Introduction and Episode Overview
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Hello everyone. Welcome to Grace Talk, a podcast developed by Grace Temple Church Louisville to share godly devotionals and interviews to help save the lost and encourage the saved. Let's go down to our presenter and listen with an open heart and an open mind.
Meet Apostle Isham S. Cordery
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Blessings and welcome to Grace Talk.
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This is Apostle Isham S. Cordery, Senior Pastor of Grace Temple Church and the General Superintendent of Grace Temple Fellowship of Churches in the U.S. and in Jamaica. And we're so pleased and blessed to share another episode with you on today. We pray that these occasions have been a blessing of encouragement to you, and certainly that's our intention on today.
Choosing Between Damnation and Salvation
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The reality is is that
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Eternal damnation is a possibility for everyone. But God has given us another alternative. There's another path that he's offered. It's also a path that we must choose. We either choose eternal damnation or we choose eternal life. And this gift of eternal life, if we accept it, will be the cause of our salvation.
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And so the essential effects of the blessing of salvation is that we take on the characteristics of life. We move from a state of death to a state of life. We have natural movement and that natural movement indicates that we are alive and that we are sentient. But oftentimes
The Gift of Spiritual Life and Renewal
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people have natural life, but they don't have spiritual life.
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But this spiritual life is a wonderful gift from God that allows us to have a renewed life and to conquer the effects of our worldly existence. According to Holman's Bible dictionary, life is a principle. Our force underlined the distinctive quality of animate beings. In other words, we move and movement is a indication of life. In death, all movement stops and all ceases.
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Life is used in the scriptures to describe the force both in animals and humans, but also that force of that internal or that spiritual force that comes from God through the Holy Ghost. God
Eternal Life vs. Death from Sin
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has given us this life, and so when the Bible speaks about eternal life, it's talking about a perpetual life, an unending life, a life that
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continues and it refers to that gift that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ and it's only imparted to true believers. In contrast to the death that we earn through the wages of our sin, life is a gift from God. This life again is perpetual. Eternal life is not just about
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infinite amount of years. It's just not about living forever. If we look at the base word in the New Testament for eternal, it carries the idea of quality as well as quantity. So it's not just the number of years, but those are good years. And so actually, eternal life is not even associated with time. It's independent of time and it functions outside the constraints of time. So we don't have to wait
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in order to obtain it. We can obtain it now. You don't have to die to get it. Amen. We can enjoy it now. It doesn't start at death. It is imparted by faith in the life giver. So we can possess
Eternal Life: Present vs. Future
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it now. The focus of eternal life is not on the future, but really is on our current situation and our current standing.
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So if God is the one who gives us life, there can be no other source. God gives us life. He's the one that has it to give. He's the one that can take it from us. So 1st John chapter 5 verse 11 says, and this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Achieving Eternal Life through Jesus Christ
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hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." So the world talks about so many paths to the Lord, so many ways to get to the kingdom, so many ways to get to God, but the reality is that there is no true eternal life unless you get it through Jesus Christ. He's the one. There is no other name given unto heaven whereby men must be saved.
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So it's said that eternal life eliminates the boundary line of death, but death is still a fault. But since we've obtained an ending life, death no longer can defeat us. Eternal life is an event. It's something we can experience, just like death is an event and something others experience. Jesus came for the purpose of conquering death.
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is the final enemy. It is not our friend. It is not something that God will use. It is something that God must conquer in the end.
Jesus’ Victory Over Death and Abundant Life
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The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. So actually, believing is not just how you obtain it.
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it is evidence that you have it. Believing Christ as our Savior is a supernatural result of eternal life. He alone is the one who sustains this life. You will not be able to survive without Him. We must partake of Him every day. John chapter 6 verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath eternal life
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I am the bread of life. God bless you. Grace and peace be unto you. This concludes our segment. We pray in the hope that what you just heard blesses and encourages you. Please join us next time on Grace Talk. Until then, God speed.