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Who do you belong to?

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I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. - Galatians 2:20 (NASB) Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? - 1 Corinthians 6:19 (LSB) Who do you belong to? Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. - Romans 121-2 (LSB) For those in Christ, the only acceptable worship is to offer themselves completely to the Lord. Under God's control, the believer's yet-unredeemed body can and must be yielded to Him as an instr

Who is your all in all? - Part 2

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In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. - Ephesians 1:8b-10 (NASB) Redemption brings in the limitless grace of God and divinely-bestowed spiritual understanding. At the end of this world's history, God will gather believers together in the millennial kingdom called here "an administration suitable to the fullness of the times," meaning the completion of history. After that, God will gather everything to Himself in eternity future, and the new heaven and new earth will be created. The new universe will be totally unified under Christ. - John MacArthur In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were

Who is your all in all?

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. - Ephesians 1:3-4 (NASB) In His providential grace, God has already given believers total blessing. God's superabundant blessings belong only to believers who are His children, by faith in Christ, so that what He has is theirs, including His righteousness, resources, privilege, position, and power. The doctrine of election is emphasized throughout Scripture. The form of the Greek verb behind "chose" indicates that God not only chose by Himself but for Himself to the praise of His own glory. God's election or predestination does not operate apart from or nullify man's responsibility to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Through God's sovereign will before the creation of the world and, therefore, obviously indepen

Am I living for eternity? - Part 2

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So when Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now is [the time for] the Son of Man [to be] glorified, and God is glorified in Him; [if God is glorified in Him,] God will also glorify Him (the Son) in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. Little children, I am with you [only] a little longer. You will look for Me and, as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, ‘Where I am going, you are not able to come.’ I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.” - John 13:31-35 (Amplified Bible) He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. -  Jim Elliot If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. -  C. S. Lewis With Judas gone, the final events were set in motion. Rather than looking at the agony o