St Matthew, Chapter 18, verse:17b, Fraternal Correction: Appeal to the church to save him.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Fraternal correction) Part 5.   

The battle is against sin and the weapon is love.  Christ spoke to his disciples on the battle to win souls.  He spoke with them about how to keep the souls that may be lost to sin.  For sin will come.  And sin will enter.  And sin will corrupt.  So the disciples had to learn the ways to fight sin.  They had to learn the process, the steps, the means to combat sin once it had taken hold.  For they loved each other.  The disciples loved their brothers and sisters and did not want to loose them to the ways of sin.  

Christ told them to meet with their brother face to face.  Speak with them about their transgressions.  Speak to them with love.  For the battle is to win back thy brother.  The battle is to win back thy sister.  And if this did not work then take one or two more and speak with thy brother.  For they will be witnesses as to the ways and the nature of sin.  Once sin has taken hold it will not want to let go.  And if this does not work then Christ told his disciples to appeal to the church.  Appeal to the body of the church.  For all must be made aware of the transgression that sin may not have a way into the church.  But if thy brother still does not hear, then Christ told his disciples:  "But if he refuse to hear even the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican."

Release them and treat them as though they are heathens.  Treat them as though they are possessed of sin.  Treat them as though they are lost.  And let the church prey that they may be saved by the grace of God.  For we are the children of God.  We are created in his image and likeness.  And our Father will continue to hold us in his hands until, we let go.  For he loves us as his children.  He provides for us as he is our father.  He protects us as he is our protector.  And he gave us free will as he is gracious.  For the decision is ours.  The choice belongs to us.  The will of the father will not be imposed upon the children, but they must choose of their own free will.

So we stand at the crossroads.  We walk the fence of life knowing, but not knowing, according to the flesh.  For the flesh tells us that we do not know.  The flesh tells us that we do not have proof.  The flesh tells us that we belong to the world.  The flesh blind us.  The flesh weakens us.  The flesh destroys the memory of who we are in Christ.  And the flesh leads us to death.  For Christ came that we would have life anew.  Christ came to pay the sacrifice.  Christ came that the light of his life would shine forth in us.  He came that we would know the truth of who we are in him.

We are the aliens.  We are spiritual.  We are not of the flesh and not of this world.  For death is only a door that opens to the spiritual that is within us.  Death is the portal to eternity.  Death is the beginning of life, as we have never known here in the flesh.  And for those who can see, death is the transition from flesh to spirit, from worldly to heavenly, from the known to the light of life that is within.  Come!  See the light that Christ has given you.  Know the truth of who you are.  Open the eye to the soul and awaken the spirit that is you.  The Holy Spirit will come and abide.  The Holy Spirit will reveal.  The Holy Spirit will bring light that will shine forth in your life and be your counsel.  For the Father has sent him to abide with you.  Follow the path before you and you will know the truth.  Christ loves you and wants you to be with him in heaven. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 19, The Rock: The Keys to the Kingodm of Heaven.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter's confession) Part 7.

And so the church was established on this earth.  His time was coming to an end.  His mission was being completed and his final sacrifice was about to be made.  Christ was the lamb, the perfect offering, the pure gift to amend the judgement made against man for his sins.  Death would be overcome and new life given to those who believed.  And the gates of hell would be opened to all those who waited so long for this time to come.  Now the final chapter must be written and it would be finished.  

Evil did not like what was happening.  Evil wanted to stop the process, to stop the establishment of the church, to prevent it from being established.  But Christ spoke and his will was done.  The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  Try as they might evil had no say.  Yet evil still wants to prevail and so the powers of heaven were given to Peter as the symbol of the church.  The powers to maintain the church and assure that it would stand throughout all time.  And Christ said to him: "And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

And so it was and is still today.  The church has the keys of the kingdom of heaven as given it by Christ.  To bind on earth is also set in heaven and to loose on earth is the rule in heaven.  The keys of heaven were given to open doors and the keys to lock them and keep them shut.  To the church was given this power.  What is the church, who is the church?  Is it the physical building that we inhabit today?  Is this the church?  Or are the people the church?  Do the people have this power to bind and to loose if they are the church?

The soul of mankind is at stake here today.  Evil wants to possess mankind that it may rule over him to perform evil in the world.  For evil exists to influence man to do evil in the world.  Evil doers are the handy work of evil for they perform all sorts of evil in the world.  But without the evildoer evil does not have a slave to perform its will.  So it is, that man is possessed of evil and commits murders and other crimes.  We have only to witness the evil that is performed on the innocent today.  Justice is mine says the Lord and the scales of justice will be balanced. 

We are the church, not the buildings and structures that we worship in.  Christ has given us the choice to close the doors to evil or to open them.  The decision is ours individually and collectively.  And so is the justice or injustice that comes with our decisions.  Close the doors to evil or open them.  Close the doors of heaven or open them to your hearts.  That is the power which is given us, the church.  The gates of hell shall not prevail against our decision once it is made.  

We live in a world possessed of evil.  We are on the battlefield everyday for the possession of our souls and yet we are asleep on the battlefield.  We live without awareness.  We eat, sleep, play, work, dream, desire, worship, toil, cry, moan, bleed, and die, dimly aware of the battle that we are engaged in.  And yet when evil raises it's ugly head our lives are shattered to pieces trying to make sense of why evil prevailed.  We are aliens in an unknown world and do not realize that we belong to Christ and not to this world.  Our home is in heaven and not on this earth.  Our joy and our happiness and our peace cannot be found on this rock but only with Christ.  And for those who choose to loose evil, their place is in hell with evil.  It often amazes me to see how we cling to this physical body, fearing death, and yet desire to go to heaven, unable to let go of the physical and accept the spiritual.  Come, you have the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Open the door of your heart and let it in.  The Holy Spirit awaits your call, your request, your plea.  Follow the path and experience the treasure of your heart.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in!