Genuine believers “have been given exceedingly great and precious promises…”However, let’s be clear about how we receive these promises. Our text tells us that by knowing God personally, through Jesus, His power works in our lives, giving us the ability to live a godly life. Within the intimacy of that relationship, He calls us higher, ever higher by His glory and virtue. Moreover, as we answer Him in a diligent pursuit, we are given “exceedingly great and precious promises that  through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.” 

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But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. Surrendered saints discover in their Lord such joys, such brimful delights and such overflowing blessings. Delighting in the Lord is a far cry from serving Him from obligation.

Living in a dual world means that we experience the temporal realm alongside the unseen spiritual world. However, the key to fully understanding the duality of our existence is being Spirit led rather than carnally minded. Believers are spiritual beings that possess an eternal soul, living in a temporal body. The wonderful mystery is that as a believer, you live in a dichotomy—you remain in the temporal world but the things of this world grow strangely dim. Through spiritual rebirth, you have gained dual citizenship status, where, through prayer, we bring these two worlds together, clashing one against the other.

Jesus is the “heir of all things.” The boundless realms of His Father’s universe are Christ’s by absolute authority. He is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and He has permitted His believers to claim it with Him as joint heirs. Believers are the bride of Christ, and by virtue, the Lord has ratified His covenant of heirship with His chosen people.

God’s Word assures us of His love. We also know that His love toward us is immeasurable. Even so, as fallible humans, we often question His love. In the natural realm, when we question something, we reveal our uncertainties or reveal our fear of the unknown. However, when we question God and His ways, are we perhaps questioning His love for us? Our text tells us “we can know” we are loved because “He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” His abiding presence demonstrates His love toward us that is so pure He is beyond question. 

The wonder of being “born from above,” is a matter so mysterious that human words cannot describe it. 1 Corinthians 2:7, 8-10 tells us, “No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God— His plan (of Salvation) that was previously hidden, even though He made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.” That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit.”

In Jesus’ day, the economy was mostly agrarian. Every daily activity revolved around and looked forward to a plentiful harvest. Bringing in the harvest was a big deal. Villages and regions prospered or suffered based on the measure of harvest. Even with this understanding, the disciples did not know completely what Jesus meant when He said, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.” Why? Because Jesus was talking about a spiritual harvest, which was a foreign concept to the religious Jewish culture. Jesus had to change their way of thinking (and ours) because every believer is called into the harvest field of suffering and unredeemed people—His lost sheep.

God chose the nation of Israel as His instrument for blessing all nations. God’s covenants with the nation of Israel are everlasting. He is restoring Israel in the last days as part of His greater plan of creation and redemption. Most theologians believe that God will fulfill all His promises to Israel and all His promises to the Church. (Romans 11) God wants us to seek peace among all people, and that would include praying for peace in Jerusalem, especially because of its special place in His heart.

To Jesus, obedience was a life principle. Obedience with Him did not mean a single act of obedience now and then, not even a series of acts, but the spirit of His whole life. “I came, not to do My own will.” “Lo, I come, to do Thy will, O God.” He had come into the world for one  purpose. Jesus only lived to carry out God’s will. The one supreme, all-controlling power of His life was obedience. In Christ this obedience was a joy. “I delight to do Thy will, O God.” 

For more than two centuries, our nation’s leaders throughout the echelons of government have revered our  biblically inspired laws and sought to implement the principles of governance found in Scripture. Our country was established on these precepts. However, as of this writing, more and more officeholders do not adhere to these foundational principles. Below are quotes from our founding fathers and our own Supreme Court which illustrate how far we have deviated from God’s Word. 

At this time in our nation, many of us are laser-focused on the upcoming November election. While thousands of us are rightfully engaged, enlightened and energized for November, many of us are also working overtime to look ahead to the upcoming local elections in May 2025. We have to put this on our radar.

The person of Jesus is the quiet resting-place of His people, and when we draw near to Him in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the Word, the searching of the Scriptures, prayer, or praise, we find any form of approach to Him to be the return of peace to our spirits.

“If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32 NKJV) Imprisonment often means incarceration, but being confined to a jail cell is only one definition of imprisonment.

The tongue is like a tiny spark, James said, that sets a forest on fire. “It is a world of wickedness. . . it can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. . . It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3: 5-8).

You and I must be careful what we say. And how we say it. The mouth that praises God on Sunday must not be the mouth that curses candidates on Monday…

Men need a mission. Men’s ministries that involve only sharing feelings and didactic teaching, will not hold men’s interest for long. Men are wired to DO. They need objectives and goals - a MISSION. How about a call for them to be disciple makers and leaders in their families, in their church bodies, and in their communities and government?

I have found many Scriptures that direct us to pray for the people who are in authority over us. I discovered that when we are obedient to pray for our leaders, we step into a biblical principle that will bring peace to our lives, as well as our family, friends and neighbors.

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-5 NLT

Jesus said He would build His church upon this foundation—the Spirit-revealed knowledge of Jesus written upon the hearts of His people. God builds the church by revelation knowledge “precept upon precept,” stone upon stone—it will be His building. Psalms 127:1 puts it this way, “Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. …” Can you think of a better foundation for God to build His church than Spirit-revealed knowledge of His Word?

They gathered in the small boarding house on Market Street. They sat down in high-backed wooden chairs around a simple wooden table. There was no air-conditioning to sooth the summer heat. In the descending rays of late afternoon, a candle was their light. To them was given the awesome responsibility to craft a declaration; the “power to begin the world over again.”

Our Unfinished Work