The ideas for my blogs sometimes comes from whatever I’m reading at the moment, which is usually one of the Christian books I have in my religious reference library. I also use my Great Course study material, my Bible guides, and my concordance. But mostly my blog ideas come to me as I read the Bible every day and actually take time to study God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Every time I study God’s word he reveals more of his truth to me. God will do the same for you if you give him a chance. It’s like peeling away the layers of an onion. The thing with God’s word is this: man will never be able to unravel more than a tiny fraction of the mysteries of God, even if he tried for a million years. God will tell us what he wants us to know when it suits him.
I don’t think too far ahead with my blogs. I just read the Bible, pray, and study God’s word. At some point, an idea will come to me, more often than not prompted by the Holy Spirit; or the Holy Spirit will draw my attention to a Bible verse I’m currently reading. I try to be aware spiritually and take the time to listen for the still, small voice of God talking to me. That voice of God is the Holy Spirit, who has indwelt me from the age of twelve, when I was saved unto eternal life in heaven by my profession of faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I was then baptized before the congregation of the First Baptist Church in my hometown as a public demonstration of my faith in Jesus. I don’t question the Holy Spirit’s guidance because he’s my trusted helper sent from God to guide me through the trials and tribulations of this life. I just go with the flow the best I can.
Ephesians 1:13 – In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Ephesians 4:30 – And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Hebrews 13:5 – I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Colossians 4:15 – Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the church that is in his house.
In all of the Apostle Paul’s epistles he thanks those fellow workers who have helped him spread the word of God. We see this in Colossians 4:15 where Paul mentions a fellow worker for God named Nymphas and the “church” that is “in” his house. You see, believers are the church of God and not any building made by the hands of man. In the Bible God refers to all believers collectively as his church and Jesus Christ is the head of God’s church. God uses the metaphor of a human body to represent his church and each believer is a member of that collective body, all of equal importance to God the Father. In the early church believers met in each others homes to worship God together in fellowship because God instructed believers to worship together so that they could encourage and support each other.
In the above verse Paul was simply saying that believers (i.e. the church of God) were meeting in the house of Nymphas. Christians began to meet in ever larger groups and that meant erecting buildings just for worshipping God. These buildings eventually became known as “churches” and they became bigger and more grandiose over time because church leaders thought that would please God (and bring in more money for the church coffers). It didn’t impress God one bit. Those large ornate Catholic churches mean nothing to God. Those 25,000 member Protestant mega churches are no more pleasing to God than a few Christian believers sitting around the coffee table of someone’s home worshipping the Lord. Don’t let anyone convince you bigger is always better; it’s not.
Matthew 18:20 – (Jesus) – For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
1 Corinthians 3:9 – For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
2 Corinthians 5:1 – For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
1 Corinthians 12:27 – Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
God blessed the Israelites by selecting them as his chosen people. While the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years God instructed them to build a temple so he could live among them. The Israelites, later known as Jews, were nomads so the temple was a tent. At the center of the temple was a smaller tent known as the “holy of holies” where the presence of God resided between the two cherubim atop the Ark of the Covenant. This sacred spot was only entered once a year by the high priest on the Day of Atonement to make a sin offering to God for the people of Israel.
After Israel conquered their promised land they built a temple of stone and God continued to reside within the “holy of holies.” God spoke to his people and dealt with any problems through his prophets and priests. The rank and file had no direct access to God. This was the law of Moses; the old covenant between God and man prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, the son of God, to die on the cross for the sins of all men, past, present, and future. During this time the temple was literally the house of God because the Lord dwelt there among his people.
Exodus 29:45 – I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.
Hebrews 1:1 – God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.
Hebrews 4:14 – Seeing then that we have a great High Priest whom has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
Hebrews 1:2 – (God) Has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom He made the worlds.
The exact moment Jesus Christ died on the cross God split the curtain to the temple “holy of holies” right down the middle. This signified there would no longer be any separation between God and man. Earthly priests were no longer needed because Jesus would be our High Priest and Mediator before God the Father in heaven. People could go directly to God in prayer any time they wanted and ask for the forgiveness of their sins. This was the new blood covenant of Jesus Christ based on the shed blood of Christ for the forgiveness of the sins of all men. When God raised Jesus from the dead three days after his crucifixion it signified God’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf as atonement for the sins of man. When Jesus rose from the dead in a glorified body it meant that we too will one day rise from the dead and receive a glorified body just like the one Jesus has.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the most important moment in the history of the world. It changed the eternal destination of all men from hell to heaven for those who believe in the name of Jesus. However, salvation unto heaven is not automatic; you still must claim it before God through faith in Jesus! Just before Jesus ascended back to heaven from the Mount of Olives he told his disciples that God the Father would soon send a helper to all believers. On Pentecost, fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God arrived on earth as promised to indwell every believer forever (even after they go to heaven). This event was the start of the church age; otherwise known as the “time of the Gentiles.” The church age will end when Jesus comes in the air to rapture the saints.
Many believers who are saved begin to doubt their salvation because they don’t “feel” like they’re saved and they still sin. The Holy Spirit is invisible and has no weight so of course it can’t be felt on our physical plane. Believers will still sin like everyone else because we all live in our corrupt sin-filled bodies because of Adam’s original sin and fall in the Garden of Eden. Believers will one day have glorified bodies in heaven that cannot sin. Believe what God says because God cannot lie. If you believe the lies of Satan and doubt God you’re calling God a liar to his face. Satan is the god of this world and he lies to everyone. If Satan can convince a believer they aren’t saved or if they were saved once they aren’t anymore then the devil has neutralized that Christian as a vessel fit for God’s use. A believer cannot be an effective witness for Christ if their inner faith isn’t rock solid. Resist Satan by reading the Bible every day. Remember, nonbelievers will watch you and point out your sins to you. When this happens to me I respond by saying, “I’m not perfect but I am forgiven.”
Romans 8:11 – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Acts 1:8 – (Jesus) – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Romans 5:5 – Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
2 Timothy 1:14 – That good thing which was committed to you (salvation), keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
After the death of Jesus Christ during Passover in 33 AD there was no longer any need for God to dwell in a temple building made by the hands of man; not when our God could dwell in a temple of his own making (the human body). The old covenant ended and the new covenant began. God now dwells in the hearts of all believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We, you and I, are God’s building; we are the true house of God. When God saves us unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ God gives us a brand new sin-free eternal spirit to replace the old one we received at conception. That makes our body a sin-free vessel fit for God’s use. That makes us “holy” before God.
It’s the Holy Spirit of God that changes our eternal destination from hell to heaven through faith in Jesus and then he writes the believer’s name in the book of life to be opened on the last day. And finally, the Holy Spirit moves into his house (our body) as God’s promise to us that we are his possession and we have God’s seal of assurance that we will live in heaven forever in the presence of Jesus upon our death. A believer cannot lose his salvation once it has been gifted to him by God. Don’t believe that lie! God is not mocked! God doesn’t make mistakes or engage in do-overs. Once saved always saved! There are numerous scriptures in the Bible that confirm this truth and God cannot lie; otherwise he wouldn’t be God. The Bible is the inerrant word of God so trust what God says. Train yourself to live by faith and not by sight. The word of God is truth and it will endure forever!
John 14:16-17 – (Jesus) – And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide in you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Romans 8:9 – But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Hebrews 3:6 – But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Just so we’re clear; there is only one God but the triune Godhead exists as three separate distinct persons, all of whom are God (God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit). God has many names but I know him as Jehovah. Jesus Christ is the son of God and the only way to heaven. If you happen to be a follower of one of the fake religions and false gods that Satan has sponsored throughout history to hide the truth of God from man then an eternity in the lake of fire and brimstone awaits you where you’ll be in pain and agony 24/7. If you call yourself a Christian but you haven’t yet accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you’re in the same boat. You’re a Christian in name only and not through faith in Jesus.
Everyone of us is born on the road to hell and it’s up to each of us to change our eternal destination by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Belonging to a particular church denomination won’t save you to heaven. Following church doctrines, traditions, and dogma can’t save you either. The leader of any church can’t authorize your salvation unto heaven or send you to hell, be they Pope, priest or pastor. That’s God’s job and he is a jealous God! A nonbeliever can only be saved unto eternal life in heaven by personally accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. No other name under heaven can save you.
John 14:6 – (Jesus) – I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 11:25-26- (Jesus) – I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
Matthew 26:28 – (Jesus) – For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Luke 24:46 – (Jesus) – Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.
We find our own salvation by searching for and finding the true God of creation, who just happens to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We’re saved by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in prayer before the throne of grace. The evidence for our God as the one true God of creation is overwhelming for those who take the time to look. Our Holy Bible is all the proof of God we need. The Bible contains over 1000 prophecies, over 500 of which have been fulfilled and documented as fact. All the other fake religions and false gods don’t have a single fulfilled prophecy between them. They stand mute before the one true God of creation. Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me. If you read the Bible in its entirety there’s a 95% chance you’ll come face to face with God. See, I have told you.
God made us and put us here on this earth as our “testing time” to see if we will choose to serve God or Satan. If you choose God you get to go to heaven and if you choose Satan you wind up in hell. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t make a free will choice for either God or Satan you have chosen Satan by default (Luke 11:23). Narrow is the path that leads up to heaven and there are few who find it. Wide is the road going down to hell and many go that way. Therefore, a good rule of thumb is to watch which way most of the people are going and then go the opposite direction. You can’t go wrong. You are free to choose to serve God or Satan while you yet live. At death you’re locked in with your choice and a just God will give you what you deserve or what you have asked for in prayer. Your lips will either condemn you or save you, because God is faithful to forgive our sins if we ask him.
1 John 5:10 – He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself (the Holy Spirit); he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
Galatians 4:19 – My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.
2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Ephesians 5:26 – That He might sanctify and cleanse her (the church) with the washing of water by the word.
At conception God gives each of us a part of himself (our eternal spirit) so that we also become an immortal being like God. That’s good news and bad news depending on how you look at it. It’s good news if you wind up in heaven because you’ll receive honor, glory, and riches from God. It’s bad news if you wind up in hell because you’ll be in pain and agony forever. As a believer the Holy Spirit resides within us and alongside our eternal spirit. Our spirit is fully aware the Holy Spirit is God so it’s a happy reunion. This is all very convenient for the believer because when a believer dies their eternal spirit and the Holy Spirit are ejected immediately from the dead corpse because a dead body is an unclean thing to God and our spirit and the Holy Spirit cannot remain in there. It’s a little bit like toast popping up out of a toaster. You get the mental picture. I say this is convenient because the Holy Spirit is right there ready to take our spirit back to God in heaven when we die, which is where we all originally came from. Scripture confirms our citizenship is in heaven. We’re just visitors on the earth.
1 John 4:15 – Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
John 6:27 – (Jesus) – Do not labor for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.
John 5:28-29 – For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of the damned.
John 4:23-24 – (Jesus) – But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
God has every detail of your life planned out, even your triumphant return home as an adopted child of the Most High. If you’re a nonbeliever there’ll be no heavenly reunion for you. You get to keep your old sin-filled spirit and the Holy Spirit will never indwell you. God is reciprocal so when a nonbeliever dies their spirit is taken to hell by demons. Do you remember the movie “Ghost” where the bad guys die and are then dragged down to hell within the earth by the little dark spirit creatures? That may not be an exact representation of what happens when nonbelievers die but it’s close enough. Just know that going to hell won’t be a pleasant experience, which is why God warns us repeatedly not to go there. It’s horrifying to imagine being in pain and agony 24/7 for all eternity. A trillion billion years is only one day in eternity. Please avoid hell by praying the “sinner’s prayer” to God right now.
2 Corinthians 5:6 – So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
Colossians 1:13 – He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
John 16:13 – (Jesus) – However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
2 Corinthians 5:18 – Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
In summary, Christian believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior become the “house of God” on this earth because the Holy Spirit resides in their hearts. The body of each believer is the temple of God. I know this to be true in the spiritual world by faith and I also know this to be true on our physical plane of existence by my personal experience. I’m retired now but many years ago when I was working on a project in New Orleans I felt the Holy Spirit move within my body. I was standing up in my hotel room when I suddenly felt something hard in the pit of my stomach. It moved rapidly up my chest which cause me to instinctively bend forward as it exited my throat. It was invisible. It scared me.
It took me a long time to figure out what had happened. When I read John 7:38 I realized what I felt in New Orleans that day was the Holy Spirit. This verse described perfectly what had happened to me. The Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as living water. My question was why me? Why did God honor me by letting me know he was inside me? Of course God knew I’d become a Christian blogger years later, which is why God revealed himself to me. God wants me to give my testimony to nonbelievers that the Holy Spirit of God will indwell all believers the moment they are saved unto eternal life in heaven. I hereby testify to all men that I know this to be true. Praise God for his love and mercy!
John 7:28 – (Jesus) – He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
Luke 21:36 – (Jesus) – Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Luke 11:23 – (Jesus) – He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
John 3:6 – (Jesus) – That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
1 John 5:13 – These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.