As believers in Jesus by faith, our desire should include getting to know Him with our very being -- with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Our every thought and desire should be focused upon Him, our meditations on His abundant love for His beloved. Not having our own righteousness which the scripture states "is of the Law" or, having a form of godliness wherein the power of God is denied, but instead being found in Him with the righteousness which can only come through the faith of Christ -- "the righteousness which is of God by faith" that we may know Him personally and the power of His resurrection.
In both the old and the new, we are told -- "Lo, I come, the volume of the book [it] is written of Me!" (Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:7)
In other words, we understand that Jesus is the image of the invisible God who has in due times manifested His Word through preaching ... according to the commandment of God our Saviour. (Titus 1:1-3) And since God cannot lie, the truth is after godliness. Thy Word is truth. (John 17:17)
And godliness? Defined in I Timothy 3:16: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
In speaking of the promised Christ, the writer of Hebrews says the following: “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 Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they ...” (Hebrews 1:3-4)
Sadly, many get stuck on the right hand of Majesty, thinking salvation had to have come of another, relying instead on false teachings of a triad / a false trinity that negates even the very first commandment in both the old and the new -- "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is ONE LORD!" Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29-31)
In fact, teaching that God is more than One is contrary to Genesis 1:1 which clearly states, "In the beginning, God ..." Or, that in the next verse, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters ..." (Genesis 1:2) And, as a consequence, those who have not searched the scriptures for truth begin to accept the false teachings and the prevailing religious culture which has taken on a life of its own -- but clearly and evidently OUTSIDE of the Word of God.
Nevertheless, if ye have heard Him and have been taught by Him" ye know the truth is in Jesus! That "after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared ..." (Titus 3:4-7)
"The grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men ... the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works!" (Titus 2:12-13)
As the psalmist proclaimed: "O sing unto the LORD a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory." (Psalm 98:1)
And, also, as the prophet Isaiah scribed the Word of the Lord: "“And I looked, and [there was] none to help; and I wondered that [there was] none to uphold: therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me; and My fury, it upheld Me.” (Isaiah 63:5)
Yes, indeed, "The LORD hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10)
"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:9-10)
Other scriptures that tell of the greatest love story ever told?
Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life!" (John 14:6) Jesus said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." (Matthew 28:18) How could He say these things? Because Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. (I Timothy 3:16) "He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not." (John 1:10-11)
Jesus Himself said to His disciples, "I and My Father are ONE!" (John 10:30) Jesus Himself said to His disciples, "If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him." (John 14:7-9)
The voice from heaven said repeatedly, "Hear ye Him!" referring to Jesus -- at both His baptism in the Jordan and on the Mount. Moses pointed to Jesus and so did the prophets and psalmist point to Jesus, for He was the promise to come. (Deuteronomy 18:15; Matthew 21:11; Luke 1:76; Luke 2:25-34; Acts 3:22)
"The mighty God -- the Lord ..." (Psalm 50:1)
"Thou art my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation." (Psalm 89:26-27; I Chronicles 29:10-11; I Timothy 1:17; Matthew 28:18; Jeremiah 32:17-18)
Peter standing with the eleven on the day of Pentecost told the multitude that this same Jesus whom ye have crucified is both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36-38) The son of man is the Lord of glory!
Even the most famous scripture worldwide instructs us to believe on JESUS -- "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever BELIEVES IN HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
Why? Because Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending! (Revelation 1:8,11)
"Being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey HIM!" (Hebrews 5:9)
The Lord came forth as a mighty man! (Isaiah 42:13; Isaiah 9:6)
But to those who did not believe that Jesus was the He, Jesus said, "Ye neither know Me nor My Father: if ye had known Me ye should have known My Father also." (John 8:19) And a few verses later, Jesus confirms what He has said here, stating, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:24)
This is why -- in everything we do as believers in Jesus Christ by faith -- in both word and deed -- we do in the Name of the Lord Jesus! Because His precious holy Name is above every other name. (Philippians 2:9)
JESUS -- the ONLY NAME whereby we MUST be saved in this current dispensation of grace. (Acts 4:12) And ye shall call His Name JESUS for He shall save His people from their sins ... Emmanuel, being interpreted -- God with us! (Matthew 1:21-23; Isaiah 7:14)
Thomas, known often as doubting Thomas said, after thrusting his hand into His side -- "my Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)
And, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints and the faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse, and by extension to us who are Gentiles, he wrote: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the beginning the first born from the dead, that in all [things] He might have the preeminence ... for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." (Colossians 1:12-20; Ephesians 1:20-23; II Peter 1:11; II Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 3:14; Hebrews 1:2-3; Hebrews 2:10; John 17:5; Revelation 1:5, 8, 11; Ephesians 2:13-14; II John 1:9)
"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him, in whom also we have obtained and inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will -- that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ ..." (Ephesians 1:9-12)
"which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all!" (Ephesians 1:23)
"To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself ... for He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (II Corinthians 5:18-21)
As John the baptizer pointed out -- "of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16)
Therefore, we are to "hear ye Him" -- our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ, allowing His Spirit -- the Holy Ghost to lead us and guide us and comfort us in the day to day.
And for those who teach the good news gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to "take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood ..." (Acts 20:28)
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all! (Ephesians 4:5-6)
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all! (Ephesians 4:5-6)
Stand in the offering plate.
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