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MORE DEADLY THAN COVID 19: It's a matter of LIFE and DEATH!
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     MORE DEADLY THAN COVID 19
      It's a matter of LIFE and DEATH!
     That's the reason we're being told it's SO IMPORTANT to get this CoVid19 thing right! With a mortality rate of 2-5% of those infected, they say it is 3 or 4 times more deadly than the seasonal flu.
     But I can't help but wonder, where's the concern for the "virus" with a 100% mortality rate that has infected the whole human race?
     Nichols and Wiseman wrote a song several years ago that country singer Tim McGraw used as the title cut for his album, "Live Like You Were Dying." A particularly insightful line says, "Well, I finally read The Good Book and took a good long hard look at what I'd do if I could do it all again..." Perhaps it would be wise to take at least a good quick look at what The Good Book says about LIFE and DEATH?
     From the first book of the Bible we read, "The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of LIFE; and the man became a LIVING creature." (Genesis 2:7)  God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden to tend and enjoy, with only one restriction: "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely DIE." (Genesis 2:16,17)  
     Sometime later, the one identified elsewhere in Scripture as the Deceiver and Father of Lies (Jn.8:44), at first questioned whether God actually restricted access (Gen.3:1), then flat out denied the consequences - "You will NOT surely DIE."(Gen.3:4), even questioning God's motives. (Gen.3:5) Adam and Eve decided to believe the deceiver instead of taking God at His Word. 
     "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of DEATH." (Proverbs 14:12) and as a result...
     "Through one man sin entered the world and DEATH through sin, and thus DEATH spread to ALL." (Romans 5:12)
     "The fear (awesome respect) of the Lord is a fountain of LIFE that one may turn away from the snares of DEATH." (Proverbs 14:27)
     "For as in Adam all DIE, even so in Christ all shall be made ALIVE." (I Corinthians 15:22)  Are you in Christ?
     "Each one is tempted... by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth DEATH." (James 1:14,15)
     "As I LIVE, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the DEATH of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and LIVE." (Ezekiel 33:11)
     Jesus cautioned, "...the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction... For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to LIFE, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:13,14)
     "When you were slaves of sin... the end of those things is DEATH. But now ...set free from sin ...become slaves of God ...leads to sanctification and its end ETERNAL LIFE. For the wages of sin is DEATH, but the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:20-23)
     "You were DEAD in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked ...following ...the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience ...like the rest of mankind. But God, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were DEAD in our trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him..." (Ephesians 2:1-6)
     "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not PERISH but have ETERNAL LIFE. ...Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. (John 3:16,18) 
     Jesus said, "I told you that you would DIE in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he (Savior/Messiah) you will DIE in your sins." (John 8:24) 
     "I tell you, no; but unless you repent, you will all likewise PERISH." (Luke 13:3)
     "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise... but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should PERISH, but that all should reach repentance." (II Peter 3:9)
     [The word repent literally means to change the mind - to be in agreement with God's Word - and follow through with corresponding actions. Two things lead to our repentance: 1)the goodness of God (Romans 2:4); and 2) Godly sorrow for sin (II Corinthians 7:10). The first repentance moves us from unbelief to faith; the second moves us to leave a sinful, rebellious lifestyle to follow Jesus.  Jesus said, "The time has come... the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the Gospel." (Mark 1:15)]   
      Jesus said, "I AM the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his LIFE for the sheep. The thief comes only to steal and KILL and destroy. I came that they may have LIFE and have it abundantly... My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 
I give them ETERNAL LIFE and they will NEVER PERISH." (John 10:11,10, 27,28)
     "I AM the resurrection and the LIFE; he who believes in Me, though he DIE, he shall LIVE. And he who LIVES and believes in Me, shall NEVER DIE. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25,26)
     Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever believes has ETERNAL LIFE. I AM the Bread of LIFE... if anyone eats of this bread, he will LIVE FOREVER... Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has ETERNAL LIFE... He who eats this bread will LIVE FOREVER" (John 6:47,48,51,54,58) Some of Jesus' followers were so shocked by those words, they said, "This is a hard saying. Who can understand it?...from that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to go away?' Then Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of ETERNAL LIFE.' " (John 6:60,66-68)
   
     Some believe with these difficult words Jesus was anticipating the Lord's Supper - Communion - Eucharist - which He would institute during the Passover meal with His disciples the night before His crucifixion. "Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it (saying), Take, eat; this is My Body. Then He took the Cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them (saying), This is My Blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many." (Mark 14:22-24)  Others believe Jesus was metaphorically referring to His identity, "In the beginning was the Word... In Him was LIFE, and the LIFE was the light of men. ...and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory... the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1,4,14) He said, "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 6:63)  Jesus said, "It is written, 'Man shall not LIVE by bread alone, but by every Word of God." (Luke 4:4)  Perhaps it is best understood, not as an either/or, but as a both/and. For Jesus prayed in the Upper Room that same night, "May they all (who believe) be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, may they also be one in Us, (a shared LIFE) that the world may believe that You sent me." (John 17:21)
     Jesus said, "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me... Because I LIVE, you also will LIVE. In that day you will know that I AM in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you." (John 14:6,19,20)
     Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has ETERNAL LIFE. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from DEATH to LIFE." (John 5:24)
     "But what does it - the scripture - say? 'The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess (literally, say the same thing) with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the DEAD, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession (saying the same thing God says) is made to salvation." (Romans 10:8-10)  "DEATH and LIFE are in the power of the tongue..." (Proverbs 18:21)
      The Jews were the first ones to hear the Gospel proclaimed by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost. Some time later, the Lord directed the Apostle Peter in a dream to proclaim the Gospel to a Roman soldier, Cornelius, and his family, the first Gentiles to hear the Word of who Jesus is, His ministry, His DEATH, burial and resurrection."How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power... He commanded us to preach... and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be Judge of the LIVING and the DEAD. To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the Word. ...And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." (Acts 10:38,42-44,48) 
     "Now the apostles and the brothers (in) Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God... they glorified God, saying , 'Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to LIFE.' " (Acts 11:1,18) 
     "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the DEATH of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His LIFE. For if, because of one man (Adam's) trespass, DEATH reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in LIFE through the one man Jesus Christ. ...so that as sin reigned in DEATH, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord."(Rom. 5:10,17,21)  
     "God has given us ETERNAL LIFE, and this LIFE is in His Son. He who has the Son has LIFE; he who does not have the Son of God does not have LIFE. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have ETERNAL LIFE." (I John 5:11-13)
     "We know that we have passed out of DEATH into LIFE, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in DEATH." (I John 3:14)
     The Apostle Paul describes that new LIFE this way: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who LIVES, but Christ LIVES in me; and the LIFE which I now LIVE in the flesh, I LIVE by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
     "...it is my eager expectation and hope... Christ will be honored in my body, whether by LIFE or by DEATH. For to me to LIVE is Christ, and to DIE is gain." (Philippians 1:20,21)
     "For the law of the Spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and DEATH... For to be carnally minded is DEATH, but to be spiritually minded is LIFE and peace... if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the DEAD dwells in you, He... will also give LIFE to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you... if by the Spirit you put to DEATH the deeds of the body, you will LIVE. (Romans 8:2,6,11,13)
     "He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap EVERLASTING LIFE." (Galatians 6:8)
     Our Creator and Heavenly Father has provided a 100% effective cure from this death-dealing virus of sin for all who will believe and receive it, a cure with the power to extend LIFE, not for just a few more months or years, but for all ETERNITY! "Who (Jesus) Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having DIED to sins, might LIVE for righteousness --- by whose stripes you were healed." (I Peter 2:24)
     "Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his LIFE will lose it, but whoever loses his LIFE for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul.' " (Matthew 16:24-26)
     The Apostle Paul wrote that those who repent and believe this Good News are buried with Jesus "by baptism into DEATH, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the DEAD by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of LIFE." (Romans 6:4)
     "...having been buried with (Christ) in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, Who raised Him from the DEAD. And you, who were DEAD in your trespasses... God made ALIVE together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses..." (Colossians 2:12-14)
     "Set your minds on things that are above... for you have DIED, and your LIFE is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your LIFE appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to DEATH therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:2-5)
     "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth DEATH." (James 1:14,15)
     "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from DEATH and will cover a multitude of sins." (James 5:19,20)
     The writer of Hebrews points to the end of the age with these words: "As it is appointed for men to DIE once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." (Hebrews 9:27,28)
     The last book of the Bible has these words regarding the end of the age: "I am the Alpha and Omega... I will give of the fountain of the water of LIFE freely to him who thirsts... But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire... the second DEATH." (Revelation 21:6,8) "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the Tree of LIFE... the Spirit and the bride say "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts, come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of LIFE freely." (Revelation 22:14,17)
     Jesus gave these instructions to His followers: "Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to everybody. He who believes and is baptized will be saved (from DEATH to LIFE), but he who does not believe will (continue to) be condemned." (Mark 16:15,16; cf. John 5:24 and 3:18) 
     The words of Moses to the children of Israel at the edge of the Promised Land echo across the centuries with similar import to our generation: "I have set before you LIFE and DEATH, blessing and cursing; therefore choose LIFE, that both you and your descendants may LIVE; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your LIFE..." (Deuteronomy 30:19,20) 
     The question facing us today is not unlike the question facing Adam and Eve in the garden: will we take God at His Word, or will we be tempted to question that Word to our eternal peril?
     It truly is a matter of LIFE and DEATH!  
Thomas (Jn.17:21) Mackey 
  
P.S. See also Revelation 1:8,17-18; 2:4-11; 3:5; 20:12,15
  

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tom (Jn.17:21) M.,


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This whole CoVid19 thing, along with all the upheaval and division in the world today, has given us believers pause to consider this matter of LIFE and DEATH as it applies to Christian unity of all believers. We see that we believers are becoming in several ways, too much of the world, and not just in it, not properly letting the One Truth who is the Word to sanctify and separate us from the world, to set us apart for God's purposes, in this world and into eternity.

“15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 ¶ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (Joh 17:15-18 NivUS)

As we look closer at the present condition the world is in, we believers are realizing that we need to focus more on fulfilling the work of the Father, the work the Father sent Jesus into the world to give to us by Jesus fulfilling the First and Second most important commandments we are to obey: to help gather all the Father’s sheep in the world today into the one flock, with One, Good Shepherd, as Jesus and the Father are one.

Instead of Christian unity in this presently messed up world, we see believers are split on political issues, even though all the laws of man, like tax laws, or laws about how to respond to CoVid19, all man’s laws are all just things of the Caesars of this world that Jesus spoke of, regardless which Caesars are in power at the moment, at any level, in any of the governments of men. We see believers mistakenly insist on making Christ political, regardless that Jesus never remotely suggested God needs the laws of men to enforce God’s laws, even though Jesus lived under the imposed rule of one of the most corrupt and inhumane governments, and resultantly foul societies, in history. Is it just possible that Jesus wants us to vote or promote man’s laws as we see fit, but never allow anything to distract us from our primary focus, above all, letting nothing in the world de-rail us from our mission, on helping Jesus write the laws of God on people’s hearts, especially those to be written in mutual love on the hearts of all us believers, like He did, laying down our lives, at least spiritually, for all one another believers, so the world will know God sent Jesus to give us the good news of Life in his Spirit, and that’s how the laws of the world will be constructed to follow in time as God sees fit, when the world really knows God sent Jesus? It’s a matter of priority of efforts. Trust the promises of God or of political man, LIFE or DEATH, who do you know is telling the truth? One is the Truth, the other is just man making politics an idol, seeking to be His own God, like Adam and Eve, imagining they are knowing good and evil for themselves in the garden.

Instead of Christian unity, we see believers are split on issues of seeking wealth and power among men, like excesses of the ‘prosperity gospel’, even though Jesus clearly said we are guaranteed only to have all our physical needs met, and all the needs of serving His kingdom met in this life, if and only if, we seek of first importance in our lives, His kingdom and His righteousness. We must seek His kingdom in which He rules as the King who commands the obedience of our hearts, and in which God gives us credit for His righteousness in His Spirit to live in our hearts, and with promises of seeing His glory if we seek first His kingdom which will be united as the Father and Jesus are one. They are one Spirit of God in the world, in showing the world that God sent Jesus to gather all the Father’s sheep into one, spiritual flock, including all Christian faith groups of repentant, mutually loving and forgiving believers. God has more than enough money to provide for His Kingdom. Remember the fish with the gold in his mouth on the un-baited hook? Prosperity in monetary wealth is not the good news of Jesus. But knowing we can trust God to meet our physical needs in this life on Earth is part of the good news Jesus promises to us believers, and if the body of Christ hasn’t made that happen yet for all the least of our brethren in Christ, then that’s our fault for how we use our wealth, not God’s. Want to bet whether or not we will learn to feel a lot more responsible for the desperate physical needs of all believers when we begin to see, as Jesus promised both we and the world will see, the glory of God to make us one as Jesus and the Father are one? I’ll bet it will seem a lot more real to us believers, as well as to the world, that God really did send Jesus to make us one, as Jesus and the Father are one, in the One, Good Shepherd, who makes sure all the Father’s sheep get both the spiritual and physical feeding they need, as well as feeding God’s love to as many of our unbelieving neighbors in the world as we can, so the world will know how much we love one another with our lives laid down, and thus learn, as Jesus promised in John 17, we love neighbors in the world as much as we love ourselves so they will know God sent Jesus,as surely as we believers know it, especially since any unbelieving neighbor in the world, even among our enemies, may yet show themselves to be one of the Father’s sheep when God shows them He really did send Jesus to gather them in, and the Father’s sheep then respond as Jesus said they would by coming to Him and following His voice which they now hear from the united body of Christ on Earth, saying “Repent and believe the good news”.

Instead of Christian unity in this world, we see some, who at least claim to be believers, but are divided over issues of racial injustice that the body of Christ was dedicated to completely eliminate from the very beginning in Jerusalem, uniting together in Jesus, persons of every color and culture in the world, and should have been long since overcome by our unity in the words of Jesus, long, long ago.

Instead of Christian unity, we see believers facing issues of all forms of sexual immorality, or sexual harassment in the church leadership, with pastors going astray themselves in their personal lives, and in some cases, pastors leading whole groups of believers away from what the Bible, and Jesus, in particular, plainly say in the Bible about sexual immorality, causing division, splitting Christian faith groups of hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of believers from one another over whether God’s word still requires us to teach repentance and forgiveness of sins, that Jesus said would always be taught in the name of Jesus, and therefor believed, instead of non-repentance and redefinition of sins so the world will like it while remaining in sin. Again, this is another, original sin case, of people willfully choosing to agree with Evil when he asks “did God really say”, and wanting to be gods, themselves, deciding right from wrong for themselves so they can keep the sins the world likes.

But thank you, dear Lord Jesus, in all these things where we see too much of the world in the Church, and too much of the Church being of the world, not just in it while sanctified and set apart from the world by God’s word, we also see beautiful signs of Christian unity starting to form. We see some prominent evangelicals, refusing to be drawn into political issues but insisting on focusing on only the gospel; we see believers starting to reject some of the excesses of the prosperity gospel; we see black and white, and all colors of sisters and brothers uniting in godly support and brotherhood in Christ; and we see some Christian faith groups standing tall and firm with Jesus, faithful in the word of God about sexual morality, seeking unity in God’s word among all willing Christian faith groups, while appealing to all sinners with our heartfelt love for them to either come with us into the one Christian sheepfold for the first time, or if they have simply strayed away from the word of God that sets all us believers apart from the world, to now return to Christ, uniting together with all believers in our shared remembrance of the love of God shown to us all in the blood shed to wash away our sins as well as theirs.

In fact, there are many of us believers working for Christian unity of all repentant, mutually loving and forgiving believers who forgive all who sin against us, who also firmly believe that Satan is behind the mess we see in the world today with all the divisions over CoVid19 issues, and throughout society, primarily in Satan's foolhardy attempt to try to stop Christian unity from progressing, in which effort Satan will surely fail. We believe Satan sees signs of Christian unity increasing and is flailing desperately to sow disunity in the news, in social media, and in every way he can think of hoping some of the lies and hatred he slings will stick on the one Church of all repentant, mutually loving believers in the name of Jesus, to keep us from uniting with Jesus and the Father, as they are united in One Shepherd, united in the self-sacrificial effort to gather all the Father's sheep into one flock, in the One Body of Christ on Earth where all love one another with the same unearned holiness and love that God freely gives, undeservedly, to every one of us such believers in Jesus.

A true definition of Christian unity is that God is in the process of using all believers to spiritually unite in the Spirit which Jesus defined for us in the words of God He was sent here by the Father to speak to us, now letting that same Spirit speak to the world through all of us believers, who start now to agree in the words Jesus spoke to make the world know Jesus was sent here by the real, one true God

That process of uniting in the Spirit defined by the words of Jesus is easy to show in scripture as what God wants to be our intention to make our primary purpose in life: to serve some form of service to help gather all believers in all Christian faith groups into one, spiritual flock of God, even as Jesus and the Father are one in the Spirit in the One, Good Shepherd. Not our only purpose in life, but our primary; we still have many other purposes in our life, for family and making a living, making a home, and making a physical household, but we keep in our minds the unity of the one flock of God’s sheep, including every littlest believer, of every Christian denomination and Christian faith group, all called to repent and believe the good news, as our central purpose in mind for how to relate to all others in our lives every day, because that’s what the first and second most important commands are intended by God to set in order of importance in our lives: the order of importance of the Love who is God, in Jesus, the Love in our hearts that always governs how we relate to all other people in our lives.

That shepherd analogy that Jesus speaks of again and again in the Bible is no high-minded theological, man-made construct, but the words of God, Himself, spoken by the Word who is God, spoken by God here on Earth about how we are to live our lives every day. And to get there, we pray and ask God to help us learn how, and we do like Jesus did when He was just getting started about His Father’s business, so we study the word of God that Jesus was sent here to speak to us, for us to learn more about how to live out His kind of love, so we can learn how to simply live it better with the people we meet daily.

For the trip from where we are all at right now, together in this lousy world, at this moment in time, lousy by comparison to where we believers are all headed together in Jesus, the trip from lousy here to a fuller Christian unity that Jesus promised, unity that starts now in this life, where we now begin our eternal life in knowing the Father by knowing Jesus, whom the Father sent here as a man filled with His Spirit; that is the same Spirit of the Father’s sheep-gathering Spirit that Jesus has promised to give to live in the heart of each and every repentant, mutually loving and forgiving believer, each of us believers who somehow manage to forgive all who sin against us, even enemies; that joyous trip to fuller Christian unity in that one Spirit, is in being onboard in our daily lives, on an ark piloted by the Holy Spirit deeper into All Truth, the Truth who is Jesus, who is the Word in the Bible, who tells us it’s all true, but to focus on the very words Jesus spoke there in the Bible, by which the Holy Spirit has promised us to eventually give us to understand all Truth the same in Jesus.

Every day we live our regular lives is just another step of faith we take on that trip to Christian unity that starts in this life with that Spirit leading, and is a step of just knowing our dedication to Christian unity is spiritually growing in our hearts, in our everyday life, at work, at home, online, on holiday, in quarantine, or wherever; that for every person we talk or communicate with, we live Christian unity in our everyday, personal relations with that person, when we regard them as one of two kinds of people, both requiring a respective level of Biblical love commanded by God, as first and second most important:
(1) either we love them as a Biblical child of God in Christ, whom we love with our lives laid down, because love is what family is for, even more so in the family where God is the Father, and God is Love, and God is the Eldest Brother, Jesus, who is Himself, all God's Love given to the world and for the world, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God who Jesus gives to live in our hearts so we can be God’s children, too, through faith in the name of Jesus, as Jesus promised that faith in His name would always be taught in His name to be, in repentance and forgiveness of sins as much as we forgive all who sin against us; or,
(2) we regard that person with love as our Biblical neighbor in the world, whom we love as much as ourselves, because it may be they are either unrepentant or ignorant, simply because they haven’t yet seen us believers in the body of Christ on earth today to reach the fullness of unity that Jesus said would make the world know Jesus was sent by God, and in at least that sense, if not others as well, we were all at one time either ignorant or unrepentant, or a combination of both, of sins as clearly defined to be sins in the Bible, such as our collective failure to obey in the first and second most important commandments, which we Christian faith groups have all been trying to fulfill for many centuries, each in the best way we could see during those former times, but now we are beginning to focus on those two, 1st and 2nd , commands as our two, main priorities in life, so God will eventually show all people in the whole world the wonderful, good news, that the Father sent Jesus to give God's own Spirit to live in them, too, if they want out of living in the worldly spirit of misery and destruction that their own sin causes in their lives, out of which worldly darkness the Father gives all of His sheep the first-in-time gift of the Spirit: the gift of ears to hear Jesus calling them to come into Himself, to now be of God and not of the world, while yet in the world; to live here together starting now as one flock, the same as Jesus calls all of us believers to live in the light of life in God's own Spirit, all following His call to simply "Repent and believe the good news".

The good news is the life of God which God gives all believers to now live in, too, now believing the past life of God when He once walked the Earth in the man named Jesus of Nazareth, sent here to pay with God's own life's blood to give us His Spirit of God, instead of our own Spirit of the world, to now live in each of us on Earth, where the one Spirit of both Jesus and the Father now lives in us believers; where His Spirit in us is given life, and strength, and growth in us, by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God when He was first named Jesus of Nazareth on Earth; and especially is given to live in us now that He is still yet named Jesus of Nazareth in His glorified, eternal body, in which Jesus also appeared to many on Earth, and which is now both in and with our Father in Heaven, now seated on His throne at the Father's right hand, given all power in Heaven and Earth, with all power to give us anything are able to ask as by the Spirit that is one in Jesus' name, now in the body of Christ on Earth united with the littlest believer among us so Jesus will be there, too, on Earth as it is in Heaven, where our Father tells Jesus to remain comfortably seated, while the Father makes the world into the footstool of Jesus, for Jesus to rest His feet on, while the Father delivers all His sheep to Jesus, by giving all the Father's sheep the first gift of the Spirit, which is the gift of ears to hear the voice of the one body of Christ, the voice of both the body then in the past, and now, again, the body of Christ on Earth, heard on Earth now coming from all believers who are united in calling out from the one body of Christ, which is also the one flock with the Spirit of the One, Good Shepherd with and in us here, as Jesus and our Father are one, all united in calling out to all repentant, mutually loving and forgiving believers, who forgive all who sin against us, welcoming into the one body and one flock, any and all such believers who are in every Christian faith group and denomination, to gather both ourselves and every littlest believer, sheep, and littlest lamb, whether once in and now strayed, or never gathered in, either way, as Jesus said, 'I have other sheep to be gathered', yet remaining out there in the world, yet to be gathered into the one flock, even the littlest babe who can only manage to believe in repentance and forgiveness of sins, as much as we love and forgive one another, in this name of Jesus of Nazareth.
“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16 AV)

"Repent and believe the good news" is where Jesus of Nazareth once started His ministry to the world, and it is where the body of Christ on Earth today is now beginning our ministry of Christian unity on this Earth, to let the world see the glory Jesus already gave us to make us one, as Jesus and the Father are one, in the One, Good Shepherd.

We still separately obey the Great Commission Jesus gave us to teach every command Jesus of Nazareth ever gave when He walked the Earth among men, as Jesus requires us to teach as we best understand, while we don't yet agree in His every command.

But we agree and unite as one in telling the world the first two commands that Jesus of Nazareth spoke, first in time, to all of us believers, all of the Father's sheep, all of whom were delivered by the Father to hear the voice of Jesus with God-given ears to hear it: "Repent and believe the good news".

Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it, so don’t think we believers don’t know this "LIFE and DEATH!" question shown in the post above, is facing us today and still applies to the whole body of Christ, as much as to unbelievers!

Jesus offers the whole world, believer and unbeliever, the exact same, good news of LIFE in His Spirit, to replace spiritual DEATH of living in the flesh, when He began His ministry here on Earth. So this spiritual LIFE and DEATH matter applies to all of us believers on earth today, including those of us in every Christian denomination and faith group, where believers still believe we have to take God at His Word, in the whole Bible, and especially in the words Jesus spoke in the Bible!

Whether or not we now have ears to hear, and hunger to eat, the Word and Bread of Life, in the words spoken by Jesus in the Bible, and by which we are led by the Spirit to understand, remember, and obediently follow into all Truth in Jesus, is the vital question of LIFE and DEATH in that Spirit that God gives to live in the heart of every one of us believers. That Spirit can only continue to live and grow in strength in us if it feeds every day on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God when He walked the earth in the man named Jesus of Nazareth, speaking the words of His Father which Jesus was sent here to give to anyone who seeks to hear the good news of all good things God gives to all who are willing to follow that Spirit, as He leads us to live in ever-increasing faith of the name of Jesus for repentance and forgiveness of sins. All of those scriptures cited in that post above apply equally to all us believers as well as to unbelievers.
“14 ¶ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"” (Mr 1:14-15 NivUS)
“Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"” (Mt 4:4 NivUS)
“9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"” (Lu 11:9-13 NivUS)

We’re not perfect. We know we’re still capable of sinning. But we’re trying as hard as we can to learn from the Spirit, and repent of our own sins as fast as He shows them to us, and to help each other and the world learn to repent, and learn to live constantly remembering the good news of Life in the Spirit, and Death to sin, as sin is defined in the Bible, death to all the lusts of the flesh, for immoral pleasure, excessive wealth for personal comfort, power and honor among men, instead of honor from God, knowing that while we follow the Spirit’s leading, we already are given the joy of beginning our Eternal Life in knowing God in Jesus, daily rejoicing that we are given to live now in this Life of the Spirit He gives to live in us, credited by God, to already have the inheritance and perfect holiness Jesus gives us in His blood to wash our sins away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tim Warlick,
 
Posts: 47 | Location / Country / Region: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA | Registered: 21 November 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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