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Topic: Our greatest quest
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Found in Him
Advanced Member
Member # 7596
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posted
![[thumbsup2]](graemlins/thumbsup2.gif) AMEN!
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
Posts: 1503 | Registered: Jan 2009
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WildB
Moderator
Member # 2917
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posted
I just wanted to add unto the verse mentioned.
Philippians 3
[12] Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
[13] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
[14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
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That is all.....
Posts: 8775 | From: USA, MICHIGAN | Registered: Mar 2004
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Found in Him
Advanced Member
Member # 7596
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posted
Our greatest quest in life should be to know Jesus. Christianity is God 1st in a person's heart (Mat 22:37-39). Christianity is more than a bunch of rules; it's a relationship.The Jews of old were rule keepers, but their hearts were far from God.
(Mat 15:8 KJV) This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
(Deu 6:4-6 KJV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: {5} And thou shalt love
the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. {6} And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Paul wanted to know Jesus (Phil 3:7-11).
What Paul didn't say is noteworthy. Paul didn't say, "I want to know all the issues."
Paul didn't say, "I want to know all the answers to selected questions." Paul didn't say, "I want to know what every brother believes."
--Paul did say, "I want to know Christ."--
Paul also wanted others to know Jesus. Paul preached so others would know Jesus.
(1 Cor 2:2 NKJV) For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He prayed for others to know Jesus (Eph 1:16-21). Paul also lived Christ so others could know Jesus (Gal 2:20).
We must be Christ-like people.
(Col 3:10 NKJV) and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
(2 Cor 3:18 NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(Rom 8:29 NKJV) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
To be Christ-like we must know Jesus. When the church is living as Christ's body, all that the world will see is Jesus. Christ is to receive the glory, not the church.
(Eph 3:21 NKJV) to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Some say it doesn't matter what you know, say or do.....not true.
(1 Th 5:21 NKJV) Test all things; hold fast what is good. We cannot know Jesus without knowing about Him (Jn 8:32; 14:6).
KNOWING JESUS IS A PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE.
We say, "We have no creed but Christ" and rightly so (believe/trust). But our creed is more than words in a book; He is a person. You can put a human creed in a picture frame, but you can't confine a person to a picture frame. Jesus' incarnation is a testimony to the fact that God cannot be enclosed in a book.
(John 1:1 KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:14 NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:18 KJV) No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
It takes a person to reveal a person! Jesus came that we might have a personal knowledge of Him & His Father. Jesus must be in our hearts & working in our lives. A lot of people have Bibles, but how many have Jesus?
Paul wanted a personal knowledge of Jesus.
(John 14:23 NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. The word "know" means "to have a personal intimate relationship."
This is the ultimate privilege of N.T. Christianity. We must know Jesus and not just know about Him.
Christianity is more than just accumulating facts.
If that is all that a person has, it's not enough.
(John 15:15 NKJV) "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
KNOWING JESUS IS A RELATIONSHIP KNOWLEDGE.
As a people, we have not done so well in relationships. We can't always get along with others, family, neighbors or brethren. We can see why people have trouble with a relationship with Jesus. Relationship without commitment is like a house without a foundation.
(John 15:13-14 NKJV) "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. {14} "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
We must have a personal faith in Jesus (Rom 10:17). We cannot have faith for someone else.
Sometimes faithful members' children leave the faith or never embrace it. And it's not always the parents' fault. Knowing Jesus is more than information; it is an encounter.
Paul wanted to know Jesus intellectually, personally & relationally. He wanted to know the power of His resurrection (Jn 5:28-29). He wanted to know the fellowship of His suffering.
(Col 1:24 NKJV) I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, He wanted to be conformed to His death (2 Tim 4:6-8).
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
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