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The Road Map To The Abundant Life

Always remember to test all things with God's word. They "received the word with great eagerness.Study Examine and, meditate daily on the Scriptures. 2Ti 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Many people, when they hear an expression in the Bible like, "Abide in Christ," do not readily understand what it means. If a person abides in his house, he stays there. If one abides by the decision of the judge, he obeys the judge. John 15:7, the phrase would mean to "remain stable" or "fixed in one’s state." In John 15:7,

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples Jesus saying, if we live as He does by keeping His words, then our prayers will certainly be answered. If we say we abide in Him, we also ought to live in the same manner as Jesus lived or walked (1 John 2:6). Jesus was constantly doing things that were pleasing in the Father’s sight (John 8:29). When we live this Way, we are assured of having our prayers answered (1 John 3:22).

How shall a Man cleanse his ways? (Psa 119:9) by taking heed

thereto according to the word (Psa 119:9). Jesus said, "Now you are clean

through the Word which I have spoken unto you" ,We will find another psalm

it said, "Thy word, O Lord, have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" (Psa 119:11). The Word of

God is a power in your life, God's power in your life against sin. God has purposed that you hide His Word away in your heart.

It is a power to keep you clean. It is the power against temptation. If someone comes and is complaining because they're constantly stumbling and falling, it's because they're not really into the Word sufficiently. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By giving heed, taking heed according to Thy Word." When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness and on the high mountain and at the temple pinnacle, in each case Jesus answered the temptation of Satan with, "It is written." He used the Word of God to answer every temptation that the enemy threw in His path. We need to have the Word of God in our hearts that we might be able to withstand every temptation that Satan throws in our path. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Thy Word." The Word (Heb, 4:12) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Replace those toxic thought with the living Word of God His Word is sharper than any two edged sword.He watches to see if we react to His Word.

The Gospel is the Word of God.

It’s like an Re agent = Reveals what’s in the heart!! ( A substance used in a chemical reaction to detect, measure, examine, or produce other substances) The Word of God carries the power of The Holy Ghost, The word can just cut open your hearts Read > 2 Cor. 3:2 We are suppose to be Living letters to this world!!

Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed [is] the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2. But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Joshua 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Romans.12:2) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God

Resisting conformity to the world and embracing the transformation that comes in Jesus Christ. Do not be conformed to this world warns us that the “world system” - the popular culture and manner of thinking that is in rebellion

against God - will try to conform us to its ungodly pattern, and that process must be resisted. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind: This is the opposite of being conformed to this world. The battle ground between conforming to the world and being transformed is within the mind of the believer. HIS WORD, is our road map to that abundant life He created us to have. (Jhn 10:10 ) The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly. Any God-fearing parents would train their children not to swear, lie, steal or cheat. Instead, they would train their children to get involved in doing good things and to continue to do good, overcoming evil by doing good. God wants the same (Rom. 12:21). Our heavenly Father wants us to do the same so He can bless us.

(Heb. 12:5-11; Acts 3:26). We are, by nature, children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). But we come out from under the wrath of God when we become obedient to Christ (John 3:36). Unless we are abiding in Christ daily by practicing righteousness for God, we are all being held captive to do Satan’s will (2 Tim. 2:26). If we are not abiding in Christ, we are doing Satan’s will. But if we are overcoming evil by doing God’s Will daily on earth as it is constantly being done in heaven, we are abiding in Christ (Matt. 6:10). Doing God’s Will is doing good works and this is how we abide in Christ (John 9:31; 1 John 2:17).

. (Rom. 6:6) Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

Living to please the Father daily is easy and pleasant (Matt. 11:30). It does not take a great deal of intelligence, but we must have the attitude of a child to live God’s Way of life (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17;

1 Cor. 1:26-28).

Directions

for life

Inside

The Word

of God

We are translated out of darkness into Jesus' kingdom.

Colossians 1:13,14 -Through Him we have redemption, even forgiveness of sins.

The kingdom is concerned with man's spiritual salvation. [cf. v18-23].

Romans 14:17 - The kingdom is not physical things (eating and drinking), but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit - spiritual things. This is why we should not allow physical things to cause one in the kingdom to be spiritually lost.

The purpose of the kingdom must conform to the nature of the kingdom. No passage shows the kingdom accomplishing political purposes, waging war, etc. The primary purpose of the kingdom is to help men meet spiritual needs. Therefore, the kingdom must be primarily spiritual in nature.

Entrance

We enter the kingdom by hearing the gospel, believing, repenting, and being baptized (Mark 1:14,15; John 3:3,5; Acts 8:12; etc.). But these are the conditions for receiving forgiveness and salvation from sin (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Peter 1:22,23; 3:21; Romans 1:16; etc.).

John 3:3-7 - To enter the kingdom, one must be born of water and the Spirit. Note v6: What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Jesus is discussing a spiritual birth, not physical. A spiritual birth puts a person in a spiritual family. One enters the kingdom by a spiritual birth, by obeying the conditions to receive forgiveness of SINS. Clearly this is spiritual activity and puts a person in a spiritual family, not a physical or political one. That spiritual family is Jesus' kingdom.

Circumcision

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11): NOT A CUTTING OF THE BODY BUT A CHANGE OF HEART!!!!!

Now, there were those, and he's dealing now in this area, of those who were teaching that in order to be righteous, faith in Christ was not sufficient. That's good, it's important, it's necessary, but it's not enough. In order for you to be saved, you must also adhere to the law. So you've got to be circumcised and you've got to also keep the law. Faith in Jesus is not enough. That's why Paul said, "You are complete in Him." It is enough. And you have been circumcised, but not the physical circumcision that the law required, but your circumcision is a true circumcision through Jesus Christ. You've renounced the life of the flesh. And here was the tragic error of the Jews that they were counting really on the physical experience and not upon the spiritual. So, though they had physically been circumcised, they were still walking after the flesh. And Paul said that totally negates the physical ritual. The idea is to cut off the life of the flesh, not to live after the flesh. So, Paul said if the Gentiles have turned away from the life of the flesh and are living after the Spirit, even though they may not have had the physical right of circumcision, it is accounted as circumcision, because God is looking at the heart of man. And so Paul here affirms the same truth. The true circumcision is that of the spirit within my heart, when I turn away from the life of the flesh to live after the Spirit through the faith and power of Jesus Christ. I have been circumcised in God's eyes, that is, I have been set apart to live after the Spirit before God. And that's what God counts.Now we must put off the old man!(Ephesians 2:1,2).

And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Jump down Eph. 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye [being] in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).

Now Paul ties together these two rituals that both symbolize much the same thing. To the Jew, the ritual was circumcision, which was to be the symbol that I'm going to live after the Spirit not after the flesh. To the Christian, baptism signifies the same thing, the new life after the Spirit, the old life after the flesh, dominated by the flesh is dead. It's buried, and now I'm going to live a new life after the Spirit. And both of the rituals symbolize the same thing. To the Jew it was circumcision; to the Christian it was baptism. Thus, the truth applies to both; it is not the physical right that does it, it is what has happened in my heart and in reality in my life. So, being dead in your sins, the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. In Ephesians, chapter two, it is the correlating verse

here, "And you, having been made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins; for in times past you walked according to the course of this world"

The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).And so I am not the old man that I was. That man died. He was crucified with Christ. I have anew life. A new center for life. The old self-centered is crucified with Christ. Now the God-centered person lives. "Lives by the faith of Jesus Christ who loved me, and gave himself for me" that I might have this new Christ-centered life. That I might have this new relationship with God. That I might have spiritual life. Paul said, I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness could come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain (Gal 2:21).Ro. 12:1-2 Don't be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might prove what is the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2). How can I know God's will for my life?

I can know God's will for my life as I just surrender my life o Him, as I yield my body to God and as I seek after God, God will reveal His will through my life. My life will become a progressive revelation of the will of God for me. Thus, I presented my life to God, I presented the issues of my life to God, I've committed myself to Him, seeking not to have any strong will of my own or allow some strong desire to master me, just to flow free in God's Spirit, accepting what comes as coming from God, because I've asked God to bring into my life those things that He wants. Accepting those things that pass away as not from God, because I've asked God to take away from my life those things He doesn't want. So I don't sit there and weep over lost opportunities. "Oh, if I'd only done this. Oh, if I only had that." If God wanted me to do it, He would have led me to do it. If He wanted me to have it, I would have had it, you see. So it is that commitment of myself to God, and as I do then God's will becomes a progressive revelation. So I know what God's will is for my life today, and I will know tomorrow what His will is as He reveals it to me as I walk with Him. Sort of exciting to live that way. You never know what a day is going to bring forth as God unfolds His will, His purpose for our lives.

Faith

For I say, through the grace that is given unto me, to every man that is among you, he ought not to think of himself more highly than he ought; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith (Rom 12:3).God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. What do you do with it? We can exercise the faith. We can use the faith that God has given to us, or we can just let it die. But God has given to every man a measure of faith. A person says, "Well, I just don't have any faith." That is not true. I've not yet met a person that didn't have faith. If you didn't have faith, you wouldn't lie down on that bed tonight. You'd be afraid that it was going to fall through. Faith is going to hold you up so you can lie down. If you didn't have faith, you wouldn't try to start your car, because you wouldn't have faith that the thing was going to start when you turned the ignition key. We exercise faith in a lot of things, not always the right things

Bull’s and Goats could not DO!!

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very substance of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect (Hbr 10:1).Now notice the law was only a shadow of the good things to come. The value of the studying of Leviticus and the studying of the law, to the Christian, is that it foreshadows the work of Jesus Christ, the offering of Jesus Christ, and the high priestly nature of Jesus Christ. The shadow, it's not the substance. Paul tells us this in Colossians, chapter 2, where Christ through His death blotted out the handwriting and the ordinances that were against us, nailing them to His cross and triumphing over them in it. Therefore, don't let any man judge you in respect of meat, or drink, or new moons, or holy days or Sabbath days, for these were all a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Christ.So Christ standing here in this point in history. His shadow was cast over the past history. The shadow of Christ is there in the law and in the sacrifices. You can see that they foreshadow Him, but they were only the shadow. Jesus is the substance that casts the shadow. And so there is a real substance in Jesus. These things were only foreshadowing His coming. Once He came they were no longer necessary, no longer necessary to have the shadows, for we now have the substance in Jesus. For if they could have been perfect sacrifices that had put away the sins then would they not have ceased to be offered? (Hbr 10:2). In other words, they would have done it once in Moses' day and that would have been it. They wouldn't have to offer animals every day. They wouldn't have to offer animals once a year in the Holy of Holies. It would have been sufficient had they been able to perfect man."Then would they not have ceased to be offered?"

Because the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins (Hbr 10:2).

Now this was under the old covenant, and had it been effective, once being cleansed, they should have no more conscience of sins. Showing that it did not bring that to them under the old covenant, however, the glorious thing is that in this new covenant through Jesus Christ, once being purged, we really should not have any more consciousness of sins. There is this purging. It's complete, the cleansing in the blood of Jesus Christ is complete, and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses. In the Greek, it is present perfect tense. It is continually cleansing us from all sins. What a glorious thing, that continual cleansing by Jesus Christ.

But in those sacrifices there was a reminder again made for sins every year (Hbr 10:3).

Every year when the priest would go in, you'd be reminded again of your guilt and of your sin.

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Hbr 10:4).

It is impossible that they could actually take away your sins. They made what they called the kophar for sins. In the Hebrew, kophar, which is translated atonement. It is probably a bad translation. It should be translated covered. It made a covering for their sins, but it did not put their sins away. It only covered their sins . Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me (Hbr 10:5):Now this is a quotation from Psalm 46. However, the latter part of the quotation, "a body thou hast prepared me," is not as your King James reads, but this was translated from the Septuagint version.

The Septuagint version of the scriptures was a Hebrew to Greek translation of the Old Testament that was made by seventy scholars two hundred years before the birth of Christ. After the Babylonian captivity, the Hebrew language was almost dead. It was only known by the biblical scholars. They were the only ones that used the Hebrew language. The Jews, themselves, usually spoke the Koine or they spoke Greek, but Hebrew was only for biblical scholars. They felt that the people should have the Bible in a language they could understand, and so they translated the Old Testament scriptures into Greek. It is called the Septuagint. So whenever you read of the Septuagint version, that is what it is, a translation by seventy scholars of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek two hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. This quotation, as do others in the New Testament, come from the Septuagint version, and interestingly enough, "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not," or you don't care for, "but you have prepared a body for me." That is, Jesus, when He came into the world, God prepared a body for Him. In order that in this body, He might become the perfect, complete sacrifice for man. In burnt offerings [the Lord said in Psalms] and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God (Hbr 10:6-7).

So, this is declared of Jesus Christ. He declared, "I have come.

In the volume of the book it is written of Me." The Old Testament is all about Jesus Christ. He is all the way through, interwoven in all of the types, in all of the shadows, in all of the books. It is one continuous story in the preparing of the hearts of man for the coming of the Messiah. The prophecies, the hopes, all prefigured there in the Old Testament. He speaks here of the burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. There were five offerings that were made in the Old Testament. They were necessary to bring man into fellowship with God. It is the purpose of God that man should fellowship with Him. God's purpose is that man should know Him, that he should fellowship with Him and that he might cooperate with God in the accomplishing of God's purposes here on the earth.

Now sin creates a breach between man and God. Sin separates man from God. Sinful man cannot be one with a holy God. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, who lived in that city that was so debauched, that the word Corinthian became a synonym for a totally debauched person. Every night a thousand priestesses would come into the city of Corinth from the Acropolis above Corinth, the temple there of Aphrodite. These priestesses in the temple of Aphrodite were prostitutes. And a thousand of them, a thousand streetwalkers in the city every night. And so Paul warned the Corinthian believers concerning having a relations with a harlot. He said, "Don't you realize that if you have relationships with a harlot you become one with her? And if you are one with Christ then you are making Christ a partaker and bringing Him as one with a harlot." He said, "You can't do that. What fellowship hath light with darkness? Christ with Belial and all." He is warning against these things. You are to be one with God and if you then go out and sin you are making God a partner in your sin. That can't be. Sinful man cannot have fellowship with a holy God. So before fellowship can be experienced, sin has to be put away.

In the first covenant there were two of the offerings that dealt with sin. The first was the sin offering, which is sins general. The second was the trespass offering where I had deliberately trespassed against the law of God. That took a different type of a sacrifice. But they had to be taken care of before I could have fellowship with God. But once I had made the sin and trespass offerings, then I could bring the burnt offerings.

You notice the burnt offering here, and then the sin offerings. The burnt offerings were offerings of consecration where I would consecrate my life to God. This was the burnt offering, and it was symbolic of just consecrating my life to God. Then there was the meal offering, which was the consecration of my service to God as I brought the grain that I had cultivated and grown. And they baked it into bread and offered it unto God.

Finally, I could offer the peace offering, which was communion. I could now be made one with God. My sins have been put away. My trespasses have been put away. I've consecrated my life and my service to God, and now I come into oneness with God and I offer the peace offering. And I sit down and eat with God the peace offering. I give Him His portion to eat, the best part of it, being a gracious host, and I then partake of the rest and we eat together. And as we are both nourished by the same lamb, then I become a part of God and God becomes a part of me, and I have this fellowship. So God was tired. He would not accept anymore of these sacrifices.

Offering and burnt offerings and the offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither did you have pleasure therein; those things that were offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he might establish the second (Hbr 10:8-9).

The first covenant that God established with man is over.

You cannot come to God by the first covenant. There are always those who want to come to God on their terms. Hey, you're not calling the shots! You're in no position to call the shots. "God, I'll do this for You if You'll do this, this and this." You're trying to bargain with God or come to God on your terms, and it can't be done. The only way you can come to God is as a guilty sinner and cast yourself upon His mercy and grace and just ask for mercy and grace. You've got to come on His terms, and His terms are that you come through Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant is disannulled; it's passed away. It is no longer effective. In establishing of the new covenant, He has put away the first. So, that He might establish the second .By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hbr 10:10).So, we have been sanctified through the body of Jesus Christ. I am made righteous through Jesus Christ. I am accepted in Jesus Christ. All that I have in my relationship with God today must and does come through Jesus Christ. He is my peace. He is my righteousness. He is my sin offering. He is my sin offerer. He is everything. He is my mediator. Jesus is everything to me. Without Him I have nothing. I have no access to God. I am alienated from God. I am hopelessly and helplessly lost apart from Jesus Christ. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins (Hbr 10:11): So they're busy. They are kept busy all day long offering one sin offering after another; one meal offering after another as the various people came in. But it is . . . he's pointing out these offerings cannot take away sins. But this man [Jesus Christ], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God (Hbr 10:12);

It's complete. He doesn't have to do it every day. He doesn't have to be crucified over and over. The death of Christ is sufficient once and for alll, Praise God!

May God Bless & Keep You all

Love You!

In His Service, Elizabeth