Prelude

Before I continue with this word, teaching, study, whatever you take it to be, I have to give thanks with all my heart to the Holy Spirit of Almighty God and Christ Jesus, who is our continual Guide, Counselor, Friend and so much more.

When I push through with something that I believe the Lord has given me to write or even in the past behind the pulpit to preach and teach, it was always with the understanding of stepping out in faith, believing the subject WAS from the Lord to the people of His choosing. Being so timid in faith/belief in certain subjects, I had asked the Lord to strengthen my faith and at least from time to time show me His handiwork in the final product. HE has always been faithful in that and when in my heart I asked Him to forget that I asked in the first place, He has still shown me, through His love in others, the confirmation of my hearing Him!

It has struck me JUST how much the Holy Spirit is calling a people together from all corners of the world and tying us together in His Spirit to accomplish His goal and His message. There WILL be those times of confirmation and in those times we should rejoice and be full of His bestowed blessings upon us for we truly are in an age of the Church, the Spiritual Church of Christ Jesus, coming together and being created the way the Spirit of the Lord is dictating! There is a quickening in the spiritual realm, one that the world is blind to see, yet, we have been given the power and authority in the Name of Christ Jesus, to be able to HEAL those blind eyes!! We have been given the ability to do it by nothing other than our Heavenly Father’s Agape Love flowing through each of us!!

All, we have to do, is act! In however small, or grand way that the Holy Spirit equips us to do, the call is just that, TO DO!

Ephesians 4:1-6, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Foundation:

I believe it is important to share this following with you, despite the fact it may not seem to fit in with the articles that will continue in this series. I feel this is the Holy Spirit leading me to share with you, for I do not want to anyone to think I offer this series out of any other reason than my love for the Lord AND my love for my brothers and sister and any that the Holy Spirit draws to these articles.

First, I do not claim some great spiritual insight above what the Holy Spirit has also shown to others! It is by reading, meditation and prayer and attempting to WALK in the Living Words and by allowing those same Words, to change and mold me and not me, them, that I am able to state with some authority what I write concerning our Heavenly Father’s Character and Nature.

Second, I am a man of only average intelligence! I have some formal education, but I have many years of life education. There are many, many others out there who are more skilled, more educated in apologetics, exegesis and hermeneutics when it comes to the Bible. I however have chosen the Biblical way of discerning the Word of God, not that it makes me better or superior, but because it works for me AND the Holy Spirit has blessed it.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16, “But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (Bold emphasis added).

So, because I will be adventuring into SOME areas of “doctrine” that can be in some circles, controversial and divisive, I have chosen to take some time to lay a foundation here; the arguments or divisions that arrive from certain doctrines being taught in different “divisions (denominations)” of Christianity have led to a splintered church rather than a spiritual Church built upon the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3). You see, many remember this part of the Scripture, but they forget the “doing” part, the endeavoring part, which takes effort and work. Mankind as a whole has such a tendency to follow in the footsteps of Adam in the sense of taking something so beautiful, and out of lust of power, want and desire, twist the spiritual beauty into something grotesque and unrecognizable! We truly are, in the case of Adam, our father’s sons!

But, — we have a new identity, one that brings us back to our Spiritual Father, Jehovah, God Almighty! It is found in the second Adam, Jesus Christ, who bore the sins that Adam left us and condemned us (in this flesh) with, and He has opened up the doors to the Throne room of our Heavenly Father, Jehovah, so that we might approach truly as sons and daughters the Throne with boldness and grace!

I will NOT debate semantics, nor what the Bible says in context and in spirit. I have in the past done word studies with the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and even though it is interesting and educational, I have found they do NOT open the intent or spiritual insight into the Word of God when taken as a whole, no matter the language translation. What does however, is approaching the Word of God with reverence, with an open spirit and heart AND with prayer and meditation! When it comes to the gift of Salvation and the Greatest Commandments specified in Scripture, I have found that God’s plan is laid out no matter the translation and that goes for at least TWO cult translations I have also looked at!

Even though man has tried to twist the Word of God, very much like the Pharisees did in early Jewish history, and other religious leaders still do today, man as a whole cannot twist the basic premise of the Scriptures enough to escape the Greatest Commandments, OR God’s ultimate plan for mankind’s redemption!

I do not want the reader to think that I do not take the various doctrines of the Bible seriously, outside of the Greatest Commandments and Salvation, for I do; but I do want it understood, that according to Scripture, when it comes to man’s redemption, his Atonement by the Blood of Christ Jesus, by comparison the other doctrines are a means in which we relate or should relate to one another and to God as our Heavenly Father. The Bible, just like our Father Himself, is based on relationship; relationship with God as Father, and with our neighbor, all of mankind, as brothers and sisters UNDER God our Father! If we as a people cannot understand that with the redemptive power of the Blood Atonement of Christ Jesus, then we truly are lost!

I say this, because I, in my youth, have been involved in denominations that claim Christianity as its own, yet lack the one thing that defines true Christianity, love for one another, lost or otherwise, unconditionally! If you don’t believe my way of belief, or my doctrinal discourse then of course you cannot be a Christian and therefore I have the right to “shun” you! REALLY?!! My family, my wife and kids have been accused of leaving the “light and going back into the darkness” because we found the very precept that Christianity is based upon to be lacking, concerning our relationship with those around us, the unconditional love for others no matter their lot in life, circumstances or “religious affiliations!”

I believe with all my heart, these people do love Jesus Christ as best they can, BUT, they have allowed the semantics and the content of a few verses taken out of context to determine their path to relationships, man to man and man to God, and even though I can with open heart call them a brother or sister in the Lord, they do not reciprocate. It hurts, but only in the natural which is such a short time in eternity!

What I have described to you above, is what “labels” create; what denominations, create. And before you think I am condemning them, I do not, for not all denominations are divisive and not all denominations, “shun” others not agreeing with them. But many do, because denominations are RELIGIOUS organizations, man-made organizations and associations to define their beliefs and why they do things in the “spiritual” the way they do. Many rely on memberships. The true Church, the Body of Christ is not made up of memberships, but relationships built upon Spiritual unity AND as Paul stated in Ephesians, the unity of peace. The Church of God, the Body of Christ Jesus is diverse, but not divisive, an immense difference.

I will not be dealing with concepts in these articles dealing with “hell” or any derivative thereof. I will not be dealing with “eternal punishment” for there are other times for that, these do not deal with God’s Nature or Character. But just in case you wonder what I believe, I will tell you, February 10, 2016 when the Church Set Free discusses Justice. Another Character and Attribute of God Almighty, our Heavenly Father! (And another confirmation to what the Holy Spirit is doing within the Spiritual Church, the Body of Christ Jesus!).

I’ve spent a lot in preparing you for more of what’s coming in The Living Word (God, the Bible) in the future, Lord willing. If for some physical reason, I am not able to continue (I don’t foresee that yet), then the Holy Spirit ALWAYS has a plan! But — I’ve spent the time for YOU, the reader. If you have any preconceptions, if you are concerned that my teaching may be way, way different than your beliefs, then at least you will know what to expect.

I believe God through His Spirit wants us to know the intimacies of His Character, Nature, Attributes and Personality because He desires a TRUE relationship with His creation, US! We must worship Him in Spirit and Truth and the only way to accomplish that is to get to KNOW, to truly know, Who He is in all of His being!