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The True Choice Mat 7:13-14 (AMP) “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. (14) But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.” People live and people die because of what they believe. It is common to find that the lives of some people could be lengthened and more rewarding if they only knew and followed the Truth of God concerning the way they were living. We see them everyday, but do we ever consider the Truth about how we are supposed to reach out to them? Joh 17:13-19 (AMP) “And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts]. (14) I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world. (15) I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. (18) Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (19) And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the Truth.” The Word of God does not err; Jesus said that He consecrated Himself while He was still in the world so that His joy and perfect delight could be perfected in our souls. He did that and delivered that same message from the Father to us so that we should not live like the people who live after their own evil lusts. Jesus also said that He has sent us into the world in the same way that God the Father sent Him into the world and that we could be consecrated and sanctified holy in the Truth of God’s Word. His message is true enough to believe, and true enough for us to share with those who need it just as much as we do. Rom 1:18 (AMP) “For God's [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative.” God does not want anyone to perish is a truth we need to make known because Jesus did, and He told us to tell others as well. When it comes to living out the Truth, Christians sometimes act as if they are excluded from the justice of the Truth. However, living opposed to the Truth makes that part of the Truth inactive and of no effect, a result of our own choices. No one lives a miserable life without God unless they choose to. So it stands to reason that no one would go to hell unless they choose to. The Truth says that God gave us His best. He gave us His only begotten Son: the Truth, the Life, and the Way, and with Him many precious promises. 2Pe 1:3-4 (KJV) “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” God has made provision for everything we need to make the right choices. Everything we could ever need can be found in the Truth; so if we are falling short, we must be choosing to believe a lie. Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan the father of lies, has been planting his tainted seeds in the minds and hearts of people. Nevertheless, we cannot excuse ourselves by casting the blame on him or on other people for the choices we make. Ours is the choice: Will we choose to seek the Truth and follow God? -Kurt Thurston March Newsletter 2010 | He Wants Preeminence 1003 Pastor's Journal March 2009 | The True Choice
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