In the words of Romans 10:17:
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word – the message announced by - the Messiah.”
The word God gave to His son to give to us. It is by intelligently receiving the word God gave to His son that we receive the life of Jesus [John 6:32-35]
Jesus, therefore, said unto them, truly, truly, I say unto you, It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life unto the world. They said therefore unto him, lord - sir, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said unto them. I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall not hunger, and he that believes [has faith] on me shall never thirst.
In the key parable of the sower and the seed Jesus makes intelligent reception of the Kingdom of God the key in order to be saved, receive salvation.
Notice:
Matthew 13:18-19: "Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
Luke 8:11-12: Now the parable is this: The seed is THE WORD OF GOD. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then THE DEVIL COMES AND TAKES AWAY THE WORD FROM THEIR HEARTS, SO THAT THEY MAY NOT BELIEVE AND BE SAVED.
To believe the revealed message of Yehovah - God that He gave to His son Jesus to give to the apostles is to receive the Spirit of Yehovah - God.
Therefore, to believe that Yehovah, is the God revealed in the scriptures guides us to believe all the words He spoke through the prophets, and through His son Jesus.
Notice:
Zechariah 7:12: Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Yehovah of hosts had sent by His Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Yehovah of hosts.
Hebrews 1:1-3: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, because of whom also He [God] created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature….
Now we come to understand the simplicity of what is required for those who believe in the Messiah Jesus. Those who believe are to be guided by His creed that is outlined in Mark 12:28-32:
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: Yehovah [the Lord] our God, Yehovah [the Lord] is one. And you shall love Yehovah [the Lord] your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."
And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that Yehovah [He] is one, and there is no other besides Him. And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
Before we can love God with all our being and our neighbors as ourselves we need to go into the waters of baptism as being crucified to this world in the lord Jesus and experience coming out of the water in newness of life, as new creations in the Messiah Jesus.
Romas 6:3: ….all we who were baptized into the Messiah Jesus were baptized into his death?
Romans 6:6: knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin;
Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with the Messiah. It is no longer I who live, but the Messiah who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me.
Now if we have died to self and through baptism been baptized unto Jesus death we now have to strive to be totally committed to our God and Father Yehovah and live by the creed of His son Jesus, His anointed one. We can only do that as we are filled by the Spirit of God after we have been baptized. It is only then that we can live out the creed of Jesus in our lives, enabled to do so by the power of the living God Yehovah who has placed the Spirit of Jesus in us.
2 Corinthians 5:17: …., if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new [newness of life] has come.
Galatians 6:15: For in the Messiah Jesus neither circumcision is not of use for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
As new creations in the Messiah Jesus, we are to be totally committed to keeping all the words his God and his Father Yehovah gave to him to give to us.
Notice this warning Jesus gives to us in order to keep us on the narrow path that leads to life.
Matthew 12:30: Who that is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
May we always be those who gather with Jesus all those whom God is calling out from among the nations, exercising the faith He has give us to do so. [Romans 16:25-26]
Remember that all that we have, has been given to us by our God and Father Yehovah.
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