Hey bro daniel.
To add, theirs more to those verses that you posted, that give a clue to what's going on at the end.
The Christians who have a walk with Jesus, are hated by those who are casual with Him.
It reminds me of trying to witness to christians about halloween, christmas, easter, valentines day, tv, rock n roll music, etc, and they get offended at the truth.
Well, this goes without saying. The Joel Olsteens and Kenneth Copelands are easy to spot; it's the subtle ones who are revered by many to be holy men of God, when they are not, are the ones to watch out for.
I know this from experience. It can get so dark out there in the world, that you can grow numb of the evil being done. Don't loose heart and a burden for the lost souls, and the backsliding christians who don't know that they are backslidden!
This verse is one of many that destroy several denominational doctrines. But when it comes down to it, what is this verse plainly saying?
When God draws us to Jesus Christ(
John 6:44), and we surrender our lives to Him(
Romans 10:13, Acts 4:12), that is not the end.
The battle has just begun for the born again Christian.
Simply put, like brother Paul said, it is a race to the end. Paul won that race.(
2 Timothy 4:7)
Paul didn't have it easy. He had trouble with his flesh every single day, and so had to deal with it in the Spirit.(
1 Corinthians 15:31).
The good news is, so can we.
But to do so, we must walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh(
Galatians 5:16, Romans 8:5).
Everybody doesn't do the same thing, nor has the same gifts, in the Body(
1 Corinthians 12:7-31).
Glory to God for His instruction to us! Just plainly read what the Word says.
ADD: Sorry bro Daniel, I didn't mean to hijack your thread with a bible lesson.