Love Fulfilled Ministry

"Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. ... Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. ... Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. ... For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise..." 1 This i...

 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His  holy covenant , The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:  To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. ... Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” 1 Noel, a shout of joy at Christmas for the birth of the Savior. 2  God sent His Son, to save, to redeem, t...

" It is hard for you to kick against the goads ." 1 Paul saw on the way to Damascus a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around, it was Jesus and he said, " Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. " This goad is an iron rod, used to urge on oxen, horses, and other beasts loaded down with burden. Sometimes the animals would kick against the goad. Here of course Saul was a law abiding Pharisee, but he was kicking against the truth, Jesus. Another usage of goad states the goad of death is sin. " The sting (goad) of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law ." 1  If the goad of death is sin then sin urges on death. Now, if the power of sin is the Law then the Law urges on death. Of course this fits with scripture, " for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord ." 3  So under the new we receive grace to walk in newness of life, free...

"The Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing:" 1 Jesus became our High Priest. To do such He had to meet the earthly requirements of the priesthood, to enter the court he had to be a circumcised Jew, the old covenant had been established in blood. He had to be set apart, His mother was from the lineage of the priesthood, so Jesus inherited this right. He was baptized by John for the remission of sin. To be high priest and to enter into the second part, the most holy place, required water purification and blood sacrifice for the remission of sins. John baptized Jesus for the remission of sin and His blood was shed for the atonement of sin. Jesus was circumcised, from the lineage of David as king and Aaron as priest, he was consecrated, he was baptized, by water purification, he was the spotless Lamb of God, and Paul writes that because of an important element, the eternal Spi...

" Therefore, since the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He likewise took part in the same, that through death He might destroy the one holding the power of death, that is, the devil, and might set free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. " 1 The Bible tells us that the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. 2  This word for  sting , also refers to an iron goad, for urging on oxen, horses and other beasts of burden. So is man is urged on by sin? like an oxen loaded down with burden. If the goad of death is sin then sin urges on death. Sin entered the world by one man, and by sin death also, it is passed on to all men. 3  In Christ death has no sting nor victory. 4 "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." If the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the Law then the Law gives death its sting. If the Law gives death its sting and slavery is the fear...

" Living is the word of God, active and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joint and marrow, and is able to to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart ." 1 The term a double edged sword is often used to express a benefit that is also a liability . 2  This sword has two sharp edges and is effective when it is wielded correctly. I would not give such a weapon to someone who is unskilled in its use. This phrase is also used to describe the word of God as being living and active. Paul writes elsewhere that this is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Double edged of Spirit and Truth. Jesus said, " the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him ." 3  Wielding the double edge sword of God is a matter for the skilled, and it takes equilibrium, of Spirit and Truth. Paul reminds us t...

"Therefore having left the beginning about Christ's teaching, to maturity we should go on, not again on a foundation laying on repentance from dead works and faith in Christ..." 1 We should go on to maturity but I think we are not ready to move on, we need a better understanding of this dispensation of Grace. Paul writes the new covenant is an everlasting covenant. 3  It is the gospel, by grace are you saved through faith, and it was foretold to Abraham and would be fulfilled through the Seed of Abraham, Christ, the promise " all the nations would be blesse d." 4  This dispensation of Grace states that Jesus has  established or begun a new covenant in you . The inheritance of the promise was through Christ and this promise was made to Abraham, through the Seed Christ, Paul writes that if the inheritance was by law, then it would no longer be a promise. 5  The promise was confirmed in Christ before God, to Abraham 430 years before the Law, thus the Law can...

" Little children we should not love in word nor tongue but in deed and in truth, and by this we will know that we are of the truth and before him our hearts will be assured ." 1 Oh what assurance it is to know Jesus is mine, oh to know, that I know, that I know, it is a taste of divine glory.  "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." 2   Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 3  Oh we hope to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Blessed assurance, what Harry Ironside came to understand as, " For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven ." 12   I heard and I called upon His name and I was born from above, my assurance is not in what I did, but in what He di...

"They came in stealthily, certain  ungodly  men, those long ago predestined unto this condemnation, the grace of the God of us changing into sensuality and the only master and Lord of us Jesus Christ denying." 1 There are a few things in this verse to notice; these people were not of God, they enter in stealthily, they are ungodly and deny Jesus Christ. This word for sensuality is  aselgeia , (from aselgēs/"brutal") wantonness, lewdness; properly, violent spite which rejects restraint and indulges in lawless insolence. This sensuality is outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency.  When I think of this type of sensuality I immediately think of the recent news. Suddenly I am awestruck by what Jesus said, " For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil... All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man ". 2  If I kill someone in defense, I am reacting to protect myself or others, I do not defile myself as it ...

" For I know that my Redeemer lives... " 1 I sold my birthright, I had no close relative to redeem the possession. So I went before the great high priest. He had made atonement. 2  He acted as my kinsman, he paid the debt for me, of value I was to him. 3  He delivered me from bondage, from death... I am redeemed from the imperfect, the slave, into the new, the free, the consecrated, the child of God. I know my redeemer lives, he died that I might be redeemed, he rose that I might live, I know my redeemer, he lives within me. Who taught the sun, w here to stand in the morning And who taught the ocean, y ou can only come this far And who showed the moon, w here to hide till evening Whose words alone can, c atch a falling star Well I know my Redeemer lives,  I know my Redeemer lives All of creation testifies, t his life within me cries I know my Redeemer lives The very same God, t hat spins things in orbit Runs to the weary, t he worn and the w...