Good morning. And so how
can He present us holy and blameless beyond reproach? By us continuing in the
faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the
gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven,
and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. It is not an automatic thing that we
will be presented holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Too many people start
the race but do not finish it. It's like the seed that the sower sowed. The
pressures of the world and the deceitfulness of riches turn peoples' hearts
away from the Gospel. Paul then says he was made a minister to preach the word
of God to tell the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and
generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you the hope of glory. It was right there in the Bible that
we Gentiles were also to come into to the kingdom of God; but they couldn't see
it. Those that did see it were ridiculed and ostracized. In the book of Acts
even Peter was criticized for going to the Gentiles. It took a divine act of
the Holy Spirit to convince them otherwise. Paul's desire for all: that their
hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to
all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting
in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All these treasures are in
Christ, and He is in us. Even after becoming believers some Christians still
keep searching for that special knowledge (remember the Gnostics). All the
wisdom and knowledge that they need is within them – Christ Jesus! Father thank
You that the reader is filled with the wisdom and knowledge of Christ. He/she
has all he/she needs within him/her. He/she is more than a conqueror.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
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