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covenant faith Please allow me to peak your inquiry into what we read, and may I begin with this, hoping that you feel no shock or disdain in this day and age of political correctness…God made a racial choice in His forming man and He made a divine choice concerning the exclusivity of God’s covenant with His people. God shows His people their own particularity that they may affirm God. God began with man being created with the privilege of bearing His image, not His color, for no amount of intelligence can determine what, are even if, God has color seeing as how God is a Spirit. The mention of physical differential appears with Isaac and Rebekah’s sons. All were to share their mental and spiritual faculties with God. This is why we must understand the covenant that we may better understand the word of God. God created man that confirms that God is God. And life is to confirm His righteousness. It is for a certainty that Adam and Eve were ethnically generic and in God’s wisdom and in God’s time He would do that which serves His purposes for the creation that gives Him pleasure. If we only knew what God has in store for us. I pray that our consciences are clear with God not allowing any human prejudices to depreciate the power to love as Jesus loves. But our conversation around the covenant of God must be inclusionary of all diversity resulting from the ministry of Jesus Christ who died for all. Do not allow shades to move us away from the ultimate mission assigned. Not all will conform to the will of God to receive of the benefit. It is in our faith in God’s covenant promises that all injustice is repaired. Jesus’ presence is power and we pray that our descriptor is that we are one with him. God’s covenant does not make us like a new Adam…it is designed to make us like the last Adam, transformed by the word of God. What is that like…the new covenant finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ who is the true seed of Abraham, the true Son of God. The new covenant promise of forgiveness of sins is fulfilled in Jesus himself, and thus he pours out his Spirit on his people so that they are enabled to do God’s will. God’s covenant addresses the two greatest measures of life in our day; SIN and racial conflict. God in His unsurpassed and infinite wisdom resolves both measures in the divine purpose we learn from the twin births of Esau and Jacob. In God’s wisdom His people find great courage and comfort. God’s wisdom knows ALL things and He foreknew ALL things before there was ever anything. The covenant sharpens our definition of God’s wisdom and shows its relevance in our lives today. Everything must be considered in the wisdom of God. God could have created a “tree of wisdom” instead of the ”tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. We learn tree of good and evil from God’s word that wisdom is not “knowing good and evil, wisdom is knowing good from evil”. It is disobedience that causes us to know evil. And what was evil became good in their eyes. Then, after experiencing through disobedience what was thought good became evil. Nakedness was good until disobedience. Walking with God was good until disobedience and hiding from Him was sought. They were tempted to be like God, knowing good and evil. Their sin became like Satan’s…trying to be like God. Sinning can never by any way make man like God. The tree was created because God wanted Adam and Eve to be wise concerning what is good and aware of what is evil. Creation was to be the lesson book for God’s people. Wisdom is a “tree of life”. God’s covenant, when obeyed, gives life. God’s wisdom is revealed through His covenant of faith with Israel. God promised Abraham that in him, in his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. It seems this would have taken place through the entire world, but history makes it clear the world will not be subject to God and will persistently resist and rebel against God. It was not through the plural seed of Abraham that God brought about the blessing of the world, but through the seed singular of Abraham - Jesus Christ. This is why we are in awe of the covenant of God. God brings about what He has promised in ways we could never imagine or even believe if we were told in advance. God’s wisdom is seen in His dealings with Israel as demonstrated in two manner of people. God’s wisdom is realized in Christ. God’s purpose was a mystery. Christ’s first coming resolved the mystery of the seed. And God’s eternal purpose is to reveal His wisdom to the celestial beings as well as to His people on earth. God is still accomplishing His purpose, which will culminate in the establishing His covenant in His people and the second coming of His Son. When this purpose and program is completed, the full scope of God’s wisdom will have been revealed, and this wisdom will be revealed as so great it will provide the fuel for the praise of God throughout all eternity. God promised to bring salvation and blessing not only to the chosen people but also to the Gentiles who believe. He promised a Savior who was a man, the seed of Eve and of Abraham and of David, but also One who was the divine Son of God. It is this lengthy mystery that will assure that sin will never again come to be. It is the privilege of the covenant that effectuates the marvel of the wisdom of God in saving us. Before God begins this talk with us let us place our hearts and souls where we know we are now in God's perfect timing. It is His timing that grows our faith as we are obliged to wait and trust in God and His timing makes certain that He, and He alone, gets the glory and praise for pulling us through the time that we may be fashioned without sin. Psalms 31:15 God’s covenant was very explicit in stating the promise to Abraham that God would have a visible people made forever perfect through sanctification and is made able to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. And the bible sanctions this promise. Hebrews 10:14-19 Revelation 7:3, 4 These are not the total number of Abraham’s descendants, but are a very elect group from among that number who will in the latter times have a special mission to fulfil. Revelation 12:17 Revelation 14:1, 4, 5 Let’s move to the light that the shadows be not seen. This “better” covenant… Isaiah 42:1, 6, 7 The “new covenant” is not just a promise waiting to be fulfilled but a person who embodies its fulfillment. God’s covenant word is the Word made flesh. Thus, from Adam through Noah, from Abraham through Moses, and from David to Christ, to his elect, God’s people are being defined, united, and shaped through an ever renewing and developing covenant bond. God’s covenant promises have been unveiling since He clothed Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:21 Notwithstanding their sin, God cares. These coats of skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they were must be slain, slain before their eyes, to show them what sin cost, to show them what death is. It was as though they were slain for sacrifice, to typify the great sacrifice, which, in the latter end of the world, should be offered once for all. Their admonition for having committed sin: the first thing that died was a sacrifice, or Christ in a figure, who is therefore said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The sacrifice did no wrong, but clothed the sinner. They put on the Lord Jesus. The New Covenant comes into focus whenever the Lamb and his blood are mentioned in the bible, and it speaks to a new relationship with God. According to Revelation, God will be faithful in fulfilling His promises to Israel. God’s word offers priority of clear texts over private interpretation and priority of spiritual illumination over obscure conjecture. Why say this…let’s reason brothers and sisters…we accept the truth that the 144000 are of Israel as biblically stated. Now read in Galatians… Galatians 3:26-29 The descendants of Abraham; Ishmael, Isaac, Keturah’s offspring and their bearing, Esau’s descendants, Jacob and all his bearing, and where there was faith in Christ that proceeded Abraham – Adam, Abel, Noah, and the other faithfuls, these are that innumerable great multitude. Everyone represented by Jesus, the ideal king and Israelite, is considered part of true Israel and therefore shares in the blessings promised to Abraham. Yet not all of Abraham’s physical seed belonged to his spiritual seed. Some became the synagogue of Satan. Revelation 7:9 spiritual seed The identification is evident…count the stars. Revelation 2:9; 3:9 Jeremiah 31:31-34 Hear the complete fulfillment of the new covenant. For none to need being taught implies that such a condition as this can only exist after the binding of Satan. Does the new covenant bind to Revelation? The new covenant is stated prophetically as the ongoing relationship between true believers and God that will be in full fruition in the end of days. The connection between the blood of Christ and the new covenant is the power of that mediation that Jesus is finishing in the heavenly sanctuary. There will be the occasion when Jesus finds no fault with them. Daniel 9:27 This new covenant is designed to break the curse of sin from that first brought through Adam…for the judgment proceedings will be complete before Christ returns…it is purposed to return us to the image of God. This spiritual Israel is based on the faith of the patriarch Abraham even before he was circumcised who was ministered by the Melchizedek priesthood, which is understood to be the type of the believers’ faith in Jesus Christ. As there is no precedence to Melchizedek, there is no precedence to Christ, and neither will there be precedence to God’s final living people. They are people of the promise. These have salvific knowledge of the word and have no need to be taught of the ways of the Lord, they lack need for exhortation regarding reconciliation with God. These will show there to be no abrogation of the law. These will evidence by emphatic declaration of the immutability of the covenant. These are now reckoning with sin. These show the new covenant to be present reality. Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, Jacob…these players and their characters are all in place in God’s plan. And as it is the covenant of God that establishes His people, the question is where are we? Let’s look at the covenant particulars with Abraham and with Jacob. Genesis 12:1-3 Genesis 28:13-15 There is not only the land promise and the promise of numerous descendants, but also the promise that God will be with Jacob wherever he goes. This is God’s presence that is the final fruit of the covenant relationship. This is God’s presence with the scattered of Judah. Because God has undertaken to be our God, He will do that for us which will answer the compass and vast extent of our engagement as He orders and disposes what is best fitted for our deliverance. Whether God lengthens or shortens, embitters or sweetens, as He pleases, our confidence must be according to the counsel of His determination, His will. The highly controverted discourse of Esau and Jacob was prophetic in its consequential revealing of the purpose of God’s covenant. Throughout the bible, God relates to His people through His covenant. It is through this covenant relationship, which serves as the foundation for God's promise to bring redemption to His people, that we can understand the advancement of His kingdom. As passions of violence have been released upon God’s scattered people, against humanity, our most powerful response must be to counter with a passionate revolution of purpose, with greater passion and drive than that which the wicked wages against us. The covenant, if believed in, and adhered to, will purpose us with the will of God, as is the truth of God, through the spiritual faith that is of Christ. Spiritual faith involves the recognition of a belief that there is something greater than ourselves, something more to being human than mere sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is divine in nature…and the opening of the heart is an essential aspect of true spiritual faith. And so, our brothers, sisters, and friends to the east, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon will be brought into the covenanted faith in Jesus Christ. In this covenant faith is found forgiveness, God making us perfect in Jesus, God’s will done in us, our inward journey, our unique and distinct purpose, our reward. God’s covenant is not brought forth to coerce or manipulate, but to be freely received with the faith of reason. And this faith is centered in love for God, so it strives to act as God wills and is, therefore, manifested in more than just words but also in our respondent actions. And because the enemy of all righteousness accuses us, the function of our faith must be related to the covenant of God. The covenant discussed is our commitment of believing God's promises, trusting in His faithfulness, and relying on God's character and faithfulness to act. All the while accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The purpose of this covenant is to authenticate our change in character and conduct based on the person of Jesus and his work of atonement accomplished through his death on the cross and his work in the most holy. What does this display to every observer? That our works alone do not have any value for obtaining a positive final judgment, but that a positive final judgment depends on faith alone in what Christ will conclude according to the origin of things in God. Think on the incredible implications of this question… Luke 18:8 What responsibilities do God’s covenant people have to the nations of the world? Faith gone from earth! If not for God’s covenant promises…for it is the covenant of God that moves us from human faith to the faith of Jesus Christ. What precisely is this human faith to the faith of Jesus? Human faith is that demonstrated in the courtyard. It is our expression of belief that leads to imputed righteousness. But all to often this belief falters and we must again return to the courtyard to again confess that which we have not totally forsaken. But the faith of Jesus is just that, as his righteousness is imparted unto us and our spirit is commended unto God, our faith is now in what God can and will do for us; heal us, answers to our prayer, we receive of His blessings, deliverance in a trial, guidance in a difficult decision, and, most importantly, receiving salvation. Obedience to the law of God is purposed in the covenant and yet covenant faith reaches beyond the law. The purpose of the law has never been to forgive sin or bring justification, no law could do this. This is what the covenant blood of Christ is for, and it is why mankind needs a Savior. The two-fold purpose of the law is to point out sin that we might know the wrong and then to point us to Jesus Christ that we might do the right. Establish this thought in your mind; it is covenantal carelessness that brought forth hatred between the two manner of people, a very unusual birth, a birth that was so different that Isaac favored the oddity, and God determined this would bring forth some very ungodly actions, and where we are embarrassed to think of these people as our spiritual ancestors. Although the texts about Jacob and Esau are ostensibly speaking about individuals, each brother represents an ethnic group. Let’s better reason with God concerning the 2520. Leviticus 26:40 The iniquity of our fathers??? How are we accountable? Isaac must have trembled violently with great force as reality dawned upon him. As covenant head and father, he gave the blessing, so full and rich, to someone not his firstborn son, Esau. The deed is done; the word had been spoken, and that oral contact was now legally binding by covenant. No turning back now. Isaac tells Esau concerning Jacob, his brother - “I blessed him…and indeed he will be blessed.” This is God’s reality. How the truth is handled establishes our standing with God. Proverbs 19:21 The enormity of our faithlessness in the covenant promises of God is reflected in this pathetic scene. Reason with the word of God. Hebrews 12:16, 17 We are to reject all ungodliness…all ungodliness…all ungodliness! Esau and his descendants would prove to be the prime example of this. He sold his birthright, despising it, rejecting his high calling, privilege, but also his important responsibility. Yet he wanted the material prosperity. In other words, he wanted all the benefits of God’s kingdom but none of the serious effort. Does this sound familiar in our day as well? Esau had forfeited his claims to the blessing, but he retained a strong sense of entitlement. Here is where covenantal faith will always place us in the presence of God. Please hear this; Esau could have enjoyed God’s blessing if he had submitted to God’s will. Jacob has the great patriarchal blessing. If Esau had submitted to Jacob, thanked the Lord for His guiding hand, and lived in obedience to God’s will from then on, he could have enjoyed the Lord’s goodness in the ascendancy of Jacob. In God allowing Isaac to bestow a blessing upon Esau, Isaac uses many phrases from his earlier blessing to Jacob, but now they have a slightly different nuance. The land of Edom would not be as fertile as Canaan would be. The Edomites would be forced to submit to the Israelites, but they would fight back, often revolting against Israel and living in the utmost hatred toward the Israelites. This “blessing” indicates that the Edomites, Esau’s children, would not be a weak nation, but in the end, they would always be a restless nation. What began in the conflict of Esau and Jacob continues…bitterness, disappointment powered by hatred can grow roots that sink into the soul. Weeds are easy to uproot when they first appear, but if weeds are neglected and are allowed to grow, the roots sink deeper into the soil, and weeds become more difficult to spiritual weeds become difficult to uproot uproot. The same is true with the roots of hatred. Genesis 27:41 Esau hates Jacob. Notice that Esau does not identify Jacob as “my enemy”, but he calls him “my brother.” We clearly hear an echo of the Cain and Abel story and even an echo of Ishmael and Isaac’s conflict. In Genesis chapter 4, we read that two brothers are divided by God’s righteous favor as well as unrighteous jealousy and hatred against the other. Cain killed righteous Abel in cold blood. Esau prepares to do the same to Jacob, the man whom God loves in His covenant. God loves Jacob, not on the basis of Jacob’s actions, but on God’s own sovereign choice, His own mercy. With covenant faith must come the reasoning with what God reveals. God had shown to both Isaac and Rebekah the early rising of the faithlessness of Esau. Genesis 26:34, 35 And even yet did Esau show contempt for the rites of the covenant. Genesis 28:6-9 Esau’s descending character has left his people so “spiritually stunted” that the fostered hatred exists in ways yesterday and today that show direct conflict with God’s truths. Jesus descended from Jacob. Who sought to kill him? Is Herod descended from Esau’s lineage? Obadiah 10 Esau himself never knew that his descendants would claim to be the superior race over all humanity, and in the name of white supremacy would commit such inhumane atrocities. The book of Obadiah explains in detail the fate of Edom, and how he will eventually pay for his sins, pride and atrocities against humanity but especially against his brother Jacob, the chosen one, to whom he is a servant. Numbers 24:14-24 Amalek was the leader among Esau’s princes. This is talking about the Byzantine Empire. It controlled the Mediterranean Sea. Chittim is plural. God is trying to point to all of the Islands on the Mediterranean Sea and their coastlines. God is describing the Byzantine Empire, the ancient name for Cyprus. Lamentations 4:21, 22 THE LAND OF UZ is Armenia. Genesis 32:3; 36:8, 9, 21 Esau is the ancestor of the Edomites who live on Mount Seir, southwest of Judah. Ezekiel 35:15 Present day Esau, which is Edom, which is Idumea. Genesis 14:6: 36:21 Now let’s follow the word and see what we resolve… God has declared this about His name. Psalms 138:2 How very careful then should we be to give diligent heed to His written word. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we become acquainted with the genealogy of the Gentiles, who are Esau, or Edom. What does God declare? Obadiah 9, 18 God confirms this… Genesis 36:9, 12 Numbers 24:20 Amalek was son of Eliphaz, and grandson to Edom or Esau. If these words of God be true we cannot, and should not, spare any pains, however great, in order to ascertain who Esau, or Edom, is. The Spirit of God identifies Edom with Babylon. Psalms 137:7, 8 We will see this verse again. It means to make bare or destroy the Temple. Chaldea, or Babylon, was re-established by Assyria. Isaiah 23:13 Ezekiel 12:13 Ezra 5:12 The Assyrian empire embraced the country on both sides of the Tigris. Babel, was founded by Nimrod. Genesis 10:9, 10 The Assyrians descended from the Caucasus, conquered and destroyed Jerusalem. II Kings 17:1-6; 18:9-11 The bible tells us that Babylon conquered Assyria and Medo-Persia conquered Babylon and Greece conquered Medo-Persia. And plucking from Greece history identifies a “little horn” becoming the Roman Empire. Could Rome be “Mystery Babylon” Mother of Harlots? Revelation 17:3-6 Luke 3:1 From the east Rome, peopled all the west; first Italy, France, Germany, England and America. Christianity became the established religion, under Constantine; hence Babylon, Edom, Rome, and Christianity are synonymous. Remember, the Edomites sided with the Babylonians. Psalms 137:1, 7-9 Because of these bearings Esau is historically typed as the ancestor of Rome. Thus, we can begin to reason with the “new covenant”. We can see how this relevancy makes the most powerful nation in the world (Rome) into one that fears, or at least respects, the God of Israel. Moreover, the “real” battle in this world is one between Rome and Judah, i.e., between Esau and Jacob. Oh how wonderful is the covenant power of God to reverse the hatred of Esau for Jacob to reconciliation and the final gathering unto God by us in the last day. So, when the Babylonians were to destroy the temple, it was Esau/Edom who took advantage of that fall, establishing the Roman Empire, and chased away the remnant of Israel, who fled to West Africa in which was the end of them being a nation. The Edomites, the Roman elite then converted the Ottoman Turks, their fellow Edomites to Judaism, replacing the vast black Hebrews with imposter Jews who hated Jesus. We are aware that the Southern Tribes of Israel were in Africa in 1747 AD and the historical maps prove the Tribe of Judah and Benjamin were in Africa. I believe the word of God presents a case of mistaken identity today among those who say they are Jews but are the Synagogue of Satan. Are Jacob’s descendants not living in the United States of America today? Is there a difference between African Hamites and Black Israelites? Why are there historical maps, which prove the Transatlantic Slave Trade was responsible for the scattering of the Southern Tribes of Israel? It is in the covenant that God gives us the genesis of the revelation. This is the continual covenantal truth of the faith of expectation. It is understood as “confident expectation.” It is looking to the future with confidence because God is a faithful provider of all that we need. There is motivational power in one's expectations when the word of God shows itself to be all truth. God isolates faith, which means “trust,” or “confidence,” as the single most important element of relationship with Him. How does covenant faith show Jesus in us…trust is best evidenced by the life of Jesus Christ, who did all he did by way of his unflagging trust in his heavenly Father. Ephesians 4:22, 31, 32 Restorative justice, through sacred reconciliation on the part of Jacob in his wrestling with God is our admonition in the last day…are we people of the covenant by faith whereby our birthright comes directly from our God? God chooses His people because He can…He is God…and God showcases His sovereignty, His power, His love in fulfilling His promises how He so determines. The full enfolding of the covenant will not be done in this natural temporal domain, yet we are the people in this time, this place, and this situation where God’s will can truly be accomplished...in earth as it is in heaven. We must “faith the truth”. God’s truth supersedes worldly facts. And faith-full actions can change the world. The time is nearing where God’s people will have the courage to know the hopelessness of circumstances and yet remain expectant that God will provide a way. Christ knew he was to die on the cross and hope did not present his coming forth, yet he expected his Father’s acceptance that had been given him. SOP - Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him. He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love. By faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor. {DA 756.3} This covenant perspective thrills our hearts because we realize that we have been caught up into Christ’s grand, ages-long project. It gives us a sense of identity—we know our roots. It brings us a sense of stability. Faith, is not a power in itself, nor of merit to us; it requires an object, someone or something to trust in. Faith points us to God who is the object of our faith, but to trust Him we must know something about Him, that is, His character and His promises. It is in God’s covenant that we find the transcript of His character as written in the law and it is in our obedience to His commandments that we find the sureness of His promises. And Jesus Christ is the all of God’s promises. That is why we must have the faith of Jesus; he knows the way, he is the way. God’s words prove that He has every resource necessary to do all that He promises. The new covenant 11fingered in the heart, in the mind, is struck by flint; faith with no compromise, love with no compromise, obedience with no compromise. God’s covenant signifies that Christ will never have to do it again. we know our roots 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

Know Thyself God wants us to know Him. God has placed a desire in our hearts to know him. We are uniquely made to give the Holy Spirit sanction to search our heart. Knowing God is a profound privilege. And the only way we can know ourselves is to know God’s Son. God wants us to be secure in His love and in ourselves. And it is by the Holy Spirit that we have a deep sense of self before the Father. The Holy Spirit uses the scriptures to be our spiritual telescope with which we can look deeply into ourselves. The scripture is a series of narratives disclosing the relationships between God and His people. It is for us to discern what the implications are for us, and then to listen to what is for us and how we should respond. The scriptures were not only written to us, but they were also certainly written for us. We are to know what the Father has given us to do as did Jesus. We are individuals, uniquely important to God and His purposes for the world. Consider God’s creative work in us up to the present. We are to know who we are in our true self. And we are to know the living God. God has made us as whole people in His image. That image includes physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social dimensions. We are to become holy in character, become like Christ. Everything is valuable for the purpose it serves. Nothing is valuable by itself, except the one content of everything which we call the Omnipresence of the Lord. And we cost God everything. That is the only thing that is important by valuables itself. All the other things are valuable for the purpose they serve and any purpose is valuable only when it serves the purpose of God-awakening in us. The value to God of his people knowing themselves is that it allows for a deeper relationship with Him, as understanding one's own strengths, weaknesses, and motivations enables a more authentic approach to faith, leading to greater humility, repentance, and personal growth, ultimately reflecting a closer connection to God's love and grace; essentially, "knowing yourself" is seen as a key step towards "knowing God”. Herein is the reasoning to recognizing the potential for self-deception as it highlights the need to seek God's wisdom in understanding ourselves. It is how we are to examine ourselves, to know whether we be in the faith; able to prove our own selves as not just us how that Jesus Christ is in us. We say self must die. Self-dying is not a final act. It is coming to self-knowledge. Understanding our own awareness, thoughts, beliefs, assessments, our merits, and behaviors as they are to reveal Christ working in us. It's about discovering ourselves in God. Our identity should never be based on a hope or a guess. God gave us His Word, the bible, so we can know Him and know who He is making us to be in Him. God’s word should fulfill our consciences so as to associate self-discovery, self-expression, and self-actualization. There is purpose to God wanting His people to know who they are. Having self-awareness gives us the power to influence outcomes by our choices; helps us become better decision-makers and gives us more self-confidence. We can communicate with clarity and intention, which allows us to understand things from multiple perspectives. It frees us from assumptions and biases and makes truth the only thing spoken in love, helping us make spiritual sense of our experiences. We earnestly study to understand ourselves within a larger context of just being. This involves practices like meditation, mindfulness, connecting with nature, and examining our significance to discern our deeper purpose and connection to something beyond ourself, allowing us to live more faithfully and with greater meaning as we give full attention to every present moment without judgment. Reliance upon our spiritual senses; the conscience, which is an inherent sense of right and wrong; intuition, a sense of God’s revelation, knowledge, and wisdom; and communion, a sense of God’s presence, orients us to that higher purpose or significance, that connection, that “something” that gives us a higher perception of reality. Our expressions are honest and sincere while reflecting kindness and compassion, essentially conveying important information while maintaining a caring and respectful attitude towards others, signifying a genuine connection built on both uprightness and empathy. As we come to know ourselves, we transcend the material realm and human comprehension. Knowing thyself is life-giving; it is a source of consciousness; it has intention and purpose; it connects us to all beings, it is connects us to all beings an aspect of our deepest essence. Knowing ourselves involve constituting ourselves as a spiritual subject. Seeing ourself as being a soul having a spiritual nature, and nurturing our soul - to consider that the dimension of reality that is often called “spiritual” is the most important part of who we are. This is God’s grace allowing us to construct ourselves when self dies. We come to Christ with an eternal mind, nurturing our spirituality in a specific way - as someone who is engaged in self-transformation, discovering or attaining our essence as being more than mortal flesh, and living in, interacting with, and aligning ourselves to a heavenly bearing that extends deeper and beyond the immediate materiality of the world as it appears to the humanly senses. We have access to full meaning truth. The key idea here to knowing ourselves is that spirituality is a search for truth, and that this search involves a process of transformation of oneself. Spirituality is an access to truth that comes through self-transformation rather than through the accumulation of knowledge. We move away from ordinary life. We have a quest toward truth and its ultimate meaning. Our life now involves knowing the spiritual sense of our whole self. Knowing our intention through trust in God. He knows we are to live our lives daily. He sent His son to die for us that we might live for him, allowing God to use us and our uniqueness - to do His work. We have a better perspective on who we are and how God continued humanity in us for His purposes. T o know thyself is to know that we do not measure up to the qualifications for God’s love. That we don’t measure up to being perfect. But to know thyself does mean that we are the recipients of His grace and mercy! That mercy, that grace, is at work as we run through the filter of God’s word to bring us filter of God's word to God in the righteous perfectness of Jesus Christ. To know thyself grants us sight of how God and His word are our framework and foundation for worth and worthiness in the plan of God. Know thyself is written in every scripture. The omnipresence of God teaches us that He is not ashamed of being present in His created beings. It is this quality that makes Him God, and it is the absence of this quality that makes us human beings. We are made in His image, we are expected to imitate God and fill up the gap. We are to behave in the terms He behaves, so that we may not be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus. To do this, we go through a process of knowing what is 'I am', and what is not 'I am'. That is the difference between the 'self' and the 'non-self'. So, we start with ourselves hearing the admonition of the ancients warning us…"know thyself." Know thyself means, 'know God'. We should know ourselves as in God, existing in God, coming from God and going into God. This is Jesus calling for us to be “one”. To know thyself is to know that our creation is an opportunity, not a privilege. We are to make the best use of time, of life. Let us transcend to the height time of use to understand God’s reason for us to know ourselves. Jesus came in the fulness of humanity and the fulness of divinity. He came to be that example for man that we may be restored to the image and likeness deemed to us at creation. We are to understand both humanity and divinity in regard to our purposes. The word of God counseling us to know thyself is considered important because it allows us to understand our strengths, weaknesses, and motivations, which in turn enables us to better align our lives with God's will, make informed decisions, and grow spiritually by addressing areas where we need to change or develop further; essentially, by understanding who we are at our core, we can better serve God and live a life that reflects His image. He who does not know himself does not know God either. And he who does not know God does not know the truth and the nature of things in general… He who does not know himself continually sins against God and continually moves farther away from Him. Self-knowledge is one of our foremost duties. We were made a being of lofty rank and has been destined to become like God, in Whose image we were determined, and a participant in divine goodness and blessedness. But in order to become a divine likeness, good and blessed, and to commune with God, we must first of all know ourself. Without self-knowledge we go astray in our thoughts, we are dominated by diverse passions, tyrannized by violent desires, troubled about many and vain things, and lead a disorderly, distracted life, erring in all things, wandering on the way, staggering at every step; and we stumble, fall, and are crushed. We drink every day potions of sorrow and bitterness, fill our hearts with grief, and live an unbearable life. We must learn to be concerned about things eternal. There is in us the power of self-knowledge – being a spiritual and morally free being, having free will and the power of knowing. But in order to acquire perfect knowledge of ourselves, we must first will, and then move toward self-inquiry and make ourselves an object of study. Without willing, none of the things that ought to be done can be done. The faculty of the will, strengthened by the faculty of reason, and that of free choice and self-control, overcomes all obstacles and succeeds in everything: ‘I will’, becomes, ‘I can’, in us, that acts with knowledge and freedom. We ought to will, to know ourself, to know God, and to understand the nature of things as they are in themselves, and thus become an image and likeness of God. With us being well advised comes wisdom. In knowing thyself we our neighbor know our duties toward ourself, toward God, and toward our neighbor, and that piety, justice, truth and knowledge should be for us the touchstone on which we test all our acts that have reference to God, to ourself, and to our neighbor… We are never to be puffed up, never to be filled with pride, but first of all we are to know our shortcomings and our faults, always comparing ourself with the ideal prototype, Jesus, in the likeness of which we ought to develop ourself, inasmuch as we see how much we fall short of his example. Let’s behold Jesus… What consequence might we see in him? What mystery might we learn of concerning ourselves? This mystery may be difficult for us to comprehend. Right at the outset I lodge a warning - we will consider written revelations that may disorient our mind. They are revelations of God. If it’s a revelation and we don’t understand it, we mustn’t argue with it, it’s a revelation. Do not become disturbed by the realities of God’s word that we cannot comprehend. Pray the Holy Spirit. The mystery is of the incarnation, God manifest in Christ, His only begotten Son. This is a subject that we need to study and yet it is beyond our understanding to comprehend. Yet, we can fathom this mystery through the subduing of the heart to the Holy Spirit. Christ could have done nothing during His earthly ministry in saving fallen man if the divine had not been blended with the human. The limited capacity of man cannot define this wonderful mystery - the blending of the two natures, the divine and the human. How can we enter into this mystery? Because of Christ we are privileged to be a partaker of the divine nature, and in this way we can to some degree enter into the mystery. We need to study Christ’s life as given in God’s word. Christ died for us, and he is the way that we die to self. Reason this statement to see what is meant - truth is so large, so far- reaching, so deep, so broad, that self is lost sight of. To know thyself, we are to contemplate Jesus Christ. He is the representative specimen that came to know himself just as we are to come to know ourselves. It is a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in man’s behalf. His temptation the Pattern and victory tell us that humanity must copy the Pattern; we must become a partaker of the divine nature. Close study must be brought forth that no confusion concerning our partaking is allowed to enter our reasoning with God. Jesus was tried in all points like as we are. Being tried is being enticed. It is a deep and strong desire, but being not conceived neither is sin. This was the experience of Jesus. Was Jesus a man? He was tempted as every man is. This pure wonderful God coming down into human flesh as a babe, as a youth, through to thirty years of age suffering as every man. Temptation is the phase of everyone’s experience. This, the human nature of Christ must endure being actually tempted all through his life. He was, in terrible reality, tempted as we are, and because He successfully resisted temptation under every form, He gave us the perfect example, and through the ample provision Christ has made, we may become partakers of the divine nature. In Christ is how we can know ourself. He was placed on probation, with liberty to yield to Satan’s temptations and work at cross-purposes with God. If this were not so, if it had not been possible for Him to fall, He could not have been tempted in all points as the human family is tempted. For a period of time Christ was on probation. He took humanity on Himself, to stand the test and trial which the first Adam failed to endure. Had He failed in His test and trial, He would have been disobedient to the voice of God, and the world would have been lost. Unless there is a possibility of yielding, temptation is no temptation. Temptation is resisted when man is powerfully influenced to do a wrong action and, knowing that he can do it, resists, by faith, with a firm hold upon divine power. This was the ordeal through which Christ passed. He could not have been tempted in all points as man is tempted, had there been no possibility of His failing. He was a free agent, placed on probation, as was Adam, but not like Adam, and as is every man so too unlike Adam save in the affect and effect of sin. Adam and Eve received their old sin nature by an act of negative volition. We receive our old sin nature by an act of physical birth, the first birth. In His closing hours, while hanging upon the cross, He physical birth experienced to the fullest extent what man must experience when striving against sin. This is the revelation of the mystery by which we may be able to strive against sin and conquer as did Jesus. By looking to Jesus, we can know ourselves in him, and experience that divine nature. This is how we are to comprehend the significance of the word to be like Christ… “to know thyself”. Sin must be made hatefully painful to us. Jesus is that great and good truth to say the image of God is within us. The substance of our soul is the essence of that infinite and eternal Spirit from whence all life, all power, and all things proceed. Because of this truth, the most terrifying words we can hear are “ye of little faith”. We do not believe in an imaginary or man-made God. Because all things are possible with Him, we can know ourselves as did His Son…we can partake of the human and the divine. It is our faith in God that with Him all things are possible that we can, through and by that belief, control ourself to such an extent that we bring ourself to a literal realization of that which we desire…to be like Jesus. To know ourselves is to know that we were born spiritually dead. When man partook of the forbidden tree, his negative volition led to his acquiring a sin forbidden tree nature. So, the original man was created. Everyone else is perpetuated. This is a very important distinction in knowing thyself. Volition is the power of choosing, the power of determining. But we have that gifted of Christ – we have the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And by Him we are instructed having the mind of Christ. The human spirit with the Word, the Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit. ‘‘The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit.’’ When the Holy Spirit puts the Word into the human spirit, this is when we are hearing and listening to the teaching of the Word. Then we have something on which to use our free will beside what we have in the soul. The thinking in the soul is human viewpoint. But the Word of God is divine viewpoint by which we come to know ourselves by the consciousness of God. Because we were ignorant of self we sinned. But because of this spiritual experience in knowing ourselves we can stop sinning…by volition…by choice. We can now have the thought pattern of grace. Jesus Christ had compassion because He was God in His Deity, which is an extension of His love. In His humanity He had compassion, because He had not a sin nature. He was minus of any mental attitude towards sin and therefore He had the capacity for love. His compassion was an expression of the capacity to love. He was born of the Spirit. Knowing thyself is knowing how to open to God that we may be born of the Spirit. Jesus knew who he was to the extent that rather be made a king, which was contrary to the mind of our Lord Jesus, he departed. Herein he has left us a testimony of sober judgment according to the measure of faith given us. To know ourselves reveals the magnitude of God's presence in our lives as He examines the depth of our hearts. We are to be defined by the word of God. Our self-concept, also called self-construction, our self-identity, our self- perspective or self-structure is an assembling of principles about ourselves. We must know these things that we not deceive ourselves. We are known of God. And by His purpose we are brought to the knowledge of self. We are thus recovered out of the ignorance and bondage under which we before lay. By owing to ourselves this account we are more under the greater obligation to know that all purposes assigned us by God begins with Him. We know Him, because we are known of Him. This is how we come to know ourselves. The knowledge of self will never lead us to the knowledge of God, whereas the knowledge of God will reveal to us what it is that we are to learn about ourselves. We begin to recognize our divine selves being awakened to the truths revealed by God. We no longer define ourselves in terms of our limited human nature as a desecration of the image of God within us. We must learn to identify ourselves with that which is real in the eternal part. We contemplate the part of us made in the image and likeness of God, and claim our born again right. For, as we know thyself as His elect-child, we become empowered by all we have inside. So, we make it our purpose to know ourself. For, within us is hidden the treasure of treasures…the likeness of God. Through this realization, we can confidently and boldly declare with certainty that “I in Christ, and Christ in the Father, are one!” I in Christ 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

We are people of God. We are according to the faith of God’s elect. We are a people who have fully embraced God's revelation of Himself and His will for His people in Christ Jesus. We are the people purposed for the plan of salvation. We are the people who have the knowledge of the truth. We are the people that desire all to become God's vessels of grace and mercy for everyone and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. We are God’s people, and this is not a hard truth to comprehend. Why? Because we believe that God is, and always has been. That He condescended from the fullness of His spiritualness to step all the way down to humanity to show us Himself in the form that He created us. He came in His Son’s generation, who was always with Him in eternity, that we may be a chosen generation, peculiarly called from the sureness of the darkness of death to the certainty of the light of life. Now please understand the depth of this identification as we consider something of even greater height – you ready? It was even before the Son of God was sent for us that God the Father had, according to His foreknowledge, His pre-arrangement, His predestination, that namely us, would love Him, whom he foreknew, and what would follow is our being found to be fit to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. God termed us the “elect”. That's a very controversial subject. What goes into that elect is a faith, a wisdom, such a knowledge of the word of God that problems within the people in whom the love of God is not yet, or may never be perfected, results in divisiveness. God does not think like man. God is finite in no meaning of the word. God is necessary, and our God is the first cause in all things. But He is not all things. He cannot be sin. He cannot be evil. He cannot be absent. And God is not bound. And this is why we who are people of God have free choice to come to know the pursuit of reason with God and to come to the truth of understanding that which appears controversial to the human mind. This shows there is coextensive in the will of God - His order to determine who's elect and His omniscient knowledge of our free choice, they run together. This is that great power given us at creation. There's not one more powerful in the way God does things over the other. God's sovereignty does not outreach our free choice as it affects us. But eternity exists within God, and that means that God can look into the eternities future, the times past, and the thoughts and motives of the heart as present with Him. We experience present consequences based upon past decisions, choices, but have no sight into the next moment...except by faith. That is why we are chosen...our faith. Faith is that given by God to allow us to glimpse in part into what He already knows. We are held responsible for our choices. God knows what choices everyone will make. Our choice of accepting the Lord or rejecting the Lord, that is determining our eternal destination. God has always projected Himself before all men that He exists. As we know in reasoning with the word, God has always shared that He is there. And if man would reach out and pursue that light, God will give more light until eventually it accumulates to that gospel that brings that person to the knowledge and understanding of his or her lost condition and his or her need for Christ. It's not a case of if we see God or not, the bible tells us all man sees God, but the bible also tells us it's man's choice to accept or to reject Him. We are responsible for our decision to accept or reject the Lord. But at the same time, God has in His foreknowledge accepted us according to the choice, obviously that we've made to accept or reject Him too. So as a people we either choose God or we suppress the truth and walk away from Him. Choosing God makes us others. We must be always mindful of ourselves of who He's called us to be in Him. We can begin to see our point of recognition in events when God called a man to leave his own country, his very kindred, his father’s house to include a man chosen to lead a people into a wilderness. We are to be the “on earth” living example of what a people are like when they follow God’s way. And now we know there is that people beyond the elect; there is the election. The election is not a people of nationality. We are a people of nature having commonality in Jesus Christ – set apart for his services - under one head agreeing in the same manners and customs and governed by the same laws. We are a holy nation because we are consecrated and devoted to God reborn and sanctified by His holy spirit...peculiar. We are inspirationally different. We are a people that should be separate, not because we are self- righteous or think we deserve eternal life, but because following God’s teachings causes us to be different from those who do not follow them. If this is our faith, our greatest separation must be from the sinful conduct of the world. God does have a people favored. We embrace every word of God and we have a singular faith that is objective and is exclusively based on Jesus. Because of Christ, we have the living hope that every promise of God will come to pass and so we live with eager anticipation and confident expectation of the fulfillment of every word of God. We abide in undeserved grace sufficient for every occasion. And we who know something of God’s grace as believers, appropriately seek to “see” God’s grace at work in others. This does not mean that we compromise with sin, but it does mean we reflect the character of Christ in dealing with those we witness to by sharing the truth. God is composing His people to convey the truth that the new heaven and the new earth will include all peoples, tongues, kindreds, nations – diversities of one mind. This challenges us to take seriously our own practices, programs, prejudices, and preferences. We are a people who come to all with justness and grace. We build relationships for heaven. We come to know our sisters and brothers now who will be in the family of God. God’s people are dependent. We continually trust God with every part of our lives. We acknowledge that He has all the power, and we trust Him to work according to His will. This is the revelation of our faith no matter our circumstances. And it is by our circumstances that our faith increases. We thrive in the creation of God. Creation gives us the example that can be followed by those who believe in Jesus because His people can trust in the Creator and Sustainer of all things. We thrive spiritually because we are following His command to keep the Sabbath holy in obedience to Him. Once we were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Because we have this mercy, we have this distinctiveness from Christ as a family related by blood. Read these texts; Ephesians 3:14, 15; Hebrews 2:17; Colossians 1:20; Colossians 1:2; and Ephesians 2:13. The people of God are truly blood kith and kin. We share the same Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its name. We share the same elder brother, Christ, whose blood shed on the cross has reconciled us to the heavenly Father. And we share a union with our spiritual others, brothers and sisters in Christ, who are reconciled to each other by the same blood of the cross. We are the peopled family that forms the centerpiece of God’s work in creation. We are that fruit multiplied. From the beginning God formulated His agenda in terms of a family. We are the people serving as the purpose of God’s intent that our faith would be indeed the perfection and completion of the former. We are to be the substance of that grace of faith that the faithful hoped for, and the evidence of the eye of the mind that the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body are the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation, as set to its seal that God is true. Under the sovereign decree of an all-wise God, the family is the vehicle by which His triune likeness will be disseminated to the entire universe made new. We are the family of God in Christ. Divine image is not a speculation. We see perfectly in Christ the image and the glory of God. It is by this example of Christ whereby we divinely understand the must need death of self. From the unspeakable riches of equality with God to the most impoverished death in antiquity, from heights unsearchable to depths unimaginable, from one polar extreme to another, this is the measure of the self-emptying death of Christ. It is history’s most perfect expression of sacrificial love. It is also the clearest revelation of what it means to manifest the image of God. In Jesus we see the likeness of the heavenly Father. On the cross we behold a picture of what God is like, and hence of what families created in his image are meant to be like. It is a picture of infinite love. God the Son emptied himself, to humble himself, to take on the form of a slave, and to submit to a slave’s death. This portrait is harmonical with what we know of Christ and God. The Godhead is other- oriented. Each Person is plurality-in-unity. As the people of God, bearing His image, we must be found capable of this kind of love. Prepared to lay out ourselves with all possible concern for another to convert them from the error of their way to save a soul from death. We are others who strive for the salvation of the whole man. Though our sins may be still, they will be pardoned, our service of conversion will prevent a multitude of sins not just in the others to whom we are sent, but many also may be prevented in others that they may have an influence upon. We are a people who examine ourselves. Our concern for sinners must be stronger than our condemnation of sin. God abominates sin. It represents a personal affront. It diminishes his glory in the world and effaces the radiance of men and women created in his image. But God is love. He elects out of the multitude a chosen people to give glory to His image. Noah, Abraham, but God has a last time people called to fidelity to His covenant and the manifestation of His character throughout the world. Still to come, the ultimate unveiling of God’s Israel. From time immemorial it was God’s intention to carve out a new family whose hearts would be purged of the defect of sin and filled with the law of love, an impulse empowered by the indwelling Spirit of God himself. Creation eagerly awaits the emergence of this family! Isaiah prophesied of this Israel as the servant of the Lord. Isaiah 42:6; 49:6 We are to be the arrival of the indwelling presence of God signaled by the prophets, the glory of God’s image inscribed on human hearts, the displacement of sin by the internal law of love. Christ, whose own self- emptying death on the cross represented the expression of divine love, now comes to reside in us. It is absolutely essential to acknowledge that the indwelling love of Christ is bestowed within a plurality of human hearts. This is not to suggest that Christ does not indwell hearts individually. He most certainly does, but not hearts isolated from other hearts. Ultimately, it is a family of hearts that Christ comes to indwell. By vanquishing our sin in these two respects - paying sin’s penalty and purging sin’s power - Christ fits us for the family of God. Costly to him and priceless to us is our induction into the body of Christ. Because of Jesus Christ, single human beings, individuals can be saved from the wrath of God and assured seats in a heavenly eternity. While this reality is not to be diminished in any way but rather prized with full-throated praise, we do not view God’s work through the individualistic lens of our day. The Godhead is spiritual unity. And by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. And above all, within the people of God purposed by election in and by Christ, the larger dimensions of God’s plans for creation receive breathtaking definition. God is wholly other. Completely different than all other things. The essential of all holiness. We must relate to him by his self-revelation in the person of Christ Jesus, and through the bible. The angels cry holy, holy, holy. In Christ there is none other. How do we identify with none other name? God elected Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. When an individual is elected, it means his descendants are also elected. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it. God has declared His as “mine elect”. This is very important to understand the “others” of God. In the same sense, God has chosen Jesus Christ, His elect, the seed of Abraham, so that the people who have relation with Him, who belong to Him, also become the elect or chosen “people of God”. Jesus Christ being God’s chosen one has fulfilled God’s choice of Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment of the true Israel. But we must remember this truth – they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Though God can call a person, if that person is not faithful to God his or her calling can be abrogated. The purpose of God’s calling is for service, not for salvation. The one called has a choice. The calling and election must be made sure. In Christ unity transcends all other human unity and it binds God’s people together. The people of God are those chosen by him to fulfill his purpose, and this sense of being called and chosen brings a strong sense of solidarity to us. We cannot be defined apart from Christ who is the source of our life. The term “people of God” makes a definite claim that faithful believers all, regardless are the true Israel of God. There is a biblical theme of the people of God concerning the continuity that God’s people will be made up of all mankind. God gives exceptional attention to His people throughout biblical history. Israel was to demonstrate unswerving, exclusive loyalty to the Lord. Second, Israel was to remember that she had been chosen for a special relationship without any merit of her own. Third, Israel, as the people of God, was to remember her past life of slavery and use this to promote a proper worship of God. Fourth, Israel was not to repeat the social oppression that she experienced in Egypt, but rather establish a familial cooperative spirit based upon justice and righteousness. We learn how the fracturing of Israel into two peoples was not just a rejection of God but an opportunity for the world to begin to impose error to bring about disregard for the truth of God. During the period of Israel’s decline we are introduced to an important dimension in our understanding of the people of God. The people of God are not simply those of physical Israel; or even the majority of Israel. The true or real people of God are the few, the “remnant”, the children of Israel who live for God in faithfulness to his covenant. Remnant thought attributes to God His involvement in the world, acknowledging His transcendence and immanence, bringing together the themes of judgment and salvation. At its heart, however, lay the conviction that even when Israel or Judah were at their worst, there was always a small group of faithful believers who held on to true religion. The people as a whole might have failed spectacularly, but there were still some who could provide a bridge to forgiveness and restoration. It was these people, the true people of God, the “others” as it were, in whom God would work his resolution for the end of history and the vindication of God’s justice. The faithful ones are described as “the people that know their God”. At this last time, another element is added to the dimension of the people of God. God’s people in our day would not only be from among the elect, we will be the remnant of the elect. God’s people would be a new people unlike any generation called to purpose. God’s plan for Israel would not rest alone in the humanity of the faithful remnant, but in God’s action to inaugurate a new people whose ascent is unto God. We will be purified, illumined, and perfected in the likeness of Christ. Spiritual senses will mirror the divine image of the heavenly Jerusalem. Flooded with all these intellectual lights, our mind turns into a house of God that is inhabited by the divine Wisdom. Our mind, then, becomes a son, a daughter, a bride, and a friend of God. It becomes a coheir of Christ. It also becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit, which is founded on faith, raised through hope, and dedicated to God through holiness of mind and body. It is the most sincere love of Christ that brings this about, a love which is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Now God can be contemplated, not only outside ourselves and inside ourselves, but also above ourselves: outside ourselves through his vestiges; inside ourselves through his image; and above ourselves by means of the light that is positioned above our mind. This is the light of the eternal truth itself, since our mind itself is shaped immediately by truth itself. “He Who Is” is our unity. And we will be in the last time constantly under the gaze of this purest Being who is supremely One. Our God will be most present. The fracture and division within relational units is this world’s most besetting darkness. A striking unity pervades the family of God. We are others not of the world but called to shine radiantly, transforming the surroundings as beacons of light. Our oneness with others is to develop a common bond in Christ in a faith relationship. The last time people of God are considered as the remnant people of God. These profess exceptional allegiance to God and His kingdom, even in the face of the dragon’s beast and its image’s deception and oppression. The “people of God” are not ethnically defined: they come from “every nation, tribe, people and language.” The people are elected “in Christ” to be a holy “people of God.” We are called for the service of God in order to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the Lord and to herald the dire warnings for the soon coming of Christ. We are a mixed society comprising the called of God. Thus, faith in Christ and sincerity to biblical truth are the hallmarks of the “people of God.” God’s election of the chosen is based upon his grace, the election of grace, because they respond to the gospel call in obedient faith that is absolutely necessary. As the people of God, we are others and we need to live lives that are separate from sin. We must not forget to remain a separate and distinct people of God. We must not have fellowship with the sinful practices of the world around us. We must come out and away from sin and live holy lives in the fear of God. Let us continue to preach and teach against sin and worldliness and encourage our families to live pure and holy lives. Now let us come to the point of why we are others. There is an agenda that God has for His last time people. Why is it that we have not ceased to sin? Why hasn’t our message been effectual when it comes to being God’s witnesses in the world? Have we chosen our own agenda, rather than following God’s? We think that what God wants is more people in the church, and that his goal is to build up the church with ever greater numbers in the last day. Could it be that we are not understanding the communal calling and the communal task. Is God’s goal about numbers or at most is that a by-product of God’s work in the world? It is important to have a strong and vibrant church for the assembling of those who want truth, but if we set out to achieve that with numbers, then we will not reach that goal, for that is not the goal that God has set before us. Remember the scripture - for it is written, rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Let us understand the present case in reading II Timothy 3. The strength of delusion will approach the very elect. Few will find the strait gate. Many who tasted the good word and been enlightened will fall away. The election purposed by God will stand. What then is the goal of God’s people? T o be the people of faith who display the love of God in the life for the world to see. And the LORD said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. Acknowledging God’s sovereign rule in our lives and obeying him in everything that we do will not show in numbers. The whole of our faith is in Christ. There are to be 144000 who are the revelation of God, showing in relationship of love and obedience, truth and faith, the full stature of Jesus. These will show the individual commitment through the communal tasks of God’s people rooted to Christ to be members of his body. As others than the world we will reveal that God is not distant and impersonal; we reveal a God who is relational. Relational in that God calls us His sons, His daughters, His friends. We are others as individuals, but never alone. We are different and diverse people who have various gifts from God. We eschew superficial, hypocritical, harsh, unforgiving, and self-righteous judgment. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit we discernably speak the truth in love while prayerfully and gently confronting erring brothers or sisters in Christ. God’s people hold a special bond with each other and whose relationships are filled with temperateness and regard. God created us with a need for community and a desire for connection. God is gathering a people who walk beside each other in life, helping to strengthen and encourage one another. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. We counsel one another even as somethings are hard sayings. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe with compassion, kindness, humbleness, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of us have a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgives us. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds us all together in perfect unity. We can have this experience of friendship because of Jesus. Love in the last time will not be comfortable. But it is the primary way we show others that we belong to Jesus Christ. We must keep focus on the revelation of Jesus Christ. This uncertain world is descending into chaos. Many will lose their witness. No sacrifice of truth is to be made. Conflict will bring pain to close relationships. Our comfort comes not in explaining God’s purposes but in trusting them. We have this consolation – the final judgment is near. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

Bible Courses - 70 Core Classes - 1 2 3 4 5 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 6 Introduction Isaiah 28:10 Price Duration $0 13 Minutes Read More What is Truth? 1 John 4:16 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More Father, Word, and Holy Ghost - Part 1 Matthew 13:45, 46 Price Duration $0 5 Minutes Read More God, the Father - Part 2 Proverbs 1:7 Price Duration $0 12 Minutes Read More Creation of Time - Part 3 Galatians 4:4 Price Duration $0 20 Minutes Read More The Son, Jesus' Name - Part 4 Psalms 138:2 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More The Son, the Creator - Part 5 John 1:1-5 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More The Son, who is Michael? - Part 6 Exodus 3:2 Price Duration $0 33 Minutes Read More The Son, the Angel of the Covenant - Part 7 Malachi 3:1-3 Price Duration $0 15 Minutes Read More Who the Holy Spirit is, Active Agent - Part 8 Hebrews 11:3 Price Duration $0 6 Minutes Read More Who the Holy Spirit is, the Breath - Part 9 Psalms 104:30 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More Who the Holy Spirit is, Baptism - Part 10 Luke 2:40 Price Duration $0 9 Minutes Read More 1 2 3 4 5 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 6 Download

OnlineBibleCourse: Deepen your search for truth in the bible and learn about Christ. Sounds of Manna -Hymn 10 - Jesus Paid It All Play Video Free books! Play Video Be Transformed Play Video The Truth Watch Now Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Close DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED ARE EXTRACTS, EXCERPTS, OR COMPILATIONS AND ARE NOT COPYEDITED. MANY WORKS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ARE USED. THERE IS NO AUTHOR HERE…IT IS A COMPILATION FOR YOUR LEARNING Schedule Learn at your own pace. Grade your own quizzes. No schedule. No deadline. Contact He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone , and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Revelation 2:17 KJV Online Bible Courses No Cost *New Blog Entries Added Weekly* Bible Prophecy Charts & Maps Learn where we are in the stream of time Bible Helpful Links From reputable sources About About White Stone Bible Study Online/OnlineBibleCourse Have you had questions about the Bible? Perhaps you just want to know more about the life of Jesus or how to become a better person. Or, rather, you have come here to learn more about prophecy and the events that are coming upon this earth. Well, put on your seatbelt, because you are about to have a bumpy ride; these studies may cause you to question long-held church traditions that might make you ponder and wonder...

Bible Maps, Prophecy Charts, Bible Images, Bible Charts, 1844 Chart Learning Tools For Bible Study Online In this area, you will find a treasure trove of bible maps, charts, images, and videos that we have collected over years from various vetted sources. Please feel free to take a look. If you need any explanation for anything, just contact us. Principle Policy Practice "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalms 119:105