Love Fulfilled Ministry

that now, having endurance, having its work of completion so that existing mature and whole, lacking in nothing (James 1:4) The gospel is a gospel of prosperity, not earthly prosperity but one of your spirit, body, and soul. That you exist mature, coming into a fullness in the head who is Christ, into the full measure of the stature of him. What does it profit me if I gain the whole world and lose my soul? what does it profit me if I have religion but I am not whole? Oh, God bless us and prosper us, make us whole, lacking in nothing. now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you complete and keep your spirit and soul and body, kept whole, blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23) This word for "whole" is only found in these two verses, ὁλόκληρος ( holoklēros ), from  hólos , "whole" and  klḗros , "a lot, a portion assigned", so the meaning has more than just wholeness, it is a wholeness, a lot, that God has assigned as a port...

Now, the Lord be more than enough for you and you abound in love for one another and for all, like as we for you (1 Thessalonians 3:12) The word more than enough, πλεονάζω ( pleonazō ), is translated as to be more than enough; to have more than enough, to have in abundance; to abound, be abundant; to increase. May the Lord cause you to increase, to abound. May the Lord be more than enough for you. I think to find the Lord more than enough is to find him as treasure. Where your treasure is there also will your heart be. There is no other substitute that will take his place. To find the Lord as treasure is to find Jesus to be more than enough.  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of ...

But when this son of yours who has squandered your inheritance with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! (Luke 15:30) The story of the prodigal son tells us of a son who went out and squandered his inheritance, but then when feeding pigs and living off of pig slop he comes to his senses and returns home. The father when he sees the son from afar, which implies he had been waiting and watching for his son to come home, runs to him and welcomes him home.   Some people say that all men are created in the image of God, referring to all mankind. It is true Adam was created in the image of God but he sold his inheritance for a piece of fruit. Mankind fell into sinful nature, no longer in the image of God. Christ came to reconcile mankind to God. The new covenant is a ministry of reconciliation, and we are being transformed from glory to glory into the image of God. In Christ, the image of God in mankind that was corrupted is being restored. John tells us Jesus...

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens - 2 Corinthians 5:1 How do we have an eternal home? What resides in this tent that we live in, this body, this tent that will be taken down one day? The Holy Spirit resides in this tent. The eternal Spirit resides in this tent. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6-7) It is an amazing truth, when Christ made us alive we were raised and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Such a thing is made possible because of the eternal blood of the covenant, the eternal redemption, and the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:12-1, Hebrews 13:20). Such a thing is explainable if we exist spirit, soul, and body and our salvation, redemption speaks of each. To be raised and seated with Christ in the heavenlies is a magnificent view of what Christ has done for us, who we are as children of God,...

“Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." (John 17:1) Jesus is praying this to the Father but is it not the same for us? Did not Jesus as the Son of Man show us how the Father is glorified? God is glorified through us when we are glorified in him. Or said another way, God glorifies us, then through us, he is glorified. This is the principle of light shining through us and that of bearing the fruit of good works. When we are glorified in him, it is the same as growing up in mature adulthood, into the measure of the stature of the image of Jesus. It is why God chose us and why he eternally purposed in Christ our adoption and redemption, so that according to that he purposed in Christ he is working out all for our good so that we are being glorified or being conformed to the image of Christ. "For it was appropriate that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the champion of their salvation perfect through suffering...