Those who are followers of Jesus Christ should be moving forward in life with a foundation of humility and sacrifice for others. It is not our place to see comfort, money, and glory, but to make our faith and devotion to Jesus Christ the goal of our lives.

The people of God are those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ, who have embraced him as the Messiah, and who are pursuing holiness, loving God, and loving neighbor. No longer is it a matter of following the Mosaic law or being Jewish.

It is each man's responsibility to put his time, effort, and money toward building for a glorious eternity. As the people of God, we need to build everything in our lives on this premise.

Taking the label Christian upon yourself means practicing and believing what Jesus taught the disciples, what the apostles passed down to the first-generation Church and what the Church has always believed and practiced.

The Christian should be known by the name Christian, not the name of any other man or denomination invented in the recent past.

As part of the Church, men need to stop demanding their rights and freedoms and instead focus on living, speaking, and thinking in a way that will help others move toward holiness. The Christian life is not about comfort and ease but about struggling against temptation.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples and proved that he was not dead and had physically risen. He has a physical body and ate food in their presence. They then worshiped him as he ascended to the right hand of the Father.

The Apostle Paul took the encyclopedic knowledge he had of religion and philosophy and re-interpreted it through the lens of Jesus as the Messiah, fulfilling the Old Covenant and restoring the relationship between God and mankind.

The path you choose to follow will continue to lead you in that direction unless something drastic happens to change that. The man who chooses to pursue holiness will slowly become truly human, will be light and love and peace, the ultimate path to sanctification.

When Jesus ascended to the Father, he gave the Church the Holy Spirit to fill and guide, to intercede for and protect. This means that what Jesus taught the apostles, the apostles taught to the first-generation Church, and this has been happening with each generation.

When the Apostle Paul speaks of law and works, he is talking about not being under the authority of Mosaic law but instead, we are to love God, love neighbor, and pursue holiness. Being part of the people of God is not about law or about being ethnically Jewish.

Paul makes two strong points in this passage from his letter to the Hebrews. One, the early followers of God underwent actual, horrific oppression, torture, and abuse, of which modern day Western Christians have no idea or experience.

Two, the incarnation brought about freedom from sin and death, so that mankind now exists in a one-story reality. The Church is one, whether one is physically alive or enjoying eternal life. We are surrounded by millions or possibly billions of God's faithful.