The true Gospel of Jesus

As taught from the Christian Bible.
A study by: Timothy M. Youngblood
Editors note: This study is from my book The Great Apostasy Chapter Six.
You can access the complete book for free here... Great Apostasy
Copyright © The Master's Table

The word gospel means "good news." The gospel is the wonderful message of God's plan of salvation for all mankind through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, His only begotten Son. The New Testament calls this message the gospel of grace, the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of peace, and the mystery of Christ. The gospel of grace is the good news that Jesus is the Savior of the world and through His blood all who repent and believe on Him may have their sins forgiven and may enter into the Family of God. It's the good news that when Jesus returns to the earth, He will set up the kingdom of God and the government of God and He will rule all nations as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The saints who are given immortality at the first resurrection will inherit the kingdom with Jesus and will rule and reign with Him as kings and priests as is recorded in Rev 5:10; "And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth." And in Rev 20:6; "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." It's recorded in Matt. 24: 14 that the true gospel must be preached to all nations as a witness before Jesus the Messiah returns to set up His Kingdom. Although this statement by Jesus is referring to the two great witnesses we read about in Rev. 11, Jesus does want Christians to continue to teach the true gospel message until the end. Through the preaching of the gospel message God is preparing saints for His Kingdom by calling those whom He chooses to repentance and conversion at this time.

Some teach that the gospel is just going out trying to convert the world to the Christian religion, or into some ones church, or trying to out-race Satan by baptizing as many poor lost souls as possible before they die, and go to hell. Some teach that the gospel is "just believing on" Jesus and you shall be saved. Others teach a gospel of love stating that all we need is the love of Jesus in our hearts to be saved. Preachers today tell new converts that Jesus died for their sins and then ask if they accept Jesus as their savior, then the preacher pronounces them saved without any other teaching about what they are agreeing to at the time. Is there more to it than just accepting Jesus as our savior? Is there anything we must do, or know about all this? Should we learn what it means to turn our life over to Jesus and live by His commands?

Do you know what Jesus requires of you, or do you know what He considers as sin? Do you understand biblical repentance, and baptism, and what the Holy Spirit is, and how to use the Holy Spirit? Could it be that we are also entering into a covenant with God, and should you understand the new covenant before you agree to live by it? Do you understand how the old covenant related to the new? Do you know about the coming Kingdom of God and what your role will be there and do you know where you will be as a spirit born child of God? Before we get into the study of the gospel message we must come to understand about biblical repentance, baptism, and what the Holy Spirit is. Until we come to understand the truth about these three points as well as the covenant God wants to make with us we will not fully come to understand the true gospel and plan of salvation Jesus brought from the Holy Father.

The answers to these questions have everything to do with our eternal salvation and we will answer these questions in this chapter. As we stated above, some might say that we are saved by accepting Christ alone, and it is a fact that we are saved by the grace of God, but does this mean that the works of the Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit is not important? It's very important we understand what is meant by "works" so we can come to God the way He has commanded, and not what some man, or organization of men has made up as their religion. Remember, Jesus stated that if we love Him we would keep His commands? There's a very important point about the gospel that many ministers fail to teach although it is taught by Jesus and the apostles, and must be understood. Yes we want to believe that ALL shall be saved but the truth is salvation is being "offered" by the grace of God to ALL mankind, but all mankind will not accept the true gospel. Do you realize that even though we accept the salvation of Christ we must commit to it or we can lose it and be condemned? As I stated in other study papers, "Under the new covenant repentance and having our sins forgiven places us where Eve was in the garden to choose to obey, or sin." Repentance is required before baptism and to repent and be converted so your sins may be blotted out by the grace of God "is the core" of the gospel. Repentance means to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life. To feel regret or contrition for sins and to change one's mind. Baptism is then required after the Holy Spirit has guided you to repentance. Note that I stated to dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life, so let's not misunderstand that change is an on-going process for the converted Christian.

Why Baptism?
Have you ever asked why Christians get baptized? Just what is baptism, and why should we get baptized? What should be the first step before baptism, and what should be the next step after baptism? Should we be baptized by total immersion, or by sprinkling? The word baptism is a Greek word that was never translated over into English. The Greek word "baptisma" literally means immersion. The definition for immersion is baptism by complete submersion of the person in water. So we see by the very definition of the word baptism is to completely submerse a person into water, and according to the bible, sprinkling a person with water is not to baptize them into the kingdom of God! If you have only been sprinkled with water you need to consider the type of baptism Jesus was baptized with by John the Baptist as our example. The bible teaches for a very good reason why we are to completely submerse a person into the water for baptism.

Let's read what Paul taught concerning baptism, and what it symbolized in Rom 6:3-8. "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized (immersed) into Christ Jesus were baptized (immersed) into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion 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. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of un-righteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

Jesus Commanded Baptism:
After Jesus' resurrection, he gave His disciples a commission. Mark 16:15-16 "And He said to them, "Go into all the World and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." Notice that they were to first preach the gospel and those who would believe the gospel should be baptized. The apostles did carry out this commission as recorded in Acts 2:41 & Acts 10:46-47. In whose name are we to be baptized? "Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38. If anyone comes baptizing in their own name or in the name of their Church organization, these men are misguided preachers and should not be taken seriously, and understand, to do something in Jesus' name means "by His authority." We should be baptized in Jesus name and into the body of Jesus the Messiah, and where you fellowship should not be the concern of the minister because we all are in Christ as we read in 1Cor. 12:13. "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."

Notice the apostle stated that baptism was for the remission of sins, or as the Greek states, for the freedom from our sins. So the blood of Jesus pardons us through the grace of God, and baptism is a type of cleansing from our sins. This particular baptism Jesus commanded had to be after Jesus returned to heaven and must be followed by the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit because we can't live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist' was commissioned by God the Father to baptize, and many people have not understood that his baptism was of "repentance only" because the Holy Spirit had not yet been offered to all, and as we see recorded in the book of Acts, those baptized by John had to be baptized again. Let's read it. "He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." "Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." Acts. 19:2-6.

If you were baptized and did not have hands laid on you to receive the Holy Spirit then you have been baptized with the baptism of repentance; not the baptism of salvation. This is what I mean when I say misguided ministers lead people into a false faith, and a false baptism never receiving salvation. Many preachers are out here doing the work that John the Baptist did and believe that all is required is to get baptized in Jesus' Name to be saved. Also as stated above, if you did not understand why you were being baptized and what the new covenant meant, then you made a covenant with God without truly knowing what you were agreeing to. The subject of the two covenants is a sermon in itself so we will save that till chapter seven. With what we have just covered we can now understand that the Holy Spirit leads to repentance that leads us to baptism, and we need to be forgiven by God and our sins covered through the blood of Jesus and cleansed by the washing of the water, and then having hands laid upon us to receive the Holy Spirit. Brethren as you will learn in this chapter we need the power of God (His Holy Spirit) to overcome and live in Christ and we must put away our will, and accept God's will in our lives. We must come to a complete understanding that sin is evil and will destroy us, as well as those we love. We must become Christ centered in order to develop the love of Christ and walk in His wisdom.

What is the Holy Spirit?
Just what is the Holy Spirit, and what does it mean to quench the Spirit? Can the end result of quenching the Holy Spirit be a part of the unpardonable sin, and what about the teaching once saved always saved? These are very important questions that could result in your eternal destruction if not answered truthfully and you never should leave it up to someone else to answer without studying it for yourself. If you neglect to prove it for sure and just go along with what someone teaches then remember, it will be YOU that has to give an answer to Christ for your decisions; not the man you followed! It does not matter what man has to say about this subject because it will not be man that judges; But GOD will judge!!

In order to properly answer this question we must first come to understand just what is the Spirit of God. To start let's take a look at one scripture that refers to the Holy Spirit as "He" to understand more clearly. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, "He" will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." John 14:26. In all cases where the Holy Spirit is referred to as "He" in the New Testament is ekeinos in the Greek and it means "that one" (or [neuter] thing). The translator replaced the word "ekeinos" with "He" because all neuter words such as "the, this, that, one, he, she, and it," were referred to as "he" or "she" in the English language during the time of these translations. In nearly, all foreign languages there are only two genders, "male, and female", and modern English is one of the few languages that has a "neutral gender", such as the word "it."

Another question is the trinity and is the Holy Spirit a third person of the Godhead? Let's consider what it would mean if the Holy Spirit was a third person of the Godhead. If this was so then we have a very serious problem because notice what's recorded in Matt 1:18 "For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." It was in fact the Holy Spirit of God that impregnated Mary as we see recorded here in scripture. Also in Luke 1:35 we read "And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." Now if the Holy Spirit was a third person of the Godhead, and if Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, (which He was) then He "would not be the Son of God the Father," but the Son of the Holy Spirit. This misunderstanding comes about because of the false teaching that God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are a threefold personality of one Divine being. We have found in our research that the teaching of the trinity came from ancient pagan religions and was adopted into Christianity by the Roman Catholic Church. There's no wording in the entire bible that has the word "trinity" or states that the Holy Spirit is a person or a member of the Godhead.

Before you reject this out of hand continue reading, and remember what we covered in chapter three and four of the book "The Great Apostasy" concerning the pagan trinity. As you will find through our research we know Jesus and the Holy Father are two separate persons because Jesus stated that no one has seen the Father at any time. Let's read it for ourselves in John 5:36-37. "But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish-- the very works that I do-- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me and the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form." The fact that Jesus is also of the Godhead and people saw Him proves that they are two separate persons, and notice in this scripture "The Father testified" of Him. It's a fact that only another separate person can testify of the other. Also we find at the end of the book of revelation that Jesus will turn all things over to the Holy Father who will for the first time come down and dwell among men.

Let's read it. "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God." Rev 21:2-3. The word "God" in these verses in the Greek is "Theou", and "Theous" which means the Supreme Divinity. Also notice in verse 22, "But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. This scripture denotes two of the Godhead stating that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. Notice that there's no mention here of the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead.

Just as there was no mention of the Holy Spirit in the above scripture, let's honestly ask why the apostle Paul never mentioned the Holy Spirit when he was addressing the Churches of God. Paul would address the Churches with..."Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," Eph 1:1-3 (No mention of the Holy Spirit.) If the Holy Spirit were considered a person of the Godhead by the apostles they would have addressed it by name with the Father and Son Jesus. Even those who believe the Holy Spirit is a person today "always" refer to all three as the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Why would the apostles not do the same if they believed the Holy Spirit was a member of the Godhead? This is only one example, but if you want to check further into this, take a look at the beginning of all the epistles. The truth as we shall soon see is that the Holy Spirit is the POWER of God! Notice what was recorded in Luke 24:49. "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." What does the term "power from on high" mean, and when did the Apostles and brethren that were there receive power from on high? At Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit as we read in Acts. 1:8. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Another question is if the Holy Spirit were a separate person in the Godhead then why would it proceed from the Father and the Son Jesus whom are two separate persons? There are many scriptural references that reflect the Holy Spirit emits from the Father and Christ both and is called the Spirit of God or the power from God. Let's turn to Rev 5:6, and read the scripture that refers to the seven Spirits of God. "And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth." Did you catch that? "Which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth." So if the spirit of God is a member of the Godhead than this scripture would mean there's seven spirits, plus the Father, plus the Son of the Godhead making the total number nine! Is that what we are to accept? No! This means that the seven Spirits of God are the powers of God having different functions. So if we are to accept the trinity doctrine would this mean there's seven plus the Father plus the Son of the Godhead making the total number nine? No! This means that the seven Spirits of God are the powers of God having different functions.

Paul shows in 1Thes 5:19 that the Spirit of God can be quenched, and now that we have learned that the Holy Spirit is the power of God we can go on to understand about quenching the Holy Spirit. To quench is to put out or extinguish like, "to put out the light" or "fire". You can quench fire, light or power but how do you quench a person or put out a God? If we can quench the Holy Spirit that shows again it's the power of God, not a God. If we quit praying, studying and fasting we can become lukewarm; in other words cooled off. If the ministers are not preaching the way they should, then the members will cool off. The ministers can be teaching truth and still become very lukewarm if what they teach is low level substance. If you are involved in an organization that is teaching low level Christianity then you can become lukewarm and are in danger of going to sleep spiritually and quenching the Holy Spirit of God. The reason Churches have revivals is because the ministers know the members are cooling off and if the Church has to have a revival then the minister should take a closer look at what he's teaching every week and ask himself some honest questions about what and how God requires him to teach.

Test the Spirits:
1Thes 5:21 also tells us to test all things; hold fast what is good. Here's another thing we must do in order to not let anyone take our crown. To test is to prove whether or not the things we're told and believe are true. We must not only test the teaching of our ministers, but we must test the spirits as well. John recorded a profound warning for us in this end time in I John. 4:1-6. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

How can we know who is of God and has the Spirit of God? The scriptures state every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. I John 4:1-3.) The term "in the flesh" means that Jesus was fully human and could sin thus coming under the curse of death just like all humans. The teaching that Jesus was fully God such as the trinity teaching and could not sin is of the antichrist and we should flee from those who teach this. Many people don't understand that Christ could have been lost, never living again if He had sinned. He was subject to fail yet He overcame Satan and His own weak flesh with the POWER of the Holy Spirit! Also notice in the scripture above, John notes that those whom are of God will hear the truth, and know who are the true shepherds sent by God the Holy Father. Also the love of God will be with those of Christ, and they will not place their brethren under themselves as in rank or authority as some do today. Did you know Satan can transform himself as a minister of righteousness deceiving many people who do not work with the Holy Spirit to prove all things, but just go along with their minister because he went to one of the colleges or universities of this world? Does going to universities of this world make one called of God and true to the written scriptures? Did Jesus go to the university of His day? Did Peter, James, John, Mark, or Matthew?

No! Their knowledge of the truth came from the Holy Father by way of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is given either working with us before baptism or working in us after baptism to help us learn and give us strength (power) to overcome. The Spirit of God opens our minds to the truth and no college of this world can give this, or even help us understand it. The Holy Spirit is our lifeline to Christ, (the umbilical cord) it's what convicts us of sin and helps us in our Christian walk. If we quit obeying the Spirit of God when it convicts us, then it will begin to fade away with every denial. If we deny the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and accept man's teachings, we will become deceived.

Read what we are warned about in Heb 6:4-6. "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. Notice For it is impossible and in vs. 6 if they fall away, denoting lost and never to be able to come again to partake of the Holy Spirit. This should cause great concern for anyone who has God's Holy Spirit! Another question is, if the teaching once saved always saved were true then what about this scripture above, and the other warnings in the book of Hebrews? Let's take a look at them so we can be informed.

The first warning:
Danger of neglect, Heb. 2:1-3. "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,"

The second warning:
Danger of unbelief, Heb 3:12-14. "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,"

The third warning:
Danger of not maturing Heb 5:12-14. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

The fourth warning:
Danger of drawing back, Heb 10:26-31."For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Gospel of salvation:
There's only one true Gospel, and as stated in the beginning, it's divided into a number of "gospel types" mentioned in the New Testament. What are they and what do they mean? Jesus taught that He would die in our place to become the mediator for us to the Father and by His shed blood we could become begotten Sons of God. Jesus had to die for our sins because Mankind rejected God thus causing all mankind to receive within themselves, both good and evil. When God declared mankind shall surely die because of taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it could not be reversed because God can never lie. Mankind can't remove this death curse from himself because the curse is not removed until the one who sins dies, and if a man is dead then he can't come back to life because sin has locked him into the grave. Paul wrote that "The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law." What is sin? "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4. So we see that to break God's holy law (which is anything He commands) is sin. The word sin means to fail to hit the mark. Did you know that we are commanded to OBEY the gospel? We read in II Th 1:8-9, where God will take vengeance on those that do not obey the gospel. "In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power," So there's something we must do. What is it we should obey? The gospel of Jesus is that we should "repent" which means to turn from our old ways and to the ways of Jesus, and God the Father. And to place our spiritual salvation in Jesus the Messiah.

As stated above; the gospel and the sacrifice of Jesus is bringing us back to the point where Eve was standing talking to the serpent in the garden. She made a choice and then took it to her husband Adam and then he made his choice to take of something God said was forbidden. We have the same choice to obey God or the lust of our eyes. We will not be able to blame it all on Adam and Eve if we decide to go our own way. The true gospel of Jesus shows that we through the Holy Spirit can receive the fruits of His Spirit (The greatest being love) and by "rejecting" the lust of our flesh the Holy Spirit can grow and produce much fruit for the Father, and Son. Brethren, we MUST be convinced of the evil of sin before we can begin to be filled with the fruits of God's Holy Spirit! We MUST come to a place in our lives where we deeply understand the great pain, and misery sin brings, not only the sinner, but also those close to the sinner. We must determine to yield to Jesus in every way, growing in love, faith, and understanding by the power of His Holy Spirit. This surrender to Jesus MUST be unconditional, and voluntary. Unconditional because we must follow Jesus the way He commands in this new covenant we have agreed to do at baptism, and voluntary because God will never take our free will from us. Again, we must hunger for it and our spiritual growth will be according to our willingness to yield to Him through this active relationship. The day we say "I think this is the way" is the day we stop growing, and we will stay at that point until we come to understand and have the attitude of "Not my will Lord, but your will be done." This is giving your life over to Jesus, and getting out of the way.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit:
Another thing we need to fully understand is that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are not points we learn, and then act out because we want to be good or think they will get us into the Kingdom. They are not a list of rules we must keep so we can enter into the Kingdom of God! The fruits of the Holy Spirit are the RESULTS of an inward change. The results of yielding to the Holy Spirit, that's working with us before baptism, or that's working in us after baptism. They are the works we produce as a result of repentance and accepting the blood of the new covenant receiving the Holy Spirit. Remember Jesus stated..."Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15:4-6. This shows that if we are "abiding" in Jesus we will bear the fruit He bears, which brings joy, peace, satisfaction, health, respect, success, confidence, strength, power to overcome, wisdom, understanding of truth, and life abundantly. This is the works we will have as a result of God's grace.

So the opposite is also true...if we abide in Satan, Self, and Society, (yielding to them) we will likewise bear fruits to them. Which fruits are sorrow, grief, distress, affliction, regret, failure, loss, disappointment, a lack of confidence, a lack of strength, a lack of self-control, a lack of respect, a lack of peace, because of the fear of knowing we are going against the great God of heaven. And after Satan has done his work, after all this suffering, there's only death to look forward to. The only question is... which way do you want? In the resurrection we can enter into the Kingdom of God, continuing to have a loving relationship with God our Father, Jesus our elder brother, and all those who repent and accept the gospel of Christ, and to continue to learn, grow, and reach our greatest destiny throughout eternity.

Is there a better goal to strive for here and now? All we do and learn as we live our lives should be in growing in God's love and educating ourselves on becoming future priests and teachers in the soon coming Kingdom of God. If we will practice this daily in all we do, life will begin to take on a much different course. We will begin to handle trials in a way that solves problems rather then with frustration, fear, and uncertainty. Problems will be dealt with in a Godly manner bringing about a good solution in kindness for all involved. This gives us power over Satan, Self, and Society as we take control of our lives with the real power of God's Holy Spirit in us, remembering we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Gospel of Christ:
How does Paul refer to the gospel of Christ? Rom.1:16. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." If the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes then we must come to fully understand what it is. Do we deserve or have we earned this great gift from God? No! The free gift we receive from God is called the grace of God and the grace of God mirrors the great love He has for all mankind. Grace means favor, or unmerited divine assistance given to us humans for our sanctification. To sanctify is to set apart for a sacred purpose or to consecrate. It means to free from sin or purify, to impart or impute sacredness, or respect.

We receive justification through God's divine grace, and to be justified is to be absolved of sin or "regarded" as righteous and worthy of salvation. The grace of God gives us approval in His sight and shows God's great mercy, pardon, special favor, kindness, and clemency. Notice the last word clemency. This is a very important key to understanding the gospel of Jesus, because God wants us to understand that out of His love He has freely given us all we have and we should never take it lightly. Clemency means to be merciful and forgiving even when punishment was due, like an act of leniency. We should never forget that God is the one we follow. God alone gives us salvation through the shed blood of His Son Jesus and no amount of keeping the old covenant laws, or belonging to a Church, or having a cross, a Madonna, or ceremonies can give anyone salvation. At this point I must interject that we are not to take the grace of God casually because some preach falsely the gospel of grace...that is, all you have to do is accept Christ as your personal Lord and savior "and you shall be saved!" Yes this is how we receive Christ but this is not the complete truth! (This is just a story to illustrate the point.) A man murders another person and is sentenced to die for his crime.

As he sits in the death chamber about to be executed, the red phone on the wall rings with the news that another man has come forward and is willing to die in his place. Now let's say the law required that someone had to die, although it didn't matter who it was. The question I submit is after the execution of the innocent one and the guilty had gone free, does this mean the one who was pardoned can go murder freely because he had been given grace? Of course this would be absurd! Just because we have received a pardon for our sins by the grace of God with the shed blood of His Son Jesus the Messiah (Who is innocent) does not mean we have the freedom to continue to break God's Holy Laws. (The Ten Commandments.) The point is that God takes you as you are, but wants you where He is. "Again this does not mean we are justified by the law." The law tells us what is good and, bad. The law is good and is there because God loves us just like any parent that will make rules for their children out of love. Anyone who let's their child, live without law, hates their child. Although we are not saved, "by our works" we will have works of repentance as stated above…the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Gospel of the Kingdom:
The Kingdom of God is the government of the Family of God and the Kingdom of God currently rules the universe. Although the Kingdom of God is not now ruling the earth, because as of now Satan is the god of this world, and it's his kingdom that is in power. However, all those who have the Spirit of God are under the rule of God the Father through the lordship of Jesus the Messiah, and have power over Satan by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The Kingdom of God will be re-instituted on the earth at the return of Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. At that time, the Millennium will begin and the immortal saints, as the Sons of God, will rule as Kings and Priests with Jesus in the Kingdom of God for a thousand years. Many have read the parable Jesus gave as recorded in Matt. 25 concerning the Kingdom of God. There are many ideas about the ten virgins, and the fact that half had oil to light their lamps and half did not. Many have asked what the parable meant, and what was the point? In this chapter we will learn the great importance of this parable and how it relates to Christians today. We will ask and answer the very important points concerning the Kingdom of God and the ten virgins as well as other scriptures that tie this parable together so we can understand and act upon the information Jesus wants us to understand for our very salvation. Jesus was not just telling a nice story to amuse those around Him.

He had a point to make not only for those that would hear at that time, but more importantly for us today as well. Some have studied these things as topics set aside and isolated as if the only point was "ten virgins" or just the fact that half of them had oil and the other did not. What many Christians in the world churches have failed to understand and teach is that the very gospel message Jesus brought is the message of the Kingdom of God, and how we can enter this Kingdom. Yes, Jesus is the way (The door) by the blood He shed on the stake of suffering, but, the way to what? A new life? Yes, but a new life where? Jesus and those that He has sent teach we must be saved. Saved from what and why, and for what? The answer is to become children of God for the coming Kingdom, which Jesus is now busy preparing for us and will bring with Him at His return.

Let's understand that the bible was not broken down in chapter and verse in the beginning of the writing of the scriptures. With this knowledge we can get the true story flow and intent of statements made by not taking verses out of their proper context. The reason I bring this out here is because we must go up into the preceding chapter that is now titled chapter 24 of the book of Matthew. Jesus was asked in the beginning of this chapter what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age. In other words they were asking a very important question, which was "When will you bring in the Kingdom of God and overpower (Or take over) the kingdoms of this world?" Jesus then gave them many warnings and signs to look for that we will not cover in this area. (You might want to get our study titled Revelation six for more on that subject.) Let's look at the statement He made after this that ties into the statements recorded in chapter 25 referring to the ten virgins.

Let's start with verse 42 of Matt. 24, "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing."Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. Matt 24:42-47. So we see that the point is that the Master wants His servants to continue to be faithful and continue in those things they were instructed to do. What did Jesus instruct the early church to do? Preach the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God, through repentance and accepting Jesus' sacrifice for the atonement of sins. Feed the flock, and make disciples of all nations by baptizing in Jesus' Name meaning "His authority." (Matt 28:19-20. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the (power of the) Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Notice, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" That covers a great deal of scriptures and instructions, including the Ten Commandments. It also covers the very important statements and commands that Jesus gave the church after His resurrection.

Also, the statement "Who then is a faithful and wise servant." Is a very important point to think about as we study, however, the main point here is stated as "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." This is what is called the "focal point" of the parable of the ten virgins. Notice down in chapter 25 vs. one. "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' (This in the Greek is stated as "have gone out") But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

We see here that the bridegroom was delayed and as a result all ten virgins slept. We also see where at midnight (A time not expected) the bridegroom came, and another point was those that were ready "went in" like into a chamber and then the door was shut. The reason the first five virgins were ready was because they had "brought oil" with their lamps. The oil here is the representation of the Holy Spirit, and the statement that they "brought oil" means they continued with the Holy Spirit. The point is that the five wise virgins brought oil which one knows they will need to light the lamp, and the five foolish virgins did not bring oil. It was not that they ran out of oil, but that they were foolish and did not bring any! Remember in the verses above that became chapter 24 in the book of Matthew stated, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." What was the thing they were to watch for, and what were they to be doing to be ready? Remember they were to watch for the bridegroom or the master of the house, and were to be giving their fellow servants food in due season, which is to edify the saints, as well as stated above, to preach the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God, through repentance and accepting Jesus' sacrifice for the atonement of sins, and make disciples of all nations.

Remember the parable Jesus stated that they were unfaithful servants because they began to eat and drink with drunken? When ministers introduce false doctrine into the church they become unfaithful servants, because the false doctrine leads people away from the true Christ. Also on into Matt. 25 around verse 14 we read where Jesus taught again about the Kingdom of God being like a man that traveled into a far country. Before leaving, the master called His servants and gave them His goods and expected His servants to take the goods with their talents He gave them, and increase His goods while He was gone. This parable is in fact of Jesus going back to heaven to prepare a Kingdom for us, but while He is gone He gave what He had been given by God the Father in heaven to His disciples who in turn taught others, thus increasing the fruit of the garden as time went on. The point here is that one should never take what they have been freely given, and not allow it to grow and be freely passed on to others.

The word disciple in the Greek means "a learner, or pupil." We as learned disciples of Jesus should be teaching those that are new and want to learn these truths also. We should also be helping each other study the scriptures and edifying one another, as the saying goes, "iron sharpens iron." We should never think we will spend years, and years just going to church listing to a preacher on subjects of his choosing and never thinking we too must teach these truths to others. How much more would we be attentive to the minister if we knew we would be accountable for teaching others also? To pay someone else to do it for you is to abandon your responsibility. To think that one man is responsible to do what is called "the work" is a cop-out! This does not necessarily mean we all have to become ministers standing up in front of a group of brethren preaching. All do not have the same gifts, or the same areas of responsibility as we see pointed out in Rom.12: 4-5. "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another."

The point is that we all should know why we believe what we do and be willing to help others come to Christ. The gifts of the Holy Spirit according to our faith, and the function Jesus will choose for us will support the preaching of the gospel message. It must be Jesus that places us where He wants us to be (not some man) but we must be ready to do what He wants, when He wants us to do it, and we must be honest with ourselves about where He has placed us. I for one do not believe that God has called me to be a minister as we have known the term used, however my wife Mary and I do have a deep desire to defend the truth. That is the point of the Master's table web site, Until God let's us know otherwise we will defend it, and maintain the web site as stewards of the scriptures as they have been handed down to us. This is the true meaning of bringing the oil with you. If we are truly doing what Jesus gives us to do, then we will be ready when He returns, and we will be able to give our Master back an increase of five fold or ten fold from what we started with. It is the doing of the gospel that keeps us moving forward, and gaining strength as we focus on the task of getting the message of the gospel of the Kingdom of God out to this dying world. The closer we get to the time of the end the more there is a necessity to add more defenders of the truth to the ranks of the army of God.

The truth is under great attack today, and in a way like never before. Yes, those that hate the truth of God are hard at work to destroy it. They are greedy for wealth and power and they know that as long as the truth of God in all it's teaching of righteousness and ethical conduct stands then they can't do what they want. They can't justify tithing as a command, or become the lead man in the church if they teach the truth. Many who are in power in this World want Satan's ways so they can please all their lust, and corrupt all the earth, without feeling guilt, or without the righteous witnessing their conduct. You see, they know deep within that judgment is coming, but they want to deny it to themselves, and because they MUST deny it; they MUST change the truth of God and stamp out those that will defend it. They believe they can change the law of the land to unlawful conduct and be justified. To make a law that allows women to murder their child in the womb does not make the murder of children right! To make a law that men can marry men does not make homosexuality righteous! To make prostitution legal in Las Vegas does not excuse prostitution in God's sight! To make a law called "hate crime" so that God's people can't lawfully announce what is sin does not mean we should be silent.

Jesus gave true Christians a great responsibility to uphold the preaching of the coming Kingdom of God until He returns with it as we read in John 21: 15-17. Jesus wants us to maintain the righteousness of the Ten Commandments as He instructed the apostle John to write these words to us for these last days. He stated "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens": "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name." He set this open door before us and He expects us to continue KEEPING His word and not deny His Name until the end. Let's not be of the church of the Laodiceans that have put Jesus out of the church where He must stand on the out side and knock. If we have found ourselves there, but hear Him knocking then let's be honest with ourselves and repent, and open to Him and sup with Him. If we have found that we have not brought oil for our lamps, then let's do so now, and take our calling to heart, asking God what He wants us to do. Let's realize that this is not about us alone, but about many others that need this gospel message for their saving and the saving of those they love. Please brethren; check to see if you have your oil.

Mystery of Christ:
What is meant by the mystery of Christ? We can read about it in Eph 3:4-7 "by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power." Notice that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel and we read in Gal 3:27-29 "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." We see here that the dispensation is to distribute the gospel among all people where in times past salvation was for Israel only.

Gospel of peace:
The gospel of peace is that we come into a harmonious relationship first with God our Father through Jesus, by obeying them and as a result we should have peace with all that will walk in this relationship. Does this mean we will never have conflicts? What did Jesus mean when He said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on Earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword?" Matt 10:34-36. What Jesus was saying here is that people who would reject Him would hate true Christians and bring much persecution, and war because of the true gospel Jesus preached and we maintain. Those that are trying to obey the gospel as brought from the Holy Father by way of Jesus will uphold and publish the gospel even in tribulation. Never forget the point Jesus made about the "Tares" in the garden brethren because the truth is that some enemies of the true gospel are called by the name Christian. The proof is now written in history, and will continue on till Jesus returns as many antichrists are now teaching their message of hate calling Jesus the son of the devil as well as those who follow Him. Also brethren, we are still human and we can't fully have peace until Christ returns and we are changed to spirit, but we can have peace most of the time if we work on staying close to Jesus and using the Holy Spirit. Jesus stated "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you;" recorded in John 14:27. Although Jesus knew we would have trouble in this world, because of His gospel message, as well as the down pull of our human nature, we could have peace with Him because when we are in a right relationship with God we will have confidence and peace of mind.

False Gospel:
Many ministers teach that the WORK they think God has given them to do is paramount even to our relationship with God. The Webster's New World College Dictionary renders PARAMOUNT as "ranking higher than any other, as in power or importance." The WORK it seems has become a "new gospel" in many of these Churches because they imply that if you are not supporting them in their work you will be lost. They say their Church is the only Church that's doing this WORK at this time, and you need to be doing it with them by sending them your money or you are going against God. When any organization of men states they are the only ones called by God to do "THE WORK" and they say if you are not involved with them, or if you leave their organization, you are going against God and will be condemned; these men are preaching another gospel. Jesus alone is our savior and mediator to the Father and salvation depends on Jesus the ONLY true shepherd and our only Master. Ministers should consider themselves the stewards of the Word, and people of God, not the one that tells God what He will do. As stated above the job Christ gave His Church was to FEED HIS SHEEP AND PREACH THE TRUE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD.

Let's read it. "So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time; "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep." John 21:15-17.

The true Gospel that Christ preached was introducing the Father for the first time ever and showing that we "individually" can have a personal relationship with Him. Jesus' teaching is that He would die in our place to become the mediator for us to the Father and through Christ we could become begotten Sons of God and in the resurrection enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus also taught very plainly that He was preparing a Kingdom for those that would accept Him as their savior as we studied above in the sub-title "Gospel of the Kingdom. In other words our relationship with the Father through the true Christ, and the fact they are building a kingdom to be given at Jesus' return is PARAMOUNT and is THE TRUE GOSPEL!

Remember early on we noted what Paul wrote about men coming preaching another gospel in Gal 1:8-9? "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." The real question is, what's the will of the Father, and are the Churches called Christian doing it? Christmas, Easter, the cross, the Trinity teaching, the worship of the Madonna, and Sunday worship are all pagan. God hates these things yet most Churches are teaching and keeping them. Yes, He came the first time to give salvation to all mankind, not to bring a hierarchical religion, but He will return very soon as the Judge to destroy all these pagan gods and man's hierarchical religious systems.

When Cain gave the sacrifice he wanted to give instead of giving what God had instructed, he then created his own religion based on what he thought was righteousness. This is why God rejected his sacrifice and this is what many churches do today, and is in God's sight, the way of Cain! Remember brethren, those who died in the flood and those in Egypt that did not believe God received His wrath as will happen again. Do you believe it? Solomon was rejected by God because he worshipped pagan gods. Do people really believe that God has changed His mind about allowing people to worship Satan, or to worship pagan gods such as the tree, egg, or the pagan cross? Will He rip the Kingdom from King Solomon for serving other gods and be permissive to our generation? God wants us to repent and become like Jesus the Messiah. Remember God will destroy all those that will not repent.

In the event this reaches the attention of those ministers who rule the brethren in a hierarchical system, I would like to ask if you fear God enough to be absolutely sure you have not fallen into error? The facts speak for themselves, and if you dare to look closely at the people of God you will see many are hurting and falling pray to every type of false gospel Satan can muster. Many are becoming pray to the antichrist, and are even losing faith altogether. Many are still under the old covenant law and are rejecting the grace of God because they believe they will be lost if they don't tithe, or keep the strictness of the Sabbath. Have we forgotten that God does the calling and expects the ministers to feed, and protect the flock? Let's quit trying to lord over the brethren in rank, or authority. Let's get back to the true work and be about our Fathers business spreading this true gospel of Jesus to this world in Jesus' most Holy Name and love.

Let's read the warning God gave to these end time preachers who bring another gospel for the purpose of greed, power, and control, and who lead the people away from Jesus and divide the brethren. "And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them." 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: "as I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"-- 'therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD! 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them." Ezk. 34: 1-10.

God's Love even extends to those that are condemned:
One of the false teachings of the misguided Catholic Church and her daughters is that the wicked will be punished forever in a hell fire. What's the truth? What do the scriptures state? The Greek word for hell is "geena" and is of Hebrew origin; valley of (the son of) Hinnom; Jer. 19:6. During the time of Jesus life, the Valley of Hinnom was used as the garbage dump of Jerusalem. They cast all the filth and garbage of the city into it, including the dead bodies of animals and executed criminals. The fires burned day and night as to completely burn all the garbage to ashes so Jesus used this scene as a symbol of hell. In effect he was saying, "Do you want to know what hell is like? "Look at the valley of Gehenna." (Or the valley of hell fire, they are turned to ashes). There are many scriptures that teach not only the dead are dead, but that the wicked will be completely destroyed by becoming ashes. We find recorded in Mal 4:3 "You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this," says the LORD of hosts."

Notice the wicked will become ashes. Sodom and Gomorrah was burned with fire and the fire is referred to as eternal fire in Jude 1:7 "as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Notice the words "the vengeance of eternal fire." Are Sodom and Gomorrah still burning in eternal fire today? No, - it means their destruction is eternal. The word "eternal" used in Jude 1:7 is "aionios" meaning everlasting, and "aion" means perpetuity, or without end. In the same way the wicked will be burned up and become ashes. Can ashes be tormented forever? Also the term ashes denote a complete and pure destruction. We know that ashes cannot suffer forever, but the "consequences" of their sins will remain forever. It sounds like torment will be forever when misguided preachers use the scripture in Rev 14:11 to try and teach eternal torment, because they fail to read the words; "And the smoke of their torment shall ascend up forever." as these words show it is the smoke that ascends up forever meaning the "consequences" of their sin is forever; not that people are tormented forever. This verse with many others like Mal 4:3 shows the wicked will never exist again, but shall become ashes. (Their judgment is final.)

The reason we must understand that this teaching is false is because the teaching of eternal torment has those we love who are dead, being tormented now with fire. Most of us have been burned with fire to some degree or another, and can in some small way imagine what it must be like to have our bodies engulfed in fire forever. This LIE of eternal torment is from Satan who is trying to make our loving Father appear sadistic. Satan is the one who would do that to people, not a loving God who gave His only son for us. The scriptures teach no such thing as eternal torment! If you do some research on this you will find that greedy men taught this concept in order to scare people into the church and out of their money, and because others did not check it out they too fell into error. The fantastic truth of God is far greater than what many misguided preachers teach today, and that is a Kingdom is coming, and because of Jesus' sacrifice we can be part of it if we are willing to repent and accept Jesus as our savior, and be willing to change in character. This is the very Gospel message that Jesus brought from God our Father and the one true Christians should uphold.

Who do you Love?
The problem we humans have of not staying close to God is a question of what we love and are not willing to give up! When people quote 1Tim. 6:10, they say; "Money is the root of all evil" when the true quote is, The Love of money is the root of all evil" The term, "love of" places the choice and responsibility on the person. The choice is ours individually to love evil or to love righteousness, and God will never take away our choice over our actions. Jesus taught that what we love is what we will consider as our treasure, and that we will think about what we love most of the time, and that sin starts in our thoughts. If we become Christ centered we should began to think in the way Jesus thinks and loves. Jesus stated that it's not what we eat that defiles us, but it's what comes out of us that defiles because what proceeds from within us is what we are. Jesus' sacrifice gives us the opportunity to change from within, or to say it another way, it gives us room to grow without condemnation, but we need to be working continually on overcoming the down pull of our sinful nature.

We should never take the sacrifice of Jesus lightly or think we can just have fun now and repent when we get old or on our deathbed. It will not do any good at all to call a priest when we are dying, because to enter the Kingdom of God takes faith and works of repentance, which takes sincerity, time and commitment to accomplish. You see; if God was just saving the world then He could do that as we are born into the world before we sin, but the truth is that God is creating holy righteous character in those who will answer His call to repentance, and this can not be done in a few hours. True heart-felt repentance means we have become absolutely sick of our ways and have come to truly understand that God's ways are the way of life and long lasting happiness, not only for our self, but for all creation. A death bed confession in most cases is just someone trying to get out of going to hell, but what we must come to understand is that sin will eat us alive very slowly and a day will come when it will take all we truly want and care for. But God desires to free us from sin so we can come to Him in the same way He freed the children of Israel from Egypt so they could worship and learn of Him.

We are living in a time that promotes sin and states that everyone should decide what is good for themselves, and not let others dictate your desires. Many are teaching that homosexuality is just a lifestyle, and gambling, prostitution, and drug use is a choice for pleasure and is not a sin. They say that these things do not harm if used correctly and sin is just an old term for what someone has decided they don't want you to do because they don't like doing it. Did you know that God has a warning for our time? God inspired the prophet Isaiah to state..."Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!"

Many people today are caught up into lifestyles of addictions, and can't seem to break away because of choosing to love evil. If we choose the evil act out of lust we run the real risk of becoming slaves to the sin. Addictions are nothing other then being a slave to the things we love, and many addictions can't be overcome because the indulgence often takes away the emotional pain or frustration we feel inside. In most cases, those still caught up in their sins have not learned to deal with their emotions, and that is one of the things we can do after repentance with the help of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes God may have to bring us down to the ground before we will obey Him and turn from the love of our flesh, but it is important to know that He will do it with mercy and compassion. If you truly want to kill your addiction, ask God to remove it and then never look back but know this…if you look back then you have not truly become sick of it and repented, thus your addiction will continue.

We must come to realize that the addiction never can fulfill our needs because in reality the addiction is just a mirage. Please understand that addiction is a bottomless pit and the only way to escape is to quit trying to fill it. We must understand that lust is fueled by enticement and all lust can give is the desire, but can't ever, fulfill it. Those that are there, or have been there, know this very well and they know that lust always brings with it frustration and contempt of oneself and others, and the results in a continued cycle of sin. How is it that accepting the sacrifice of Christ will result in a fulfillment of life that destroys the cycle of sin? The reason goes back to creation because God created in us the need and purpose of having a personal relationship with Him, and to not fulfill that purpose is to leave a void in our soul. Please understand worshipping the true creator God the right way fills this void that people are seeking to fill through carnal lust. What we are truly seeking in life is love, and the truth is that lust destroys love because lust creates hate, envy, anger, and a lack of self- control. Lust causes a person to become weak in character and unstable in all they do. What lust does in us is create confusion and blindness to our true purpose. Lust is our enemy and is from Satan who wants to destroy us.

Satan's first name was Lucifer and he was created as a very beautiful being. In fact his very name meant light bringer and he was full of wonderful light. Lust is what made him fall in the first place and if it will cause such a wonderful creation as Lucifer used to be to fall, what do you suppose lust will do to us? We should treat it as we would a serpent because it is poison to the soul, heart, and mind. It is in fact what cause us to grow old quicker and many to die young. Love is from God, brethren, and with it God fulfills all our human needs if we will put away our own wills and trust our lives to His care. If I may ask, what are you willing to give up for your lust? Are you willing to give up your eternal life? God will never force us to give up our free will to either choose Him, or to satisfy our lust, because He wants us to love Him because we get it, not because we fear eternal death. If we continue in our sins to the point of death, it will be because we choose to do so. Real heart-felt repentance frees us from these addictions and brings great peace within because we become at peace with God in Jesus. God will lead you to understand the harmful effects of sin, not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge. Baptism is the putting to death of our old self so we can walk in newness of life, and receiving the Holy Spirit gives us the help we need. One great key is to learn what is true, and to love the truth of God, and obey Him in all that He currently commands.

Brethren, when you get on your knees to pray…ask God to give you the hunger and thirst for Him, and ask for the love that can only come from Him. Do you know what it means to hunger, and thirst for the word and ways of God? It is a "compelling" desire that you can't and don't want to stop. When you hunger for righteousness or wisdom you will seek it out without anyone telling you to do so. No one will have to tell you to study your bible because you will seek it out just as a hungry man will seek food. This can only come from the Holy Father when He calls a person and is what shows outward as an inward faith. Not outward in some religious sounding words, or religious looking, waving of the hands, but in a true love of God in a way that we will not want to have any other God's before us. Remember, Jesus did not come to establish a religion, but to establish a relationship.

In Jesus’ service
Timothy M. Youngblood