"COMATOSE CHRISTIANITY"
(GET ON THE RIGHT TRACK - PART 2)
MF Blume
JANUARY 17, 1999 pm
Hebr 10:19-23 Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for
us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And [having]
an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering;
(for he [is] faithful that promised;)
Hebr 9:14 How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?
Hebr 5:12-6:2 For
when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach
you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are
become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one
that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is
a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age {of
full age: or, perfect}, [even] those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving
the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and
of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
(See this morning's notes for foundation of
this message)
If you look carefully at many believers' lives, you would see the only
thing different about them is that they go to church, and they do not do
outward things associated with sinful living.
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(Some do and hide it)
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They do not go to dances or to gambling halls or swear.
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And the difference stops there.
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There might be little things that really do not amount to anything that
are different, but when it comes to the important things in life, like
peace of mind, and strength in the hard times, most are no different than
the people in the world who have no God to hold on to.
REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS.
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First foundation principle to progress to strong christianity.
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Actions do not cause our spirituality to progress.
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Thinking that the Bible under our beds or a good deed we do to a friend
will keep the devil off our backs and make God bless us is nothing more
than a "good luck charm mentality."
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Wearing certain clothes to think that God will bless us for that is superstitious
nonsense.
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We simply dress modest because it is decent and proper.
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But people direct their faith in those things.
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They trust in that as their christianity.
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Good deeds are important, but not to save a soul or cause them to mature
The next principle shows us where we must direct our faith to:
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Turn from dead works and have FAITH TOWARDS GOD.
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We turn faith away from dead works and we direct it towards God.
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Do not have faith in something you do in order to believe you will get
power from God and be the christian you want to be through doing those
things.
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Dead works are just that... dead.
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Don't put faith in some dead action.
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An action is not a person.
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Put faith in someone that is alive.
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Have faith TOWARDS GOD.
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Do not have faith in your works and depend upon them to draw you closer
to God as though they get His attention.
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Direct your faith to God, Himself.
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I am glad that we can go straight to the source... God.
John 16:23-24 And in that day ye shall
ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you. Hitherto have ye
asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may
be full.
Jesus said this because when you start a relationship with God, and direct
faith towards Him, and not a thing you do, you will grow and your joy will
be full.
People who have faith in deeds, never talk to God Himself much.
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They hope God is watching them do things.
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Paul said he spoke in tongues more often than any of the people in the
Corinthian church.
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Why?
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Because talking in tongues is talking to God.
1Cor 14:2 For he that speaketh in an
[unknown] tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth
[him]; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. ...
1Cor 14:4 He that speaketh in an [unknown]
tongue edifieth himself;...
Paul wanted to talk to God.
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Anything that allowed Him to talk to God, he did.
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He had a relationship with God.
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(Stop talking to someone and see how fast your relationship stops.)
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Tongues are not magical words that make things happen to you.
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Your spirit prays.
Go right to the source.
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Have a relationship with God.
Hebr 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help
in time of need.
Talk to God often.
Jesus spoke of being the vine and of us being the branches.
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We attach to Him, and we find life pumping into us.
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How do we do this?
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How can I make sure I am in the vine?
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What does it mean to be in the vine?
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Get attached to Jesus.
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Start with baptism into His death.
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That is the first point anyone can join to Him.
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Believe He died as you.
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You are in union with Him.
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UNION LIFE.
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You live by the faith of the Son of God.
Gala 2:20-21 I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God:
That is how Paul described his christianity.
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We hear people talk about other things when they describe their christianity
than what Paul did here.
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But Paul said Christianity is "Christ living in him."
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Others say it is not swearing, not going to bars, and not not doing bad
things.
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Some ask how to be christians and christians respond, "Stop doing bad things."
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We answer "HOW??????"
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Don't just tell me what is wrong with me, tell me how to get better.
The church is like a hospital.
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We come to be healed.
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But too many churches only tell people what is right and what is wrong.
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They diagnose the illness, and tell the people to go home.
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They do not give the medicine.
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They don't give the cure.
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I am giving you the cure tonight.
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Giving someone an empty answer is like one asking you how to get to the
moon and you say "Go up there," and point to the sky.
Paul spoke of "LIFE" that he lived.
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He spoke of "Christ living in Him."
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He attached Himself to Jesus.
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He spoke of getting the love of God.
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And then he said he cannot even live without the FAITH IOF THE SON OF GOD.
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He needed Jesus' life and Jesus FAITH!!
At this point I want to say that once you are truly attached to the love
of God, nobody can separate you from it.
If nobody can separate you from it, then you alone are the rascal that
is responsible if you get away from it.
Roma 8:37-39 Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This like the following:
John 10:29 My Father, which gave
[them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them]
out of my Father's hand.
The branch can only be fooled into leaving the vine Jesus and trying to
exist on its own.
So abiding in the vine and being branches is living by His life.
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And do not blame anybody else other than yourself if you backslide.
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You just did not love God.
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If you LOVED God, nothing could separate you from it.
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Staying connected to Him and communicating with Him.
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It is what communion is showing us.
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Eating the bread and drinking the wine is living on Jesus.
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Paul even said he lives by the FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD.
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Jesus had powerful faith.
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And when you begin to tap into Jesus, His faith begins to work in you.
Some are not even attached and never were attached.
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But others were and lost connection.
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This life can only be lived so long as you stay attached to Him.
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As soon as you stop relying on His strength in you, you actually experience
a coma in your christianity.
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A branch starts to die when it loses its connection to the vine.
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Stay in love with Him and keep up a relationship, and not ignore Him, and
depend upon that to cause you to grow more, and you will grow.
Do not turn prayer into a dead ritual either.
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You can begin praying and stress how LONG you pray rather than whether
or not your prayer is love-communication with God and dependence upon Him.
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It then becomes dead.
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Some people might as well just turn a tape recorder on at the same time
each day for the amount of feeling and love they exert in their prayers
to God.
When a new person comes to church, do not dare tell them they must stop
dressing a certain way.
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Urge them to start a relationship with Jesus Christ
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Do not tell them about the things in the world that the devil is behind
that they might be involved with.
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Some people teach sinners more about the devil then they do about Jesus--
in sincerity.
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Get them to start loving Jesus.
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Tell them how to pray from their hearts rather than worry about proper
words to use.
Comatose Christians
You can float along for a while, but there is a death that begins to
grow inside the christian who loses his connection to the Lord.
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Nobody can see it at the start, but after a while it starts becoming more
evident.
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Lack of prayer begins showing in the person.
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The human spirit grows sickly and weak.
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The things of the flesh begin to take the lead.
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Then you start doing things that you put aside before so that you could
do the things of God.
By their fruit you know them.
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If there is no godly fruit, then there is no attachment to the vine Jesus
Christ.
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The vine Jesus and the root is holy, and it makes the branches holy.
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And holy branches produce holy fruit.
You know a false prophet by the fact that he hands out fruit of knowledge
of good and evil.
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Something that has no life in it.
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You are continually urged and prodded by false prophets to do "this" good
thing and stop doing "that" evil thing.
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These things are "good" and those are "bad"
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You are being supplied with the knowledge of good and evil.
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And it makes a pharisee out of you.
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All you re concerned with is what bad thing the person is doing and how
many good things they are not doing.
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You are caught up in the knowledge of good and evil and are dying all the
while.
If the devil is going to make you die, he is going to have to do it and
make you fooled into thinking it is not happening for it to continue its
deadly work.
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The longer we branches are off the vine of Life, Jesus, we are dying more
and more.
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A branch cut off a vine is like a person holding one's breath.
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You do not die immediately.
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But you will not last long.
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While our faith is somewhat alive, holding our breath from not touching
Jesus lately, get off the path of lies and illusion that makes you think
you do not need to keep your heart directed towards Jesus in communication
with Him to be a real christian.
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Repent of dead works before they kill you.
I have seen men and women die by staying away from the vine too long.
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They become cold and hard and heartless.
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They become evil in their way of life and treating others.
So we must attach to the vine by exerting faith towards God for our lives.
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Living by dead works is simply doing our best.
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It is the flesh that works.
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Your natural abilities have their origin in your flesh.
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And Paul spoke of people who walk after the flesh.
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They just do THEIR best to get by.
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No love with Jesus.
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No conscious love communication with Him.
But Paul said something might happens when we walk after the Spirit.
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When we exert faith for God's strength to flow through me.
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When we connect to Jesus in love for Him.
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Believe that God can do the work in my life that needs doing.
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Not have faith towards the dead works that my flesh can do, but faith towards
God.
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And since this entire opportunity to enjoy God's power in our lives comes
from the beginning point of uniting with Jesus' death, we are said to abide
in the vine Jesus.
It is a thing about being BORN AGAIN.
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That is something that is alive.
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Birth is the beginning of a life.
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And new birth is the beginning of a person who for the first times believes
in the union with Jesus so much so that they do something about it.
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They believe that Jesus died as them, so they repent of their sins and
thank God they can be free from hell because of their faith in Jesus.
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They believe they were buried with Him so they are baptized and buried
in water.
But life is more than just being born.
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Life is more than just being changed into a baby.
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Then is when we need to get the foundation underneath us.
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We need to progress in LIFE by maturing away from infanthood.
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Grow into mature relationship with Jesus Christ.
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It is immature to simply go to church.
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It is immature to simply say "All that I know is that I was dead, buried
and resurrected with Jesus."
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That is the beginning.
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And you who are not even born again yet need to concentrate on that.
There is a "way to life."
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Jesus is that way.
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Ever since the beginning there was a "way to life."
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The Garden of Eden had a "Way of the tree of life" at its entrance.
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Jesus said, "Narrow is the way that leadeth to life., and few there be
that find it."
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There is still a way.
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Jesus is that way.
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He said "I am the way."
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And since we must take they way and the Way is a person, then there has
to be a relationship involved.
The WAY is to JOIN and UNITE WITH JESUS.
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Get connected to Him and like a vine, He pumps life into you.
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See that you are still connected with Him after Acts 2:38.
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Go further with this thought of connection rather than simply sit around
knowing you died, were buried and resurrected with Him.
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And you start to live a life that is touched by heaven.
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Fruit grows from the branches because it is attached to the vine that pumps
life into it.
(Roma 11:24) The root of the good tree is holy.
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And it makes us CHANGE to become HOLY over time.
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The key is to ABIDE in the vine.
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ABIDE in Jesus.
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In other words, believe that your love for Him and desire to melt into
one single being with Him is the means of seeing your life change.
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You grow.
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Growth demands you be on the vine also.
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The branch does not stay the same when it abides in the vine.
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It changes.
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It grows greater.
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Change does not come from efforts to simply do more good deeds and
stop doing bad deeds.
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That is only a plan and a dead work.
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But the way IS ALIVE.
Hebr 10:19 -23 Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and
living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh; And [having] an high priest over the house of God; Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he
[is] faithful that promised;)
Notice the elements of drawing near by having a true heart.
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By having full assurance of faith.
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Hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.
The note about our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience refers to dead
works.
Hebr 9:14 How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?
This reminds us of Hebrews 6:1 and the principle of turning from dead works
and instead having faith towards God.
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Let the blood of Jesus wash out all that false concept of a performance
in order to go somewhere in the Kingdom of God.
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It is a living way to get to Life.
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Have faith towards God.
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And since that way is through your union with Christ, it makes Jesus that
way.
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You want to grow, and the way to do it is to depend upon Him to walk with
you and actually give you courage in the storms of life.
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Get so united to Him in your love for Him to allow the thing to occur naturally.
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Fruit naturally grows from a branch if it sticks to the vine.
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But all the efforts we take to make ourselves better "Christians" actually
frustrate His life from working through.
If you never tried it before, come and ask Him to forgive you.
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Come and begin to love Him.
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Love relationships start out shallow.
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But they grow deep.
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Get on the right track by having a relationship with a LIVING GOD.
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Turn away from all your thoughts that good deeds without any relationship-communion
with God will have you to grow.
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Talk to Him everyday.
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Form a relationship with Him.
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GET ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
I do not believe we need to settle with being more on fire in love for
Jesus in our first few years than ever before.
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That is comatose Christianity settling in.
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The christians who pump people full of knowledge of good and evil do not
help things.
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But TRUE love that is initiated with a desire to grow in love for Him...
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True love that is the result of finding the right track God set for us
in starting a real relationship with God, only gets stronger.
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Immature love is not really love at all, but fascination.
THIS WILL TAKE YOU STRONGLY AND BOLDLY INTO ETERNITY WITH GOD