoured a bit more, then you have imitated Jesus and the Holy Spirit in Their worship of the Father. Because the Lord, the Lord and the Lord are jealous for Each Other and They long to see Each Other honoured and glorified. Do I dare to challenge you to go the extra mile, or at least think about it? Would you say to the Lord, Here I am, send me, if He needs a volunteer to be the false prophet, knowing full well that your judgment would be the Lake of Sulphur? And if you were sitting in the bottom of the Lake, being tormented night and day, would you still praise His Holy Name and sing of His justice? Would you still love Him if you could never see His face again? It doesnt take a big mouth to be a champion for God, only a drop of courage to quietly desire it in your heart - a soft note heard by God alone, and played only in His heart. In truth, the temple of the Holy Spirit is not about sexual morality or wisdom. The temple of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirits place of worship of Jesus and the Father - where God the Holy Spirit, who is on Earth, may worship God the Son and God the Father who are in Heaven. And the Holy Spirit does this through us because He lives in us and is with us, and we testify with Him about Jesus. Or did we think that everything the Holy Spirit does revolves around us? Was He only sent to make our dreams come true and our lives more comfortable? Grow up! The temple of the Holy Spirit is His place of worship. He worships the Father and Jesus through us when two or more are gathered in the Name of Jesus, and He moves in power so that Jesus words are proved true through us. Witness the Holy Spirit worshipping the Father and Jesus when we sing in our spirits and send love songs from our hearts to the throne in Heaven when we practise the words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit backs us up with His
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Matthew 23.27 Joel 2.28
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power to demolish every argument and pretension that sets itself up against Jesus the Truth - and when He disciplines and refines us in preparation to receive our King, Jesus Christ, on Earth for the Millennium. The Holy Spirit loves to honour Jesus. That is why He hangs around us Everything that the Holy Spirit does in putting up with an insolent church; enduring all of our hearts murmurs of evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly, without complaints and without a shield against our evil nature; and protecting every plan of God ruined by our disobedience to the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, the Holy Spirit does because He loves Jesus and honours the Truth, who is Jesus. The faithfulness of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son has nothing to do with us. We are here for the ride of a lifetime only because of the amazing grace and manifold wisdom of God. We have no place with the Holy Spirit unless our hearts are filled to the brim with the love of redemption and our will to glorify and honour Jesus; our ears are red from pressing them against the words of Jesus; and our minds are searching out ways so that things would always be marvellous for Jesus. We would not even have the Holy Spirit living with us and in us if the Father did not send the Holy Spirit to us from 156 Himself, in Jesus Name. The Holy Spirit loves the Father, and He is focussed on giving all of Himself to glorify the Son. However, if you do not fully listen to Jesus and practise His words to the standard worthy of Jesus death on the cross, the Holy Spirit can still use you to glorify Jesus, for God is no fool. But He will never offer His loving-friendship when we are not in love with listening to Jesus and disdain the standard that we are called to practise Jesus words. Who gives the Holy Spirit rest as He goes forth to convict the world in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment? Is it not meant to be us, the church? Do we give Him rest from a world that neither knows Him nor sees Him? Rather, arent we the ones who neither know Him nor see Him, and neither honour Him nor adore Him? Are you someone to whom the Holy Spirit can pour out His heart? And if He did, would you turn around and break it? The temple of the Holy Spirit is not an imposing church building. That is just real estate, which that an earthquake can destroy. Nor is it the people within who gather like clockwork to worship the Lord with their 157 traditions. The body of each disciple is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And the
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John 14.26; 15.26 1 Corinthians 6.19
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most holy place of that temple is in the hearts of those who have made themselves one in their unity for Jesus by the glory He gave them. Their unity is not only based on the fulfilment of Jesus command to love one another as He has loved them, but unity in commitment to help fulfil the Holy Spirits will to bring to pass all that the Father has imagined for the glory, honour, power, wealth, wisdom, strength, praise and all the delights, passions and pleasures of the age to come for His Son Jesus. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the 158 temple of the Lord! Let us repent, amend our ways and doings. Let us listen to Jesus exclusively and practise His words diligently to bear abundant fruits, which the Holy Spirit would be proud to offer the Father. Do our churches gather on Sundays with the sole intention of being the Holy Spirits place of rest and peace for a few hours? Grow up, all of us, and wake up to the fact that the church has neither respected nor honoured the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Honour. Repent! Stop being children who are distracted by petty problems, and face up to the fact that the church has not made herself ready or is fit to receive the One who is her King. What have we been doing all this time? Everything from infighting about the date of Easter, having endless discussions about baptisms and contraception and judging one another; preaching about money and sending the children of God out to preach the Gospel like beggars without power. The church has grown to become an institution of political pull, financial prowess and mediocre entertainment, rather than what God had in mind. One of the purposes of the church was to be the temple of the Holy Spirit where He can worship God in peace. The church was called to be the witness of God worshiping God worshiping God. And what a privilege it would be! However we have done everything except listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, and we have grieved the Holy Spirit. Hear the word of the Lord in Isaiah 1.13-14: New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. If you say these words only apply to the kingdom of Israel, then I will ask you one question. The authority to celebrate Christmas, was it from Heaven or men? If it originated from pagan celebrations, then why do we do it? And if it is from Heaven, then why do we let a fictitious character called Santa Claus share centre stage with our Jesus? Should religious leaders wear a red Santa hat and dub Christmas as a time for gifts? Is it too pedantic for me to ask, or has the church become so lost it
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Jeremiah 7.4
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cannot differentiate the head of the church, who is Christ, from the tail of the lying serpent? Have the churches learnt how to honour Jesus, the Truth of God? What an unbelieving and perverse generation! How does the Holy Spirit put up with us? Praise be to Him! In any event, did Jesus teach us to celebrate or commemorate His birth? Rather, did He not teach us to eat His flesh and 159 drink His blood in remembrance of Him? The church has grieved the Spirit of our Father and our Saviour, so now what does God have here? A continuous mess wherein the Holy Ghost has to work overtime to make us fit for the reception of our King. If we do not get with the Holy Spirits program, He will move us out of the way and the kingdom will be given to ones who will produce its fruits. So watch out. The church is not indestructible, and no servant in the Kingdom of God is infallible. When we say an eagle is over the house of the Lord, what kind of blessing do you understand it to be? Do you think of prosperity and good times? An eagle is a bird of prey. It means that the Holy Spirit is watching closely to remove those who are a stumbling block to Him. Read the words of the Lord in Hosea 8.1 carefully: An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken My covenant and rebelled against My law. How do we break the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? When we fail to preach repentance and ourselves fall short of the practice of continuous repentance, and when we fail to forgive those who sin against us, 160 for then the Father will not forgive us our sins. And how do we rebel against His law, the perfect single law to listen to Jesus? When we fail to listen to Jesus by the standard we are called, but instead listen to and store up in our hearts all sorts of garbage that come in the guise of wisdom or tradition. Chuck it all out! Go back to listening to Jesus and putting all His words into practice. Therefore be earnest and repent! For we, the church, have grieved the Holy Spirit. We have not made an alliance with Him, nor asked and listened to what He wants done for Jesus. Instead, havent we been forcing our plans and agendas, and at best, our good intentions, upon Him, our Lord? Therefore, be earnest and repent! The pleasure of faith Hebrews 11.6 writes: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
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Luke 22.19 Matthew 6.14-15; Mark 11.25
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The Fathers pleasure in faith lies in His delight in the beauty of innocence and the boundless imagination of a child. It is the innocence that comes by first accepting, and then seeking knowledge to expand the initial drop of understanding that bore fruit in a good and noble heart. It is a willingness to throw away what you thought was right and righteous. It comes from your humility and trust in God that He alone is good. If anyone accuses you of your faith being blind, tell them your testimonies about Jesus and the word of God. Your testimony is all the small and big things that you have experienced in your flesh and mind, and witnessed with your eyes and heart regarding Jesus and the word of God. Your testimony is your treasure, for it is unique to you and the Lord, and no one can take it away from you. No one person has the same testimony about their relationship with Jesus and His word. It is your personal reminder that your faith is not blind, and that you did not arrive to Jesus suddenly without walking the road that was intricately designed by the Father and brought to fruition by the Holy Spirit. Faith is not blind as some say. Faith is personal. All humans have faith and are capable of having faith. It takes faith even to be an atheist. An atheist believes that God doesnt exist. A friend said to me that he does not believe in Jesus because he does not want to pick a side. He wanted to remain a free agent of faith. In truth, when you do not believe in the Name of Jesus, you have already picked your side. The side of John 3.18: Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of Gods one and only Son. Condemnation is not about scaring people about Hell. Jesus said in John 3.16 that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. He did not say that whoever believes shall go to Heaven. Condemnation is not about Hell, it is the lack of eternal life. Eternal life is the knowledge of God, for Jesus said that eternal life is coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ 161 whom the Father sent. When we choose to place our faith outside of God and Jesus, we effectively pronounce that we are better than God. We speak by action that we do not need Jesus, nor need to believe the all of Him. In truth, we all need God just as we need a Saviour, but many are too proud and ungrateful to admit it. But have faith in the Father who draws us to Jesus. We only need to respond to the Fathers call. Faith is a two-way street. There is one who invests his faith, and another in which faith is invested. Gods pleasure in faith is the delight of innocence and imagination. Our pleasure in faith is simply, freedom.
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John 17.3
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Once you have faith in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in the Father, in Their words and Their deeds, Their plans, Their love, grace and mercy, in Heaven and Hell, in eternal life and condemnation, the first and second resurrection, the Millennium, His bride New Jerusalem, Justice, His opera, His grand design, His Creation, His glory, your future with Them and everything you have chosen to believe and accept as truth without compromising a syllable of Gods words, you are free. You are free to live and dream and imagine. You are free to imagine how we were meant to live on this Earth and how Jesus is going to show us how its done in the Millennium. You have freed yourself from all the bondages and chains of this world, the words of men, the doctrines that have nothing to do with listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the unforgiveness and bitterness, the lack, the boredom and the mundane, the uncertainties, the diseases, the famines, death and everything that God did not have in mind for His Creation. Nothing is impossible for God. And as long as you are in God and for God, nothing is impossible for you who seek to worship the Father in spirit and in truth and to honour the One who gave you life. Faith is the alpha step into your freedom in and with Christ. You are free because the Son has set you free. The T/truth has set you free. So to go back to the slavery of this world is like crucifying Jesus all over again. That does not bring justice to Jesus. It is freedom to live a life of miracles in abundance where the world finally has no hold over you or a place in your heart. It is freedom to love your life, because at last the Holy Spirit has found a listener of Jesus whom He can entrust with His power so as to put the final touches on the preparations for the return of His Christ, and to whom He can reveal the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God. It is freedom to imagine doing the greater things so God can bring glory to Jesus who left us the greater things to do after He has done the greatest thing. It is freedom to make every dream of the Holy Spirit for Jesus come true. Actually, the greatest treasure for us is not even about bringing Jesus back or preparing the world for His return. It is simply our freedom in coming to know and understand the Father, the Son and the Spirit. It is a treasure to be Their witnesses that we may know and believe Them, and understand that They are God. Freedom is the total absence of fear. It is glorious, beautiful, amazing, gracious freedom, and it will change you. We did nothing to deserve such freedom, so let us make sure that God is rewarded and blessed by the fruit of our freedom. For when we decide by faith that there is nothing we wouldnt do and nowhere we wouldnt go just to glorify and honour the Lord a bit more, just to make one more iota of the imaginings of God come true, just to bring more justice to Jesus so that it may
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be complete, then we have freed God. We have given Him complete freedom in our lives, present and eternal, that everything about us is not as we will, but as He wills. He does not have to tip-toe around us anymore. He can truly do and say as He pleases with full knowledge that we are with Him heart and soul. Can you imagine what pleasure it would give the Father to have listening and practising churches that are zealous to glorify Jesus and exalt the Holy Spirit? I tell you, they are ones who are after His own heart, and He will say concerning them, Since you are precious and honoured in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in 162 exchange for your life. And after you have achieved all that the Lord has accomplished for you, would you exchange your glory so that your brothers and sisters may stand in your place and receive your due reward? So be bold, innocent and imaginative like a child. Take Jesus at His word. Do not be afraid. Just believe all that the Lord has intended for you to believe, whether you fully understand the purpose, whether it makes sense, or seems too good to be true. God is so good He is perfect. And He is true. It is perfectly alright to put all your trust in the Lord even though you may have been hurt or disappointed before. It is perfectly alright to fall into the arms of your Saviour, for He will catch you. You can completely trust the Lord in all His ways for one sole reason: He is your Father - He is your Brother and He is your Lord. What other reasons are there? Who else are you seeking? So when the Son of Man returns to Earth, will He find faith and many with faith, and will He enjoy the honour you give Him? It may be that a prophet is without honour in his hometown and in his own house. But let it be that our King will be fully honoured in His hometown, in His own household and on the whole Earth! Amen Holy Spirit!
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Isaiah 43.4
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Chapter 7
Passion and Delight

The Passion of Mary Magdalene Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have Me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on My body beforehand to prepare for My burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this Gospel is preached throughout the world, 1 what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. I just want to ask the churches that gather in the Name of Jesus Christ whether they have fulfilled the above words of Jesus by telling of the beautiful thing that Mary, sister of Martha, had done to Jesus, wherever His Gospel is preached throughout the world. Is it something we do and remember in our hearts as we preach the Gospel? Mary, the mother of Jesus, was not the woman to whom Jesus awarded this honour. It is Mary, sister of Martha. She is the only person whom the Lord unequivocally tied to the preaching of His Gospel. So powerful is His statement that if you fail to mention the beautiful thing Mary had done to Jesus wherever His Gospel is preached, you are not preaching the Gospel to the full standard of truth that Jesus spoke of when He said, I tell you the truth, wherever this Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. In fact you are dishonouring Jesus and the Gospel that was sealed with His blood. Mary, sister of Martha, is the one Jesus wants mentioned wherever His Gospel, which is John 3.16-18, is preached. The question is: Is she the one and same person who was the first to see and touch the resurrected Christ? Do you find this too extreme? Do you find the zealous attitude of holding on to every word of Jesus offensive? Is it too much that a believer should honour all of Jesus words as truth, and put them into practice as His
Mark 14.6-9. See also Matthew 26.10-13; John 12.7-8
Chapter 7 Passion and Delight
disciple? Is the diligent practice of listening to Jesus a delight to you, or a burden? So, who is this Mary, sister of Martha, whom the Lord loves and is so well pleased with? Mary, sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalene The four gospels recorded two females who followed Jesus and listened to Him very closely. They are: 1. Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany; and 2. Mary Magdalene. The apostle John testified about Mary, sister of Martha, in John 11.2 of the NLT: This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lords feet and wiped them with her hair. Mary was the sister of Martha and 2 Lazarus, who lived at Bethany. They were all loved by Jesus. Prior to John 11, it is written that Jesus had dinner at Marthas house in Bethany. Martha was distracted by the preparations while Mary sat at the Lords feet listening to Him. But Martha was annoyed with Mary, and she said to the Lord, Lord, dont You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me! Jesus replied, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has 3 chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Who was Mary, sister of Martha, this female who could not tear herself away from Jesus, but sat at His feet to listen to Him? Near the tomb of Lazarus, why did she get up so quickly when Martha said, The Teacher is here 4 and is asking for you? Marys movement was so abrupt that other people noticed her urgency and followed her. Is Mary, sister of Martha, who was given the honour of being mentioned wherever His Gospel is preached, the same person as Mary Magdalene, who was the first person to see and touch the resurrected Christ, 5 and whose gospel is: I have seen the Lord!? After Jesus drove out seven demons from Mary Magdalene, she; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herods household; Suzanna; and many other women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases; together with Mary the mother of James and Joses; Salome, and the mother of
2 3
John 11.1, 5 Luke 10.40-42. In the NLT, the same verse is written, My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her. 4 John 11.28-31 5 John 20.18
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Zebedees sons, followed Jesus to care for His needs. Mary Magdalene also saw the tomb where His body was laid and then returned at the break of dawn 7 on the third day. After the resurrection, when Jesus spoke Mary Magdalenes name, she flung herself onto Him in such a tight embrace that Jesus had to say 8 to her, Dont cling to Me. Have you considered how Jesus said, Mary, and how He was looking at her? Did He have a look of love on His face? So is Mary, sister of Martha, the same person as Mary Magdalene, who recognised the resurrected Jesus after He called her name? Why did the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus all agree that Jesus would appear first to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection, among all His other followers, disciples and apostles? What richness of friendship, relationship and discipleship was held between Jesus and Mary Magdalene? Whether Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha, who was living with them in Marthas home at the time of Lazarus death and resurrection, is the same person as Mary Magdalene, is for each person to decide. Just as Jesus was born at Bethlehem, but had no place to lay His head during the time with His 9 10 11 disciples, yet was known as Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus the Nazarene, so likewise, Mary Magdalene was named because of the period of time that she 12 lived in Magdala. The Holy Spirit is the One who guides us in to ALL 13 truth. The Bible has its clues, but it is not clearly written that Mary Magdalene is the same person as Mary, sister of Martha. It leaves room for you to know what is clearly written, and then to seek understanding from the Holy Spirit. Remember that God examines your heart as you do. Many have pondered the question, Who is Mary Magdalene and what was her relationship with Jesus? But to me, this question is eclipsed by the more relevant questions, How much did Mary Magdalene delight in listening to Jesus, and why? How much of Jesus words did she accept, retain and persevere with, because she understood them? What harvest did she produce that she received the honour of Jesus appearing first to her after His resurrection?
Matthew 27.55-56; Mark 15.40-41; Luke 8.2-3 (Note: Mary, the mother of James and Joses [Joseph] is Jesus Earthly mother) 7 Matthew 27.61; 28.1; Mark 15.47; 16.2; John 20.1 8 John 20.17 NLT 9 Matthew 8.20 10 Matthew 26.71; Mark 1.24; Luke 4.34; 18.37; 24.20; John 1.45; 18.5, 7; 19.19 11 Mark 16.6 12 Matthew 27.56, 61; 28.1; Mark 8.10 AMP - Magdala, also known as Magadan, is two miles north of Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. 13 John 16.13
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The tomb event Mary Magdalene was no ordinary female. She will forever be the first person to see the resurrected Christ in the flesh. How can I say that Mary Magdalene was the first person when Jesus also appeared to Mary the mother and the other women? If you read Matthew 28.9-10 in isolation, you would be mistaken to think that Jesus first appeared to both Mary the mother and Mary Magdalene at the same time. However, Mark 16.9 clearly states that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene. How then do we reconcile Matthew 28.9 and Mark 16.9 when the verses seem to contradict each other? Below are the events leading up to the meeting between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the other women in the format of a movie script. The purpose is to inspire you to think and cry out to the Holy Spirit for your own understanding. What makes a woman follow Jesus, even seeking Him out after He is dead? Why was Mary Magdalene the first person to ever see and touch the resurrected Christ?
1. GOLGOTHA DAY JESUS CHRIST, our Saviour, hangs on the cross. Two criminals are crucified with Him, one on His left and the other on His right. It is at the ninth hour when darkness comes all over the land. JESUS Christ Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? (Which means, My God, My 14 God, why have You forsaken Me?) PEOPLE STANDING AROUND 15 Listen, He is calling Elijah. JESUS CHRIST 16 I am thirsty. Immediately, one of the people runs and gets a sponge. He fills it with wine vinegar, puts it on a stick, and offers it to 17 Jesus to drink.
14 15
Matthew 27.46 Matthew 27.47; Mark 15.3 16 John 19.28 17 Matthew 27.48; Mark 15.36 This is different from the wine mixed with gall offered to Jesus earlier in Matthew 27.34, which He refused to drink.
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PEOPLE STANDING AROUND Now leave Him alone. Lets see if Elijah comes to save 18 Him. JESUS Christ 19 (Receives the drink) It is finished. (With a loud cry) Father, into Your hands I commit My 20 spirit. JESUS breaths His last, bows down His head and gives up His 21 spirit. At that moment - the curtain of the temple is torn in two from 22 top to bottom. The Earth shakes and the rocks split. Many women are at Golgotha watching from a distance. They had followed JESUS from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them are MARY MAGDALENE, MARY the mother of James the younger and of 23 Joses, the mother of Zebedees sons, SALOME, His mothers 24 sister, and MARY the wife of Clopas. Many other women who had 25 come up with Him to Jerusalem are also there. EVENING - CONTINUOUS A rich man from Arimathea named JOSEPH, who is a disciple of Jesus, goes to Pilate to ask for Jesus body. Pilate gives the body to him. JOSEPH, together with NICODEMUS, takes the body, wraps it in a clean linen cloth, and places it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolls a big stone in 26 front of the entrance to the tomb and goes away. MARY MAGDALENE and MARY the mother of James the younger and Joses
18 19 20
Matthew 27.49; Mark 15.36 John 19.30 Luke 23.46 21 Matthew 27.50; John 19.30 22 Matthew 27.51 23 Matthew 27.56; Mark 15.40-41. Note: Although scholars refer to the mother of Zebedees sons as Salome, there is insufficient evidence to make a definite conclusion that they are the one person. However, we know both were present at Jesus death. Matthew notes that Zebedees wife was with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother and many other women at the cross. Mark notes that Salome, was with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother and many other women, and that Salome went to the tomb. Luke and John do not mention either woman under those names in their gospels. 24 John 19.25 25 Matthew 27.55-56; Mark 15.40-41 26 Matthew 27.57-60; Mark 15.43-46; Luke 23.50-53; John 19.38-41
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watch - they are sitting opposite the tomb. Some of the other women who came with Jesus from Galilee are also there and they 28 see where the body was laid. 2. TO THE TOMB - THIRD DAY - BEFORE SUNRISE
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After the Sabbath, on the Sunday, the first day of the week, MARY MAGDALENE, MARY the mother, SALOME, JOANNA the wife of 30 Cuza, and the OTHER WOMEN set out to go to the tomb. It is still dark when they leave their homes. They bring spices to 31 anoint Jesus body. MARY MAGDALENE, MARY the mother and SALOME (Near the tomb site, the women realise that they have no men with them to roll away the stone, and discuss amongst themselves) Who will roll the stone away from 32 the entrance of the tomb? A VIOLENT EARTHQUAKE occurs as an ANGEL of the Lord comes down from Heaven and goes to the tomb. He rolls back the stone (as if in answer to their dilemma) and sits on it. His appearance is like lightning, and his clothes are white as snow. The guards of the tomb are so afraid of him that they shake and 33 become like dead men. At the earthquake, the women run to the tomb as fast as they can. (Perhaps they recall that there was an earthquake on the 34 35 Friday at the moment JESUS breathed His last. ) 3. AT THE TOMB - AFTER SUNRISE MARY MAGDALENE, being younger, dashes ahead of the other women 36 to the tomb and sees the stone rolled away. MARY the mother,
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Matthew 27.61; Mark 15.47 Luke 23.55 Matthew 28.1; Mark 16.1; Luke 24.1; John 20.1 NIV / NLT 30 Luke 8.3 31 Matthew 28.1; Mark 16.1; Luke 24.10 and John 20.1 collectively list all the women who were present in the first instance. 32 Mark 16.3 33 Matthew 28.2-4 34 Mark 15.42; Luke 23.54 NLT 35 Matthew 27.51 36 John 20.1
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SALOME, JOANNA, and the other women also make haste and arrive at the tomb just after Mary, and see the stone rolled away. ANGEL sitting on the stone Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. 38 There you will see Him. Now I have told you. As they enter the tomb, they see a YOUNG MAN dressed in a white 39 robe sitting on the right side. They are alarmed. YOUNG MAN Dont be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into 40 Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you. MARY MAGDALENE obeys the command to go quickly and tell PETER. She is the first one to run back to tell PETER and JOHN, but she does not comprehend the miraculous realisation of the angels words that Jesus has risen from the dead just as JESUS had told them. MARY MAGDALENE They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we dont 41 know where they have put Him! Meanwhile, trembling and bewildered, the other women go out and flee from the tomb. They say nothing to anyone, because they 42 are afraid. But they remain in the vicinity of the tomb site pondering what has happened. Outside the tomb site, while they are wondering about this, suddenly the two men in clothes that gleam like lightning, who
37 38 39
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Mark 16.1; Luke 24.10 Matthew 28.5-7 Mark 16.4-5 40 Mark 16.6-7 41 John 20.2 42 Mark 16.8
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are actually two angels, stand beside them. In their fright the 43 women bow down with their faces to the ground. THE TWO ANGELS SAID to the OTHER WOMEN (As a rebuke for the womens unbelief in the words they had first told them) Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised 44 again. Then the women remember Jesus words. with joy, they also hurry away from 46 disciples. 4. AT THE DISCIPLES PLACE JOANNA, MARY the mother and the other women join MARY MAGDALENE to tell all these things to the eleven and to all the others. But the disciples do not believe them because the womens words 47 seem like nonsense. The disciples still do not understand, so instead of going straight to Galilee, PETER gets up and runs to 48 the tomb. JOHN also starts running to the tomb. Both are 49 running. JOHN outruns PETER and reaches the tomb first. (MARY MAGDALENE frantically bolts back to the tomb after PETER and JOHN. She arrives at the tomb before any of the other women for their second visit. They follow, but running as older women run, arrive shortly after.)
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So, afraid yet filled the tomb to tell His
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Luke 24.4-5 (Luke 24.23 records that the two men are the angels) Luke 24.5-7. Note that the two angels reminded the women what Jesus had told them when Jesus began to explain that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life at Caesarea Philippi is in Galilee in Matthew 16.21; Mark 8.31. 45 Luke 24.8 46 Matthew 28.8 47 Luke 24.9-11 48 Luke 24.12 39 John 20.3-5 49 John 20.3-4
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5. AT THE TOMB- SECOND TIME JOHN bends over and looks at the strips of linen lying there, 50 but does not go into the tomb yet. PETER arrives and goes into the tomb. PETER sees the strips of linen lying there and the burial cloth that was once wrapped around Jesus head. The cloth is folded up by itself, separate 51 from the linen. PETER bends over and examines the strips of 52 linen lying by themselves. Then JOHN enters the tomb. JOHN sees and believes.
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PETER and JOHN leave the tomb and return to their homes, wondering to themselves what had happened. They still do not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the 54 dead. MARY MAGDALENE stays behind after PETER and JOHN have left. She stands alone outside the tomb and weeps. As she bends over to look into the tomb, she sees TWO ANGELS in white. They are seated where Jesus body had been. One at the head, and the 55 other at the foot. (She has been in fearful anticipation of Jesus words coming to pass about Him rising from the dead after being killed, words which she alone had listened carefully to. Now she is in a state of shock because she has seen the empty tomb and heard the first angels report, and then heard the other womens report. But in His absence, these words are yet unrealised.) TWO ANGELS 56 Woman, why are you crying? MARY MAGDALENE They have taken my Lord away, and I dont know where 57 they have put Him.
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John 20.5 John 20.6-7 Luke 24.12 53 John 20.8 54 Luke 24.12; John 20.9 55 John 20.11-12 56 John 20.13 57 John 20.13
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At this, MARY MAGDALENE turns around and sees JESUS standing 58 there. But she does not recognise that He is JESUS. JESUS CHRIST Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking 59 for? MARY MAGDALENE (Thinking JESUS is a gardener) Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get 60 Him. JESUS Mary.
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MARY MAGDALENE (Turns towards JESUS and throws herself on Him) Rabboni! 62 (Which means Teacher) JESUS Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to My brothers and tell them, I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and 63 your God. MARY MAGDALENE exits the garden to run back to the disciples with her exhilarating news. Around this time, MARY, the mother, and the the garden on their way to the tomb site visit. Suddenly JESUS appears to them. He is Galilee where He had previously instructed meet Him after He had risen. other women enter for their second now on His way to His disciples to
JESUS CHRIST Greetings. (The women come to Him, clasp His feet and worship Him)
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John 20.14 John 20.15 John 20.15 61 John 20.16 62 John 20.16 63 John 20.17
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Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to go to 64 Galilee; there they will see Me. (Again, He reminds them to tell the disciples to meet Him at Galilee) 6. AT THE DISCIPLES PLACE (second time after returning from the second visit to the tomb) MARY MAGDALENE tells those who have been with JESUS and who are 65 mourning and weeping. MARY MAGDALENE 66 I have seen the Lord! And she tells them that JESUS said these things to her. When they hear that JESUS is alive and that she has seen Him, they 68 do not believe it. The other women then return to tell the disciples that they have seen JESUS and to give them His 69 message. 7. THAT SAME DAY, JESUS appears in a different form to two disciples while they were on the way to Emmaus. They return at once to Jerusalem to report it to the eleven and those with 70 them. THE ELEVEN AND THE OTHERS (They did not believe the womens report, yet in apparent confusion, they are saying)Its true! The Lord 71 has risen and has appeared to Simon Peter. (The gospels do not specify when Jesus appeared to Peter, except that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene and that Jesus told the other women to tell His disciples to meet Him at Galilee. It is not written that Peter or any of the disciples went to Galilee to meet Jesus as they were instructed to, but it is written that they remained in Jerusalem.)
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Matthew 28.9-10 Mark 16.10 John 20.18 67 John 20.18 68 Mark 16.11 69 Matthew 28.11 70 Mark 16.12-13; Luke 24.13-33 71 Luke 24.34 NIV / NLT Also see 1 Corinthians 15.5
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Then the TWO DISCIPLES tell what had happened on the way, and how JESUS was recognised by them when He broke the bread. But 72 the apostles and the others do not believe them either. 73 SUDDENLY, JESUS appears to the ELEVEN and those with them as they are eating and talking about this.
JESUS CHRIST 74 (Standing among them) Peace be with you. JESUS CHRIST (He rebukes them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who have seen Him 75 after He had risen) Why are you frightened? Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at My hands. Look at My feet. You can see that its really Me. Touch Me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts dont have bodies, as you see that I do. (As He speaks, He shows them His hands and His feet. Still they stand there in disbelief, filled with joy and 76 wonder.) Do you have anything here to eat? They give Him a piece of broiled fish, and He eats it in their 77 presence. Only then do the DISCIPLES believe, and they are 78 overjoyed.
Indeed, it is not a small thing to be the first person in all eternity to see, talk to and embrace the resurrected Christ. Why Mary Magdalene of all people? She was not family to Jesus. Nor was she one of the eleven apostles. So, what makes her special to the Lord? To answer these questions, we have to go to John 12.7 where Mary, sister of Martha, anointed Jesus with perfume at a dinner given in Jesus honour. Yet before this, listen to Jesus words in Mark 4.24-25 NLT: Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given - and you will receive even more. To those
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Luke 24.35; Mark 16.13 Note: the eleven was a title given to the twelve disciples after Judas left them, just as they had been previously called the twelve even though John recorded that Thomas was not there until a week later in John 20:19. 74 Luke 24.36 75 Mark 16.14 76 Luke 24.38-41 NLT 77 Luke 24.42-43 78 John 20.20
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who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. Also read Matthew 11.15 and Luke 8.18 NLT so that you may begin to receive the understanding of Mary Magdalene. Then you can decide for yourself, whether Mary, sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalene are in fact the same person. The understanding of Mary Magdalene After the Father gave to Peter the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, 79 the Son of the Living God, but before the Father spoke to Peter, John and James on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus began to tell His disciples that He was going to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law. Jesus told them that He must be killed, but after three days rise again. Even though Jesus did not speak in parables but spoke plainly 80 about this, it is clear from their reactions that the twelve apostles did not truly understand. Peter first reacted by taking Jesus aside and saying, Never, Lord! 81 This shall never happen to You! But Jesus replied, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, 82 but the things of men. Jesus called Peter, Satan. Hows that for a rebuke? In Matthew 17.22 and Mark 9.31, Jesus again told His disciples, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, 83 and on the third day He will be raised to life. It is written that the disciples were filled with grief. However, Luke 9.44-45 NLT provides a further perspective on the reaction of the disciples: When everyone was marvelling at everything He was doing, Jesus said to His disciples, Listen to Me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of the enemies. But they didnt know what He meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldnt understand it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it. Regarding Jesus words about His death, you must ask the Holy Spirit why its significance was hidden from the disciples. What made the disciples too afraid to ask Jesus? Were the heaviness of His words and the gravity of His destiny more than they could bear? Did their grief stop them from asking Jesus
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Matthew 16.16 Matthew 16.21; Mark 8.31 81 Matthew 16.22 82 Matthew 16.23 83 Matthew 17.22-23
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the harder questions? Did Jesus rebuke to Peter scare them from asking questions? Or was it hardness of heart? Were the disciples distracted by the desire of other things? Were they too busy arguing among themselves which one of them would be the greatest, that they failed to hear and believe the 84 urgency of Jesus words? Couldnt they hear the tone of Jesus voice, or see the expression on His face? Did they have personal ambitions or unrighteous desires? Were they too busy looking at themselves instead of taking Jesus at His word? Or were they simply not interested? If you answer, Yes, do not condemn the early disciples because you 85 may be at the same place in your heart. Jesus said, Yes, I am coming soon. Have you believed in the truth of His words? Do you speak and act and live your life in accordance with the urgency of the Fathers plan for Jesus return to reign? Or do you think, Jesus has been gone for so long. If He wanted to be back, He would be back by now? When we distract ourselves, we become complacent, indifferent and even ungrateful. When we become complacent and indifferent, we do not listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit carefully. And even if we listen to Them, we hide the meaning of Their words from ourselves because the truth is not in us. Imagine: The Lord told His disciples He was soon to suffer a horrific 86 death in the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, yet they turned around and argued about who would be the greatest. Not who is the greatest among them, but who would be the greatest. Were they already vying for the place of honour in the synagogues after Jesus died? Did they love praises from men more than praises from God? We all have this trait in us, albeit to varying degrees. Therefore, be earnest, repent, and forgive one another. So when did the disciples finally understand? If they had understood at the Lords prescribed time, would anything have been different at that time? And what about the church today? Do we understand Jesus words, even in retrospect? Because there was one woman who heard, believed and understood Jesus words in the light of love. She was forgiven of much, and she loved much. And if the church understood too, it would, at this eleventh hour, be prioritising to prepare itself and the world for the return of the Christ, just as Mary, sister of Martha, used the jar of pure nard to anoint Jesus and to prepare for His burial.
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How can I say that Mary, sister of Martha, was a disciple who truly 87 heard, believed and understood Gods word? Because wisdom is proved 88 right by its actions and is shown to be right by its results. It is written, after Lazarus was raised back to life, Jesus was at the home of Lazarus where Mary, his sister, took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume and anointed Jesus feet with it, and she wiped His feet with her 89 90 hair. Then she broke open the jar and poured the perfume over His head. 91 The fragrance of the perfume permeated the whole house. The gospels of Matthew and Mark do not identify the woman as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but the gospel of John does. It is written in John 11.2-3 NLT: This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lords feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. We can be certain that Matthew 26, Mark 14 and John 12 record this same event based on the identical response from Jesus to His disciples, and the others who were present, in particular, Judas Iscariot. They took offence and asked indignantly, Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a 92 high price and the money given to the poor. But Jesus replied, Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to Me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me. When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she 93 has done will also be told, in memory of her. Why did Mary, sister of Martha, anoint Jesus with perfume? How did she know to use the perfume at the dinner, when she was saving it to anoint her Lords body for burial? What motivated her to do so? What words of Jesus did she treasure in her heart that she went forth with such actions? We know she was someone who heard Gods word, believed it, and clung to it and to Jesus. Was Mary, sister of Martha, a woman familiar to suffering? We know she a woman who buried her brother in sorrow, only to witness Jesus bring 94 him back to life with three words, Lazarus, come out! But what had
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Matthew 13.23 NLT Matthew 11.19 NIV / NLT John 12.1-3 NLT 90 Mark 14.3 NLT 91 John 12.3 92 Matthew 26.8-9. Also see Mark 14.4-5; John 12.4 93 Matthew 26.10-13. Also see Mark 14.6-9; John 12.7-8 94 John 11.43
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inspired her to obstinately sit at Jesus feet to listen with undivided attention to 95 what He said, and even ignore rebukes from her own sister, Martha? What about Mary Magdalene? Unless we humble ourselves for the Holy Spirit to show us, how can we even begin to understand Mary Magdalene, a young woman who suffered under the possession of seven 96 demons, but was delivered by Jesus when He shone His light on her? What does it do to a woman who had experienced such darkness, but then to be forgiven, loved, accepted and taught by Jesus Christ? What was it that she had done that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit had chosen her to be the first one whom Jesus would appear to after His resurrection? Why am I talking about this? It is because the inspiration and understanding we take from the accounts of Mary, sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalene is such a personal matter. It is true that some are offended by speculation of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, even though there is nothing written in the gospels that suggest the relationship was unholy. There is also nothing written in the gospels that unequivocally ties Mary Magdalene and Mary, sister of Martha, to be the same person. The Lord has hidden this, but not without clues. So it takes careful reading on our part to receive understanding. Interestingly, it is not recorded that Mary, sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalene ever appeared with Jesus at the same time and place, even though they both followed Jesus so closely. Luke 8.2-3 tells us that Mary Magdalene followed Jesus after her deliverance and helped support Him and the twelve. To understand that they are the same woman means that after she was delivered, she left the lakeside city of Magdala where she had lived and from where she had taken her name, to live with her sister, Martha, and brother, Lazarus, at Marthas home in Bethany. I believe that Mary, sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalene are the same person. I also believe that Mary Magdalene is the fulfilment of the words of the prophet Jeremiah: The Lord will create a new thing on Earth a 97 woman will surround, go about seeking and protect a man. For that is what she did. It is more important to consider the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the perspective of discipleship, than as between male and female. If we consider it in the light of the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, it is evident that Mary Magdalene was a careful listener of Jesus. It is also evident that Mary Magdalene appreciated Jesus. She did what she could for
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Him: She heard and believed His words, followed Him, anointed His body, stayed around after He died, returned to His tomb very early on the first possible day, and looked for His body at the tomb when it wasnt found. Then when He met her, she immediately obeyed His instructions to tell His disciples that He was returning to His Father and their Father, to His God and their 98 God. So, the common thread between the accounts of Mary Magdalene and Mary, sister of Martha, is that they both heard, believed and obeyed, and both did more than was expected of them. If we cannot even appreciate Mary Magdalene in her listening to Jesus and putting her understanding into practice when she anointed His body for burial, what business do we have probing into their relationship and making speculations that have nothing to do with the revelations of the Holy Spirit? Many make the mistake of preaching or teaching about the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and in so doing, show no respect either for Jesus or Mary Magdalene, the first disciple of Jesus, who listened, believed and obeyed. Nor do they understand that Marys passion for Jesus rose out of her gratitude for the forgiveness and love she was given, which had healed the pain she had suffered, making her a new creation. Although not everyone goes through the same suffering as Mary Magdalene did, we all have the ability to listen to Jesus at the standard to which we are called. Listening to Jesus is a calling that is open to all believers. If you listen closely to Jesus and treasure His words in your heart with faith, you can also apply the understanding to do beautiful things for Jesus yourself. It is at this point of the chapter that the Holy Spirit showed me that I am to stop writing about Mary Magdalene. Instead this chapter will continue as follows
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The Delight of an Overcomer But the world must learn that I love the Father 99 and that I do exactly what My Father has commanded Me. To the seven churches, Jesus told John the apostle to write seven letters on a scroll with everything he saw, what was then and what was to 100 come, and send it to the seven churches. The letters list Jesus approvals, rebukes and corrections for each church, as well as the rewards for overcomers within each group: 1. 2. 3. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the Tree of 101 Life, which is in the Paradise of God. 102 He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known 103 only to him who receives it. To him who overcomes and does My will to the end, I will give authority over the nations - He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery - just as I have received 104 authority from My Father. I will also give him the morning star. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge his 105 name before My Father and His angels. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the Temple of My God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the Name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of Heaven from My God; and I will also write on 106 him My new Name. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His 107 throne.
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John 14.31 Revelation 1.11, 19; chapters 2-3 To the church in Ephesus - Revelation 2.7 102 To the church in Smyrna - Revelation 2.11 103 To the church in Pergamum - Revelation 2.17 104 To the church in Thyatira - Revelation 2.26-28 105 To the church in Sardis - Revelation 3.5 106 To the church in Philadelphia - Revelation 3.12 107 To the church in Laodicea - Revelation 3.21
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As John the apostle saw the vision of the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God in Revelation 21.6, the Father said, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be My son. The word overcomer appears as everyone who is victorious in the NLT. At the end of every letter in Revelation 2-3, Jesus commanded the seven churches: Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and 108 understand what He is saying to the churches. What are disciples of Jesus called to overcome, conquer and be victorious over, just as Jesus overcame, conquered and was victorious over? Is it any surprise that we must listen and understand all that the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches in order to have knowledge of what we are to overcome, the understanding of its purpose and wisdom on how to overcome? Without the Holy Spirit, how would we understand the who, what, when, why and how of overcoming? What we need to overcome The first focus of overcoming is the degree of power, which determines the control you have over situations. An overcomer is not defenceless and powerless. Even when weak, he can rise up to attack or defend to conquer and overcome all that stands between him and his goal. So what are disciples of Jesus to overcome? The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8.35-39 that in all these things, that is, trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. For this is the power of the love of Christ: Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all Creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The power of the love Jesus has for the Father since before the beginning of the Creation of the world ensured His victory in overcoming all trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword that He had to face. It ensured His success in executing the command that the Father gave Him. Jesus laid down His life, only to take it up again. No one took His life from Him, but He laid it down of His own accord. He had authority to lay
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it down and authority to take it up again. This command He received from His 109 Father. Jesus said that all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given 110 to Him. This brings us to the second focus of overcoming, which is authority. The Lord your God is the Sovereign Lord. There is no other God but Him. No angel or demon or man has the ability to do anything and succeed unless 111 God permits it. Satan attacked Job with the express permission of the Lord. 112 Saul was tormented by an evil spirit sent from the Lord. Joshua was able to defeat the Amorites at Gibeon with great victory because the Lord said, Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will 113 be able to withstand you. King David was able to overtake the Amalekites and defeat them only because the Lord said, Pursue them. You will certainly 114 overtake them and succeed in the rescue. However, recall the time when Moses sent some Israelite men at the Lords command to explore Canaan for forty days. Moses said to the men, Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land. When the men returned to the camp, they gave this report to Moses, We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Then the other ten men who had gone up with Caleb and Joshua said, We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own 115 eyes, and we looked the same to them.
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John 10.17-18 Matthew 28.18 Job 1.12; 2.6 112 1 Samuel 16.14 113 Joshua 10.8 114 1 Samuel 30.8 115 Number 13.26-29, 31-33
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This report caused the Israelites to complain against the Lord who delivered them out of Egypt. Egypt was the strongest nation of that time, and it was brought down with great signs and miracles administered by two old men with a wooden staff. Because the Israelites hearts were hard and stubborn, they did not understand that their deliverance was the will of the Lord. They did not learn to trust in God, but said ungratefully, If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldnt it be better for us to go back to Egypt? Then they said something so offensive that it angered the Lord and brought about their fate in the desert: 116 We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. So the Lord said, How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the 117 miraculous signs I have performed among them? Since the Israelites preferred to die in the desert than to trust in the Lord that He would take 118 them into the land of Canaan as God had promised Abraham, He pronounced judgment on them. The Lord said, As surely as I live, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall everyone of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against Me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you - your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years - one year for each of the forty days you explored the land you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against Me. They will meet their end in 119 this desert; here they will die. When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. We have sinned, they said. We will go up to the place the Lord promised. But Moses said, Why are you disobeying the Lords command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you
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have turned away from the Lord, He will not be with you and you will fall by the sword. Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord's covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to 120 Hormah. This event shows how important it is to have the Lord with you. Success is ensured when we are carrying out His will in His prescribed way and timing. However, faithful love to the Lord and steadfast obedience to His commands are more important than the success that is ensured in His Name. Otherwise, disciples may abuse the authority given to them by Jesus, and forget the purpose for which they were given power and authority. These are the three things that Jesus gave His disciples authority over: 1. Just as Jesus has the authority on Earth to forgive sins, He gave His disciples the authority to forgive sins. He said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyones sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to 122 forgive them, they are unforgiven. Jesus commanded us to practise forgiving our brothers and our enemies when they sin against us. A disciple exercises His authority to forgive the sins of those who persecute and insult him, and to overcome unforgiveness and bitterness in the churches. We are to practise forgiving so that our Father in Heaven may also forgive our sins. Remember Jesus said in His earlier teachings to His disciples, For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your 123 sins. Jesus referred to two types of persecution. The first one carries with it a blessing, because you suffer due to your faith in Jesus. Jesus said, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in 124 the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. The second type of persecution occurs purely because of your own self. On this, Jesus taught, Love your enemies and pray for those
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Numbers 14.36-45 Matthew 9.6: But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins Then He said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 122 John 20.21 NLT 123 Matthew 6.14-15 124 Matthew 5.11-12
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who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in 125 Heaven. Jesus said that loving your enemies means to pray for them and bless them. He asked, If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing 126 that? So in the same way, if you only bless and pray for your loved ones, what reward will you get? Does not the world already do that? How then will the world learn through the churches that the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is set apart as the superior covenant? The command to forgive is the mirror provision of the command to repent. For believers and disciples of Jesus Christ whose sins are forgiven under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, our primary duty is to practise unceasing repentance and forgiveness. The church is not a place where we are meant to feel good about ourselves, be entertained, or feel justified in the eyes of God because of the little time or thought we give to the Lord, as if we are throwing God Almighty a bone when we believe in Jesus. No, God does not need us to do Him any favours. Out of stones He can raise up children for 127 Abraham. Rather, we are the ones who need His grace. A church must be a place where all who walk in feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit because that church listens and understands what the Holy Spirit is saying to them. It must be a place where people know that Jesus our Saviour has forgiven our sins. Know for certain that the church sins when it does not obey Jesus commands to repent, believe all His words or forgive one another as Jesus has forgiven us. Why do we do such things? Though we may believe that the Father sent His only begotten Son to save the world, we do not believe in all His Sons words, therefore we do not believe in Him. So we busy ourselves by practising the laws of Moses and the judgment of James rather than obeying the laws of Jesus. We should be listening to Jesus first and foremost and with the utmost delight in honour of the Father. Therefore, let us repent unceasingly with the requisite attitude of repentance, Be earnest and repent; Be zealous and repent; and Be diligent and turn from your 128 indifference.
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Jesus gave His disciples authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. He said to His twelve apostles, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out 129 demons. However, this is not the same for believers. There is a difference between the Lord doing a miracle for you, and you being entrusted with His power to do a miracle for the Lord at your own will. This difference is in the maturity of a disciple, and thus his trustworthiness. It is important to understand the difference between believers and disciples in this respect. For believers, Jesus commanded His disciples, Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all Creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will 130 get well. The fact that such signs accompany believers does not mean that they are doing it by their own authority. Understand the relationship between Matthew 10.8, Mark 16.17 and Matthew 28.19. When we preach the Gospel to a person, and he repents and believes in Jesus Name, he should be able to drive out demons, speak in new tongues (languages), pick up snakes and drink deadly poison without being harmed; and place his hands on the sick and they will get well, because that is what Jesus said. These are signs that confirm their faith in Jesus when they are baptised with the Holy Spirit as newborns in Christ. This is the joint testimony of the Holy Spirit and believers who have become trainee disciples. For Jesus also said, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them 131 to obey everything I have commanded you. This means that after believers receive Jesus by faith, the churches are to bring them to Jesus for baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and teach all believers to listen to Jesus by reading His words and putting them into practice, so that they may hold onto Jesus teachings and grow under the supervision of the Holy Spirit as disciples. A sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that they will speak in the new languages Jesus said they would speak in. Then as part of their training in
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discipleship, they will be entrusted with a degree of Gods power to exercise the authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Therefore, a church should consist of believers and disciples, with all believers being made into disciples. They would be in different stages of growth and maturity, but they are all following Jesus and listening to Him and the Holy Spirit, so that they may carry out the will of the Father for Jesus. So the question is: Have you listened to Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Can you be entrusted with power? If so, how much of it? Remember, Jesus said from the one who has been entrusted with 132 much, much more will be asked. 3. Jesus said to His disciples (the seventy-two), I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all 133 power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. The same verse in the NLT is written as: Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. The power of the enemy is deception. The authority to overcome that power and to tread on snakes and scorpions is also for our protection as we are being sent out into the harvest fields to establish the Kingdom of God as we preach the Gospel, heal the sick and drive out demons by the Spirit of God.
If you desire to be an overcomer in Christ, you must understand these two things: The practice of mastering sin and the image of an overcomer. Mastering sin The command to master sin was given from the Father to Cain, If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master 134 it. The same verse in the NLT is written as: You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master. Firstly, to master sin, we must know and understand what sin is. Believers and disciples of Jesus Christ live under the Covenant for the
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Forgiveness of Sins. Under this covenant, sin is not defined by the Law of Moses, because Jesus fulfilled the Levitical Law and the Prophets as well as 135 their law. But for us, sin is defined by the Law of Jesus, and is unbelief in Jesus and His words. The Law of Jesus is all the decrees, commands and regulations given by Jesus. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the Law of Jesus is the way, the truth and the life for us to obey so that we can come to the Father. The authority of the Law of Jesus exceeds that of the 136 Levitical Law and the Law of Moses, because the Father commanded the disciples of Jesus to listen to Jesus. Sin is the disobedience against the regulations, commands and decrees of God. If the Father did not command disciples of Jesus to listen to Jesus, it would not be a sin against the Father to follow the words of Moses. And why do you suppose the Holy Spirit only 137 reminds us of everything that Jesus said? So for a believer or disciple of Jesus, sin is not just about a moral code of behaviour. Under the Law of Jesus in the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, sin is defined as unbelief in Jesus. Jesus said, When He comes, He (the Counsellor) will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin ... in 138 regard to sin because men do not believe in Me. I am, of course, not talking about conduct that is governed by the laws of men, for we are to obey the laws of the land until Jesus returns. After 139 Jesus returns, the government of the world will be on His shoulders. Therefore, for a believer and disciple of Jesus Christ, morality and immorality are judged according to the words of Jesus because all things have been 140 committed to Him by the Father, and all authority in Heaven and on Earth 141 has been given to Him. For the church of Jesus Christ, sin is unbelief in Jesus. The disobedience against the words of Jesus, the failure to obey His commands, and the negligence in putting all His words into practice still counts as unbelief in Jesus, even if you call Him your Lord and Saviour. For if you had believed Him, you would have listened to Him and obeyed everything He commanded by putting His words into practice. It is that simple. Jesus said that He came to fulfil the Law, the Prophets and the 142 Psalms. But the Father told the disciples to listen to Jesus, not to Moses or
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Matthew 5.17; John 15.25 The Law of Moses is Deuteronomy, which is a repeat of the Levitical Law with Moses additions and explanations. 137 John 14.26 138 John 16.8-9 139 Isaiah 9.6-7 140 Matthew 11.27; Luke 10.22 141 Matthew 28.18 142 Matthew 5.17; Luke 24.44; John 15.25
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the prophets. Our failure to listen to Jesus is truly the reason why the overall state of the church is wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Therefore, understand that it is a sin to disbelieve or disobey any of the commands of Jesus. For example, the sin of adultery as defined by Jesus is looking at a 143 woman lustfully. It is a sin to call another man, father, for we only have 144 one Father who is in Heaven. It is a sin to swear by Heaven or Earth or by 145 146 Jerusalem. It is a sin to hate your enemies. It is a sin to hold back 147 forgiveness. However, the only unforgivable sin is the blasphemy of the 148 Holy Spirit. Five out of seven of the churches in Revelation 2-3 had committed specific sins against the Law of Jesus. They had failed to obey specific laws of Jesus that are recorded for us in the word of God. 1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, Jesus said, Yet I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which 149 you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. Jesus first command to His disciples in regard to love is found in Matthew 5.43-48 NLT: You have heard the law that says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in Heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is Perfect. How can it be said that the first love of the church is the love of enemies, when Revelation 2.4 is written as follows in the NLT: But I have this complaint against you. You dont love Me or each other as you did at first? How do you reconcile these words of Jesus? This is the truth: When fellow disciples fail to obey Jesus command to love one another as He has loved us, we become enemies with each other within the church. We become our own worst enemy.
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The church in Smyrna did not receive a rebuke from Jesus. He gave them this encouragement because of the persecutions they suffered, I know 150 your afflictions and your poverty - yet you are rich! They are rich for Jesus rewards await them: Blessed are the poor in spirit [or those who 151 realise their need for Him ], for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth. Blessed are those who hunger and 152 153 thirst for righteousness [and justice ], for they will be filled. To the church in Pergamum, Jesus said He had a few things against her. Firstly, she had people who held onto the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Secondly, she has those who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The sin of Balaam is that he sold the favours of God for a fee. He was hired and paid by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the Israelites. Balaam sacrificed bulls on altars so God would appear and answer his requests. This was the sorcery of Balaam. He sold the blessings and the curses of God for a fee for divination. Sorcery is a practice of faith that only gives to receive and control. There is no love, but only the intent to take. Divination is the speaking out of that faith. The sin from the teaching (note: singular teaching) of Balaam, which this church was enticed to practise, is this: Tithe to the church so that God may bless you; but if you dont tithe, God will not and does not bless you. What is this? Isnt this a bribe? I was not aware that I should bribe my own Father. Therefore, the sin of Balaam in the church today is a form of sexual immorality of the spirit, where we religiously give a portion to God in return for Gods blessings as part of our worship, 155 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Why is this a sin? Because the church in Pergamum disobeyed these words of Jesus: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and
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Revelation 2.9 NLT NLT 153 Matthew 5.3-6 154 Revelation 2.12-17 155 2 Timothy 3.5
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faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the 156 former Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the 157 former undone. The shepherds of the church in Pergamum taught her people to hold onto the teaching of Balaam, which is to apply their faith in a way that bribes God to bless them. This is the attitude and act of manipulating Gods words for blessings in order to accomplish their own purposes. Therefore, both shepherds and the flock have sinned. The second sin of the church in Pergamum is that she taught and held on to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. It is clearly written in Acts 6.5 that Nicolas was a convert to Judaism. Therefore, the teaching of the Nicolaitans is the conversion of believers and disciples of Jesus Christ back to Judaism, by way of including partial practice of the Law of Moses. This is the spirit of Judaism. It aims to lead the church back into the kingdom of Israel where there is no salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, but only the act of atonement of sins by unending works. The spirit of Judaism in the church of Jesus Christ is a spirit of slavery. It is a conversion to mislead its people back into the slavery of the laws of the kingdom of Israel, instead of the freedom that the truth of Christ has given us. The spirit of Judaism led James and men from James to spread teachings in the church that combine the Law of Moses with the Law of Jesus, leading to the incomplete practice of either set of laws under their respective covenants. The teaching of the Nicolaitans is a call for atonement of sins by works through partial observance of the Law of Moses to add to the perfection of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ through repentance. It is actually saying that faith in Jesus and listening to Him alone are somehow not sufficient. When a church does not practise and preach listening to Jesus first and foremost as its foundation, power and strength will be lost to that church. It will then resort to entertainment value and the powers of the world to maintain its reputation of being alive. But this is not the way it was supposed to be, nor the purpose for which the Holy Spirit was sent. The church in Pergamum had sinned against these words of Jesus: The 158 Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News! Although this church has believed in Jesus, she has not believed in all the Goods News. For there were disciples who turned away from Jesus when
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Matthew 23.23 Luke 11.42 158 Mark 1.15
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the teachings became too hard. If there were many then, why wouldnt there be many in the churches now? For example, how many in the churches apply their faith to go to Heaven, rather than in Jesus words of John 11.26 that they would believe and live in Jesus, and never die? In addition, the church in Pergamum did not obey Jesus command to teach all nations to obey everything He has commanded us, because she 160 has people who hold onto the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. That is why Jesus said in Revelation 2.16, Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. He will come soon to fight against her teachings and lies with the sword of His Truth. Jesus is the Truth and He brings the sword, which is His word. Therefore repent for we have not preached repentance nor tithed in accordance with the words of Jesus. 4. To the church in Thyatira, Jesus said, Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants into sexual immorality and the 161 eating of food sacrificed to idols. The sin of Jezebel against Israel is 162 that she urged her husband, Ahab, the king of Israel, to worship idols. 163 Jezebel was the daughter of a Sidonian king. She was a false, selfproclaimed prophetess and Baal worshipper. The Lord did not send her. The Lord said in Jeremiah 23.16 that false prophets speak their own mind, and not words from the mouth of the Lord. By their lies, they fill listeners with false hope of righteousness through works from false doctrines, 164 rather than the truth that it is by Gods grace alone that we are saved. For no one is righteous apart from Jesus Christ, the Way through whom we receive the gift of righteousness, and He is the only one who we listen 165 to and obey. Jezebel teaches the mirror image of Balaams teachings pious poverty for the sake of godliness yet denying it of its power. Her sexual immorality is that she falsely teaches celibacy as holiness without the gift from God to be a eunuch. Jesus said about marriage in Matthew 19.11-12, Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made
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John 6.66 Matthew 28.20 Revelation 2.20 162 1 Kings 21.25 163 1 Kings 16.31 164 Romans 3.10; 9.31-32; 11.6 165 Romans 5.17
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that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the Kingdom of Heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. Jezebels teachings give rise to false sense of holiness. For holiness is not about appearances, nor about dos and donts. Holiness is setting yourself apart for Jesus by listening to Him and the Holy Spirit only, believing in all of Jesus words and putting them into practice with patience and perseverance, so that you may come to know and honour Them. The church in Thyatira was led astray by eating and practising teachings of false holiness. This is idolatry within the church. The sin of the church in listening to the teaching of Jezebel is the disobedience against this command of Jesus: Be careful. Be on your 166 guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. By her hypocrisy, the church fell into adultery with the false teaching of the false prophetess. What is the true prophecy about this church? Jesus said, You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship 167 Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. Therefore be on your guard against every teaching of dead works and beliefs that lead you away from listening to Jesus and worshipping the Father in spirit and truth, as well as preparing for the return of Jesus. Jesus must find faith when He returns. But how would you be able to discern the truth from false teachings unless you have been listening to Jesus carefully in the first place? Therefore be earnest and repent, for 168 Jesus told us to consider carefully how we listen. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and to each of us as He counsels us in the way, the truth and the life that is of Jesus. 5. To the church in Sardis, Jesus said, I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and 169 heard; obey it, and repent. The church in Sardis disobeyed John 11.25-26. In the NLT version, Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha? Martha busied herself with
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Matthew 16.5 Matthew 15.7-8 168 Luke 8.18 169 Revelation 3.2
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dinner preparations, while her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus feet to listen intently to Him. Jesus knew Marthas deeds, and they were not complete in the sight of His God. How are the deeds of the church incomplete? There is John 6.66 in us when Jesus teachings are too hard and offensive, and we choose to ignore them or walk away from Jesus. The church is meant to walk the narrow road with faith and knowledge in all of Jesus deeds and words. And the church should listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then practise all the words of Jesus under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, such as praying to 170 the Father in secret but agreeing with one another when we are 171 together. Listen, then do. This is Mary and Martha combined in the correct sequence. There was another time when the disciples of Jesus could not stay awake to keep watch with Jesus. On the night before going to the cross, Jesus said to Peter, James and John, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me. But Jesus found them sleeping and He said, Could you men not keep watch with Me for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The 172 spirit is willing, but the body is weak. If a church does not stay awake or wake up, she cannot keep watch with Jesus. She has failed to obey this command of Jesus, Therefore keep 173 watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. No wonder Jesus said to the church in Sardis, But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to 174 you. Jesus will come like a thief. He said so in Revelation 16.15, Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed. But there are a few in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with Jesus, dressed in white, for they are worthy. I propose that as Jesus has those who are worthy to walk with Him, He will receive 175 even more, more than enough - an abundance! Amen? If we do not believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, and that we who live and believe will never die, and live this faith today, we will fall asleep and be dead because we will not be focused on the return of
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Matthew 6.6 Matthew 18.19 Matthew 26.36-41 173 Matthew 24.42 174 Revelation 3.3 175 Matthew 18.19: Again, I tell you that if two of you on Earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in Heaven.
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Jesus. Then we are not fully acknowledging the privilege of the first resurrection, and we are not striving to enrich our testimony of Jesus and the word of God so that we may lose our heads for Jesus and be able to refuse the mark of the beast when it comes. Therefore repent if you have 176 rejected the fullness of the truth by only believing in John 11.25, but 177 shy away from John 11.26 because it seems too impossible. Everything 178 is possible for him who believes! These are not my words, but Jesus words. So how do you apply your faith? 6. The church in Philadelphia did not receive a rebuke from Jesus since she 179 kept His command to endure patiently. Her overcomers will earn this reward, Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the Temple of My God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the Name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of Heaven from My God; and I will also write on him 180 My new Name. Jesus said that the church in Philadelphia had little strength, but she kept His word and did not deny His Name. Thus she fulfilled these words of Jesus, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the 181 same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. The synagogue of Satan, who claimed to be Jews, but were liars, persecuted the church in Philadelphia. Perhaps they said this to the church in Philadelphia to attack their faith, If Jesus loves you so much, why does He allow you to suffer? In return, Jesus said that He would make those liars, those fake Jews, fall at her feet and acknowledge that Jesus loved the people of this church. Why? Because the synagogue of Satan had been spreading lies that Jesus did not love the people of this church, even though she had kept His command to endure patiently. So Jesus will vindicate His own words, Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, 182 and I too will love him and show Myself to him. Therefore repent for we have not obeyed Jesus by rejoicing when we are persecuted because of our faith in Him.
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Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. NLT Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. NLT Mark 9.23 179 Revelation 3.10 180 Revelation 3.12 181 Matthew 5.11-12 182 John 14.21
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To the church in Laodicea, Jesus said, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of My mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind 183 and naked. This church claimed to be rich because it disobeyed these words of Jesus in Matthew 6.24, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. She was neither hot nor cold because her deeds were founded on a split loyalty between serving God and money. This deception can be so deep that the split loyalty merges into a lukewarm attitude towards the Lord and the urgency of His return. More importantly, the church in Laodicea did not honour the truth of Jesus words to His disciples, If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being Mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you 184 give up your life for Me, you will find it. Because the church in Laodicea did not put aside her home, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children and fields for Jesus, she thought that she was rich and she did not need a thing. Yet Jesus said, Dont imagine that I came to bring peace to the Earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-inlaw against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own 185 household! Luke 14.26 in the NLT adds a further perspective, If you want to be My disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison - your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple. If your following Jesus doesnt come at a personal price (a price first paid by Christ in grace) or if you did not let go or harden your heart towards something or someone precious so that you can seek first the kingdom of our Father and His righteousness - or if you did not live for Him and make the Kingdom of
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God your primary concern - or if you did not regain something from the Lord that you thought was lost forever, be it your health or a hope fulfilled - or if your faith in Jesus costs you nothing - if you are never challenged to advance, nor had to rise to the occasion due to your faith in Jesus or if you have never experienced failures in your practice of Jesus words so that you may repent and persevere, you will become lukewarm and lack passion. Why? Because you will not appreciate what you have received from Jesus. There is no sense of urgency for the Lords return. If everything in your life does not make you ache for Jesus to return to reign on Earth, how would He be at the forefront of your thoughts, speech and actions? It makes perfect sense that Jesus taught us to give up and hate our father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even our own life, by comparison. By comparison to what? To the kingdom of our Father and His righteousness. Yet, did not Jesus say, I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the Gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields 187 and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. We wish, crave and diligently seek things we need and desire, and our 188 Heavenly Father knows it. But if we do not cast our desires and plans aside for a time to seek first the Kingdom of God and the Fathers righteousness, how can the Father give them to us, and a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come? Even though it may sound harsh that Jesus said to give up or hate our family by comparison, never forget that the Father, Son and Spirit are family Men. Always look at it from the perspective of the benefit of the Kingdom of God, and always remember that you have a very generous and loving Father who will never forsake you. So how do you honour the perfect Father who would never forsake you? By going after your own dreams and putting His on hold? Or do you honour your Father by losing your life for His plans and desires for His Son Jesus? For those who overcome themselves and their life will sit with Jesus on His throne to reign with Him. Without the urgency of the soon arrival of Jesus and the importance of remembering that the Father desires none to be lost except those doomed for destruction, your faith may become a casual relationship, a part-time worship and a lacklustre fellowship. It may be without delight in striving
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to overcome all that is on your plate. It may be without pleasure in the freedom of faith, and without treasuring everything that you were given so as to become a son or daughter of God in the Kingdom of God. For, it is the arrival of Christ that is the most anticipated event on your Fathers mind, not your entry into Heaven. And so it was, it is, and it will be. In any case, we must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, because Jesus our King, our Brother and our Life, is arriving soon in Jerusalem. The time promised by God has come at last! The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the 189 Good News! To all churches who gather in the Name of Jesus Christ and are willing to hear, listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches: Now fear the Lord Jesus and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the teachings of your forefather James from the Law of Moses, and listen to the Lord Jesus only. But if listening to Jesus seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will listen to, whether it be the teachings of the forefathers of the church in the land you are living in or the Law of Moses. It should be clear by now that for a believer and disciple of Jesus Christ, mastering sin means to master any disobedience against the words of Jesus. Under the New Covenant, Jesus defined sin as unbelief in Him. So sin can only be mastered by the words of Jesus and by obeying His commands. Jesus blood was poured out for many for the forgiveness of all sins except the eternal sin, which is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 15.29, James advised the Gentiles that they would do well to avoid food sacrificed to idols, blood, the meat of strangled animals and sexual immorality. However, if you listen to Jesus, it would be better to only avoid the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And it would be best to master sin through the practice of righteousness by believing Jesus and obeying the Law of Jesus. What is the mastery of the words of Jesus? It is when you believe, know and understand His words, and you practise, teach them, and live their truth for the sole purpose of advancing the interests of Jesus and His kingdom. Church: Can you tell the difference between the words of James and the words of Jesus? We, who call Jesus our Lord and Saviour, have no business listening to anyone else if we do not listen to Jesus first and foremost. We have no business quoting the words of Moses, James or Paul, or anyone else, unless we can first quote the words of Jesus flawlessly.
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James said, Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he 190 will flee from you. Yet Jesus said, But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other 191 also. James said, The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on 192 fire, and is itself set on fire by Hell. Yet Jesus said, The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his 193 heart his mouth speaks. 194 James said, Faith without deeds is dead. Yet Jesus said, Don't 195 be afraid; just believe Your faith has saved you; go in peace. We were not saved by our deeds, but by our faith. James said, Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the 196 church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the Name of the Lord. Yet Jesus said to His disciples, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those 197 who have leprosy, drive out demons And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My Name they will place their hands on sick people, 198 and they will get well. I am merely marking out the differences between the teachings of James and the teachings of Jesus. It is of course your choice to listen to Jesus or to James. You may even listen to both, but at least know where your loyalty lies because there is a difference. If you can tell the difference between the words of Jesus and the words of other men, you will understand why Jesus 199 said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It is definitely easier and lighter to practise only Jesus words and deeds than to practise selected commands of the Levitical Law, mixed in with a few verses of Jesus and the Epistles. You lose sight of where you stand! Even the apostle Peter thought so. He said at the council at Jerusalem to the Pharisees who were zealous for the Law of Moses, Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the 200 disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
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James 4.7 Matthew 5.39 James 3.6 193 Luke 6.45 194 James 2.26 195 Mark 5.36; Luke 7.50 196 James 5.14 197 Matthew 10.8 198 Mark 16.15-18 199 Matthew 11.30 200 Acts 15.10
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Under the Law of Jesus in the New Covenant, there are only two sins. Firstly, there is the sin of unbelief in Jesus. For the condemned, it is unbelief in His Name the name of Gods one and only Son. For believers and disciples, the sin of unbelief in Jesus is unbelief which leads to disobedience against Jesus in the failure to put all His words in practice. If we do not believe even just one of His words, then we have not fully believed in Him, because partial belief is, in truth, unbelief. Secondly, there is the eternal sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Compare this to the Law of Moses. No wonder Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light! This is purely by the Fathers grace through the covenant with His Son. Just as it is a delight for believers and disciples to witness the words of Jesus coming true for them, it is also a delight for the Father to see us persevering in our faithful practice of His Sons words, despite our setbacks and failures. To God, your faithfulness is more valuable than your success because your faithfulness to Jesus honours Him. So what do you have to lose in putting Jesus words into practice exclusively? Absolutely nothing! If you can accept that the Lord has a standard to which the churches are called to listen to Jesus, and that we have failed to meet that standard, yet you go forth and listen to Jesus today, you will begin to see how petty and irrelevant some churches are when they focus on issues that have nothing to do with the urgency of preparing for Jesus soon arrival. It is futile to cover up our lack of full power with great shows and charitable banquets, and send our children on outreach missions without the full armour of the power of the Holy Spirit that was provided for disciples. So where is the church of Jesus Christ with full power and strength? For the church with full power is one where each believer and disciple listens to Jesus individually and to the Holy Spirit collectively to prepare for Jesus return to reign upon the Earth. The image and likeness of the overcomer The image and likeness of an overcomer help us understand where or who we came from, and what Jesus came to save. God said, Let Us make man in Our Image, in Our Likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the Earth, and over all the 201 creatures that move along the ground. God created human beings in His Own Image. In the Image of God He created them; male and female He 202 created them. Gods Image is what the Father, Son and Spirit imagined and created for Themselves, and Gods Likeness is who They are.
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It is written about Jesus in Hebrews 1.3-4: The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His Being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven. So He became as much superior to the angels as the Name He has inherited is superior to theirs. In the NLT, the same verse is written as: The Son radiates Gods Own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of the majestic God in Heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the Name God gave Him is greater than their names. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 203 204 Word was God. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Through Him [Jesus, the Word] all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome 205 it. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of 206 grace and truth, unfailing love and faithfulness. The Word is full of grace and truth. The image in which God created mankind is not just our face or the way we look. Our image is flesh, spirit and soul. Do not construe image in the worldly way by judging by mere appearance. Have you ever asked the Lord, What is man that You are so mindful of him? Why do You even care? God cares because God sowed Their Image and Likeness into us. As He said in Isaiah 48.11, For My Own sake, for My Own sake, I do this. How can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another. What is the Image that God created us in? What is Their Image and Likeness? You must look to Jesus if you want to understand the Image and Likeness of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Mans flesh, spirit and soul are made in Gods Image and Likeness, for we were created in the flesh, which contains the spirit and soul. And it is written that Jesus came full of grace and truth, unfailing love and faithfulness this is a good place to start when seeking the Holy Spirit for understanding.
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Being made in the Image of God sets us apart from the fish, the birds, the livestock and the wild animals, which we were meant to have authority and dominion over. It even sets us apart from those of the spiritual realm because God specifically said, Let Us make man in Our Image, in Our Likeness. He did not say, Let Us make sons in Our Image, because angels are also referred to as sons of God in the Bible. Who knows the power of God, except the One who said, Let there 207 be light, and there was? Who understands the power of God, except the 208 One who said, Lazarus, come forth, and he lived again? Who said to the centurion, Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed, and the 209 centurions servant was healed at the precise time of His words? Who said 210 to the storm, Hush, be still, and the wind became perfectly calm? So who on Earth can understand the glory of the Word who became flesh, unless the Holy Spirit of Grace is pleased to guide them into ALL truth? And how can we even begin to ask the harder questions and bear the hardest teachings, unless we have listened to Jesus and have been brought to a place of refining maturity by the Holy Spirit, so that we are able to hold on to what we have, despite any failure or success? Think about the gravity and seriousness of God making man in His Image. Think about why it was justified in Gods eyes to put an end to all 211 people at a time when the sons of God (that is, the angels ) had children with the daughters of women in Genesis 6, filling the world with violence and corrupting it with their wickedness. Is God cruel? Or rather, was it necessary because God could not allow the bloodline of Jesus Christ to be corrupted with vileness from the marriage of angels and humans, thereby destroying men made in the Image and Likeness of God, which He gave to us as a gift? Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, is the exact representation of Gods grace. Jesus, the Son of Man, is the exact representation of God the Father in the flesh. Cant you hear the Fathers heart when He said, How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call Me, Father and not turn away from 212 following Me. For what is land to God really, when He has an abundance
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Genesis 1.3 John 11.43 NASB Matthew 8.13 NASB 210 Mark 4.39 NASB 211 This is artfully hidden by the Lord in Job 2.1 and footnote b 212 Jeremiah 3.19
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of universes? What are new moon festivals and appointed feasts to Him, when 213 He said they are a burden to Him? And what does a sacrifice of fattened sheep and goats mean to the Lord Almighty, when He said the cattle on a 214 thousand hills belong to Him? The Lord said that He has no pleasure in the 215 blood of bulls and lambs and goats. All these things are meaningless to God as long as His sons and daughters on Earth are in the land of wild living, squandering their inheritance 216 and birthright for a bowl of stew that is not even real food. And all the while, the sons and daughters who are working in the fields care more about keeping their share of the fattened calves and land than the Father whose neck is outstretched, looking out for His other sons and daughters who are a long way off, because He is waiting for them to come home through the Gate who 217 is Jesus. And some even have the audacity to say to the Lord about salvation, Look! All these years Ive been slaving for You and never disobeyed Your orders. These men who were hired last worked only one hour and You have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day. Why should someone who is saved at the eleventh hour be granted the same reward as I have believed for over these last ten years? I have been a Christian since birth! Does this kind of conduct honour our Father, the Father of Jesus? So the Father may say to you, My son, you are always with Me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this 218 brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Or He may call you, Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didnt you agree to work for a denarius? ... Or are you envious because I am generous? Take your 219 pay and go. He may even say to you, You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But this world has many people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about My 220 world? And then you will realise in your naked shame that even though you had obeyed the Father when He said, Son, go and work today in the 221 vineyard, you had focused on the wrong things all along. You worked, but
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Isaiah 1.14 Psalm 50.10 Isaiah 1.11 216 Genesis 25.29 217 Luke 15.11-32 218 Luke 15.31 219 Matthew 20.13-15 220 Jonah 4.10 221 Matthew 21.28
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your attitude was not like the Son who is fully after the Fathers own heart. You were the son who worked in the field so that you could say to yourself, I have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and 222 be merry. Your heart was far from honouring your Father. That is how we may be envious of Gods generosity. We think we will receive less out of our inheritance because God is generous. We care more about our birthright than the One who loved us so much that He gave us the right to become children of God by sacrificing His Son in ways we do not yet fully understand. So let us be earnest and repent for this is our image as sons of Adam. We inherited the image of Adam and Eve, and we have always cared more about our inheritance than our Father and what He wanted. Jesus Christ, the Son, is the exact representation of Gods grace, and He expresses the character of God in the fullness of His grace. But are we a representation of Gods grace? Or are we a representation of our forefather Adam? It is written: When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; 223 and he named him Seth. What is Adams image and likeness? The image of Adam is flesh with sin that leads to decay and death, and his inherent likeness is disobedience, ingratitude and blamefulness. If you blame Adam and Eve for disobeying the Lord and being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, you have just demonstrated the trait of blamefulness. We cannot condemn others for making mistakes because we could easily make the same mistakes in the same situation, if not worse. One aspect of the image and likeness of Adam is ungratefulness, or un-grace. If Adam was grateful for the companion and helper God created for him, would he claim Eve by saying, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man? And if Adam was grateful for all that he enjoyed in the Garden of Eden, would he defy the Lords command and eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? When he ate the fruit, did he repent? No, he blamed God for placing Eve in the Garden of Eden, The woman You put 224 here with me she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it. The likeness of Adam is un-grace and blamefulness. If you constantly blame someone else for your mistakes, you will never repent. If you dont repent, you will never learn and change. If you dont learn and change, you will always make the same mistakes. And if you keep making the same mistakes from lack of repentance, how then can you master sin?
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Church: We have failed to consistently acknowledge and testify in its fullness that we would have nothing if not for Jesus the Son. He is the Word who took on flesh to give His life as a ransom for many because He loves the Father and does exactly what the Father commands. We must be grateful and cheerfully thankful for the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, for we are the beneficiaries of Gods grace and His joy in salvation. To show our appreciation and honour to God the Forgiver for this covenant, we must practise and preach unceasing repentance and forgiveness in Jesus Name. Forgiveness is what it takes to wipe out the original sin of man, so that the end would be the beginning. The beginning is the original intention God imagined for His Creation. So now, do you see that Jesus Christ is the exact representation of Gods grace? He said, It is I, speaking in righteousness, 225 mighty to save Here I am - it is written about Me in the scroll - I have 226 come to do Your will, O God Father, forgive them, for they do not 227 know what they are doing. For I am My brothers keeper. Therefore churches: Listen to Jesus. Continue to love your fellow disciples as Jesus has loved you. Praise God and repent for your failures and your weaknesses in doing so. Forgive one another. And freely give away the successes you have achieved so that they may be multiplied into the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. Do not turn your heart away from your Father who waits patiently for His sons and daughters. Do not block your ears from the Holy Spirit who guides you into ALL truth. And do not take your eyes off Jesus, even for a second, because He who is full of grace says, Yes, I am My brothers keeper, and we must all learn from Jesus on how to honour the Father. To summarise: God created man, male and female in His Image and Likeness. This Image and Likeness can only be seen in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word who became flesh. He came from the Father full of grace and truth, unfailing love and faithfulness. We cannot look at our own image and likeness to determine Gods Image and Likeness because we fell from grace when Adam first sinned against God in disobeying His command. Jesus is the exact representation of Gods grace. The fullness of grace in Jesus Christ is that He is His brothers keeper because He loves His Father and always does what the Father commands Him. As Jesus disciples, we are also doing exactly what the Father commanded us when we listen to Jesus.
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Isaiah 63.1 Psalm 40.7-8; Hebrews 10.7 227 Luke 23.34
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Jesus is our Saviour. He overcame the world for He is the Light of 228 the World. Crucifixion was no walk in the park, for Jesus is Man, but He overcame and conquered. So, for us to be the fullness of grace like Jesus, we must be our brothers keeper as well. We are to obey Jesus commands, including loving our enemies and our fellow disciples as Jesus has loved us. If we do not obey Jesus commands, how can we mature to be our Brother Jesus keeper, as surely as He is ours? Since He has come and He overcame so that we may have life and have it to the full, shouldnt we then strive to stay alive and overcome so that when our Brother arrives, He not only finds many with faith on Earth, but many with more than faith? Are you your Brothers keeper? If so, do you know what you must overcome to make the truth manifest out of this mustard seed of desire? The purpose of overcoming At this point, has it crossed your mind to ask, Why should I overcome? What am I to overcome? And when did Jesus say I should overcome? First of all, overcoming is an attitude and a mindset. It is a resolution and a decision you make for yourself. The commitment to that decision becomes your daily cross, and it calls for patient endurance and perseverance. Jesus said, If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or 229 destroyed? Your daily cross is everything in your life and in your heart that you put aside to seek first the kingdom of the Father and His righteousness, and to do the will of the Father as a disciple of Jesus. This is the call of service. The hardest part to overcome is often ourselves, for we can be our worst enemy. Jesus said we cannot serve both God and money. The truth is, neither can we serve both God and our selfish desires. For disciples of Christ, it is one or the other. There is no middle ground, because the middle ground is not the narrow road. And it is only the narrow road that leads you to know the Father of Jesus, and to prepare for your Kings return to reign upon the Earth. The narrow road is Gods prescribed way because His ways are higher than our ways. Jesus said that He gave us authority to overcome all the power of the 230 enemy. Earlier in this chapter are listed Jesus instructions in the seven
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John 8.12 Luke 9.23-25 NLT 230 Luke 10.19 NLT
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letters to the seven churches where He also spoke of the twelve rewards for overcomers. These rewards are not about Heaven and Hell. They relate to eternal life, authority and kingship. The churches keep missing the point when they preach on Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Earth will pass away, and Hell 231 will be emptied and thrown into the Lake of Burning Sulphur. It is almost like attending a lecture on a set of laws that will soon be abolished. Shouldnt we be teaching believers and disciples about rewards that are eternal? Did you know that Jesus will give His rewards when He arrives with those who lost their heads for their testimony of Him and for the word of God? He said in Revelation 22.12, Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. He will give the pleasant rewards of Revelation 2-3 to those who overcame in Him, and the unpleasant rebuke with its eternal consequences to those who did not listen to His voice and hold to His teaching, I never knew you. Away from 232 Me, you evildoers! Re-read the twelve rewards of overcomers at the beginning of this chapter. Jesus the Overcomer will give these rewards to His overcomers: 1. 2. 3. 4. The right to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God. 234 To not be hurt at all by the second death. Some of the hidden manna; and a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who 235 receives it. 5. Authority over the nations; and 236 6. the morning star. 7. To be dressed in white. 8. Their names will never be blotted out from the Book of Life. Jesus will 237 acknowledge them before His Father and His Fathers angels. 9. To be made a pillar in the Temple of Jesus God, and never again will they leave it (The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of New 238 Jerusalem ); 10. to have written on them the Name of Jesus God and the name of the city of Jesus God, the New Jerusalem; and
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Luke 21.33; Revelation 20.14 Matthew 7.23 To the church in Ephesus - Revelation 2.7 234 To the church in Smyrna - Revelation 2.11 235 To the church in Pergamum - Revelation 2.17 236 To the church in Thyatira - Revelation 2.26-28 237 To the church in Sardis - Revelation 3.5 238 Revelation 21.22
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11. to also have written on them Jesus new Name. 240 12. The right to sit with Jesus on Jesus throne.
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The why of overcoming is simple. We overcome for this reason alone: To honour and bring glory to the One who overcame the world and poured out His blood at the cross for the forgiveness of sins, because, for this we were spared. It is not about rewards or glamour. For there is no glamour in overcoming, there is only the glory of justice for Jesus. If you take up your daily cross as His disciple, you have put your hand to the plow. Therefore, repent if you keep looking back, so that you may be fit for service in the Kingdom of God. We overcome purely for the love of Christ and the fire of justice for Jesus. There is no other way to dress up a reason why a person would put himself out there in patient endurance and perseverance to be an overcomer. Why take on the humbling challenges and suffering that discipleship brings, when you can just recline and live a comfortable life as a believer? Why hold to Jesus teachings if it means being persecuted and hated by the world because 241 you no longer belong to the world? The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3.10-12: I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. And the apostle John wrote: I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in 242 Gods kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. These are words of an apostle of Jesus, not a believer. This is the truth: You simply begin to take on the attitude of an overcomer when you are in love with Jesus and you want justice for Jesus. Then you begin to understand that the practice of overcoming is part of discipleship under the counsel of the Spirit of Grace, which is to make you eligible for the first resurrection to reign with Christ the King as His brother or sister. It is part of coming to know Christ Jesus through thick and thin. You just want to know Jesus and to be with Him, wherever He is. It is a simple yet burning desire. The attitude and willingness to lay down your life then becomes part of your relationship and growth in the Lord in everyday called today. Not later. Not when you are dead, nor in Heaven, nor after Judgment Day. It is today. And your attitude will be tested by the things you are to overcome in your personal life and your service before the Lord. If you do not
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To the church in Philadelphia - Revelation 3.12 To the church in Laodicea - Revelation 3.21 241 John 15.19 242 Revelation 1.9 NLT
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stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. However, if you do not have knowledge and understanding, how much more difficult would it be to stand firm in your faith? This is when some people will say to you, You have gone mad. Your faith is too extreme and you take Jesus words too far. There should be a balance between your religion and your life. But you look at them, and you think they are mad for not being so in love with Jesus and taking Him at His word, because Jesus is your life! So, what is a little sacrifice today when there is a hope and promise that you can be with Jesus in everyday called today? It is like giving up an apple to plant its seeds to gain an orchard later. Not that we focus on rewards, but we do know that the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit receive glory through Their loving-kindness and generosity. As to what we are to overcome, Jesus gave us the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. As it is written in the gospels, the power of the enemy is the only thing Jesus told His disciples to overcome. Overcoming the power of the enemy is more than driving out demons. Remember Jesus told His disciples not to rejoice that the demons submit to them, but rejoice because their names are written in 243 Heaven. So what does it mean? Overcoming the power of the enemy The power of the enemy is the power of Satan. It is the power of deception. The tools of deception are lies, flattery and doubt. Satan uses these tools in our times of troubles, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, dangers, sword, weaknesses, insults and difficulties. These are times when a person is at his weakest. These situations arise in our lives either from our disobedience, or from reaping what we have sown. They are either discipline by the Lord or disturbances by Satans demons, depending on where you stand with God, and whether you are in disobedience against the Father, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. How we overcome these situations depends on our repentance, faith, faithfulness, practice and understanding of Jesus words. It is when a man is at his weakest, that he should master sin rather than let sin rule over him. He must not remain in unforgiveness and un-repentance. Unrepented sins in our lives open an avenue for Satans demon workers to interfere with our lives. Because, when we have unrepented sins, we are in rebellion with Satan as his cohorts against God. That is why we must practise
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Luke 10.18-19
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unceasing repentance and forgiveness, and respond quickly and correctly to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us the authority to overcome the power of the enemy, which is deception, because we need to complete the tasks for which the church was sent into the world. Jesus said, Go into all the world and preach 244 the Gospel to all Creation I have been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am 245 with you always, even to the end of the age. Disciples of Jesus were called to testify about Jesus and the Good News of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. But Jesus said, No one knows the Father except the Son and those to 246 whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. And He said, Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I 247 Myself may be in them That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is 248 Mine. How are we going to know the Father unless Jesus makes Him known to us? Jesus is the Way to the Father, and the way to Jesus is opened to us by the Father because no one can come to Jesus unless the Father enables 249 him. Church: There is a deception in the world that God the Father does 250 not have a Son, who is Jesus. Yet the Father said that Jesus is His Son, and 251 Jesus has referred to Himself as the Son of God. The world only knows that there is a God, but it does not know that we have a good Father, whom Jesus came to reveal to us. We must repent as we have failed to testify with Jesus about the Father. By our failure, we have made Jesus and the Father out to be liars in the sight of the world. We have not overcome this deception by coming to know the Father through Jesus, nor have we destroyed the deception by our testimony that is accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Mark 16.15-16 Matthew 28.18-20 NLT Luke 10.22 247 John 17.25-26 248 John 16.14-16 249 John 6.65 250 Matthew 17.5; Mark 1.11; 9.7; Luke 9.35 251 Matthew 26.63; Luke 22.70; John 5.25; 10.36; 11.4; Revelation 2.18
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How do you propose we solve this problem? How do we overcome this deception? And if you are keen to solve the problem with the Holy Spirit, dont you have to listen to Jesus? He is the Son who the Father commanded you to listen to. And He is the only one who knows the Father. How else would you come to know the Father if you do not listen to Jesus? And if you do not know the Father, how are you going to testify about Him to vindicate Jesus, who is the Truth? If the church cannot even overcome the deceptions in its midst, how can it overcome the deception that is in the world? How are you going to exercise the authority to overcome the power of the enemy if you do not even know the truth? So now, where is your sword of truth? Where do you stand? The secret power of lawlessness that Paul wrote about is the rebellion that is brewing in the spiritual realm. It will manifest in the physical at the coming of the false prophet. The false prophet is the second beast in Revelation 13. He is a man with two horns like a lamb, but he speaks like the 252 dragon. This means he speaks lies, for the devil is the father of lies. Paul described the false prophet as the man of lawlessness. The false prophet is also the antichrist. Just as Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the false prophet is the antichrist of all antichrists. The apostle John wrote: The antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist - he 253 denies the Father and the Son. I say that the false prophet is the antichrist of all antichrists because he will be the antichrist displaying the most counterfeit signs and miracles. Yet it is not the signs, wonders and miracles that will set the false prophet apart from other people who deny Christ; it is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This is what will make this antichrist the false prophet. The false prophet will commit the ultimate denial and betrayal of Christ by blaspheming the Holy Spirit. To understand lawlessness, first understand that every sin under the Law of Moses can be atoned for. And every sin under the Law of Jesus can be forgiven, except for the eternal sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal 254 consequences. In the same way, the AMP translates: But whoever speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit can never get forgiveness, but is guilty of and is in the grasp of an everlasting trespass. No
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Revelation 13.11 1 John 2.18-22 254 Mark 3.29 NLT
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grace is available from God to forgive the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The blood of Christ will never cover this sin. These are the words of the Father that Jesus spoke. What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? It is the testimony of a disciple of Jesus Christ who will use that which he has received from the Holy Spirit to exalt and magnify himself over and above Jesus in the temple of God. When the false prophet receives the power of deception from the beast that first received it from the dragon, he will combine it with the powers of the coming age that he has received from the Holy Spirit, and turn it into a god a god that is described in Daniel 11.38 as a god unknown to his fathers. At his full power, this man will deny that his powers of signs, wonders and miracles come from the Holy Spirit, but he will declare that they come from the power, throne and great authority of the first beast. It is abusive speech against the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit Himself counseled and trained up this man. And it is a malicious misrepresentation, because it is premeditated and purposed to lead the inhabitants of this Earth to worship and honour the dragon who gave authority to the beast in order to resist the return of Jesus 255 Christ. As the writer explained in Hebrews 6.4-6: It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the Heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted in the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace. Why did the writer say that they are crucifying the Son of God all over again? Because the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, which was sealed by the blood of Jesus, never provided for the forgiveness of the eternal sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If this sin was to be forgiven, though it will not, Jesus would have to be crucified all over again to pay for this sin. But this shall never be. The false prophet will say un-heard of things against the God of gods, and if you have not been listening to Jesus at the standard to which you are called, you will be deceived. Paul wrote: The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not
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Revelation 13.13-14
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believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. This is the Lord giving them over to the evil desires of their hearts. And this prophecy will be fulfilled: Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy 257 continue to be holy. The counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders are a powerful delusion 258 allowed by God that will deceive even the elect, if that were possible. You will not know new wine from old wine, from poison, if you have not been listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit to come to know the Father and His ways. Because the false prophet is not so foolish and un-charismatic that he will say outright, Worship the dragon. He will be one who mastered being as shrewd as a serpent but as innocent as a dove. His teachings will accompany many kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders that will capture the attention and affections of the world at a time of distress, and enslave them to take on the mark of the beast. Consider Absalom, the son of King David, with his good looks and charms. In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome 259 appearance as Absalom. Consider the way he carried on behind his fathers back. In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, What town are you from? He would answer, Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel. Then Absalom would say to him, Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you. And Absalom would add, If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice. Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron. The king said to him, Go in peace. So he went to Hebron. Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes
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2 Thessalonians 2.9-12 Revelation 22.11 258 Matthew 24.24 259 2 Samuel 14.25
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of Israel to say, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, Absalom is king in Hebron. Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and 260 Absalom's following kept on increasing. This is the spirit of Absalom that wanted to usurp his father, Davids kingship. He used his charisma to win the hearts of the Israelites by attacking the weaknesses in his fathers reign this is rebellion. In truth, the rebellion against kingship is rebellion against God, because God sovereignly appoints the kings of the land. In rebellion against Jesus the King, the false prophet may say similar things about Jesus, Look, your claims against God are valid and proper, but Jesus has not returned to hear you. If only I were appointed as god in the temple! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice. Everyone who has a sickness could come to me and I would see that he gets healed. See, I healed the fatal wound of the beast by my power. Then the inhabitants of the Earth may say to the false prophet, Make the beast our god so we can worship him. Give us the mark of the beast so that we can continue buying and selling. As for this fellow Jesus who said He is coming back, we don't know what has happened to Him.' This is just a projection of mine, but it is for you to think about and seek the Lord for answers. All that is written in Scriptures will be fulfilled. The question is, whose side will you be on? Jesus has given us the authority to overcome the power of the enemy, which is deception. Deception causes us to sin by our disbelief and disobedience to the Law of Jesus because we have not listened to Jesus at the standard to which we are called, and we do not hold on to His teachings. But dont blame Satan for deceiving you, he cannot help himself. You should examine yourself, and repent for not knowing and obeying the laws of Jesus. Your lack of knowledge, understanding and practice of Jesus words is neither the fault of Satan, nor of the Lord. Take responsibility for your own actions and sins. Paul wrote: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus 261 Christ. What is this victory Paul spoke of?
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The victory belongs to Christ and was sealed by His blood of the New Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. The victory is the grace of the Father who gave His one and only Son. We participate and benefit from His victory of grace under the New Covenant. The authority to overcome the power of the enemy is the authority on Earth to forgive sins, which was given when Jesus said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they 262 are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. We received authority from Jesus and we have the seal of approval of the Father to forgive all sins against Jesus, His words and deeds, and against the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. If we do not forgive sins, sins are not forgiven. If we forgive them, they are forgiven. And if you do not forgive anothers debt 263 to you, your Father will not forgive your debts to Him. This was part of the churchs duty: To exercise the authority to forgive sins. Do you think we have discharged this duty? Or is the sin of unforgiveness rampant amongst the flocks of Jesus Christ? Does the church have a reputation for its forgiveness? What about you? Have you forgiven all those who have sinned against you? Do you love them by praying and blessing them as Jesus commanded you? The love of your personal enemies means to pray for them and forgive them of their sins against you and against the Lord in everyday called today. It is practice for the things of a grander scale in the Lord. For Jesus has spoken to us of Earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if He speaks of Heavenly things through the Holy 264 Spirit? Under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, the authority to forgive sins is given to the disciples of Jesus Christ. Having received the Holy Spirit, disciples are authorised to forgive sins on Earth, just like Jesus, the Son of Man. Jesus healed the paralytic to prove that He had such authority. He said to the teachers of the law, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your heart? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins ... Then He said to the paralytic, Get up, take your mat and go 265 home. And the man got up and went home. One of the purposes of signs and miracles is to prove that Jesus disciples have the authority on Earth to forgive sins so as to vindicate Jesus testimony about Himself. When we perform miracles in Jesus Name, even though men do not believe us, men can believe the miracles that they may
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John 20.21 Matthew 6.12 264 John 3.12 265 Matthew 9.4-6; Mark 2.8-11; Luke 5.22-24
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know and understand that the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father. The power of the Holy Spirit is not purposed to glorify the church or our ministries. It is to glorify Jesus. Power is given to vindicate Jesus and His testimony about Himself and the Father, and to prepare for Jesus return to reign upon the Earth. That is why it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to take His power and use it to exalt and magnify a beast. When Jesus said to the Father, Father, forgive them, for they do not 267 know what they are doing, He declared our deeds at that time to be a sin of ignorance, because we did not know the eternal consequences of what we did. Yet the false prophet does, because he knows the eternal consequences of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. To him, it is worth a shot to break Scripture and discredit God Almighty. He knows the eternal consequences of breaking Scripture and what it means for God to be declared a liar. If Jesus cannot return, he will not be thrown alive into the Lake of Burning Sulphur. Then he can reign as a god on the Earth in this age with his powers of the age to come. As believers and disciples of Jesus, you must understand that the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins did not stop at the cross, because grace was meant to continue to flow from the churches. We are to dispense the grace of God when we continually forgive sins on Earth, though we may not see and fully understand the eternal consequences now. If we should ask, What is the point of repenting and believing in Jesus then, if all is forgiven? we have missed the point of eternal life. For we have to repent to receive the forgiveness that was pre-paid for us by Jesus shed blood. But in our immaturity, we have ignored the ache in the Fathers heart that we would come to know Him through Jesus Christ, His Son. So take the long view. Consider eternal life, not Heaven and Hell. Think about New Earth and New Jerusalem. Eternal life is coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent into the world. Eternity is the notion of time you are given to live your eternal life. And your measure of eternal life is determined by your place in eternity. 268 Will your place in eternity be the Lake of Burning Sulphur? Will 269 you be a dog outside the gates of New Jerusalem? Will you be one who may 270 go through the gates into the city? Or will you be one who is a pillar in the 271 Temple of God who never leaves it? This is part of what Jesus meant
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John 10.25; 14.11 Luke 23.33 Revelation 20.14-15; 21.8 269 Revelation 22.15 270 Revelation 22.14 271 Revelation 3.12
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regarding a share in the Tree of Life and in the holy city. John testified of his vision that there is no temple in the city of New Jerusalem because the 273 Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple. So doesnt it mean that the ones who receive the reward as a pillar will never have to leave New Jerusalem, or God Himself? How much of God you want to know today is up to you. If you want to know your Father and Jesus whom He sent, then go listen to the Fathers beloved Son today. You are not going to learn much about the Father listening to the apostle Paul, or to me, for we both look to Jesus to learn from Him. So, if we continue to forgive those who do not believe, saying as Jesus did, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing, they are forgiven of their sin of ignorance. At the end of the day, God will be shown for His honour, justice, mercy, generosity and grace in His judgment and His plan for salvation. For now, do you have faith in Jesus to practise the love of your enemies and forgiveness towards your brothers, though you will only understand the due process of Gods judgment later? If we are not practising forgiving one another and praying for our enemies each day to gear our minds and hearts for when the distress comes, we will lose our focus on the grace of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Today is the day to master the sin of unforgiveness. The victory of grace belongs to Christ. That victory is in the flesh and blood of the Lamb, and it remains in all of us as long as we abide in Jesus and His word abides in us. The victory of Gods grace is in all of us bringing justice to Their grace. For Their sacrifices will not return to Them empty, but will accomplish what They desire and achieve the purpose for which They had made them. Are you prepared to be an overcomer? If so, listen to Jesus, so that you may be on your guard for the birth pains that He spoke of. The secret of overcoming There isnt a secret to overcoming. The main thing to understand is that you dont overcome for yourself. You do it for Jesus and for justice for Jesus - and you do it for your fellow disciples whom Jesus loves. A line from the movie, Black Hawk Down, comes to mind. I dont remember the details of the movie but what one soldier said to another resonated in me. I cannot forget the jolt that ran through my spirit at that moment. If I quote the line verbatim, I will misquote it. But the actor mainly said that the battle ceases to
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be about the reason why they went to war. In the heat of the battlefield, it just becomes about the life of the one fighting next to you. If you are a warrior of the Lord, you go into the battle to win the war for justice for Jesus. In the battlefield, it will be all about the fellow disciples next to you. Keeping them alive and making sure they are safe, so that there may be many with faith to greet Jesus upon His return. The secret, which is really not a secret, is that you overcome for the benefit of Jesus and the fellow disciples on your right and your left. They are your brothers and sisters whom you have made yourself one with through Christ, because you all have the same goal: To remain alive to greet Jesus upon His return. This is the power and strength of love held in the Son, Jesus. For Jesus did not endure and conquer the cross for His own enjoyment. He did it for the Father because the Father so loved the world. Likewise, you dont overcome for yourself, and you never look at the rewards. That is part of the training and the growth, and that is part of the stature of the Son of God. Everything that you need to overcome your personal trials and the power of the enemy is in Jesus words, for He is the only one who is full of 274 grace and truth. And we have been given the Lord who is the Spirit who counsels the disciples of Jesus and gives us growth. The Holy Spirit says, My 275 grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. His patience to each of us is unparallel due to His commitment to glorify Jesus. Now do you see what the church has lost when it turned away from listening to Jesus at the standard to which it was called? It lost its potential to master sin and overcome the power of the enemy because it failed to practise the righteousness that is found only in Jesus words and the Holy Spirits counsel. But instead it practised the avoidance of sin, which is futile. So it is overcome and overwhelmed by the power of the enemy. Therefore be earnest and repent. Put your heart to listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit today. The delight in overcoming The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12.7-10: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's
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power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. What did Paul mean when he wrote that he delighted in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties? Surely it is unnatural for a man to delight in such horrid things? As it was said, so it must be revealed what delight is. For if we do not understand what delight is, how can we delight in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties, as Paul said he did? Since what is valuable in the eyes of men is detestable to the eyes of God, then what is delightful in the eyes of men must be abominable in the eyes of God. So, what does the church delight in? 276 The Lord said that the Israelites delighted in sacred oaks; in their 277 278 own ways and abominations; and in the Lords sanctuary. For the churches, the sacred oaks represent the idol worship of holy or anointed men, and doctrines that do not teach the focus on listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd and the Holy Spirit. Mens ways and abominations in the church represent our deeds and plans that delay the arrival of Jesus. The sanctuary is the stronghold that the church takes pride in, the delight of its eyes and the object of its affection. The stronghold of the church is its reputation of being alive, which draws and attracts the bodies and souls of men. The delight of its eyes is the riches it thinks it has, which deludes it into thinking that it does not need the counsel and power of the Holy Spirit to testify for Jesus. And the object of the churchs affection is the holiness it thinks it has, due to the observation of man-made rules and traditions in the Name of God Almighty. By and large, the church has lost the ability to differentiate lies that come in the guise of wisdom and truth, because it does not obey the command to listen to Jesus at the standard to which it is called. Yet what does our Lord delight in? The Lord declared in Jeremiah 9.24, Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, for in these I delight. How different we are from the Lord! Jesus said that evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, 279 envy, slander, arrogance and folly come out of men's hearts. All these are sinful because they separate us from Him. But if we think deeper about it, sin
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is really about our state of un-oneness with God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. To disbelieve, disobey, forsake and rebel against the Lord means that you are no longer one with Them. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they sinned by their disobedience to the Lords command, and declared their un-oneness with God. Likewise, Israel refused to come close to the Lord and said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or 280 we will die. They chose to stay far away in distant worship. In response, the Lord gave the Israelites hundreds of commands, so that by their obedience to His laws and commands, they may remain one with Him. Such is the danger of distant worship. How easily we are led astray when we are unable to discern the truth and our hearts are not earnest to repent. Jesus gave us the glory that the Father gave Him, so that we may be 281 one as They are One, He in us and the Father in Him. The Father told us to listen to Jesus, and no one else. When we listen to Jesus, which includes our practice of His words and listening to the Holy Spirit, we are obeying the Fathers command and we declare ourselves one with the Lord. This is our outward sign, just as circumcision and the Sabbath are the outward signs according to the Levitical Law. So how can the glory that Jesus gave us bring glory again and again, unless we listen to Him at the standard to which we have been called? How would the world believe that the Father had sent Jesus, if the church does not listen to Jesus at the standard required of it? Sin in the Kingdom of God is not about this thing you said, or that thing you did. It is the whole package of evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly coming from our hearts in varying degrees, according to Jesus definitions. What is in our hearts causes us to sin against Jesus, for sin in 282 the Kingdom of God is unbelief in Jesus. We then ignore or refuse to obey His words and put them in practice. For believers and disciples of Jesus Christ, it is not enough to simply see sin as murder or theft. We must understand sin as disobedience against Jesus commands and His ways, which are His laws. Sin is our state of un-oneness with the Lord, the Lord and the Lord. Sure, we overcome one thing at a time, be it pride, envy or greed, through each situation that is brought about or that we get ourselves into, or each event that the Lord allows to happen in our lives. But take a step back and look at the mountain itself.
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In truth, sin is the mountain of our un-oneness with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which we must flatten because it stands in the Way of Holiness. How can we move this mountain of sin unless we have a mustard seed of faith in Jesus and in God? Not that we lack the prerequisite mustard seed of faith, for the church does have faith. We probably make the same 283 request as the earlier disciples, Increase our faith! But the better question is: Do we apply our faith in constant daily practice of Jesus words to prove His words true? Do we delight in all our successes and failures? What about homosexuality for example? This is a very sensitive subject for the church, isnt it? It was not recorded that Jesus taught on homosexuality. In this respect, churches quote Leviticus 18.22: Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman: that is detestable. The Lord said that it is detestable because it is not the way man was created. Male and female are created to become one on Earth and God commanded them to be fruitful and increase in number. That is Gods plan. Yet the churches have been shown for its duplicity to pick parts of the Levitical Law to preach whenever it pleases them. In truth, one cannot preach the practice of Leviticus 18.22 unless it practices the entire Levitical Law. I can understand why the world would feel indignant about that. But then the world has not seen a church of Jesus Christ at full power. So what did Jesus teach us on homosexuality? Nothing directly. So what do we do then? Listen and understand what the Holy Spirit says to the churches. This is my understanding and experience: Be it homosexuality, jealousy, gossiping, compulsive lying, unforgiveness, addiction to porn, crossdressing, fornication or adultery lay it all aside for the moment. Lets focus on the bigger picture first. If you are gay and you believe in Jesus, are you baptised in the Holy Spirit and do you listen to Jesus? Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of your Father and His righteousness. For some have been born with sin in their flesh producing homosexual tendencies, just as another is born with a physical or mental defect. Whilst others practise the homosexual lifestyle by choice, sometimes due to molestation. Therefore, what is most important is to repent and believe in Jesus, and to put Jesus words into practice. This includes repenting of your sins, forgiving everyone who sins against you and is indebted to you, praying for your enemies and laying hands on the sick to heal them. Receive the Holy Spirit and listen to Him as He guides you into ALL truth. Repent when He convicts you in regards to sin and righteousness, and praise God for His grace. Follow Jesus closely and respond to the convictions of the
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Holy Spirit. This is common for all believers. Just as one person has to stop gossiping, another has to stop watching pornography, yet others adultery, so a gay person must come to that place where he no longer practises homosexuality. Only the Holy Spirit knows our areas of weakness. For we grow out of our fears and old habits by reading the words of Jesus and putting them into practice, and we have not yet seen what happens to all human weaknesses in a church at full power. I am not picking on groups of people in our community. Nor am I anti-anyone. I am merely anti-sin, for we are all sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. What is there to compare? I am a sinner; you are a sinner; he is a sinner. No one is better than anyone else. Sin is the common thread running through all mankind. But we have been forgiven of much and we all have a sanctification process to complete. The Fathers word is truth and we are sanctified by the truth. Jesus is the Truth. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth. Keep listening to Jesus there is a transfiguration in Gods mind for every believer of Christ. It is called sonship and daughtership. We all must repent and forgive one another. We all must make changes in our lives and hearts. Sometimes these changes happen quickly, sometimes they happen slowly. This depends on our faith, fears, circumstances and our own determination. Trust in God, trust also in Jesus. Only the Lord knows what you need. Of course, our fellowships also affect us because we do not hear from the Holy Spirit perfectly. I do not have all the answers but I know this much: Jesus is the only Person who the Father commanded us to listen to. This has not been done at the standard to which we are called. Whether we are black or white, gay or straight we should all repent, turn in earnest to listen to Jesus and hold to His teaching, which includes forgiving one another. Only then we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. The church is called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we are fulfilling Jesus commands in doing so. But after someone repents and receives the salvation of the Lord Jesus, he must be baptised in the Holy Spirit. And he must be taught to listen to Jesus first and foremost. Why? Because this is Jesus way, and therein lies our growth and the beginning of a one-on-one relationship with the Lord through the reading and highlighting of Jesus words as we fellowship with the Holy Spirit. This should precede all other programs, be it Bible study, discipleship and other mentoring programs. The level of acceptance, passion and diligence of a person in listening to Jesus shows how serious he is about coming to know Jesus and the plans concerning Him. I would have no right to say this if the Father did not tell us to listen to
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Jesus, but listening to Jesus is the only measuring line. It is the only command given directly by the Father to the disciples of Jesus. I believe and have seen it to be a better thing to encourage and guide someone to listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, than to encourage and guide them to stop sinning. Listening to Jesus is the foundation. Without a sure foundation, the house will fall. Without it, we are more likely to fall away when troubles come. It will be harder to hold on to your faith. And without the sure foundation of delight in listening to Jesus, it will be harder to overcome and master sin. And when I talk about the standard of listening to Jesus, it is the attention you pay to His words, the urgency of crying out for understanding, your delight in the daily bread, the faithfulness you have to Him and the passion you have for defending Jesus words as truth. It is an attitude of mindfulness and loyalty. Reading and highlighting the words of Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit is not a bore, a chore or a burden. To me, it is a delight to come to know Them by reading Their words. This gift of knowledge and understanding is a treasure far beyond my imagination because my vision is so short-sighted. If I ever find reading Their words a chore, it is because I am lazy and would rather watch television. But its not the Lords fault if I am lazy and do not delight in the right things, is it? Delight The delight of this age and in the age to come is simply this: The worlds acknowledgement that Jesus loves the Father and that He does exactly what the Father has commanded Him. I want you to ask: Is it possible for the whole world to acknowledge that Jesus loves the Father and that He does exactly what the Father commanded Him? Of course it is! I dont even have to look at Scripture and quote that with God all things are possible. Didnt the world once think the Earth was flat? Doesnt the whole world now acknowledge that the Earth is not flat, but in fact, is round? And wouldnt anyone who says otherwise stand corrected or be ridiculed? So how is the world going to learn about this truth about Jesus? How is the world going to be filled with Gods delight? It starts with you and your testimony about Jesus. I do not know all the details, but I know this much: The acknowledgement of the world that Jesus loves the Father and that He does exactly what the Father has commanded Him is not enough. It is not the complete delight. The delight of this age and in the age to come must be the acknowledgement of the world that Jesus loves the Father and that He does exactly what the Father has commanded Him, BECAUSE GOD THE
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FATHER IS SO GOOD, HE IS PERFECT. Can you imagine living in a world where all acknowledge that the Father is perfect, as surely as they acknowledge that the sky is blue? This is not even a matter of the extra mile, or Jesus opinion about the Father. It is the truth. And the world must learn that the Father is good and He is righteous, and that is why Jesus loves Him and does exactly what the Father commanded Him. Jesus laid down His life and took it up again. Jesus committed Himself to His Fathers will and committed His spirit into the Fathers hands. So when Paul said that he delighted in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties, and that when he was weak, then he was strong, do not judge his words by mere appearances. Make a right judgment as to what delight in the eyes of the Lord might be. Delight to the world is the joy that is brought about by things or persons you love. But to the Lord, it is more than that. The Lord delights in kindness, justice and righteousness, and that is why He exercises these things on Earth. In all things, always remember that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are consumed with jealousy for Each Other. And to be one with Them in Their delights, is to delight in the way They are jealous for One Another. For Them, glory for One Another comes first. Delighting in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties will be difficult if you apply the worlds understanding to delight. Such things go against our mortal nature. But first decide whether your heart can accept that in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord and the Lord, delight in this age and in the age to come is the acknowledgement that the Father is good and He is righteous, and that is why Jesus loves Him and does exactly what the Father commanded Him. Can you imagine a world that acknowledges this truth? Can you a imagine living in a world that is filled with the Lords delight this satisfying, quiet, yet uplifting joy of the Lord? If so, our delight in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties is our firm acknowledgement that the Father is good and He is righteous, no matter what is happening to us, the people we love and the world around us, for distress unequalled since the beginning of the world is coming. This is the true delight to those who profess to love God and trust in God. And that is why the power of delight and the understanding of the power and its application, has been given to us now so that we may not only overcome, but overcome in delight. For if we fight to overcome but do not have delight in our hearts, we will easily fall away because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Look to Jesus. Even when He was nailed on the cross and He was insulted by those
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who would benefit from the salvation that comes in His Name by His sacrifice, He was still delighting in the mercy of His Father. For He said in Luke 23.34, Father, forgive them for they do not what they are doing. That is Jesus delight in the Father, that the Father is good. Yes, our Father is perfect, merciful and compassionate. Jesus was also delighting in the goodness and righteousness of the Father. If He did not, He would not have asked, My God, My God, why have 284 You abandoned Me? and with His second last breath, He would not have 285 said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. For Jesus knows He has a Father who will never forsake Him. We all experience troubles, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, dangers, sword, weaknesses, insults and difficulties to varying degrees in our lives. Sometimes they happen in the ordinary course of life. Other times they happen because of our faith in Jesus. Jesus never said such things would be avoided just because we believe in Him. They will come into our lives and they will come into the world. But how we react to them is our choice. Do we seek solace in the words of men, or in the words of Jesus? Do we throw ourselves into the world of men, or into quiet fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Do we look for answers in books written by men, or do we cry out for understanding to the Father? The choice is yours to make. You can let your love go cold. You can choose to have faith only when it is convenient or easy. You can deny knowing Jesus, and you can fall away. Or you can find delight in the darkest situations, and find that pearl of great value as the merchant did in the field. Even if that pearl is the size of a mustard seed, you will hold on to that pearl because you truly believe with all your heart that the Father is good and righteous, no matter what happens to you. Even if events in your life devastate you to your core and you lose grip of your faith, or when things seem to be too hard and you just want to walk away from your calling. As long as you truly believe that the Father is good and righteous, just like Jesus knows He is, you will find yourself turning back to the Lord because your Father is pleased to help you and He has not forsaken you. For this is the power of delight. The power of delight anchors your perseverance and patient endurance. Sometimes it is okay to have time-out, or get frustrated or angry with the Lord. It is not pleasing to Him, but He understands because of His lovingkindness, mercy and grace. As we grow in the Lord, our selfishness and
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tantrums will decrease. And our grace and compassion towards the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will increase. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. When your delight is in the truth that the Father is good and righteous, and this delight has become your treasure, it is no longer a matter of choice that you want to defend this treasure with your life and your resurrection. For there is no choice if you firmly believe in what you believe in, for then you must live it. Otherwise you are living a lie. There is no choice if you have lost your head for your testimony for 286 Jesus and because of the word of God. There is no choice if you just want Jesus to be back on Earth for His millennial reign. There is no choice if you want to see Jesus face as He is crowned King of the kingdom of the Christ, the Kingdom of God, on Earth. There is no choice if you want to see the face of a proud Father when He presents His Sons bride, New Jerusalem, to Him. There is no choice if you understand that the Father longs for the day when everything is made new. There is no choice if you want to see death cast away for all eternity. There is no choice if you just want to be with Jesus and the Father. And there is certainly no choice if you understand the urgency of Jesus return to reign on Earth. Otherwise, why would He say He is coming soon? Did you think He was speaking casually? Dont you think He would have returned already if the church had fulfilled its duties properly? There is no choice but to think, say, do and be the exact way the Father desires for His sons and daughters, because His ways alone are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Only Jesus words are eternal. The Father only placed His seal of approval on His Son Jesus. Did Jesus have a choice? Of course, He did. He too had freewill. But did He really have a choice if He wanted to glorify the Father in the exact way They agreed on and purposed? No. The choice was so narrow it was but one. Church: If you want to commit your spirit into the hands of the Father, and your life into the hands of the Holy Spirit, there is no choice but to obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus. Only the Father and the Holy Spirit know the way to prepare the world and the church for the arrival of Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Since Gods ways and thoughts are higher than ours, then Their desires are higher than ours. Have you considered that the Father, Jesus and
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the Holy Spirit desire Jesus to be back on Earth to reign for a thousand years, and the only reason He has not returned for the last two thousand years is because His own servants have not made themselves ready, let alone kept themselves ready? Have you considered the consequences if Jesus returns without His church being ready to receive her King into this world? We make such a big fuss over the leaders of the world visiting a foreign country. Is the church ready to receive her King? What state is the church in? Yet we even have the audacity to think like king Hezekiah, The word of the Lord you have 287 spoken is good. Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime? Just because Jesus is not back on Earth yet, is no reason not to prioritise the preparation work! Ask the Holy Spirit as you listen to Jesus, What needs to be done? What words of Jesus need to be fulfilled? What should we look out for? How do we stay awake? Does it truly cost you too much to believe that Jesus wants to return in your lifetime? Or is it easier to wave Him off because He has not returned yet? No wonder overcomers rarely, if ever, emerge from the churches. Few testify to the delight of preparing for the Lords reign. You have a choice in this, especially when the days of distress come upon us. You can be bitter and doubt God when persecution and hardship come upon you. Or you can delight in your acknowledgement that the Father is so good and righteous that He is perfect, and love Him and do what He commands you - come what may. The delight of the overcomer is coming to know God personally, who is so good and righteous He is perfect. Praise be to God. Blessed is the Lord when we delight in the fear of the Lord and find great delight in Jesus commands!
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Chapter 8
Justice for Jesus

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Be silent before Me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; 1 let us meet together at the place of judgment. 2 Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: 3 Listen to Me, My people; hear Me, My nation: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, 4 for in these I delight. 5 Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My chosen One in whom I delight. This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. 6 Listen to Him! 7 There is nothing false about Him. 8 I will put My Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice; He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on Earth. 9 In His law the islands will put their hope. These are the words of the Son of God, 10 whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
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Isaiah 41.1 Isaiah 51.1 Isaiah 51.4 4 Jeremiah 9.23-24 5 Isaiah 42.1 6 Matthew 17.5 7 John 7.18 8 Isaiah 42.1 9 Isaiah 42.3-4
Chapter 8 Justice for Jesus
Here I am! 12 I tell you the truth. 13 I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, 14 but will have the Light of Life. 15 Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. 16 All men will hate you because of Me. The law will go out from Me; My justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, My salvation is on the way, and My arm will bring justice to the nations. 17 The islands will look to Me and wait in hope for My arm. 18 You must follow Me. 19 I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from Me there is no Saviour. 20 No, there is no other Rock; I know not one. These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, 21 who died and came to life again. 22 I am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the Living One; 23 I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; 24 before they spring into being I announce them to you. 25 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers 26 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt
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Revelation 2.18 Revelation 3.20 Matthew 5.18 13 John 14.6 14 John 8.12 15 Matthew 4.19 16 Luke 21.17 17 Isaiah 51.4 18 John 21.22 19 Isaiah 43.11 20 Isaiah 44.8 21 Revelation 2.8 22 John 11.25 23 Revelation 1.18 24 Isaiah 42.9 25 Jeremiah 31.33 26 Jeremiah 31.32
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I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will open My mouth in parables, 28 I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world. All your sons will be taught by the Lord, 29 and great will be your childrens peace. 30 Wisdom is proved right by all her children. Those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, 31 thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. 32 The seed is the word of God. 33 The words I have spoken to you are S/spirit and they are life. 34 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand 35 and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven. 36 This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 37 I am the Bread of Life. 38 For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Take and eat; this is My body Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the New Covenant, 39 which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Your covenant with death will be annulled; 40 your agreement with the grave will not stand. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
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Jeremiah 31.33 Matthew 13.35; Psalm 78.2 29 Isaiah 54.13 30 Luke 7.35 31 Mark 4.20 NASB 32 Luke 8.11 33 John 6.63 and footnote a 34 Luke 8.18 35 Revelation 2.1 36 John 6.51 37 John 6.48 38 John 6.55 39 Matthew 26.26-27 and footnote b 40 Isaiah 28.18
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because he has not believed in the Name of Gods one and only Son. For My Fathers will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, 42 and I will raise him up at the last day. 43 My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the One who glorifies Me. Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will glorify the Son in Himself, 44 and will glorify Him at once. 45 Father, the time has come. 46 Father, glorify Your Name! I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on 47 until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Fathers kingdom. 48 I am making everything new! These are the words of Him who holds the sevenfold Spirit of God 49 and the seven stars. 50 I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star. This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name 51 to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 52 your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 53 So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. Even on My servants, both men and women, 54 I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 55 God is Spirit.
41 42
41
John 3.17-18 John 6.40 43 John 8.54 44 John 13.31-32 45 John 17.1 46 John 12.28 47 Matthew 26.29 48 Revelation 21.5 49 Revelation 3.1 and footnote b 50 Revelation 22.16 51 Luke 24.46 52 Joel 2.28 53 John 3.8 54 Joel 2.29 55 John 4.24
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And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever 56 the Spirit of Truth. When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. 57 And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; 58 if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. 59 My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. 60 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, 61 and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world 62 as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. I tell you the truth, wherever this Gospel is preached throughout the world, 63 what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. 64 She has done a beautiful thing to Me. 65 I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. These are the words of Him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. Maintain justice and do what is right, for My salvation is close at hand 67 and My righteousness will soon be revealed. 68 Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 69 that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. 70 Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
56 57
66
John 14.16 John 15.26-27 58 John 20.22-23 59 Exodus 33.14 60 Matthew 11.30 61 Acts 1.8 62 Matthew 24.14 63 Matthew 26.13 64 Mark 14.6 65 Luke 7.47 66 Revelation 2.12 67 Isaiah 56.1 68 Zechariah 7.9 69 Matthew 5.44-45
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Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 72 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice, 73 and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings. 74 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or My wrath will break out and burn like fire 75 because of the evil you have done. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law 76 justice, mercy and faithfulness and the love of God. For this peoples heart has become calloused; 77 they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. 78 Take away the stone. 79 Leave them; they are blind guides. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, 80 the Ruler of Gods Creation. The Lord brought Me forth as the first of His works, before His deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, 81 from the beginning, before the world began. 82 I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am! You are right in saying I am a King. In fact, for this reason I was born, 83 and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Lift up your eyes to the Heavens, look at the Earth beneath; the Heavens will vanish like smoke,
71
70 71
Matthew 5.48 John 13.34 (Jesus said this to His disciples) 72 Matthew 9.13 73 Hosea 6.6 74 Luke 6.36 75 Jeremiah 21.12 76 Matthew 23.23; Luke 11.42 77 Matthew 13.15 78 John 11.39 79 Matthew 15.14 80 Revelation 3.14 81 Proverbs 8.22-23 82 John 8.58 83 John 18.37
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the Earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. 84 But My salvation will last forever, My righteousness will never fail. 85 My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations. 86 Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. 87 Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. I will strengthen you and help you; 88 I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; 89 I will take hold of your hand. I am with you and will save you. I will discipline you but only with justice; 90 I will not let you go entirely unpunished. 91 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line. 92 I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me. 93 You My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are people, and I am your God. 94 I will shepherd the flock with justice. 95 For I, the Lord, love justice. These are the words of Him who is holy and true, 96 who holds the key of David. I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. 97 I will rebuild you up again, and you will be rebuilt. I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. 98 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. 99 Listen!
84 85 86
Isaiah 51.6 Isaiah 51.8 Matthew 24.35 87 Matthew 28.20 88 Isaiah 41.10 89 Isaiah 42.6 90 Jeremiah 30.11 91 Isaiah 28.17 92 John 10.14 93 Ezekiel 34.31 94 Ezekiel 34.16 95 Isaiah 61.8 96 Revelation 3.7 97 Jeremiah 31.3 98 Hosea 2.19-20 99 Mark 4.3
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Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Test Me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing 101 that you will not have room enough for it. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 102 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, 103 for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 104 and all these things will be given to you as well. 105 For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you and in your midst. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; 106 and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. 107 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the Earth? 108 If He comes suddenly, do not let Him find you sleeping. 109 Wake up! 110 Why are you sleeping? 111 Could you men not keep watch with Me for one hour? 112 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, 113 and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 114 Yes, I am coming soon.
100 101
100
Amos 5.24 Malachi 3.10 102 Matthew 5.6-7 103 Matthew 5.10 104 Matthew 6.33 105 Luke 17.21 NIV / NASB 106 Matthew 7.7-8 107 Luke 18.7-8 108 Mark 13.36 109 Revelation 3.2 110 Luke 22.46 111 Matthew 26.40 112 Matthew 25.13 113 Revelation 3.3
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But when I, the Son of Man, return, 115 how many will I find on the Earth who have faith? My reward is with Me, 116 and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, 117 much more will be asked. An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken My covenant 118 and rebelled against My law. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit 119 and understand what He is saying to the churches. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, 120 as you did that day at Massah in the desert. Consider carefully what you hear. 121 With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more. 122 The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the Earth be silent before Him. I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israels Creator, your King. Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, 124 and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Man does not live on bread alone, 125 but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. I, Wisdom, dwell together with Prudence; 126 I possess knowledge and discretion. My fruit is better than fine gold; 127 what I yield surpasses choice silver.
114 115
123
Revelation 22.20 Luke 18.8 NLT 116 Revelation 22.12 117 Luke 12.48 118 Hosea 8.1 119 Revelation 2.7 NLT 120 Psalm 95.7-8 121 Mark 4.24 122 Habakkuk 2.20 123 Isaiah 43.15 124 Isaiah 55.2 125 Matthew 4.4 126 Proverbs 8.12
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The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. 129 Give ear and come to Me; hear Me, that your soul may live. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given 130 - and you will receive even more. Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you. Now will I arise. 132 Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. I have seen the violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. 133 Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for Me to do. 134 I have looked upon My people, for their cry has reached Me. For a long time I have kept silent, 135 I have been quiet and held Myself back. All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations 136 a people who continually provoke Me to My very face. I will remain quiet and will look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, 137 like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 138 But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. For day after day they seek Me out; they seem eager to know My ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask Me for just decisions 139 and seem eager for God to come near them. These people come near to Me with their mouth and honour Me with their lips,
127 128
128
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Proverbs 8.19 John 6.63 129 Isaiah 55.3 130 Mark 4.24 NLT 131 Ezekiel 2.1 132 Isaiah 33.10 133 Psalm 12.5 NLT 134 1 Samuel 9.16 135 Isaiah 42.14 136 Isaiah 64.2-3 137 Isaiah 18.4 138 Isaiah 42.14 139 Isaiah 58.2
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but their hearts are far from Me. 140 Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men. But did not My words and My decrees, which I commanded My servants the prophets, 141 overtake your forefathers? When you come to appear before Me, who has asked this of you, 142 this trampling of My courts? Take off your sandals, 143 for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Observe My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. 144 I am the Lord. Among those who approach Me I will show Myself holy; 145 in the sight of all people I will be honoured. 146 I will not yield My glory to another. 147 I the Lord am holy I who make you holy. Whom are you mocking? 148 At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to My rebuke, I would have poured out My heart to you 149 and made My thoughts known to you. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. As the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways 150 and My thoughts than your thoughts. Call to Me and I will answer you 151 and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Blessed is the man who listens to Me, 152 watching daily at My doors, waiting at My doorway.
140 141
Isaiah 29.13 Zechariah 1.6 142 Isaiah 1.12 143 Exodus 3.5 144 Leviticus 19.30 145 Leviticus 10.3 146 Isaiah 48.11 147 Leviticus 21.8 148 Isaiah 57.4 149 Proverbs 1.22-23 150 Isaiah 55.8-9 151 Jeremiah 33.3 152 Proverbs 8.34
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Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, 153 I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My Name, 154 I said, Here am I, here am I. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed 155 I, and not some foreign god among you. Listen, for I have worthy things to say; 156 I open My lips to speak what is right. Counsel and sound judgment are Mine; 157 I have understanding and power. 158 Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me. But you did not listen to Me, and you have provoked Me with what your hands have made, 159 and you have brought harm to yourselves. Since you rejected Me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out My hand, since you ignored all My advice and would not accept My rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, 160 when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Even now, return to Me with all your heart, 161 with fasting and weeping and mourning. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, 162 I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
153 154 155
Revelation 3.20 Isaiah 65.1 Isaiah 43.12 156 Proverbs 8.6 157 Proverbs 8.14 158 John 18.37 159 Jeremiah 25.7 160 Proverbs 1.24-27 161 Joel 2.12 162 Revelation 2.5
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So be earnest, and repent.
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If only you had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, 164 your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 165 But you have not listened to Me. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart 166 instead of obeying Me. In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, 167 but you would have none of it. 168 And now what do I have here? 169 My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. For My people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock. 170 And all day long My Name is constantly blasphemed. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? 171 Answer Me. Brace yourself like a man; 172 I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to Me, 173 and have neither remembered Me nor pondered this in your hearts? 174 What fault did your fathers find in Me, that they strayed so far from Me? 175 Do not My words do good to him whose ways are upright? 176 Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me? 177 Lately My people have risen up like an enemy. 178 No more of this!
163 164
Revelation 3.19 Isaiah 48.18 165 Judges 6.10 166 Jeremiah 16.12 167 Isaiah 30.15 168 Isaiah 52.5 169 Hosea 4.6 170 Isaiah 52.5 171 Micah 6.3 172 Job 40.7 173 Isaiah 57.11 174 Jeremiah 2.5 175 Micah 2.7 176 Isaiah 57.11 177 Micah 2.8
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Therefore this is what I will do to you, and because I will do this you, 179 prepare to meet your God. You only have I chosen of all the families of the Earth; 180 therefore I will punish you for all your sins. 181 There is no peace for the wicked. I Myself am against you, and I will inflict punishment on you in sight of all the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, 182 I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now 183 and never to be equalled again. What is My beloved doing in My temple 184 as she works out her evil schemes with many? 185 Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here. 186 Do you see this, son of man? With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves 187 to their own destruction. 188 How long will they be incapable of purity? Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? 189 Or an image that teaches lies? 190 You have forsaken your first love. 191 Consider this, you who forget God. I am against you. I will lift up your skirts over your face. 192 I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
178 179
Luke 22.51 Amos 4.12 180 Amos 3.2 181 Isaiah 57.21 182 Ezekiel 5.8-9 183 Matthew 24.21 184 Jeremiah 11.15 185 Ezekiel 8.9 186 Ezekiel 8.15 187 Hosea 8.4 188 Hosea 8.5 189 Habakkuk 2.18 190 Revelation 2.4 191 Psalm 50.22 192 Nahum 3.5
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Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumour upon rumour. They will try to get a vision from the prophet; the teaching of the law by the priest will be lost, as will the counsel of the elders. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, 193 and by their own standards I will judge them. Have you not brought this on yourselves 194 by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way? Are My ways unjust? 195 Is it not your ways that are unjust? 196 Let him who accuses God answer Him! 197 You have said harsh things against Me. I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless 198 and idle word they have spoken. 199 Who is like Me and who can challenge Me? 200 Who then is able to stand against Me? 201 And what shepherd can stand against Me? 202 I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for My flock. 203 My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. I trained them and strengthened them, but they plot evil against Me. 204 They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. 205 How long will you refuse to keep My commands and My instructions? What right have you to recite My laws or take My covenant on your lips? 206 You hate My instruction and cast My words behind you. 207 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you.
193 194
Ezekiel 7.26-27 Jeremiah 2.17 195 Ezekiel 18.29 196 Job 40.2 197 Malachi 3.13 198 Matthew 12.36 NIV / AMP 199 Jeremiah 49.19; 50.44 200 Job 41.10 201 Jeremiah 49.19 202 Ezekiel 34.10 203 Zechariah 10.3 204 Hosea 7.15-16 205 Exodus 16.28 206 Psalm 50.16-17 207 Jeremiah 2.19
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The priests did not ask, Where is the Lord? Those who deal with the law did not know Me; the leaders rebelled against Me. 208 The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. They dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious. 209 Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace. 210 They feed on the sins of My people and relish their wickedness. They do not know how to do right, 211 who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses. It is you who have ruined My vineyard; 212 the plunder from the poor is in your houses. But I know where you stay and when you come and go 213 and how you rage against Me. 214 Yet in spite of all this you say, I am innocent; He is not angry with me. 215 O our God, we acknowledge You! 216 This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can. Why is My language not clear to you? 217 Because you are unable to hear what I say. 218 I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, 219 nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; 220 you have violated the covenant. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. The more the priests increased, the more they sinned against Me; 221 they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.
208 209
Jeremiah 2.8 Jeremiah 6.14 210 Hosea 4.8 211 Amos 3.10 212 Isaiah 3.14 213 Isaiah 37.28 214 Jeremiah 2.34-35 215 Hosea 8.2 216 Jeremiah 3.5 217 John 8.43 218 John 5.42 219 John 5.37-38 220 Malachi 2.8
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Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) 222 But My people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. So they will fall among the fallen; 223 they will be brought down when I punish them. Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, 224 from there I will bring you down. Why do you bring charges against Me? 225 You have all rebelled against Me. You are a stumbling block to Me; 226 you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, 227 not from Gods. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, 228 yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, 229 yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? 230 But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler. And it will be: Like people, like priests. 231 I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. 232 Then they will know that I am the Lord. My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the Spring of Living Water, 233 and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. 234 In the light of these things, should I relent? Should I not punish them for this?
221 222
Hosea 4.6-7 Jeremiah 2.11 223 Jeremiah 6.15 224 Obadiah verse 4 225 Jeremiah 2.29 226 Matthew 16.23 227 Matthew 16.23 NLT 228 John 5.39-40 229 John 5.44 230 Psalm 82.7 231 Hosea 4.9 232 Ezekiel 12.16 233 Jeremiah 2.13 234 Isaiah 57.6
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Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? 236 It is Mine to avenge; I will repay. For the Lord has a case against His people; 237 He is lodging a charge against them.
235
For My own Names sake I delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I hold it back from you, 238 so as not to cut you off. None of My words will be delayed any longer; 239 whatever I say will be fulfilled. 240 Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 241 Therefore wait for Me, for the day I will stand up to testify. I will expose your righteousness and your works, 242 and they will not benefit you. 243 I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her. For a fire has been kindled by My wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the Earth and its harvests 244 and set afire the foundations of the mountains. Then My anger will cease and My wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent My wrath upon them, 245 they will know that I the Lord have spoken in My zeal. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! 246 They are ripe for harvest. The time is ripe for My people; I will spare them no longer. In that day, the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. 247 Many, many bodies - flung everywhere! Have you any right to be angry?
235 236
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Jeremiah 9.9 Deuteronomy 32.35 237 Micah 6.2 (Original wording is Israel) 238 Isaiah 48.9 239 Ezekiel 12.28 240 Habakkuk 2.3 241 Zephaniah 3.8 242 Isaiah 57.12 243 Zechariah 8.2 244 Deuteronomy 32.22 245 Ezekiel 5.13 246 John 4.35 247 Amos 8.2-3
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Would you discredit My justice? 249 Would you condemn Me to justify yourself? 250 Silence! Be still, and know that I am God; 251 I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the Earth. See now that I Myself am He! There is no god besides Me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, 252 and no one can deliver out of My hand. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; 253 I, the Lord, do all these things. Who has a claim against Me that I must pay? 254 Everything under Heaven belongs to Me. But whoever listens to Me will live in safety 255 and be at ease, without fear of harm. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, 256 for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant to them I will give within My temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve Him, to love the Name of the Lord, and to worship Him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant these I will bring to My holy mountain 257 and give them the joy in My house of prayer. 258 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
248 249 250
Jonah 4.4 Job 40.8 Amos 8.3 251 Psalm 46.10 252 Deuteronomy 32.39 253 Isaiah 45.7 254 Job 41.11 255 Proverbs 1.33 256 John 4.23 257 Isaiah 56.4-7
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He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, 259 who sent Him. 260 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me find Me. 262 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, 263 and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. They will be Mine, in the day when I make up My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, 264 between those who serve God and those who do not. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, 265 because I am going to the Father. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; 266 he sees the form of the Lord. 267 Do not touch My anointed ones; do My prophets no harm. For I will bring disaster on all people, 268 but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life. 269 I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. 270 You do not want to leave too, do you? 271 I tell you the truth, one of you will betray Me. 272 It would be better for him if he had not been born.
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258 259
Matthew 12.8 John 5.23 260 John 5.20 261 Proverbs 8.17 262 Revelation 3.19 263 Isaiah 37.32 264 Malachi 3.17-18 265 John 14.12 266 Numbers 12.8 267 1 Chronicles 16.22 268 Jeremiah 45.5 269 John 13.18 270 John 6.67 271 Matthew 26.21 272 Matthew 26.24
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You who are far away, hear what I have done; 273 you who are near, acknowledge My power! Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, 274 the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish. I will do this to recapture the hearts of My people, 275 who have all deserted Me for their idols. Do not pray for these people nor offer any plea or petition for them, 276 because I will not listen when they call to Me in the time of their distress. But tell them this: These gods, who did not make the Heavens and the Earth, 277 will perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens. Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, I am, and there is none besides me. 278 I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children. 279 You said, I will continue forever - the eternal queen! Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, 280 which you have laboured at since childhood. Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; 281 a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you. 282 Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; 283 a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the Earth. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, 284 and it fell with a great crash. The Lords chosen ally will carry out His purpose against Babylon;
273 274 275
Isaiah 33.13 Isaiah 29.14 Ezekiel 14.5 (Original wording is the people of Israel) 276 Jeremiah 11.14 277 Jeremiah 10.11 278 Isaiah 47.8 279 Isaiah 47.7 280 Isaiah 47.12 281 Isaiah 47.11 282 Isaiah 48.3 283 Jeremiah 25.32 284 Matthew 7.27
293
His arm will be against the Babylonians. 286 The great day of the Lord is near - near and coming quickly. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, 287 but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. I have commanded My holy ones; I have summoned My warriors to carry out My wrath 288 those who rejoice in My triumph. I have bestowed strength on a warrior; 289 I have exalted a young man from among the people. There is no one on Earth like him; 290 he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, 291 a leader and commander of the peoples. This is the one I esteem: 292 he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word. See, My servant will act wisely; 293 he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him. Because he loves Me, I will rescue him; 294 I will protect him, for he acknowledges My Name. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, 295 but not for a price or reward. 296 I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission. Yet I reserve seven thousand all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal 297 and all whose mouths have not kissed him. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
285 286
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Isaiah 48.14 Zephaniah 1.14 287 Matthew 24.22 288 Isaiah 13.3 289 Psalm 89.19 290 Job 1.8 291 Isaiah 55.4 292 Isaiah 66.2 293 Isaiah 52.13 294 Psalm 91.14-15 295 Isaiah 45.13 296 Isaiah 48.15 297 1 Kings 19.18
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Have I not chosen you? 300 Stand up! 301 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. 302 For many are called, but few are chosen. You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, 303 and how I carried you on eagles wings and brought you to Myself. I took you from the ends of the Earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, You are My servant; 304 I have chosen you and have not rejected you. Gather to Me My consecrated ones, 305 who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the Earth 306 everyone who is called by My Name. See, they will come from afar 307 some from the north, some from the west. 308 I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of My hands, 309 for the display of My splendour. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? 311 Daughters of Jerusalem, 312 do you truly love Me more than these? 313 Will you really lay down your life for Me? 314 Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? 315 I, even I, am He who comforts you.
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Jeremiah 49.19 John 6.70 Joshua 7.10 301 John 6.44 302 Matthew 22.14 NLT 303 Exodus 19.4 304 Isaiah 41.9 305 Psalm 50.5 306 Isaiah 43.6 307 Isaiah 49.12 308 Isaiah 56.8 309 Isaiah 60.21 310 Jeremiah 50.44 311 Luke 23.28 312 John 21.15 313 John 13.38 314 John 20.15 315 Isaiah 51.12
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Who is it you want? 316 I told you that I am He. 317 I am the Lord your God. 318 Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. 319 Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. 320 Go now and leave your life of sin. I broke the bars of your yoke 321 and enabled you to walk with heads held high. 322 Even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. 323 Come up here. 324 Walk on ahead of the people. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land 325 I swore to their forefathers to give them. Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all My people, 326 so they may know that I am with you. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, 327 for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Do not say, I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you to 328 and say whatever I command you. Go now to the house of God and speak My words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of God not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of God is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me, for the whole house of God is hardened and obstinate.
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John 18.7-8 Leviticus 26.1 318 Joshua 5.9 319 Luke 13.12 320 John 8.11 321 Leviticus 26.13 322 Zechariah 9.12 323 Revelation 11.12 324 Exodus 17.5 325 Joshua 1.6 326 Joshua 3.7 (Original word is Israel) 327 Joshua 1.9 328 Jeremiah 1.7
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But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, 329 though they are a rebellious house. 330 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you. 331 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. 332 Do you believe that I am able to do this? Believe Me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father 333 neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 334 Do you believe this? 335 You believe at last! 336 Woman, you have great faith! 337 Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you. 338 You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you. 339 Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. Should you then seek great things for yourself? 340 Seek them not. Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, 341 while this house remains a ruin? 342 Give careful thought to your ways. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, 343 but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. Stay here and keep watch with Me. I have made you a watchman for the house of God;
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Ezekiel 3.4-9 (Original word is Israel) Jeremiah 1.8 Joshua 1.5 332 Matthew 9.28 333 John 4.21 334 John 11.26 335 John 16.31 336 Matthew 15.28 337 Matthew 9.22 338 Numbers 11.23 339 Matthew 4.19 340 Jeremiah 45.4-5 341 Haggai 1.4 342 Haggai 1.7 343 Matthew 16.25 344 Matthew 26.38
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so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me. 346 Be on guard! Be alert! 347 For I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled. Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; 348 do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. 349 You are not to be like that. 350 Be strong and very courageous. So do not fear, for I am with you; 351 do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Do not let this Book of Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, 352 so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. 353 Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning. Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. 354 Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 355 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. 356 Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. I have put My words in your mouth 357 and covered you with the shadow of My hand. Just say whatever is given you at the time, 358 for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. Come near Me and listen to this:
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Ezekiel 3.17 (Original word is Israel) Mark 13.33 347 Jeremiah 1.12 348 Isaiah 8.12 349 Luke 22.26 350 Joshua 1.7 351 Isaiah 41.10 352 Joshua 1.8 353 Luke 12.35 354 Jeremiah 1.17 355 Exodus 4.11-12 356 Psalm 81.10 357 Isaiah 51.16 358 Mark 13.11 359 Isaiah 48.16
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Go, consecrate the people. Now then, you and all these people, 361 get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give them. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, 362 Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, 363 along with its king and its fighting men. 364 Every man straight in. Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. 365 Not one of them will be able to withstand you. 366 Do not be afraid. You are not going to die. 367 For the battle is not yours, but Gods. Have I not commanded you? Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament 369 over all the detestable things that are done in it. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who err in mind will know the truth; 370 those who complain will accept instruction. For what they were not told, they will see, 371 and what they have not heard, they will understand. Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! 372 Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. 373 Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!
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Joshua 7.13 Joshua 1.2 362 Isaiah 58.12 363 Joshua 6.2 364 Joshua 6.5 365 Joshua 10.8 366 Judges 6.23 367 2 Chronicles 20.15 368 Joshua 1.9 369 Ezekiel 9.4 370 Isaiah 29.24 NIV / NASB 371 Isaiah 52.15 372 Jeremiah 50.14 373 Ezekiel 9.7
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I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, 374 and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven. Loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, 375 to set the oppressed free and break every yoke. 376 Bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. 377 I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you. Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, 378 then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lords holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, 379 and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land. 380 You will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, 381 the Holy One of God, who has chosen you. Then you will know that I am the Lord; 382 those who hope in Me will not be disappointed. Hear Me, you who know what is right, you people who have My law in your hearts: 383 Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; 384 what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 385 Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
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Matthew 16.19 Isaiah 58.6 Ezekiel 34.16 377 Haggai 2.23 378 Exodus 19.5 379 Isaiah 58.13-14 380 Exodus 19.6 381 Isaiah 49.7 (Original word is Israel) 382 Isaiah 49.23 383 Isaiah 51.7 384 Matthew 10.26-27
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My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; 387 it desires to have you, but you must master it. Build up, build up, prepare the road! 388 Remove the obstacles out of the way for My people. I will make all My mountains a road, 389 and My highways will be raised up. Shout it aloud, do not hold back. 390 Raise your voice like a trumpet. You are My witnesses, and My servant whom I have chosen, 391 so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. 392 I am the First and I am the Last; apart from Me there is no God. I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the Heavens, 393 who spread out the Earth by Myself. Remember these things, for you are My servant. 394 I have made you, you are My servant. 395 It is I who made the Earth and created mankind upon it. Concerning things to come, do you question Me about My children, 396 or give Me orders about the work of My hands? Surely, as I have planned it, so it will be, 397 and as I have purposed, so it will stand. As the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and do not return to it without watering the Earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out of My mouth:
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Luke 10.3 2 Corinthians 12.9 387 Genesis 3.7 388 Isaiah 57.14 389 Isaiah 49.11 NASB 390 Isaiah 58.1 391 Isaiah 43.10 392 Isaiah 44.6 393 Isaiah 44.24 394 Isaiah 44.21 395 Isaiah 45.12 396 Isaiah 45.11 397 Isaiah 14.24
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It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire 398 and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 399 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 400 Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me. 401 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. 402 When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts Me; 403 and whoever accepts Me accepts the One who sent Me. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. 404 Night is coming, when no one can work. I am with you for only a short time, 405 and then I go to the One who sent Me. 406 Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. 407 You know the way to the place where I am going. 408 Come! Do not be afraid, little flock, 409 for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 410 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. Do not let your hearts be troubled. 411 Trust in God; trust also in Me. 412 You are the salt of the Earth. No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, 413 and this is their vindication from Me.
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Isaiah 55.10-11 John 15.3 400 John 13.8 401 John 15.4 402 John 12.44-45 403 John 13.20 404 John 9.4 405 John 7.33 406 John 20.17 407 John 14.4 408 Revelation 22.17 409 Luke 12.32 410 John 16.33 411 John 14.1 412 Matthew 5.13
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Ask for whatever you want Me to give you. Since you are precious and honoured in My sight, and because I love you, 415 I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I have redeemed you; 416 I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. 417 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand. Let it be so now; 419 it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness. 420 You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all nations of the Earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, 421 from one end of the Heavens to the other. 422 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. No one knows about that day or hour, 423 not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 424 But understand this: 425 It is near, right at the door. 426 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Therefore keep watch, 427 because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 428 Peace be with you!
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Isaiah 54.17 2 Chronicles 1.7 Isaiah 43.4 416 Isaiah 43.1 417 John 15.9 418 John 13.7 419 Matthew 3.15 420 John 16.20 421 Matthew 24.30-31 422 Luke 6.23 423 Matthew 24.36 424 Matthew 24.43 425 Matthew 24.33 426 John 12.23 427 Matthew 24.42 428 John 20.19
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Yes, I am coming soon. Amen Jesus our King! Come Lord Jesus! Your kingdom come!
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Chapter 9
The Gospel of Justice

For I, the Lord, love justice.
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The Gospel of Justice My God is the only one who delights in perfect justice. He is the only one who is jealous for justice. My God is just when He sits on His throne to judge. He is just when He rises to show man compassion. He is just when He speaks; He is just when 2 3 4 He is silent. He corrects, disciplines and shepherds the flocks with justice. He judges and makes war with justice. He judges fairly and wages a righteous 5 6 war. He secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. He 7 conducts all His affairs with justice. My Gods power is justice. His attack is justice. His defence is justice. His offence is justice. His justice is beautiful and glamorous and splendorous. His justice is His delight, passion and pleasure. The knowledge and understanding of the mystery of justice is the wisdom of God. Why is Gods justice a mystery? Because our God always exercises justice with righteousness, mercy and kindness on Earth in perfection, whether to His sons, His servants or to His enemies. There is never injustice in His mercy, and there is always justice in His vengeance. How does He do it? He is so wonderful! I am so proud of my Fathers justice. He has the golden touch. Everything He touches is made right by His justice. 8 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. The kingdom of the Christ is established and upheld in justice. A sceptre of justice 9 is the sceptre of His kingdom. He governs with justice and by Him kings 10 reign and rulers rule with justice.
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Isaiah 61.8 Jeremiah 10.24 Jeremiah 30.11; 46.28 4 Ezekiel 34.16 5 Revelation 19.11 NIV / NLT 6 Psalm 140.12 7 Psalm 112.5 8 Psalm 89.14; 97.2 9 Psalm 45.6 10 Psalm 9.8; Isaiah 32.1
Chapter 9 The Gospel of Justice
God never withholds justice. His mouth never betrays justice. He does not deny justice and He never perverts justice. It is only from God that men receive true justice: Justice that is eternal and righteous, desirable and delightful. Our God loves justice. He is exalted by His justice and He is known by His justice. He is the God of justice. God is Justice. And there is no other. We need not look elsewhere, for there is no justice outside of God. We have no good thing apart from Him. God is the only one who is just - the only one from whom we can receive justice - the only one who sows and seeks justice in His land - the only one who fills the Heavens with justice and exercises justice on Earth - the only one whose ways are always just. Gods thoughts are always just. His words are always just. His plans, ways, desires, dreams and imaginations are just. He is the only one whose Son is just and whose Spirit is just. I am proud that I have a God who is Justice. There is truth, honour and love in Gods justice. And in His Son Jesus, our futures are set as we put our hope in His law. He said He will betroth us in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion, and in 11 faithfulness, and I believe Him. But God, who is Justice, suffered an injustice unequalled before the beginning of the world and never to be equalled again. Gods one and only Son was crucified on a Roman cross, so that we may receive forgiveness in His Name. For Jesus, came not to be served, but to serve. And He came not to condemn, but to give His life for a ransom for many. Jesus shed His blood for all mankind and took the full wrath of God that was rightfully ours, so that we may benefit from the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. We may continue to sin and fall short of repentance even after our salvation, but the price of redemption has been paid for in full. It cost us nothing, but it cost God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit everything. And even though the Father knew He would receive Jesus back, it by no means lessened the injustice and grief it caused Him, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father had to suffer as He watched us treat His only begotten Son with violence, hatred and shameful disrespect. We murdered Jesus like a common criminal. We even chose Him over a notorious prisoner. In our eyes, a convicted felon was worthier to live than Jesus, the Lamb of God, who came to take away our sins. And we opened our mouths and said, Crucify Him! We have no king but Caesar! We murdered our King while God watched. God watched as we flogged Jesus, spat on Him, pressed a crown of thorns deep
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into His skull, hammered three nails into His body and left Him to die on a cross. His blood is on our hands, yet God says to us, I am God the Forgiver. For this He was sent. But death has no power over Jesus. The Holy Spirit declared the Son of Man to be the Son of God by the power of His resurrection. And He is alive today and arriving soon to reign! When the Holy Spirit raised Jesus up, He brought justice to the R/resurrection and the Holy Spirit brought justice to Jesus words: I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. 12 Do you believe this? Do you believe this? If you do not believe, or only partially believe, then you will never be able to boast of this: That you know and understand the Lord. He is the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, for in these He delights. Do not boast about yourself, your achievements, ministry, holiness or revelations. Be still and listen to the Fathers words: Let him who boasts boast about this; that you know and understand Me - that I am the Lord who 13 exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth, for in these I delight. Be still and listen to Jesus. For the Father loves Jesus and with Jesus He is well pleased. And Jesus is returning to reign on Earth. Kindness, justice and righteousness will be exercised on Earth for Jesus, and by Jesus, during His millennial reign. It is all about Justice for Jesus - justice, which is just for Jesus. So stop your whining, quit making feeble excuses and get with Gods program. Grow up. The Father wants to glorify His Son. If you are a stumbling block to the Holy Spirit because you have in mind the things of men and not the things of God, the Holy Spirit will swoop down like an eagle and take you out of His way, because the Holy Spirit wants to make manifest every imagining and dream that the Father has for Jesus. Not what the Father has in store for you, not for me, and not for the church, but for Jesus first and foremost. All these are means by which God may bring justice for Jesus, be it through us, or without us. For out of stones God can raise up children for Abraham. But where would be the glory in that? And where would be the honour due Him? So are you with the Father and the Holy Spirit? Will you commit your life to bringing justice to Jesus, thus correcting the injustice He suffered when He was last on Earth? Are you willing to listen to Jesus carefully?
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John 11.25-26 Jeremiah 9.24
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And what is justice for Jesus? It is Jesus receiving everything that the Father and the Holy Spirit have imagined for Him, His future, His happiness, His glory and honour, His wedding and His bride, His children and His forever lasting exaltation. Because worthy is the Lamb. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb of God. Do you doubt that God is Justice? Do you abhor His punishment that comes in the form of wasting diseases and deaths, storms, pestilence and famines, and even worse still, His silence and the famine of the hearing of His word? If you think that God is cruel, let me ask you this. Does God punish without reason? Does He take pleasure in the death of the wicked? Wouldnt He prefer that you turn from your ways and live? Why should you die when He was the One who gave you life? Yet what have you done with the dominion, authority and abilities He has given you? Have you tried ending world hunger by multiplying all the bread in the world? Have you tried curing AIDS by laying hands of the sick to heal them in fulfilment of Jesus words? Have you tried ending poverty by creating abundance? If you havent tried, then why do you blame God? And if you have tried only a handful of times without results, then why did you stop practising? Do you listen to Jesus and put His words into practice? You would only think that God is cruel if you disdain Gods discipline that comes from His justice, and the correction that comes from your obedience to Him only. You would only think that He is cruel if you see no wrong in your ways and conduct, or if you consider yourself upright and holy before God. You cannot use the state of the world as an excuse to disbelieve in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Rather, we are all responsible for its state because we all have sinned against God. So, hold yourself accountable for the state of the world and look to your Saviour Jesus. Repent, therefore! God is not cruel. He is Justice. I love Justice! Justice is just for Jesus There is a grade of justice that men predominantly seek for themselves. It is justice for their own gain, welfare, status and benefit because of pride and self-righteousness. Jesus warned those who were confident of their own righteousness: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank You that I am not like other men robbers, evildoers, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look
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up to Heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 14 I tell you this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. In truth, the Pharisee was also a robber. He robbed God of the pleasure He receives from a repentant heart and His joy of forgiving, for the Pharisee considered himself a good man in the eyes of God. Yet Jesus said no one is good except God alone. The Pharisee prayed about himself only. He loved to compare, and he compared himself favourably to those who were worse off than him. Comparisons are futile. But if you must, compare yourself to Jesus so that you might strive to be like Him. Why did Jesus say that the tax-collector went home justified before God? Because he acknowledged that he was a sinner. He was repentant, which enabled the Father to forgive Him, for God enjoys forgiving. Mans quality of justice comes from self-righteousness and a desire for personal justification. It causes men to call out to Jesus to try to distract Him from His focused obedience to do the will of God by saying words like, 15 Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. The man called Jesus Teacher, and rightly so, for that is who He is. But if this man listened to Jesus like a diligent student, he would have known that what Jesus taught had nothing to do with the division of worldly inheritance among men. Since it was not what Jesus taught, it was also not what the Father taught. Therefore, Jesus was not interested. For Jesus came down from Heaven to do the will of the One who sent Him and to finish His work. He did not come to do the will of men who were more interested in hunting pennies than to be fishers of men. For the Son of Man came to save what was lost - as in what was lost to God - not what was lost to mankind. Nothing was lost to us except what God gave us so that we could have a relationship with Him, which is to His glory, praise and honour. All was given to us in His proper timing in the prescribed way so that we may return unto Him a harvest thirty, sixty and a hundredfold, with even a few pleasant surprises. It is only when we remain completely faithful and obedient to Jesus words that we do not run off with what He has given us. Everything and more was regained, resurrected, established, and extended by His Son Jesus under the New Covenant, so now who is following in His footsteps? If power, strength and authority have been lost to the church (and admit it, they are), it was done through us, the church. Just as Jesus said to the man, He may also say to you, Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbiter between you? For,
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Luke 18.9-14 Luke 12.13
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then He said to the crowd, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of 16 greed. And so watch out for this kind of greed: Mans greed for justice that is not founded on truth, but on a state of delusion of their righteousness or right standing with God. They are easy to spot once they open their mouths, for they will always complain about how they are hard done by. Be it by their family, society, the system, the church or the Lord Almighty Himself. The blinding darkness that surrounds and resides in their hearts will shoot out like the forked-tongue of a predator with poisonous words, prayers and requests that have nothing to do with justice for Jesus, but justice for themselves alone. This is ingratitude and the poisonous stem of unforgiveness. Apart from God we have no good thing because God alone is good. God is Justice, so justice is good. Apart from God there is no justice. God is good as surely as our Heavenly Father is perfect, merciful and compassionate. Apart from the grade of justice that the Godhead seeks for Each Other, there is no justice worth pursuing, fighting for, living for and testifying for. The justice that men seek for themselves wears out like moths eating a garment, and it can be stolen like a treasure in the hands of a thief. As soon as justice is procured in this world, it can be overturned or remain unexecuted, left for dead like dried leaves in autumn, only to wither and be scooped up as trash. Though worldly justice is sought, receiving its temporal moment of glory, it is either forgotten with a downpour of rain, or falsely put on a pedestal to further mislead the world from the fully lit path of life. It is only glitter - but never honourable. Anyone who says, There is no justice in this world, has only come to know the failing ways of men, and has not come to know the Father in spirit and in truth. Worldly justice passes away like work willed by human minds and fashioned by human hands. When it passes through the heat of a fiery furnace, it will be exposed and reduced to ashes, then blown away like dust, never to be gathered again. For worldly justice has no value in the eyes of God - it has no place in the plans of God, whose eyes are firmly fixed on His Holy City, the New Jerusalem, the beautiful bride of His Son. In truth, the phrase worldly justice is an oxymoron. Justice for the word of God Where is it written in the word that the church of Jesus Christ is His bride? The apostle Johns testimony in Revelation 21.9-11 clearly states, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me
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away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. The word of God does not say that the church is the bride of Jesus Christ. The misconception comes from misunderstanding the words of Paul, I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a 17 pure virgin to Him. Paul was using the analogy of the faithful love and monogamy between a husband and wife to teach the Corinthian church how to behave. He was also inspiring the church how to love the Lord. Remember the Corinthian church was plagued with division, sexual immorality and litigation. And when Paul taught on marriage in 1 Corinthians 7, take note that it was the church that raised the issue with him, Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. Read the tone and purpose of Pauls letter to the church in Corinth for yourself again. The letter in 1 Corinthians was written to discipline a church that was out of order. If a shepherd teaches and lays a foundation on Pauls words in 1 Corinthians, one would wonder whether he had a divided, sexually immoral and litigious flock on his hands. It is also incorrect to read Pauls words, For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the 18 Saviour, and apply it to mean that the church is the bride of Jesus. Here Paul is explaining the submissiveness and humble obedience we must have for Jesus because He is our Saviour. Paul compared the love of a husband for his wife, which is sacrificial and protective, to the love Jesus has for the church. Jesus does not lord His salvation over us like Gentiles lord it over their benefactors. The Epistles are often read without first listening to Jesus, so the words of the Epistles are taken out of context with the words of Jesus. Misunderstanding of the words in the Epistles is common and widespread because the churches have not listened to Jesus at the standard to which we are called. The words of Jesus are the plumbline and have precedence over the words contained in the Epistles. But if you have not listened to Jesus firstly and carefully under the counsel of the Holy Spirit, how would you learn to know whether the words in the Epistles are in line with the words of Jesus? How then would you understand Pauls words in the context of the words of Jesus?
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And where is it written that the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is an apple? The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is a fruit of its own right. It doesnt look like another fruit. It is because we do not know the Scriptures and the power of God that we accept these misconceptions. If we do not know the word of God to the standard that we are called, we will be misled and deceived. It is that simple. If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! And if the knowledge within you is ignorance, how great then is that ignorance! The church is not the bride of Christ in the age to come. The Lord said, You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; 19 they will be like the angels in Heaven. Those of the church or the Millennium who are on the guest list of the wedding feast of the Lamb and His bride, the New Jerusalem, are citizens of the bride, but are not the actual bride. The Holy City, New Jerusalem, is the bride. We are made witness to the marriage celebration - which is after the Millennium and not pre-rapture as some think. For then we will be witness to what no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has ever conceived in the plans the Father has for the Son. Is it a small thing for us to be witness to the wedding of the Lamb and the New Jerusalem, which ushers in the age to come? Isnt it enough for us that God has brought us near to Himself to be His witnesses here on Earth and later on New Earth? It is indeed more than enough, and more than we have ever imagined, for in His grace and loving-kindness, He has let us be His eternal witnesses of the majesty of His justice and righteousness and His love for Jesus Christ. Justice for the Holy Spirit This is the eleventh hour when the Holy Spirit is rising up to show His power through His elect, whom He is training up in distinctive ways and giftings. It is a time to turn the churches around in the miraculous manner that Jesus converted Saul to Paul on the road of Damascus. The Lord made Paul blind so that he may see again. Our churches need to see the truth, so that the scales may fall from their eyes. The churches must repent of their disbelief and disobedience against the Law of Jesus. Our disbelief and disobedience have drained us of strength and power. It is time to remove all stumbling blocks, first in the church and then in the world, to prepare for the days of distress that must come before Jesus returns to reign.
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Why are our churches so weak? It is because the sin of unforgiveness drains the church of its strength. And the lack of knowledge and practice of Jesus words and commands drain us of power. This is the time to seriously think about what needs to be done to prepare the world, the church and ourselves for His arrival and reign on Earth. Have you asked the Holy Spirit what is personally expected of you? Through the effect of the sin of sexual immorality, which is breaking faith with the words, deeds and Person of Jesus, the enemy has deceived the churches into tying up the stronger man, the Holy Spirit, for too long. Unforgiveness causing division has wreaked havoc in the house of prayer and grieves the Holy Spirit, the Father and Jesus. Not only do we splinter the church with unforgiveness, but our Heavenly Father is unable to forgive us 20 unless we forgive men their sins. The church has lost its way. The world has yet to see a church of Jesus Christ at the full power of the Holy Spirit. This is the question from the Holy Spirit to you today: Are you interested in justice for Jesus that is not about you, nor for you? For on Mount Sinai, the Father spoke and the Israelites asked to stay at a distance from God. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father spoke, but the disciples did not listen well enough to remember His command, though they remembered His decree. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed but no one cared to stay awake. And now, the Holy Spirit is speaking out from His holy temples whom have been roused. For love is not awakened and roused until it so desires. So who is listening to receive the understanding of what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches? The Holy Spirit wants justice for Jesus. This is not brought about by our many muddied words of ignorance or self-seeking prayers. Justice for Jesus is delivered by a language that will never pass away, and that is the native language of Truth spoken by the Spirit of Truth. Is it because the Holy Spirit has long been silenced by us that we are not full of awe by His language of Truth? Is it because we do not understand what the Spirit is saying that we are not interested? Is it because it is justice that has nothing to do with us - but only done through us - that we are not focused? Is justice for ourselves the only type of justice we are interested in? So once again we will see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God the Holy Spirit and those who do 21 not.
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Matthew 6.15 Malachi 3.17-18
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The native language of the Holy Spirit, our new tongues, punctuated with our collective Amen Holy Spirit, will kick-start our attitude in bringing justice for Jesus. We have a gift from the Lord. It is the Heavenly language of God. Yet how many Christians bury this gift or keep it wrapped up in a cloth? How many believers of Jesus are embarrassed or frightened by it? What is so scary about speaking in tongues anyway? What is holding us back from honouring Jesus and proving His words true when He said believers will speak 22 in new tongues? When we reach full maturity in Christ, we have in mind the things of God only. Then our words and language are one with the Holy Spirit, and can accomplish what He desires for Jesus. When we speak in tongues, we speak the language of the Spirit of Truth. When we are able to interpret tongues, we are given the understanding of the language of the Kingdom of God. If we do not know what time it is we will repeat the mistakes of the ones who went before us. Our mistakes always stem from our failure to listen to Jesus and obey His commands. It is too late for the disciples who went before us to pave the way - but for us, now is the time to prepare for the return of Christ. So, do you know what time it is? Churches: Open your mouths to speak and show yourself to be of good courage. Listen to Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit what to pray for. Do not pray for world peace, for it is decreed that it will be short lived as we enter the days of distress. Do not pray for your own well-being only, for we are to pray for our enemies in secret. Do not waste the Holy Spirits time with your selfish ambitions and petty grievances. Repent if you have disregarded the gift of tongues. Rejoice if you love speaking in tongues. And persevere in your practice, because the Lord is on a one-track path to establish Jesus reign as the Son of Man, Son of God on Earth for a thousand years. Open your mouths and speak in tongues if you have formed an alliance with the Spirit. If you do not open your mouth and practise, how will the words come out? Do not be ashamed of the language of the Holy Spirit and do not despise the God who treasures the day of small things. The world must learn that Jesus loves the Father and He does exactly what He is commanded. This is how I was helped to pray in tongues when I was baptised with the Holy Spirit. I closed my eyes and said, Hallelujah repeatedly and quickly, as I meditated on Jesus in my heart. Soon the word, Hallelujah began to slur as the Holy Spirit took over and I could not stop. At first, my tongue was a baby tongue, because it is like learning a new language. You dont expect to
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be fluent in French when it is not your native language, and if you dont practise a new language, right? I kept practising for months, until one day I opened my mouth and I could speak in tongues fluently. It was no longer baby tongues of a few words slurring or stuttering. I could speak in tongues and I love it. Now I pray in tongues all the time, everyday. It is an important part of my worship and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Although it took me a few months to speak in tongues, I have witnessed other people who were baptised in the Holy Spirit speak in tongues immediately. I have also seen the Holy Spirit take over a person who then couldnt stop speaking in tongues, even if she tried! Her face was so full of light that day. For some people, it happens instantly, yet for others, it takes a bit of time. Its not about saying, If the Lord wants me to speak in tongues, I will be able to do it. If you dont open your mouth, how will you speak it? And if you dont practise, how would you master this new language to be given more? The fear of speaking in tongues must be removed from the churches because this fear is a direct violation of Jesus words in Mark 16.17. Even though we do not understand fully the language of the Holy Spirit now, dont you think that its mysteries will be revealed to those who seek the kingdom of the Father and His righteousness? Even though we mostly do not understand His language, we can still say AMEN to Him in unity and with zeal, cant we? We who live in accordance with the Spirit have 23 our minds set on what He desires. You trust and respect the Holy Spirit, dont you? If you do, you will have no problems praying in tongues and agreeing with Him. We say we want justice for Jesus, but we do not know what it entails, or the unity that is required from Jesus disciples. We say we want a church at full power but we must first consider the cost. No man understands completely justice without the counsel of the Holy Spirit, because our idea of justice is ruined by sin. But Gods justice is justice for the King, and a kingdom that is abundant with power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise and freedom, for it is a kingdom of the free. The Holy Spirit brought forth Jesus birth to the world, and His power will prepare the way for Jesus to return to reign for the Millennium. He has the power of the language that will bring the Son of Man back on Earth. Who are we to doubt or ignore our Lord the Holy Spirit? Who are we to question Him concerning the words of His choice, the work of His hands and
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the wisdom of His prescribed ways? Who are we to shut our mouths when it comes to speaking in His language? So if your reply to the question of the Holy Spirit is: Yes, Lord, I am interested in justice for Jesus! then stay awake and keep watch. Listen to Jesus more intently than ever. If you need to overcome your weaknesses, then cry out for the Holy Spirit for help. If your perseverance is to be tested - then pass the test. If your focus is to be tested - pass the test. If your patient endurance is to be tested - then also pass the test. If we need to stay awake and be on guard, then help each other to show love for one another as Jesus has loved us. It is not a time to be proud and self-sufficient, for we fellowship with one another so that we can watch each others back. We must be in continuous repentance and forgiveness of sins and debts, so that we too may be 24 forgiven. When God walked the Earth in His garden in the cool of the day, the 25 land was filled with gold that was good. And there was land that flowed with milk and honey. So now, once more there will be land that flows with milk and honey, which is the justice and righteousness of our God, when God the Son walks the Earth in the cool of the day as He reigns upon the Earth. Our King will reign the Earth for a thousand years, and those who are overcomers are privileged to be with Him and be His witnesses. This is Gods kindness and generosity to overcomers in Christ. Amen Holy Spirit. Long live our KING! Justice to Jesus!
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Chapter 10
The Law of Jesus

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke My covenant, though I was a Husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour or a man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, because they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness 1 and will remember their sins no more. Introduction If you ask a believer to quote a command from the Law of Moses, chances are, an answer will come easily. But if you ask him to quote a command from the Law of Jesus, how would he fare? Its time to ask: Does the church regard and honour Jesus commands, regulations and decrees as the only set of law to obey under the New Covenant? If it does, it would not teach believers of Jesus Christ to observe partial obedience of the Law of Moses. If the church listens to Jesus at the standard expected of it, it would know, understand and obey the Law of Jesus, because it is the new set of laws under the New Covenant. How can I say that Jesus word is law? A law is a word that is given by proper authority. When the word is obeyed or disobeyed, the authority of the word carries punishments or rewards that can be enforced rightfully. A body of law is made up of decrees, commands and regulations. Jesus decrees, commands and regulations are law
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Jeremiah 31.31-34
Chapter 10 The Law of Jesus
because of the authority given Jesus by the Father. His law carries eternal consequences when it is obeyed or disobeyed. Jesus words are more than teachings of a Prophet or a radical reformed Rabbi of His day. They are more than lessons from a wise Man or a famous Healer. Jesus word is truth, for Gods law is truth. Jesus said, If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the 3 truth will set you free. We can be sure that Heaven and Earth will pass away, but the words of Jesus will never pass away. Why is that? Because truth can never pass away. This is the power of truth. For if truth can pass away, how can His disciples be truly set free? Gods law is truth. Listen to the first command God gave to the man Adam, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it you 4 will surely die. Was God cursing Adam? No, God was telling Adam the truth because He did not desire Adam to die. But it doesnt sound like the God we think we know and fear, does it? We think God commands us what to do and not to do, and then is pleased to punish us. This is not true. Gods law is not about what you do or not do, any more than preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ or spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God is about converting people. Gods law is about truth. Gods law is not given to punish, condemn or control us. It is to teach and show us that the Lord delights in exercising kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth. When we obey His word, it is our righteousness. When He rewards us accordingly, that is His kindness. And when He disciplines and corrects us, that is His justice. So when we repent and He forgives us and remembers our sins no more, it is His kindness and His righteousness. Paul wrote, For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being 5 understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. People have said that God is in nature God is in the trees, the stars and the ocean. That is true, because He created all these things. But can you see Gods law, His truths, when you look at Creation? Gods laws to this Earth the laws that He set in place as they are written in Genesis 1 are His decrees His laws for Creation. God said, Let
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Matthew 28.18: All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. John 8.31-32 4 Genesis 2.16-17 5 Romans 1.20
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there be light, and there was light. He called them day and night, as He 6 separated the light from the darkness. This is a law and it is the truth. This is why no one can break Gods covenant with the day and His covenant with the 7 night. For who has the power to break or destroy truth? Its just that we never saw the sun rising in the east and the sun setting in the west, or the tides coming in and ebbing out, as Gods law. Our minds are veiled to see and understand that Gods law is truth. When you can turn your mind to see and understand that in the Kingdom of God, Gods law is about truth, you will begin to shed your distaste for what you understood as law, and turn your heart to Gods law to seek the truth about His kingdom. So is truth really that radical? It only appears to be, if we allow ourselves to be deluded by lies. The eyes of the church are like eyes that squint at the light, because they are so used to darkness. The commands and regulations in the Levitical Law as recorded in the Bible have become an idol to the church. We diligently study the Law of Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the Epistles, for we think that by them we possess eternal life. But we refuse to come to Jesus and place all our faith in Him and His words to have life. We refuse to live the way, the truth and the life as shown, instructed and given to us by Jesus. So the observation of the prophet Isaiah regarding Israel, who refused to listen to God, also applies to the church. Isaiah said, So then, the word of the Lord to them will become; Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there so that they will go and fall 8 backward, be injured and snared and captured. If the church, beginning with the first apostles, had listened to Jesus at the standard to which they were called and obeyed everything He commanded them, thereby retaining and increasing the power of the church to testify for Jesus as a co-witness of the Holy Spirit, the Law of Jesus would be established as the precious cornerstone of a sure foundation of which honour and respect are due. The Law of Jesus is the set of commands, regulations and decrees given to believers and disciples to obey. But Jesus Law is the law of the Kingdom of God that Christ Himself established. Are you ready to receive Jesus Law? Jesus Law Jesus Law is law that is the nature of Jesus, the Christ Himself; a body of law that took who He was into who He became, into His eternal future. It is the embodiment, the sum of all parts, of all that constitutes what is
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held in the Name of Jesus and the power within that Name, which the Name Jesus encapsulates, if that were possible. Jesus Law, first wrought and founded by Jesus Himself, is the art of the application and innovation of the Law of Jesus; driven by a desperate love to fulfil Their needs, Their glory, justice and success that produces the finished product, which is in the fullness of the Stature of the Christ. And it is the sum of all parts, for it is the way, the truth and the life that make up the full Stature of Jesus, the Son of Man, Son of God, the Great Overcomer. It is in effect being the L/lord and M/master of the Sabbath, giving rest to God; the spirit, the nature and very essence of Jesus the Son of God, True Man, for it is not about sacrifices or about ourselves. But it has always been about love and showing mercy; loosing the chains of injustice and untying the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and breaking every yoke; spending ourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfying the needs of 9 the oppressed; and of knowing God in all His fullness: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who are One God, of one accord, that is, in perfect harmony with Each Other. Jesus Law, for us, is when the Father and Jesus have come and made 10 Their home with us, co-united with the Holy Spirit. We no longer ask using the Name of Jesus as an adjunct to our request, but we ask because we ourselves are IN the Name as we remain in Jesus and He remains in us, just as 11 He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. For those who do what is right come to the light so that others can see that they are doing what God wants, 12 and see God at work in what He is doing, for these are the evidence of the 13 work of God, the work of the Father in us. We no longer ask through Jesus so that He would do it for us, but we ask the Father directly, for we are IN 14 HIS NAME. For then we are dwelling in the Name of the Father and the 15 Name of the Son, JESUS, the family Name, the Temple of God. For the Way of the Truth brings that which is eternal life into the divine life of God. Jesus, the Son, is the way to Jesus, the Father; for Jesus, the 16 Way, is the way of the Father. The Father and I are One I do nothing of My own but say only what the Father taught Me. And the One who sent Me is
Hosea 6.6; Isaiah 58.6, 10 NLT / NIV John 14.23 John 15.7, 10 12 John 3.21 and subtext NLT 13 John 14.11; 6.29 14 John 16.23-24 15 John 17.11; Revelation 21.22 16 John 10.30
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with Me - He has not deserted Me. For I always do what pleases Him. And They will be in those who always do what pleases the Father. The Law of Jesus is given to believers and disciples to follow and obey so that we would fulfil the laws of the New Covenant in such a way that cannot be completely fulfilled unless we love Jesus in the same manner that He loves His Father and has loved us. For Jesus said, If you love Me, you will obey what I command. Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is 18 the one who loves Me. Our love takes us to that place where we willingly tithe the all of ourselves rather than percentages of what we have, and consider our lives lost to our own desires except for Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. They are our whole life all whom we live for! In this we fulfil this word of Jesus: Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will 19 find it. So we begin by following the Law of Jesus in its science; yet in the shrewd wisdom of God, its science separates those who love the Lord their 20 God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, from those who stop along the way and say, That is enough, I am content here. My barns are full; rest, eat, drink and be merry, for I have all I need. His laws separate the two groups for the inclusion of the ones who love Jesus and do what He says; dying to our own desires, hopes and dreams for His sake, to be surreptitiously moulded without overriding our freewill just as the Word first did when He gave up Himself to become the Son for the One who desired to be Father, and became the Son of Man; and then again as the Son of Man when He submitted Himself to the cross, to then be declared by His resurrection from the dead to be the Son of God - into the art that is Jesus Law. Simply put, Jesus Law is the art in which the Son, by His faithfulness and obedience, applied and innovated the way, the truth and the life of God, to become the full Stature of Gods Christ. This is why Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will bring glory to Him, by 21 taking what is His and making it known to us. For Jesus has given us, His
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believers, the glory that the Father gave Him, that we may be one as They are 22 23 One. Jesus reveals the Family Law of God: I and the Father are One. The divine life of God is the life of Oneness. The Oneness between the Father and Son is the truth about Family. Gods grace is that He has permitted men to be one with Him through Jesus. The Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is Gods grace to sinners. This covenant is established between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We are the beneficiaries of this covenant solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the Helper in this New Covenant; He is the wonderful Counsellor. Do you want to get on board? If so, listen to Jesus and start by believing in Him through the messages 24 of His disciples. Obey His commands so that you may remain in His love, 25 just as He obeyed His Fathers commands and remains in His Fathers love. The Holy Covenant What is a covenant? A covenant is an agreement where one person who has the power and authority agrees to do something, a promise of blessing in Gods case, if the other person abides by his ways. When we enter into a covenant with God, we must obey His commands so that His promises to us can be fulfilled righteously. For example, Abraham was to keep the 26 covenant of blessing by obeying Gods command of circumcision. Israel was to obey the Law of Moses to keep the covenant of deliverance and healing between God and Israel. Disobedience against even one command of the Lord under a covenant means that you have broken the whole covenant. Breaking the covenant through disobedience is saying to God, I want nothing to do with You. Therefore, I will not obey the laws that bond us in agreement. You have broken faith with the Lord by your disobedience or rebellion. And if you break faith with God to pursue an idol, it is adultery in Gods sight. The Father likens this to divorce. Read Jeremiah 3.6-10 when the Lord said, Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to Me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed
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adultery. Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense. Jesus did not break faith with His covenant with His Father, and His resurrection and His life are the proof of this. Jesus obeyed His Fathers commands. He said, The Father loves Me because I sacrifice My life so I may take it back again. No one can take My life from Me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up 27 again. For this is what My Father has commanded. The Father authorised Jesus to lay down His life. Jesus submitted His flesh and spirit unto death to fulfil the Fathers will. And Jesus was authorised to take it up again. He destroyed death in His flesh forever when the Spirit of Holiness declared Him 28 with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead. Jesus said, I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and 29 ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. The Son of Man is the 30 Firstborn from among the dead. What does it mean that the Covenant was established between the Father and Jesus? Its very simple. It means that under this covenant, the Father basically said to Jesus, If You will be sent to be the sin offering for all men, I will forgive the sins of all those who believe in Your Name and they will not perish but have eternal life. What it does not mean is God the Father saying to man directly, I will forgive your sins if you believe in My Son. Although it appears the same because the result was the same, it is not, because the relationship within the covenant is different. The Fathers promise is bound to Jesus His Son. We are the third party in this New Covenant. The Father established His covenant with Jesus. Therefore, the Fathers word is first bound to Jesus, and then to man because Jesus has kept Their covenant and finished the work the Father sent Him to do. Our salvation through faith and repentance is a gift and the flow-on effect from the Sons faithfulness to His Father. This is why we have no righteousness of our own. So where is it written that the Father established a covenant with Jesus? The Father said to Jesus, You are My Son, today I have become Your Father. Ask of Me I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the Earth Your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; You
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will dash them to pieces like pottery He will call out to Me, You are My Father, My God, the Rock My Saviour. I will also appoint Him My Firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the Earth. I will maintain My love to Him forever, and My covenant with Him will never fail. I will establish His line forever, His throne as long as the Heavens 32 endure ... I the Lord have called You in righteousness, I will take hold of Your hand and I will keep You, I will make You to be a Covenant for the people and to be a light for the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeons 33 those who sit in darkness It is too small a thing for You to be My Servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make You a Light for the Gentiles that You may 34 bring My salvation to the ends of the Earth The time is coming when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. 35 For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more. Jesus replied, Here I am, I have come. It is written about Me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will O My God; Your law is written in My 36 heart Because of the covenant I made with You, sealed with blood, 37 I will free Your prisoners from death in a waterless dungeon The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their 38 sins. The Father confirmed with Jesus, As for Me, this is My covenant with them. My Spirit, who is on You, and My words that I have put into Your mouth will not depart from Your mouth, or from the mouth of Your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time
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Psalm 2.7-9 Psalm 89.26-29 Isaiah 42.6-7 34 Isaiah 49.6 35 Jeremiah 31.31, 33-34 36 Psalm 40.7 - Note John 4.34 when Jesus said, My food is to do the will of He who sent Me and to finish His work. 37 Zechariah 9.11 NLT 38 Isaiah 59.20
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on and forever I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put My sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when My 40 sanctuary is among them forever. And so to bring men into the New Covenant that the Father has established with His Son concerning the house of Israel and Judah, and to bring His salvation to the ends of the Earth, Jesus said to His disciples, This is My blood of the New Covenant which is poured 41 out for many Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the New Covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of 42 sins Go into the world and preach the Good News to all Creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not 43 believe will be condemned Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have 44 commanded you And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in 45 all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.
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What does it mean that the Father has made His Son Jesus to be a Covenant for the people? What does it mean to be a covenant? It means that in Jesus is held all the blessings of God for His people. And that is why it is so important to remain in Jesus by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and by having His words remain in us, and remaining in His love by obeying His commands. The Father established a New Covenant with His Son to give to Him the nations as His inheritance and the ends of the Earth as His possession. He made Jesus to be a Covenant for all men so that all the blessings of salvation promised by God are held in Jesus, since Jesus was the One who finished the Fathers work in keeping faith with the covenant. So that all those who believe, repent and drink His blood and eat His flesh are beneficiaries of the covenant by grace because they remain in Jesus who is blessed and rewarded by God.
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Isaiah 59.21 Ezekiel 37.26-28 - Note this ties in with Revelation 21.4 Mark 14.24 and footnote a 42 Matthew 26.27-28 and footnote b 43 Mark 16.15-16 44 Matthew 28.19-20 45 Acts 1.8
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It was never about us. It was always about Jesus through whom Gods blessings flow because of Jesus righteousness, NOT ours. This is the holy covenant; and how privileged we are to benefit from Their grace and love for Each Other. How grateful we should be for this holy covenant; and it would be an honour to defend this covenant with our own lives, laying down even our deaths to remain alive for Jesus! By the blood of Jesus that sealed the covenant, which fulfilled Gods desire for mercy, the Father is bound to forgive the sins of all who repent and believe in Jesus, the Name of His one and only Son. (Except for the man doomed to destruction for committing the eternal sin of blasphemy of the 46 Holy Spirit, the one sin that Jesus did not die for.) Our Father is merciful and He desires to forgive sins. Jesus testified to His Fathers will, For My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall 47 have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. God the Father has a Son who laid down His life so that the Father could forgive sins righteously. The New Covenant instantly, permanently and completely accomplishes the Fathers will and desire to forgive. You could even say that God so loved the world that the Father entered into a covenant with His Son, Jesus, to forgive sins so that the world could be saved. All we have to do to benefit from Gods grace is to believe in Jesus who is the Son of God. This is why salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus, the Son of God. You can argue all you like, but no other religion except a fellowship that has faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God can boast of such amazing grace. No one can boast about the exercise of kindness, justice and righteousness that is in the covenant between God the Father and His Son. I do not understand how people say that all religions are the same, and they are all about the same God. You only have to listen to the goal of the faith to understand that every religion is different, despite the common threads of humanity. There are people who believe there is more than one way to get to know God the Creator. This may be true. Many are even offended by Jesus Christ because they think He claimed to be the only way to God. But Jesus never said He is the only way to God. Rather, He said, No one can come to 48 the Father except through Me. If you think they are the same thing, consider the difference between coming to know, say, George Bush in his office as president, and George Bush as a father. Both perspectives would be true, but which one bears a more personal relationship? Question is, do you
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Mark 3.29; Luke 12.10 John 6.40 48 John 14.6 NLT
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believe that man was created to worship God from afar, or is it possible that the Father has a dream that He will enjoy walking with a man, male or female, as His son or daughter, who pleases Him as Jesus does? And if you believe that it is possible, is it any wonder that the Father commanded us to listen to Jesus? This is the truth: There is only one God, for God is three Persons who are One, meaning of one accord, that is, in perfect harmony - the Father who is the Sovereign Lord, Jesus His Son who is the Word in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit set apart as holy unto God. Jesus came from His Father to reveal to us the Father. He laid down His life for the world to make known His Fathers perfection, mercy, compassion and righteousness. Have you met another son who was so eager and passionate to honour his father? And have you met a father so perfect that his son would do anything to glorify him? You wouldnt have, unless you have met Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And you wouldnt meet Him unless the Father draws you to Him, for this is His Fathers good pleasure. Law of Jesus So as beneficiaries of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sin, how do we break faith with the covenant? There are three laws under the New Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, which all believers must obey to keep faith with the covenant: 1. 2. 3. Law of Grace Law of Forgiveness Law of Repentance
Law of Grace As Gods law is truth, the Law of Grace is really the truth about grace. Grace is the quality of God who gives us what we need so that we are delivered from condemnation to death, because death is the due consequence and wages of sin. It is amazing grace because God incurs a personal cost when He helps us. For the sake of Gods kingdom and Their Image and Likeness, which They sowed into man, the Father sacrificed His Son, the Son sacrificed His life, and the Spirit sacrificed His holiness when He went out from the Father to be poured out on all people. There is a difference between grace and mercy. Unlike grace, mercy does not involve a sacrifice or cost to the giver. For example, it does not cost a judge to choose to be merciful in judgment. But if a father is gracious to a son who broke his heart; the father has to first overcome his own pain to restore
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his child. The three-fold Law of Grace is the first law under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. The Law of Grace is three-fold as it is grace from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For the world, it is grace from the Father in the first Law of Grace in John 3.16: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is the grace of the Father who gave His Son to the world. You do not have to do anything except have faith and believe in His Son. When you believe in Jesus, you must then repent of your sins since you believe He died for your redemption. The Father, who gave His only Son to the world, is full of grace and love. After you enter the kingdom, the second Law of Grace applies to Jesus believers and disciples: I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My 49 flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him. Jesus, who gave His flesh and blood, is full of grace and truth. The third Law of Grace applies to overcomers, My grace is 50 sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. The power of the Spirit of Grace is sufficient for us to overcome our weaknesses and master sin. He is baptised into us by Jesus when we repent and believe in Jesus, then receive Him. The Holy Spirit is full of grace and power. The Holy Spirit is not part of the covenant because the covenant is between the Father and the Son. This is why the third Law of Grace is not a command you can obey. You receive it with your heart. However, disobedience against the first Law of Grace is disbelief that God sent His Son into the world to save the world. And disobedience against the second Law of Grace is disbelief that eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of Man means that you remain in Him and He remains in you, and that you will be raised on the last day. Both laws contain a promise of eternal life. But the law from the Spirit of Grace is a declaration that confirms His role as our 51 Comforter, Counsellor, Strengthener and Helper under the covenant. The first foundation of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is Gods grace, because grace comes before forgiveness. Without the prerequisite existence of grace, forgiveness will not flow. Grace is the source of the act of forgiveness. Just like imagination is the source of creativity, grace is
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John 6.53-56 2 Corinthians 12.9 51 John 14.26 AMP: Comforter (Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby)
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the source, and forgiveness is the action or consequence that flows from grace. Grace is and was before the foundation of the world. The Lamb was slain before the creation of this world, and then the Word of God became flesh. Jesus, who came full of grace and truth, said on the cross, Father, forgive 52 them, for they do not know what they are doing. When the Lamb was slain from the creation of the world, God had already forgiven us. When Jesus said 53 those words on the cross and then said, It is finished, the New Covenant was fulfilled. It is like if you had a credit card bill to pay. Just because the money is sitting in your bank account does not mean that you have paid your credit card. The account is not settled until the money is transferred for the credit card company to process the payment. In the same way, God had already forgiven sin by the covenant between the Father and the Son before He laid the foundation of the Earth. But the work of redemption was not official, nor were the accounts balanced for the forgiveness to be given, until Jesus breathed His last on the cross. Then the Holy Spirit raised Jesus back to life after three days, and by His power, declared Him the Son of God. Therefore, all sins, except the eternal sin, can be forgiven in Jesus Name. Gods grace existed before forgiveness or repentance ever was. Think about it: If there is no grace in the person you sin against, you can repent all you want but he will not forgive you. Since our ways and thoughts are lower than Gods, we often think, Oh, this person did something wrong against me. Since he sincerely apologised, I shall forgive him. But this is not how the Lord thinks and acts. Grace is, was, and will be before repentance ever was. Yet we often think of Gods forgiveness as an afterthought because we do not know or understand Them. We think God forgives grudgingly because we disobey and sin against Him. We see Him as an angry God, impatient and condemning. We even think God made a mistake when He created man. But do you see and understand that God enjoys forgiving sins? If we listen to Jesus and repent and forgive one another, wouldnt we begin to come to know God as the Forgiver? Is this even logical: That God, who wanted to be God the Forgiver, created Earth with man to live on it, knowing full well that man would sin? And is this fathomable: That when Creation was still in the Fathers heart, the 54 Lamb of God was already slaughtered before the world was made, because grace pre-existed before the foundation of this world? This is why the writer of Ecclesiastes said that God has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot
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Luke 23.34 John 19.30 54 Revelation 13.8 and footnote NLT
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fathom what God has done from beginning to end. We will never fathom Gods grace from beginning to end if we do not look to Jesus, the Lamb of God. Grace is not logical. Grace defies logic. Yet grace can be, and is, the truth, for Jesus came full of grace and truth. As a believer or disciple of Christ, part of your riches is your testimony about your personal experiences of Gods grace. You are the witness of His grace, but to one who does not believe, your witness is foolishness because it lacks logic and proof. And that is why we must practise the words of Jesus. The evidence of signs, wonders and miracles backs up the truth of Gods grace, so that those with weaker minds and slower hearts may see and believe in Jesus. Your acceptance and understanding of the truth that the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins was first established by the grace between the Father and His Jesus, and not between God and us, is very important. For then it will become clear that we have no righteousness of our own. Our salvation is based on Gods forgiveness due to Their generosity of grace to Each Other first and foremost, and we are Their beneficiaries. The Lord enjoys forgiving, but They first enjoyed being full of grace to Each Other. If you can accept that you were but a sinner who rebelled against the Lord by forsaking God through disbelief and disobedience - that you did nothing to deserve to benefit from the grace of God - and that the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins is truly about the grace of God to Each Other and not to us, then you will find the burden light and the yoke easy to obey the Law of Jesus under the New Covenant. If the church had listened to Jesus, and sought to understand the purpose of Their sacrifice and why the world is worthy of His salvation, we would never run back to the old covenant and the Law of Moses, because it is a desert with no hope or life. The truth is, we do not have full understanding and knowledge of the effects of sin and how much sin had ruined Gods plans for His Creation, right down to the smallest detail. The more we are given the understanding and knowledge of the damage of sin, the more we will appreciate the sacrificial and inseparable love of the Father, Jesus and the Lord Spirit for Each Other. But how would we understand and come to know Them if we do not obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus? As there is a Law of Grace, so there is a Law of Un-grace. Jesus said, 55 But anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He said that men will be forgiven of every sin and blasphemy, except the
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Mark 3.29 NLT
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blasphemy against the Spirit. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the testimony and work of a man of God. The false prophet, whose goal is to resist Jesus return to Earth to reign, will wage war against Jesus, even planning to kill Him, so that he can reign as a god on Earth with the authority and power he has received. Why is this the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Since it is the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and declared Him to be Son of God, the one who opposes the Holy Spirits work of bringing Jesus back to Earth in the flesh, even being prepared to kill Jesus, is rebelling against the work of the Holy Spirit, and calling the Spirit of Truth a liar. Read the principle in Numbers 15.29-30 when the Father made a differentiation between one who sins unintentionally and one who sins intentionally in defiance. He said, But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the Lord, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the Lords word and broken His commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him. The false prophet, who will blaspheme the Holy Spirit, commits the eternal sin intentionally and defiantly. He is raised up by the Holy Spirit as a disciple of Jesus, but he turns to betray the Holy Spirit. He knows and understands fully the consequence of his betrayal, yet he commits the ultimate act of un-grace towards the Holy Spirit. He has despised the counsel and work of the Holy Spirit, whose greatest and most righteous work is to raise Jesus from the dead eternally. For this, he will be thrown alive into 57 the Lake of Burning Sulphur, together with the beast, upon Jesus return. And why is this sin unforgivable? Because no grace was made available to cover this sin. The Holy Spirit is not a party to the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. This is the covenant between the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the Helper of the covenant. In the same way as an international treaty cannot be enforced against a nation that is not a signatory. The Father and Jesus never agreed to forgive a man who blasphemes the Holy Spirit by seeking to undo and overturn the very act the raising of Gods Son from the dead. Because he is calling the Holy Spirit a liar when He declared 58 with power Jesus is the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead. This man is also trying to void the entire covenant. Because the purpose of the New Covenant is the fulfilment of the Fathers will: That everyone who looks to His Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and He will raise them up at 59 the last day. If the Holy Spirit is a liar and Jesus is not alive, no one will be
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Matthew 12.31 Revelation 19.20 58 Romans 1.4 59 John 6.40
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raised in the last day. Therefore, understand the work of the false prophet and be on the watch. This is part of the reason Jesus gave His disciples the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome the power of the enemy, which is deception. When the false prophet takes centre stage to usurp Jesus throne, and repentance is no longer preached in the churches, the Law of Grace will be exalted to the forefront of the disciples practice of Jesus words. When repentance decreases, forgiveness must increase to cover a multitude of sins. If we have not been practising forgiving one another, and praying for our enemies today to gear our minds and hearts, how would we focus on the grace of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit during the days of distress unequalled since the beginning of the world? It is not for us to pray against the distress or resist the false prophet, because Scripture must be fulfilled. Scripture must be fulfilled because it is Gods ordained way to fulfil all righteousness, even the righteousness of His wrath. And Gods wrath will be released on Earth when the rejection of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is Gods peace offering to the world, has reached its full measure, and there are sons and daughters on Earth who are raised up in the stature of Jesus Christ to stand in the gap on behalf of the land 60 so that He would not destroy it. Just like Gods Son on the cross stood in 61 the gap on behalf of all men who are sinful, so that men would not perish but may have eternal life, for this is the victory of Gods grace. So what is the purpose of obeying the Law of Grace, which is your holding onto the truth of Gods grace? To help you forgive, and like God, enjoy forgiving. Law of Forgiveness This brings us to the second Law of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins, which is the Law of Forgiveness. The Law of Forgiveness is two-fold and it is given to disciples. The first Law of Forgiveness is Love 62 your enemies. The second Law of Forgiveness is Love one another. As I 63 have loved you, so you must love one another. How are we to show love to enemies? Do not be deluded. We cannot love our enemies the same way as we love our friends and family. That is not the correct view or application of wisdom. Do not misunderstand Jesus command. Loving your enemy is simply obeying these two regulations:
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Read Ezekiel 22.30 Isaiah 59.15-17 NLT 62 Matthew 5.43; Luke 6.27 63 John 13.34
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Pray for those who persecute you; and Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for 65 those who mistreat you.
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Why does the Law of Forgiveness contain the word love, rather than the word forgive? It is because with enemies, love is the extra mile of forgiveness. Jesus taught this before He opened up on the command to love our enemies, If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two 66 miles. Forgiveness without love, or love without forgiveness, has no strength to endure. Jesus asked, If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do 67 that. Likewise, if you only forgive those who love you, what credit is that to you? This is the relationship between love and grace: A love without grace has no strength to endure because it will not strive to forgive. Forgiveness involves a personal cost, and love without grace will be easily lost when the 68 adverse arises. Jesus said, He who has been forgiven little, loves little. And in the same way, he who forgives much loves much. How do we know that we have forgiven our enemies? It is when you want someone who has hurt you to be as blessed by the Lord as you are, if not more. The goal of your prayers is that his place in eternity is at least equal to yours, if not greater. In so doing, you do not lord your forgiveness over them, because this would cancel out grace. Just as Jesus does not lord His forgiveness over us, or put us down all the time, or keep reminding us of our sins and weaknesses. Rather, He said in John 14.12, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. So can you bear the thought that your enemy would receive forgiveness and blessings in Jesus Name, just like you do? Can you cope with the generosity of Gods grace? Can you accept His ways? The second Law of Forgiveness is to love your fellow disciples as Jesus has loved us. Your fellow disciples are anyone who is a brother and sister and mother of Christ who hears Gods word, puts it into practice and does His
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Matthew 5.44 Luke 6.27-28 66 Matthew 5.41 67 Luke 6.32-33 68 Luke 7.47
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will, doing the will of the Father in Heaven. The outward sign is that they hold onto Jesus teachings through daily practice, which is obedience to God the Father. This is how we obey the second Law of Forgiveness: If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen 70 even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and 71 says, 'I repent,' forgive him. 72 Forgive your brother from your heart.
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Like all things, forgiveness takes practice. Sometimes, it is easier. Sometimes, it is gut-wrenching. Jesus taught us to put His words into practice, so there is no judgment for failure in practice. If you find it hard to forgive, repent to the Lord. If someone can't forgive you, pray for him in secret, and forgive his sin of unforgiveness so that the power of that sin looses its hold over him. In turn, the practice of Jesus words produces patient endurance and perseverance, and a richer testimony of your relationship with Him. In any event, we must keep on practising with urgency and fervency. The reason lies in the purpose of the New Covenant. The purpose of obeying the Law of Forgiveness is two-fold. The first purpose is a personal benefit as it enables the Father to forgive your sins. It also enriches your relationship with the Father because you will come to know and love Him as God the Forgiver. When you pray for 73 your enemy in secret, the Father will reward you. The second purpose exceeds the first, because it is the Father and Jesus who receive what They desire. Jesus irrevocably tied love of enemies in with sonship when He said, Love your enemies and pray for those who 74 persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven Love your
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Luke 8.21; Mark 3.34-35; Matthew 12.49-50 Matthew 18.15 Luke 17.3-4 72 Matthew 18.35 73 Matthew 6.6 74 Matthew 5.44-45
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enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, 75 because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. The Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins opens the way to sonship. The inheritance of sonship is compassion, perfection and mercy. For if we love our enemies, we will be perfect, merciful and compassionate like our 76 righteous Father. The other covenants God established with men promised no such heritage of the eternal qualities of God. Rather, those covenants promised life, blessings, peace, inheritance of land (which included a promise of deliverance and healing), repentance and kingship. Jesus confirmed this inheritance of sonship with His disciples after His resurrection when He said to Mary Magdalene after He arose from the dead, I am returning to My 77 Father and your Father, to My God and your God. He opened the door for His disciples to be sons of God, like Him. It is a privilege to be called Jesus brother or sister, and to serve Jesus in His kingdom. This is the King who does not hold any unforgiveness against us for murdering Him on the cross. This is our Brother who said, And surely I am with you always, to the very end of 78 the age. Jesus said the world must learn that He loves His Father and that He does exactly what the Father commanded Him. What Jesus also meant is that the world must learn that Jesus kept His covenant with the Father by doing what the Father commanded Him because He loves His Father. When you keep your covenant with someone, you honour that person. So if we do not hold our positions and keep the covenant by obeying Jesus laws, how will the world know that Jesus loves the Father, and that He is a Son who does exactly what the Father commanded Him? Jesus kept His covenant with the Father by doing exactly what He commanded. If you obey the Law of Jesus under the New Covenant, you are also keeping Jesus covenant with the Father by doing exactly what Jesus commanded you, because the Father commanded you to listen to Jesus. This includes the three Laws of Grace, Forgiveness and Repentance enacted under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. It is faithfulness and obedience to the commands of Jesus under the New Covenant that raises you up as a son or daughter of God. Faithfulness and obedience to the Law of Moses do not make you a son or daughter, as that is a covenant for a superceded purpose. You cannot buy a house when you are holding a contract to buy a car. This is why it is so important that the church knows that we live under the Covenant
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Luke 6.35 Matthew 5.48; Luke 6.36 NIV / NLT 77 John 20.17 78 Matthew 28.20
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for the Forgiveness of Sins and we are to obey the Law of Jesus. We are not to obey and follow the Law of Moses, the writings of James the Younger or the apostles, nor the doctrines of men. Your faithfulness and loyalty must be firmly in Jesus words, His law. For a believer or disciple of Jesus Christ, unforgiveness is a sin because you have failed to believe in Jesus and practise His commands. Unforgiveness is a sin of the church, which must be repented and forgiven of, for the church has disgraced and dishonoured the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in its refusal to practise and preach unceasing forgiveness in Jesus Name. How can I say this? Because the churches of Jesus Christ have many reputations, but we do not have a reputation for forgiveness, much less a reputation of delighting to forgive. Do you know and understand how much you have been forgiven? If you had a glimpse of such knowledge and understanding, you would know that you cannot even lift up your head to meet Jesus eyes, but for the grace of God. How can we even understand how much God has forgiven us, unless the Holy Spirit shows us the eternal condemnation we have been spared from the fate of mankind and this world if Jesus did not lay down His life to redeem it how much ruin we had brought to Gods original plan when Adam sinned, and then had Seth in his own image and likeness instead of Gods the weight of the sin of mankind that was on Jesus shoulders when He was the sin offering on the cross the pain in the Fathers heart when Jesus cried out, 79 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? our true state of wretchedness, pitifulness, poverty, blindness and nakedness because we sinned against God the height from which we have fallen and the darkness in our hearts and the stench of death amongst us when we refused to believe, follow and listen to Jesus, the Son of God? If we begin to understand what we had done to the Father, then we would know that nothing that anyone does to us will ever compare to what we did, and still do, to God. Unless we try to see things in the Fathers perspective, it is easy to justify holding grudges or forgiving with a miserly attitude. For it is a good thing to say that we deserve to forgive those who wrong and hurt us, because then God will also forgive our sins. This way we wont be drained of power and strength. It is a better thing to say our enemies deserve forgiveness, because their sins against us are nothing compared to our sins against the Lord. But it is a greater thing to not say anything or reason with it. Rather, just practise forgiveness unceasingly and joyfully because our
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Matthew 27.46; Mark 15.34
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faith and delight is in the words of Jesus, whose Father is God the Forgiver. Maybe then, you will begin to see your enemies as your treasure in acquiring perfection, because in the Kingdom of God, perfection comes by the love of 80 enemies. Law of Repentance Repentance is the sincere acknowledgement of your mistakes. It reflects a gratefulness for the forgiveness received. It is followed by a continuous, sincere effort to change ones thoughts, speech and conduct, so as to avoid making the same mistake that caused the other person grief or loss. This is the truth about repenting to God: Repentance honours Gods forgiveness, for God first forgave us. Our faith and repentance make us eligible to be a beneficiary of the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. Because the intent of the covenant was for the world to be saved and mankind to be forgiven by Gods gracious redemption; and that mankind no longer remains condemned because of sin when we believe in Gods Son. This is the nature of God the Forgiver. Once the New Covenant was sealed by the blood of the Lamb, it meant that nothing else; no other name, blood, faith, words, works or religious practices, has the power and authority to forgive sins. It was Jesus blood that was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus did not say that His blood was poured out for all for the forgiveness of sins because there are at least four who will definitely be eternally condemned to the Lake of Burning Sulphur. They are the devil, the beast, the false prophet and death. Hades itself will give up the dead in it, and will then be thrown empty into the Lake 81 of Fire, which is the second death. You might ask, If God has forgiven us already, then why bother repenting? Why bother listening to Jesus? Heaven awaits anyway. The point of repentance of our sins is to honour the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who Each made sacrifices, laying down something or Someone that was important to Them, so that we may receive forgiveness of sins in Their righteousness. For couldnt the Father forgive our sins without sacrificing Jesus as the sin offering to the world? Of course He could. No one could stop Him. He didnt have to send Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He could just declare from a big cloud, I forgive you all, now leave your life of sin, and we would be none the wiser.
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Matthew 5.43-44, 48 Revelation 20.10, 14 (Note: The Lake of Fire and the Lake of Burning Sulphur are one and the same)
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But how would the Book of Life read if the accounts of sin and forgiveness of sins were not balanced righteously, but casually written off like a company writes off bad debts? How then can the Lord truthfully say He delights in exercising kindness, justice and righteousness on Earth? How then would He be God the Forgiver, as He is? How can God take any imperfection and unrighteousness into His eternity, for they would have devastating effects? And how would His perfection go into its increase? If the Father did not send Jesus and the Holy Spirit, how would we all be taught by God? There is a way to do things righteously, which always involves a cost. This way is the narrow path and few are found on it. Then there is the easy way. It is easy because there is little to no apparent cost. That way is the broad road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. That is why the Lord said His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than ours. We cannot dispute that. Repentance in Jesus Name honours Gods forgiveness. If you truly believe in your Saviour, you would repent. Faith in Jesus as the Son of God and repentance in His Name go hand in hand, for they honour the Father who gave His Son as the sin offering to the world. If you ask, If the Father knew that He would receive His Son back, what did it truly cost Him? Then I ask you, would you let your only son, who is innocent, be punished for the sins of another man? And if a knife slashes across your flesh, doesnt it hurt, even though it will heal? Can you imagine what it was like for the Father who watched His Son being flogged and crucified at the hands of sinful men? Are you able to be more sensitive toward God who is a Father? Or do you think that is humanising God? I was not aware that it is inappropriate to do so, for we are made in the Image and Likeness of God. We cannot preach a gospel of faith in Jesus Christ without preaching repentance in His Name because that is what Jesus preached and commanded. Repentance may be an unpopular message, but then this is not a popularity contest, is it? If you answer yes or hesitate, is it because you are seeking the praises of men or rewards from Mammon? Faith in Jesus and repentance is like drinking His blood and eating His flesh. You cannot do one without the other. Why are there Christians who are not baptised with the Holy Spirit or who refuse the gift of tongues? Have they not read Jesus words, John baptised with water, but in just a few days you will be baptised with the Holy 82 Spirit And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My Name
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Acts 1.5 NLT
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they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues ? Shame on us all for our failure to listen to Jesus carefully and to teach everything He has commanded. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to us to live in us, for Jesus said that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit, and no one can even see it unless he is born 84 again. Jesus tied His words together this way, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, 85 and to the ends of the Earth. How else would we have the power to exercise the authority to drive out demons, speak in new languages, heal the 86 sick, trample on snakes and overcome the power of the enemy, testify for 87 Jesus, forgive sins and make disciples of all nations? We are called to be Jesus witnesses with power and authority. What kind of witnesses are we, if we lack the language, the authority, and power of the Kingdom of God? The power and authority we receive from Jesus are not meant for selfish purposes or to be substituted with the so-called powers of the world. They are granted 88 so that the world may know that the Kingdom of God has come upon them, as we prove Jesus words of John 14.12 to be true. In Matthew 21, when the chief priests and the elders of the law attacked Jesus on His authority when He was teaching in the temple courts, Jesus counter-attacked with a single question. He asked them, John's baptism 89 - where did it come from? Was it from Heaven, or from men? They discussed it among themselves and said, If we say, 'From Heaven,' He will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From men' - we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet. They were too afraid to answer because they valued praises for men. In truth, John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for the 90 Lord, baptising with water for repentance. God sent him to baptise with water so that the Messiah might be revealed to Israel. The baptism of the Holy Spirit also comes from Heaven because Jesus Himself baptises the Holy Spirit
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83 84 85
Mark 16.17 John 3.5, 3 John 20.22; Acts 1.8 86 Mark 16.17 NLT; Luke 10.19 87 Acts 1.8; John 20.23; Matthew 28.19 88 Matthew 12.28 89 Matthew 21.25 90 Matthew 3.11; Mark 1.4; Luke 3.3; John 1.26
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into us. We are then given the power and authority to forgive sins in a manner that has eternal repercussions. The point of repentance of our sins is to honour the Father who gave His Son, Jesus, who gave His life, and the Holy Spirit who went out from the Father to live in us. Gods grace existed before man sinned. He has forgiven you even before you repented, because you were loved. Your repentance honours that love. Jesus began His preaching with Johns message of Matthew 3.2: Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is 92 near, then took it into: The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins 93 and believe the Good News! This is the Law of Repentance. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated. Just repent and believe the Good News. God is not making it so hard and difficult. Repent and believe. Even a child can do it. So what is sin under the New Covenant? It is unbelief in Jesus, and this includes all His words. Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, And when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of Gods righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The worlds sin is that it refuses to believe in Me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more. Judgment 94 will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of unbelief in Jesus. For believers and disciples under the New Covenant, sin is unbelief in Jesus and His word, which leads to disobedience against His laws. Once you believe in Jesus, you must obey the Fathers command to listen to Jesus, who taught us to put His words in practice and to obey everything He has commanded us. Disobedience against Jesus words is a sign of unbelief in Jesus and His words. If you believe Jesus, you would practise all His words as He commanded. This is obedience to the Law of Jesus. Even if you believe in His Name, and believe that He is the Son of God and call yourself a Christian, the fact that you do not know all His words nor practise them proves that you have unbelief in you. If you have unbelief in Jesus and His words, then you are just like the world. The Holy Spirit will convict you of sin. Conclusion Church: As Jesus disciples, we must hold on to His teachings by practising them daily. Then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. As we do so, the Holy Spirit will bring forth an increase of revelations,
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John 1.31-33 NLT Matthew 4.17 NLT and footnote Or has come, or is coming soon 93 Mark 1.15 NLT 94 John 16.8-11 NLT
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knowledge and understanding of God. Each day we draw closer to Jesus return; so we really need to know the details of the Fathers plans for the church, the world and most importantly, for His Son. The Laws of Grace, Forgiveness and Repentance are the primary laws of Jesus under the New Covenant. Our obedience to these three laws is paramount in keeping faith with the covenant because grace, forgiveness and repentance are its foundation. There are other laws that Jesus gave to His believers and disciples, and they are plainly written in the word. A good starting point is Matthew 5-7. The daily practice of the Law of Jesus opens your heart and grows your spirit to become of the nature, the spirit and the attitude of Jesus Law, to walk the way of sonship as Jesus did, and serve your Father, Brother and Lord Holy Spirit in Their kingdom as a mature son or daughter of God, giving Them rest. Only Jesus can show you how, for only He is the perfected Son. For Jesus Law is the law that is Jesus, the Christ Himself; a body of law that took what He was into what He became into His eternal divine future, the Son of God, clothed in the flesh of glory, receiving the life that the Father had always dreamed of for His Son. The purpose of this book was never to form a new doctrine from the revelation of Jesus Law. The purpose has always been to bring the church into correction by restoring the Fathers command to disciples to listen to Jesus, and Jesus command to the church to hear and understand what the Holy Spirit is saying to them, so that those whose hearts are opened and have ears to listen may learn to prepare themselves for Jesus soon return. For from among these, the Father is looking for the pearls of great price, who are those who go the extra miles, just like His Firstborn Son has. Neither was the purpose of this book to create further division in the church by pointing out our errors, though there are many, for the lack of abundant signs, wonders and miracles is its proof, common to all the denominations. But this shall change. For by the restoration of the command Listen to Jesus in you, and the correction and discipline your obedience to 95 the Father brings forth, harmony through unity in Christ is restored within the church amongst those who do not anticipate to go to Heaven to wait out the Millennium but desire to remain on Earth for Jesus return. Now that you know that it is possible to remain alive to greet Jesus upon His return, and how to achieve this and to overcome, it is high time to put all your faith and efforts into practising Jesus words by the power of the
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Psalm 133 NLT / NIV
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Holy Spirit. Now is the time to cast off all doubt and turn all your attention to the Holy Spirit who is working to bring Jesus back. If you are on board, then get on board fully. If you are not interested, then Heaven awaits. In any case, Jesus is coming soon. Question now is: Where will you be standing when the Son of Man arrives in Jerusalem?
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Chapter 1

The Lost Command

John 3.16-18 John 4.24 3 John 8.50 4 Numbers 14.21

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Jeremiah 8.12 Malachi 3.8 21 Matthew 23.23 22 Luke 11.42

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Chapter 1 The Lost Command

Luke 11.52 Matthew 17.5; Mark 9.7; Luke 9.35

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

John 5.19 John 8.50 28 Zechariah 4.6

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Matthew 23.8 Mark 1.34 59 Luke 11.14-22

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

John 8.14 Matthew 17.5 75 John 14.6

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Chapter 2 Listen to Jesus

Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

John 4.35 Matthew 13.30 42 John 14.2

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

John 14.16; Act 1.8 NLT

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

John 5.39 Exodus 14.16

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Revelation 18.7 Luke 14.8-11 66 2 Corinthians 12.9 67 Jeremiah 3.14

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 Receive the Holy Spirit

John 3.8 2 Thessalonians 2.3-8 90 Mark 13.20

Welcome to the New Covenant

Luke 22.19-20 NLT Genesis 6.1.5 3 Genesis 6.17-18

Chapter 4 Welcome to the New Covenant

Chapter 4 Welcome to the New Covenant