- Mar 9, 2020
- 8,136
- 3,213
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Celibate
Mark 10:17, 18. Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
The Messiah did not come into the world to declare the kingdom of heaven open to all who would do good, but to establish a family inheritance based on One Truth.
Matthew 12:47-50. Then one said to Him, Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You. But He answered and said to the one who told Him, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.
Mark 10:19. You know the commandments….
Mark 10:20. And he answered and said to Him, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.
Mark 10:21-22. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
People with great possessions honor one another with humanitarian awards for their generous charity. Jesus said that a poor widow’s single mite offered was of greater value in the kingdom of heaven.
John 5:44. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?
Jesus came to reconcile the world to His Father, God in heaven.
John 5:30. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Messiah came, that we can have the same life that He shared with the Father.
As the Logos, the Son of God manifests the Father’s Intent.
The Will of God for every child of God is displayed in the life of Jesus Christ, the son of man.
John 5:19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He has seen the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Matthew 7:21. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Luke 6:46. But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
Not every good or positive action comes from above. That which is born of the Spirit bears the fruit of the Spirit.
John 3:5-7. Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born from above.
Only what God puts into our spirit, by the Holy Spirit, will survive the judgment.
John 3:12. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Essential teaching of John the Baptist: John 3:27-36.
John 3:31. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
John 3:36. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
The Son Declares the Father’s Heart
John 3:14-18. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but the ones who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The Kingdom of Our Lord is a Kingdom of the Eternal Spirit.
John 4:23, 24. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
To be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven requires a spiritual transformation.
Matthew 17:1, 2. Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured[G3339] before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
Romans 12:1, 2. I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed[G3339] by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Corinthians 3:17, 18. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed[G3339] into the same image from glory to glory—just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
To ‘believe in’ the Son means to fully commit one’s trust.
John 6:27, 29. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.
John 6:39, 40. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:63. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
John 7:16-18. Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
John 8:28.29. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.
We must lay down our life, that we may take it up again.
John 10:17. Therefore My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
Matthew 16:24, 25. Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
We must learn to recognize the Voice of the Spirit to follow the Lord.
John 10:27-29. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
The Doctrine of Christ is that with our spirit, we reflect the relationship of the Son to the Father, by the Holy Spirit in the Will of the Father.
Matthew 11:27. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
Religious denominations have moved away from the leading of the Holy Spirit, changing doctrine to suit the times.
2 John 9. Whoever moves ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
John 12:44-50. He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness….
For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.
Matthew 10:24, 25. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.
Mark 10:44, 45. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Homily
What has become a familiar refrain in modern Christianity is that if you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you can know that you will go to heaven when you die. This was never the apostolic message or the teaching of Jesus Christ. The True Gospel is not a ‘die and go to heaven’ message, but a ‘live in righteousness and holiness before Him all the days of our life’ message.
The hope of a ‘better place’ where people go when they die has been around long before even Moses. People all over the world have some form of tradition. Curiously, the Hebrew understanding that Jesus confirms is that the dead go to Hades, in the earth, to await the resurrection and judgment. Jesus went there after his death to preach before His resurrection.
The Crux is concerned with the resurrection of the dead, and an eternal judgment. Many Christians seem to think that they will be bypassing this entirely! The Kingdom of God and Heaven is a Kingdom of Righteousness. When your life reflects the Eternal Spirit of this kingdom, you have boldness to live your life before God, and the confident hope to stand before The Messiah at the Judgment.
Those who do not teach and preach this message are liars and thieves. They are stealing from those who would receive the Just recompense of reward for the Righteous. How you live your life means everything to God. And yet I have heard preachers say “you didn’t do anything to get yourself saved, what makes you think you can do anything to get unsaved?” This is not the true meaning of the least of these, but has become the new Standard. There is only one True Standard, crucified with Christ.
Revelation 12:11. They overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they do not love their lives even in the face of death.
The Messiah did not come into the world to declare the kingdom of heaven open to all who would do good, but to establish a family inheritance based on One Truth.
Matthew 12:47-50. Then one said to Him, Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You. But He answered and said to the one who told Him, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.
Mark 10:19. You know the commandments….
Mark 10:20. And he answered and said to Him, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.
Mark 10:21-22. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
People with great possessions honor one another with humanitarian awards for their generous charity. Jesus said that a poor widow’s single mite offered was of greater value in the kingdom of heaven.
John 5:44. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?
Jesus came to reconcile the world to His Father, God in heaven.
John 5:30. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Messiah came, that we can have the same life that He shared with the Father.
As the Logos, the Son of God manifests the Father’s Intent.
The Will of God for every child of God is displayed in the life of Jesus Christ, the son of man.
John 5:19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He has seen the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Matthew 7:21. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Luke 6:46. But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
Not every good or positive action comes from above. That which is born of the Spirit bears the fruit of the Spirit.
John 3:5-7. Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born from above.
Only what God puts into our spirit, by the Holy Spirit, will survive the judgment.
John 3:12. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Essential teaching of John the Baptist: John 3:27-36.
John 3:31. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
John 3:36. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
The Son Declares the Father’s Heart
John 3:14-18. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but the ones who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The Kingdom of Our Lord is a Kingdom of the Eternal Spirit.
John 4:23, 24. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
To be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven requires a spiritual transformation.
Matthew 17:1, 2. Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured[G3339] before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
Romans 12:1, 2. I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed[G3339] by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Corinthians 3:17, 18. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed[G3339] into the same image from glory to glory—just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
To ‘believe in’ the Son means to fully commit one’s trust.
John 6:27, 29. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.
John 6:39, 40. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:63. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
John 7:16-18. Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
John 8:28.29. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.
We must lay down our life, that we may take it up again.
John 10:17. Therefore My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
Matthew 16:24, 25. Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
We must learn to recognize the Voice of the Spirit to follow the Lord.
John 10:27-29. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
The Doctrine of Christ is that with our spirit, we reflect the relationship of the Son to the Father, by the Holy Spirit in the Will of the Father.
Matthew 11:27. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
Religious denominations have moved away from the leading of the Holy Spirit, changing doctrine to suit the times.
2 John 9. Whoever moves ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
John 12:44-50. He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness….
For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.
Matthew 10:24, 25. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.
Mark 10:44, 45. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Homily
What has become a familiar refrain in modern Christianity is that if you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you can know that you will go to heaven when you die. This was never the apostolic message or the teaching of Jesus Christ. The True Gospel is not a ‘die and go to heaven’ message, but a ‘live in righteousness and holiness before Him all the days of our life’ message.
The hope of a ‘better place’ where people go when they die has been around long before even Moses. People all over the world have some form of tradition. Curiously, the Hebrew understanding that Jesus confirms is that the dead go to Hades, in the earth, to await the resurrection and judgment. Jesus went there after his death to preach before His resurrection.
The Crux is concerned with the resurrection of the dead, and an eternal judgment. Many Christians seem to think that they will be bypassing this entirely! The Kingdom of God and Heaven is a Kingdom of Righteousness. When your life reflects the Eternal Spirit of this kingdom, you have boldness to live your life before God, and the confident hope to stand before The Messiah at the Judgment.
Those who do not teach and preach this message are liars and thieves. They are stealing from those who would receive the Just recompense of reward for the Righteous. How you live your life means everything to God. And yet I have heard preachers say “you didn’t do anything to get yourself saved, what makes you think you can do anything to get unsaved?” This is not the true meaning of the least of these, but has become the new Standard. There is only one True Standard, crucified with Christ.
Revelation 12:11. They overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they do not love their lives even in the face of death.
