The Key to Success

John 8:30-32

[30] As He was saying these things, many believed in Him.

[31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples.

[32] You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If you are working to be good enough, you WILL fail.

The whole reason God gave us the Law was to show that we cannot become like God.

If He wanted us to be perfect, Adam and Eve would have never eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Like them, you also were not made to be perfect. Perfect is God, and God alone. Jesus is God, and that is why He perfectly obeyed the Law.

We can only find acceptance from God through faith or trusting Him. Trusting Him only comes through getting to know Him. The easiest way to get to know Him is through the scriptures.

If you trust in a man to do the work of reading, study, and seeking, then all you are getting regarding information about God is through that man.

It is like trying to have a good marriage through another who lives, eats, and sleeps with your wife.

"Thats just wrong!"

Why yes, yes, it is.

God's Word, according to John chapter one, IS in fact Jesus, who is God in time and space. He is the same as The Father, who is outside of time and space.

Understanding this, accepting this, requires a much more intimate relationship with God. Do you really think just listening to a preacher is enough?

Oh, for salvation, yes, it is, if you only want to be one of the multitudes who admire Jesus' awesomeness from a distance. The other option is to become one of His closest friends.

John 15:15

[15] I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

It's not simply friend or foe; you can also just be an acquaintance...

Still, there is a place to get to, if you have the heart for it, a place so close that you even lose yourself completely.

John 17:24-26

[24] "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

[25] "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.

[26] I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

You cannot become one with God through someone else. You must be connected to Him directly.

The easiest way to do this is to continue in His word. Read that book. Know that book.

If you really want to be close to Him, and not simply "neighborly", then I suggest you read that book WITH Him.

Yes, you can do that.

Surprisingly, if you do, you will find that as you read and ask Him questions...He will answer.

This is how it works. It starts with interest, moves to conversation, as attraction increases, love forms.

(Sound of Wedding Bells)

Once you cannot live without them, you end up married.

Matthew 19:5-6

[5] and said, `For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?

[6] So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Ephesians 5:21-22

[31] "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

[32] This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Intimacy, oneness is the highest goal. It is the 1st place after the finish line.

Are you satisfied living in a distant, but cordial relationship?

Wouldn't you rather be like one who knows their greatest Love's business? Their thoughts? Their feelings?

You can...if you continue in His word...with Him.

...or you could be satisfied with your current status.

(Worship Music Starts)

"Howdy neighbor!"

😟