Seal in His promise

 You were sealed in His promise by the stamp blood of Jesus Christ blood and sesl us with the blood that ran down to the guttermist yo the utter most of man. 

That no other name under he's in can provide you with your blood that us half man and half Gid redeem brought us back out if the enomues hands that nobwrspin diemef against us shall prosper there is no other name than the name if Hesys was strong enough for God is more than enough.  with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13–14)  

As one means of guaranteeing His promises to those who have received Jesus Christ, God has sealed [them] in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Every believer is given the very Holy Spirit of God the moment he trusts in Christ. 

You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwell-s in you,” Paul declares (Rom. 8:9a). Conversely, he goes on to say, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (v. 9b). Incredibly, the body of every true Christian is actually “a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in [him]” (1 Cor. 6:19).

When a person becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in his life. Life in Jesus Christ is different because the Spirit of God is now within. He is there to empower us, equip us for ministry, and function through the gifts He has given us. 

God has set free but you continue to go back like a dog to eat your vomit keeping  you with in a slave mentality.

The Holy Spirit is our Helper and Advocate. He protects and encourages us. He also guarantees our inheritance in Jesus Christ. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16–17). The Spirit of God is our securing force, our guarantee.

The sealing of which Paul speaks here refers to an official mark of identification that was placed on a letter, contract, or other important document. The seal usually was made from hot wax, which was placed on the document and then impressed with a signet ring. The document was thereby officially identified with and under the authority of the person to whom the signet belonged.

That is the idea behind our being sealed in Him [Christ] with the Holy Spirit of promise. The seal of God’s Spirit in the believer signifies four primary things: security, authenticity, ownership, and authority.

Security. In ancient times the seal of a king, prince, or noble represented security and inviolability. When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, King Darius, along with his nobles, placed their seals on the stone placed over the entrance to the den, “so that nothing might be changed in regard to Daniel” (Dan. 6:17). 

Any person but the king who broke or disturbed that seal would likely have forfeited his life. In a similar way the tomb where Jesus was buried was sealed. Fearing that Jesus’ disciples might steal His body and falsely claim His resurrection, the Jewish leaders obtained Pilate’s permission to place a seal on the stone and to guard it with soldiers (Matt. 27:62–66).

In an infinitely greater way, the Holy Spirit secures each believer, marking him with His own inviolable seal. When King Ahab tried unsuccessfully to get Naboth to sell or trade his vineyard, Queen Jezebel volunteered to get the vineyard her way. “So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal” and sent the letters to various nobles who lived in Naboth’s city, demanding that they arrange false accusations of blasphemy and treason against him. 

The nobles did as they were instructed, and Naboth was stoned to death because of the false charges. The king then simply confiscated the vineyard he had so strongly coveted (1 Kings 21:6–16). Despite the deceptions contained in the letters Jezebel sent, the letters themselves were authentically from the king, because they were sent with his approval and marked with his seal. The seal was his signature.

When God gives us His Holy Spirit, it is as if He stamps us with a seal that reads, “This person belongs to Me and is an authentic citizen of My divine kingdom and member of My divine family.”

Ownership. While Jerusalem was under siege by Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah was under arrest by King Zedekiah for prophesying against the king and the nation, the Lord gave special instructions to His prophet. Jeremiah was told to buy some land in Anathoth for which he had redemption rights. The contract was agreed on, and the stipulated payment was made in the court of the palace guard before the required number of witnesses. In the presence of the witnesses the deed was signed and sealed, establishing Jeremiah as the new legal owner of the property (Jer. 32:10).

When the Holy Spirit seals believers, He marks them as God’s divine possessions, who from that moment on entirely and eternally belong to Him, The Spirit’s seal declares the transaction of salvation as divinely official and final.

Authority. Even after Haman had been hanged for his wicked plot to defame and execute Mordecai, Queen Esther was distressed about the decree that Haman had persuaded King Ahasuerus to make that permitted anyone in his kingdom to attack and destroy the Jews. 

Because the king could not even himself revoke the decree that was marked with his own seal, he issued and sealed another decree that permitted and even encouraged the Jews to arm and defend themselves (Esther 8:8–12). In both cases the absolute authority of the decrees was represented in the king’s seal. Those who possessed the sealed decree of the king had the king’s delegated authority set forth in the decree.

When Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit they are delegated to proclaim, teach, minister, and defend God’s Word and His gospel with the Lord’s own authority.

Dr. Prophet Theresa Maxwell 

Seven Words of the Cross

Christ Jesus died on the Cross to redeem mankind, to save us from our sins because of his love for us. As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ was mocked, scorned, and tortured in the praetorium. He carried his cross up the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to Calvary, was nailed to the Cross, and hung between two common criminals. He suffered an indescribable end, recalled by the Church on Good Friday of Holy Week.  

One may meditate on the Passion of Christ by reflecting on his Seven Words on the Cross or by a devotion known as The Way of the Cross. 

When religious pilgrimages to the Holy Land ended with military occupation of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, a popular devotion known as The Way of the Cross arose during Lent retracing the Passion, Crucifixion, and Death of Jesus. The fourteen Stations of the Cross are (1) Pilate condemns Jesus to death; (2) Jesus takes up his Cross; (3) He falls the first time; (4) Jesus meets his sorrowful mother Mary; (5) Simon helps carry the cross; (6) Veronica cleans his face; (7) He falls the second time; (8) Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem; (9) He falls the third time; (10) Jesus is stripped of his garments; (11) Jesus is nailed to the cross; (12) Jesus Christ dies on the cross; (13) Our Lord is taken down from the cross; (14) Christ is laid in the tomb. 

Here are his Seven Words, the last seven expressions of Jesus Christ on the Cross recorded in Scripture.

THE FIRST WORD

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." 

Luke 23:34

Jesus of Nazareth is looking down from the cross just after he was crucified between two criminals. He sees the soldiers who have mocked, scourged, and tortured him, and who have just nailed him to the cross. He probably remembers those who have sentenced him - Caiaphas and the high priests of the Sanhedrin. Pilate realized it was out of envy that they handed him over (Matthew 27:18, Mark 15:10). But is Jesus not also thinking of his Apostles and companions who have deserted him, to Peter who has denied him three times, to the fickle crowd who only days before praised him on his entrance to Jerusalem, and then days later demanded his crucifixion?  

Is he also thinking of us, who daily forget him in our lives?  

Does he react angrily? No! At the height of his physical suffering, his love prevails and He asks His Father to forgive! Could there ever be greater irony? Jesus asks his Father to forgive, but it is by His very Sacrifice on the Cross that mankind is able to be forgiven! 

Right up to his final hours on earth, Jesus preaches forgiveness. He teaches forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12). When asked by Peter, how many times should we forgive someone, Jesus answers seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). He forgives the paralytic at Capernaum (Mark 2:3-12), the sinful woman who anointed him in the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:37-48), and the adulteress caught in the act and about to be stoned (John 8:1-11). During the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus tells them to drink of the cup: "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28). And even following his Resurrection, his first act is to commission his disciples to forgive: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:22-23).

THE SECOND WORD

"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." 

Luke 23:43

Now it is not just the religious leaders or the soldiers that mock Jesus, but even one of the criminals, a downward progression of mockery. But the criminal on the right speaks up for Jesus, explaining the two criminals are receiving their just due, whereas "this man has done nothing wrong." Then, turning to Jesus, he asks, "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom" (Luke 23:42). What wonderful faith this repentant sinner has in Jesus - far more than the doubting Thomas, one of his own Apostles. Ignoring his own suffering, Jesus responds with mercy in His second word, living out his own Beatitude, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 

The second word again is about forgiveness, this time directed to a sinner. Just as the first word, this Biblical expression is found only in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus shows his Divinity by opening heaven for a repentant sinner - such generosity to a man that only asked to be remembered! 
This expression offers us hope for salvation, for if we turn our hearts and prayers to Him and accept his forgiveness, we will also be with Jesus Christ at the end of our lives. 

THE THIRD WORD

"Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son." 

Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother." 

John 19:26-27

Jesus and Mary are together again, at the beginning of his ministry in Cana and now at the end of his public ministry at the foot of the Cross. John is the only Evangelist to record Our Lord's mother Mary at the Cross. The Lord refers to his mother as woman at the Wedding Feast of Cana (John 2:1-11) and in this passage, recalling the woman in Genesis 3:15, the first Messianic prophecy of the Redeemer, anticipating the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12. 

What sorrow must fill Mary's heart! How she must have felt meeting her Son as he carried the Cross on the Via Dolorosa. "Behold I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5). And then she had to watch him being nailed to the Cross. Once again, a sword pierces Mary's soul: we are reminded of the prophecy of Simeon at the Presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:35).  

The loved ones of Jesus are with Him in John's Gospel. There are four at the foot of the cross, Mary his Mother, John, the disciple whom he loved, his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. He addresses his third word to his mother Mary and John, the only eye-witness of the Gospel writers. 

Jesus again rises above the occasion as he cares for the ones that love him. The good son that He is, Jesus is concerned about looking after his mother. St. Joseph was noticeably absent. St. Joseph was not present at family occasions like the Wedding Feast of Cana and had probably died before the public ministry of Jesus, or else he would have been the one to take care of Mary following the Passion of Our Lord. In fact, this passage indicates that Jesus was the only child of Mary, because if he did have natural brothers or sisters, they would have provided for her. But Jesus looks to John to care for her. 

Another striking phrase indicating Jesus of Nazareth was an only child is Mark 6:3, referring to Jesus: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" The terms brother and sister in Hebrew or Aramaic at that time could mean either biological sibling, cousin or kinsman, or a spiritual brother or sister. Now if James, Joses and Judas and Simon were also natural sons of Mary, Jesus would not have been called the "son of Mary," but rather "one of the sons of Mary."

THE FOURTH WORD

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 

Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34

This was the only expression of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Both Gospels related that it was in the ninth hour, after 3 hours of darkness, that Jesus cried out this fourth word. The ninth hour was three o'clock in Judea. After the fourth Word, Mark related with a horrible sense of finality, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last" (Mark 15:37). 

One is struck by the anguished tone of this expression in contrast to the first three words of Jesus. He feels separated from his Father. This cry is from the painful heart of the human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions the disciples, who "all left him and fled" (Matthew 26:56, Mark 14:50). As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark (15:40) even has his loved ones "looking on from afar." Jesus is now all alone, and he must face death by himself. 

But is not this exactly what happens to all of us when we die? We too are all alone at the time of death! Jesus completely lives the human experience as we do, and by doing so, frees us from the clutches of sin. 

His fourth Word is the opening line of Psalm 22, and thus his cry from the Cross recalls the cry of Israel, and of all innocent persons who suffer. Psalm 22 of David makes a striking prophecy of the crucifixion of the Messiah at a time when crucifixion was not known to exist: "They have pierced my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones" (22:16-17). The Psalm continues: "They divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots" (22:18). 

There can not be a more dreadful moment in the history of man as this moment. Jesus who came to save us is crucified, and He realizes the horror of what is happening and what He now is enduring. He is about to be engulfed in the raging sea of sin. Evil triumphs, as Jesus admits: "But this is your hour" (Luke 22:53). But it is only for a moment. The burden of all the sins of humanity for a moment overwhelm the humanity of our Savior. 

But does this not have to happen? Does this not have to occur if Jesus is to save us? It is in defeat of his humanity that the Divine plan of His Father will be completed. It is by His death that we are redeemed. "For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all" (I Timothy 2:5-6).

"He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, 

so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.  

By his wounds you have been healed." 

First Peter 2:24

THE FIFTH WORD

"I thirst." 

John 19:28

The fifth word of Jesus is His only human expression of His physical suffering. Jesus is now in shock. The wounds inflicted upon him in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, losing blood on the three-hour walk through the city of Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, and the nailing upon the cross are now taking their toll.  

The Gospel of John first refers to thirst when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. After first asking for "a drink," he answers the woman, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). This passage implies there is more than just physical thirst. 

Jesus also thirsts in a spiritual sense. He thirsts for love. He thirsts for the love of his Father, who has left him unaided during this dreadful hour when He must fulfill his mission all alone. And he thirsts for the love and salvation of his people, the human race. Jesus practiced what he preached:

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Greater love has no man than this,  

That he lay down his life for his friends." 

John 15:12-13

THE SIXTH WORD

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished;" 

and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit. 

John 19:30

The Gospel of John recalls the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12 in this passage. The soldiers offered wine on a sprig of hyssop to the Lord. Hyssop is a small plant that was used to sprinkle the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorposts of the Hebrews (Exodus 12:22). John's Gospel related that it was the Day of Preparation, the day before the actual Sabbath Passover, that Jesus was sentenced to death (19:14) and sacrificed on the Cross (19:31). John continues in 19:33-34: "But when they came to Jesus and saw he was already dead, they did not break his legs," recalling the instruction in Exodus 12:46 concerning the Passover Lamb. He died at the ninth hour (three o'clock in the afternoon), about the same time as the Passover lambs were slaughtered in the Temple. Christ became the Paschal or Passover Lamb, as noted by St. Paul: "For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed" (First Corinthians 5:7). The innocent Lamb was slain for our sins, so that we might be forgiven. It is now a fait accomplit. The sixth word is Jesus' recognition that his suffering is over and his task is completed. Jesus is obedient to the Father and gives his love for mankind by redeeming us with His death on the Cross.

The above painting is meant to capture the moment.  

What was the darkest day of mankind became the brightest day for mankind.

And the Gospels as a group captured this paradox. The Synoptic Gospels narrated the horror of the event - the agony in the garden, the abandonment by his Apostles, the trial before the Sanhedrin, the intense mockery and torture heaped upon Jesus, his suffering all alone, the darkness over the land, and his death, starkly portrayed by both Matthew (27:47-51) and Mark (15:33-38). 

In contrast, the passion of Jesus in the Gospel of John expresses his Kingship and proves to be His triumphant road to glory. John presents Jesus as directing the action the entire way. The phrase "It is finished" carries a sense of accomplishment. In John, there is no trial before the Sanhedrin, but rather Jesus is introduced at the Roman trial as "Behold your King!" (John 19:14). Jesus is not stumbling or falling as in the Synoptic Gospels, but the way of the Cross is presented with majesty and dignity, for "Jesus went out bearing his own Cross" (John 19:17). And in John, the inscription at the head of the cross is pointedly written "Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews" (John 19:19). The inscription INRI at the top of the cross is the Latin Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum. 

When Jesus died, He "handed over" the Spirit. Jesus remained in control to the end, and it is He who handed over his Spirit. One should not miss the double entendre here, for this may also be interpreted as His death brought forth the Holy Spirit.  

The Gospel of John gradually reveals the Holy Spirit. Jesus mentions living water in John 4:10 and during the Feast of Tabernacles refers to living water as the Holy Spirit in 7:37-39. At the Last Supper, Christ announces he would ask the Father to send "another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth" (14:16-17). The word Advocate is also translated as Comforter, Helper, Paraclete, or Counselor. "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you" (14:26). The symbolism of water for the Holy Spirit becomes more evident in John 19:34: "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water." The piercing of his side fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10: "They will look on me whom they have pierced." The piercing of Jesus' side prefigures the Sacraments of Eucharist (blood) and Baptism (water), as well as the beginning of the Church.

THE SEVENTH WORD

Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." 

Luke 23:46

The seventh word of Jesus is from the Gospel of Luke, and is directed to the Father in heaven, just before He dies. Jesus recalls Psalm 31:5 - "Into thy hands I commend my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God." Luke repeatedly pleads Jesus' innocence: with Pilate (Luke 23:4, 14-15, 22), through Dismas the criminal (by legend) (Luke 23:41), and immediately after His death with the centurion - "Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent" (Luke 23:47). 

Jesus was obedient to His Father to the end, and his final word before his death on the Cross was a prayer to His Father. 

The relationship of Jesus to the Father is revealed in the Gospel of John, for He remarked, "The Father and I are one" (10:30), and again at the Last Supper: "Do you not believe I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works" (14:10). And He can return: "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (16:28).  Jesus fulfills His own mission and that of His Father on the Cross: 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, 

So that everyone who believes in him 

may not perish but have eternal life. 

John 3:16

REFERENCES

1  New American Bible, Revised Edition. Catholic Book Publishing, Totowa, New Jersey, 2011. 
2 Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.  The Seven Last Words: The Message from the Cross. Garden City Books, Garden City, New York, 1952. 
3 Pope John Paul II.  The Gospel of Life, the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Times Books, New York, March 25, 1995.
4 Ignace De La Potterie.  The Hour of Jesus: The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Alba House, Staten Island, New York, 1989. 
5 St. Thomas Aquinas.  Summa Theologica, Third Part - The Passion of Christ. Translation: Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 1920. Christian Classics, Allen, Texas. 
6 St. Alphonsus Liguori.  The Way of the Cross.Barton Cotton, Baltimore, Maryland, 1977. 
7 Martin F, Wright WM.  The Gospel of John. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2015.

God Our Creator

The Word of God of the Lord came to me saying 

For the word  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

God the creator and ruler of the universe He is the source of all moral authority. 

God is the supreme being He is the superhuman being or spirit to worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes He is the only deity of the cross. 

Many people do not understand the deeper meaning of the Cross.

What does it really mean–the Cross.

When you go throughout the world, you see many churches with steeples. 

When the Communists tried to outlaw religion in Russia and in Eastern Europe, they forgot that the cross was on many of their churches and cathedrals. 

The cross is worn on the necks of so many people, rappers movie stars rock stars. They will never understand the or know what the cross really means. 

First and foremost the Cross shows us the depths of our sins. We don’t realize what sin is in the sight of God or how deeply it offends God. People don’t understand how it separates us from Him. 

Before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed in Gethsemane. He was agonizing, sorrowful. He prayed to God, 

If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39, NKJV). 

He looked into the cup, and what did He see in that cup? 

He saw the sins of the whole world! He saw murder, war, racial, liars prejudice, adultery, lying and fraud.

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

People ask the question, “What is sin?” Sin is coming short of God’s righteousness. God is righteous and holy. 

He cannot look upon sin. A diamond may be perfect to the natural eye. But if you take it to a specialist and he looks at it through a glass, he sees a defect in it. And God looks at us that way.

James 4:1-3 says: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures”. 

We are all that way. Sin has affected our minds. The Scripture says, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

” (1 Corinthians 2:14, NKJV)

Sin also affects your will. Jesus said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34, NKJV). 

There’s something of which you are guilty. You can’t break this habit. 

You would like to, but you have no power to do it. You are a slave. You cry for freedom, but there is no escape.

But Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32, NKJV). 

The Way, the Truth, and the Life 

John 14:5 Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

Sin also affects your conscience. Every one of us has a conscience. 

Your conscience is the Internal thoughts of self-knowledge, or judgment in right and wrong. 

It is the faculty of the power of God to tap into that cause the principle within to happen. Which decides on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our own actions and affections, 

However it will instantly approve or condemn us in our conscience state of mind. 

Conscience is called by some writers the moral sense, and considered as an original faculty of our nature. 

Others question the propriety of considering conscience as a distinct faculty or principle. 

The consider it rather as the general principle of moral approbation or disapprobation, applied to ones own conduct of our affections. 

Many all edging that our notions of right and wrong are not to be deduced from a single principle or faculty. 

However it illuminates from various powers of the understanding the will of God. 

Being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one. 

John 8.

The conscience manifests itself in the feeling of obligation we experience, which precedes, attends and follows our actions.

Our conscience is first occupied in ascertaining our duty, before we proceed to action; then in judging of our actions when performed.

The estimate or determination of conscience justification of the honesty within our intellectual intelligence within our minds. 

What you require cannot, in conscience, be deferred.

Real sentiment; private is base on our thoughts in telling if the truth. As far as persons believing in our story? 

It has the power to depict or imaging the story once we tell it. 

Consciousness is knowledge of our own actions in thought and deed. 

The sweetest cordial we receive at last, is conscience of our virtuous actions past.

This primary sense of the word is nearly, perhaps wholly obsolete.

In the Knowledge of the actions of the responsive other.

In ludicrous language, reason or reasonableness.

Half a dozen fools are, in all conscience, as many as you should require.

To make conscience or a matter of conscience, is to act according to the dictates of conscience, or to scruple to act contrary to its dictates.

It is the established recovery,  it’s a little red light that comes on every time we sin against God. 

But you can have a conscience that doesn’t work any longer. 

You have gone against your conscience for so long that it’s dead. 

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, `Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.

Dry Bones Live Again

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Some time later, I felt the Lord’s power take control of me, and his Spirit carried me to a valley full of bones. 

The Lord showed me all around, and everywhere I looked I saw bones that were dried out. 

He said, “Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones come back to life?”

I replied, “Lord God, only you can answer that.”

He then told me to say:

Dry bones, listen to what the Lord is saying to you, 

I, the Lord God, will put breath in you, and once again you will live. 

I will wrap you with muscles and skin and breathe life into you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

I did what the Lord said, but before I finished speaking, I heard a rattling noise. The bones were coming together! 

I saw muscles and skin cover the bones, but they had no life in them.

The Lord said:

Ezekiel, now say to the wind.

The Lord God commands you to blow from every direction and to breathe life into these dead bodies, so they can live again.”

As soon as I said this, the wind blew among the bodies, and they came back to life! They all stood up, and there were enough to make a large army.

The Lord said:

Ezekiel, the people of Israel are like dead bones. They complain that they are dried up and that they have no hope for the future. 

So tell them, “I, the Lord God, promise to open your graves and set you free. I will bring you back to Israel, and when that happens, you will realize that I am the Lord. 

My Spirit will give you breath, and you will live again. I will bring you home, and you will know that I have kept my promise. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

If you ever get to the danger point when 

you are no longer shocked or offended by sin around you or sin in your own life. 

One reason you should be concerned about this is because you are guilty when you sin whether you feel guilty or not. 

The Bible solemnly warns, “People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

You see, feelings aren’t always a reliable test of the truth. 

I may be convinced that nothing is going to happen to me if I walk down a dark alley at night but my feelings may be wrong, and I actually may be placing myself in great danger. 

Or I may be convinced I’m in good health and have nothing to worry about but a deadly cancer still may be growing undetected inside me. Our feelings may mislead us but facts never will.

Don’t be misled by your feelings, and don’t ignore the little voice within you that prompts you leads you to do right and rebukes you when you do wrong or stray away. 

It seems as though nothing is gone your way. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. 

The glorifying of God. The enjoying of God. 

The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. …

It’s s Tragically, to become dulled or almost silenced if we refuse to listen to that soft but still voice. 

I doubt if this has happened to you, however; otherwise you wouldn’t have written me. 

The Bible warns us to listen to what God is telling us, “so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13).

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth” (Psalm 86:11

We are all sinners trespassing and sentence was death.” Until the blood of Jesus cleanse us of all our sin. If we confessed with our mouth and believe in our hearts that Jesus died for our sin we can be save. Which means we are no longer a space to sin.

But not only does the Cross show us our sins, it also shows us the love of God.

No matter what you have done past present or future we are forgiven. This allows us to see it is so easy to fall back into sin. It does not give us a license to sin. 

The death of Christ is what makes the Good News. God is saying to you,

I love you. I forgive you. 

Jesus did it all.The Cross is a pardon; it’s a reprieve from death for people who don’t deserve it. 

None of us deserves to be saved. None of us deserves to go to heaven. We broke the law we are Guilty. We were sentenced to die. But the blood of Christ keeps us alive. 

1 John 4:8 But God is love and God is grace and mercy. “Grace” means something that you don’t deserve, something that God just gives you. God offers you a pardon.

He offers you forgiveness; He offers you assurance of Heaven if you die. 

And that can happens as soon as you say yes Lord. I accept the invitation.

God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, KJV).

I heard a story of one of the great men of the past. The devil came to him and listed all of his sins. 

The man asked, “Is that all?”The devil said, “No, I’ve got a lot more.” And he listed the rest of them.

“Now what will you do?” Satan said. Now,” said the man, “write this beneath them all: The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin” (Cf. 1 John 1:7).

Jesus died on the cross for you, and the Scripture says that you can never be the same once you have tasted the goodness of the Lord. And carried your Cross.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Do you feel that your life has been a failure? Is your life turned upside down? Do you wonder which way to turn? 

Where will you be a hundred years from now? You won’t be here, but the Cross guarantees a future life. The Cross is followed by the Resurrection. 

The death of Christ was not the end. There’s a Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Scripture teaches that Christ is reconciling the world unto Himself. He’ll reconcile you. You are separated from God by sin. 

But when you come to the Cross, you are united with God, and you become a partaker of His own nature.

There were two thieves crucified with Jesus that day. Both of them reviled him, but one suddenly changed. 

He said to Jesus, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42, NKJV). 

He didn’t have time to join a church. He didn’t have time to be baptized. He didn’t have time to live a good life. He just said, “Remember me.” 

And Jesus said, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43, NKJV).

He said today. It won’t be yesterday or tomorrow. today you will be with me in Paradise.” And the first person that Jesus greeted in Paradise, I believe, was that thief. 

Jesus can do the same for you, whoever you are.

Have you ever been to the Cross and really opened your heart to Jesus Christ? 

You may be a good moral person, a church-going person,  you are not sure that you really know Christ as your Lord and your Savior. 

I’m going to ask you to make that commitment  to Christ to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God through the knowledge of Christ and the carrying of your cross, 

That we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness. 

"They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." 

1 Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

We must maintain this glorious testimony, yet our own experience often seems to contradict it. 

King James Version

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part, he is even, il spoke of, but on your part, he is glad, verified.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

Yet if any man suffers as a Christian, Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

Dr. Prophet Theresa Maxwell