Therefore, without playing with words, I understand that the Father, (Jesus’ Father – God – our Father) has the important role in the calling of His sons, because it is those that He gives to Jesus,by His own initiative, they come (to Him) for the right reason! Therefore, it is not man’s free will that is the deciding factor it is God’s! All the initiative to save comes from Him! He has taken thedecision to choose who will come to Jesus; this is confirmed abundantly in many other parts of the Lord’s teachings. Those that were listening to him were from Nazareth, and following what Jesus said upset them for He said: ‘My father’s will is, that everyone that looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise Him at the last day! At this the Jews began to grumble about Him because se he said. I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said: Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say: I came down from heaven? In reply Jesus, knowing what they thought or said, confirms by these words: ‘Stop grumbling among yourselves; Jesus answered: No-one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws Him, and I will raise Him up at the last day! ‘Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me! (John 6: 40-45) That’s final, it is all the work and the will of God, and as Jesus said, He was sent by His father for that purpose!

To this end I have mentioned many things about Jesus, and why we should believe in Him, for we must be born again to share His life, pure and eternal! Now we cannot be surprised if people we talk to cannot believe it, we did not! Until God willed it! The big change started when the Holy Spirit convicted us of sins, His work was followed by a big transformation, which continues to grow in reality and power. The reaction of men depends on how the Holy Spirit deals with them. Some just ignore it, others think that we are deranged! Other try to be clever and prove that we are wrong and live in a dream. I came across some that actually got violent. The history of the Church shows that men’s rebellion to the Christians,was so violent, that during the first three centuries, millions were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ; yet whatever various Caesars have thrown at them, they endured it and triumphed! Who knows what may yet happen before Jesus comes for His Church, for in some parts of the world, Christians are still martyred or ostracised by their peoples. But whatever the future may hold, God is with us, like the apostle Paul, we can say humbly: ‘I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me’! Real resistance in such treatments cannot be worked up by the flesh, We find in the Bible,that when men had to endure persecution, God saved them, whether in the fiery furnace or the lions den!p0

To conclude the point, I have introduced in Link 82, among other references that followed it, I have expounded extracts from the epistle of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians, I want to finish it with the following verses from the same epistle, for Paul continues and writes: ‘In Him you were also chosen, having been predestinedaccording to the plan of him (God) who works everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ. (Paul mentions here the Jews that like Him believed that Jesus Christ is Lord) might be for the praise of His glory. And you (here Paul is now referring to the Gentiles, that also believed) also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you have been marked in Him (In Christ) with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our (full) inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1: 11-14) Paul mentions here the baptism in the Holy Spirit, this I will mention later! Your conviction is continued and becomes stronger by the working out of the will of God, for what has begun, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, that Jesus pours out on his disciples, is the guarantee that the Holy Spirit will continue His mighty works, until every believer reaches complete perfection, in a new eternal body!