Love Fulfilled Ministry

the thief comes but to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that having life and having it more so (John 10:10) The next few verses give us context of the realm of life and death that Jesus speaks of. The wolf comes, no doubt referring to Satan, he attacks the flock to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus came that we may have life, he lays his life down for the sheep. The life he gives is eternal, but he said it is living water, like a fountain that gushes up unto eternal life, thus we experience life in this mortal body, unto its fullness. Jesus became flesh and blood like his brethren to save them, this is how God demonstrates his love. "I know my own and they know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:14). Jesus came so that we may have life. but you do not believe because existing not of my flock. My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow, just as I give them eternal life and no not per...

so that we are no longer children tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, in human trickery, in craftiness, towards deceitful scheming . (Ephesians 4:11-16) To each one of us, is "given grace according to of the measure of the gift of Christ, therefore, he ascended on high leading a captive multitude giving gifts to men... also ascending above all of heaven so that filling all and he gave the apostles the prophets, the evangelist, the pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry until we all attain... unto mature adulthood... so that we are no longer children... but maintaining truth in love, grow up into him who is the head..." (Ephesians 4:11-16) He ascended on high to fill all. When God raised him from the dead, he gave him authority over all and placed all under him and gave him head on behalf of the church, the fullness of the one filling all in all. Paul writes Jesus ascended on high to fill all, giving gifts to men for the ...

so that according to the riches of his glory supplying you strength, power through that his Spirit in your inner being, Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith, that rooted and founded in love ... (Ephesians 3:16-17) The word rooted  means to root, cause to take root; firmly rooted, strengthened with roots; met. firm, constant, firmly fixed. The word of God takes root, and in our inner being, we are strengthened by the Spirit. This verse says we are rooted and founded in love. Elsewhere Paul that we are rooted and built up in Him in faith, "rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as taught" (Colossians 2:7).  We are rooted in both faith and love. We are founded in love and built up in Him in faith. Truth increases faith and and faith is energized by love. Therefore  the truth in the word of God is our faith grows, we grow up in Him truth in love.  The parable of the soils or sowing speaks of the necessity of having deep roots. The seed sown ...

For our confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in unworldly simplicity and pure inner motives, of God and not in earthly wisdom, rather in the grace of God we conducted ourselves in the world. Now, all the more toward you. (2 Corinthians 1:12) The word conscience is a noun referring to the awareness that one's actions are right or wrong, as in one's "guilty conscience" or "good conscience," not to be confused with conscious which is an adjective meaning "awake" or "alert." * The conscience is the knowledge of good and evil, which is in every human. To me this is evidence that God exists and that Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As believers, Peter tells us we are to abstain from fleshly desires that war against our soul (1 Peter 2:11). Certainly, having a guilty conscience, doing the things you are now ashamed of, wars against your soul. To keep doing this would cause one to be in a wretched ...