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Preparing yourself for the study of God’s Word
Before we begin, only if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life) John 3:16, John 6:47 as a few examples; it is very important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so the Holy Spirit can teach you as to what your reading or hearing is true or false. To be taught by the Holy Spirit you must be filled with the Holy Spirit which means abiding in Christ. To place yourself in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit [also called abiding in the Christ], take a moment to simply name, cite or acknowledge [confess] your known unconfessed sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father). Why? Because you cannot grow spiritually if you’re not abiding in Christ [in fellowship with Him] when you take in bible truth.
1 John 1:9, says: “If we confess [meaning to simply name, cite or acknowledge to God the Father] your sins [known unconfessed sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [all unknown and forgotten sins];” NKJV [New King James Version]; we call this REBOUND; read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. Left click the following link to learn more and fully understand the doctrine of Rebound; which answers the question, why do I need to keep confessing my sins all the time? REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
Weekly Bible Study, November 27, 2023, The Doctrine of The Mental Attitude, Part 1.
The Doctrine of The Mental Attitude, Part 1.
There is great comfort from love according to Php 2:1. In other words, there is great comfort, relief, guidance, and cheer in our occupation with Christ. When you start falling in love with God through knowledge of His word, you will receive comfort and guidance. And furthermore, it will serve to establish impersonal love towards others. Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ builds within the believer a relaxed mental attitude (RMA). It is this RMA which offers the believer the ability to handle problems in life without losing momentum in the spiritual life.
This phrase found in Php 2:1 "since there is comfort from love" has caused us to look into a very important doctrine this week, "Category One Love."
Category One Love is the believer's personal love toward God. It refers to the believer's capacity to love God apart from emotions. This love is based on knowledge of God from one's thought content of the soul. It is not a tear filled session of feeling what you think God is, but is a constant through process of knowing and trusting in who and what God is. To love God is the most important commandment found in His word, Deut 6:5; 11:13; 10:12.
There are four categories of love, of which personal love for God is the first. The second is the love found between right-man/right-woman, Pr 18:22; 19:14; Gen 2:18,22; Ecc 9:9; 1Co 7:17.
The third is the love shared between friends and the fourth is impersonal love for all mankind. Without the first category none of the following categories of love function properly. If we are not right with God our relationships with people will never be what they could be. So then, how do we get right with God? This is ascertained through the daily function of the believer's perception, metabolization, and application of God's word. Apart from the worship of God's word it is impossible to love God, Heb 12:2. Since God is invisible, the means of category one love is His word. Because we cannot see, feel, or touch God our relationship with Him must be based on knowing Him by what the word of God, correctly translated from the original languages, tells us about Him. It is the eyes of the soul which sees God, Job 42:5; Exo 33:20; Jn 1:18. If we believe in Him we will believe in what He says, 1Pe 1:8. Category one love takes consistency in both the inhale and exhale of God's word, the inhale being the metabolized doctrine in your own soul and the exhale being the attitude you extend toward others.
Therefore, category one love sets up the standard for grace, Psa 31:23; 119:132. Grace Orientation (G.O.) takes capacity and can only come via personal love for God. Category one love is the basis for super-grace blessings, 1Co 2:9; Psa 37:4-5.
Jm 4:6 tells us that as you fall in love with God, the more grace blessings you will receive since your capacity for them is strengthened. Category one love is also the basis for personal and national blessing, Deut 30:15-20. It also motivates combat courage and military victory, Joshua 23:10-11.
The pressures of life are designed by the kingdom of darkness to separate us from God. And, the kingdom of darkness has the freedom to issue these pressures due to the angelic conflict. In face of life's pressures it is category one love which provides the believer with the strength for adversity, Heb 11:27; 12:3. As we come to know God we will be more faithful to Him and allow Him to control our lives. GAL 6:9 encourages us not to lose heart but to consider Him (Jesus Christ) who went before us and modeled the unique spiritual life with its unique divine power. Your spiritual life is put into action through your personal love for God. And remember this love is not an emotional type feeling that makes your eyes swell with tears. Personal love for God; i.e., category one love is knowing God through the indoctrination of His word. Hence, there is a special curse on believers who fail to have category one love, 1Co 16:22. Knowledge of God is procured through a disciplined, daily study from the original languages served to the believer by one of God's many gifts... one's pastor-teacher. If Bible doctrine/the word of God is not abiding in you, you do not have category one love, Jn 5:38-42.
To possess category one love is to care what God thinks of you, not what people think of you! People are sick from the top of their heads to the bottom of their toes, Isa 1:5-6. The Lord Jesus Christ never entrusted Himself to man, knowing exactly what was in man (old sin nature), Jn 2:25. The Lord Jesus Christ also stated, "I do not receive glory from men", Jn 5:41. If a believer really loves God it will be manifested by his desire to hear God's word, Jn 8:47. The more the believer grows to know God, the more he desires to know of Him! It's a power and a lifestyle that grows greater as it is fed. If God is the source of your life you will crave the daily hearing of His word. Just as if you are in love with some man or woman you desire to be with them each day, so it is when the believer is in love with God.
Now, the word used in Jn 8:47 for "hear" is the pres/act/ind of akouei which means to hear in an audience; to listen; to concentrate; to understand, learn, and give a hearing, cf Heb 10:25, which states we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together for the purpose of encouragement. This encouragement comes from the word of God, not from people, the phrase encouraging one another is not found in the original manuscripts! If you truly love (based on knowledge of the Lord), you will keep His doctrines, Jn 14:15. To keep in this passage means to guard something that belongs to you, to watch over carefully, to keep, hold, preserve, and pay attention to, hence it also means to retain. Why must His doctrines be guarded in our souls? Rev 3:11 tells us why, because they can be taken away from us! The kingdom of darkness knows very well what to bring into your life to tempt you away from your commitment to the word of God, which is God, Jn 1:1. We are therefore never to take the word of God for granted since Amos 8:11-12 tells us there will come a time when it will not be available.
It is doctrine abiding in Christians, not works, which reveals to the Father how much we love him, Jn 14:21. If you guard or keep God's word in your soul, God's love will be in you, Jn 15:10. Loving God therefore means hating worldliness, or rather hating human viewpoint, Psa 119:113. In this passage hate means to have no respect for it and worldliness points to the double minded, divided thoughts which are placed forth from the skeptics of this world. Having God's mind or Bible doctrine is that which produces God's love in a local assembly, Php 2:2. This unity of mind is that which Paul prayed for in regard to the church at Philippi. Therefore, a manifestation of our personal love for God is our ministering to the saints, Heb 6:10. Loving God is revealed in one's impersonal love toward one another, 1Jo 4:7.
Keeping doctrine is the only way to love with God's love, 1Jo 2:5. Therefore, witnessing must be motivated by category one love, 2Co 5:14. A good witness is not due to one's emotion toward people, but is based on one's love for God. This divine standard is only possible by way of the filling of the Holy Spirit which empowers the believer to execute God's plan, Jn 19:34. The believer is before all else commanded to love the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, and all his strength, Mk 12:29-30. This may seem to be a simple task, but people are visible and God is not. It is therefore much easier to be distracted by that which is tangible than to remain faithful to the invisible. This is why it is imperative to be disciplined in one's intake of the word of God, it is the only way our personal love for God can be cultivated. Our response to God is based on the doctrine we have metabolized in our souls. That is why we are commanded to stop the sin of ignorance in 1Co 15:34 "...and stop sinning, as some have no knowledge of God," the sin mentioned here is having no knowledge of God.
Encouragement is derived from what God says to us through His word, not from what people say or may not say to us. Jm 1:5 "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." This is not to say all we need do is ask and our souls will be magically pumped up with knowledge of God. But if you ask, God will open a means for you to learn His word. If you truly desire to know God He will allow you to know Him, Jer 29:13. And if you truly desire to retain and apply that which you learn of God you can execute the spiritual life, 2Ti 1:13 "Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." It all depends on your desire to know and love Him. The desire to know God should never be taken for granted since it can be subdued and even squelched by the cares and ways of this world. Hence you are to "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." 2Ti 2:15. Handling accurately the word of truth is the only way to love God personally!
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
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