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PREFACE

The author thanks the following for help in compiling this work. Pastor John Robert Stevens, deceased; Pastors Gary and Marilyn Hargrave; The Living Word, a fellowship of Churches (thelivingword.org); Pastor Matthew Walcoe; many true believers I have been associated with over the years; and The Libronix Bible Study System;

To you I dedicate this work of God.

Author: Kenneth B. Alexander, BSL, JD, Deacon

[email protected]

INTRODUCTION

These are a collection of articles written under the hand of the Lord to reveal the proper spiritual foundation for all believers, to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and to show how one can enter the highest level of the coming age of Christ’s rule on earth. The road to perfection, which is what God longs for, is a narrow road. Few there be that pass on it. Christ said: “Enter ye in at the strait [narrow] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Well you say I am a born again Christian and have accepted Jesus as my Savior. Isn’t that enough to get me to heaven? The answer is that what we call “basic salvation” is just the beginning to a real walk with God. Yes you that have saved will obtain a measure of eternal life. But beyond that are many things you must learn, which things involve a continuing salvation process that brings you into perfection; and not necessarily after you physically die.

More than anything God is after a relationship with you like He had with the first humans in the Garden. There He spoke face to face with them in the cool of the night. The first humans were babies in their overall spiritual development and God had much to teach them. We who are saved are in much the same place. God has much to reveal to us and much more He would like us to become. He desires us to become Sons of God, like the first Son Jesus Christ. Together Christ and His brethren, us, form the Father’s family that he longs for.

At the last supper Christ made it clear to His disciples that they had much to learn when He was gone He would send the “helper”, the Holy Spirit to teach them many things. He said: “When the Helper [ Gr paracletos, one called alongside to help, comforter, advocate, intercessor] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27). “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper [paracletos] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).

Christ was not speaking to babes here. He was speaking to disciples who had been with Him for 31/2 years; they had cast out demons, healed people and done other mighty works. But Christ said He had more to teach them, through the helper that was to come, the Holy Spirit. Christ’s ministry was within a 30 mile radius of His home yet he wanted the gospel to go to the end of the earth. He wanted His disciples to do greater works than He did (John 14:12). He wanted the disciples to reduplicate themselves and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).

PART ONE: FOUNDATIONAL SPIRITUAL CHRISTIANITY

GOD THE TRINITY

In this article we will not waste time convincing you that there is a trinity of persons that make up the One God. The scriptures themselves, as we shall see, make this abundantly clear. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary defines Trinity as: "The union of three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in one Divine head or the three-fold personality of the one Devine being". It is also defined "as a group-of-three or triad". The first indication that God is more than one Divine being is found in Genesis 1:26: "Let US make man in OUR image (emphasis added). Therefore God is a triune being as man is also a triune being, spirit, soul and body. Let us examine each personality/expression individually and then see how each part works in a total and complete oneness with the other parts.

THE FATHER

He is the so-called first person of the trinity of God (Webster's). He is the creator (Genesis 1:1). He is the one who raised Jesus from the dead (Galatians 1:1). He is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:3). 1 Corinthians 8:6 says of the Father: "there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him" (creation is from the Father but made for the Son). The Father knows all things (1 Peter 1:2). He has and bestows glory (2 Peter 1:17). We relate to God the Father through the Son (Colossians 3:17). "every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11).

Perhaps it is easier to understand this first person of the trinity as a Father of a family. There is also the Adoptive Fatherhood. This is the redeeming relationship that belongs to all believers, and in the context of redemption it is viewed from two aspects: that of their standing in Christ, and that of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in them. This relationship to the Father is basic for all believers, as Paul reminds the Galatians: For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith' (Gal. 3:26). In this living union with Christ they are adopted into the family of God, and they become subjects of the regenerative work of the Spirit that bestows upon them the nature of children of God the Father. Because of their new standing (justification) and their relationship (adoption) to God the Father in Christ, they become partakers of the divine nature and are born into the family of God.

John made this clear in the opening chapter of his gospel: “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right (authority) to become children of God - children born, not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God' (John. 1:12, 13). And so they are granted all the privileges that belong to that filial relationship: if a child, then heirs is the sequence (Rom. 8:17).

God is the perfect Father. It is under this relationship of Father that brings out the tenderness aspects of God's character, his love, his faithfulness and his watchful care. It also brings out the responsibility of our having to show God the reverence, the trust and the loving obedience that children owe to a father. However intimate, rich and warm-hearted his love, God remains God, majestic, amazing and awesome. But He can also manifest qualities of anger, jealousy and destruction. He disciplines us for our own good. Hebrews Chapter 12:4-11 puts it this way: "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." [Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:12]

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