Jesus Commanded "Be Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect" Matthew 5:48
Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be PERFECT, as your Heavenly Father is PERFECT."
The Importance of Becoming Perfect as one is being "changed from GLORY to GLORY."
The objective of being changed from Glory to Glory is to repent and take the spiritual steps necessary to be in the "image and likeness" of Jesus. Going to church and fellowshipping with the saints should be a life-changing experience. In a church as the Body of Christ comes together in love, worshipping God and Jesus in Spirit and in Truth, the Shekinah Glory cloud, or spiritual warm spot in the midst of two or three believers in the presence of Jesus, or an angel of His presence. This is where the "Face of Jesus" is present, although there are no "eyes, nose or ears" there to spiritually see.
As we are walking in the Light of God and Jesus spiritually cleanses us from all sin.
1John 1:7 "But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin."
Walking in God's Light is a matter of life and death for the Christian. If we don't walk in the light now, we won't later.
First importance, like the thief on the cross, "Salvation is by grace!" Being perfect is not required for salvation. The thief on the cross or the infant in the womb has only to make a free-will decision to love the Holy Spirit and if conscious, to invite Jesus into their hearts and by God's grace they will be saved from this world, and this includes deathbed conversions. However, God expects more to older more mature Christians who are expected to become Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect.
After becoming "Born Again," or "Born from Above," then the journey, The Way, begins. "Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling."
Personal sanctification, becoming holy is a life-time process on the Way of becoming "Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect." The "Way" leads to the perfection of our Heavenly Father and to His presence in His Son Jesus. The plan and purpose of God is to make us into His "Image and Likeness" (Genesis 1:26).
For example, desiring and seeking the greater gifts (commanded in 1Cor 12:31) is the Way of becoming more "perfect" as our Heavenly Father is perfect. "God is Light" and letting the Light of God shine out of us as we stir up our charisma gifts and repent of other spirits is becoming perfect, radiating the Light of God as our Heavenly Father does through Christ.
As you stir up the charisma gifts and work to let the Light of God shine you are expressing the perfection of God our Father.
God is unchanging, and Jesus is always the same forever (Hebrews 13:8). To be made in the "image and likeness" of God who does not change means it is Christians who must change. Christians are to work to be conformed into the unchanging perfection of God (Genesis 1:26). "Faith without works is dead." Doing the works of God, prepared from the foundation of the world, are commanded for Christians today! God the Father and Creator is the example and not the failing "in-perfection" and frailties of a mere imperfect mortal.
Malachi 3:6 “Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. But you ask, “How can we return?”
God and Jesus do NOT change, there is no change in the judgments of God from the O.T. to the N.T. From Noah's Flood to the slaughter and wars in the N.T. (Book of Revelation is an example of having massive wars and unending punishment for disobedience to God and King Jesus.)
Hebrews 13:7 "Remember your leaders who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their Way of Life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday and today and FOREVER. 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them."
God gave the same GRACE in the O.T., including Noah's Flood, as He does in the N.T. with WW3 coming in perhaps a few decades according to some prophets.
Jesus did not command Christians to use in anarchy guns today, but to work to change U.S. Law so the children might be saved and the gospel of Jesus taught to them so they might follow the "Way" of God to inherit eternal life and to have a wonderful life and love more abundantly in this life.
John 1:16-17 "From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known."
Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). Jesus was there with His Father at the beginning of time for this creation, before the universe was created, all through the Old Testament, there also was grace and mercy. Consider God and Jesus clothed Adam and Eve in (perhaps) lambskins in His mercy and as a type of the coming salvation for those who believed and are righteous.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness and gave many the chance to be saved and perhaps build other boats to save their souls if they had believed.
1Cor 15:25 has Jesus reigning as King of King two millennia ago and today, yet Christians oppose the kingdom of God on Earth because they believe a heresy of a future Millennium which will never happen as long as they oppose having a Christian nation today so to save the children, if possible, in the public schools as the gospel was allowed to be taught under Thomas Jefferson in the Washington D.C. school system.
Jesus believes either you serve Him today or it may never happen.
1Cor 15:27-28 "For 'God has put everything under His feet.'” Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One who put everything under Him. And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all" (Genesis 1:26).
God never changes, Jesus never changes, it is heretical to think an arbitrary level of human maturity will replace the high calling of becoming "perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect." The Father of Jesus is our standard, our reference point. As we work to become "perfect" with the help and power of Jesus Christ the Mediator, as we repent of imperfections, we are made more and more perfect as our Heavenly Father always is.
As we are "led by the Holy Spirit into all Truth" we should stop hindering our walk and repent of anything that is taking us from being led by the Holy Spirit into all Truth.
God said the Philadelphia church had a "little" power and strength (Rev 3:8). God's same power is also available today for those who want to change for the better according to the Creator's desire. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" Acts 1:8.
Rev 19:6 "And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and celebrate and give Him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. 8 She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen, she wears is the righteous acts of the saints." Millennia after Genesis 1:26 was spoken by God, the Bride today in the New Testament, has been given the "robes of righteousness," "fine linen" "clothed with Christ," which are the righteous acts of the saints. You are the "Bride of Christ" and you are to make yourself ready today in His Sabbath rest. God's Call to Holiness, "Be Holy for I Am Holy."
Deuteronomy 23:14 "Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be Holy; He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you."
1Peter 1:15-17 "But just as He who called you is Holy, so be Holy in all you do, 16 for it is written: “Be Holy because I am Holy.” 17 Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners."
1John 1:5-7 "This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
Hebrews 5:12 "You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food."
1Cor 3:1 "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 for you are still worldly [why?]. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?…" To "be perfect" as our Heavenly Father we need to repent of walking in the ways of humankind. We are to repent of sin and instead learn to keep our spiritual eyes (Eph 2:2) upon Jesus as commanded in 1Cor 13:12.
Many people who are loving the sinful world system and giving in to the temptations of lustful impulses of jealousy and dissensions, will hinder and stumble many Christians from growing up into the "image and likeness" of God and Jesus. Entertaining themselves and walking in the ways of pagan cultures, will prevent Christians from being in the Will of God and the Holy Spirit. These are demon spirits that people love, e.g. gods, instead of giving their full attention to God through Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 5:7 "You shall have no other gods before Me." Loving the seducing spirits of pagan tv shows and multiculturalism is a violation of the Ten Commandments of God.
Instead of teaching the heroic Godly Christian stereotypes in the public schools, the pagan practices of indigenous tribes and multiculturalism are taught instead so to corrupt and help evil powers and demons take over the souls of the children, eventually taking them into spiritual darkness.
1Cor 13:12 "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
Apostle John writes, "We do not know what He is like." People confidently say Jesus has wounds and scars of His crucifixion, but John says He has His new heavenly body and we will be like Him. "Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be, has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure" 1John 3:2-3.
"Be Holy for I Am Holy!"
"Why should you die O Israel? Seek My Face and Live" (Amos 5:4-6). Failure to diligently seek the Face of Jesus and the God of Love eventually becomes a spiritual death sentence. Commanded in the N.T. for all believers in 1Cor 13:12.
God Witnesses Against Israel
Amos 3:2 “You only have I known from all the clans of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together without an appointment to meet?" Physical meetings with Christians are necessary for one's successful prayer life.
Mt 18:18-20 Christians need to walk together in fellowship with other believers in order to more effectively fight the spiritual warfare.
If you want to have godly happiness, having the fruit of the Spirit, then you must daily walk with Jesus and spiritually work to see His Face daily 1Cor 13:12.
Jesus will help feed your soul, leading His sheep to green pastures, and help you to fulfill your life and have "life more abundantly."
Adam and Eve daily walked with God in agreement in spirit and in Truth.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years in harmonious agreement in Spirit and in Truth.
How can Christians claim they know Him if they refuse to walk with Him and refuse to fellowship with each other? Those that continuously sin do not have God the Father, but walk in spiritual darkness (1John 3:6).
1John 3:6 "No one who lives in [Christ] keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.”
1John 5:18 “We know that anyone born of God does not CONTINUE to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”
Accepting or rejecting absolute spiritual Truth affects one's relationship with God and Jesus.
Failure to accept the Truth and to walk in the Truth will result in God's Judgment.
Unity in the Body in Truth is helped by spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are mentioned in a number of Scriptures.
In Ephesians 4:12 [Jesus gives spiritual] gifts "to equip the saints for works of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ."
Charisma gifts help protect against heresies. Ephesians 4:14 "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.…" Apostle Paul wrote it was his desire to come to you to lay hands upon you that you may receive spiritual gifts.
1Cor 12:27-31a "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31a Now eagerly DESIRE the Greater Gifts," 31b "And yet I will show you the most excellent Way [of Love]."
John 16:7 "But I tell you the Truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." [Ask our Heavenly Father to send His Advocate for us and He is always faithful to perform His WORD and its promises.]
John 16:8 "And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned." In Acts 2 at Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire by Jesus was given to the Church. Pray to the Father the Holy Spirit convict you of sin and repent of it so you will inherit eternal life.
Satan was the O.T. ruler of the world until the Cross. However Jesus reigns today (Rev 11:17), Satan has been cast down from Heaven Revelation 12:7-17 and is no longer the ruler of the world, but he is restricted to the lower atmosphere, the "prince of the power of the air," and he is working to kill, steal and destroy all those who will not keep their spiritual eyes on Jesus and be led by the Holy Spirit!
"As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience" Ephesians 2:2.
John 16:12 "I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead and guide you into all Truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you..."
John 16:15 "Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Holy Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you."
Churches commonly put the Bible above what the Spirit of Truth and Holy Spirit is telling them, even though the Scriptures are always harmonious and in agreement with what the Spirit is saying. Let the Spirit of Truth be your final decision step rather than heresies, church traditions, and sectarian doctrines. Churches often "cherry pick" the Scriptures in order to support their half-truths or false doctrines.
John 17:15 "I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the Truth; Your Word is Truth." We are washed by the Blood and by the WORD of Truth, and we are sanctified because of His washing us with His Blood and by His Word.
John 16:13 "However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you." Jesus is the Truth, and by accepting the Truth, one has to repent of lies and heresies.
Sanctification is an ongoing process, repenting of lies and accepting the truth, repenting of deceptions and accepting the truth. As one forsakes the darkness of lies and embraces the Truth, one becomes more and more sanctified.
John 16:14 "He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you." Taking from the glory the Father has given to Christ one then participates inside of Christ being changed from glory to glory as one looks with their spiritual eyes to the Face of Jesus (1Cor 13:12).
Christians sometimes want the sinful ways the world, and do not want to be sanctified and holy. Sometimes they hold onto idols of heresies, false doctrines and unbiblical traditions they believe to be more important than the truth of obeying God and Jesus.
Mt 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Without holiness no man shall see God! Control yourself, and resist those temptations, Jesus will help you to look to Him instead of being overcome by the temptations, be holy, it is the command of God!
John 17:18 "As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world." 19 For them, I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the Truth." Sanctified by traditions? Sanctified by heresies, or deceiving yourselves with empty gestures of traditions?
John 6:28 "Then they inquired, 'What must we do to perform the works of God?'
John 6:29 Jesus replied, “The WORK of God is this: to believe in the One [Son Jn 3:16] He has sent.”
Christians are to daily work to be sanctified by the Truth of the WORD and Spirit of Jesus! "Be Holy, for without Holiness no man shall see God."
Want to see God?
Be Holy, sanctify yourselves to God and Jesus, and repent of having love of the spirit of the world.
Walking in the Light
1John 1:5-7 "And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.…" "It is impossible for God to lie."
John 3:21 "But whoever practices the Truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God."
John 8:12 "Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, 'I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of Life." Jesus is also the Light of the New Heaven and New Earth in the next life. If Christians really follow Jesus and the leading of His Holy Spirit, then we walk in His Light!
Galatians 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law."
Ro 8:14 "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
All those who are led by the Spirit of God, Jesus gives Christians His authority to us to become Sons of God.
Prayer of Jesus for all Believers:
John 17:20 "I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, 21 that ALL of them may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."
Jesus is working to give you the same relationship as He and His Father has.
John 17:22 "I have given them the GLORY YOU GAVE ME, so that they may be ONE AS WE ARE ONE— 23 I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me." Why does God give us His GLORY through Jesus? "So that they may be One as We are One." Having the same type of relationship Jesus His Son has with His Father, then and today, is what God and Jesus also desires for us to have through His Son!
The Father is INFINITE and has INFINITE GLORY which would vaporize us. What glory the Father gave His Son Jesus Christ is sufficient for us to be transformed into "the image and likeness" of God and Jesus.
John 17:24 "Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the GLORY You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world."
John 17:25 "Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me. 26 And I have made Your Name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the Love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”
The GLORY of the New Covenant:
2Cor 3:17-18 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the GLORY of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying GLORY, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Mt 18:18-20 "18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather together in My Name, there am I with them.”
God answers prayers when they are His desire within His Will and within His WORD.
Warning: this promise of Jesus in Mt 18:18-20 is not a solution for our lusts and those who desire new luxury items!
James 1:14-16 "But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers."
Jesus sent His disciples out to minister by twos, in pairs so to fulfill the spiritual Law of Mt 18:18 requirements of reflecting His GLORY and being changed from "GLORY to GLORY."
Ecclesiastes 4:8-10 "There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!" A coworker or believing spouse in Christ is a matter of life or death.
John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'"
THE GOLDEN RULE and The Narrow Gate
Matthew 7:12 "In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets. 13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 "But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.…"
"Jesus is the Way, The Truth and the Life," the only way to eternal life, walk with Him daily.
Pray Jesus washes away your sins as you repent of them with His Blood and Spirit.
Jesus is the Truth and the only Way to inherit eternal life. Amen
God is unchanging, and Jesus is always the same forever (Hebrews 13:8). To be made in the "image and likeness" of God who does not change means it is Christians who must change. Christians are to work to be conformed into the unchanging perfection of God (Genesis 1:26). "Faith without works is dead." Doing the works of God, prepared from the foundation of the world, are commanded for Christians today! God the Father and Creator is the example and not the failing "in-perfection" and frailties of a mere imperfect mortal.
Malachi 3:6 “Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. But you ask, “How can we return?”
God and Jesus do NOT change, there is no change in the judgments of God from the O.T. to the N.T. From Noah's Flood to the slaughter and wars in the N.T. (Book of Revelation is an example of having massive wars and unending punishment for disobedience to God and King Jesus.)
Hebrews 13:7 "Remember your leaders who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their Way of Life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday and today and FOREVER. 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them."
God gave the same GRACE in the O.T., including Noah's Flood, as He does in the N.T. with WW3 coming in perhaps a few decades according to some prophets.
Jesus did not command Christians to use in anarchy guns today, but to work to change U.S. Law so the children might be saved and the gospel of Jesus taught to them so they might follow the "Way" of God to inherit eternal life and to have a wonderful life and love more abundantly in this life.
John 1:16-17 "From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known."
Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). Jesus was there with His Father at the beginning of time for this creation, before the universe was created, all through the Old Testament, there also was grace and mercy. Consider God and Jesus clothed Adam and Eve in (perhaps) lambskins in His mercy and as a type of the coming salvation for those who believed and are righteous.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness and gave many the chance to be saved and perhaps build other boats to save their souls if they had believed.
1Cor 15:25 has Jesus reigning as King of King two millennia ago and today, yet Christians oppose the kingdom of God on Earth because they believe a heresy of a future Millennium which will never happen as long as they oppose having a Christian nation today so to save the children, if possible, in the public schools as the gospel was allowed to be taught under Thomas Jefferson in the Washington D.C. school system.
Jesus believes either you serve Him today or it may never happen.
1Cor 15:27-28 "For 'God has put everything under His feet.'” Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One who put everything under Him. And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all" (Genesis 1:26).
God never changes, Jesus never changes, it is heretical to think an arbitrary level of human maturity will replace the high calling of becoming "perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect." The Father of Jesus is our standard, our reference point. As we work to become "perfect" with the help and power of Jesus Christ the Mediator, as we repent of imperfections, we are made more and more perfect as our Heavenly Father always is.
As we are "led by the Holy Spirit into all Truth" we should stop hindering our walk and repent of anything that is taking us from being led by the Holy Spirit into all Truth.
God said the Philadelphia church had a "little" power and strength (Rev 3:8). God's same power is also available today for those who want to change for the better according to the Creator's desire. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" Acts 1:8.
Rev 19:6 "And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and celebrate and give Him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. 8 She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen, she wears is the righteous acts of the saints." Millennia after Genesis 1:26 was spoken by God, the Bride today in the New Testament, has been given the "robes of righteousness," "fine linen" "clothed with Christ," which are the righteous acts of the saints. You are the "Bride of Christ" and you are to make yourself ready today in His Sabbath rest. God's Call to Holiness, "Be Holy for I Am Holy."
Deuteronomy 23:14 "Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be Holy; He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you."
1Peter 1:15-17 "But just as He who called you is Holy, so be Holy in all you do, 16 for it is written: “Be Holy because I am Holy.” 17 Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners."
1John 1:5-7 "This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
Hebrews 5:12 "You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food."
1Cor 3:1 "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 for you are still worldly [why?]. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?…" To "be perfect" as our Heavenly Father we need to repent of walking in the ways of humankind. We are to repent of sin and instead learn to keep our spiritual eyes (Eph 2:2) upon Jesus as commanded in 1Cor 13:12.
Many people who are loving the sinful world system and giving in to the temptations of lustful impulses of jealousy and dissensions, will hinder and stumble many Christians from growing up into the "image and likeness" of God and Jesus. Entertaining themselves and walking in the ways of pagan cultures, will prevent Christians from being in the Will of God and the Holy Spirit. These are demon spirits that people love, e.g. gods, instead of giving their full attention to God through Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 5:7 "You shall have no other gods before Me." Loving the seducing spirits of pagan tv shows and multiculturalism is a violation of the Ten Commandments of God.
Instead of teaching the heroic Godly Christian stereotypes in the public schools, the pagan practices of indigenous tribes and multiculturalism are taught instead so to corrupt and help evil powers and demons take over the souls of the children, eventually taking them into spiritual darkness.
1Cor 13:12 "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
Apostle John writes, "We do not know what He is like." People confidently say Jesus has wounds and scars of His crucifixion, but John says He has His new heavenly body and we will be like Him. "Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be, has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure" 1John 3:2-3.
"Be Holy for I Am Holy!"
"Why should you die O Israel? Seek My Face and Live" (Amos 5:4-6). Failure to diligently seek the Face of Jesus and the God of Love eventually becomes a spiritual death sentence. Commanded in the N.T. for all believers in 1Cor 13:12.
God Witnesses Against Israel
Amos 3:2 “You only have I known from all the clans of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together without an appointment to meet?" Physical meetings with Christians are necessary for one's successful prayer life.
Mt 18:18-20 Christians need to walk together in fellowship with other believers in order to more effectively fight the spiritual warfare.
If you want to have godly happiness, having the fruit of the Spirit, then you must daily walk with Jesus and spiritually work to see His Face daily 1Cor 13:12.
Jesus will help feed your soul, leading His sheep to green pastures, and help you to fulfill your life and have "life more abundantly."
Adam and Eve daily walked with God in agreement in spirit and in Truth.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years in harmonious agreement in Spirit and in Truth.
How can Christians claim they know Him if they refuse to walk with Him and refuse to fellowship with each other? Those that continuously sin do not have God the Father, but walk in spiritual darkness (1John 3:6).
1John 3:6 "No one who lives in [Christ] keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.”
1John 5:18 “We know that anyone born of God does not CONTINUE to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”
Accepting or rejecting absolute spiritual Truth affects one's relationship with God and Jesus.
Failure to accept the Truth and to walk in the Truth will result in God's Judgment.
Unity in the Body in Truth is helped by spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are mentioned in a number of Scriptures.
In Ephesians 4:12 [Jesus gives spiritual] gifts "to equip the saints for works of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ."
Charisma gifts help protect against heresies. Ephesians 4:14 "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.…" Apostle Paul wrote it was his desire to come to you to lay hands upon you that you may receive spiritual gifts.
1Cor 12:27-31a "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31a Now eagerly DESIRE the Greater Gifts," 31b "And yet I will show you the most excellent Way [of Love]."
John 16:7 "But I tell you the Truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." [Ask our Heavenly Father to send His Advocate for us and He is always faithful to perform His WORD and its promises.]
John 16:8 "And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned." In Acts 2 at Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire by Jesus was given to the Church. Pray to the Father the Holy Spirit convict you of sin and repent of it so you will inherit eternal life.
Satan was the O.T. ruler of the world until the Cross. However Jesus reigns today (Rev 11:17), Satan has been cast down from Heaven Revelation 12:7-17 and is no longer the ruler of the world, but he is restricted to the lower atmosphere, the "prince of the power of the air," and he is working to kill, steal and destroy all those who will not keep their spiritual eyes on Jesus and be led by the Holy Spirit!
"As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience" Ephesians 2:2.
John 16:12 "I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead and guide you into all Truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you..."
John 16:15 "Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Holy Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you."
Churches commonly put the Bible above what the Spirit of Truth and Holy Spirit is telling them, even though the Scriptures are always harmonious and in agreement with what the Spirit is saying. Let the Spirit of Truth be your final decision step rather than heresies, church traditions, and sectarian doctrines. Churches often "cherry pick" the Scriptures in order to support their half-truths or false doctrines.
John 17:15 "I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the Truth; Your Word is Truth." We are washed by the Blood and by the WORD of Truth, and we are sanctified because of His washing us with His Blood and by His Word.
John 16:13 "However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you." Jesus is the Truth, and by accepting the Truth, one has to repent of lies and heresies.
Sanctification is an ongoing process, repenting of lies and accepting the truth, repenting of deceptions and accepting the truth. As one forsakes the darkness of lies and embraces the Truth, one becomes more and more sanctified.
John 16:14 "He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you." Taking from the glory the Father has given to Christ one then participates inside of Christ being changed from glory to glory as one looks with their spiritual eyes to the Face of Jesus (1Cor 13:12).
Christians sometimes want the sinful ways the world, and do not want to be sanctified and holy. Sometimes they hold onto idols of heresies, false doctrines and unbiblical traditions they believe to be more important than the truth of obeying God and Jesus.
Mt 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Without holiness no man shall see God! Control yourself, and resist those temptations, Jesus will help you to look to Him instead of being overcome by the temptations, be holy, it is the command of God!
John 17:18 "As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world." 19 For them, I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the Truth." Sanctified by traditions? Sanctified by heresies, or deceiving yourselves with empty gestures of traditions?
John 6:28 "Then they inquired, 'What must we do to perform the works of God?'
John 6:29 Jesus replied, “The WORK of God is this: to believe in the One [Son Jn 3:16] He has sent.”
Christians are to daily work to be sanctified by the Truth of the WORD and Spirit of Jesus! "Be Holy, for without Holiness no man shall see God."
Want to see God?
Be Holy, sanctify yourselves to God and Jesus, and repent of having love of the spirit of the world.
Walking in the Light
1John 1:5-7 "And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.…" "It is impossible for God to lie."
John 3:21 "But whoever practices the Truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God."
John 8:12 "Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, 'I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of Life." Jesus is also the Light of the New Heaven and New Earth in the next life. If Christians really follow Jesus and the leading of His Holy Spirit, then we walk in His Light!
Galatians 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law."
Ro 8:14 "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
All those who are led by the Spirit of God, Jesus gives Christians His authority to us to become Sons of God.
Prayer of Jesus for all Believers:
John 17:20 "I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, 21 that ALL of them may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."
Jesus is working to give you the same relationship as He and His Father has.
John 17:22 "I have given them the GLORY YOU GAVE ME, so that they may be ONE AS WE ARE ONE— 23 I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me." Why does God give us His GLORY through Jesus? "So that they may be One as We are One." Having the same type of relationship Jesus His Son has with His Father, then and today, is what God and Jesus also desires for us to have through His Son!
The Father is INFINITE and has INFINITE GLORY which would vaporize us. What glory the Father gave His Son Jesus Christ is sufficient for us to be transformed into "the image and likeness" of God and Jesus.
John 17:24 "Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the GLORY You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world."
John 17:25 "Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me. 26 And I have made Your Name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the Love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”
The GLORY of the New Covenant:
2Cor 3:17-18 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the GLORY of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying GLORY, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Mt 18:18-20 "18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather together in My Name, there am I with them.”
God answers prayers when they are His desire within His Will and within His WORD.
Warning: this promise of Jesus in Mt 18:18-20 is not a solution for our lusts and those who desire new luxury items!
James 1:14-16 "But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers."
Jesus sent His disciples out to minister by twos, in pairs so to fulfill the spiritual Law of Mt 18:18 requirements of reflecting His GLORY and being changed from "GLORY to GLORY."
Ecclesiastes 4:8-10 "There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!" A coworker or believing spouse in Christ is a matter of life or death.
John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'"
THE GOLDEN RULE and The Narrow Gate
Matthew 7:12 "In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets. 13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 "But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.…"
"Jesus is the Way, The Truth and the Life," the only way to eternal life, walk with Him daily.
Pray Jesus washes away your sins as you repent of them with His Blood and Spirit.
Jesus is the Truth and the only Way to inherit eternal life. Amen
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