September 28th.

Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!"

So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. "God forbid that I should do this!" he said.

"Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?" Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it.

God gave the mighty men a special feeling of loyalty for their king so they would be willing to do the unthinkable, just to give David some comfort. They understood God's order: God, then His anointed, then his mighty men. Just as they revered their king enough to risk their lives to get him the water, so also David revered God so much that he poured it out onto the ground for God's sake. In effect, by pouring it out before the Lord, he gave it to God to drink—not the actual water but the faith and loyalty that David had in God, and the respect for the loyalty God put in the men's hearts to be and remain faithful to David.

This loyalty and faithfulness to their king, so much that they were willing to risk their lives to get him some comfort, is very much the same kind of love that is found in the NT, what was put into the hearts of the believers so that they were able to love each other like nothing else, to stick by each other even if it meant their own condemnation, to form an entirely new community with strangers whom before they looked down upon, but now considered their true brothers even more than their flesh and blood families. It's a picture of what God wants from His family of sons. First that they risk, give up, lay down their lives for their brothers, their Father and their Master/Teacher. Also, that they understand and respect God's order, what He has chosen and put into place.

Both of these things are impossible for the humans. Because they're controlled by the animal nature, they can only love, look out for, preserve, and promote their own welfare and concern. It's a totally natural thing that none of them even questions, because they conspire together to retain control over this creation. It's not a matter of shades of self-preservation, but total and complete coverage that seeps over into everything. There was a moment in time when love of this magnitude was in the earth, amongst the sons of God, having started with John, who gave his life to get the place ready for the Isaiah's Messiah. So many references and commands from Jesus to the disciples about loving each other, loving their brothers and doing God's will (because of a David-like love and loyalty to each other, which would fulfill God's purpose of having a family of this magnitude) are lost on the present day humans who try to make those words apply to themselves; because it happened in a different time long ago, and it left after a short while, so it simply isn't here now to be clomped onto as they assume to be able to do.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

There is no ability for love as it existed then, as its importance was spoken of and its practice commanded by the Son of God to those who were chosen to hear him, then do it. Even though many try, the animal is the only thing the humans have/are, which is confirmed by the fact that the only time it does happen purely and genuinely is toward their own flesh and blood, as all animals are instinctually driven to be able to love and care about their own offspring by a powerful force (think of a mama bear with her cubs—pure, driven, temporary love). When they try to adopt Jesus' words and apply them to humanity in general, or even those few in their own group who aren't their own flesh and blood, it can only ever be a thin veneer that's easily blasted through by the animal instincts for self-preservation and protection.

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This isn't a call to love everyone in the world. It is an introduction to what he later commanded those 11 men left with him at the end who were closest to him. What he says here and in so much of what he said—what may be considered one of his primary messages—is that if they wanted to follow him, they would have to undermine all of the animal instincts that naturally lived in their hearts to define them as such before the Father. And what are perhaps the strongest instincts within all of the animals? The instinct to love what comes from your own body, what you have produced which ironically, even though it seems like such a pure and honest thing is just an instinct-driven self indulgent emotional gluttony on self-love, because in the reality of it all, that object of your incessant love and care is a replicant of yourself, down to the molecular DNA structure that is its foundation. That may sound a little harsh, but it's not nearly as straightforwardly brutal as what the real Jesus said (one of the many things the humans love to ignore):

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

What does it mean to hate them? It means to not be driven by instinct to love them so much that they would be unwilling to go further down the road that the Son was walking on, to continue following the one who said these kinds of things about his flesh and blood family:

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."

He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

When the words of the real Jesus are considered, there is a cold detachment toward the things that the humans are naturally (instinctually) driven to accept, take care of, cling to—love. The most hideous of his detachments is to his own flesh and blood family—even the mother whom the angel had appeared to, who was given charge of raising up God's only perfect Son—because he was driven by another kind of instinct (the spirit of the Father who inhabited the Son), which is the counterpart to the natural instincts that naturally inhabit the humans. That is what we call the animal nature, that which drives the humans to define themselves as unclean animals before the Father, what makes them totally and completely unable to come near Him, which means they cannot *ever* know Him.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners' lend to `sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.

Simply put, the ability to love as the Father has commanded His own children to love one another isn't in the humans to be able to do, which is why they can only love their own kind—like all animals do in that way—because they're being driven by an instinctual force they can't even control, so there's no congratulations to be had there from God since it isn't even by their own efforts that they "love." Seeing the humans in their true light and condition is a requisite for the sons so they can comprehend that they're called to do the impossible (the Father doesn't accept false sentiment or theoretical excusability disguised as their obligatory duty to "love one another.")

But love your enemies (those who you aren't naturally driven by instinct to love), do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back (say whah?). Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful (a radical departure from the animal capacity), just as your Father is merciful.

In fact, when Jesus spoke these words to humans, none of them except him had any capacity to be able to do what he commanded here, because it was too radical for the humans to be able to do. What he said constituted an undermining of the nature that lived in them, which would take a lot more than any words would be able to convince them away from (the instinctual animal drive to love itself which doesn't just go away). He was merely prepping those who were chosen by the Father for a later date and time when he would be "coming back" to them in another form—of the unseen, invisible, secret and hidden spirit which would inhabit them and replace their animal instincts with itself; so they were driven by another force altogether, not like the humans but something genuine, which would drive them to the Father. Only then would they be reminded of the things he said to them when he was existing in a human body, before he went to the Father to exist in another form (like God who is pure spirit, not made up of physical matter).

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

NT Love—what those feelings whom David's fighting men had for him existed as a copy of—is not possible for humans. In John 15 Jesus also lays out the spiritual order, and he also tells the men how they can produce something for God to consume. God, then Jesus, then the men. They produced fruit which was valuable to God by maintaining that order and staying, living in the Son's love, caring for each other as dearly loved children of God. Fruit for the gardener is just something he can use and enjoy, a reason for allowing the tree to continue to take up soil and nutrients.

A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, "For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?"

"Sir," the man replied, "leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down."

The faith they would show by denying the animal and living for God instead was something that God could enjoy, that these would be subverting that power which otherwise has a total choke hold on all humans (because they're animals, which why His people were continually so unfaithful to Him). That ability to act contrary to the animal nature came directly from God, not that they were puppets, but it was a sign that they shared in the divine nature (they were His true sons).

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

By themselves they would be useless, totally given over to the animal is all they could ever be in and of themselves. Their natural inclination always defaults back to the animal, which can only live for its self, and NEVER fulfill the commands of Jesus. Such is the way with man, hence the reason for Jesus' teaching about the vine, the branches and the gardener. It is the present state of the humans.

By contrast, the state that existed first in Jesus, and then in a handful of followers for a little while, was a condition of being inhabited by the spirit and nature of the living God. That was the glorious time that God's prophets kept predicting—which itself must also have to have been another copy since it was allowed to go away just as God's people Israel went away. It happened because the Son laid down his life, and when he went to the Father and the two became One, that spirit of God, which beforehand could only live in the body of Jesus because he was pure, spotless, perfect, not inhabited or led by the serpent, could actually make the bodies of the humans clean, perfect, holy and consecrated to God, so that He could live inside them while He did (for a while after Jesus ascended).

To remain in his love, to abide in him as he abided, dwelt, inhabited, lived in the bodies of those humans, was to be a slave not to the animal nature, but to the Father and Son, who were One being. It was to be as they were, unified by His enduring purpose to have His family with Him where He is. The component of Jesus' life into the body of the Father was a kind of buffer because he went between the Father and the as yet unclean sons. His life made them clean so that they could become transformed away from the unclean animal, and the Father could come near to them, and them to Him.

Even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

The disciples couldn't be God's family if they wandered off independently, or if they were allowing that old nature to live in them. They were specifically commanded to stay with each other, care for each other, live for each other, lay down their lives for each other and Jesus the cornerstone of the whole family. In this way they would continue to be led by that new divine nature, which had been put into them, which was predicted and longed for by God's prophets for hundreds of years—that humans would be led by the spirit of God instead of the animal nature, which is the curse from the beginning. The two cannot inhabit the same dwelling.

As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

We believe that one ultimate purpose of the Father is to build a house where He can live in peace with His sons, none of them being led by the animal nature with all its chaos. Their love for and thankfulness to the Father will be complimented by their camaraderie and the declaration of their understanding that their brothers are there because they've also been chosen to be remembered, therefore redeemed by the Father. The joy of knowing this, and celebrating the great love that goes in all directions, will not be tarnished by the animal with all its ways that run directly contrary to that goal of God with His Family.

Each of God's sons will be a metaphorical stone in the house. Peter understood himself and the believers contemporary with him to be taking place in that exercise of God, because he knew that they were being inhabited by that divine nature which competed with, or nullified the animal nature. It's never the idea of them being puppets, because they were dominated, led by one force or another—either the animal nature or the divine nature. He believed God was doing that in the first century when he wrote his letter, and he encouraged them to create a place in their hearts and within the community of believers, where He could dwell in peace, without the chaos of the animal to contend with. The condition of love and peace in the house of God cannot be maintained when there are animals all in it—noisy, dirty, stinking it up.

Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

Discernment and discipline will be necessary for the sons to understand how the animal nature works in their own particular hearts/minds/bodies (it's universal but only to a degree—they each have their own "lives"). Then courage and loyalty to the teacher inside them will be necessary, and a desire to do what pleases God in the likeness of Jesus the only good Son; for saying no to the animal cravings, impulses, urges, instincts, and the overall desire to rule and dominate them. When they do this they allow it to dwell in them, and the spirit, the living word, the voice of the teacher, will become harder to hear. They will find that when they begin to actually say no to it, they will start to realize the Lord's indwelling presence and control instead of the animal's.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price (i.e. you are a slave to the one who bought you).

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

If we are bought with a price then we become the Lord's possession to do with us as he pleases, not our own possession to live for our selves. The good son doesn't mind being a slave to his good father, because he knows that his father will take care of him. The spirit of sonship allows us to see our Father as He is, and experience the love He has for us as Paul did; so we want to be a slave to what pleases God. No good son would be a slave to, or even cooperate with, his father's enemy.

Right now we are learning about the extent of our slavery to the sin, animal nature. We are beginning to understand how it's not just a concept for us, but an unpleasant reality. Though we want to do the right thing, we feel completely buffaloed by that old man and his whims much of the time. His desire to constantly be fulfilled by the things we used to do is such an ever-present force, the very fabric of our being, our own particular animal responses and defenses that we subconsciously built up all our lives.

Only by the powerful presence of the spirit living in us are we able to recognize the sin nature that Paul speaks about in Romans. We can see it because of the life that it brings us to wake us up, to live for righteousness and our Father's sake. Without the spirit's enlightenment they can only be words and concepts. Being alive to God is being alive to the secret meaning behind all the words that were preserved for us. This is something we know in our hearts and can never hope to explain except by the language of the spirit, which will recognize itself in the others.

By standing firm you will gain life.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.