Love Fulfilled Ministry

" Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it " (Proverbs 22:6). Discipline is defined, in the 1913 Webster dictionary,  primarily  as to educate; to develop by instruction and exercise; to train .[ 1 ] Discipline comes from the Latin word discipulus . Disciple also comes from this word, a disciple is one who receives instruction (discipline) from another .[ 2 ]  Discipline  also has secondary meanings of obedience and correction, however, today the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines discipline  primarily  as punishment. Discipline as instruction is said to be an obsolete meaning. [ 3 ] Instruction has been replaced by control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior .[ 4 ]  The Greek word for discipline used in the New Testament is paideia . In the culture of  ancient Greece , the term paideia referred to the rearing and  education  of the ...

Jesus replied,  “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.   Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.   So if the Son sets you free,  you will be free indeed "  (John 8:34-36).  One translation of the Greek word for sin is hamartia which means " tragic flaw ", it is taken from the Greek word hamartanein which means to " miss the mark ", other possible translations include  error or offense . In Literary terms it is the flaw in character that leads to the downfall of the protagonist in a tragedy.[ 1 ] One literal translation of verse 34 would be something like; "I am saying to you that the one doing the missing (or tragic flaw, or offense) is the slave."[ 2 ]  So what is the tragic flaw, missing the mark, error, or offense? Is it transgression of the laws or is there a greater meaning? " They exchanged the truth about God for a lie " (Romans 1:18-25). They do not see fit to ack...

" Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ " (Galatians 6:2). It was for freedom that Christ set us free (Galatians 5:1), if we try to find justification in the law we sever ourselves from him and we fall from grace, v.2-4. For in Christ Jesus only faith working through love is of any value, the written law is meaningless in this, v.6. Righteousness is not found in obeying the law but in that we are a new creation, and when we walk by this rule peace and mercy will be upon us and upon the people of God, v.15-16. Paul gets angry at people, who teach justification in the law and he wishes they would "emasculate themselves", v.12. "For you were called to freedom, brethren" so will you use this freedom to lift others up to Christ, through love serving one another, or will you serve the flesh or the written law, v.13. To bear another's burden is loving one another  and fulfills the law; " for the whole law is fulfilled in ...

" You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.    He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord " ( Deuteronomy 8:2-3 ). This is a lesson for us today, when we become comfortable we tend to forget what God has done for us and how the word of God satisfies our soul. "W hen you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of th...

" No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit " (1 John 4:12-13). If we want to show people God, we show them his love. We know that God is in us by our love for one another. If we don't love we don't abide in God. It is that simple, there is not a better gauge of a relationship with God than by love for him and others. And He gets all the Glory. In Luke chapter 7 we see Jesus's love manifested greatly. He sees great faith in a centurion and how the centurion cares much for his servant; Jesus responds by healing the servant. When he sees a widow weeping over her dead son he has compassion and brings the son "back to the mother". He hears from John the baptist disciples who ask him if He is the expected one and " At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spiri...

" This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us " (1 John 3:23-24). This is the first commandment from God that we must obey.  Faith comes from hearing the Word of God, Jesus is the Word, upon believing, faith is authored in our hearts by Jesus (Romans 10:7;John 1:1;Hebrews 12:2).  When you heard "the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesian 1:13). This is the first law that God writes on our hearts; it instills faith and love in our inner being and writes it upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). It is interesting to note that believing in God is synonymous to loving one another, v.23-24; 16-18, this is the new commandment from Jesus (John 13:34) which was an old c...

" Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit " (1 John 4). God's love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), if we love one another God abides in us and we in him. Love is a law that God writes on our hearts; “ I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people " (Jeremiah 31:31-34). There are other laws God writes on our hearts; " and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love " (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is greatest as it is eternal, " give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love is eternal " (Psalm 136). Love is greatest as it fulfills the law, " f or the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall ...

"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided" (Exodus 14:21). It took all that night for the sea to divide, "by a strong east wind all night". Of course, God could have parted the sea right then, but he did not. It could have been done all night to give time to dry the land, but in verse 25 the Egyptians are slowed down by chariot wheels falling off, most likely from traveling in mud. This was clearly the power of God at work and he took all night for a reason. We often become impatient when things don't happen right away. We seem to have developed a belief that being a new creation in Christ, also includes deliverance from fleshly things, addictions and diseases, right away. We even judge others by our timing and put ultimatums on when they should change. It is truth that "No one who abides in him keeps on sinn...

" the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words " (1 Corinthians 2:11-13). Not only do we have his spiritual word written, we also have the Spirit of God living in us, the same Spirit and power that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). If we have the Spirit of God in us then we can know the thoughts of God, " the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God ", v.11. What an awesome thing. If we set our mind on the things of the Spirit, if we walk by the Spirit, we have the mind of Christ,v. 16, " for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father " (Ephesians 2:17). We are taught by the Spirit, v.13. " God, after He spok...

" The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him " (John 14:21). Most people think this means obeying the ten commandments or Mosaic law. While obeying the law is important there is a greater meaning. The commands are the ones God said he would write on our hearts. “ I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people " (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This is the new covenant, in which we are the heirs through Jesus Christ who is the first (Romans 8:23; Colossians 1:13-18). The heirs of Abraham are made righteous through faith, for if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is void and the promise nullified (Romans 4:13-14). The righteousness of God has been manifested, through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe (Romans 3:21-22). What the law could not do, in bringing right...