This Particular LIFE (Part 1)
Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. (Acts 5:20)

What an Altered Life!

It is obvious that THIS LIFE, as indicated by the angel of the Lord, is different from every other type of life. Therefore, it would be wise of us to investigate the distinctions that make THIS LIFE so particular. For it is a life that the people, to whom the apostles were sent, did not have. The people who would gather in the temple in Jerusalem did not possess or live out THIS LIFE. They were people who would gather regularly at the temple to bring their offerings to God and receive instruction from the leaders of their day. They, from man‘s point of view, were respectable and moral people who made every effort to conform their lives to the standards given to them by their teachers. (Pr. 16:25) Laws and regulations were lifeless tools that were being misused by their guides. These tools became instruments of torture and manipulation in order to control the carnal nature of perishing men. They were oppressed by men on the outside and condemned within by their own guilty conscience that they were not rightly related to a Holy God. The results of this guilt was manifested in their fear of being caught and found in sin. Therefore, they continually sought to reform their own ways by conforming to, and repeating again and again man made traditions. They were normal people living normal lives. Like people today who do what they can to obey the law and be a good citizen. They worked and raised families and planned for the future. They invested in their children, homes, lands, and communities, and were interested in the bottom line like men and women today. Yes, there were different classes of people who came from different backgrounds, yet they all shared very common and similar LIFESTYLES.

The apostles, at one time, were on this same course of life. (Eph. 2:1-5) Their professions were different but the way they lived life was the same. Some were into politics, while others fished for a living. Some worked for the government, and others were in rebellion to the established system. The one Person that tied all of them together was Jesus of Nazareth. Previous to Jesus uniting them for His cause, each of the apostles lived like the rest of humanity. They were sinners who lived with a conscience that condemned themselves in their sin. The problem they each faced was a self-centered issue of sin. Everything centered around themselves. (Rom 2:7-8) Even the attempts of clearing a guilty conscience was self-motivated in order to be personally free from the fear of being caught and condemned in their sin. They like us were motivated in everything and in every way for selfish reasons. The life they lived prior to being interrupted by Jesus, along with everyone else, was consumed with self and corrupt at every point. (Gen. 6:5 ; 8:21 ; John 3:3-5)

What happened to the apostles? They were granted repentance unto life! “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, ‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life’. ” (Acts 11:18) God turned them from their sinful and self-centered life to THIS LIFE that they are now instructed to go speak about. This would mean that the Lord interrupted the life they were living and invade them by His grace to grant unto them a new life. The Bible calls it being RECONCILED. (Col. 1:19-23) When a man is regenerated and converted (born again) he is forgiven of his sin, made a new creature, reconciled from hostility and rebellion toward God and put in a position free of guilt and shame to live in intimacy and fellowship with a Just, Holy, Loving, and Merciful God. They are given the Holy Ghost of God to authentically represent Him upon the earth. (2 Cor. 5:14-21) When this happens, which is by the hand of God Himself, it is undeniably nothing short of a Divine Miracle and a Eternal Interruption. Disciples are given a new life. It’s a life that is unmistakably different from any past lifestyle, which was once consumed with self-centered living. It is a PECULIAR LIFE that takes ownership of its Possessor, and will be lived out by everyone who has been RECONCILED and INTERRUPTED by the Lord Himself. (Titus 3:3-8) It’s not a prayer, or plan, or a self-motivated decision that interrupts and reconciles sinners. No, it is Jesus who gives LIFE. He is the One who grants repentance unto this new life. Has He interrupted you? Is He your LIFE? Have you been told to “Go, stand and speak all the words of THIS LIFE?” Go tell all the people who do not possess THIS LIFE! (Luke 24:46-48)

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3:3-4)

It Has No Eternal Value because It's Fallen

This is an excerpt from my newly released book Magnify The Lord: Ten Reasons to Discover, Declare, and Defend why Christ Came, (Xulon Press ; ISBN 9781602669314)

*UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SATAN

The world system we now live in is under the legal authority
of Satan. Why is it under his influence? When Adam yielded his
authority to Satan in the garden, he gave dominion to the enemy
of God. God, through the apostle Paul, describes all the children
of men in this world as being children of wrath. We were all born
as children of wrath, or as “products of the fall of humanity.”

As a result of this inheritance and the dominion of Satan over us, we lived
all our lives prior to being born again in disobedience. The spirit
that now influences and controls the lives of those who are still in
their sin is none other than the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself.

And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses
and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

God describes us as being under the influence of the course of
this world. Yes, we all live this way and will unless we are interrupted
by the Lord and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Our
lifestyles are real and tangible, but they are actually lies. They are
real lives being lived out every day, and no one can deny this fact!
Our lives are so real that Jesus Christ gave His life on behalf of us.
No matter how real they may be, they are still lifestyles of deception
and delusion. Unless they are born again of God and given the
ability to hear the voice of Jesus calling on them to follow Him, they
cannot know the truth.

IT IS GOOD FOR NOTHING
Jesus understood He was born and sent into this world to reveal
the truth to His sheep and expose the works of this world as being evil. (John 7:7)
The world system functions, but it is important to remember it is
fallen. The system is broken because it is no longer in its original
design; therefore, it has no eternal value. When a drinking glass is
shattered on a tile floor, it is discarded because it is no longer useful
for its intended purpose. It is thrown away because it is no longer
usable and is now good for nothing.

IT IS DECEPTIVE
The New Testament explains on numerous occasions about the
devastating effects of any system of learning that is not rooted in and
sanctified by God. If it's not to glorify God the Father and to place
Christ Jesus at the center of all Spirit-filled living, being sanctified by
the Word of God and prayer, it should be avoided: “Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”
(Colossians 2:8). Paul warned the church at Colosse not to be robbed
by the emptiness and vanity of pursuing this world’s wisdom. Being
fond of the basic principles of the world system is deceitful and
deadly. James even shared with his audience that having a fondness
with the world is enmity with God. (James 4:4-7)

IN THE NAME OF KNOWLEDGE
Today, many have fallen captive to this satanic scheme. Paul also
warned Timothy of this covert effort by the enemy to entice the intellectual
seeker who has a weakness for a “well shaped intellect”:
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,
avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of
science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred
concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen."
(1 Timothy 6:20-21)
We can often find our minds so focused on defending the faith
against apostate teachers in the church that we miss the fact this
also applies to our modern system of education. We may not like
this much, but it is a reality. Do our schools and the curriculum used
teach our kids to exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ and His
gospel? How about our science books? What or who is the core of
their authority? Do they heavily promote the God of creation or the
theory of evolution? Do they teach the biblical role for us as parents
in educating and equipping our children to be champions of God’s
truth on the earth?

IT’S HAPPENING
Timothy was told to guard the precious truth and the lives that
were entrusted to him by not letting empty knowledge cloud his
vision of God’s glory and truth. The church must be cautious of this
travesty happening today. She must sound the alarm. The enemy
has infiltrated her strongholds. Statistics show how young adults are
fleeing from church houses to the many outhouses of this world.
Why wouldn’t they go the first chance they have to be on their own?
Their sinful natures and appetites have been fed all their lives by a
watered-down theology that fits a secular society. We have let our
culture shape and conform what they know about an unbiblical god.
Why have pastors allowed this to happen? They have done this to be
politically correct so they can maintain their jobs in the church and
keep their pulpit. Why has this happened? We, as the people of God,
have not stood against this great spoiling of the minds of our youth
and nation. The church will give an account for not bearing witness
to the truth.

*Taken from Magnify the Lord: Ten Reasons to Discover, Declare, and Defend why Christ Came, chapter 2(He's Come to Define: 1. What Is Truth?), pages 43-45.