This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. (Ephesians 3:1-6 MSG)

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In part 2 (click here to read part 2), we explored the consequences of not understanding precious life changing truths that God has recorded in the bible to give us access to all He has provided for us to enjoy. We also began to see that God intended those who presumed wisdom apart from Him not to understand these truths. Here we explore this further.

[I]. Why does God hid His deep truths from the "learned"?

1. "God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. He chose what the world looks down on and despises and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. This means that no one can boast in God's presence. But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free. So then, as the scripture says, "Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done." (1 Corinthians 1:27-31 GNB)

2. "But, we speak wisdom among those who are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, that come to nothing." (1 Corinthians 2:6 MKJV)

3. "The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from human beings, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made. None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Corinthians 2:7-8 GNB)

4. "I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work." GOD's Decree. "For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think."(Isaiah 55:8-9 MSG)

5. "So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense?"

(1 Corinthians 1:20 MSG)

[II]. We see then that God aims to expose the shallowness of the wisdom of this world, which looses its significance or use once death arrives. It is false and based on God-independence and has the devil as its root. It was this kind of knowledge that the devil lured Adam and eve to desire and led to their disobedience and eventual fall.

1. "Your pride is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you, and the worms cover you. How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:11-14 MKJV)

2. "GOD commanded the Man, "You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don't eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you're dead." (Genesis 2:16-17 MSG)

3. "The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?" The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'" The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil." When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it--she'd know everything!--she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate." (Genesis 3:1-6 MSG)

4. "And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (Genesis 3:13 MKJV)

[III]. These scriptures reveal that the devils sought to operate independent from God, He then infiltrated Adam and Eve, encouraging them to seek to operate in knowledge independent from God. This is where man developed an independent agenda apart from God. A concept far removed from what God had in mind when we were created. We can only be, all we were created to be in union with and through Him.

1. "The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don't make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' (Acts 17:24-28 MSG)

2. "We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and--leading the resurrection parade--he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding." (Colossians 1:15-19 MSG)

[IV]. We see then that a God independent existence is no more than a myth.

1. "A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." (John 10:10 MSG)

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May the pin of circumstances

Burst your delusion of self competence

Expose the lies behind the self-made person

Strutting around like an inflated Peacock

With the perception of self sufficiency

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Claim to direct a life you did not create

Fulfill a life you cannot sustain

Were it not for His amazing love and grace

That gives the rain to the good and ingrates

This lie would have been exposed long ago

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Wake up and smell true reality

His life sustains all that exists

He's the One who is all in all

Come running to the fountain of life

The only source of satisfaction

Take your fill of life abundant

Life with out end

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(To be continued..)

Every Blessing

Breadoflife

click here to read part 4

To view others instalments in the series, click here