The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

John 7:7

The world hates followers of Jesus.  The verdict against humanity is this, that men, even though confronted with their own sin in the light, prefer to kill those who show them they are wrong, rather than coming with humility before an Almighty, merciful God (John 3:19).  Rather than feeling with their heart, they justify, set up road blocks, walls, and excuses that they cannot tell right from wrong any more.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

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For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 1:17

Grace is God’s gift to men.  It is His unmerited favor, it is His divine enablement, it is never deserved.

Grace and holiness always go hand in hand. His Grace teaches us to say no to sin, and by it we put to death the misdeeds of the flesh in the finished works. Any “grace” that is not intrinsically tied to real, practical holiness is not Grace. And by humbling ourselves and repenting and mourning, more Grace is given, submitting to God, resisting the devil, Christ within conquers all our foes.

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See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8 NIV

You see, we are not of this world, if we will only believe.

This world consists of the things that can be seen, can be touched, can be handled.  Hence, Paul writes of the rules and restrictions of this earthly life that we are no longer subject to, calling them, “Do not handle!  Do not taste!  Do not touch!” (Colossians 2:21).  These are the ordinances of this life, and have no bearing on the life of a Christian, having no proper benefit to any man, ultimately.

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I just love teaching. Oh, my. I–I–I think it’s wonderful. It gives the basis and settles the church.
And in preaching, now, there’s some people that are preachers. They can pick up the Word with inspiration, and sway It out there in places. That’s watering the Seeds that the teacher has taught. See? Now, you got to put some Seed in first, and then water It. And the watering comes from the preaching of the Word.
There’s a great vast difference between a teacher and a preacher. See? It’s two different gifts of the Spirit altogether, two different gifts. And I humbly say this, but I haven’t a gift of either.

But mine, as of usual, is praying for the sick. That’s what the Lord called me to do. And then, in this time it gives a relaxation of my mind to study on something different, not having Divine healing services, just–just teaching the Word. And oh, we get along pretty good here. We… I remember, you put up with me for a long time, about twelve years around here, on it.

–William Branham, The Seven Church Ages (54-0512 p16-19)

The Bible is clear when it comes to judging the motives of one’s heart out of our own fleshly, soulish pride.

 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Luke 6:37

Unless by the Spirit the Lord reveals the heart of another, the fate of another, or the motives, we must not give way to soulish judgment, wisdom of the flesh, or the like.

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Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.

Psalm 36:5-6

What can compare to His love?  What can we measure against it?  For, His ways are Eternal in the heavens, and His word is Eternal?

Every sentence in the Book is true, it is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line.

What other way is there to the Father, except through Christ?  Except walking in His Way, walking in His Words, His Truth, and living His Life?

Where else would we go, for He has the words of Eternal Life! (John 6:68).

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In the beginning, God created man in the Garden.

God, light Himself, created light, spoke breath into existence, and divided light from dark.  He spoke the plants, and the animals, the sea and all that is in it, and it came into being.  He divided, formed, and fashioned, and called it good.  Very good.

From the beginning, He created it good.

There was nothing that was not good in all that He had made.

From the beginning, God placed man in Eden.

In a garden, with a mission, to subdue.

This was the call and the commission of the man.  It was his beginning, his calling, his purpose, and his role.  He was to be the subduer, he was to be the ruler, he was to be its sergeant.

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For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:21

Who cares what this life will bring?  Why do we involve ourselves with what will come in this life?

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:16

For surely, whether I live, I live for the Lord, and whether I die, I die for the Lord.

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For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

For everything of man must be recognized as of no value, for all flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are like grass.  The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:5-7).  Every word of God is sure.  It is tested and tried in the furnace.  Every word is refined as by fire, tested in the fire seven times.

The Gospel is not of this realm, it is of another.  The Kingdom is not of this world, but of Heaven.  The Word of Faith is not the word of man, but it is Spirit!
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I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 (portion)

The beginning portion of this verse says that the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  Jesus said that He came not only that we might have life, but have it to the full!  The moment we begin to think that in some way, that this fullness of life has anything to do with this life, let us remember the apostle John’s words.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

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God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31

Man was born on a sixth day.  It was the very first sixth day, and we tell time by it as the second to last of our week, Friday.  After God created man, his day was done.  There was evening, and morning–the sixth day.  The first thing man got to do was to sleep.

Second, after this, God had has his full ‘work week’, the full six-days.  God chose to take a break, to call it the Sabbath, the seventh day.  He blessed and hallowed this day, calling it holy, as a day set apart for no work, for rest for man.  This was the seventh, the end of our week, Saturday.  The very second thing that man, newly created, got to do, was to take a day off.

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