We have been discussing sin and the carnal nature from which disciples are getting free. However, we cannot get free by our own strength from these things. It takes our will to want to get free in order to please the Lord and be delivered from what is bringing so much death upon the world. However, we need God’s grace and His power to live free of these things.

          The life of discipleship is not one of constantly focusing on sin and our mistakes. However, true, biblical discipleship does start there. Without the consciousness...

          As we read in the Scriptures, those who are led by the passions of the carnal nature will perish and not inherit the kingdom of God. This we must know and keep in mind. But the way to get free of what the Apostle Paul called “the body of death” (see Romans 7:24), which is the result of eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is to eat from the Tree of Life, which is Christ.

          Jesus also taught that love fulfills the law. That is easy to see. If we love God, we will...

         As we read last week in Galatians 5:19-24, after listing the deeds of the flesh Paul states emphatically, “those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” So what will become of those who believe they are saved because they made a public acknowledgement that they believed in Jesus as their Savior, but have gone on living in their sinful nature, practicing the works of the flesh stated here? This may be the most important question that could ever be asked by millions of “believers.”

          If we dumb down the gospel so that it is...

     This week we will continue with some of the most challenging statements of the Lord that involve our discipleship. This is not intended to make it harder than it is, but to make it as hard as it really is. Not to see it as it is can put us in the greatest jeopardy of all. A basic goal I have is to stand at the Judgment Day and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (see Matthew 25:21 NIV) not just for myself but for every one of you as well. 

      Last week we began to address...

          The Apostle Paul warned that many would be deceived in the last days because they would only want to have their ears tickled, meaning they could not endure hearing anything difficult or challenging. If you make it through the next few weeks with the Word for the Week, we will know you are not in that category because we are addressing the most difficult issues about discipleship first, such as the Lord’s statement in Luke 14:33:       

             “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

         ...