The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some
understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting
anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
(II. Peter 3.9).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years,
and a thousand years are like a day.
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some
understand slowness.
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.
(II. Peter 3. 8 & 9).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
Behold, My Servant shall deal wisely and shall prosper.
He shall be exalted and shall stand very high.
For many the Servant of God became an object of horror.
Many were astonished at Him. His face and His whole
appearance were marred more than any man’s, and His
form beyond that of the sons of men- but just as many
were astonished at Him.
So shall he startle and sprinkle many nations, and kings
shall shut there mouths because of Him; for that which
has not been told them shall they see, and that which they
have not heard shall they consider and understand.
(Isaiah 52.13-15).
Even as my preaching has been accompanied with the power of signs
and wonders, and all of it by the power of the Holy Spirit. The result is
that starting from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum, I have fully
preached the Gospel (Best News Ever), faithfully carrying out to the full
the good news of Christ (the Messiah) in its entirety.
Thus my ambition has been to preach the Gospel (Best News Ever), not
where Christ’s name has already been known, lest I build on another man’s
foundation;
But instead I would act on the principle as it is written, They shall see who
have never been told of Him, and they shall understand who have never heard
of Him.
(Romans 15.19-21).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
Because of the hope of experiencing what is laid up for you in heaven.
Of this hope you heard in the past in the message of the truth of the
Gospel (BEST NEWS EVER).
Which has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world the BEST NEWS EVER
is bearing fruit and still is growing by its own inherent power, even as it
has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to
know and understand the grace of God in truth.
(Colossians 1.6).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
The love of God is poured out into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit whereby we cry ‘Daddy, Father!’
In this is revealed God our Father, His Eternal Son Jesus
Christ our Elder Brother, the Holy Spirit bearing witness
to our adoption as sons.
In the unique Unity of the Trinity God is eternal,
permanent and perfect Holy Love.
The interaction of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is
eternally initiated, motivated and perpetuated by,
for and in this divine and excellent Love.
All of this is in the context of eternal parameters, beyond
time and space.
We have this Love transferred to us as a timeless,
supernatural and existential action by God to bring us
into His true and majestic Unity.
His timeless Love became fully manifest in the
Passion of our Lord and
Savior Jesus the Christ and at His resurrection.
We celebrate this in the Holy Communion.
We see the invisible Union into which we have been
made participants.
When we take Holy Communion
we are participating in the glory divine,
the Holy Trinity, the Agape Love Who is God,
Incarnate Word made flesh and crucified for our justification,
sanctification and eternal life of glory in God.
“In this the love of God was
made manifested toward us, in that God sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through Him.” (I.John 4.9).
We see this in the words of Jesus:
“The words spoke Jesus, and lifted up His eyes
to heaven and said:
‘Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that
Your Son also may glorify You:
As You have given Him power over all flesh, that
He should give eternal life
to as many as You have given Him.
And this is eternal life, that they might know You
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.
I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work
which You gave Me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify Me with Yourself with
the glory which I had with You before the world existed.
I have manifested Your Name unto the men You have
given Me out of the world.
They were Yours, and You gave them to Me,
and they have obeyed and kept Your word.
Now they know and understand that all You have
given Me are of You.
For I have given them the words You gave Me
and they received them and have known surely
that I came forth from You and they have believed
that You did send Me.
I pray for them: I am not praying for the world,
but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours.
And all Nine are Yours and Yours are Mine; and I am
glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in
the world, and I come to You.
Holy Father, keep through Your own Name
those You have given Me, that they may
be One, as We are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in My
Name: those You have given Me I have kept,
and none of them is lost except the son of perdition;
that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now I come to You; and these things I speak
in the world, that they might have my joy
fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated
them, because they are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
I pray not that You would take them out of the world,
but that You would keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth.
As You have sent Me into the world world, I also send them
into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might
be sanctified through the truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on Me through their word,
That they all may be One, as You, Father are in Me and
I in You, that they also may be One in Us:
that the world may believe that You have sent Me.
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them;
that they may be One, just as We are One.
I in them and You in Me, that they may be made
perfect in One, and that the world may know that
You have sent Me and have loved them as you have
loved Me.
Father, I will that they also, whom You have given Me,
be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory,
which You have given Me; for You have loved Me
before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the world has not known You:
but I have known You, and these have known that You
have sent Me.
And I have declared Your Name, and will declare,
so that the love You have Me with may be in them,
and I in them.
(John 17).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU HOLY FATHER!
THANK YOU LORD JESUS AND HOLY SPIRIT FOREVERMORE!
Intellectually Stimulating and Rewarding Spiritual Rebirth
Led by the Spirit, we understand that we are now sons of God.
This is our new identity when we are in communion with Jesus the Christ.
We know He became one of us and did not count equality with
God something to hold on and grasp to, but He emptied Himself
of His divine privileges and prerogatives. This is known as Kenosis.
He came to identify with humanity as a human, as a servant and
experienced the death on the cross by being identified as a criminal.
When we embrace Him as our Lord and Savior we take on His identity
and are in union with Him. We then have His thought pattern and become like
minded with Jesus Christ:
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who. though He was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied
Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.
Therefore God has also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord , to the glory of God
the Father.
(Philippians 2;5-11).
His mind is present in the born-again Spirit-filled Christians.
This is the identity of the reborn sons of God. Because Christ
in you is the only hope of glory. Jesus Christ gives you His life,
so the life you live should be lived to glorify Him and serve Him.
He has redeemed us from sin and death and given us eternal life.
As St. Paul declares: I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
but the life that I live is the life of Christ Jesus the Eternal Son of God
Who gave His life for me. Since the Holy Spirit Who raised Jesus Christ
dwells in you, the same Spirit will quicken your mortal body.
The Holy Spirit gives you life and freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is there is freedom. The Holy Spirit is the Helper, the Advocate, the
Comforter and the Spirit of adoption of wisdom and revelation.
You can have freedom from fear.
“You have not received the Spirit of bondage again unto fear; but you
have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
This is because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the
Holy Spirit and we know He is our Daddy. God is love and He is perfect.
Perfect love casts out fear. Fear has torment, but God’s divine love
dispels fear. This has tremendous implications of immense potential.
The vanity and futility of thought, worry, anxiety simply vanish.
The emptiness and desperation of dissatisfaction disappear.
The bondage to the mere physical with its impotence is now gone.
Gone are the limitations of time, space, physicality with the preoccupations
of mortality and transitory, frustrating experience, illusory existence
of unregenerate material life.
Because Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine and we are recreated
in His Spiritual image we now are full-fledged sons of God. No longer
strangers or aliens, no longer subjects or slaves, no longer clinging to
the fanaticism of yesteryear, the dogmas of modernism, the crutch of
postmodernism. You are truly free. As the son or daughter of God you
receive the fullness of the blessedness and favor of God to His glory.
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of power, love and a
sound mind.
This is the Spirit of Sonship freely given through our Lord and Savior
Jesus the Christ. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are
children of God.
” Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus
has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess
Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which
you have heard that is coming; and now it is already in the world.
Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the
One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are
from the world; and therefore what they say is from the world, and the world
listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and
whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
(I.John 4;1-6).
“Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not
confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is
the deceiver and the antichrist! Be on your guard, so that you do
not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward.
Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes
beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has
both the Father and the Son. Do not receive into the house or
welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching;
for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.”
(II. John 7-11).
POINTS FOR MEDITATION AND PRAISE
1) Our freedom from spiritual and intellectual error is totally dependent
on abiding in Jesus the Christ Who as our Lord and Savior is the Way, the
Truth and the Life. He backs up all His assertions with the Holy Spirit, the
spirit of wisdom and revelation.
2) The Holy Spirit leads you into all truth. He guides us in the new creation.
He transforms us from glory to glory. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
neither has entered into the human mind the things God has prepared for us.
God reveals these to us by His Spirit.
Prepare for the adventure of eternity. The most intellectually and
spiritually rewarding new life, the Life! Life in the Light!
HALLELUJAH! WE THANK YOU AND PRAISE YOU LORD JESUS FOREVER!
For this reason (because I preached
that you are thus built up together),
I, Paul, (am) the prisoner of Jesus
the Christ for the sake and on behalf
of you Gentiles-
Assuming that you have heard of the
stewardship of God’s grace (His
unmerited favor) that was entrusted
to me (to dispense to you) for your
benefit,
And that the mystery was revealed to
me as I briefly wrote to you.
When you read this you can understand
my insight into the mystery of Christ.
This mystery was never disclosed to
humans in the past as it has now been
revealed to His holy apostles and
prophets by the Holy Spirit.
It is this: that the Gentiles are now
to be fellow heirs (with the Jews),
members of the same body and
joint partakers (sharing) in the
divine promise in Christ through
their acceptance of the Gospel.
POINTS FOR MEDITATION
AND PRAISE
1)The mystery hidden in past ages
has been now revealed to us.
2) This mystery is now being revealed
and declared to the entire world as God’s
plan unfolds.
3) The Gospel is the Best News Ever
about God’s loving grace through our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
4) This mystery is revealed through the
Holy Spirit to your heart and mind by
the letters of the apostles and writings
of the prophets.
5) The Mystery of God is about our
acceptance and adoption as God’s
very own children to live and enjoy
eternity with Him forever!
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS!