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by the sacrifice of himself

“Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26

“ALL have sinned” against our God and so our own good works do not atone for our sins (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10, 23; Ephesians 2:8-9, etc.). ONLY Jesus could and did do that for us – make the atonement that brings us back to God.  

The LORD is “Holy, holy, holy” and therefore takes sin seriously (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). The coming of Jesus to die on that cross reveals how loving God is and how personal He takes sin. The LORD therefore “appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” The Son of God came in person to pay the full debt for the sin of mankind – “It is finished” which means paid in full (John 19:30).

Jesus “obtained eternal redemption for us” “by his own blood.”

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but BY HIS OWN BLOOD he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins IN HIS OWN BLOOD,” Revelation 1:5

“WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3 

ALL “BY HIMSELF” Jesus redeemed us, bought, brought us back to God by the shedding of His precious blood on that cross. Jesus needed no help: He alone was sufficient to propitiate, expiate, atone for the sins of mankind.

Jesus, I thank You for shedding Your precious blood for me and washing me afresh right now. I love You LORD Jesus!

The LORD desires to take His people “from glory to glory.” Think about that.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 

As we seek and behold the face of our LORD, He will take us “from glory to glory” – deeper into the revelation of who He is, His eternal plan, and the inestimable blessings of the covenant He secured and ratified in His own precious blood (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus ALL “BY HIMSELF purged our sins” … Christ single handedly paid the sin debt with His perfect sacrifice on that cross – “It is finished” means paid in full (John 19:30).

“What the judiazers miss is that Jesus Fulfilled the Law at the Cross….Jesus being the perfect sacrifice was the Fulfilment.” Byron Wilson

“THE Lamb of God” has come and died, was buried, and raised again from the dead to fully justify His people, having redeemed them by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20)

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

Christ is our passover (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The passover of the OT was a mere shadow of what Christ is the substance, the solution. The passover, the sprinkling of the blood of sacrificed lambs by the people of God was prophetic of the coming Messiah which merely prefigured what He has come and already did – shed His precious blood on that cross to redeem us from our sins (Exodus 12; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 1 Peter 1:15-16; 3:18). The doorposts were sprinkled/brushed with sacrificial animal blood in the shape of a cross which was a prophetic foreshadowing, prefiguring of our LORD Jesus Christ who was to come and has now come to die on that cross (Exodus 12:22-23). “It is finished” means paid in full (John 19:30). The price for your sins has been paid in full. Read Hebrews 8-10 several times prayerfully.

Why would anyone go to eternal damnation in hell when Jesus paid the full price for their sin, to bring them to Heaven? Unbelief.

Anyone who gets saved and then doesn’t drill down into the doctrinal letters and epistles and get grounded in grace through faith justification and living, will be susceptible to being deceived by the antichrist judaizers in our midst. It will cost many of them their eternal souls. There will be not 1 law-keeping judaizing snake in Heaven. If you don’t know that, you are biblically illiterate. Romans. Galatians. Ephesians. Philippians. Colossians. Hebrews.

Biblical Justification

Dear law-keeper, Torah-keeper: Tell us all how NEW Testament saints are not justified by Christ’s sacrifice…. Tell us how we must help God out to justify us …. when the Bible declares that ALL of our own righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

ANY person who adds anything to salvation except Christ, is antichrist! Salvation is Jesus Christ plus nothing.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Hebrews 1:1-3 

Jesus sealed the New Covenant in His own blood when He died on the cross.

“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28

Moses vs Jesus …. Every person must choose – John 1:17.

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” John 1:17

2 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 8-10 contrast the infinitely superior NEW Covenant with the old covenant it replaced, superseded. Amazing! Now check out John 1:17. Moses = OLD. Jesus Christ = NEW!

Shall we be under Moses, the law, or Christ, the Gospel? Do you want the bondage of the law or the freedom of Christ, the only One to ever keep the whole law perfectly – before He nailed it to the cross and took is away?! (Colossians 2:14-19)

“Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke (the law) upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Acts 15:10

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (the law).” Galatians 5:1

Of this distinction between Moses and Jesus, law and grace, one disciple writes:

“The yoke of Moses’ law is heavy and oppressive.  The yoke of the cross is easy and light.  Matt 11:28-30.  Why?  The law cannot give one resurrection life.  Rom 7:10.  The cross, through faith, confers resurrection life and power on the recipient.  The cross is on every page of the Bible either in type and shadow (OT) or reality (NT).

The cross and resurrection with Christ (grace) is totally antithetical to law/tradition/external observances/human effort.  It astounding to see how much of the New Testament is devoted to teaching the difference in the two.  Identifying Sin (behavioral management) and its consequences is addressed far far less.

Why?  Because righteous living is a spontaneous byproduct of resurrection life and power.  Without resurrection, the law multiplies the number of sins committed.  Rom 5:20; 7:5″

If you will be planted deep into Christ, your Christology, your study of, your personal knowledge of Christ must be deep, not shallow (Colossians 2:6-10).

The Book of Hebrews!

Reading the book of Hebrews, pouring over it perhaps several times, will do wonders for your understanding and lay the foundation in New Covenant truth. In no other book of the Bible is the comparison, the contrast of the Old and New Covenants so poignantly displayed.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

GOD values our FAITH in HIM, most (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is a Gospel essential. It is rebellion to try to merit or do something GOD alone can and did do – paying the full, the whole, the entire, the perfect price for our sins! Christ! His cross! Faith connects us with God. Faith in Christ, His perfect sacrifice for us, appropriates His blessed salvation and all of His many benefits to those who are His. FAITH not works! (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10 

Just because Jesus paid it all does not mean that Jesus doesn’t have stated conditions for receiving His gift of salvation. Repentance and faith are those conditions and true repentance and faith will be demonstrated, proved by who we love which is who we obey! (Matthew 3:7-10; Luke 9:23-24; 14:27, 33; 17:33; John 14:15; 15:14; Romans 6; James 2; 1 John 2:3-6, etc.). – “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:4-5

Was Christ’s sacrifice perfect? What it enough? Yes or no?

One MUST leave Christ, to depart from the only Savior, to go back to law-keeping. Such a person has denied Christ, has “fallen from grace” – is under a spirit of witchcraft, and is no longer saved (Galatians 3:3; 5:4).

The Galatia believers allowed themselves to be sucked in, to be seduced, and the result was that they fell from saving grace (Galatians 3:1-3; 5:4). They were drawn away from saving grace in Christ to law-keeping and then fell away.

Memory Verse

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

God desires that the hearts of His people be “with grace.”

“Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” Hebrews 13:9

Hebrews 8-10 contrasts the infinitely inferior Old Covenant with the infinitely superior New Covenant which was ratified in the very blood of Jesus Christ, which was merely foreshadowed under the Old Testament.

Redemption Through Christ’s Perfect Blood Sacrifice 

None of us is perfect. We have “ALL sinned” against our Maker (Romans 3:10, 23). And that makes us fully guilty of breaking the whole law and worthy of divine judgment (James 2:10). Only Jesus was perfect in keeping the whole law. He then nailed it to the cross and “took it out of the way.” (Colossians 2:14-19) This is the testimony, the message of Holy Scripture.

Read Romans 3-5 repeatedly.

Romans 10:4 – the law is over for righteousness. “The end.”

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4

WHO is “the end of the law for righteousness”? “CHRIST”! (Romans 10:4)

1. The Ten commandments are the Old Covenant: Ex 34:27-28
2. The Old Covenant was abolished: Heb 8:13
3. The Ten Commandments are therefore abolished! “For righteousness” (Romans 10:4)

One disciple writes: “The law causes people to sin, people who would not otherwise have sinned without the law. Rom 5:20 (“causes transgressions to INCREASE, not decrease); 7:5 (the motions of sins which are caused by the law); all of Rom 7 which says the apart from the law sin is dead. The law revived sin in Paul’s life when it was formerly dormant. Moses’ law is a slavery and a curse which Jesus died to free us from. Rom 8:2; Gal 3:10-13. The law is the enemy of the Christian just as much as Sin and Satan are. The law kills. 2 Corinthians 3:4-7 and is a ministry of condemnation and death. 2 Cor 3. The law killed Jesus. Jn 19:7”

The keeping of a certain day, circumcision, or reenacting Jewish festivals that merely foreshadowed Him who has now come for all people, has no value. For the Jews (not NT Christians), those things were instituted and were mere “shadows” pointing to Christ Himself before He came, but now He has ALREADY COME. He completed His work perfectly and put away the law for righteousness and replaced that Old Covenant with His new covenant which is based upon better promises (Hebrew 7-10; Colossians 2:14-17; Galatians 4:1-10). This is a basic truth of New Testament Christianity and if the saint doesn’t get this in their heart, he can be vulnerable to be deceived by judaizers as we are so often specifically warned concerning.

YOU MUST CHOOSE: If you are going to be a law-keeper, you’d better not miss even one jot or tittle of the law or you are guilty of breaking it all.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

Or, you could repent and trust Christ who is the only One to perfectly keep the law. Then He nailed it to the cross and took it away for righteousness (Colossians 2:14-19).

DO you realize that if you are a law-keeper, you are an antichrist? You have openly denied Christ, denied His perfect sacrifice and are foolishly attempting to keep the law perfectly instead of repenting and trusting the only One who ever kept the law perfectly and then nailed it to the cross, taking it away for righteousness (Romans 10:4 Colossians 2:14-19).

ANY person trying to keep the law to be justified in God’s eyes has no clue who the Son of God is nor why He came. They are lost. This includes all sabbath-keeping idolaters and Jewish feast keepers, etc.

Are you seeking to earn your salvation, your place with God? Or, are you trusting Christ, the only Mediator between you and God? (1 Timothy 2:5)

Obeying God after He saves us is the expression of our love for Him and not that which justifies us. HE alone justifies us. Only God Himself can justify a man and yet He set conditions. And yes, those who know Him will definitely obey Him and yet their obedience doesn’t justify them, God alone can do that. Memorize Romans 4:4-5 today.

Resting in God’s Love

Heather Hunter McKowen writes:

“Romans 7 says: ‘For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”

The law reveals it is man who is full of sin, dead and in need of a Savior. The law is still a school master for those who have yet to come to the faith.

Galatians 3:

“Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:21-25

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Abiding

The Joy of God’s Word [podcast]


“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16

“Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.” Psalms 119:89

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

PRAYER: Heavenly Father please match and exceed every trial You allow me to go through with Your joy! For You said that the joy of the LORD is my strength! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Current Events and the Name of Jesus Christ [podcast]


“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” John 14:13-14

IF we are praying God’s WORD in the name of JESUS CHRIST…. in His bless-ed humility, God is answering!

I don’t think we begin to realize the power that is in the name of Jesus Christ – and available exclusively to those who are HIS.

Memorize the word of our LORD Jesus recorded in John 14:13-14.

“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3

One commentator notes: “The universal fascination with knowing what is going on in the world has ancient roots. Knowing that Jesus is a well-known rabbi, some ask for his take on the hot news of the day. “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1). Pilate, the governor, has executed some Jews while they were in the act of offering their sacrifices, mingling their blood with the animal blood. Jewish sentiment is likely strongly against Pilate, although some seem to be critical of the people who have suffered. Maybe they deserved it.”

End Times

Jesus Christ

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Articles

The Golden Rule Life: What’s that Really Mean? [podcast]


Thinking, Knowing, Applying, and Doing the Golden Rule of Jesus

Golden Rule living is the only way to live in glorification of our Maker. Spread this word. God calls you, yes you – to love Him supremely and to love your neighbor as you wish to be loved, treated (Matthew 7:12; 22:37-40; Philippians 2:3-5).

We must teach ourselves, our children and those around us the Golden Rule.  “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Jesus is coming.

Golden Rule, precept in the Gospel of Matthew (7:12): ‘In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. . . .’ This rule of conduct is a summary of the Christian’s duty to his neighbour and states a fundamental ethical principle.” Unknown

Taken from the teachings of Jesus, the Golden Rule is summed up as ”treating others how you want to be treated” or, ”doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

WELCOME TO THE LAST DAYS! The self-worshiping false gospel being taught by the enemies of the cross of Christ is epidemic these days as was foretold (Philippians 3:18-19; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-8; 4:2-5, etc.). Beware of the self-love they are teaching. It’s the “What’s in it for me” gospel of self-love. THIS CAUSES THEIR PREY TO WALK IN SELF-SERVING HATRED, MALICE, STRIFE, ETC., NOT GOD’S LOVE.

SOBERING! DO WE REALLY GET IT? Are you omitting love, charitable acts? How are you treating Christ’s body and servants? Ready to meet Jesus today? The way you are treating His body is the exact way you are treating Jesus (Matthew 25:40-41, 46).

The way we are treating others is the exact way we are treating Jesus – who created, died for, and rose again from the dead to save those people! If our relationship with Christ isn’t translating into the love of God filling us for others, we’re departed from Him and in need of swift repentance. Matt 7:12; 22:37-39

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40

“The way we treat others sets the standard of how we will be treated by God. And this includes receiving God’s gifts! Amen.” C.

If you aren’t respecting someone, you aren’t walking in God’s love toward them. Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). Didn’t the LORD command us to treat others BETTER than ourselves (Philippians 2:3-5)? Would you like to be treated the way you are treating that person? Others?

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.” V.

Would you like to be treated the way you’re treating others? Golden Rule! Live it! Would you like to be neglected or inflicted as others have done to you?

Are you elevating other people ABOVE – “BETTER than” – yourself? This is the very “mind of Christ.”

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:3-5

THINKING, Applying, and Doing the Golden Rule of Jesus

Don’t want something done to you? Then don’t do it to someone else. Don’t want something thought about you? Then why think such about another person, especially if it’s not proven? Read Exodus 23:1-2. Don’t want something said about you (slander)? Then why believe the sowing of discord among the brethren which is an “abomination” to the LORD and the work of Satan himself, the accuser of Christ’s brethren (Proverbs 6:16-19; Revelation 12:10) …. MEASURE THIS!

Do you truly care for people or do you only care about what they can do for you?

This must be examined in each of our hearts.

If we care only about what others can do for us, we are Christ-less and should immediately seek Him in repentance and confession of our sins. He came and died for you and me with no guarantee we’d receive Him or with any other motive but to love us by paying the full price to redeem us from our sins in which we were otherwise hopelessly cemented.

“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” Romans 5:6-8

Instead of asking: “What’s in it for me,” we should always ask: “What’s in it for Jesus and others?”

Contrary to what we have been led to believe, we get NO “points” from God for “going to church” or for having a good record of “church attendance.” If this is true – and it sure is – why are we wasting precious time doing things God never told us to do while we leave the things He commanded us to do undone? How long shall we live outside of His will and yet still claim to be following Jesus – who gave all (John 15:13)? How long shall we allow the hirelings to exploit us with their weekly program that has never produced an ounce of discipleship in us? The divine command to “LOVE one another” appears 12 times in the New Testament. Do we truly LOVE our neighbor as ourselves? If so, then, like the earliest of Christ’s disciples, we do not consider that what we have in our possession is our own. Read, follow, and do Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35. Why should I have two coats when my brother or sister has none? …… Selah!

The ultimate expression of the Golden Rule was performed by the One who gave that Golden Rule.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

He who owed no debt to us, chose to pay the debt He did not owe – the debt we owed and could not pay. Sinners can’t redeem (pay the price) for sinners – only a perfect Savior could do that (Isaiah 53)! No man on earth was found qualified to redeem mankind but God sent His prophesied Savior, the very Son of God (Genesis 3:15; Ezekiel 22:30; John 3:16). | Redemption Through Sacrifice

Jesus Christ, the eternal God, came to the earth in fulfillment of over 300 Jewish prophecies, born of a virgin, to show us His Father’s love and to die the death that would redeem mankind. That is, the price for our sins was fully paid and whosoever will, can “Come and take of the water  of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). The LORD still saves all who repent and receive Him as LORD and Savior (John 1:12; Romans 10:9-13). Read John 1 today.

THE GOLDEN RULE is Simple: Think about This – Do you want something believed or said or done to you that you are tempted to do to someone else? If not, then drop it and do not think it or do it toward another. Stop and pray for that person. This is exactly what Jesus told us to do and the disposition He desires us to have as of Him and His Father – love (Matthew 5:44-48).

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44

  • “Love your enemies”
  • “bless them that curse you”
  • “do good to them that hate you”
  • “pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”

Read Matthew 5:44-48 prayerfully, asking the LORD to make it manifest in your heart, thinking, and life.

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12

So, according to the One who gave us “The Golden Rule” (as we call it), what is the Golden Rule? Read and begin to memorize and incorporate the above verse of truth into your everyday thinking.

“The golden rule always should apply to every life! TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED! This world would be a much better place to live!” K.

EVER been used? EVER been exploited by someone? WHAT did Jesus instruct, command us to do when we are used?

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44

What’s going to happen to those who maliciously wrong another? A curse is coming on that person and their household:

“Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.”  Proverbs 17:13

According to the divine pronouncement above, rewarding evil to someone who did you nothing but good (never harmed you), brings a curse.

The cardinal fruit of knowing God is love.

“He that loveth not, knoweth not God.” 1 John 4:8

GOD is interested in FRUIT and fruit only comes from a ROOTED abiding relationship with Jesus (Matthew 3:7-10; John 15, etc.)!

Any questions?

If you do not have God’s love manifesting in your thoughts and actions, it’s because you do not know Him. Read 1 Corinthians 13 every day this week and ask the LORD to make every bit of it a reality in your life.

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:3-8

Golden Rule Living is following Christ – the example He set when He “came NOT to be ministered unto (be served), but to minister (serve), and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). WHOSE interests are you living for? Your own or Christs, and therefore His people? Do you realize that if you neglect those around you in need you are neglecting and affronting Jesus (Matthew 25:40-46)? Do you realize that you and I will be judged according to this exact measure and rule?

Just WHAT does preferring others ABOVE ourselves mean? How does that work itself out in our daily lives?

Are you living according to Christ’s teachings, OR, are you deceived into thinking you are following Him who is the only way to Heaven while setting aside, neglecting, and even shunning what He taught? Check out Mark 8:38; John 14:15, 21; Titus 1:16; 1 John 2:3-6. If I am to love my neighbor “as myself” (equally) and even prefer others “BETTER THAN” myself, why would I keep two houses when I knew another member of Christ’s body was without a home? WHY would I keep earthly investments or items that could be sold and the money given to those in need? I simply wouldn’t. The same goes for other possessions and money. Compare your Christianity to the earliest believers in Christ to see if you are authentic. Read Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35.

The earliest disciples of Jesus were living according to His Word. They were preferring other believers “BETTER THAN themselves” (Golden Rule; Philippians 2:3-5). As true disciples of Jesus, they were naturally doing unto others as they would have them do to themselves if they were in the same need or situation.

Applying the Golden Rule in Your Thoughts and Attitudes Towards Others

“And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” Zechariah 7:10

Notice: “let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” When your iniquitous, condemning fleshly mind, or Satan, tempts you to “imagine evil against” your brother or sister in Christ, what should you do? Read the above verse again, write it on an index card, and live by it. This qualifies exactly what Paul meant when he spoke of divine charity and its place in our lives. He stated that when we are walking in God’s love, it “thinketh no evil” inside of us, His vessels and dwelling place (1 Corinthians 13). In other words, love thinks nor concludes “no evil” against any person until it’s actually proven, and then, it shows mercy even as we are so personally and desperately in need of divine mercy – moment to moment (Titus 3:3-7; Jude 21).

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 21

“Imagining evil in your heart sounded foreign until I came to recognize how wretched our sins are. I pray for forgiveness when I am thinking in a wrong way. We are supposed to be forgiving and merciful to others, not having feet that are swift to do mischief.” Dana R.

The Two Great Commandments

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

1. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”

2. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”

Any person claiming to be a Christian – a follower of Christ – who does not have loving God and loving others as their highest priorities, is completely misled and deceived.

The Greatest of These is What?

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

GOD PLACES the highest premium and priority on love and if you don’t, you simply do not yet understand Him nor His kingdom. Cry out to Him in confession and repentance to open the eyes of your understanding. Whatever you do, make this the priority of your life – loving God and all others – above yourself. Pouring over Philippians 2:3-5 each morning is a daily kingdom recalibration!

Pass This On.

The Mind of Christ

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Feedback:

“That is a wealth of wisdom. Usually I get laughed at for being too gullible. But that’s okay, I’d rather give a person the benefit of the doubt, unless they keep arguing over obvious scriptural passages, then I just pray for their eyes to open! So many who follow these Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing! I never want to be that gullible!” Diana M.

Support | STORE | Podcasts | Christology |  Be Ready in the Morning [podcast]The Sure Mercies of David [podcast]That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached [podcast] | At His Feet

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