Until Christ is Formed in You 1

On the day when God tells us to cease all our efforts, each of us will look back at our past years of laboring. All the traces of the gospel which we have left will be recorded in heaven and we will be judged to see if we have walked the path of faith deserving the blessings of heaven.
Before that day sweeps on like chaff, we have to reflect upon whether or not we are fully prepared to enter into the kingdom of heaven. As we look into the parable of the ten virgins in the Bible, the five were ready and met the bridegroom, while the other five were not fully prepared and missed their chance to get into the wedding banquet (Matt 25:1-13).
There are lots of things we have to prepare. First and foremost, we must have God in us to the fullest. It is important whether or not we fully rely on God. We should avoid all kinds of worldly thoughts and desires that lead to eternal death and always dwell in God rather than waste our God-given time doing meaningless things. Believing firmly that all the prophecies written in the Bible will surely be fulfilled, we are to put more effort into saving souls, without wasting a minute?not even a second.
Our body is the temple of God
Every saint of God is a place where God dwells?the temple of God. We, God's people, are to always put God in the center of our life and be holy, as God is holy.

1 Cor 3:16-17 『Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.』

The above verse says that if anyone defiles God's temple, God will destroy him. The temple of God is defiled by idolatry. When we look at the Old Testament history, we can see that when the temple of God was filled with all sorts of idols, it provoked God to anger and brought disaster. On the contrary, Kings Hezekiah and Josiah purified the temple by destroying all the idols through the Passover, so that they were blessed by God.
Unless we correctly understand God who lives in us, we come to commit foolish acts of worshiping idols instead of God. It is just like the Israelites claimed to serve God but worshiped all sorts of idols such as Baal and Asherah in the temple, not realizing that fact.
Keeping in mind that we are God's temple, we are to perform our function as the temple of God?as the temple of the LORD in the age of the Father, as the temple of Jesus Christ in the age of the Son and as the temple of the Spirit and the Bride?Elohim Gods?in the age of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul always had God within him.

Gal 2:20 『"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."』

Gal 6:14-17 『May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. … Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 』

"I have been crucified with Christ." By these words Paul meant that he had died spiritually to himself. When I myself am crucified and dead to sin and only when Christ lives in me, I can be a true Christian.
Paul made lots of efforts to help God's people fill their hearts with Christ, not with worldly things, teaching them God's word, giving them hope for heaven and confessing his faith in public. By doing so, he began to imitate Christ in His suffering.
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One Man’s Obedience and One Man’s Disobedience(5)

World evangelism fulfilled through obedience

God does not command us to obey Him to exert absolute authority over us. Every-thing that God has taught us is given for our salvation―for the safety of our souls.

Isa 48:17-19 『This is what the LORD says―your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me."』

In the days of the prophet Isaiah, the Israelites disobeyed God's command and their disobedience brought calamity upon themselves. Biblical history shows us every calamity is the result of disobedience to God's word, while all blessing is the result of obedience. God teaches everything for our own good and commands us the things that we ought to do and sets examples for us, so that He may bring us to the everlasting kingdom of heaven where we can live forever. For our own benefit, God has taught us to keep His commandments, preach the gospel, love one another, resist the devil, etc.

2 Co 10:6 『And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.』

It is unfair for God to punish only others for their disobedience while even His children are disobeying. Obedience is a necessary qualification to enter heaven. God, who is righteous and just, is ready to fulfill the gospel work when our obedience is complete.
Now we need to examine ourselves whether we fully obey all the teachings of our heavenly Father and Mother or we only obey what we like and disobey what we don't. We must obey everything that God has commanded us, even the least thing.God told us, "Be joyful always", and "Be united in love for one another." We have to obey these words, too. If one says, "I can do all things except this kind of thing," that's a mere excuse to replace God's will with his own. He is just like Adam and Eve who ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God forbade them to eat, seeing that the forbidden fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. When we forsake our own thoughts and submit joyfully to God's will, we can complete our salvation.

One Man’s Obedience and One Man’s Disobedience(4)

Remove the thoughts of disobedience

The greatest faith is an obedient faith. However, if our own thoughts take precedence over God's word, we will lose our faith in God and disobey His will, as Adam and Eve did. ‘This fruit seems good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom. Will I really die if I just eat the fruit?' ‘God is merciful. Will He really punish me for just doing this kind of thing?' Thus, if one puts his own thought ahead of God's word, he will fail to obey the will of God, and the disobedience of the one person will bring death not only upon himself but also upon others.

Isa 55:6-11 『 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.』

God's word is never spoken in vain. Our thoughts differ from God's thoughts. So the Bible tells us to forsake our thoughts and return to God. We must forsake all our thoughts that are contrary to God's word. When we put off our own thoughts and live according to God's will, we can receive abundant blessing and eternal life from God. When Adam and Eve were filled with God's word, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil seemed flavorless and distasteful to them. However, when they heard the words of the devil and were immersed with their own thoughts, the fruit of the tree seemed good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. God's thoughts differ so widely from human thoughts. Nobody knows what may happen tomorrow. However, God foresees all future events. That was why He told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree.We should do what God has told us to do with continual and unceasing joy, and keep ourselves from what God has forbidden us, however desirable. Then the heavenly angels will bow down before us, acknowledging us as the people who are led by the Spirit of God and are in accord with God's thoughts and will and His living word. Disobedience leads to death. God gives eternal life to him who is faithful to the point of death. One person is important. If each one of us absolutely obeys the will of Father and Mother, we will all be able to enter into life. However, the disobedience of one of us may lead us all astray.