In order to understand what eternal life is, it is helpful to understand what it is not. It is not just living forever. 

Everyone lives forever in either heaven or hell. Eternal life is not living forever in the blessings of heaven as to being tormented in hell.

John 3:36 and 5:24 show that eternal life is a present  possession of the believer.

Jesus describes eternal life as knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Eternal life is having a close, personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Son.

According to John 3:16, this relationship with God is what salvation is all about. Forgiveness of our sins is not the point of salvation: closeness to the Father is. 

Jesus did die to purchase forgiveness for our sins because unforgiven sins block us from getting close to God. Sin was an barrier that stood between us and God. It had to be dealt with and it was. Anyone who views salvation as only forgiveness of their sins and stops there, is missing out on eternal life.

Salvation is to be the way to come back into unity with God. 

But, it is often presented as the way to escape the problems of this life and the judgment of hell later.

Most non-believers are so occupied with their "hell on earth" that they don't really think or care about their eternal future. They are fed up with religion and are looking for something that will fill the emptiness inside.

Only closeness (eternal life) with our Father can do that.

The world experiences joy and happiness in proportion to their circumstances. Bad circumstances produce depression and sorrow, while good circumstances produce joy and peace. That's bondage, and does not have to be the case for a Christian. Our joy is not dependent on things, but rather on the person of Jesus Christ. He is our peace and joy.

The way we take advantage of this joy and peace in the midst of tribulation, is to have our minds and hearts stayed on things above and not on things of this earth. 

The invisible things of God are eternal while the visible problems on earth are only temporary. All the problems of this life grow very dim when we compare them to the glory of God that is ours through Jesus.

We can rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4) because rejoicing is an action, not a reaction to our environment. Joy is a gift from God that was given to us at salvation. It was placed within our born-again spirit and it doesn't change or diminish; it is constant. The Lord has put joy inside us and we are to "work it out" by choosing to obey this command.

We are commanded to rejoice "IN THE LORD." Many people are not experiencing true joy because their joy is in their circumstances. They are waiting to rejoice when things in their lives are going good, and that doesn't happen very often. We are suppose to "rejoice in the Lord always."

That means we are supposed to rejoice in who the Lord is and what He has done for us. He never changes (Hebrews 13:8) and His mercies and compassions are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Jesus said we would have tribulation. He did not say that He was the one bringing the tribulation or what the tribulation would be, but He said it would come. Then He made the amazing statement that in the midst of tribulation we were to be of good cheer.

Tribulations exist because there is a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. When we operate in faith, God is able to grant us such victory that we are actually better off because of the battle. The enemy doesn't come to be a blessing, but a blessing can be obtained from the enemy if we are victorious.

Tribulations and adversities are not blessings from God. They are attacks from the enemy intended to steal the Word of God out of our lives. No man should say that the temptation came from God, for God is not the one who tempts any man (James 1:13).

If problems were what perfected us, then most Christians would have been perfected long ago and those who experienced the greatest problems would be the greatest Christians. That's not the way it is. God's Word is given to us to make us perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto every good work (2 Timothy 3:17). God's Word does not need to be supplemented with problems to accomplish its work.

It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is not our ministry. We are simply witnesses. 

A witness is not the judge or the jury. A witness simply relates what he has experienced, providing evidence to the truth of something. We are to witness in word and deed, to the truth of Jesus being alive in us and let God be the one who convicts. We are simply to testify to what we have seen or to what has happened to us.

Some people in their zeal, have gone beyond the witness stage and have tried to bring people under conviction themselves. This is assuming the job that belongs to the Holy Spirit only. This frustrates the witness and it drives many people away from God. We make a very poor Holy Spirit. We should stick to our job of being a witness and let the Holy Spirit do His job.

We are take the gospel to every religious and racial group (Samaria) throughout the whole world.

There are some very practical reasons for becoming witnesses in this way.

Jesus testified that a prophet is honored everywhere except in his home town among his family and friends. At home is the hardest place to witness. Starting with those who know us best will cause us to humble ourselves and give God all the glory. 

If rejection comes, this tempers us and our witness, so that we will be more effective and more resilient when we go to the outer most parts of the earth.

John 16:7 How could any situation be more advantageous or profitable than having Jesus physically with you?

When Jesus walked on this earth in His physical body, He was subject to many physical limitations.  He could not always be with every one of His disciples all the time. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He could. Instead of Satan getting rid of Jesus, 120 "little Christs" (that is literally what the word "Christian" means) came out of the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus taught His disciples as no teacher ever had, yet they had very little understanding because they were not born again.  When the Holy Spirit came, He lead them into all truth and even showed them things to come.

The list of advantages of having the Holy Spirit in us as compared to having Jesus with us in His physical body, goes on and on. The advantages can all be summed up in that Jesus' power is now complete (Matthew 28:18) and no longer confined to one physical body.

There is no such thing as victorious Christian living without a moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day dependence upon the Spirit of God. Not only is the Christian life hard to live but it is impossible to live without the power of God Himself.

We shouldn't think it strange to be persecuted. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). We can actually rejoice because we are being persecuted for Jesus' sake, and the Lord will be with us in the midst of the persecution. When we stand before Him, there will be more than enough reward.

Persecution is a token that those persecuting us are under conviction. They realize that they are not living what our words or actions are advocating and in self defense, they attack us, who they think is the source of their conviction. If we understand this, it makes persecution much easier to take. They aren't just mad at us; they are convicted. When the gospel is presented in the power of the Holy Spirit, there will always be either revival or riot, but not indifference.

In the midst of persecution, Satan will try to convince us that the strife is all our fault. If he succeeds, then we back down and the pressure is off his followers. 

Jesus suffered continual rejection and persecution, yet we know that the problem was not with Him, but with those who rejected Him.

Jesus makes it clear that persecution is an inevitable part of living a godly life, so that we will not fall under self-condemnation when rejection comes. 

If our sinless Savior was rejected, then certainly we will be too. Don't feel guilty or condemned when persecution comes. The Word strips people of the disguises they have been hiding their sins behind, and the result is persecution.

This is a profound truth, that is the key to bearing fruit, but it is so easy to forget. Because the fruit is borne on the branch, it is easy to credit the branch with the fruit, when it is the vine that drew the life from the earth and channeled it through the branch.

Since we are the branch through which the life of God flows, we sometimes think that it is our own holiness that produces the fruit. The moment we think that way, we are no longer abiding in the vine and we will become fruitless if we persist in thinking this way.

This is actually a relief if the believer understands this and applies it properly. It puts all the responsibility on Jesus. Our only responsibility is to respond to His ability. In the same way that you have never seen a branch travailing to bring forth fruit, so all we have to do is labor to enter into His rest and completely trust Jesus as our source (Hebrews 4:11). If we abide in Him, fruit will come naturally.

It's our faith in what Jesus did for us that saved us, and our faith has to continue to be in Christ, not in ourselves, to maintain salvation. Our holiness, righteousness, and justification are gifts that we receive in our spirits through Jesus.

Just like the life of a root is found in the soil, or a branch in the vine, or a fish in the sea, so the believer's true life is found in the union with Christ.

An illustration that Jesus uses is one of pruning. Some have said pruning is a very painful process where the Lord cuts and slashes us through things like sickness, death, poverty, and other forms of tragedy so that eventually we will bear more fruit. This teaching not only promotes problems as being good, but necessary, if we want to bear more fruit.

That thinking is not consistent with the rest of God's Word.  The text in John 15:2 makes it very clear that the pruning that Jesus speaks of is done through the Word that He has spoken unto us.

Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that God's Word was given to us "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." That is God's method of pruning us, and He doesn't need the devil's help. His word will make us "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

That is not to say that we cannot learn through tragedy: but God has a better way. If we mistakenly think that God is bringing tragedy into our lives to make us more fruitful, then we'll not resist the tragedies and they will not flee from us. 

All of us will learn by hard knocks, but the man who welcomes them with wide open arms will suffer greatly and be far behind the man who lets God's Word have His perfect work in him.

Jesus stated His union with the Father so clearly that He was accused of blasphemy more than once. This statement about the Father being greater than Jesus must harmonize, not contradict other claims.

A key to understanding this is given in Philippians 2:6-8, where Paul states that Jesus didn't think it was robbery to be equal with God, but humbled Himself, taking on the form of a servant (speaking of His humanity). 

Jesus was equal to God in His divine nature but He made Himself inferior to the Father in regard to His humanity. Jesus didn't lose any of His deity when He became a man, but He did clothe it in flesh and submit it to the consequent limitations. In this sense, the Father was greater than Jesus.

Jesus is the pre-existent God who chose to become a man so he could redeem us by His own blood sacrifice. When He became a man, He was still one hundred percent God in His spirit, but His physical body was one hundred percent human. His body was sinless, but it was still flesh and subject to the natural things we all experience. The physical Jesus had to grow in wisdom and in stature.

When Jesus was born, His physical mind did not know all things. He had to be taught how to talk, walk, eat, and so forth. He had to learn that He was God in the flesh and accept that by faith. His physical mind grew in awareness of who He was. He had the witness in His spirit, but His physical mind had to "take it by faith"-the same way that we do when we believe who we are in the spiritual realm. Jesus' mental comprehension of His deity was something He learned and accepted by faith. Jesus had to become aware of His true identity through revelation and knowledge.We must do the same.

Jesus was saying things to His disciples so that they would not be offended. He was speaking to His disciples about the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter. 

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is the front line of defense against the devil and his devices of defeat. The phrase, "The God of all comfort" carries the idea of a divine comforter who encourages, refreshes, strengthens, aids, assists, and is an ever present help in the time of need. 

The ways that God chooses to comfort are not always the same. He may deliver you or remove the cause of the affliction, or He may comfort you with words giving you a hope for the future. 

He also uses people to share their faith with you by prophesying. He sends fellow-laborers to serve and strengthen you by the ministry of the Word, and uses the body of Christ as a channel to comfort you, using prayer.

The point is that the source of all comfort is God, no matter what channel He chooses to use.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God revealed to Paul that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Paul, who had experienced God's comfort in a way that perhaps no other man has, now reveals how the Lord accomplished this. It was through the power of the Holy Spirit. True Christianity is not the absence of trials, but the strength and comfort of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, that will bring us through to the other side.

 An individual who is void of God's comfort inside will be crushed by the pressures of this life. But a believer who takes advantage of the comfort available to him through the Holy Spirit, can withstand anything. Victory is not dependent on the pressures without, but rather on the comfort within.

Knowing Jesus is knowing the Father. This is not only because Jesus did exactly what He saw His Father do, but Jesus was God in the flesh.

The disciples didn't realize that seeing Jesus was seeing God. They were expecting something more. Many times we miss seeing God work in our lives and circumstances because we are looking for something magnificent. Although it is true that God is totally awesome, He doesn't usually choose to manifest Himself in that way.

God spoke to Elijah not in the fire, wind, or an earthquake, but in a still, small voice. Jesus didn't come to this earth in a grand way by man's standards, but was born to poor parents in a stable. Isaiah 53:2 says that Jesus had no form nor beauty that would make us think that He was anything more than just a man.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, that God chooses to do things this way so that no flesh will glory in His presence. 

The Lord wants us to focus on Him through faith and not concentrate on the physical things He uses. 

In the Old Testament when the Lord did use visible things to release His power, the Israelites made idols out of those things.

Just as the disciples saw Jesus but didn't realize that what they saw was God. God is involved in our everyday lives, but we miss Him because we are blinded by our carnal minds. 

The main reason God chooses to use those who are nothing by the world's standards is so that no one else will take the credit for the great things He has done.

Thomas knew Jesus. He just didn't realize Jesus was "the way." People today know portions of God's Word but they don't realize that God's Word is their way to victory. 

Often, people cry out for God to speak to them while their Bible lays unopened on their nightstand. God has spoken to us through His Word. We just need to believe it and receive its truths as our way to victory.

Jesus didn't say: "I am a way, a truth, and a life." He claimed to be the only way, truth, and life. No man can come to the Father except through Jesus. This means that anyone who claims to honor Jesus while advocating other ways to get to God, truth, or life, besides Jesus, is deceived or a deceiver.

Jesus' claims about Himself, of which there is only one, left no room for other means to salvation. He is either who He says He is, or He is the greatest deceiver of all time. His own statements about Himself leave no other alternatives. 

Therefore, other religions that recognize Jesus and His teachings as wonderful examples, but don't believe He is the only way to achieve salvation, are false.

The Word of God is a spiritual book written under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It was not written to our head but to the innermost part of our heart. This is why some people find the Bible so hard to understand. They are trying to comprehend it using only their mind. The Word of God has to inspire our heart before it can enlighten our mind.

This is Jesus' last teaching to His disciples before His crucifixion. Jesus' disciples were about to go through the greatest test of their faith that they had ever encountered. 

Jesus said that He was saying these things so His disciples would not be offended. Jesus was preparing them for what was to come. 

Why speak of preparing them a mansion in heaven? The reason for this was to comfort the disciples and help them put things in perspective. In 1 Thessalonians 4:18, Paul tells us to comfort one another with words about being gathered unto the Lord in the air. 

Paul said again, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). Someday, all of our trials will seem like nothing and this can be a great comfort to us now.

When we think about being with the Lord through all eternity, it helps us to put things in proper perspective. It is easy to get fearful about our problems and think all is lost. However, for those of us who are born again, if worse comes to worse, we still have the promise of Jesus wiping all the tears from our eyes and preparing a habitation for us where all our former sorrows will have passed away. This keeps us from despairing and makes us much stronger in our faith.

In heaven, there are many dwelling places and Jesus is preparing one for us.

The thing that is going to make heaven "heaven" is the fact that we will be with Jesus. No doubt, there will be things to see and do that will be wonderful, but nothing will compare to being with the one who loved us and died for us. 

The concept of "conversion" is mentioned in the Bible  at least 14 times. The basic meaning of the term is a turning or returning to God. This implies a turning away from sin and a turning to God. Repentance and putting faith in God are corresponding synonyms to conversion.

The theological basis for conversion lies in the truth of the "atonement."

Although man lapses into sin, the truth of the atonement remains. When men turn to God in repentance and faith, the effects of the atonement - reconciliation and forgiveness - avail.

Paul expresses the act of conversion in this way: "Turning to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9). 

Also, "to open their eyes (the Gentiles), and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Jesus) (Acts 26:18).

Jesus instructed Peter to get back into ministry after he repented of his denial. If Jesus had not given Peter this command, many people might have doubted that Peter should be in a position of leadership. Peter himself must have doubted whether or not he was fit. After Jesus' resurrection, the Lord again admonished Peter three times to serve Him by ministering to His sheep.

In Luke 22, Peter's faith was shaken and he denied the Lord but did not reject Him. Jesus' admonition to Peter was that when he turned back again to Him (converted), he was to strengthen the brethren.

Paul said that "in my flesh dwelleth no good thing," get into the spirit through confession and forgiveness, and go on with Jesus.

The Lord has never had anyone who was qualified working for Him. Peter wasn't qualified, and even at our best, neither are we. If we realize that we are nothing and have nothing, then we are prime candidates to be used by God.

Peter went on to become probably the best known of the twelve apostles. The Lord used him mightily. But He didn't want him, or us, to forget that it was Christ in Peter and not Peter himself who was great.

This also illustrates the extent of our Father's love and forgiveness. If God not only forgave Peter for his sin, but also reinstated and advanced him, then surely we have not pushed God's grace beyond its limit. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.

God doesn't see us as a failure - just a learner. God can redeem the worst "failure" and work it together for good (Romans 8:28). We need to think like God.

Jesus didn't say that all men would know we are His disciples by our doctrine, our rituals, our hatred for sin, or even by the way we express our love for God. He said very clearly, that the one characteristic that would cause the world to identify us as His followers, is our love, one for another.

This same night, the Lord prayed to His Father using this same thought saying, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21). The only way that Christ's body will be one as the Father and Jesus are One, is through God's kind of love.

Unity of believers, that can only come through a genuine God-kind of love, is the greatest tool for evangelism that the church has or will ever have, according to Jesus. 

The early church didn't have the massive organizational structures that we see today or the ability to travel anywhere in the world in just a matter of hours. They certainly did not come close to spending as much money, in proportion to us, to spread the gospel. 

The pagans of Thessalonica said of Paul and his companions, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also" (Acts 17:6). They had evangelized the known world in less than thirty years.

Before we can ever fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20, there must be a revival of love in the church, where doctrine and ritual take a "back seat" to love for one another.

Jesus had stated that all the law and the prophets were dependent on loving God first, and then loving your neighbor as yourself. These truths were already in the law but people missed them. 

This commandment was not new in the sense that it had never been given before, but it was brought up again and given new meaning through the example of Jesus. Jesus not only loved His neighbor as Himself, He loved us more than Himself.

John, who wrote his gospel, later wrote about the new commandment of love. No doubt, he received his inspiration from this teaching of Jesus. John wrote, "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth" (1 John 2:7-8). He then goes on to speak of loving one another.

This commandment, or the revelation that God gave to man through His Word, wasn't new, but was never clearly seen by men because of the darkness that separated them from God. 

In the light of Jesus' life, the darkness was removed and the old commandment of love became new through the example of Jesus in a way that mere words could never express.

Happy Resurrection Day!

The principle of the Old Covenant was "do" and you shall live. The principle of the New Covenant is "it is done," and includes redemption, reconciliation, righteousness, and sanctification. The work is finished! We are complete in Him!

If the Old Covenant had no defects, there would have been no attempt to institute another (Hebrews 8:7). In the Old Covenant, men found themselves unable to abide in its agreement, for it was based upon a man's performance. The new agreement is based totally upon God's grace. 

Under the Old Covenant, men approached God through a priest, while under the New Covenant, we have direct access to the Father through Jesus Christ. 

Under the Old Covenant, a man's sin led to his death while under the New Covenant, God is merciful to our unrighteousness. 

Under the Old Covenant, man could not be cleansed of a consciousness of sin while under the New Covenant, our sins and iniquities are remembered no more, and our guilty consciences are cleansed.

Before salvation we are incomplete and there is a constant striving in every person to satisfy their hunger. Through the new birth we are complete in Christ and our hunger now should only be for more revelation of what we already have in Christ.

In the same way that Jesus had the fullness of God in Him, we also have the fullness of Christ in us. That makes us complete or perfect in Him, that is speaking of our spiritual man. 

Our born-again spirit is identical in righteousness, authority, and power to Christ's spirit, because our born-again spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). 

Peter's refusal to let Jesus wash his feet came from a knowledge that he was totally unworthy to have the sinless Son of God serve him as a common servant would. 

Peter was correct in his assessment of his relative worth, but what he missed was that God doesn't minister to us because of our worth but because of His love.

Peter's attitude may have looked holy and humble, he was actually resisting God's will and committing an act of pride. Pride is not only exalting yourself above what is proper, but also, it can be debasing yourself below what is proper. Pride is simply self-centeredness or being self-willed instead of God-centered and submitted to God's will. Peter should have been humble enough to know that Jesus knew what He was doing and he should have submitted himself to God's will.

Some people refuse to let God bless them, thinking they are unworthy of His favor. While it is true that our actions don't warrant God's goodness, a truly humble person will receive the Lord's blessings as an expression of His love and grace toward them. Misguided humility is every bit as damaging as exaggerated pride.

Peter wanted to serve Jesus, but did not want to be served by Jesus. Jesus was telling Peter that unless he received His ministry to him, Peter would be unfit to serve Him. We cannot cleanse ourselves or others. We are totally dependent on the work of God's grace in our lives. 

Then are we equipped to minister to others. Before we can be the blessing that we desire to be to God or to others, we have to let God be the blessing to us that He desires to be.

The bread of communion symbolizes the body of Jesus which was broken for us through His sufferings. He not only died for us on the cross but also bore 39 stripes on His back by which we are healed. 

Taking part of communion should remind us of the emotional and physical salvation that Jesus provided for us.

The Lord's Supper comes from a part of the Passover meal that was celebrated only once a year. The early Christian church took Communion weekly and sometimes daily. There is no specific times of the Lord's Supper prescribed in scripture.

As we take Communion, we are proclaiming the Lord's death, and our union with Him and with others through that death. 

This is a profession of our faith and there are serious consequences for those who profess something they don't possess.

What makes a person worthy or unworthy is whether or not they is born again. This is also consistent with the doctrine of grace that Paul preached. 

It is a dangerous offense for an unbeliever to take the Lord's Supper. When taking Communion, each person should examine themselves to see whether or not they are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

The Lord longed to share the passover meal with His disciples. He was less than 24 hours away from fulfilling His mission and He must have had feelings of relief and excitement.

The passover meal celebrated the Jews' deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 13:3-10). It also had a much deeper spiritual application that would be fulfilled through His death. The Jewish nation had missed any future prophetic meaning of the passover.

On the night of the original passover, the Lord passed through the land of Egypt and judged the land by slaying all the firstborn men and beasts. The Jews had to slay a spotless lamb, take its blood and apply it to the door posts of their homes. They were commanded to remain indoors, under the covering of this blood until morning. When the Lord passed through the land at midnight to execute His judgment, He passed over the homes that had the lamb's blood on their doors and no one inside was hurt. This is a  picture of the redemption that Jesus provides for us.

Everyone deserves judgment because of their sins. But, Jesus provided Himself as a spotless, sacrificial lamb for us, so that if we apply His blood to our lives by confessing Him as Lord, God will pass over us on judgment day.

Jesus was sacrificed on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish year - the exact day and time that the passover lambs were being slain. 

"Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7).