Sun, Mar 31st - 10:29PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 12 VS 8-10

Brothers and sisters, let us thank, praise, bless, and pour out from our hearts liberal love offerings to our King, God the Son of God Jesus Christ, Saviour, High Priest and Mediator, who has made us His royal family of priests, brothers and sisters, and has given us the right, and blessings of eternal life in Him.

Let us love one another, holy brethren, and continually pray for one another. I thank God our Father for His love and our mutual love. I thank God our Father who has filled us up to the full spiritually with His love, truth, and healings-spiritually, mentally, emotionally- so that none are in danger of us trying to suck them dry to meet our needs for love, to feel good, to feel of value.

Indeed, God our Father has filled us to the full with His love-even with the love of God His Son Jesus Christ and God our Holy Ghost. God loves us so much that He cannot stand to be away from us at any time, therefore He has made us one in His Spirit in Christ. Our mutual love-that of the whole body witnesses to the world that God is in us and that we are the Children of God. Let us be humble, dearly beloveds, seeing Jesus as our supreme example, for God commands humility before honor. Let us take up our crosses daily for God commands that we bear our crosses before He gives us our Crown, and this we will do through His power.

CHRIST’S ONE SACRIFICE ONCE FOR ALL

Heb 8:10

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and

 their iniquities will I remember no more.

JESUS TEACHES US THAT BOTH HIS BODY AND BLOOD WAS NECESSARY TO MAKE AND COMPLETE THE ATONEMENT. Mat 26:26-28

The New Covenant is an absolute, eternal unchanging blood covenant, is finished for all time, Jesus Christ its Word, Saviour, Mediator, High Priest, HEAD OF THE CHURCH, and Absolute Supreme Standard. He is the absolute gospel with all of His doctrines, principals, and boundaries which are rooted, ratified, unchanging, and set for all time, by and in the will of God the Father. Holy brethren, we know that we must keep this fresh and not let it slip. This is all a part of our spiritual food, eat it all.

CURSED ARE ALL WHO ADD TO OR TAKE AWAY FROM THIS NEW COVENANT: Gal 1:8-9.

Holy people, let us continually keep in remembrance understanding that all of our works or knowledge, regardless of how great, is worthless to God without faith that works by love, and can never please Him:  Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Along with our everyday lives, dearly beloveds, in various walks of life duties, responsibilities, work, play, difficulties or joys, we must keep God’s perspective in mind. We must share the gospel message. I was taught by my pastors and elders to witness publicly on the streets, in businesses, airports, public buildings, without a choir, musicians, singers, microphones, and tracts that people throw away littering the streets, because none of that saves anyone, it is the power of the gospel that saves all who will hear and believe. Surprisingly I’ve never been thrown out of any place for witnessing. There have been times when people came directly to me to ask questions about God. I am nothing special, God can use us all and wants all of us to take the opportunity to witness at every opportunity as many are doing.

While witnessing I never had to deal with anyone trying to argue with me who disagreed or didn’t believe in some aspect of the Bible. I was trained to understand my role as a messenger, present the message don’t get involved or distracted. After the Titanic sank, rescuers arrived in the night with lights in little boats calling out into the darkness seeking to rescue all possible.

Holy brethren, we know and understand our assignment from God, for in the same way we sail out in the Ark of Salvation as priests/children of light into the darkness of this present evil world sharing the gospel to/save all who will believe from their sins and the wrath of God to come.  

Let us be ready and stay ready to share the gospel and live it as priests under our Great High Priest Jesus Christ. Let us read our Bibles, play it often, even at bedtime, study the Bible alone and with others, and let us live it in faith to please our God, out of love and trust in Him. Through the Bible we understand our God and the power and authority He has given to the church, His body.

We know dearly beloveds, that against the framework of our everyday lives there is a spiritual war going on between the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the devil. Our work as priests of the royal family of God is to share the gospel to save all who will believe. This spiritual war manifests in the physical realm in the good being done by the spiritual warriors the people of God and the evil being done by the wicked, whether they acknowledge it or not. No matter how much money or how little, how great or how small we might be the enemy will bring war to us.

The greatest danger to believers is ignorance of the scriptures. A pastor stated casually publicly that he had read the Bible once fifty years ago and put it away in a drawer! Nevertheless, praise God for the multitude of overseers who are faithful in equipping the saints (G40 hagios).

The Bible equips us to live, love, and fight the good fight of faith on all fronts, in both the spiritual and the temporal world. Believers are not condemned for being ignorant because we do not have to stay that way. The condemnation comes when anyone is carefully taught the truth and refuses to believe it by obeying it out of love and trust in God.

We return to our study, brothers and sisters, focused on the enormous problems these Hebrew believers had due to one issue-they had ceased to retain any knowledge of the scriptures, that Paul had previously taught them. Their lack of teachers, lack of patience under trial was merely symptomatic of the root cause of their issues.

Some in error might say the Bible teaches in the book of James that we should not be many teachers: Jas 3:1 and/or that Paul teaches in 1Co 12:29 that all believers do not have to teach. That is not what those verses mean as scriptures interprets scriptures without error because Paul has clearly taught: Heb 5:12 that the Hebrew believers should have all been teachers, but he found none of them were due to their neglect to retain any of it that he had previously taught them.  We must connect with God in His word proactively where He continues to speak with and fellowship with His people today. Do not see reading, listening, studying the Bible as trivial and unnecessary!

All who have been taught the whole of scriptures and understand that the entire gospel flows out of the New Covenant of Lord Jesus Christ have an advantage above those who have merely been taught the Bible in bits and pieces that is only topically. While teaching topically is useful, those who understand the whole of the gospel message know that they can search the scriptures to get the full understanding of verses without error within the context of the whole of scriptures, rather than in error making a doctrine out of a verse as those who are ignorant of the whole. Thanks be to God every Christian can be taught the whole of scripture and those who know it are commanded by God to help them as they had been helped.

We find Paul our dear apostle teaching these Hebrew believers topically within the whole of scripture. This is obviously because he had to teach them like they were new believers as they had forgotten all that he had previously taught them.

The world hates God and His people, and therefore will persecute all Christians. God allows/limits persecutions to test try and prove our faith, but does not send, nor use it to punish us. Let us also keep in mind that God’s chastisement has nothing to do with abuse, for as a loving Father, God will lovingly correct us when we sin. Note the devil is not cited to be the cause of why or when we sin. If the devil could make men sin, then God would have to abolish hell, and that is never going to happen.

Nope, our sins arise out of our own lusts for things that God forbids or things that might be o.k. for

others but not for us.

Heb 12: 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Raise your hand, brethren, if you have heard or understand vs 8 above to mean that there are people that God does not waste His time chastising because they are evil and beyond redemption, therefore He declares them bastards. I raised mine, but I had to put it back down, because scriptures from the whole context of scriptures and in both covenants clearly states differently, because God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they should turn from sin to Him. We also recall in an earlier chapter of Hebrews how God labored intensely for 40 years with certain of the unbelieving Jews, and all unbelieving persons today.

Verse 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  Clearly vs 7 interprets vs 8 to mean that God’s sons are those proven to be so in their loving response and trust in God’s discipline as from a loving Father.

Therefore, it is error to believe that there are people whom God deems so evil whom He dooms from birth to go to hell. Some might say how about Judas? The fact that Jesus chose Judas shows the mercy and patience of God. Jesus didn't just throw Judas out like so much trash, knowing his heart, but allowed Him to remain in the ministry up to the time of his betrayal. So, Jesus showed He loved even Judas, gave him all those years to be in His ministry see His works and miracles. Jesus knowing Judas was a thief even gave him the money bag knowing he was stealing from it.  None of it mattered Judas refused to believe and sold Jesus out for money. Therefore, neither Judas nor anyone else can claim on the day of judgement for the wicked that God never disciplined or gave them a chance to repent or to believe in Him.

To gain the full understanding of God, we turn to the scriptures to see that He is absolutely proven to be a God of love, JUSTICE, long suffering and patient with both the good and the wicked. All those of faith receive God’s loving discipline as His children trusting Him and in thankfulness turn away from sin in repentance, to please Him, doing His will and not their own, rather than being angry, suspicious, and unwilling to turn away from sin to Him to please Him by doing His will.

We know, holy brethren, what to do to please God our Father when He disciplines us right?

9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

God our Father helps us to grasp, to embrace the reality that we belong to His household, that it is normative for our loving Father to carefully watch over His children to keep them safe, to lovingly nurture and correct them to live according to the Standard of Christ within the boundaries of the New Covenant. Therefore, we reverence God our Eternal Father out of love and trust as His children.

Most noteworthy, dearly beloveds, is that God is far superior to our merely human fathers whose discipline was sometimes tainted more with relieving their anger or frustration at us rather than for our good. God’s correction is always for our Good and His glory which greatly aids/empowers us to sin less and less going forward, proving our love and trust in Him.

Rev 3:19

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Again, brothers and sisters, scriptures interpret scriptures. God’s discipline does not mean, can never mean 1 John 1: 9-10, confessing/begging God to forgive our sins, over and over after salvation. Instead, it means to repent, that is to stop practicing the sin(s), as God in Christ has empowered us to do as new creations in Him. Once again, and this is a warning- those who know the truth but choose to keep confessing their sins begging God for forgiveness after salvation instead of ceasing to practice or doing the sins as God commands are showing an evil heart of unbelief in totally casting aside the New Covenant.

There is the correct interpretation of 1 John 1: 9-10, feel free to study this on your own, dearly beloveds. Study the word confess in the scriptures starting with Lord Jesus’s words regarding the word confess. Then answer the question does Jesus our Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent High Priest know all of our sins, past, present, future? Then it will become clear that there is no work nor ritual that anyone has to perform to be saved, but to believe what Jesus has already done.

My focus is that it is a clear misinterpretation to see those verses in 1 John as meaning after salvation it is necessary to perform a ritual of any kind including to confess all of our sins or to keep begging God to forgive our sins. If this were true God would have to abolish the New Covenant and in particular these verses and it is never going to happen: Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and

 their iniquities will I remember no more.

The bible clearly teaches the New Covenant is permanent, can never be broken not even by God Himself.

Sun, Mar 24th - 7:44AM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 12 VS 5-7

Brothers and sisters, from every nation, let us priests of the holy royal family of God under our great High Priest, Saviour, Mediator, Deliverer, God the Son of God Jesus Christ, thank and praise God our Father for His eternal love, mercy, truth and kindness. I love you saints (G40 hagios) and thank our great Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ God the Son of God for you, now and always. You are often in my thoughts and prayers, dearly beloveds, and I thank you for your love and petitions to Lord Jesus in my behalf.

I pray continually, dearly beloveds, that we will rest in the love, hope, truth  and power of Almighty God our Father, that He would fill us continually to the full with the knowledge of Himself, so that whatsoever our circumstances, situations or conditions might be that we all will remain faithful knowing the crown, and the joy awaiting us all at glorious appearance of God the Son of God Jesus Christ.

 CHRIST’S ONE SACRIFICE ONCE FOR ALL

Heb 8:10

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and

 their iniquities will I remember no more.

JESUS TEACHES US THAT BOTH HIS BODY AND BLOOD WAS NECESSARY TO MAKE AND COMPLETE THE ATONEMENT. Mat 26:26-28

The New Covenant is an absolute, eternal unchanging blood covenant, is finished for all time, Jesus Christ its Word, Saviour, Mediator, High Priest, HEAD OF THE CHURCH, and Absolute Supreme Standard. He is the absolute gospel with all of His doctrines, principals, and boundaries which are rooted, ratified, unchanging, and set for all time, by and in the will of God the Father. Holy brethren, we know that we must keep this fresh and not let it slip. This is all a part of our spiritual food, eat it all.

CURSED ARE ALL WHO ADD TO OR TAKE AWAY FROM THIS NEW COVENANT: Gal 1:8-9.

Holy people, we return to the Word of God our spiritual food to sit at the Lord’s table again to feast freely on the Bread of heaven, that most precious Manna from God our Father through the Son . Let us sit at His table for full spiritual meals, snacks, and grazings often too, without which we can neither grow to maturity nor serve a God we do not know. But all thanks and praises to our God who has left us His Word that we can indeed know Him fully and well. Often read the Bible, listen to the Bible, study the Bible, meditate on the Bible, practice the Bible, share the Bible, live the Bible.

Going forward, holy people, let us continually keep in remembrance understanding that all of our works or knowledge, regardless of how great, is worthless to God without faith that works by love, and can never please Him:  Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Paul, the apostle and our brother, dearly beloveds, has laid out for us the passion, the power and the fire of Jesus Christ God the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us in His eternal atonement, freely given to all who believe in Him and do His will. But now Paul’s emphasis is on the believer’s work of faith in obedience to God out of love and trust in Him.

We rightly speak of the amazing love of God for God is love. Jesus teaches us that God our Father greatly desires that His children should also love Him: Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: 

this is the first commandment. 31

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Paul boldly shreds from these Hebrew believers and all believers the error that the believer’s liberty or freedom in Christ means that we can do whatever we want and live our lives in any way that we please. We will not find any such teachings in scripture. Neither does Paul invoke 1Jo 1:9-10 that these who had confessed Christ and received salvation should afterwards continually confess their sins to be forgiven again and restored back into fellowship with God again. No, instead the apostle gives forth God’s command clearly, explicitly for all believers after salvation: Heb 12:1…“let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us”,

We find Paul reteaching them that God is a hands on Father, who actively lovingly correctively disciplines All of His children whenever they need it to keep us on His path of righteousness.

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Rebuked: to find fault with, convict, convince, correct, by word; to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove; to call to account, show one his fault, demand an explanation.

A. by deed.

to chasten-discipline.

Our Salvation and inheritance is the gift of God through Jesus Christ and cannot ever be lost. However, God holds us accountable to Him for our character, conversation, and conduct that He commands must align with His Word and will. God will reward His people for all that they do out of love and trust in Him.

Brothers and sisters, these believers had forgotten about the loving corrective disciplinary hand of God because they had forgotten the scriptures altogether by neglect, although Paul had previously taught them. We get the insight, the sense, the understanding that God’s chastening of His people is within the standard of Christ within the boundaries of the New Covenant, never outside of it. Therefore God’s chastisement of the authentic believer is never any form of abuse nor damnation, for God always deals with us as His children never as unrepentant enemies whom He shall destroy.

We recall too that they had run into all kinds of difficulties trying to live apart from the scriptures in that they had no teachers, no patience in their persecutions, and no guidance due to their neglect of the scriptures to weather their trials. Frankly, dearly beloveds, we will not fare any better than these Christians should we be neglectful of the spiritual food of scriptures:  Luk 4:4

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Paul had to reteach them their identity as children of God, and that their attitude rather than being avoidant and discouraged should be one of faithful, trusting acceptance and understanding that God’s chastening is always done out of love, even during those times when it might be severe.

Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father casteneth not?

God our loving Father disciplines, corrects and trains all of His Children whenever we need it. Those who patiently receive his loving disciplinary correction-chastisement as from a loving Father show that they trust Him and are truly His Children. Indeed what father has children whom he fails to discipline? We know, holy brethren, Christianity is not a democracy, it is an eternal unchanging theocracy under the infallible God the Father Almighty who is of infinite wisdom and goodness who can be absolutely trusted in the care/protection, nurturance and discipline of His children without partiality....  

 ABUSE/ABUSERS

Unfortunately, to some God’s chastisement is seen in error as abuse. We do have Christians who have suffered abuse, and even some so called churches that spiritually abuse. Then there are some whose back stiffens at God’s chastisement because they see it as improper “meddling in my business”. However, God our Fathers’ chastisement has nothing to do with abuse nor improper meddling in our business.

We can understand that more than a few Christians get a bit anxious about God’s chastisement who have never been abused, for there have been instances of abuses, some of them high profile in the church, and amongst Christians just as it is in the secular world.

We can understand that more than a few Christians might in error get a bit anxious about God’s chastisement who have never been abused, because there have been instances of abuses, some of them high profile in the church, and amongst Christians just as it is in the secular world.

The Word of God alleviates the Christian from anxiety or fear concerning God's chastisement mainly because what it looks like, the who, what, when where, why, its purpose, and methods are codified in scriptures and laid out meticulously through out the New Covenant, so that no one can take advantage of believers who know the Word of God.

Let us keep in mind that persecutions/tribulations are allowed by God to test try and prove our faith, but they are never sent by God; they come about because the world hates God and His children:

Jhn 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

1Jo 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Believe God, brethren, the world hates both Him and His people-you, me, us although we love our enemies and continually share the gospel that those who believe will be saved.

Love and truth forever, serola

Thu, Mar 7th - 7:06PM

STUDIES IN HEBREWS

CHAPTER 12 VS 4-5

Brothers and sisters, let us both Jew and gentile as the holy family of God our Father, made one through God the Son Jesus Christ give Him our love, blessings, thanks and praise offerings, for He is good and His mercy, love and truth, endures forever.

One day I went bargain shopping, and while I was in the store, a young Asian woman desperately asked me if I was a Christian. I answered yes, and she fell into me so happy. She was from Japan and had come to see America on the fly having heard so much about it. My city was the last leg of her journey to see before going back home that day.

She said she became desperately lonely for other Christians, and felt spiritually wizened, dried up like she was starving spiritually, but would be o.k. if she could just fellowship with one Christian. It was early afternoon when I met her at the store. We fellowshipped and prayed together until we were interrupted by the store’s closing bell that rang that evening, and she rushed off feeling refreshed to catch her flight back home.

I didn’t get the chance to shop the bargains and the sale was done, because God had a better reason for me to be at that store that day. The young woman and I looked nothing like each other physically, but we are the true spiritual family of God our Father, His people of all nations in this present evil world and the future world of God, united as one in the body and blood of God His Son Jesus Christ.

Although I have worshipped with Christians from many nations, I had never thought of Japan as having any established Christian churches, how wrong I was! We always need our God, and we need our brothers and sisters in Christ too as He has given us one to another. Our walk as Christians cannot be fully expressed apart from relationship with God and His people.

Jesus Christ has built the only church that will last for all eternity: 1Co 3:16

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1Co 3:17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

CHRIST’S ONE SACRIFICE ONCE FOR ALL

Heb 8:10

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and

 their iniquities will I remember no more.

The fact that all of our sins past, present, and future, are permanently forgiven, dearly beloveds, is something that some new believers and even some who have been saved a long time-even in the pulpit struggle with, not knowing God nor His power , but only rudimentary that somehow Jesus Saved them and in error believing that somehow and/or in some way it is up to them to keep themselves saved thereafter or be lost.

Now, we know, brethren, all of us start out ignorant- spiritual babies and some among us remain babies, even some in the pulpit a long time. These spiritual babies left to their own, adlib their own ideas of the gospel. Some Christians get angry when they meet an ignorant believer, or ignorant pastor/teacher whom they discover didn’t understand the full message of salvation. Initially I got angry too. I repented when I read in the scriptures, which makes it obvious, that with the exception of the apostles/prophets, none of us automatically know the gospel, it has to be taught. Therefore, God assigned pastors, teachers, elders and the body general to teach believers. Those taught are to continue to study, live, obey the scriptures, share it with other believers even as they received and also in the world.

I heard a pastor say that there are some churches where the New Covenant is neither taught nor mentioned. This is tantamount to sending children out into the wilderness without any means or knowledge of how to survive. In another sense it is like sending soldiers to war without training/combat skills, nor weapons to fight a well armed highly trained adversary.

The scriptures and here Paul at the get go of the Book of Hebrews teaches us of the great unlimited power of Jesus Christ by which His atonement saves all who believe forever apart from any works of the flesh.

THE POWER AND AUTHORITY OF JESUS CHRIST

Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;c

Rev 1:8 The power of Lord Jesus Christ is equal to that of God the Father, seeing that Jesus is God the Son of God. Every breath that we take, our allotted time of life to be on earth is through God the Son Jesus Christ, by the will of God the Father. Everything that exists has been created by the power of Jesus and maintained by Him whether flesh, spirit or the universe. Therefore, dearly beloveds, we understand His power, that it is unlimited, not bound by time, distance, nor space.

The ignorant aka spiritual baby frets, not understanding forgiveness is permanent. They omit the New Covenant entirely to look past it for ways to get back in God’s favor each time he or she sins. Rather than turning away from any sin in repentance to do God’s will as evidence of their love and trust in Him the ignorant believers work is never done. Like the priests under the mosaic law their lives are fraught with fear as they work constantly to keep short accounts confessing sins so they will not lose their salvation and/or fellowship with God.

They share their ignorance too in witnessing, telling people to confess all their sins or they cannot be saved, not knowing that the all powerful Saviour/HIGH PRIEST Jesus Christ already knows all the sins a person will commit in their entire lives. Therefore, what the penitent person confesses after they hear the gospel is that they believe Jesus is the Saviour who died to pay for their sins and rose again and that He forgives the sins of all who believe in Him. This is the simple eternal truth of the New Covenant with its guarantee from God:  Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and

 their iniquities will I remember no more.

JESUS TEACHES US THAT BOTH HIS BODY AND BLOOD WAS NECESSARY TO MAKE AND COMPLETE THE ATONEMENT.

The New Covenant is an absolute, eternal unchanging blood covenant, is finished for all time, Jesus Christ its Word, Saviour, Mediator, High Priest, HEAD OF THE CHURCH, and Absolute Supreme Standard. He is the absolute gospel with all of His doctrines, principals, and boundaries which are rooted, ratified, unchanging, and set for all time, by and in the will of God the Father. Holy brethren, we know that we must keep this fresh and not let it slip. This is all a part of our spiritual food, eat it all.

CURSED ARE ALL WHO ADD TO OR TAKE AWAY FROM THIS NEW COVENANT:  Gal 1:8-9.

We know, dearly beloveds, without a doubt that God always tells the truth. In fact, He is truth, and it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we know absolutely that we can have complete confidence and competence in learning, sharing, and living His word. Let us gather often at our Lord’s table for He lives in us and is our spiritual food wherein we shall be comforted, strengthened, and greatly aided in Him, in the indwelling presence of God our Father, and God our Holy Spirit. 

Attend many Bible studies everywhere you can, not just our little group, hold Bible studies, interactive Bible studies are important too and we should not neglect them, read Bible studies in blogs, listen to them on audio, iPod, radio, tv broadcasts, satellite, short wave from other countries etc. Let be mindful to get our full reward by sharing the gospel at every opportunity, and doing all the good works that we can especially in ministering to the saints, the needy, and the sick.

We, saints (G40 hagios), don’t need any degrees nor an advanced degree to interpret/ understand the scriptures, it is opened only to believers without cost and never natural men without the Spirit. Jesus made disciples from uneducated men and some who were well educated: Act 4:13.  Note, we only found out Luke was a physician because Paul mentioned it: Col 4:14.  Luke used his profession to treat others, not to weaponize it to rank himself above/superior to his brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul was a very learned man, and we know how he valued it: Phl 3:8. Regardless, of what level of knowledge we possess in the world, our work as Christians is to exalt God, not ourselves: 1Co 8:1; 1Co 13:2.

I state this with love, saints (G40 hagios), anyone is free to attend any religious school of their choice, and men may require such; but that is never, never a commandment nor requirement of God for His people. No one has any authority from God to promote themselves above Christians based on mere human works. Scriptures interpret scripture without error or contradiction within the whole context of scripture.

We turn to the Lord’s table, where Paul continues to reteach and warn these Hebrew believers the gospel that they had once known but allowed to slip away due to failure of ongoing study. Brothers and sisters, we know that it’s important for us to connect, to comprehend that we are a part of the long line of Christians that must continue in same path that God laid out for them. So, we don’t see this as just stuff that happened to people a long time ago, or merely an interesting read.

Let us, holy people, recall the apostle and our brother Paul has taught us, that tribulation, and persecution are never punishment from God. Therefore, we can never see persecutions/tribulations as being sent as chastisement or punishment from God.

Some might say what about Job. Job was not punished, God allowed him to be severely tested to a certain degree, afterwards he was found faithful, and God rewarded him on earth and in heaven. This has been the pattern throughout scriptures. God is with us even in us through it all and is our victory and will reward us for our faithfulness and trust in Him.

What is the chastisement of God then if it is not punishment? First of all, holy brethren, you, me, us, know that we have to dump any notion that God’s people are free to live however they want, as if no one is in charge of the body as a whole. We know that all who hold an office and the body general have been purchased and are owned by Lord Jesus Christ and made the children of God through Him. Our Salvation and inheritance is permanent as a gift and can never be lost. However, as believers we understand that we are all accountable and responsible to God and one another to align with His will and His Word, out of love and trust in Him: Jhn 14:21; Jhn 14:24.

We fully understand chastisement as God’s way, not to punish us but to correct/discipline us out of love to help and keep us set on His straight path. God will not allow any believer to live sinfully, which hurts themselves, and the body: 1Co 6:19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Heb 12:1…"let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us”, 

We are all in the same race as the Saints (G40 hagios), who came before us. The message is the same to/for all of us- keep on running and put off every weight and sin which the flesh attracts and adheres to with ease.

Perhaps some might argue that God knows we are but flesh and expects that we will sin from time to time. Some might say it’s impossible to live without sinning. Even so, the real issue is that we are commanded by God never to continue or practice any sin.

In a sense Paul follows up and addresses such assumptions in this manner:  Heb 12: 4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Paul is forthright, not concerned about hurting the feelings of those who might deal with their sins delicately. Certainly, God knows we will all sin from time to time after salvation. Dealing with our sins especially those that are pleasurable can be very uncomfortable, disturbing, troubling, even appalling. However, the process of doing it, no matter how painful it seems to us, does not require us to die as those who have died under terrible persecutions, and trials, who still overcame their sins and remained faithful out of love and trust in God.

Saying no to continuing in any sin leads to victory, saying yes leads to death: Rom 8:13

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

See Romans chapter 8.

Raise your hand, brethren, if you have ever avoided these verses because it scared even confused you: 1Jo 3:6

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

1Jo 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

I raised both of mine, until in study I understood that Christians do not have to practice any sin, and that any sin I commit I can’t blame on the devil. See, if we could blame the devil for our sins, God would have to abolish hell, and that is never going to happen. God has given us many ways to not be trapped in sins: an indwelling God who guides, guards, convicts, allows or restrains us; a new Conscience that restrains/convicts/filters acceptable from unacceptable, a new heart of love that hurts us to hurt God; a new mind like that of Christ with knowledge and the power of self -examination/self-control all through the Word of God, there is more. In addition to all of this God has a fail- safe in place for all of us.

Some, who do not know God nor His power might say in error that since we still sin after being saved, we are still sinners who need to continually confess our sins to stay saved and in fellowship with God. Again, when we hear someone say this, we know they do not know God nor comprehend His power, in addition this error entirely omits the New Covenant esp. Heb 8:12.