Chapter 16 - What’s next?  What do I do now?

The first thing I would recommend to anyone reading this book and wanting to know the truth is to read the bible.  Start with the New Testament and read it from Matthew thru Revelation, and then move to the old, or start over at Matthew and read it through again.  Sit down every day and read God’s Word.  Give praises to God and ask Him for understanding before you read.  When you thank Jesus for saving you and are truly grateful for His sacrifice, He will bless you and lead you to His truth!  Don’t rely on any man or woman to teach you God’s truth, read it for yourself so you know you’re getting the real truth!  Remember the deception!  Most people are caught up in it and don’t even know they are believing a lie!  If you love the truth, God will bless you and give you understanding.

Remember that God loves everyone and doesn’t want a single soul to be lost, but He will not force anyone to be saved.  We have the choice to do whatever we want.  God did not make all the things happen that we’ve talked about in the prophecy chapters of this book, he simply knew that they would happen.

I know that I can't convince anyone of anything they don’t want to believe, and I don't need to.  If someone is seeking God they will find Him and trying to convince someone who isn’t will just be an exercise in futility.  If you don’t love the truth and don’t truly want to walk with God, you might as well stop reading now if you haven’t already.  If you love the world and what you can gain from it for your own personal desires, enjoy it while you can…

Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

If we love the world and the things in it, the love of God is not in us.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Jesus loves us so much and it's evident in His willingness to come to us as a man and die for us.  He just wants us to love Him back!  And if we love Jesus, it’s easy to do what He commanded.  If you do, you will not fall; if you don’t, you will fall.

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Have confidence toward God and don’t condemn yourself, because God knows your heart and loves you!  If you keep His commandments, you are in God and He is in you.  We know He is in us by the evidence of His Spirit!  This doesn’t mean we will never sin.  We are flesh and weak in the spirit.  With God in us we will change; and that change is usually slow, but steady, if you simply trust in God and praise Him every day, practicing living in the spirit and not in the flesh.  Sounds weird, yes, but we are both spirit and flesh.  Most of us have only ever known the flesh.  The Holy Spirit lives within us and gives us life in the spirit!

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment , That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment . 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Love the Lord our God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor (fellow man) as yourself:

Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment . 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Jesus will send the comforter, His Holy Spirit, to live within us and guide us.  Nothing in the world compares to the joy of the Holy Spirit in your heart!  Nothing!

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

If we love Jesus and love the truth, we will obey the gospel and do what Jesus told us!  As the Holy Spirit guides us and we learn to submit to Him, we will learn to forget about our selfish desires and learn to love others as ourselves.  God will not leave us alone but will give us His Spirit to comfort us and lead us to His truth.  All we have to do is obey the gospel and truly seek Him with all our heart!  We are all sinners and nobody is worthy, but by the grace of God we are saved.  Believe me, I know that I’m not worthy of God’s love and forgiveness, but He loves me so much that he does forgive me!  He loves all of us that much.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son.  He gave what is most precious to man, to save man.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Jesus loves you.  He just wants you to love Him back.