Love Fulfilled Ministry

 Casting all your anxiety on him because he cares about you (1 Peter 5:7) You know what is the secret to being able to cast your anxieties on him? Knowing that he cares for you. If you do not believe that someone cares you will not share your anxieties and burdens with them. Knowing that God cares and values you makes a difference. Look at the birds of the air; neither do they sow nor reap nor gather in storehouses, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than them? (Matthew 6:26-34) Birds don't sow to have seed to eat later, they don't gather food for the winter, yet God feeds them. Look at the lilies and how they grow, not toiling nor spinning. If he cares for the birds and clothes the flowers in such glory, how much more will he value and care for you? What do you have to be anxious about if you know he cares about you? If men being bad know how to give good things to their children how much more will God give good things to his children who ask. ...

I have other sheep which are not of this fold. These too I must bring in. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock, with one shepherd (John 10:16) Two becoming one speaks that there is only one fold in the new covenant, and being part of this fold is not based upon the fleshly birth but of the Spirit, so both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus will enter the fold where Jesus is the Good Shepherd. A sheepfold is a robust fenced enclosure to protect the sheep gathered within it. Figuratively Jesus uses the idea that we are sheep in his fold. When comparing God's children to a flock or sheep in his fold we see he calls them by their name, and they follow him because they know his voice (John 10:3). When he brings the sheep out [of the fold] he goes before them and they follow him because they know his voice (John 10:4). They will not follow a stranger's voice because they do not trust his voice, but they know the good shepherd will protect them and care for an...

God is faithful the one through whom calling you into fellowship of his son Jesus Christ... (1 Corinthians 1:9) God is faithful to keep you to the end, blameless in the day of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8). Paul begins this letter by writing "to the church of God that exists in Corinth sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints together with all the ones in all places calling on the name of our Lord..." (1 Corinthians 1:2). God has sanctified you and called you saints so to be in fellowship with his son. just as he chose us in him before creating the world to be holy, blameless in his presence, in love, he predestined us for adoption as his own... (Ephesians 1:4-5) God chose us to be holy and blameless so that he could love us and be in our presence. God doesn't love unrighteousness therefore "in him" speaks of Christ and what God eternally purposed and hid in the beginning before he created the world. In Christ, we receive adoption as his own, redemption, and forgi...

 We are spiritual. "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:16‭-‬17 ESV). We were predestined for adoption as his own, God has sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit until he takes possession of his own. Though we await our salvation the redemption of our bodies we regard ourselves no longer as fleshly beings but as spiritual. The Spirit is a spirit of adoption testifying we are his own children.  We have the mind of Christ. As a new creation, spiritually, we have the mind of Christ. But we are in a body that is carnal, opposed to that spiritual, thus transformation renews the mind so what is inward comes outward, a mind like as Christ, approving of God's will as good, pleasing, and perfect.  We are a new creation in Christ. A new crea...

... through the mercies of God present that your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, that your reasonable service (Romans 12:1) The Greek word for reasonable is λογικός ( logikos ) "reasonable, logical" having the root word  logos  thus divinely inspired or divinely reasonable. The Greek word for service λατρεία ( latreia ) means exactly that. Many translations say this is your "spiritual worship" or "reasonable worship" but we will stay with the Greek. Very simple. Your reasonable or logical service as a child of God is to present your body on the altar of God as an acceptable sacrifice.  Reasonable means being in accordance with; having sound judgment. * Logic is defined as being in "accordance with" and capable of reasoning. *  Through the mercies of God you are in accordance with the sacrifice that is acceptable unto God.  This is your reasonable service as it leads to transformation and transformation renews the mind so that...

just as the living Father sent forth me and I live through the Father also the one feeding on me lives through me (John 6:57) Jesus said if you feed on the living bread that came down from heaven (whom the Father sent) you will live for all time. It is real food and real drink and one must eat of it to have eternal life and the one who does abides in him and he in them (John 6:52-58). The word for feed is τρώγω ( trōgō ) which is different than the word for eat, ἐσθίω ( esthiō ), and is more related to the word for nourishment τροφή ( trophē ). We see the use of these words in scripture. What you eat (esthiō) you should not be anxious about (Matthew 6:25). John the Baptist was nourished or subsisted (trophē) on locust and wild honey (Matthew 6:25; Matthew 3:4). We eat of this bread for eternal life and we find our daily substance in this real food. So we live through him by feeding on him daily. He is our daily bread. The one feeding on him lives through him. I am the true vine and...

Consider Israel, according to the flesh, existing not ones eating the sacrifices, sharing of the altar? (1 Corinthians 10:18) Communion is defined as the act or instance of sharing. *  The Greek word for sharing here is κοινωνός ( koinōnos ) and as a noun expresses that one is a Participant mutually belonging and sharing fellowship. Its root is  koinos  meaning common, shared, and in Hebrew, it meant dirty, unclean, or unwashed. In Christ, we are no longer common but are clean and washed, we are participants, share, have communion in his body and blood, sharing of the altar of his sacrifice. The cup of blessings that we bless exists not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break exists not a sharing in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).  The people of Israel were set apart unto God. The priests were further consecrated to God for service in the temple. Blood sacrifices were made yearly for the atonement of sin but there were other offeri...

Rather we speak God's wisdom that hidden in mystery which God predetermined before the ages to the extent of our glory (1 Corinthians 2:7) To the extent of our glory Paul writes, the wisdom of God was predetermined. Let us not fail to see that it is for our glory. Our glorification doesn't override his glory as what he predetermined and is making known is to the praise of his glory. This wisdom is not of men, but of God and was hidden in God beforehand for our glorification. according to the good pleasure of his will, to the extent of his glory... according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ (Ephesians 1:6-10) The wisdom of God that was hidden in God before he created the world was to the extent of our glory. Of his will, because it pleased him, to the extent of his glory, he is making known to us purposed wisdom. Christ is from God to...

through his plan, he brought us forth through the word of truth to the extent we exist a kind of first fruit of all he created (James 1:18) There is so much in this verse that we could spend time on, like the phrase "through his plan." But we want to focus primarily on what it means for us to be the first fruit of all that God created. he has made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:9) Paul writes one of the spiritual blessings that we receive in Christ is that God has made known to us the mystery of his will. A plan for fullness, in which he is working out according to what he purposed in Christ for our good, that we are being conformed to the image of Christ. We relate this to the phrase in our featured verse, "of all he created."  Now God's glory was manifested through creation since the beginning of time. However, God's purpose and plan that is bein...

Compare what Moses says and what Paul says about righteousness.  Moses: "The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 30:9‭-‬10 ESV) If you do these you will live and be prosperous. "Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them..." (Romans 10:4‭-‬5 ESV). If you do not you will surely perish (Deuteronomy 30:17 ESV). "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say...