His Love Ministries

1 JOHN 2:10 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST LOVE OTHER CHRISTIANS PART 2

1 John 2:10 says He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  This verse tells me that a person gives proof they are saved because they love their brother and that we neither offend nor are we offended by our brother since it says in 1Co 13:7 that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  It also tells me that because we are walking in the light, in other words, close intimate fellowship with God we can see the places where we might stumble and thus avoid them.  It also allows us to see things from God's perspective, not ours. Is this the pattern of your life?
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 9:6 WHO ARE THE TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD?

Romans 9:6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.
THE TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD (6-29)
ARE CHILDREN OF PROMISE, NOT CHILDREN OF FLESH (6-13)
Paul's train of thought unfolds as follows in these verses. Because God's election of Israel did not depend on natural descent (vv. 6-10) or human merit (vv. 11-14), Israel's disobedience cannot nullify God's determined purpose for the nation.
The failure of the Jews to respond to the gospel of Christ did not mean God’s Word had failed. Instead, this rejection was simply the current example of the principle of God’s sovereign choice established in the Old Testament. Paul reminded his readers of a truth he had presented earlier: For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, that is, spiritual Israel (cf. 2:28–29).[1]
They are not all Israel who have descended from Israel (6)
Ro 9:6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel
The word of God that was in Paul's mind was evidently God's revelation of His plans for Israel in the Old Testament. God revealed that He had chosen Israel to be a kingdom of priests (Exod. 19:5-6). The Israelites were to function as priests in the world by bringing the nations to God (cf. Isa. 42:6). They were to do this by demonstrating through their life in the Holy Land how glorious it can be to live under the government of God. Israel had failed to carry out God's purpose for her thus far and consequently had suffered His discipline. It looked as though the word that God had spoken concerning Israel's purpose had failed. The Greek word translated "failed" means "gone off its course," like a ship. Paul proceeded to show that God would accomplish His purpose for Israel in the rest of chapters 9—11.
Romans 9—11 contains 11 occurrences of the term 'Israel,' and in every case it refers to ethnic, or national, Israel. Never does the term include Gentiles within its meaning. The NT use of the term is identical with the Pauline sense in this section."
Saved Gentiles are also Abraham's seed, but they are not in view here. Paul was considering only two kinds of Israelites: natural (ethnic) Israelites, both saved and unsaved, and spiritual Israelites, saved natural Israelites.
The failure of the Jews to respond to the gospel of Christ did not mean God’s Word had failed. Instead, this rejection was simply the current example of the principle of God’s sovereign choice established in the Old Testament. Paul reminded his readers of a truth he had presented earlier: For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, that is, spiritual Israel (cf. 2:28–29).[1]
That is a very important statement: For they are not Israel who are of Israel.  What does he mean by that?  He means that God never promises unconditionally to each offspring of Abraham covenant blessing just because he is an offspring of Abraham.  Did you get that?  You see, the Jew believes that because he is fleshly descending from Abraham he therefore is included in the covenant; because he is a Jew by birth, he is therefore a child of promise.  He is therefore redeemed, if you want to put it in our manner of speaking.  He is therefore saved.  He is therefore going to go to heaven.  Nevertheless, God never intended that all Israel would be redeemed Israel, for they are not all the true Israel who are of the fleshly Israel.
The nation was elected to privilege but only individuals are elected to salvation.  The real Israel is the Israel of faith and throughout all of the history of Israel, there have been faithless Jews.  It is not anything just common to the time of Christ.
In fact, if you go to chapter 11 you will find that in verse 4 during the time of Elijah, go way back, in the time of Elijah, verse 4, God says, "I have reserved to Myself seven-thousand men who've not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."  But what about the multiplied tens of thousands of others?  They had bowed the knee to Baal, they had entered into paganism.  Even in Elijah's time all Israel was not true Israel.
This is merely an application of our Lord’s words, That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It is not what we get from our fathers and mothers that ensures our place in the family of God.”[1]
Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, Hebrews 11:4, the great chapter on faith. It says in verse 4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.  Righteousness did not come because he was born of Adam.  Righteousness did not come because he offered a sacrifice.  Righteousness came because he trusted in a Christ to come and offered an excellent sacrifice that was born of his righteousness,
John chapter 8, same concept, verse 39, but here Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders and their hope, of course, is in their Abrahamic descent.  They believe they are part of the kingdom because they were born of the seed of Abraham.  They say in verse 33, "We are Abraham's seed," that is their claim to fame.  In verse 39, they answered and said, "Abraham is our father.” That makes us invincible.  Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham."  Now what does he mean by that? They were Abraham's children physically but he says if you were really Abraham's children spiritually, you would do the things that he did.  And what did he do?  He did righteous things. 
Look at Galatians chapter 3 for another scripture that will help us understand this.  Chapter 3:6, "Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore that they who are of faith the same are the children of Abraham."  Verse 9: "So then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."  That is the point.  So when we go back to Romans chapter 9 we really are hearing an echo of what he said in Romans chapter 2 verses 28 and 29, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God.
Galatians 3:29 it says, "If you are Christ's then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.”  If you are Christ's then you are really Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. 
Christians believe in Christ. The Christ of the early Christian community and of all true Christians everywhere, is the Christ of the New Testament, which means that he is the Son of God who became a man for our salvation. This is the one on whom the Christians believed. Moreover, this belief was no mere intellectual conviction. I have often said that faith (or belief) has three elements. The first is its intellectual content: who Jesus is and what he has done for our salvation. The second is the emotional part being broken over our sin and being moved by Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. The third is personal commitment, the most important part of all. It means giving oneself to Jesus, becoming his, taking up his cross, being a disciple.
This is what the believers in Antioch had done. They had committed themselves to Jesus so thoroughly that the pagans who looked on said, “They are Christ ones, Christians.”
Christians follow Christ. There was a second characteristic of these first Christians, which is also characteristic of all true Christians at all times. It is wrapped up in the matter of commitment, as I have just indicated: Christians are followers of Jesus. That is, if they have believed on him in a saving way and not merely by some mere mental intellectual assent to his deity, then they are following him on the path he sets before them. That path is the path of obedience, and as they walk along it, they become increasingly like the one they are following and obeying.
This is an important dimension of what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian means to believe on Jesus, surely. But it also means to be following Jesus and thus becoming increasingly like him. A true Christian is someone who is becoming like Jesus Christ.
Christians witness to Christ. I think there must have been another reason why the early Christians were called Christians, and it is that they were apparently always talking about their Savior. The name of Jesus was constantly on their tongues, his gospel consistently on their hearts, and his glory uppermost in their minds. They were always looking for others whom they could tell about him, and they were always praying and working at their witness so that these others might be saved.
It is significant in this respect that the first great missionary movement of the church began in Antioch. We are told about it in Acts 13: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (vv. 2–3). Paul undertook three missionary journeys at the direction of this church and with accountability to it, for at the end of each assignment he reported to the congregation what God had done to save other Gentiles and some Jews through him.
We cannot forget that Jesus himself said that his followers would be witnesses: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Christians learn more and more about Christ. Here is a fourth thing that is characteristic of true Christians. They want to learn more about Jesus. We are told of the Christians at Antioch that after Barnabas had gone to their city to encourage the infant church in its faith, he then went to Tarsus in Turkey to look for Paul, whom he remembered from earlier days (Acts 11:22–25). When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch so that “for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people” (v. 26a). It is significant that it was immediately after this, after the Christians at Antioch had been carefully taught about Jesus, that they “were first called Christians” (v. 26b).
As they learn about Jesus Christ, Christians naturally become more like him, intensify their love for him, and witness about him to others.[1]
A Time for Self-Examination
The point of all this is that each of us who calls himself or herself a Christian should be led to self-examination. And what we should ask ourselves is: “Am I a true Christian, or am I a Christian in name only?” This is a serious question and a necessary one. For if Israel—with all the spiritual advantages that Paul mentions in Romans 9—could be composed of thousands or even millions who were not true Israel, it is certain that the visible church of Jesus Christ in our day is filled with many who are actually unbelievers.
Paul told the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5a).
Peter told his readers, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10a).[1]
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
 

1 JOHN 2:9 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST LOVE OTHER CHRISTIANS

1 John 2:9 reads as follows; He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.  What this verse says is that you cannot be a true Christian and hate your fellow Christian brother.  So, to all you folks out there that claim to be a Christian and say you are going to heaven, this means you will be going to church with other believers.  If you are always saying I am saved but I am not going to church with all of those hypocrites, then the Bible says you are not really saved and are not going to heaven.  Because if you really were saved, then you would want to be with the people of God.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 9:4-5 THE ISRAELITES BLESSINGS PART 2

The Receiving Of The Law (Deut. 5:1–22),
This would refer to (1) Moses’ receiving the Law on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exod. 19–20)
One of the chief criticisms of Paul by his Jewish countrymen seems to have been his alleged disregard for the law, since he taught that salvation was by grace through the atoning work of Christ and not by law-keeping.
However, Paul does not discount the law’s value. In fact, he has already affirmed its superlative value in Romans 3, where he first raised the matter of Jewish advantages. “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew?” he asked. The answer: “Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God” (vv. 1–2). The phrase “the receiving of the law” means the same thing here.
This extraordinary advantage was possessed by no other nation until the Christian era, when the gospel of God’s grace in Christ and the books that taught it were deliberately taken to the entire world by the apostles and early missionaries in obedience to Christ’s express command.[1]
the temple worship (latreia, “sacred service,” which may also include service in the tabernacle),
David’s developing the Temple service, and (2) possibly the Tabernacle of the Wilderness Wandering Period (cf. Exod. 25–40 and Leviticus).
This phrase refers to the extensive set of regulations for the religious rituals to be practiced first at the tabernacle and then at the temple in Jerusalem. It involves the construction of the temple itself, the laws governing the various sacrifices, and the times of the year for and nature of the specified holy days of Israel.                          
            The importance of these things is that they were designed to show the way in which a sinful human being could approach the thrice holy God. God must be approached by means of a blood sacrifice, which testified to the gravity of sin (“the wages of sin is death,” Rom. 6:23) and to the way in which an innocent substitute could die in the sinner’s place. Eventually all such sacrifices, which were only figures of the ultimate and true sacrifice, were brought to completion and fulfilled by Jesus Christ.[1]
Jer 31:35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): 36 "If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD: "If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.
and the promises (esp. of the coming Messiah).
Since “the covenants” are mentioned earlier, “the promises” speak of those promises contained within the covenants and also refer to the Messiah (e.g. Gen. 3:15; 49:10; Deut. 18:15, 18–19; 2 Sam. 7; Ps. 16:10, 22; 118:22; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 11:1–5; 53; Dan. 7:13, 27; Micah 5:2–5a; Zech. 2:6–13; 6:12–13; 9:9; 11:12.
These promises (covenants) are both unconditional and conditional. They were unconditional as far as God’s performance (cf. Gen. 15:12–21), but conditional on mankind’s faith and obedience (cf. Gen. 15:6 and Rom. 4). Only Israel had God’s self-revelation before the coming of Christ.[1]
Ro 9:5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
V (5) Also the Israelites were in the line of promise from its beginning in
the patriarchs (cf. Matt. 1:1–16;
The “patriarchs” are the three fathers of the Jewish nation, namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though in a looser sense such distinguished ancestors as Moses and David should also be included. These were all illustrious men to whom God revealed himself in special ways and through whom he worked to call out and bless his ancient people. To have such devout, saintly, and influential men in one’s past is rightly regarded by Paul as a significant national distinction of which Jewish people could all justly be proud[1] Genesis 12–50 (cf. Rom. 11:28; Deut. 7:8; 10:15).
“From whom is the Christ according to the flesh” This referred to the physical lineage of the Messiah, the Anointed One, God’s special chosen servant who would accomplish God’s promises and plans, (cf. 10:6).
The term “Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew “Anointed One.” In the OT, three groups of leaders were anointed with special holy oil (1) kings of Israel, (2) high priests of Israel, and (3) prophets of Israel. It was a symbol of God’s choosing and equipping them for His service. Jesus fulfilled all three of these anointed offices (cf. Heb. 1:2–3). He is God’s full revelation because He was God incarnate (cf. Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Micah 5:2–5a; Col. 1:13–20).[1]
Ro 1:3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, to its fulfillment in the Messiah,
The human ancestry of Christ. Everything Paul has said to this point would have been thoroughly echoed by his Jewish opponents, for they, too, regarded all these spiritual advantages highly, though they misunderstood and misused some of them. This is not the case with the last item Paul mentions, for they would have understood at once that Paul is referring here to Jesus of Nazareth, and they had no intention of recognizing Jesus as their national Messiah. Yet Paul cannot leave this matter out, if for no other reason than that everything he has mentioned thus far leads up to Jesus.
This is not a random collection of items. There is actually a very close connection between these advantages, according to which each rightly leads to the one following and all lead to Christ. Adoption is the right starting point, for it places the source of salvation in God’s electing grace, just as is the case also for believers in Christ. Having chosen to enter into a special relationship with his people, the next step was for God to reveal himself to them in a special way, which is what the word glory describes. God has done that for us in Christ, for he is where God’s glory must be seen today (John 2:11; 2 Cor. 3:18). When God revealed himself to the people, as he did at Mount Sinai, it was to enter into special covenants or agreements with them, to give them the law by which they were to live, to show the way of salvation through the temple rituals, and to point forward the full realization of their spiritual inheritance when the Messiah should at last be revealed.
The flow of God’s actions reaches back to the patriarchs, with which it began, and forward to the coming of Jesus, in whom it culminates (v. 5). These verses are as full and reasoned a statement of the blessings of God to Israel and the spiritual advantages of Old Testament religion as could possibly be given. Israel truly lacked nothing. The nation was enriched with every spiritual blessing and advantage.[1]
 
Who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. This is a clear affirmation of the deity of Messiah.[1].
Paul does not use Theos for Jesus often, but he does use it (cf. Acts 20:28; Titus 2:13; Phil. 2:6).
All the early church Fathers interpreted this text as referring to Jesus[1]
This is a very striking statement. For Paul is not only saying that the Messiah was born of Israel, that is, that he was a Jew. He is also saying that this Jewish Messiah, born of Israel according to the flesh, is, in fact, God. And he is saying it in plain language. If we substitute the name Jesus for Christ, which we can do, since Paul is obviously writing about Jesus, we have the statement: “Jesus, who is God over all, forever praised!” Or, to simplify it even further, “Jesus … is God over all.”
 The sentence means that Jesus is himself the only and most high God.
 “Who is over all” This also could be a descriptive phrase for God the Father or Jesus the Son. It does reflect Jesus’ statement of Matt. 28:19 and Paul’s in Col. 1:15–20. This majestic phrase showed the height of Israel’s folly in rejecting Jesus of Nazareth.
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
“Forever” This is literally the Greek vernacular phrase “unto the ages” (cf. Luke 1:33; Rom. 1:25; 11:36; Gal. 1:5; 1 Tim. 1:17).[1]
We have to admit at this point that there is an obvious restraint among the New Testament writers to say starkly that “Jesus is God.” And for good reason. Without explanation, a statement like this might be understood as teaching that God left heaven in order to come to earth in the person of the human Jesus, leaving heaven without his presence. Each of the New Testament writers knew that this is not an accurate picture. Each was aware of the doctrine of the Trinity, according to which God is described as being one God but existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Since Jesus is the Son of God, it was customary for them to call him that, rather than simply “God,” reserving the unembellished word God for God the Father.
This is why Jesus is not often called God explicitly.
Yet, although it is unusual to find Jesus called God for the reasons just given, it is not the case that he is never called God.
At the very beginning of that, Gospel of John writes: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (vv. 1–2, emphasis added).
A bit later, “the Word” is identified as Jesus (v. 14), so the text says that Jesus is God. True, the verses are written so as to distinguish the persons of the Father and Son within the Trinity. But they nevertheless identify Jesus as God explicitly.
Later in John’s Gospel, we find the same thing in Thomas’s great confession, which is the Gospel’s spiritual climax. “Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28).
Acts 20:28 is another important passage. Here Paul is speaking to elders of the church at Ephesus, telling them to, “be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” The blood that was the price of our redemption is the blood of Christ, but here it is called the blood of God. The only way Paul could make this identification is by thinking of Christ as being God so directly and naturally, that what he posits of one can without any forcefulness be said of the other.
Hebrews 1:8 calls Jesus “God” by applying Psalm 45:6–7 to him: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever. …”
The best example of an identification of Jesus with God in Paul’s writings, apart from our text, is Titus 2:13–14, where Paul writes, “We wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. …” Apart from the context, the words God and Savior could mean only “God the Father and God the Son.” But since Paul is writing of the second coming and sudden appearance of Jesus, both words must refer to him, for it is not God the Father who is going to appear suddenly but rather “our great God and Savior,” who is Jesus.
Therefore, it is not true that Paul never identifies Jesus with God explicitly. He does, as do other New Testament writers, in spite of the discretion and care with which they usually write. However, even if it were the case that Paul nowhere else explicitly identifies Jesus as God, that fact alone does not prove that he cannot do it here—which, in fact, he does.
I like what John Calvin says of the attempt to separate God from Christ by splitting up the text in the way I have described. He writes wisely, “To separate this clause from the rest of the context for the purpose of depriving Christ of this clear witness to his divinity is a bold attempt to create darkness where there is full light.”
Even better is the judgment of Robert Haldane: “The Scriptures have many real difficulties, which are calculated to try or to increase the faith and patience of the Christian, and are evidently designed to enlarge his acquaintance with the Word of God by obliging him more diligently to search into them [sic] and place his dependence on the Spirit of truth. But when language as clear as in the present passage is perverted to avoid recognizing the obvious truth contained in the divine testimony, it more fully manifests the depravity of human nature and the rooted enmity of the carnal mind against God, than the grossest works of the flesh.”
Like many other commentators and Bible teachers, I find Romans 9:5 to be one of the most beautiful testimonies to the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ in the entire Bible.
Lessons
To whom much is given, much is required
Lu 12:46 "the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
To be saved, you have to believe that Jesus is God and in Him only can you be saved
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 JOHN 2:8 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST DEMONSTRATE WHO HE IS BY THEIR LOVE PART 4

1 JOHN 2.8  Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
 Lets look at 1 John 2:8 one last time.  It says Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.  John says Jesus is love and we love like Him because of the Holy Spirit. Ro 5:5 says the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And that ultimately the victory over evil or darkness will be won because 1 John 5:5 says Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

ROMANS 9:4 THE ISRAELITES BLESSINGS PART 1

Romans 9:4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
So immediately after having expressed his great love for his people, he writes two sentences that explain the genuine and admirable advantages they possess. [1]
In this chapter Paul is going to say that salvation is of God’s grace entirely. But before he does, he reminds us that there are nevertheless very great advantages even to the outward forms of God’s revealed religion.
 
This series of NOUN PHRASES spells out in graphic detail the privileges of Israel. Their unbelief was all the more blamable in light of these advantages. To whom much is given, much is required Luke 12:48![1]
FOR ISRAEL, THEY ARE THE RECIPIENTS OF MANY BLESSINGS (4-5)
Ro 9:4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
Paul then listed the spiritual privileges which belonged to the people of Israel as God’s chosen nation:
“Israelites” - This was the OT covenant name for Abraham’s seed. Jacob’s name after a pivotal encounter with God was changed to Israel (cf. Gen. 32:28). It became the collective title for the Jewish nation.[1]
the adoption as sons - (cf. Ex. 4:22 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.),
This is the only place in the New Testament where adoption is used of Israel. Normally it is used of believers in Jesus Christ, which is how Paul has used it thus far in Romans (Rom. 8:15, 23). When it is used of believers it refers to their new status before God as his spiritual sons and daughters resulting from redemption and the new birth. When it is used of Israel, as here, it refers to God’s selection of the Jews as an elect nation through which he would bring salvation to the world.
In the OT the PLURAL of “sons” usually referred to the angels (cf. Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Dan. 3:25; Ps. 29:1; 89:6–7), while the SINGULAR referred to (1) the Israeli King (cf. 2Sam. 7:14); (2) the nation (cf. Exod. 4:22, 23; Deut. 14:1; Hosea 11:1); (3) the Messiah (cf. Ps. 2:7); or (4) it can refer to humans (cf. Deut. 32:5; Ps. 73:15; Ezek. 2:1; Hos. 1:10. Gen. 6:2 is ambiguous; it could be either). In the NT it refers to one who belongs to the family of God.[1]
De 7:7 "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 "but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Paul’s major metaphor for salvation was “adoption,” while Peter and John’s was “born again.” They are both family figures of speech. It is not a Jewish, but a Roman, figure of speech. Adoption was a very expensive and time consuming legal procedure under Roman law. Once adopted the person was considered a new person who could not be legally disowned or killed by their adoptive father.[1]
the divine glory - The Hebrew root meant “to be heavy” which was a metaphor for that which was valuable. Here it refers to (1) God’s revealing Himself on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exod. 19:18–19); or (2) the Shekinah cloud of glory which led the Israelites during the Wilderness Wandering Period (cf. Exod. 40:34–38). YHWH uniquely revealed Himself to Israel. YHWH’s presence was referred to as His glory (cf. 1 Kgs. 8:10–11; Ezek. 1:28).[1].
In the Old Testament “glory” usually refers to the visible symbol of the presence of God described by later Judaism as the Shekinah, and that this is what “glory” probably refers to here.
This visible symbol of God’s presence seems to have taken a variety of forms. It appeared first at the time of the exodus from Egypt, when it was a great cloud separating the fleeing nation from the pursuing Egyptians. This cloud guided them during the years of their desert wandering, protecting them from the sun by day and turning into a pillar of fire by night to give both light and warmth to their encampment. Later the glory descended on Mount Sinai as a dark cloud accompanied by thunder and lightning when the law was given to Moses (Exod. 24:16–17). Later it filled the tabernacle (Exod. 40:34–38) and rested over the Ark of the Covenant within the Most Holy Place. Still later it settled down as an intense light above the Mercy Seat of the Ark between the wings of the cherubim (Lev. 16:2). From there, in the time of Ezekiel, it departed and returned to heaven in response to the escalating sins of the people (Ezek. 10; 11).
John Murray wrote, “This glory was the sign of God’s presence with Israel and certified to Israel that God dwelt among them and met with them.”
Ex 16:10 It came about as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 24:17; 40:34; 1Kings 8:11),
the covenants (a covenant is defined as promises, agreements, contracts, bond, pledges, treaties, bond)- (Gen. 15:18; 2 Sam. 7:12–16; 31:31–34),
Covenant is the means by which the one true God deals with His human creation. The concept of covenant, treaty, or agreement is crucial in understanding the biblical revelation.[1]
The Types of Covenants
There are two types of covenants in the Bible: conditional and unconditional. It is important to distinguish between these two types of covenants in order to have a clear picture of what the Bible teaches.
Conditional Covenants
A conditional covenant is a bilateral (two-sided) covenant in which a proposal of God to man is characterized by the formula: if you will, then I will where God promises to grant special blessings to man providing man fulfills certain conditions contained in the covenant. Man's failure to do so often results in punishment. Thus one's response to the covenant agreement brings either blessings or cursing’s. The blessings are secured by obedience and man must meet his conditions before God will meet His.
Two of the eight covenants of the Bible are conditional: The Edenic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant.
Unconditional Covenants
An unconditional covenant is a unilateral (one sided) covenant and is a sovereign act of God where He unconditionally obligates Himself to bring to pass definite blessings and conditions for the covenanted people.
This covenant is characterized by the formula: I will which declares God's determination to do as He promises. Blessings are secured by the grace of God. There may be conditions in the covenant by which God requests the covenanted one to fulfill out of gratitude, but they are not themselves the basis of God's fulfilling His promises.
 Six of the eight covenants are unconditional: The Adamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Palestinian or Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant.
Five of these eight covenants were made exclusively with Israel while the others were made with mankind in general. Only one of the five covenants made with Israel is conditional: The Mosaic Covenant. The other four covenants with Israel are all unconditional: the Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant.
Four things should be noted concerning the nature of the unconditional covenants made with Israel.
      First: they are literal (actual) covenants (promises) and their contents must be interpreted literally as well.
      Second: the covenants that God has made with Israel are eternal and are not in any way restricted or altered by time.
      Third: it is necessary to re-emphasize that these are unconditional covenants that were not nullified because of Israel's disobedience; because the covenants are unconditional and totally dependent upon God for fulfillment, their ultimate fulfillment can be expected.
Fourth: these covenants were made with a specific people: Israel. This point is brought out by Paul in Romans 9:4: who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.
This passage clearly points out that these covenants were made with the covenanted people and are Israel's possession.
This is brought out again in Ephesians 2:11-12 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
The Covenants with Israel
Five of the eight Bible covenants belong to the people of Israel and, as this passage notes, Gentiles were considered strangers from the covenants.
The Principle of the Timing of the Provisions
A covenant can be signed, sealed, and made a specific point of history, but this does not mean that all the provisions go immediately into effect.
In fact, three different things happen once a covenant is sealed:
first, some go into effect right away;
second, some provisions go into effect in the near future, which may be twenty-five years away or five hundred years away:
third, some provisions go into effect only in the distant prophetic future, not having been fulfilled to this day.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 JOHN 2:8 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST DEMONSTRATE WHO HE IS BY THEIR LOVE PART 3

1 JOHN 2.8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
 Let’s look at 1 John 2:8 once more. It says Again, a new commandment I write to you, We saw last time that the commandment to love was old, but new in quality. Jesus said in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, and how did He love us?  It tells us in 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren and Jesus said in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends

ROMANS 9:1-3 PAULS GREAT CONCERN FOR HIS PEOPLE THE ISRAELITES

Romans 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.  3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh
HIS GREAT CONCERN (1-3)
9:1–2 Verses 1 and 2 form one sentence in Greek. Paul is giving several reasons how they (the church at Rome) could know that he was telling the truth: (1) his Spirit-led conscience, v. 1; (2) his union with Christ, v. 1; and (3) his deep feelings for Israel, v. 2.
It was the tragic contrast between the Jews’ fierce unbelief and the joys of the gospel that brought tears to the eyes of both Jesus of Nazareth and the apostle Paul.[1]
Ro 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 9:2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
Christ, his conscience and the Holy Spirit bear witness to his great sorrow and grief (1-2)
Paul states three reasons why he believed he spoke the truth.
Christ
his conscience
Holy Spirit (cf. 8:14, 16
He would even be willing to be cut off from Christ for their sakes (3)
It is true that Paul knows he cannot actually be separated from Christ. That is what the previous chapter has proclaimed so forcefully. Paul’s words in chapter 9 are only hypothetical. But they are genuine nevertheless. For he is saying that, if it were possible, he could wish himself accursed from Christ if only his condemnation could achieve the salvation of the people he so fervently loved.
     When Paul looked at Christ, he rejoiced; but when he looked at the lost people of Israel, he wept. Like Moses (Ex. 32:30–35), he was willing to be cursed and separated from Christ if it would mean the salvation of Israel.
What a man this Paul was! He was willing to stay out of heaven for the sake of the saved (Phil. 1:22–24), and willing to go to hell for the sake of the lost.[1]
Philippians 1:22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
Like Moses
Ex 32:32 "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."33 And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
God had been giving the 10 commandments, but the people whom he had freed from slavery were doing precisely what he was prohibiting. They were even ascribing their liberation to the idol. Besides, their idolatrous celebration was undoubtedly leading to transgressions of each of the other commandments, too. They were dishonoring their parents, committing adultery, coveting, and doing many other evil things.
God said, “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation” (Exod. 32:10).
Instead, Moses interceded for the people, saying, (v. 11) Why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. If the situation were not so grim, the words would be funny, because God had just spoken to Moses of “your people” and here Moses was speaking to God of “your people.” It was as if neither wanted to be identified with the nation in its rebellious state.
Moses offered to give himself for his people to save them. But Moses could not save even himself, let alone them. He, too, was a sinner. On one occasion he had even committed murder. He could not be a substitute for his people. He could not die for them.
But there was one who could. Thus, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Gal. 4:4–5). This was the only adequate substitute for sinners, the Son of God himself. And Jesus’ future, yet foreseen death was the reason God did not destroy the people then and why he does not destroy people who believe on Jesus Christ today. Paul knew this, which is why he speaks hypothetically and not exactly as Moses did, though he echoes his words. He knew that Jesus died to receive the full outpouring of God’s wrath against sin so that those who come to God through faith in him might not experience God’s just wrath but rather grace. He knew it was the only way God saves anyone.
 
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 JOHN 2:8 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST DEMONSTRATE WHO HE IS BY THEIR LOVE PART 2

1 John 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
 1 John 2:8 says Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. In verse 7 we saw that John said it was an old commandment to love, but yet he says here it is a new commandment. Now which is it, it is both, it is old in that God commanded it in the Old Testament, but it is new in quality.  Jesus said it like this in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Is this the kind of love we have?

ROMANS 8:34-39 NOTHING SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD

Romans 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NKJV)
Ro 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Ro 8:34;
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
Even He cannot do both, accuse and justify at the same time. And since our justification resides in a Person, the Lord Jesus our righteousness, in whom we stand as uncondemned and unchargeable as the Son Himself, it is impossible, after having been justified, that we be again accused—and brought under condemnation.”[1]
Jesus Christ is God’s appointed Judge
Joh 5:22 "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 27 "and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
Ac 17:31 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
So Paul answered this question by stating, Christ Jesus. But Jesus is the very One whom the believer has trusted for salvation[1]
Paul cited four reasons.
First, He died for us and thereby removed our guilt. 1Th 5:10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Second, He arose from the dead and is therefore able to give life to those who trust Him (cf. John 11:25;
John 14:19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.).
Third, He has ascended to the position of supreme authority in heaven where He represents us (v. 29).
Fourth, He presently intercedes to the Father for our welfare Heb. 4:14-16;
Heb 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.; cf. Rom. 8:26).
1Jo 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous
Peter sinned against the Lord, but he was forgiven and restored to fellowship because of Jesus Christ. Luke 22:31–32 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has asked permission to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed especially for you that your own faith may not utterly fail”. He is interceding for each of us, a ministry that assures us that we are secure.[1]
Certainly the Judge will not condemn His own who are in Him by faith! (cf. Rom. 8:1)[1]
We may accuse ourselves, and men may accuse us; but God will never take us to court and accuse us. Jesus has already paid the penalty and we are secure in Him.[1]
Through such love we are more than conquerors over all things (35-39)
In Romans 8:31–34 Paul proved that God cannot fail us, but is it possible that we can fail Him? Suppose some great trial or temptation comes, and we fail? Then what? Paul deals with that problem in this final section and explains that nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ.[1]
Ro 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Joh 10:29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
              Present trials and sufferings are not an indication that God has withdrawn His love from us. The context (vv. 37, 39) shows that “the love of Christ” is His love for believers (not their love for Him; cf. 5:5)[1] Even though the Father allowed His Son to suffer, He did not stop loving Him. The Father deals with His adopted sons as He dealt with His Unique Son (cf. John 16:33). Paul suggested seven things, in increasing intensity, that a believer might experience—and he experienced them all (2 Cor. 11:23-28)—that some might think could come between a believer and Christ's love.
trouble (thilpsis, “pressure or distress”; mentioned frequently by Paul in 2 Cor.) or hardship (stenochōria, lit., “narrowness,” i.e., being pressed in, hemmed in, crowded) or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. These things—stated in increasing intensity—do not separate Christians from Christ; instead they are part of the “all things” (Rom. 8:28) God uses to bring them to conformity to His Son.
               Then Paul quoted Psalm 44:22 in verse 36 to remind his readers that in this life the people of God must face much affliction (cf. John 16:33) including even martyrdom for some. In the early days of the church one or more Christians were martyred every day, or faced the possibility of it. Their persecutors valued Christians’ lives as nothing more than animals to be butchered.
36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Suffering has always been the portion of the righteous (Ps. 44:22). The sufferings in view are the consequence of our identification with Christ.
Ac 5:41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.; 1 Pet. 2:21-25; 4:14-19).
 
Ro 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
In all these adversities (cf. “all things” in Rom. 8:28 and “all things” in v. 32 with all these things in v. 37), rather than being separated from Christ’s love, believers are more than conquerors (pres. tense, hypernikōmen, “keep on being conquerors to a greater degree” or “keep on winning a glorious victory”) through Him who loved us. Jesus Christ and His love for believers enable them to triumph (cf. 2 Cor. 2:14).[1]
Verses 37-39 express very eloquently the impregnability of our position as believers. "In all these things" is possibly the translation of a Hebraism meaning "despite all these things."
               The Greek word hypernikomen suggests "hyper-conquerors." Our victory is sure! The Cross is the great proof of God's love for us, and it is the basis for our victory. It proves that God is for us (v. 31).
Ro 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
God will continue to love us when we die, and He will continue to love us whatever may befall us now. He loves us on both sides of the grave. Helpful or hostile angelic beings cannot change God's commitment to us. Nothing that the present or future may hold can do so either. No force of any kind can remove us from His loving care.
               Paul listed the extremities of existence in this verse and the next.
Paul then ended his discussion on believers’ safety in Jesus Christ and the certainty of their sanctification with a positive declaration—For I am convinced (perf. Tense (something that is completed), “I stand convinced”; cf. 15:14) that nothing can separate believers from the love of God (God’s love for them, not their love for God; cf. v. 35).
Paul’s list of 10 items begins with death, where the list of 7 items in verse 35 ended. These elements in God’s universe include the extremes of existence:
The items mentioned are those that people dread (life, death, supernatural powers, above, below, any creature to cover any omissions).[1]
(1) death
               (2) or life, believers are in God’s presence); the extremes of created spiritual armies:
2Co 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
               (3) angels and (4) demons (angels would not and demons could not undo God’s relationship with His redeemed ones);
               (4) the extremes in time:
(5) the present and
(6) the future (nothing known now, e.g., the hardships listed in Rom. 8:35, or in the unknown time to come); spiritual enemies:
(7) powers (perhaps Satan and his demons; cf. Eph. 6:12; or possibly human governments);
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(8) height and
(9) depth (nothing overhead or underneath can suddenly come swooping down or up to sever believers from God’s love); the extremes in space: Space cannot separate us from His loving care either.
Paul may have used height and depth as astrological terms that were familiar in his day, hupsōma (height) referring to the high point, or zenith, of a star’s path, and bathos (depth) to its lowest point. If so, the idea is that Christ’s love secures a believer from the beginning to the end of life’s path. Or perhaps he used the terms to signify the infinity of space, which is endless in every direction. Either way, the basic meaning is that of
totality.[1]
(10) and everything in the entire created realm. Absolutely nothing in His Creation can thwart His purpose for believers in Christ. What a climactic way to affirm the certainty of believers’ salvation![1]
               Finally nothing in all creation can drive a wedge between the loving God and His redeemed people. That must include the behavior and belief of His own children as well. Not even the redeemed can remove themselves from God's love, which Christ Jesus has secured for them!
A review of this great chapter shows that the Christian is completely victorious.
Lessons:
We are free from judgment because Christ died for us and we have His righteousness.
We are free from defeat because Christ lives in us by His Spirit and we share His life.
We are free from discouragement because Christ is coming for us and we shall share His glory.
We are free from fear because Christ intercedes for us and we cannot be separated from His love.
If God be for us, who can be against us!
Donald Grey Barnhouse told a personal story that beautifully illustrates death’s powerlessness over Christians. When his wife died, his children were still quite young, and Dr. Barnhouse wondered how he could explain their mother’s death in a way their childish minds could understand. As they drove home from the funeral, a large truck passed them and briefly cast a dark shadow over the car. Immediately the father had the illustration he was looking for, and he asked the children, “Would you rather be run over by a truck or by the shadow of a truck?” “That’s easy, Daddy,” they replied. “We would rather get run over by the shadow, because that wouldn’t hurt.” Their father then said, “Well, children, your mother just went through the valley of the shadow of death, and there’s no pain there, either.”
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 JOHN 2:7 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST DEMONSTRATE WHO HE IS BY THEIR LOVE

Hi, I'm Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries. 1John 2:7 says Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. To understand this verse we need to go over to 1Jo 3:11 where we are told to love one another and also Leviticus 19:18 says to love our neighbor as yourself. John is saying that this old commandment is to love one another and has always existed since God began to reveal himself to man. Is this the kind of love you have?
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:31-33 IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
 
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
This carries Paul’s challenge to all doubters. There is no one on a par with God. The first question is general, What, then, shall we say in response to this? (cf. 4:1; 6:1; 9:14, 30) The obvious response to 8:28–30 would be to say “Hallelujah,” or to stand in open-mouthed amazement.[1]
8:31 The key to the believer's security is that, "God is for us." What He has done for us through His Son in the past and what He is doing for us through the Spirit in the present should give us confidence. He will certainly complete His work of salvation by glorifying us in the future (cf. Phil. 1:6). Nobody and nothing can stand in His way.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Ps 27:1-6
God is making all things work for us (Rom. 8:28). In His person and His providence, God is for us. Sometimes, like Jacob, we lament, “All these things are against me” (Gen. 42:36), when actually everything is working for us. The conclusion is obvious: “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
The believer needs to enter into each new day realizing that God is for him. There is no need to fear, for his loving Father desires only the best for His children, even if they must go through trials to receive His best.
         Jer. 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’ ”[1]
This leads to a series of six more specific questions. The first is, If God is for us, who can be against us? Obviously, Satan and his demonic hosts are against believers (cf. Eph. 6:11–13; 1 Peter 5:8), but they cannot ultimately prevail and triumph over believers. God is the self-existent One and the sovereign Creator and, since He is for believers, no one can oppose believers successfully.
He is for believers to the extent that[1]
Ro 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Spared not- old verb used about the offering of Isaac in Gen. 22:16. See Acts 20:29[1]
God's plan for us cost Him dearly. He did not spare His own Son (cf. Gen. 22). Having made the greatest possible sacrifice for us already, we can know that He will also do whatever else may be necessary to conform us to the image of His Son (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3).
John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
               Romans 5:8-10 and 8:32 appear to be unanswerable texts for those who deny the scriptural teaching of Christ's substitutionary atonement. These passages state plainly that, if Jesus gave Himself for us in atonement, everything else must follow because, having done the most that He could do in dying as our substitute, the lesser things—such as conviction of sin, repentance, grace, faith— must inevitably follow. God's great eternal purpose, expressed so beautifully in 8:28-30, must reach its end in glorification for all those for who trust in Him
The argument here is from the greater to the lesser. If when we were sinners, God gave us His best, now that we are God’s children, will He not give us all that we need? In Mt 6 Jesus used this same argument when He tried to convince people that it was foolish to worry and fear. God cares for the birds and sheep, and even for the lilies; surely He will care for you!
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

THE HOUSE BUILT ON SAND

Here we are in the United States having just come out of one storm and are now in the midst of another bad storm but this will pass and there will be other storms but there are also storms in our lives that come every single day. Are you prepared for those storms? I’m not talking about physical storms I’m talking about the trouble in families and jobs and our lives, that’s the kind of storms I’m talking about. A question for you today is Do you know the one that even the winds and the waves obey? The one the disciples said what kind of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him so when the trouble comes and the storms of life happen to you and your family and your job or whatever trouble it may be do you have that peace that passes all understanding from the Savior? Do you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? He said in John 14:27 my peace I give you not as the world gives you that I give a different kind of peace. Do you know the Lord and Savior when the storms of life come and are you prepared when the final storm comes that you will face of the end of life? Do you know The Savior? The one in Matthew 7:24-27 who said that the house that was built on sand and the storms in the wind and the rain and the trouble came and great was the Fall of that house, but the one that was built on the rock which is a picture of Jesus Christ, that house in the storms was protected and safe because that’s a picture of our salvation in Jesus Christ do you know Him?
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:29 FOR WHOM HE FOREKNEW, HE ALSO PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN

This is a most wonderful section of scripture in that we see that God foreknew (predetermined to save us) us so that He might conform (make us like Him) us to His image.  The purposes of God are so much greater than our puny mind can comprehend.  Isaiah 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. We use the Bible and come up with beliefs about what it teaches that put everything in a nice neat little box and call them theology.  Many of these are really good, but when we begin to read between the lines and say things that God never said then it becomes a problem.  This has been done to this wonderful passage and many others in the Bible.  Remember the Bible always teaches that God is sovereign, but man is responsible.  How this works is the mystery that is spoken of in the Isaiah 55:8-9 passage above and many others.  Many times we think we have God all figured out and yet we don’t.  Paul said it well in Philippians 3:12-14.  He said he had not attained, he had not arrived, but he pressed on towards the reason he was saved to be like Jesus Christ.  If Paul, the greatest Christian who has ever lived hadn’t figured it all out after 30 years of being a Christian then I really think we have a long way to go.  Also if Peter writes in his epistle of things being hard to understand and that people twist the scriptures to their own destruction then we need to really come down off of our opinion that we have it all figured out.  2 Peter 3:15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. The bottom line in this passage getting past all the controversy that can be brought up in this section, is that God decided (predetermined) in the past to save people that they would be made like his Son so that He (Jesus) would have the highest position among all those that He would save.  That is the thrust of the passage in a nutshell.  How God determined and who He determined would be saved is is a debate that only causes division in the body of Christ. I think the fact that it is absolutely the most wonderful gift that God could ever give us that He would save us and make us like Him.  That is the point.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
 

ROMANS 8:28 AND WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD

ALL THINGS - This means everything that happens to us.
Some people want to limit that to suffering or to pain. Verse 18 talks about suffering. But it's not limited in this context. Let’s just define it a little more.
First of all, good things work for our good. We all know that, but what about the other times?
Suffering works for our good
Suffering teaches us to hate sin.
Suffering also teaches us to see the evil that is in us.
Suffering also tends to drive out sin
Suffering also draws us closer to God, Jas 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Suffering is good because it confirms our sonship. Hebrews 12:7 says, "All the sons of God he scourges as any loving father would do to discipline and to perfect.
Suffering is good also because it makes us long for heaven
Temptation works for our good.
Because it sends us to our knees to pray. It drives us to God. It destroys our spiritual pride. It shows us where we're weak and vulnerable. Part of Peter's usefulness was that he lost the struggle so many times God could use him in his weakness.
It enables us to help others in the same struggle
Struggling causes us to lean on the strength of Christ. It causes us to learn the word of God so that we can defend ourselves. Struggling makes us desire heaven
Sin is bad, but it works for our good because God overrules its power and its effect
Sins teach us humility, they teach us brokenness, self-distrust, they drive us to God, they make us long for heaven just like our sufferings do, they let God display his wonderful grace and they cause us therefore, to praise him.
What are we saying, good things like God's nature and God's promises, and the word of God and prayer, and angels and other saints, that all works for our good. And bad things like suffering and temptation and sin work for our good by teaching us to hate sin, to see our fallenness, to be broken before God, to desire him, to desire to conform to Christ, they cause us to pray, to be humbled, to be thankful, to praise God, to long for heaven, all of those things.
When you say God causes all things to work together for good, please don't limit that to this life. That would be to misunderstand this. The good here is ultimate glory. That's where the passage takes you.
Joseph – “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:19–20).
David – God stopped him from becoming another Saul
Job - at the end of the story, when God restored his wealth and gave him a new family. God was developing Job’s character and confounding the supposed wisdom of Satan, who had said that God’s people serve him only because he makes them prosperous.[1]
Peter - Peter was restored, he would be stronger for his fall and able to strengthen his brethren.[1]
1Pe 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
TO THOSE WHO LOVE HIM
Paul identifies us as those that love God. Nothing is more revealing of being a Christian than that you love God. The people who love God are the people who enjoy the promise that God is causing everything to work together for their eternal good.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE

Hi, I'm Marty Mckenzie with His Love Ministries. It is the Christmas Season again, so lets not forget with all that the world will throw at us in the way of materialism, that Jesus is the reason for the season.  In Acts 20:35 Paul said, "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak.  And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" This year lets do little less for ourselves and find someone who needs Christ that we can show His love to, that's what this season is really all about.   
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
   John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
 Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 JOHN 2:6 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST DEMONSTRATE WHO HE IS BY THEIR LIFE

1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.  John is saying that the person who abides is one that is saved and has a close, intimate, and permanent relationship with Christ.  And because of that relationship we need to practice a life of obedience by living the same way Christ did.  The word walk means a habitual practicing of a certain way of life.  Here it is imitating Christ’s life.  Jesus said in John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. The only way we can truly live the life of Christ is if we are really saved and walking close to Him.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:26-27 THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES INTERCESSION FOR THE SAINTS ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD

THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (26-27)
Helps in our weakness as we pray (26a)
He says, "The Holy Spirit helps us in our infirmity." Singular, it is our longing for release from this
earth. He helps us in that. He explains, "For we know not what we should pray for as is necessary, But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us, with unuttered groanings." And I think that means that the Holy Spirit down within us in ways that are not the ways of articulate speech prays for us in the present environment, and struggles. We have two divine intercessors. We have one in heaven, who is at the right hand of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for us. Paul will refer to this in verse 34, and we also have the Holy Spirit within us, and he too prays that we might be released from the present troubles and trials, and he does it with groanings that are unuttered.
I do not know of any subject that has caused more perplexity for more Christians than the subject of prayer, unless perhaps it is the matter of knowing God’s will. And, of course, the two are related. They are related in this text as well as in other places, for the verses we are now studying speak of the Holy Spirit’s help in prayer, concluding that “he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (v. 27).
Christians who want to pray in accordance with God’s will find themselves asking: What should I pray for? How should I pray? Can I pray with confidence, “claiming” things by faith? Or do I have to make my prayers tentative, adding always, “If it be your will”?
What happens if I pray wrongly? Can prayer do harm? Does prayer get God to change his mind? Can it change God’s plans? If not, does it even matter if I pray?
I do not know any subject that has caused more perplexity and been more of a continuing problem for more believers than this one. But we have help in this area, the help of the Holy Spirit, which is great indeed. It is what Romans 8:26 and 27 are about.[1]
“In the Same Way”
These verses begin with the phrase “in the same way.” So we first need to ask what this refers to. It is a connecting phrase, of course, and most of the commentators link it to what immediately precedes. That is, they link it to the Christian’s hope. The idea seems to be that we endure sufferings in this life but that we are able to handle them in two ways: first, by hope, that is, by a sure and patient looking forward to the final redemption of our bodies; and second, by the help of the Holy Spirit in prayer.
That is a valid connection, of course. But I think that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is right when he links the apostle’s teaching about prayer in verses 26–27 to his teaching about prayer in verses 15–17. The earlier passage taught that the Holy Spirit enables us to pray, assuring us that we truly are God’s children and encouraging us to cry out “Abba, Father.” That teaching was followed by an extensive digression dealing with the sufferings endured in this life before we come into God’s presence. But then, having dealt with sufferings, Paul returns once more to the Spirit’s work in enabling us to pray, adding that the Spirit also “helps us in our weakness” (v. 26).
In other words, Paul returns to the subject of assurance, which is the chapter’s main theme. The point of these two verses is that the Holy Spirit’s help in prayer is another way we can know that we are God’s children and that nothing will ever separate us from his love.
               Notice that when Paul writes the word weakness he adds the word our, thereby putting himself in an identical position. In other words, the weakness that makes prayer difficult is not something that only new, baby, or immature Christians have. It is part of our common human condition. Even the greatest saints have had this difficulty.
The idea of the Holy Spirit coming alongside a Christian to help is the same in both cases. But the special meaning in the word used here in Romans is to help by bearing the Christian’s burden. It pictures our ignorance of what to pray for as a heavy load. We are struggling along under it, as it were. But the Holy Spirit comes alongside and helps us shoulder the load. He identifies with us in our weakness, as Jesus did by his incarnation, and he labors with us.
The second word Paul uses is intercession, saying that “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” An intercessor is a person who pleads one’s case. So the meaning is that the way the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to help and shoulder our burden is by pleading our case with God when we do not know how to do it. We do not know what to pray for, but the Holy Spirit does. So he prays for us, and God “who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit” and answers his very correct and powerful prayers wisely.
                But none of this is meant to suggest that we have nothing to do in prayer or have no responsibility to pray. We do have responsibility in prayer, which is made quite clear by the word helps. The apostle says that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” He does not eliminate our need to pray regularly and fervently.
                        Romans 8:26 and 27 imply or explicitly teach so many lessons about prayer that a number of them can be listed as a summary of what we have been learning.
We are supposed to pray. Regardless of the problems we may have with prayer—and we are reminded that the saints have all had problems with prayer at times—we are nevertheless supposed to pray. In fact, the Word of God commands us to pray. Indeed, we are told to “pray continually” (1 Thess. 4:17). Anything God tells us to do is for our good, and we are poorer if we fail to do it. Prayer is one of the great spiritual disciplines.
Do not expect prayer to be easy. Why should it be? Nothing else in the Christian life is easy. Why should prayer be any different? We should not expect simple or quick-fix solutions. Our contemporary American culture has conditioned us to want easy cure-alls. In the area of our sanctification we expect immediate victories either by a formula or spiritual experience. But God does not work that way. We are called to a struggle, and our perseverance in that struggle is itself a victory, even if the results are not visible or spectacular. And the Holy Spirit will help us bear our burden.
You do not have to feel good about it, though you will in most cases. You do not even have to see results. What is important is that you keep on, and keep on keeping on. One bit of verse puts it like this:
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle; face it; ’tis God’s gift.
Realize what you are doing when you pray. We are addressing ourselves to the great sovereign God of the universe and are presenting our adoration, confessions, thanksgivings and supplications to him. He is hearing these prayers and responding to them consistently, perfectly, and wisely out of his own inexhaustible abundance.
Does prayer get God to change his mind? Of course not! No reasonable person would want that—because if God’s way is perfect, as it is, to get him to change it would be to get him to become imperfect. If that ever happened, the universe would fall into disorder! Any thinking person wants God always to run things according to his own perfect will, not ours.
But here is a parallel question: Does prayer change things? The answer to that is Yes—because God who ordains the ends also ordains the means, and he has made prayer a means to those ends. He has promised us that prayer is effective. Because God has ordained that it should be this way. Jesus has told us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt. 7:7–8). James wrote, “… You do not have, because you do not ask God” (James 4:2), adding, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b). Remember, too, that when we are talking about change the chief thing that happens in prayer is that prayer changes us.
Be encouraged by these verses. It is true that “we do not know what we ought to pray for.” But the Holy Spirit does, and the Holy Spirit has been given to us by God to assist precisely in this area, as well as in other ways. With his help we will make progress.
One commentator has compared learning to pray to a man learning to play the violin. At first he is not very good. But he gets the schedule of the classical music broadcasts in his area, buys the violin parts to the music that he knows will be played, and then tunes in the radio each afternoon and plays along as best he can. His mistakes do not change what is coming in over the radio in the slightest. The concertos continue to roll on in perfect harmony and tempo. But the struggling violinist changes. He gets better week by week and year by year, and the time eventually comes when he can play along with the orchestra broadcasts pretty well.
Prayer is like that. There are plenty of mistaken notes, and groans, too. But there is also progress and joy and encouragement, since God is continuing to conduct the perfect heavenly symphony, and the Holy Spirit is continuing to prepare us for the day when we will be able to take our place in the divine orchestra. In the meantime we can know that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, like a wise and faithful teacher, is by our side.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 JOHN 2:5 THOSE THAT KNOW CHRIST KEEP HIS WORD

1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
 1 John 2:5 says But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected or completed in him. By this we know that we are in Him. The word but in verse 5 shows that John is contrasting true believers in verse 5 with the false in verse 4, those who say, versus those who do the will of God.  This means if we are habitually practicing righteousness, then our love for God has been worked out in our lives through our obedience. This means we can know for sure that we are saved because we are living out the life of Christ because He is our Lord and Savior.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/110230052184687338/charity/145555
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:18-25 LET’S CONSIDER THAT THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED WITH THE GLORY WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED IN US

THE GLORY TO BE REVEALED IN US (18-25)
Present sufferings don't even compare (18)
The whole creation eagerly waits for the revealing and glorious liberty of the children of God (19-22)
We also eagerly wait with perseverance for this hope (23-25)
Ro 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
8:18. In one sense this verse is the conclusion of the preceding paragraph in which believers are assured of being heirs of Christ’s coming glory. However, Paul reminded his readers that sharing in the glory of Christ in the future required sharing “in His sufferings” in this life. But after careful figuring (Logizomai, I consider) Paul concluded that our present sufferings are far outweighed by the glory that will be revealed in (as well as to and through) us. This future glory is so great that present sufferings are insignificant by comparison. Also the glory is forever, whereas the suffering is temporary and light (2 Cor. 4:17). Certainly this truth can help believers endure afflictions. Romans 8:18 also serves as a topic sentence for the following discussion on the relationship between believers and the whole Creation, both in their afflictions and in their future glory.[1]
"consider" This is literally "add it up." Paul continues to consider the implications of Christian suffering. This was an accounting term for arriving at a carefully researched conclusion. This is a recurrent theme in Romans (see note at Rom. 2:3). Believers must live in the light of the spiritual truths they understand.
"the sufferings" We get some idea of the sufferings involved in serving Christ from 1 Cor. 4:9-12; 2 Cor. 4:7-12; 6:4-10; 11:24-27; Heb. 11:35-38.
 "worthy. . .glory" Both of these terms are related to the OT concept of weight-heavy was valuable. "Worthy" was from a commercial term that meant "to weigh as much as." The Hebrew term "glory" was also from a root "to be heavy," in the sense of being valuable, like gold. See full note at Rom. 3:23.
Its basic meaning is that which is heavy. It was a commercial term used in transacting purchases (i.e., scales). It came to have a wide semantic field where the concept of heavy developed into the weight, worth of persons, places, and things.
The Reality of all Suffering V19-21
The whole creation eagerly waits for the revealing and glorious liberty of the children of God (19-22)
Ro 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God
 Suffering is only temporary
 8:19 "the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly" The physical creation is personified as a person with an outstretched neck searching the horizon. Creation was negatively affected when Adam and Eve rebelled (cf. Gen. 3:17-19). All creation will ultimately be redeemed (except for rebellious angels, unbelieving humans, and their prepared place of isolation,
The verb "waits eagerly" (present middle [deponent] indicative) appears three times in this context.
Rom. 8:19 - creation waits eagerly for the new age
Rom. 8:23 - believers wait eagerly for new bodies
Rom. 8:25 - believers wait eagerly in hope of the new age
Now, this is the man who has suffered so greatly and this is the individual who says, "I want you to know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." If here the greatest suffers says this, what must the glory be? This same individual is the person who said, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." So Paul, yes, you are the greatest of suffers, and if the greatest of suffers can say, the glory is not worthy to be even mentioned in this, the glory must be surely great
He said, in effect suffering is a drop. Glory is an ocean
Ro 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;  
 Suffering is a result of the fall
Ge 3:14-19
This is not the world that God intended it to be!
We stand by the Grand Canyon, and we are awed by what we see, or we for the first time, see the Atlantic, or Pacific oceans, as we are awed by that great body of water, or we're in the Alps, and we look and we see one of these magnificent peaks, and we are awed by that. Well, I want you to know, those great manifestations of the glory of God stand under the curse. That's what they look like, when they are under the curse. The creation is longing to be delivered from the curse. It brings forth thorns and thistles now, but it is truly to be beautiful in the future.
"the sons of God" This was a common familial metaphor used to describe Christians (cf. Rom. 8:14,16). It speaks of God as Father and Jesus as His unique son (cf. John 1:18; 3:16,18; Heb. 1:2; 3:6; 5:8; 7:28; 1 John 4:9).
In the OT Israel was God's son (cf. Hosea 11:1), but also the King was God's son (cf. 2 Sam. 7). This concept was first mentioned in the NT in Matt. 5:9 (also cf. John 1:12; 2 Cor. 6:18; Gal. 3:26; 1 John 3:1,10; Rev. 21:7).
   III. A Comparison of Suffering
 8:20 in hope. Ro 8:21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
 What a thrilling salvation we have: free from the penalty of sin because Christ died for us (chap. 5); free from the power of sin because we died with Christ to the flesh (chap. 6) and to the Law (chap. 7); and someday we shall be free from the very presence of sin when nature is delivered from bondage.[1]
               It's God who cursed the creation, but he did it in hope." Paul says, and the hope is the deliverance, and the he explains what that means in the 21st verse. "Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." This creation about us is subjected to the bondage of decay because it is closely united with the history and destiny of man, and so when man fell, his creation is cursed. When man finally enters into the blessing of the Kingdom of God upon the earth, the whole creation shall enter into that blessing too, shall be renewed. We speak of this as the golden age
               Ro 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
8:22–23. In one sense verse 22 is an appropriate conclusion to the preceding paragraph, summing up the present cursed state of the physical creation. Paul said, We know (oidamen, continuing state of knowledge that grows out of perception) that the whole Creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth (lit., “keeps on groaning together and keeps on travailing together”) right up to the present time. The emphasis on “together” in these verbs does not include believers in Christ, who are specifically mentioned in verse 23, but involves the various parts of the natural Creation. At the same time verse 22 introduces this new paragraph, which sets forth the hope of future deliverance from suffering under the curse of sin.[1]
               Since God’s program of salvation for people is one of a new Creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15), the physical world also will be re-created (Rev. 21:5). This will take place in two stages. First will be the renovation of the present cosmos in conjunction with the return to earth of the Lord Jesus and the establishment of the messianic kingdom on earth (Isa. 11:5–9; 35:1–2, 5–7; 65:20, 25; Amos 9:13). The second stage will be creation of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1; cf. 2 Peter 3:7–13).[1]
The Answer to Suffering  V23-25
Ro 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
We have the Spirit of adoption, but we are “waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body” (v. 23). The soul has been redeemed, but not the body. We wait in hope, however, because the indwelling Spirit is given as “the first fruits” of the deliverance God has for us in the future. Even if we die, the Spirit who has sealed us unto the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13–14) will raise our body to life (v. 11).[1]
 Isa 11:6-9 Isa
Isa 65:25
               Now, the Lord Jesus is called in his resurrection the first fruits of the resurrection. That means that there are others that are going to be resurrected. You remember he says, "First Jesus Christ, then they who are Christ's at his coming." That is you and I.
               A farmer’s “first fruits” were the initial harvesting of his first-ripened crops. This first installment was a foretaste and promise that more harvest was to come. Similarly God the Holy Spirit, indwelling believers, is a foretaste that they will enjoy many more blessings, including living in God’s presence forever.[1]
               You can never be satisfied with earth if you are a Christian reading the word of God.
But that is a problem, as we saw when we studied that verse. Sufferings? We would think that it would be the absence of sufferings, not their presence, that would prove we belong to Christ. If God loves us, shouldn’t he keep us from suffering? Or isn’t he able to? When things get hard it is natural that we begin to doubt God’s favor rather than being assured of it.
That, of course, is why Paul has digressed to talk about suffering and why he is talking about our groanings now. It is why he has explained the involvement of creation in our present distress. What he is saying is that the sufferings we and “the whole creation” endure are the sufferings of childbirth and are therefore proof that the new age is coming. And it is why, although we do groan, we do not groan hopelessly. On the contrary, our groanings intensify our hope and enable us to wait patiently for the consummation.
 Paul says, not only does the creation groan, but the children groan too.
we need to see two things about this human groaning if we are to understand the verses to which we now come.
               First, the groaning mentioned in verse 23 is that of believers in Jesus Christ and not that of all people generally.
Second, the groaning of Christians is not mere grief over the things. It is expectant grief, that is, grief that looks forward to a time when all that is causing pain will be removed and salvation will be consummated. Christian groaning is a joyful grief that gives birth to a sure hope and patient endurance.
Paul is saying that our griefs as Christians are like that. We groan, but we do so in expectation of a safe delivery.[1]
 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
What is striking about the Christian attitude of hopefulness is that it is a “sure and certain hope” and not mere wishful thinking. What makes it sure and certain is the content. The specific content is the return of Jesus Christ together with the things we have been mentioning in these verses: the resurrection of the body, the adoption of God’s children, and the gathering of God’s harvest. These things are all promised to us by God. Hence, the Christian hopes in confidence, a confidence grounded not in the strength of one’s emotional outlook but on the sure Word of God, who cannot lie. If God says that these things are coming, it is reasonable and safe for us to hope confidently in them.
We wait. More specifically, we wait for them, which is the second verb Paul uses. Verse 23 says, “We wait eagerly.” Verse 25 says, “We wait … patiently.” It is important to take the two adverbs together, because biblical “patience” is not passivity. This is an active, though patient waiting. It expresses itself in vigorous service for Christ even while we wait for his appearing.
Paradoxically, of course, it is only these heavenly-minded people who are able to make any real or lasting difference in the world.[1]
Looking to Jesus
What I am recommending to you is a Christian perspective on this life and all we know in it, what the theologians call a world-and-life view. And I am suggesting, as Paul does, that adopting it will rearrange your values and change your approach to suffering and the disappointments of life. If you learn to reason as Paul does, you will experience the following:
You will not be surprised when things go wrong in this life. This world is not a good place. We live in a fallen environment. Your plans will misfire, you will often fail, others will destroy what you have spent long years and much toil to accomplish. This will be true even if you are a Christian and are trying to follow Jesus. But your successes are not what life is all about. What matters is your love for God and your faithfulness.
You will not place your ultimate hope in anything human beings can do to improve this world’s conditions. This does not mean that you will fail to do what good you can do in this life as well as encourage others in their efforts to do good. As a Christian, you will. But you will not delude yourself into thinking that the salvation of the world’s ills will be brought about by mere human efforts. You will feed the poor, but you will know that Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you” (Matt. 26:11a). You will pray for your leaders, but you will know that they are but sinful men and women like yourself and that they will always disappoint you.
You will keep your eyes on Jesus. Where else can you look? All others are disappointing, and everything is crumbling about you. Only he is worthy of your trust. He has promised to return in his glory, and we know that when he does return and we see him in his glory, we will be like him (1 John 3:2). Moreover, when we are made like him in his glory, the creation that is also straining forward to that day will become glorious, too.
No wonder the early Christians prayed, “Maranatha!” Come, Lord Jesus![1]
Heb 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
     My personal application for today is:
Paul is personifying nature, of course, but he does not mean that inanimate nature has personal feelings that correspond to ours. He means only that nature is not yet all that God has predestined it to be. It is waiting for its true fulfillment. But if nature is waiting, we should be willing to wait in hope, too, knowing that a glorious outcome is certain. This is why Christianity is worth it.[1]
We need to really consider the fact that this is a drop, the ocean is eternity
“Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).
Knowing that there is an eternal weight of glory waiting, I will try to do what pleases God and hang on in spite of anything
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
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The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ARE YOU HELPING OR HINDERING?

I would like to speak a minute to all of you who are actually Christians. Isn’t it about time we quit fighting over a petty doctrinal issues and things that divide us and remember that we are in a war, that we fight not against flesh and blood but against powers and rulers and wickedness in heavenly places. Are you staying firm in the faith, are you standing for what the Bible says is right, or are you letting the world teach you theology? Who are you fighting? Are you fighting other Christians, or are you going up against the world you’re supposed to be leading to Christ? Are we Coming out from among Them and not being like them because we’re not like them? God says come out from amongst them and be separate. Can the people of the world tell the difference between you and them?
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
 

ROMANS 8:17 SUFFERING IS THE PATH TO GLORY

Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Verses 14–17 contain four proofs of our being sons and daughters of God, if the Holy Spirit has indeed brought us into God’s family. First, we are led by God’s Spirit. This refers to our conduct. If we are following after Christ in true and obedient discipleship, then we are Christ’s and can be assured of salvation. Second, we have the internal witness of our spirits by which we cry “Abba, Father.” We know that we have a new family relationship to God. Third, the Holy Spirit witnesses to us. I described this as an overwhelming sense of God’s presence, something most Christians have experienced, though they may not understand it or know how to describe it. Fourth, we participate in Christ’s sufferings.[1]
We have a heavenly home. The first thing that comes to mind here is the promise of a heavenly home that Jesus made to his disciples just before his arrest and crucifixion. He said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1–3[1]
We participate in a heavenly banquet. In several of his parables the Lord spoke of a heavenly banquet to which his own are invited. In one story he told of a great wedding supper to which many were invited who later refused to come, and of how the master sent to unexpected places to find guests (Matt. 22:1–14; cf. Luke 14:15–24). In another parable it is a banquet prepared for the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). In still another it is a wedding feast to which five wise women are admitted and five foolish women are shut out (Matt. 25:1–13). There are similar but passing references to other occasions of shared celebration.
These stories present our inheritance as joy and secure fellowship. We have a foretaste of these things in our observance of the Lord’s Supper, which looks forward to the coming great marriage supper of the Lamb.[1]
We Rule with Christ. Another feature of our inheritance is that we will rule with Jesus in his kingdom. There is some difference among Bible scholars as to whether this refers to an earthly rule with Christ in some future age or to a heavenly rule only. But whatever its full meaning, there is no doubt that some important ruling authority is promised. Paul told Timothy, “If we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:12). In one of his parables, Jesus spoke of servants who had shown their faithfulness during their master’s absence being awarded cities over which to reign in the master’s kingdom (Luke 19:11–27).
We become Like Christ. One of the promised blessings, which means a great deal to me, is that we will be made like Jesus himself. John writes about it in his first letter, using language similar to Paul’s in Romans 8. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1–2). It is hard to imagine a greater inheritance than to be made like the Lord Jesus Christ in all his attributes.[1]
In the OT every tribe except Levi received a land inheritance (cf. Joshua 14-22). The Levites, as the tribe of priests, temple servants, and local teachers, were seen as having YHWH Himself as their inheritance (cf. Ps. 16:5; 73:23-26; 119:57; 142:5; Lam. 3:24). NT writers often took the rights and privileges of the Levites and applied them to all believers. This was their way of asserting that the followers of Jesus were the true people of God and that now all believers were called to serve as priests to God (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5,9; Rev. 1:6), as the OT asserts of all Israel (cf. Exod. 19:4-6)
They had no inheritance because, as it was said of them, “the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them”
Joshua 13:33 But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them.
If the earnest of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is God—as he is, being the third person of the Trinity—then the full inheritance must be God himself.
These are wonderful words by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. They were written for preachers to encourage them to keep on in tough times, but the message is equally good for anyone. It goes like this:
Be not surprised when friends fail you: it is a failing world.
Never count upon immutability in man: inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of disappointment. The disciples of Jesus forsook him; be not amazed if your adherents wander away to other teachers: as they were not your all when with you, all is not gone from you with their departure.
Serve God with all your might while the candle is burning, and then when it goes out for a season, you will have the less to regret.
Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are. When your own emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide yourself that you ever dreamed of being full, except in the Lord.
Set small store by present rewards; be grateful for earnests by the way, but look for recompensing joy hereafter.
Continue with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light: faith’s rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide.
Between this and heaven there may be rougher weather yet, but it is all provided for by our covenant Head. In nothing let us be turned aside from the path which the divine call has urged us to pursue. Come fair or come foul, the pulpit is our watch-tower, and the ministry our warfare; be it ours, when we cannot see the face of our God, to trust under the shadow of his wings.[1]
But why should Paul introduce the idea of suffering, of all things—and at this point? None of us would do it. If we were trying to assure Christians that they really are Christians and their salvation is secure, suffering is probably the last thing we would mention.[1]
So why does Paul drag the subject in here?
One reason is that he was a realist.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “True evangelism does not offer some panacea for all the ills in our life in this world; it does not promise to make us perfect in a moment or set the whole world right. It says rather, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation; but fear not, I have overcome the world.’ ”[1]
A second reason Paul probably introduced the subject is that he must have been aware of the many non-Christian approaches to suffering that were around. They were around then, and they are around today. [1]
Anger. One response to suffering is anger. This is common with unbelievers, who blame or even curse God for their misfortunes. But it is also sadly true of some Christians. They blame God because he has not done something for them that they wanted—He has called us to discipleship. The glory is hereafter.
Avoidance. A second approach is avoidance. If the path before them looks hard or even undesirable, some people turn from it and try to find something easier or more rewarding. Or, if the path cannot be avoided, they try to balance it with other things that are more attractive. The Christian form of it is to ask God to remove the undesirable thing—sickness, for example, particularly a terminal illness. Christians who take this approach think the correct way is to ask God to remove the sickness so that afterward they might praise him for the healing. Of course, it sometimes is God’s will to heal, so it is not wrong to ask for healing.
Apathy. The third non-Christian approach is apathy, detachment from the problem. It is the attitude that says, “It just doesn’t matter,” and then tries to think about something else. One form of apathy is stoicism, the philosophy of the stiff upper lip. Stoicism may help you get by, but it is joyless and far removed from Christianity.[1]
There are two basic things to remember about suffering.
First, suffering is necessary. Jesus taught that it was necessary for himself when he said to the Emmaus disciples, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:26). Then he proved that this was necessary by showing it to them in the Scriptures, beginning with Moses and all the prophets. Jesus taught that suffering is necessary for us when he said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20b) and “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33a, kjv).
Second, although suffering is necessary (and has value), suffering is not the end of the story for Christians. Glory is! If suffering were the end, Christianity would be a form of masochism, suffering for suffering’s sake. Since it is not the end, since suffering is the path to glory, Christianity is a religion of genuine hope and effective consolation.
The Christian who needs to worry about suffering is not the one who is suffering, particularly if it is for the sake of Jesus Christ. The person who should worry is the one who is not suffering, since suffering is a proof of our sonship, a means for the spread of the gospel, and the path to glory.
So let’s hang in there! And let’s encourage one another as we run the race and fight the long battles.
We need each other, but we have each other. That is what we are given to each other for. Thus, by the grace of God, we may actually come to the end of the warfare and be able to say as Paul did to his young protégé Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7–8). May it be so for all God’s people.[1]
 2Co 4:8-11, 17-18, 1peter 4:12-14, 1peter 2:20-23, 2cor 11
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

WHAT HAVE YOU GIVEN UP OR SACRIFICED TO FOLLOW JESUS MARK 16:24

Hi, this is Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries.  In Matthew 16:24 it says If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. True discipleship is about not always doing the things you want to do.  Jesus said deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. Paul said I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  We get joy out of doing things for ourselves, but how about for Christ? What have you given up or sacrificed to follow Jesus?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions.

ROMANS 8:15-16 THE SPIRIT HIMSELF BEARS WITNESS WITH OUR SPIRIT THAT WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."  16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
In the Roman adoption system, four things were consequential to adoption.
First thing that happened was the adopted person lost all relationship to his old family. Everything was gone and he gained all rights to the new family.
Second thing, it followed that he became heir to all the new father's estate.
The third thing that happened, according to Roman law, was that the former life of the adopted person was completely wiped out. All his legal debts were cancelled. They were wiped out as if he had never existed. And the adopted person was given a new name and it was as if he had just been born. Sound familiar? When you came to Jesus Christ and were adopted into the family of God, all your past debts were what? Cancelled, and you became a co-heir of all that the born son, the Lord Jesus Christ, possesses.
               The fourth thing was in the eyes of the law the adopted person was literally and absolutely the son of his new father. And so, when we were adopted, all these things, no doubt, are in the mind of the apostle and the Spirit, and we know they took place in our adoption. We have cut the cord with the past. We have become co-heirs to God's kingdom. All the old debts are wiped out and we are absolutely and legally and forever the son of God.
           Adoption gives us the name of sons. Adoption gives us the title to the inheritance. Regeneration gives us the nature of sons and gives us the fitness for that inheritance. Both are important.
"testifies with our spirits that we are children of God" As noted in Rom. 8:13, one aspect of faith assurance is the believers' changed and changing lives (cf. the NT books of James and 1 John). Another aspect of assurance is that the indwelling Spirit has replaced the fear of God with family love (cf. 1 John 4:17-18). "when we cry, Abba! Father! It is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirits that we are children of God" (cf. Gal. 4:6). This implies that the assurance comes when believers can call God, Father, by the Spirit.
               So he says you didn't become Christians to be put again in a spirit of bondage to fear. You're in a no-condemnation status and the Spirit of God doesn't want to bring you back under some bondage of fear. That's an unhealthy kind of fear, not a reverence for God, but the fear of punishment, the fear of ultimate damnation, the fear of losing salvation, the fear of having to pay for your sin. He didn’t come into your life to bring you under that.
               Cry is krazō, a loud cry signifying deep emotion. And "Abba" is the Aramaic word for "papa, daddy." You reserve that name daddy for just one person. That's very intimate. And that's what Abba means. In Jewish Families They call their dad "abba." "Hey, Abba!" Who goes into the presence of holy God and says, "Papa," "Daddy?" That is really shocking news to the average Jew.
The internal witness of the Spirit is not audible, but practical. It causes
guilt over sin
desire to be like Christ
desire to be with the family of God
hunger for God's word 
a sense a need to do evangelism
a sense a need for Christian sacrificial giving
These are the kinds of internal desires that provide a faith evidence of conversion.
Ro 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Assurance of salvation has been turned into a denominational issue.
Roman Catholic theology denies the possibility of assurance in this life but bases confidence in one being a member of the "true" church
John Calvin (Reform tradition) based assurance on election (predestination), but one could not know for sure until after this life on Judgment Day
John Wesley (Methodist tradition) based assurance on a perfect love (living above known sin)
Most Baptists have tended to base assurance on the biblical promises of free grace (but ignoring all the warnings and admonitions).
There are two dangers related to the NT paradoxical presentation of Christian assurance.
The overemphasis on "once saved, always saved"
The overemphasis on human performance in retaining salvation.
Hebrews 6 clearly teaches "once out, always out." Human effort (good works) does not keep believers saved (cf. Gal. 3:1-14). But good works are the goal of the Christian life (cf. Eph. 2:10). They are the natural result of meeting God and having the indwelling Spirit. They are evidence of one's true conversion.
Assurance is not meant to soften the Bible's call to holiness! Theologically speaking, assurance is based on the character and actions of the Triune God.
The Father's love and mercy
The Son's finished substitutionary sacrificial work
The Spirit's wooing to Christ and then forming Christ in the repentant believer
               The evidence of this salvation is a changed worldview, a changed heart, a changed lifestyle and a changed hope! It cannot be based on a past emotional decision that has no lifestyle evidence (i.e., fruit, cf. Matt. 7:15-23; 13:20-22; John 15). Assurance, like salvation, like the Christian life starts with a response to God's mercy and continues that response throughout life. It is a changed and changing life of faith!
               In that Roman adoption system, do you know what you had to have to get the adoption final? Seven witnesses. That's right. According to a study of the Roman law, it says there had to be seven witnesses. So that's how important adoption was. You get the picture? What happens if you get adopted in a family and say, "Hey, I'm adopted into this family, I'm the rightful heir." And they say, "Hey, the father's dead, friend, the father is dead now, it's coming to us." Right? You'd have a fight on your hands, wouldn't you? With all the kids who were born into the family naturally? So you had to have seven witnesses. I mean, it would be tough to kill off seven witnesses, wouldn't it? And so as soon as the father died, all these witnesses would surface. "Oh yeah, we were all there." Seven witnesses.
When Satan, who is the great accuser, wants to come in and accuse us and say, "You don't belong to God, who do you think you are? You with all the sin in your life? You who fall short? You don't belong to God." Something in our heart says, "Yes I do." And the Spirit comes along side and says, "Yes you do." And He, by the way, is called by Isaiah "the seven-fold Spirit." Interesting coincidence?
               2Pe 1:3
               You see the point of the passage? Assurance of salvation comes by the fruit produced in your life through the walk in the Spirit.          So, assurance in our salvation is the ministry of the Spirit.
               1 John 3:18-24. "
               As you walk in obedience, as you keep His commandments, your heart doesn't condemn you. You say, "I'm not condemned
               Think about what the Spirit is doing for us, all the things He does for us, freeing us from the law of sin and death, equipping us to kill sin, confirming to us that we are the children of God. How glorious.
               Ro 8:17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
"if" There is a series conditional sentences in Rom. 8:9,10,11,13 (twice), and 17 (twice). These are all first class conditional sentences which are assumed true from the author's perspective or for his literary purposes. Paul assumed his readers in the Roman church were Christian.
Believers share heirship with Christ
Believers share sufferings with Christ
Believers will share glory with Christ
BELIEVERS' INHERITANCE (from 1 Peter 1)
In the OT every tribe except Levi received a land inheritance (cf. Joshua 14-22). The Levites, as the tribe of priests, temple servants, and local teachers, were seen as having YHWH Himself as their inheritance (cf. Ps. 16:5; 73:23-26; 119:57; 142:5; Lam. 3:24). NT writers often took the rights and privileges of the Levites and applied them to all believers. This was their way of asserting that the followers of Jesus were the true people of God and that now all believers were called to serve as priests to God (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5,9; Rev. 1:6), as the OT asserts of all Israel (cf. Exod. 19:4-6). The NT emphasis is not on the individual as a priest with certain privileges, but on the truth that all believers are priests, which demands a corporate servant attitude (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7). The NT people of God have been given the OT task of world evangelization (cf. Gen. 12:3; Exod. 19:5b; Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8; see
The Scriptures talk about believers inheriting (cf. Acts 20:32; 26:18; Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:12; 3:24) many things because of their family relationship with Jesus who is heir of all things (cf. Heb. 1:2). Therefore, they are coheirs (cf. Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7) of
the kingdom (cf. Matt. 25:34, 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:50; Eph. 5:5)
eternal life (cf. Matt. 19:29; Heb. 9:15)
God’s promises (cf. Heb. 6:12)
God’s protection of His promises (cf. 1Pe 1:4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Suffering is the norm for believers in a fallen world (cf. Matt. 5:10-12; John 15:18-21; 16:1-2; 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom.5:3-4; 8:17; 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Phil. 1:29; 1 Thess. 3:3; 2 Tim. 3:12; James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 4:12-19). Jesus set the pattern (cf. Heb. 5:8). The rest of this chapter develops this theme.
"glorified with Him" In John's writings whenever Jesus talked of His death, He called it "being glorified." Jesus was glorified by His suffering. Believers, positionally and often experientially, share Jesus' life events (cf. Romans 6).
Father adopts us
Spirit indwells us
Son crowns us
Lessons
If you are adopted, you should honor the one who adopted you – are you promoting the Kingdom
If you are adopted, you should love the other family members
If you are adopted, you should be a responsible family member – don’t sit and soak
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:14-15 AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THESE ARE SONS OF GOD

There are two ways the Spirit leads. The Holy Spirit gave us the Bible and the first way is the Holy Spirit illuminates to our minds that Scripture.
The second way is sanctification. Here is the idea that once He has shown us what it means, He then assists us in applying that in the progress of spiritual growth. The Holy Spirit not only illumines the mind, but He stirs the heart and the will.
I believe the Spirit of God leads us by prompting the heart.
               In Psalm 119:35, the psalmist says: "Make me to go in the path.” God, don't just show me the path, make me to go in it, shove me. And in Psalm 119:133 it says: "Order my steps in Thy word and let not any one iniquity have dominion over me." And so, the cry is not just, may I understand you with my mind? But may I act in response to my understanding with my will. So, the Spirit of God is illuminating the mind and activating the will. The second is sanctification, the process of spiritual response of separation unto God in acts of obedience.
               It's a present tense, verse 14, as many as are being continually led by the Spirit of God through the illumination of the Word of God and the sanctification of obedience to it, prompted by the Spirit of God, they have the confidence in their hearts that they indeed are the children of God. when you have those times in your life that you're not in the Word and you're not walking in obedience, you will not have that confirmation. You will not have that affirmation. And that's why Christians will fall into times of doubt because they are not under that direct leading ministry of the Spirit of God. And that's why, you see, the New Testament is filled with exhortations. If we were always led by the Spirit of God all the time, we were always responding to illumination and sanctification, we wouldn't need any exhortations, would we? So, we say this. It is true that all Christians are led by the Spirit, but it's also true that we're not as good at following as we ought to be, right? If we're truly saved, we will follow, but we could follow better.
It's a way of life. It's the constant thing.
Ro 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
V15 but you received the Spirit of adoption
Paul continued his discussion of the privileges that believers receive as full heirs of Abraham through faith in Christ. Paul used the family metaphor "adoption" of our salvation while John and Peter used the family metaphor "born again." The adoption metaphor was used primarily in two contexts in Roman culture. In Roman law, adoption was very difficult. A long, involved and expensive legal procedure, once enacted adoption afforded several special rights and privileges.
All debts were cancelled
All criminal charges were dropped
They could not be legally put to death by their new father
They could not be disinherited by their new father
In legal terms, they were a completely new person. Paul was alluding to the believers' security in Christ by using this Roman legal procedure (cf. Rom. 8:15, 23). When a father publicly adopted a son, he officially and permanently became his heir. Also, the metaphor was used in the official ceremony of a boy becoming a man, held on the 17th of March each year.
               One of the most tender & loveliest adoption story of all of Scripture is found in 2 Samuel 9.
               Here is an adoption, an adoption of grace, an adoption of mercy, an adoption of love. And as you read it through, we are struck at how similar it is to our adoption into the family of God.
 
               David took the initiative. In adopting Mephibosheth. And the Lord takes the initiative in adopting us.
David showed mercy to one who was unworthy, one who had descended from an evil enemy. So does the Lord seek among the children of the devil His sons to adopt.
David was motivated by love for Jonathan. And in our case, God was motivated by love for Christ and He redeemed us for Christ's sake, it says.
David desired to show kindness, and so Ephesians 2:6 says that we've been saved in order that God might show us eternal kindness.
David chose one who was outside the standard of perfection. And so God has chosen those who are outside the standard of perfection. By the way, Mephibosheth means "a shameful thing." And he lived in Lo-debar, which means "the barren land," or literally a place of no pasture. He was a nobody from nowhere. And those are just the kind of people God takes as His sons.
And then the climax, David brought him to his own table to feed him as one of his own. And so does the Lord bring us to His table. And then David gave him an inheritance. And so does the Lord promise to us. And the analogy goes on and on. It is a beautiful picture of spiritual adoption where God takes men and by His own initiative and based on His own love and not anything to do with their worthiness and for the sake of Christ whom He loves, takes as sons those who formerly were enemies.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:11-13 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST GIVES US POWER TO LIVE THE LIFE OF HOLINESS

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
 
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
               Again, it could be translated since. “Since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (that's the Spirit of God) He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."
               We've already had a spiritual resurrection.  We've already died and risen in Christ.  We have a new nature.  We've already been born again.  We've already had one death, and now we have new life in Christ.  We already are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.  We have the life of God in our souls.  That's already happened. You don't need to fear the physical death.  Because when that happens, the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, who dwells in you, is going to give life to a new mortal body through the Spirit who indwells you.  You're going to have another resurrection.  It's not going to be a spiritual resurrection.  Next time, it's going to be a physical resurrection.  And you're going to get a glorified body.
               To understand this is to understand the nature of the Christian.  The spirit dwells in you, and He is the Spirit that raised up Jesus.  A number of times in the New Testament, it talks about the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit.  The Spirit gave Christ life through death.  He raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him physical resurrection life.  And He that raised up Christ from the dead, and will also give life to our mortal bodies.  We're going to get new bodies.
               1 Corinthians 15:35-45.  "What's that new body going to be like?"  Well, the best illustration, it's going to be Christ's resurrection body.  Verse 35, the Corinthians had asked the same question.  "How are the dead raised and what kind of body are they going to have?
So Paul's answer is, "I don't know, but it's not going to be like what we've got. He will raise us and give us spiritual bodies. 2 Corinthians 5:1-9 “When this earthly tent,” which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands."  That's how he describes our new body.  And in this house, we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from Heaven.  Why?  Because we'd like to get rid of this debilitating flesh and the sin and this body of death that is attached to us.  And we will.  And the Holy Spirit has done all of this.  It was the Holy Spirit who freed us from sin and death by applying the merits of Christ's sacrifice for sin to us.  It was the Holy Spirit who enabled us to fulfill the law of God by applying Christ's righteousness to us.  It is the Holy Spirit who changes our nature and moves us out of living in the flesh, according to the flesh, with the things of the flesh, minding the flesh, which is death, both in time and eternity, to being in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, minding the things of the Spirit, and pleasing God, because we're alive to God.
               Christ provided a no condemnation status and now he tells us that the Holy Spirit secures that status. Chapter 8 really has a lot to do with our security. And that's why the end of it says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, and we know that nothing shall separate us. Christ provided it, the Holy Spirit secures it.
 And how does He secure it? By these means, seven ways the Spirit secures our no-condemnation status. Number one: Verses 2 and 3, He frees us from sin and death. Number two: He enables us to fulfill the law, verse 4. Number three: He changes our nature, verses 5 - 11. Then He empowers us for victory, verses 12 - 13. He guarantees our glory, verses 17 - 25. He intercedes for us, verses 26 - 27.
8:12 "So then" Paul continues to draw out the implications of his presentation of Rom. 8:1-11.
Ro 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
▣ "we are under obligation" This is the other side of Christian freedom (cf. Rom. 14:1-15:13). This is the conclusion drawn from the discussion of sanctification in Rom. 8:1-11, which is both positional and progressive. It also clearly shows that believers still must struggle with the old fallen nature (i.e., 6:12,19; 7:7-24; 1 Cor. 6:18-19; Eph. 6:10-19). There is a choice to be made (initial faith) and continuing choices to be made (lifestyle faith)!
So we say I’ll just relax and let Him do His work.”  That’s the old – let go and let God.  Verse 12, with all the work the Holy Spirit is doing with us, we’re under obligation.  You have an obligation.  That’s the word for debt.  What’s your debt?  Certainly not to live according to the flesh, right?  You don’t owe the flesh anything.  What did the flesh ever do for you? You don’t have any obligation to your flesh.  What that means is there are no excuses now because the power of the flesh has been broken.  It is not a dominating force.  There are no excuses. .
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:7-11 NOW IF ANYONE DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NOT HIS

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
The fleshly mind is hostile.  It is at enmity against God.  It is in opposition to God.  That's how it is with unsaved people.  They are in opposition to God.  They walk according to the flesh.  They think according to the flesh.  They do according to the flesh.  And they are hostile toward God, and they will not submit to His law.  And they can't.  They don't have the ability to do that. They're dead.
               This is the doctrine of depravity.  It's more than just being disobedient.  It's deep seated.  It's in the nature.  It's in the fabric of their disposition.  It's who they are.  Sin is not just an act of rebellion; it is rebellion itself.
                8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
He sums it up really in verse 8, "And those who are in the flesh cannot please God."  Now, therein lies the biblical definition of total depravity.  We hear that doctrine of total depravity a lot, and I want you to understand what it means.  When it says total depravity, the word total depravity means to be in a sinful condition.  To be totally depraved, some people might assume means that you're totally wicked.  In other words, to be totally depraved means that you're as wicked as you could possibly be.
                              When you talk about the depravity of man, you're talking about an utter inability of the unredeemed to do anything that pleases God. Theologian John Gerstner used to kind of divide it up when he would say... He would be asked, "Well, can't people do good things like help the poor and the sick and the lame and do good deeds and show love to their children and their partners in life and their friends and family. But he would say, "The unregenerate can only do bad good.  They can only do bad good.  Or they can do bad bad.  But they can't do good good."  Good good is that which is not only good on a human level, but that which pleases God.  And I think that's right.
      To those who have the indwelling Holy Spirit (9-11)
               From verses 9 to 11, we look at the spiritually-minded, those who know life and peace.  In the earlier portion of this text of verses 4b through 8, the focus was on the fleshly, particularly in verses 7 and 8.  Now we come to verses 9 to 11, and we get a look at the spiritually minded people.
               But you,” he says in verse 9, “are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit."  That signifies a state of grace, a state of salvation, and a new creation.  You are now in the Spirit.  You literally live and move in Him.  His life is your life.
               "That is true,” he says, “if, indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you."  That could be translated “since,” so it would read like this:  "You're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit since, indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you."  What happens when you become a believer?  At the time of your salvation, the Holy Spirit immediately takes up residence in you.  And therein lies the dramatic change.  He's not talking about some profession.  You're in the Spirit because you said you were, or you're in the Spirit because you wanted to be.  You're in the Spirit because the Spirit's in you.
               in verse 9, "The Spirit of God dwells in you," is the word “to live in as a home,” that is to say, a permanent residence.  The Holy Spirit's home is in the believer.  He takes up residence in the believer.  Some, through the years, had the idea that you got saved, and then you got the Holy Spirit later.  Not so. If you didn't have the Holy Spirit, you didn't have the transformation that His coming brought, and so you weren't converted at all.  You weren't regenerated.
               And he reverses his statement in the middle of verse 9 and says the same thing, but in a reverse way, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't belong to Him."
                               Literally, God Himself dwells in you.
The Holy Spirit is called in the New Testament the Spirit of Christ.  In fact, He is called the Spirit of Christ right here in this passage.  Back to Romans 8, he is the Spirit of Christ who dwells in you.  He is also the Spirit of God who dwells in you, in the same verse, and He is also the Spirit.  Verse 9: "The Spirit,” “the Spirit of God,” “the Spirit of Christ," all in the same verse.
               And what it shows is the marvelous reality of the Trinity and how the Holy Spirit sustains the same relationship to the second person of the Trinity that He does to the first person of the Trinity.  So every believer is the possessor of the Holy Spirit. 
                10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
               This, again, could be translated “since.” "Since Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin."  What does he mean by that?  Well, though your human body still bears the death of its sinfulness.
               11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
               Again, it could be translated since. “Since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (that's the Spirit of God) He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."
                               To understand this is to understand the nature of the Christian.  The spirit dwells in you, and He is the Spirit that raised up Jesus.  In the New Testament, it talks about the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit.  The Spirit gave Christ life through death.  He raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him physical resurrection life.  And He that raised up Christ from the dead, who is God the Father through the Spirit, will also give life to our mortal bodies.  We're going to get new bodies.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL WHAT IS THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?

If you are a Christian and I were to ask you what is the greatest thing that ever happened to you?  It should be without hesitation we reply, when we came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Then the second question naturally follows, what is the greatest thing we can tell someone? It would be How to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! My next question is are we living in such a manner as to glorify God and then telling others about Jesus.  If it all depended on you for someone to come to know Jesus, would they ever find out the truth about Him and be saved?
   John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
 Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

ROMANS 8:5-6 DO YOU HAVE A CARNAL MIND OR A SPIRITUAL MIND?

Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  
To those who set their minds on the things of the Spirit, not the flesh, pleasing God (5-8)
               Now, the contrast between those who walk according to the flesh and those who walk according to the Spirit is a contrast in behaviors.  The word “walk” means behavior.  It's a word in the New Testament used many, many times, particularly by the Apostle Paul to describe daily conduct.  What we're talking about here is conduct.  So we've moved into this whole matter of behavior with the word “walk.”  It flows then into verse 5.  Listen to verse 5"
Ro 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
There is as clear a definition of the distinction between a believer and a non-believer as you will find anywhere.  Believers set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  Non-believers set their minds on the things of the flesh.  That couldn't be more clear.  Again, I remind you that this is a matter of behavior.  Listen carefully.  Behavior based on the word “walk” in verse 4, but behavior is a product of what?  The mind.  Thinking.  And He says then, "Those who walk according to the flesh do so because that's where their mind is set.  And those who walk according to the Spirit do so because that's where their mind is set.
               To put it in another way, as a man thinks in his heart, what's the rest?  So is he.  So is he.  So what we note then is that at the point of conversion, there is a dramatic internal change.  There is what we would call, borrowing the words of the apostle Paul in Romans, a new nature or a new disposition or a new principle, a new law, a new will; a new disposition, perhaps, is best.
               People who live carnal, fleshly, sinful, indulgent lives do so because that's how they think.
The ones being according to the flesh is simply another way of expressing people who are dominated by the flesh.  This is an unsafe person, habitually controlled by unregenerate and depraved and fallen humanness.  They don't know God.  They can't understand God.  They're not connected to God at all.  They may be religious.  They may be atheistic.  They don't know God.  To be according to the flesh is simply to be in the flesh, and that's the way he expresses it in verse 8.  "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."  Being in the flesh, being according to the flesh, simply means being unregenerate and dominated by sinful impulses.  And it is those sinful impulses that effect sinful conduct.
               The flesh is Paul's word for fallen human nature apart from God.  Okay?  Fallen human nature apart from God; corrupt, directed, and controlled by sinful impulses.  And the flesh is so corrupt, so corrupt, that no matter how much a...a wicked person would like to change his condition, he can't do it. Jer 13:23 said Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? No more can you change your nature."  The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.  You can't even understand it, let alone alter it.
               So these people who are in the flesh, who are dominated by unredeemed human nature — both in the physical part and the mental part of who they are — do what their fleshly impulses tell them to do.  And then when it talks about the mind being set.  It's...it's an interesting word.  It's from the verb phroneō.  And it's a word used for the seat of all mental faculties, mental affections, expressing any form of mental activity, including emotion, will, as well as just pure intellect.  Their whole mind and their emotion and their will — the whole realm of mental activity — is corrupted by the flesh.
It's really a word for a disposition, a dominant, controlling disposition.  They have a deliberate mindset.  The unsaved person is dominated by unredeemed carnal, fleshly impulses.  They are bent toward the expression of their depraved nature.  And that's what he says in verse 5.  "They set their minds on the things of the flesh."
               On the other hand, back to verse 5, "Those who are according to the Spirit (implied, set their minds) on the things of the Spirit."  Now, here you have a whole different category of people.  This is a whole different disposition.  These people are in the realm of the Spirit and are drawn by the truest impulses in their heart to the Spirit.  They submit to His direction.  They concentrate their attention, purpose, desire on whatever is precious to the Holy Spirit.  They love what He loves.  That's what it means when it says, "They seek the things of the Spirit."
               When you look at their life and you see someone whose behavior is indulging the flesh and whose bent and disposition is toward the flesh, you have positively defined the person.
               You say, "Well, what about Christians?  We sin, too, don't we?”  But we resent it.  It's not the truest expression of our nature.  It's an invasion.  It still happens, because we're not all yet redeemed.  Our flesh, our humanness is still there, even though our inward nature has been changed and our longings are toward God and energized by the Holy Spirit toward what is righteous and pure and good and holy.  We still have to fight the battle of that changed nature being incarcerated in unredeemed humanness.  That's why in Romans 8, Paul is so anxious to have the glorification of his body. 
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
               Now, the results of these two dispositions are given to us in verse 6.  The results are pretty clear.  "The mind set on the flesh...” Literally in the Greek would be read this way, “The mind set on the flesh equals death.  But the mind set on the Spirit equals life and peace."  Now, this further describes the state of these two kinds of people.  In the case of the mind set on the flesh, death is the result.  It doesn't say it leads to death.  It says it is death.  It isn't that they're going to die.  They're dead.  They're dead right now.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
               What does it mean to be dead that way?  It means that you are totally insensitive to God.  I would suggest to you that the most obvious characteristic of a dead person is the inability of that person to respond. A person who cannot respond in any way to any part of his or her environment.  And that's what spiritual death is.  It is an inability to respond to the divine presence.  It is an inability to respond to anything in the realm of divine truth and the presence of God.  They are dead in terms of being utterly insensitive.  They are like a corpse in a casket with no awareness of anything going on at the funeral around them.
               It is in that death a spiritual separation from God which someday will become an eternal separation of God...from God.  Now, I want to make this very important.  This kind of death is utterly insensitive to God, but highly sensitive to godlessness.  So that the sinner in this life is highly sensitive to sin and temptation around which dominates his life, and in eternal death will be eternally insensitive and separated from God, but highly sensitive to all of the repercussions of wickedness and sin in this life and all of the consequent punishment that's meted out against them forever.  They'll be completely sensitive to that.
               First Timothy 5:6 defines this person as dead while she lives.  It says that, "She that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives."  People who live according to the flesh, who have that disposition, are currently dead to all that is divine, and they will be forever.  But they are sensitive to sin now, and they'll be far more sensitive to its consequences in the life to come as they bear that eternal judgment.  To be fleshly minded, equals death.
               "The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace."  Life, what does that mean?  Alive to God.  When you come to Jesus Christ, and you're changed by the Holy Spirit, you are alive to God.  You are sensitive to God.  You read the Word and it comes alive to you.  The Spirit of God moves and prompts your heart to...to give praise and thanks to God.  And you're filled with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and you sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord.
               Those two things simply mean we are alive to God and, not only are we alive to God, we are alive to God without fear.  What is that?  We are alive to God and, at the same time, at peace with God.  The life and peace he's talking about here is not just something so easily defined as, "Well, we enjoy our living, and we really have peaceful, tranquil lives."  That's not the idea.  The idea is we are alive to God.  We're alive to His working, and His Word, and we are alive to Him and not in a hostile way.  We are alive to Him and at complete peace with Him.  Therefore, life takes on consummate blessedness.  We're alive to God, because He gave us His life.  He made us alive together with Christ, Romans chapter 6.
Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life." 
               What He meant was that we have a living communion with God, because we share the same life.  And we have peace.  That's the end of alienation.  We have fellowship with God, and we're at peace with God.  We made truce with God.  We're in communion with Him, and that'll never change.  God is never going to cast us out. 
Isa 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
               That we'll keep Him in perfect peace is the promise to those who have come to know Christ.  What a thought.  We have life.  We have sweet communion with the living God.  We hear His voice on the pages of Scripture.  And we long to obey and respond, and we long to worship Him and to know Him better and to serve Him.  We have received His grace.  His love has been shed abroad in our hearts.  We have been given permanent peace with God and joy forever.  We have an inner assurance that all is well, and nothing can ever change our eternal relationship with the Lord.
               He doesn't mean that we're never going to be disturbed in life.  Even Jesus was disturbed about things.  And even Paul said, "Wretched man that I am."  Romans 7:24.  He wasn't talking about psychological tranquility.  He was talking about a relationship with God that is forever settled.
               We're not in the flesh.  We don't mind the things of the flesh.  We are not compelled by the flesh.  We, rather, are in the Spirit, according to the Spirit, minding the things of the Spirit.  For us, there is a pursuit of the things of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; these are the things of the Spirit.  The things of the flesh: Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
               "I'm telling you,” Paul says, Galatians 5:21, “those who practice those things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God."  That can't be more clear. 
Lessons
Do you desire to live for the Lord or the world?
Is your destination Heaven or Hell?

WHO GETS TO GO TO HEAVEN?

In Matthew 7 Jesus speaks and says “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ It will be a sad and horrible day when people understand too late as they are headed to hell that It is not what they have done that will get them into heaven, but what Jesus has done.  His last words on the cross were it is finished.  That means He paid our sin debt in full.  That is why John would say in John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32
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The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions