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Attitude -- Attitude lays the foundation for the direction of our lives like plotting our course on a map. It cannot help but spume from our lips as James says (3-4) about our tongue, when he likened it as a ship's rudder that directs the ships, "though they are driven by strong winds."  We are always moving, like little wind-up toys that pace about the floor. Even if they are heading for the edge of the table, they do not slow down; Nor are we capable of putting ourselves on hold while we see the course of our lives heading for a cliff. We can only change direction as we crank out the products of our attitudes. We have power over our attitudes, but not over the effects they produce.

Avoid offending God – This portion of Scripture is a major pillar of the Responsibility chapter, illustrating that the most common way to offend God is to offend people, and according to Mat 17-27 and the many examples given in the book of Acts, one of the quickest ways to offend people is to despise their authority. One of the primary ways to avoid offending rulers and the people they govern is to respect their authority, even if they are abusive. In other words God is offended vicariously through people; that is, He takes it personally when you hurt someone. I think God is more mindful (or less forgetful) than we are about how we prefer to be treated, which dictates how we ought to treat others. Jesus offended a lot of people while He was here, but He did not do it intentionally as you can see in this example, where He took special efforts to fish up the money to pay taxes that He technically did not owe to a band of licensed crooks. Jesus avoided offending the tax gatherers, even though they were wrong  in gathering illegal taxes, because He didn't want to turn them off to the gospel and inadvertently shut them out of the kingdom for the sake of protecting His petty rights. The preaching of the gospel is offensive enough to outrage people without trying to offend them.

Believer owns everything -- The best proof of receiving from God His entire creation as an inheritance through faith is to merely assess what has been cursed through the fall of Adam, for God cursed Adam and everything that belonged to him. The list goes on to include the entire universe! It is a fact that the universe can exist for only so long until it finally burns out. In other words, there is a finite amount of fuel for the stars to burn until they simply die.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit -- God has always saved a remnant from the world to be His worshipers from each generation, and in the last days they will be more loyal to Him than the worshipers of Satan. However, we have not been given the wisdom or the authority to discriminate between the children of God and the children of the devil. The Catholic Church thought they could tell who was of the devil and martyred millions of innocent people during the dark ages. Conversely, the apostle Paul was someone who appeared to have a reprobate mind, but in fact he didn’t. There was a time in his life when he seized Christians and delivered them to the authorities. One day as he was on his way to arrest a group of Christians and take them to prison, he saw a bright light and heard a voice that completely changed his life. After that, he became a Christian and eventually became the lead apostle of the Christian church.

So what was the difference between Paul (who was called Saul in his murderous days) and the profile of a psychopath? Saul should have known better, but he committed the terrible atrocities against the saints with a clear conscience, thinking he was serving the God of the Old Testament by stamping out factions. The Bible talks about sins committed in ignorance that do not have the effect of hardening your heart, as opposed to sins committed in full knowledge, such as with the Pharisees who sentenced Jesus to death, knowing He was the Son of God. This is something Paul would not have done. John 12:37 says, “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him” NIV. It is not easy to identify a psychopath; for this reason Jesus told His parable of the tares among the wheat saying, “Allow both to grow together until the harvest” (Matt 13:30).

Here is another example of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, if you witness an actual miracle such as a healing, and you don't believe it was from God (you thought the healing was a hoax), that is forgivable. However, if you knew the person your whole life, and that person has always been crippled, and you still will not believe the healing was a miracle, that kind of unbelief leads to a hardened heart from which you will eventually be unable to repent, because in your heart you know the truth. The reprobate mind is a mental state in which the person is no long able to tell the difference between truth and error. People can curse Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit will convict them of sin, but who will convict them of cursing the Holy Spirit? He is the persuader of truth; those who reject Him reject their only hope of knowing the truth. God cannot forgive them after they have rejected the Spirit of faith. After Paul’s vision along the road to Damascus he could have discounted his experience and blew it off as nothing more than a bit of porridge souring the stomach (Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens). This slight change in conclusion would have been the first step in developing the reprobate mind. (For further understanding about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and the reprobate mind read Jude 4-13.)

Catholicism -- The priests are required to bless the bread and the wine, which according to their phony doctrine transforms them into the literal flesh and blood of Christ. Doctrines like these made the congregation dependent on the priests as the central figure of the people’s so-called redemption. At the end of the age this same doctrine will condemn the Catholic Church when they stand before God and attempt to deny their involvement in murdering the saints, God will remind them that they were required according to their own religion to give the blessing before the people could partake of the bread and wine of remembrance, and sentence many to the eternal flames of hell.

Circumcision/Baptism -- Both Circumcision and Baptism are symbols that essentially represent putting away our old sinful way of life that we practiced before our spiritual enlightenment. The Bible talks about the sign of circumcision. The fact that circumcision is a sign says that circumcision has no power to make you holy or more acceptable to God, any more than baptism does, because it too is merely a sign representing the same thing, only in New Testament terms. You will notice that in Circumcision, after you have finished the procedure of removing the foreskin, which represents removing the deeds of the flesh from your way of life, the ceremony is over. However, in Baptism, after being submersed under water, which represents death to the sins of the creature, you come back from the old man's watery grave to a new person who was made in the image of God. This is the difference between Circumcision and Baptism, hence the advantage of the Old Covenant over the New. 

Conscience -- Serving your conscience is equivalent to serving Christ.

Contentment -- Contentment is one of the greatest earthly gifts anyone could ever receive from God, perhaps greater than the gifts of the Spirit, since they depend on your devotion to Christ, which contentment guarantees. With contentment you won't become materialistic, full of want, but you will have more time to spend on things that you believe in, your relationship with Christ. Contentment has eyes that see better than the lustful eyes of materialism, which believes that things have the power to make you happy. Contentment instead knows that the inner being is most important, that things can't make us happy, and that our exterior will some day peel off, leaving the inner core of our spirit that will live on forever with God. Preparing to live with God is the direction everyone should pursue if they intend to enter eternity with God.

Darkness -- The university professor challenged his students with this question. "Did God create  everything that exists?" A student bravely  replied, "Yes, he did!" "God created  everything?" The professor asked. "Yes sir", the  student replied. The professor  answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since  evil exists, and according to the principal that our works  define who we are, then God is evil".  The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with  himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more  that the Christian faith was a myth. Another student  raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?" "Of course", replied  the professor. The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?" "What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you ever been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question. The young man  replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of  physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit  energy. Absolute zero (-460° F) is the total absence of heat; all  matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that  temperature.  Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we  feel if we have no heat." The student  continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?" The professor  responded, "Of course it does." The student replied,  "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light.  Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white  light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each  color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can  break into a world of darkness and illuminate it.  How can you know how  dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light  present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to  describe what happens when there is no light present." Finally the young  man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?" Now uncertain, the  professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see  it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil." To this the student  replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does

Distorting Scripture -- I have heard countless people say they don't read the Bible because they don't understand it; it seems to contradict itself, and they don't know which side to believe. If we start picking sides, we won't understand either one, and we will inevitably pick the side that most appeals to our flesh. It will lead to either licentiousness, turning into a spiritual corn flake, or legalism, trying to become spiritual in the flesh. We would see that the Bible actually does not contradict itself if we studied it enough to show ourselves approved.

Encouragement -- Jd-20 says, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith ... " Encouragement is a very necessary characteristic that must be present in the church regarding how people relate to each other in terms of spiritual fellowship. God has given us the awesome opportunity and responsibility of building the temple of God (we being the bricks of the temple). Encouragement is the primary means in which the task of placing each brick in its proper place within the temple is realized and then mortaring them in place through the word of God and prayer. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the church does a lot of just the opposite (division) as orchestrated by the devil who has the most to gain from keeping us off balance. If the church ever stood on its feet and grew in the likeness of her master, Satan’s rule would come to an abrupt end.

Endurance -- Here is an illustration of endurance. Once there were two row-boats with a rower in each one. Each boat had a hole in the bottom, but the holes were different sizes. God commanded them to stay afloat by bailing out the water. The one with the smaller hole frequently took rests, leisurely going back to bailing out his boat, while the other with the bigger hole could not keep up with the inflow of water, and eventually sank. There in his helpless circumstances he persevered in his futile attempts to bail out the boat, complying with the word that God had told him. Finally, God miraculously raised the boat from the bottom of the lake and plugged the hole, while the rower removed every drop of water so that the boat was bone dry. The other  rower, however, fell asleep and awoke with water up to his arm pits. He frantically scooped at the water, but didn't have time or strength to bail out his boat, so it sank. Endurance never quits or considers the circumstances; it only remembers what God said and does it, having confidence in His character, that He who promised is faithful. The hole in the boat represents our weakness. Some are weaker than others, which makes it harder to do the will of God; but it doesn't take strength to love God and our fellow man; it takes endurance. Endurance invokes the power of God to help us step beyond ourselves, passed our human nature and weaknesses into a supernatural ability to live for God.

 Eternal security -- Mostly embraced by the Evangelical community, this doctrine has a chance in hell of being right, but not in the kingdom of heaven. For starters, what about the person who decides that he no longer wants to spend the rest of eternity in heaven with a lot of born again believers who can’t think of anything better to do but stand around and worship Jesus, and decides he would be happier in hell with his friends? Would God keep him against his will? God never does anything against our will. Eternal security is a hot topic in Christendom; many believe you cannot lose your salvation even if you wanted to. That sounds like God holds us in bondage to our salvation. Can you imagine God saying, 'Too late you already made your decision; you are mine now and there is nothing you can do about it!' That's absurd. There are many Scriptures to support eternal security, but there are sadly more verses to support the opposite. This whole subject should not alarm the person who intends to live for Jesus to the very end, but I understand the person who has reservations about living for God wanting a doctrine that furnishes him with the freedom to live however he wants without consequence. I don't believe you can lose your salvation with a good heart. God is not a heavy handed tyrant, waiting to wield His mallet at the first sign of weakness, but He did make man with a will, and man can do whatever he wants with it. If he no longer wants to be saved, God will accommodate him, but once he has made his decision, there is no turning back. You cannot be born again, again. 

Hell – There are some who believe there is no actual hell, that people throughout the centuries have tampered with the Scriptures and injected their own ideas to instill fear in the people for the purpose of enslaving them. My biggest problem with their claim is that they would have needed to marble their deception throughout the Scriptures, which would have been a monumental task. Those who believe this think that people who don’t make it to heaven are destroyed; they simply blink out of existence. They use verses like the following to support their claim: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” Jn 3-36. It says they will not see life. If you don’t see life, then you are not alive, and if you are not alive then you must not exist. They say God destroyed the person’s existence. However, hell is a place where life does not exist as they say, yet they are alive. They just are not alive in the way we know it. They are the living dead. There are many movies based on that concept. Hollywood’s depiction of the living dead may not be the same as the biblical account, but it is similar. There is a hell and those who go there have already died, and so they have been disconnected from their bodies, and now they are wondering spirits futilely looking for a way out of their darkness.

Jesus’ Yoke – His yoke as He said is "easy," but only on a comparative level. That is, compared to the world’s yoke, His is easy. There is nothing easy about being persecuted wherever you go; however, we shall inherit the kingdom of God and our persecutors will die and be buried. From there their torment will have no end, so in that sense, yes we do have it pretty easy. There is one more thing we must consider – when walking and working with the Holy Spirit, some of the most difficult circumstances seem trivial in light of the comfort we receive from His presence. His comfort is so addicting that His devoted followers will walk through fire if they believe it will bring them a little closer to Him. Now we have separated Jesus’ yoke into two classes, those who sacrifice their lives to somehow feel better about themselves, and those who sacrifice their lives to snuggle a little closer to Jesus. I think I know what you are thinking; ‘God must be sadistic to force His people to make so many sacrifices to be eligible for His comfort,’ but if that is what you are thinking, you have it all wrong, keep studying. Hint: we must die before we can live.

Kingdom Hidden From The World -- After rebuking the cities in the passage above, He gives rights to wisdom only to His children who believe in Him, and thus to the Kingdom of God. I have heard unbelievers complain that Christianity is too much like an alternate reality that only those with faith in Christ can comprehend, and that the rest of the world lies in the darkness about it. That description is accurate! The world hates that it can't get its grimy hands on the elusive kingdom of God (they can't see it or even fathom it), any more than than they could control Jesus when He was here in the flesh. To the people who use brute force to obtain what they want, bully people around, and operate in the all-too-common me-first mode, they don't have a chance of ever knowing about God's alternate world that is devoid of pain and sorrow. If it bothers them so much that they cannot have the kingdom, then they can drop their worldly paradigm of reality and believe in Jesus.

Ministering to God -- Although this topic is found in the chapter "Responsibility", it is an Old Testament priesthood term and would fit just as well in the Temple of God chapter. It makes perfect sense that we have a responsibility to minister to God, but it makes just as much sense that our ministry to Him is a perfect description of our priestly duties. Going back to the Old Testament, the priests would perform all the designated rituals within the temple in keeping with old covenant laws and regulations. Although the days are over for sacrificing heifers, doves and goats, the times when it was done was used as a representation of the kind of new covenant ministry that we now enjoy through the knowledge of the word of God and through prayer.

Preparing Process  – No matter what God does, He always gives us a time period prior to an event in which we must prepare to receive what He is about to deliver to His people. There are no surprise visits, except for the wicked. In addition to this verse, consider also the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew, and the bride of Christ in Revelations, see the pattern and then realize that there is always a time interval that He gives us to prepare. This is to what the Bible refers when it talks so frequently about staying on the alert; we are listening for His signal to prepare.

Priorities -- We have all heard this colloquialism: Which came first the chicken or the egg? As common and simple this expression, it is no less one of the most critical questions you will ever ask, and if you can answer it correctly, you can solve some of the greatest mysteries. Which ever came first will determine whether the chicken is dependent on the egg for its existence or whether the egg is dependent on the chicken. Here is another similar figure of speech: Don't put the cart before the horse. In terms of sequence (or priorities) one instance has the horse pulling the cart and the other has it pushing the cart (with what, its nose)? One way is possible and the other is not. Physicians and physicists struggle with this problem repeatedly in their efforts to unravel the mysteries of the human body and the universe. They often get their priorities backward and it blinds them to the facts that lay before them. Getting our priorities straight is like turning the tumbler on a combination lock; if you know the right numbers but not the sequence the lock will not open, but if you know the sequence too, you will have success and door will begin to open for you.

Spirit and the Word -- This topic puts over 100 verses together, having one thing in common, they all refer to God's Spirit and His Word in one way or another. The significance of observing so many instances of the Spirit and the Word in the New Testament is that in each case it refers to the power of God. Thus the context surrounding each of these verses endeavors to instruct us about obtaining and walking in the power of God. The significance of knowing this is recognizing the much higher priority that God has placed on this topic than we initially realized. I challenge you to ponder this topic and look for the instances of the Spirit and the Word in each verse; it could change the way you interpret the Scriptures or perhaps even change your life! 

Repent -- There are many subtleties in the Bible that howl at us with resonate strength and we still do not see it. One such topic is repentance. Repentance actually has a purpose. If you recall it was John the Baptist's message. Not coincidentally, repentance is meant to prepare us for the ministry of Christ, just as John's ministry intended to do. Although it was Christ Himself preaching the message of repentance in this verse, He was preparing them for the ministry of the Spirit, both for when He came to their town and more importantly after He ascended to heaven to send the Spirit in His place. Therefore, repentance is how we prepare to receive the ministry of the Spirit. Without repentance the sin that is active in our lives will blind us to the things of the Spirit. 

Thy kingdom come — Key verse for the chapter. Not only is this the key verse for the entire chapter, I believe this verse is key to understanding Jesus’ mission, and is therefore the key to the entire Bible!

Unity —  

Witchcraft -- The definition of witchcraft: A means for extracting information or guidance or seeking favor from a pagan god.

Zeal without knowledge -- "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" Gal 3,1-3 says, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" The Galatians got ahead of themselves in the their zeal for the things of God. They went beyond their anointing by simulating it through the flesh, because of their lack of knowledge in the word. They wanted to walk in the spirit, but they didn't know how and couldn't admit that they were limited in knowledge, so they went on walking in their zeal without direction. Zeal without knowledge yields chaos, as knowledge without zeal yields arrogance. When we have both in equal portions, they balance each other. However, balance does not come naturally. For example, Half the church believes that all the power of God is needed just to get saved, while the other half believes that there is power to spare, but hardly knows anything about salvation. On the one hand there is only saved people and on the other hand is hardly saved, and almost nothing in between. The balance however comes in learning from each other, which will cause us to unite that we may gracefully step into the power of God together instead of racing each other to the throne.