We are all sinners, saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And although we are saved by the goodness and mercy of the Lord, we all still have the sin nature, that carnal man that we inherited from Adam. But it is ours to recognize our shortcomings, and to do all that we can to avoid sin and improve our situation.

The way to insure victory over our test is to patiently work to overcome our test as hard while performing successfully as we would work if we were not being successful, concluding that our patient persistence in working as hard as we can makes it more difficult for our opponent to catch us.

I am reviewing the relationship between the Heavenly Father and His earthly sons, using the stepping off point of the parable of the Prodigal Son.

The Apostle Paul describes the Corinthian's need to war against sin in their midst, and maintain their allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ

The church cannot afford to be oriented towards the things of this life. Possessions, earthly accomplishments, fame and reputation cannot be the focus of the church. The spread of the gospel has to do with convincing people that their objective should be everlasting life, and this physical life that we are living on earth is certainly not everlasting life.

Before Peter could preach the gospel to the Gentile Cornelius and those in his house, the Holy Spirit had to prepare Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. For Peter to try to add Gentiles to the church would not be received well by the Judaizing Christians that inhabited the church. However, since the Holy Spirit told Cornelius to send his men to get Peter, that same Holy Spirit had to prepare Peter to go to Cornelius to preach.

But by convincing young women to defer marriage to a later date, the devil is actually convincing young women to allow their male peer group to move on to different women. Young women are finding that their career successes during their twenties put them in competition with the young men in their peer group, and when a man looks for a wife, he is not looking for someone with whom he can compete. So, the young men in their natural peer group look for younger women with whom they can be husband and wife, not co-husbands.

Love is important in expressing the gospel to the world. Prophecy is important in expressing the gospel to the world. But without the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing is of any value. For without our knowledge and belief in the gospel, we are not saved from the destruction that is sure to come to the world. Without our knowledge and belief in the gospel, we have no part in the everlasting life that the Lord God would love for us to have and sent His Son to give us.