Video of Anand Preaching the Gospel to Neethi Faith!

Unity # 39: The Obedience of the Nations

Unity # 39: The Obedience of the Nations

Dear Father,

     You, O Lord, abide forever, and Your Name to all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Your people; for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time has come. Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones and feel pity for her dust. So the nations will fear the Name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For You have built up Your bride; You have appeared in Your glory. You have regarded the prayer of the destitute and have not despised their prayer. (Ps 102:12-17). You are the God of deliverance and from You comes escape form death (Ps 68:20).

In Jesus Christ’s Name,

Amen

Dear Beloved,

     His judgment is here, and it has started in the house of God. In the time ahead there will be persecution like never before in our nation. It comes by the very hand of God and will result in fiery refinement of the people of God. In order that God may create a distinction between His people and those who walk in darkness, He will cause the agencies of the world to set themselves up against us. Many of us will be weakened, but only in an earthly sense. Spiritually, He is preparing us, even now, that we may be refined, purged, and purified until the time of the end; because it is still to come at the appointed time (Dan 11:35). Oh dear saint, He alone will enable us to stand firm until the end.

     This letter is about the obedience of the nations. Our father Jacob prophesied that the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples (Gen 49:10). These peoples are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that they may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. (1 Pet 2:9-10) He is able to establish us according to the Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, and has been made known to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith; to the only wise God, though Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 16:25-27) This Gospel of God was promised beforehand though His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the death, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, though whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles for His Name’s sake, among whom we also are the called of Jesus Christ. (Rom 1:1-5)

     Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’” (Joel 2:17) He knows their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see His glory (Is 66:18). He will set His glory among the nations; and all the nations will see His judgment which He has executed and His hand which He has laid on them (Ez 39:21). God told us to ask of Him, and He will surely give the nations as our inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as our possession (Ps 2:8). He will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and He will fill His house with glory (Hag 2:7). The nations will see His righteousness, and all the kings His glory (Is 62:2) The Lord extends peace to the nation of Israel like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream (Is 66:12). They will be to Him a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that He does for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace He makes for them (Jer 33:9). They will swear, “As the Lord lives” in truth, in justice and in righteousness; then the nations will bless themselves in Him, and in Him they will glory (Jer 4:2).

     At the end the nations will walk by the Lord, the Temple of glory, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Rev 21:24-27). They sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9) For by common confession, great is the mystery of Godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world, taken up in glory (1 Tim 3:16). Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples (1 Chron 16:24).

     Dear saints, we are aliens and strangers here. Beloved, we are urged by God and one another to abstain from fleshly lusts which WAGE WAR AGAINST OUR SOULS. We must keep our behavior excellent among the peoples, so that in the things in which they slander us as evildoers, they may because of our good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Pet 2:11-12). These fleshly desires are truly waging war against our souls. Our enemy seeks to destroy our soul by fleshly desires. Many who professed faith in Christ, even having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good Word of God and the powers age to come, and then having fallen away. It is impossible to renew such people again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God, but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. (Heb 6:4-8)

     I heard a brother in the Lord exhort his fellow brothers saying, “If you do not overcome your battle with lust, you are going to be damned”. He indicated that he was not referring to pure perfection of victory, but rather, if a man’s love for forbidden pleasure, in the end, destroyed his conscience and hardened his heart, as it surely would if the Spirit does not achieve progressive victory, he will be destroyed. If a mere sinful thought is deemed as the very act in the sight of God, and if He has promised us that no immoral persons will inherit the Kingdom of God, we must be warned that immorality is the secret pollution of the heart. It is the exaltation of self rather than God in the heart. The obedience of the nations is not simply outward moral reformation, but it is an inward purity of heart, a sincere devotion to Christ. A young lost women asked a group of young men what they thought about that fact that she was a “pure virgin”. An atheist replied to her, “Just because you are a virgin does not mean that you are pure”. Ultimately, if we do not overcome evil with good, if we do not master the fleshly desires that wage war against our souls by the strength of His might, we would be damned. May the Lord help us to seek Him while He may be found, to not harden our hearts today as we hear His voice. We must know Him as He revealed Himself through His great sacrifice of love!

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Tit 2

Love in Christ,

Preethi

Unity # 38: My Savior

Unity # 38: My Savior

Dear Father,

    You have made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become Your righteousness in Him. For He Himself bore our sins on His own body on the tree that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. By His stripes we are healed and born again. You have crushed Your own Son for my sake. He was abandoned and forsaken for all of my rebellion against You. You are God, Jesus, the God of the universe. No one can forgive my sin but You alone. And You have surely forgiven and pardoned all of my offenses that I may walk before You in the land of the living. You have qualified us to share in the inheritance of Your saints by Your blood.

In Jesus Christ’s Name,

Amen

Dear Beloved,

    This unity series will be finished at Unity # 40, so there are two more after this one. This letter is about Christ as my Savior, not just the Savior of all His people, but my personal Savior who has borne my very own guilt and shame and has resolved me completely of all sin. For if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

     It is of utmost important that each of us who call ourselves as His children ponder upon the sacrifice for salvation that Christ has made for each one of us personally. Indeed the transformation of grace only comes with one’s own personal acknowledgement of the imputation of our sin onto Christ as He poured out His life on the cross and the imputation of His righteousness on His own people, yes, even on my own soul. It is specifically our hearts’ belief in the atonement of Christ for personal sin that results in the cleansing of our consciences from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9:14), and the purification of ourselves for Him as people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Tit 2:14), that we may love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), that we may be rescued from the dominion of darkness (Col 1:13), that we may no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose for us (2 Cor 5:15), that we may live with Christ according to the Spirit (Rom 8:4), that we may consider ourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:11), that we may be controlled by His love (2 Cor 5:14), and that we may no longer be slaves to sin (Rom 8:6).

     When one has truly believed, by the gift of regeneration, resulting in true saving faith, in the sacrifice that Christ has made for him personally, there is great power over sin, great joy, and great love for God and men. You must believe that He died for you. You must believe that He poured out His life for you. You must believe that His blood was shed for you. You must believe that He was raised for you. He was delivered over because of my transgressions, and was raised because of my justification (Rom 4:25).

     All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:5-11).

     When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:11-14)

     Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Tit 2:14). Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:1-4). For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14).

     What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:31-35) Thus, the love of Christ controls us, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Cor 5:14-15) We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). May we look for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus (Tit 2:13). Jesus Christ is the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and released us from our sins by His blood! (Rev 1:5)

Love in Christ,

Preethi

From Wilbur Teale's Biography:

Earl 22 & lost was dying & at his bedside Earl's mother (who he never saw pray) was praying for God to save her son. Earl said, "mother, get out of my room. Go pray for yourself". Turning to [Wilbur's] father, he said, "You are the only one who knows how to pray for a dying man, uncle Will. Pray for me just as loudly as you can, I'm slipping into the flames". Father & the pastor prayed earnestly for Earl. However, the last words he ever spoke were: "It's too late. I'm slipping into the flames"! and our cousin was gone. Oh what a sad funeral ...a warning to our precious young people and prayerless parents. - Wilbur Teale

Why I Did not "Repent" at New Life " Church " Woodbury

This video (5/7/13) is intended for those with a sincere devotion to Christ and a love for the saints or those seeking the Truth, rather than for slander or ungodly public dissemination.

https://vimeo.com/65648410

Password: ChristisLord

The Last Message Before..."Christ in us, the Hope of Glory" transcript

Would someone like to open in prayer that God will help us to understand His Word?

… Girl Prays

Amen

Today I am going to be doing kind of the second part of what we were talking about last week. Do you remember what we talked about last week. It starts with an “f”.

Faith!

Faith, that’s right. And do you remember what was faith? What does the Bible say that faith is?

Believing that Jesus is our Savior.

Yes, it is having the assurance of things that we hope for and the strong belief in the things that we cannot see. And we remember that faith is a gift. It is something that God gives us. It is not something that we can choose to do without God helping us believe in Him. It is a gift of grace. If we truly have faith it affects the way we live. Remember we talked about the hammock example. If we believe that the tree is strong we tie our hammock to it. So if we believe that Jesus is Savior, that He died and rose again, that He is the Lord and the God of all mankind, we will tie our lives to Him. We are banking our life on Him, we are trusting Him with our souls and we are giving up everything to follow him. And we have faith that He is God. Today we are going to talk about something very similar to faith and that is hope. We are going to talk about hope.

What is hope? If you say that you are hoping that you can see your grandmother this weekend, what do you mean by that.

Girl Answers: Um, that you might see her but there is a chance that you won’t

You are hoping, but there is a chance it will or will not happen. But when you see the word hope in the Bible, it is a very special kind of hope, because our hope is in something that cannot fail. It is in the promises of God. So when we put our hope in God, we are eagerly looking forward to the things of God. It is a hope that accompanies a faith that God has given us. And remember that faith is the assurance of things hoped for. So if you are a Christian and you have hope in things to come in Christ, you are looking forward to it, but it is not as though there is a chance that it may not happen. In fact, because of the faith that God has given you, you are assured of those things that you look forward to. You are certain that in mind that what you are looking forward to is surely going to come to pass. That is why this is a blessed hope that we have. It is a different than anything else that you girls may be looking forward to. Because the things we hope for in Christ will surely happen. If you have your Bibles please open them to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians is in the New Testament. It is before the book of Hebrews that we looked at last week.

Okay, we are going to begin reading with verse 23.

²⁶ that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His ^[ak]saints, Col 1

So this mystery that was hidden to the past generations is the mystery of Christ coming as the Messiah and living a perfect life, dying for our sins, rising to life after satisfying His Father’s justice. In the Old Testament people knew the truth of God. They had faith that God would send a Savior to save them from their sins. And the faith they had was credited to them as righteousness and they were saved by the faith that they had in the coming Messiah. But they did not understand as well as we do now. Because now that Christ has come and fulfilled the work for which He came to do, we understand all about Jesus. We know that His Name is Jesus. We know that exactly how He lived and what He said when He was alive and all the miracles that He did. And we know that He is alive today and that He has been crucified by sinful men for us and this mystery of God reconciling the world to Himself not only His chosen people the Israelites, but also people from every nation under heaven, um, God has saved them all and this is a mystery now that is revealed to us. In the Old Testament times the people knew this in part, but now that it is finished, the mystery of the Gospel for all people of the world is made known to us who believe in Christ.

Verse 27

²⁷ 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. Col 1

So, this verse is very very special because it is telling us as God’s children that God desires to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery us. And this verse tells us exactly what that mystery is. This mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So, the mystery of God from the beginning of time till the end of time, girls, is Christ in you who is the hope of glory. So if you have trusted in Christ, Christ is in you through the Holy Spirit and He Himself is your hope. And will Jesus ever fail? Is there a chance that He will die someday? No, right. So this hope that we have is Christ. And He is the hope the glory. Girls, glory is something that I have understood recently in the past few years. I did not understand it most of my life. It is really really cool what glory is. Have you all heard of the word “holy”. You memorized the verse in your book: Let them praise Your great and awesome Name for He is holy. I think it is in Jeremiah. Well, the word “holy” means to cut-off or separate.

Preethi draws on board: box to represent world, writes “God” above the world box as cut off from the world and separated by infinity symbol and a line to represent the veil

Say this is all of us, the world, and all the people in the world. When we say that God is holy, it is as though He is cut off and He is cut-off so high this is an infinity sign and He is way up here. And He is cut off from the rest of us. He is set-apart much higher than us because He is righteous and He is good. And apart from Him we are not. And you see, we do not deserve to see God’s holiness. In fact, in our sin if we saw God’s holiness, if we came to God and saw God’s holiness we would die. In the Bible, when the men of God who were covered in Christ when they saw the holiness of God, even though they were saved and had the faith that was righteousness for them, when they saw the holiness of God you know what they did? They fell flat down on their faces. If you saw even the tiniest bit of the holiness of God, you would be so overwhelmed and in awe of Him and it would just cause you to cause to run to him and to flee from everything else in the world. And the word “glory” is when. Okay. So, when we are in our sins, the holiness of God is not visible to us. We are blind to the goodness of God. It says there is this veil that separates us from God and because of this veil we cannot see the holiness of God. So before we were converted, before we trusted in Christ, we could not see the holiness of God. We could not see it. If you saw it you would die. But when you come to Christ, this veil is taken away and now we can see God’s holiness and when we can see God’s holiness, that is called seeing His glory. And that is a special gift of God to us that we do not deserve, but because of what Christ did on the cross, God’s justice was satisfied and we have the gift of having the veil removed from our eyes so we can see the holiness of God. And when God reveals Himself to people who are covered in Christ, that is called glory. So Christ in us is the hope of glory. And as we continue in our walk with Christ, He will show us more and more of His glory His gift of grace. And when we finally see Him as He is, we will see His full glory. So the thing we look forward to as Christians is to see the glory of God in Christ; to know Christ. To see the riches of Christ. To see all of the love of Christ. It is the only thing that we look forward to. Our heart has been changed such that Christ in us is our hope of glory. And that is something that every true believer has their hope in. They are looking forward to it. In fact, let me ask you a question and think of the answer to this question in your own minds. You do not have to answer me.

Are you looking forward to heaven, to seeing Christ Face to face?

You might eagerly nod your head yes because you are supposed to but think about it hard, does your heart truly look forward to Christ or are you looking forward to something else? To be honest with you, there are times in my life, the times when I am not walking with Christ properly, that I am not actively looking forward to heaven. And because I am a Christian God will bring me back to Christ, the hope of glory. And if we are true Christians, our hope in in Christ. Our hope is not in anything else in this world. We are not necessarily looking forward to having a good life, or even good health and prosperity, or to have people like us, or to have fun, or to go to some special place, or to get together with nice people. But instead of all of that, our hope is in Christ. Someone who has Christ in them, Christ is for them their hope of glory. They are looking forward to Him. So now please turn to Matt chapter 7 verse 13.

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.¹⁴ For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matt7

Okay girls there are only two paths in this world, only two. And you are right now this very moment, all of you girls are on one of these paths. There is a path that has a broad gate, that means a very wide gate. Many people can get through at the same time. And the road beyond it is a broad road. And there is also a small gate and there is a really really narrow way and only a few people are on this path. And Jesus is telling us that the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it. So you girls probably, um, you girls probably know that if you have trusted in Christ, which of these paths are you on?

The narrow path.

You are on the narrow path and girls, there are only a few people on the narrow path. That is what Jesus told us. It is not what I am saying, but Jesus told us that many people are on the broad path, but only a few people are on the narrow path. And it is not only a narrow door but a narrow path. Please turn to Luke chapter 13 verse 23

 ²³ And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?”  Luke 13

So someone came to Jesus and said are there only a few people in this world who are going to be saved. You might have that question, right? How many people are going to be saved? Are all the people going to be saved, or are half the people going to be saved or is no one going to be saved? So just like you might ask, these people were asking this question. And here is Jesus’s answer.

And He said to them, ²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; ²⁷ and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ ²⁸ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. 

So Jesus’s answer to us how many people are going to saved is that…He is telling us that we need to strive to enter through the narrow door because many will try to enter through the narrow door and will not be able to. So girls, in this world a lot of people just do not try to seek God, right? They just live their lives how they want to. They may not believe in God. They might not really care about God. But this verse is not even talking about those people. This verse is talking about those who strive who enter through the narrow door and they are not able to. They are not able to. And that is something is very very significant because of all the people who try to enter the narrow door, only a few are given the gift of faith. And girls there is a very great hope we have. Open you Bibles to John chapter 6. I’ll just read it actually because it looks like we are running out of time. I am starting in verse 23.

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

⁶⁰ Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”John 6

Okay so Jesus is essentially saying that apart from Him we cannot live and only by eating His flesh and drinking His blood in a Spiritual sense we are able to live. So He is here saying that He is God because He is saying that apart from Him we cannot live. And that is essentially saying that He is God. And many people who were following Him before, when they heard this, they stopped following Him. They could not accept Christ’s teaching that He alone is eternal Life. They could not accept that Christ is eternal Life. So they turned away from Him.

 ⁶¹ But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? ⁶² What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? John 6

He is asking them “what if you saw Me go up to heaven then would you believe that I am eternal life”. “What if you saw Me go up in the clouds, then would you believe in Me?”

 ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would ^[j]betray Him.⁶⁵ And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” John 6

You see girls, on our own we cannot come to Christ. We cannot. That is why the people, let’s say you witness to someone, you tell them the Gospel and they say, “I want to live my life how I want to and on my death bed I will trust in Christ so I can go to heaven.” The thing is, it does not work that way because we cannot decide to have faith nor can we decide when to have faith. Faith is a gift from God. Jesus is saying here that no one can come to Him unless it has been granted to him from the Father. And before He said that it is the Spirit who gives Life. Girls, the only reason you could believe in Christ is because the Spirit enables you to believe that Jesus alone is the Way. And of all the people who strive to enter the small gate and narrow way, only a few are able to because the Father has chosen to give those people the gift of faith. And Jesus said girls that I will not drive away anyone who comes to Me. So when you are faced with these truths, you might wonder in your souls, will God enable me to come to Him? If it is He who gives me the gift of faith, then how can I come to Him? God said that I will not turn anyone who comes to Me and He said that if you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found by you, I will let Myself be found by you. So girls, what this means for us is that if you do not know that you are saved you have got to seek Him. And seek Christ because girls the reason why many people try to enter through the small gate and cannot is because they refuse to come to Christ. They refuse to believe that He is who He says He is. They want to get to heaven by the goodness of their own or they are more interested in the things of the world, their hope is in the things of the world and not in Christ. You must set your hope entirely on Christ and know that there is no good thing apart from Him. King David said that he has no good thing on earth besides God. His heart and flesh may fail but God is the strength of his heart and his portion forever. Is God your portion? Is He your only portion? Is it true of yourself that you could say that you have no good thing besides Christ, that He is your only hope? Because for all those who have entered through the small gate, Christ is our hope. He is the Way. He is the narrow Way. And He will take us into glory. He will rescue us from every evil attack and bring us safely to His heavenly Kingdom. So girls, remember that our faith and our repentance is a gift from God and salvation is a not just a free ticket to heaven as I said last week. But it is the gift of eternal life, of being released from the power of sin, the blood of Christ cleanses our consciences from the acts, the sinful acts that lead to death. So salvation means a new life of being set free from sin so that you may bear fruit to God. So if anyone says that salvation is just a free ticket to heaven but not necessarily living a life for Christ, it is a false salvation girls. Because Jesus, the Name of Jesus was given to Him because He will save His people from their sins, not just from hell, but from their sins. You see girls, you have power over sin in His Name and you are dead to sin. You are alive to God in Christ Jesus. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, He will help you to obey God. He will give you a greater desire for Christ that your sin. So when you obey god and resist sin, it is not like you are pushing down a desire inside of you to sin, but rather God has given you a desire for Christ that is so much greater than your desire for sin. You just do not want to sin anymore because you want Christ. Christ is your hope of glory. He is your only hope.

A girl explains that her friend tries to tempt her to disobey her mom and asks Preethi if her friend is a Christian.

See that is the thing we have been talking about: Christians sin sometimes, but it not like a life’s practice. When you look at your whole life as a Christian, you see the bearing of good fruit. So I encourage you to first of all tell your friend the Gospel because maybe she has never heard the true Gospel. And if she has believes in Christ and claims that Christ is her Savior, then tell her in love and grace that what you are doing is not right to tempt me like this, And God-willing she will understand and in God’s time she will come back to Christ if she is a Christian. We need to abide in this Book. It is our life. There is so much more to know about God from His Word and you need to be filled with the Spirit because these kind of situations…I cannot tell you if your friend is a Christian or not, but God knows what you need to do and that is why with every situation that you are faced with, you need the Spirit of God and the Word of God to guide and lead you and give you wisdom to know how to react. That is such a blessed thing that you love your friend and care for her soul. Keep praying for her and for God to give you boldness to say the right words based on where she is at spiritually. I will close in prayer and pray for your friend.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I praise You that You are our hope of glory and You are the only certain thing that we have in this world. Your Words in the Holy Scriptures are precious to us, they are dear to us. And we hold fast to Them. They are more certain to us than anything else in this world. And I pray for Ally’s friend that if she is not saved that you would give her the gift of faith and that the Father would enable her to come to Christ to come to Christ and come to the narrow way. Give Ally the wisdom to say the right words to her friend. I pray for all these girls. Remove all the obstacles that keep them from putting their full hope in you. Grant them the gift of faith and repentance and help Your Word to grow and grow in their hearts and help us all to know You and to have fellowship with you and one another. Help the Christians all over the world to unite. And help all the Christians who are persecuted not to deny You but to have great joy in Your Name. And bless Your Jewish people who are hardened that they will trust in Christ as well because we know that do not give up on Your people, the nation of Israel. Help us to stay on the narrow path, and You are powerful to help us do that.

In Jesus Name we pray, Amen 

Unity # 37: The Sympathizing High Priest

Unity # 37: The Sympathizing High Priest

Dear Father,

     You are working Your wondrous plans for Your people. You are our Shield, our Glory, and the Lifter of our heads. We see You reigning in righteousness. You have ascended on High, and have defeated the power of sin and death. Thank You for the sure hope that we have in Your promises. We do not fear man, nor need we fear anything else, for Your loving-kindness endures forever. Please comfort our hearts with the truth that You, Jesus, are our sympathizing High Priest .

In Jesus Christ’s Name,

Amen

Dear Beloved,

    This letter is about our sympathizing High Priest. Have we not often blocked our minds and hearts off from His loving-kindness, as if we could bear the weight of our own guilt for those things that deem us unworthy to receive it? Have we not often forgotten in the midst of our grief and strivings for our own needs to be met, that there is One who knows what we need before we ask of Him? Or would we doubt His goodness and the New Covenant that He has made with us, by which He does not turn away from us to do us good? Jesus told us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things. But He told us to seek first His Kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. (Matt 6:31-33)

 

     Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:14-16) Jesus, in the days of His flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. (Heb 5:7-10)

     For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will proclaim Your Name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” And again “I will put My trust in Him”. And again, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me”. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all of their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted (Heb 2:10-18) No temptation has overtaken us but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that we will be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13)

    Dear saints, our Christ is full of compassion. He says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). When He saw the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd (Matt 9:36). When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick (Matt 14:14). He called His disciples to Him and told them that He felt compassion for the people, because they had remained with Him for three days and had nothing to eat; and He did not want to send them away hungry for they might faint on the way (Matt 15:32). When the Lord saw a woman weeping over her dead son, He felt compassion for her, and told her not to weep (Luke 7:13).

     Have we sinned? He tells us to rend our heart and not our garments, to return to the Lord our God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness and relenting of evil (Joel 2:13) Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon (Iss 55:7). When we repent, the Lord our God will restore us from captivity, and have compassion on us, and gather us again from all the peoples where the Lord our God has scattered us (Deut 30:3). Our Father is like the father in the parable of the prodigal son who saw the son from a long way off and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him (Luke 15:20) For the Lord will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their strength is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free (Deut 32:36). He redeems lives from the pit, and crowns His people with loving-kindness and compassion (Ps 103:4) Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him (Ps 103:13). For how can He give up or surrender His people? How can He destroy them as He destroyed His enemies? His heart is turned over within Him, and all His compassions are kindled. (Hos 11:8). He could have stepped on us and burned us completely, but He tells us to rely on His protection and to make peace with Him through His Son. Let us make peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ! (Is 27:4-5)

     Our God understands us. He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust (Ps 103:14). He Himself will make all His goodness pass before us, and will proclaim the Name of the Lord before us; He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom He will show compassion (Ex 33:19). The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth (Ex 34:6) The Lord our God is a compassionate God; He will not fail us or destroy us nor forget the Covenant with our fathers which He swore to them (Deut 4:31). The Lord longs to be gracious to us, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on us.  For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him (Is 30:18). Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. (Is 49:13). For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but His loving-kindness will not be removed from us, and His Covenant of peace will not be shaken (Is 54:10). He has betrothed us to Himself forever in righteousness, justice, loving-kindness, and compassion (Hos 2:19).

     God, in His great compassion, does not forsake us in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud does not leave us by day, to guide us on our way, nor does the pillar of fire by night, to light for us the way in which we are to go. Christ, His Word, is our Light (Ps 119:105)! Yes, He is our Way (John 14:16)! His compassion and loving-kindnesses are from of old (Ps 25:6). He will not withhold His compassion from us; His loving-kindness and Truth will continually preserve us (Ps 40:11). The Lord answers us, for His loving-kindness is good; according to the greatness of His compassion, He turns to us (Ps 69:16). He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy He will save (Ps 72:13). For the Lord will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants (Ps 135: 14). He looks down from heaven and sees from His holy and glorious habitation; He is full of zeal and He does mighty deeds. The stirrings of His heart and His compassion are restrained towards us! (Is 63:15)

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. James 5:11

Love in Christ,

Preethi

Koinonia Church of Woodbury:

   In the midst of great joy and deep sorrow, this past Sunday, 4/18, we met for the first service of the new church, “Koinonia Church of Woodbury” The service lasted for three hours including about an 1 hr of prayer, 20 min of communion, 15 min of hymn singing, and a long message from the Word. My favorite part was the prayer time. We could feel the Presence of Christ so strongly. I also felt His compassion and grace poured out on us. I felt that He was telling us, “I am with You. I am here”. We were encouraged by the truth that where two or three are gathered in His Name He is there. We are praying for God to bring more people that we may have a true fellowship of saints and also that God will provide love, boldness, time, and means for us to evangelize, study the Bible, and pray during the weekday evenings. It is far better to be with a few saints who love Christ and are willing to take all of His Word to heart, than to be in a place where Christ is not honored. Thank you Anand and David Christensen for making the website: www.koinoniawoodbury.org.

Other churches that preach the Word in this area:

Christ Redeemer Church of Woodbury

Redeemer Baptist Church of Oakdale

Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis

17 General Signs of a Carnal Church:

1. No weekly prayer meetings

2. Contentment in an annual event to fulfill the Great Commission

3. No teaching of the core doctrines of substitutionary atonement, regeneration, sanctification, evidence of true conversion, assurance of salvation, final judgment, the nature of God, etc.—and no congregational heartache over this

4. When the majority of the congregation (without using Spiritual discernment) thinks that the majority of the congregation is saved 

5. When the facebook profiles/walls of the congregation reveal carnality and the absence of God in their thoughts…a greater interest in everything except God

6. When programs and books in place of the unadulterated Word of God are emphasized

7. When there is no true unconditional, sacrificial, and forgiving love for one another

8. When there is no church discipline

9. When leadership is not concerned about the Spiritual needs of the congregation

10. When there is no exaltation of Christ in worship and messages, but rather an emphasis on perishable things; pervasive mindsets that perishable things are the means by which God’s Kingdom will be built

11. No dependence on God

12. No zeal, labor, or diligence for the Kingdom of God

13. No repentance

14. No Spiritual tears

15. No persecution from the wicked

16.

14 Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands far away;

For truth has stumbled in the street,

And uprightness cannot enter.

15 Yes, truth is lacking;

And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.

Now the Lord saw,

And it was [g]displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

16 And He saw that there was no man,

And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;

Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,

And His righteousness upheld Him. Is 59

17. When most of the congregation is comfortable and complacent with a form of godliness that denies God's power while unknowingly awaiting damnation