Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:26-31

The life we live is but a vapor.  The victory of this life is seeing the greater, seeing Beyond the temporal into the Eternal, and to see that, in Christ, we will never die.

As unbelief is a greater belief in the natural, physical life greater than in the spiritual, so the life we live is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.  The life we live, as the apostle Paul wrote, we live by faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).

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Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11

He prophesied of Jesus’ coming, saying,

Truly, I give baptism with water to those of you whose hearts are changed; but he who comes after me is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to take up: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire:

John 3:11

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Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:21

In the fullness of the Kingdom, only one thing matters.  Just one focus, just one gaze, that upon the King.

As we look upon His face, and believe in His love, we see Him, and, in seeing Him, we give ourselves away.

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Therefore, lo, I am enticing her, and have caused her to go to the wilderness, and I have spoken unto her heart, and given to her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she hath responded there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, Thou dost call Me — My husband, And dost not call Me any more — My lord.  And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name.

Hosea 2:14-17 YLT

The bridegroom woos his beloved to restore her.  He entices her to barrenness in order to restore her.  He causes her to depart from all else, or order to free her.

Surely, in the valley of Achor, that is, the valley of trouble, He has created the doorway of hope, and in the place of destitution, He has ordained deliverance for the wayward wife.

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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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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Matthew 13:44

The selling of everything can be perceived painful at times, it really can.  That is, in pursuit of this treasure of the Kingdom, which we have seen, while we are attempting to make it completely ours, there is that which is difficult and even hurtful, nearly to the point of death it can seem at times.  But, it is the nature of the Kingdom, however, that it is always worth the effort.

For the children of Israel in the desert, they complained that their trials were hard (Numbers 11:1).  Yet, what they couldn’t see was who the Lord was in their midst, and the wonderfulness of all of His great promises towards them (Hebrews 4:2).

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Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Psalm 31:19-20

Hidden, locked away from the world, from the strife of man.  Protected in the shadow of the Almighty.  The Lord shalt hide me in His Secret place.

In His presence, in His joy and belonging, I am covered and hid.  Though I dwell among the Earth, I am protected from it.  For, the Lord knows how to preserve His saints, and He will hide His beloved in the cleft of the rock.

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He told them still another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.

Matthew 13:33

It is no large observation to note that people do not usually fully understand all aspects of the Kingdom immediately at the time of salvation.  That which is planted grows, flourishes and multiplies, until greater and greater light is revealed within.  For, surely, the path of the righteous is like the growing dawn, it grows brighter and brighter until the full light of day (Proverbs 4:18).  So, the Spirit comes to reveal to us all truth, to be our counselor, and to help us.

Salvation is not an agreement with a doctrinal statement, but it is an introduction to a person, Jesus Christ.  It is meeting Him, and realizing that there is no other name under heaven whereby men might be saved, and that living with faith in this man, belief in who He is, is the doorway to Eternal Life.

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The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 1:9

Man, the carnal man, lives in darkness.  All mankind has turned aside from the truth, the true light, and has gone to corruption.  There is nothing wholesome about man, and nothing good in what he can do.  Ever.

The Spiritual Man, however, as Paul described, has died to it.  He has died to himself, to the world with all its desires, and has died to himself.  The case is so edged that Paul states that he is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to himself (Galatians 6:14).

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And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.

Exodus 33:2-3

When Moses carried up the people of Israel from Egypt, and they came to the Jordan river, the company of men all chose to disobey God and not enter, rather than to continue on into their promise.  God was angry, and would no longer go forward with them, and told Moses that He Himself would not go with them, but that He would send his angel instead to defeat the enemies.

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