In case you want to know, it costs everything.

Jesus said, Unless you hate your life, you cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:26).  He said that unless you forsake everything, you cannot be His disciple.  He said, you will always love one and hate the other.  Wavering between two opinions only lasts so long.

In case you want to know, it does cost everything.  And, you can’t go back.  If you look at the life of Lot, you can’t even LOOK back (Luke 17:32).

Consider it this way, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.  There was nothing in your old flesh that could be patched up.  God didn’t fix your heart, He gave you a new one!

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They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42

After the day of Pentecost, after the outpouring of the Spirit, and after the 3000 who were saved in an afternoon through Peter’s stand and preaching, this short verse describes what they considered important.

This verse has several similar to it in the New Testament, as a word study on such words as “devoted” demonstrates, but it is the first, listing four parts that were what they “devoted themselves to”.  Whether it was an exhaustive list is not the point, but simply that these four were important enough to be mentioned.

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For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

In waves of revival, manifestations come and go.  Many opinions are formed, shared, and contested with.  But, one thing remains, and that is the Eternal Kingdom of God, the mystery of the Holy Spirit, Christ within, “God With Us”, Emmanuel.

That which we see is not always what it is, and that which we cannot see often goes unnoticed, undiscerned, and hence, under  addressed.

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For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

Romans 14:17

I think that when it comes down to it, many people today miss  it today regarding the Kingdom.

Nearly all  probably do in some ways, perhaps, with some exceptions, but, primarily, we fail to recognize the King’s heart in coming.

Jesus said in language impossible to misunderstand that He was The Way.  Not that He came to show it, demonstrate it, teach it, or model it, but rather, that He Himself was The Way.  He was the Son of God, and the Son of Man, and no one came to the Father but by Him.

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And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one;

John 17:22

We are to be one with Him.  Whether or not this is attainable in this life in practice is NOT the question, but to deny that it is theologically the goal would only guarantee that no one would try.  You might as well make it your goal, because you’ll get alot further along at it than if you hadn’t.

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.”  Pretty simple, we’re all sinners.  But, what does that sin separate us from?  What have we fallen short of?  His Glory of Course!  So, since Romans 3:24 says we are reconciled, it would follow that what we are reconciled to is, of course, His Glory.

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Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Matthew 8:20

What does it take to dissuade someone from pursuit?  A little hardship, a little persecution?  Lack of a comfortable home?

Jesus said,

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

Matthew 19:29

What you lose is only temporary, what you gain is worth it.  It is Good News.

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Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Mark 16:15-18

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Each of these scriptures is a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Each one of these passages was spoke by Jesus, given to the Apostles written for the disciples, and is absolutely relevant to us today.  If it was not, there would be no reason for the book.  Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

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 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet now was formerly called a seer.)

1 Samuel 9:9

A seer is a prophet.  A seer is one who sees; a “see”-er.  Particularly, they see into the realm of the Spirit.  While some people in the Kingdom of Heaven may never see angels, demons, and the other things of the Kingdom, a seer sees these things, depending on their level of ability, as subject to the will of God.

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Now watch this doctrine of Balaam most carefully. Notice above all, that it is the deliberate maneuver of a corrupt clergy to bind the people to them, by leading the people deliberately into the sin of unbelief. The Nicolaitane doctrine was the corruption of the clergy as they sought political power amongst themselves, while Balaamism is the subjection of the people to their system of creed and worship in order to hold them. Now watch this carefully. What was it that bound the people to the nominal church and thereby destroyed them? It was the creeds and dogmas formed into church tenets. It was the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. They were not given the true food, the Word. They were given the food that came from idol worship, Babylonian paganism wrapped up in Christian terminology. And that very same spirit and doctrine is right amongst all Protestants and it is called DENOMINATION. Nicolaitanism is organization, humanizing the leadership of the church, and thereby deposing the Spirit. Balaamism is denominationalism which takes the church manual instead of the Bible. And right to this hour, many of God’s people are caught in the snare of denominationalism and God is crying to them, “Come out of her My people, lest ye be partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues.” You see they are ignorant. But if the rapture should take place at this moment, ignorance would be no court of appeal from the judgment of God for being in the wrong ranks.

William M. Branham, a prophet from 40’s and 50’s, wrote the above words towards the end of his book on the seven church ages.

 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

John 18:36

Jesus said His Kingdom was not of this world, nor of this realm.  It was the Kingdom of the Heavens.  John 3:3-5 indicates that the Kingdom cannot be seen nor entered unless one is born again, born of the water and the Spirit.

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It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

God wants us free.  He wants you free, He wants me free.  He wants me to point you to His freedom, and you to point me there.  He wants each of us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

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