John3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”"
Heb.10:24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. (WEB)
These two quotes from scripture can feel odd together but in reality, it is always important to remember that the Bible has one author and about forty scribes that recorded the words of God. With that knowledge in hand it is reasonable and understandable to say that no portion of scripture can be understood without the light of all scripture shinning on it.
My point? There are hundreds of millions that believe they are saved for a multitude of reasons when there is only one reason anyone is ever saved and that has nothing to do with ourselves. Although there are many that argue against the truth, that does not make it untrue and the truth is that Jesus, the man without sin, died for our sins.
Oh, great... everyone is going to Heaven! No! Jesus, God in the flesh of a man, taught that many are called but few are saved. (Matt. 7:13 – 15) In fact there are now and there have always been many False Prophets. If a man or a woman does not read the scriptures, on a regular basis, they will never come to understand that the Word of God, the Bible, is living and vibrant. Every time I read the scriptures, from Genesis through the Revelation, I have new mysteries revealed to me by the Holy Spirit.
Now, there I go upsetting folks. A Proff. at a Seminary who was also a Pastor told me not to hand him that Holy Ghost c__p! And as I have made this journey for the past 21 years, I have encountered a large number of people that have no idea of what or who the Holy Gost/Holy Spirit is, in Church and out of Church. That is a distressing point and needs to be examined. The scriptures teach us that when Jesus ascended to be with the Father that His Disciples were overcome/indwelt with the Spirit of God and in the Book of the Acts we see people that are saved are also indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Based on this teaching of the Bible, I do not feel out of line judging folks, as per Matt. 7, and asking them to do a Spiritual Inventory of themselves.
Some of them will find that they were indwelt with the Holy Spirit, the moment they were saved, and have been disobedient by quenching the Spirit. (1Thes. 5:19) These are Carnal Christians but the bulk of all people will find that they are not saved and need to take care of the business. Have You?
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Baptism
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
The above words were not, at first, understood by Nicodemus and they are almost never understood by the world today. Jesus was teaching a Religious Leader of the Jews of His time here on Earth. Nicodemus understood the concept of Birth by the Water and most men and all women should easily relate to that breaking of the water as the natural birth. What Nick missed was the Spiritual Birth and he wanted to know how could it be that a man should come forth from his mother the second time.
The young men of today, having received an inferior Education to those of us taught in the past are not able to grasp the context of a paragraph or a chapter today because there is this Fool´s Education built on Rote Memory instead of teaching them to learn how to learn, allowing them the ability to think intelligently. In the case of this passage there is a scholar from the past that wrote Matthew Henry´s Concise Commentary on the Bible and when we look at his work on the third chapter of John, the flow of the text becomes very clear.
If we pay strict attention to the text we see right away that Nick understood that Jesus was talking about being born a second time and when He used the water and compared it to the Spirit, that is exactly what He spoke of. The water birth occurs when the mother´s water breaks and has nothing to do with Salvation. That must come later in life after one realizes their sinful condition and can repent of it.
Folks that are not to sharp on contextual flow, often, make the mistake of concluding that Jesus meant that a man must be baptized for the remission of sins but it is the turning away from one´s sin to follow God (Acts 3:19) that brings about God´s forgiveness, resulting in our Salvation. If a man or a woman will spend about $25 for a hardbound copy of the Nave´s Topical and do the study on Baptism they will clearly see that those teaching Baptismal Remission of sin are wrong, the Bible says so!
I do not hope to ruffle feathers but I do hope to cause study here. God bless!
The above words were not, at first, understood by Nicodemus and they are almost never understood by the world today. Jesus was teaching a Religious Leader of the Jews of His time here on Earth. Nicodemus understood the concept of Birth by the Water and most men and all women should easily relate to that breaking of the water as the natural birth. What Nick missed was the Spiritual Birth and he wanted to know how could it be that a man should come forth from his mother the second time.
The young men of today, having received an inferior Education to those of us taught in the past are not able to grasp the context of a paragraph or a chapter today because there is this Fool´s Education built on Rote Memory instead of teaching them to learn how to learn, allowing them the ability to think intelligently. In the case of this passage there is a scholar from the past that wrote Matthew Henry´s Concise Commentary on the Bible and when we look at his work on the third chapter of John, the flow of the text becomes very clear.
If we pay strict attention to the text we see right away that Nick understood that Jesus was talking about being born a second time and when He used the water and compared it to the Spirit, that is exactly what He spoke of. The water birth occurs when the mother´s water breaks and has nothing to do with Salvation. That must come later in life after one realizes their sinful condition and can repent of it.
Folks that are not to sharp on contextual flow, often, make the mistake of concluding that Jesus meant that a man must be baptized for the remission of sins but it is the turning away from one´s sin to follow God (Acts 3:19) that brings about God´s forgiveness, resulting in our Salvation. If a man or a woman will spend about $25 for a hardbound copy of the Nave´s Topical and do the study on Baptism they will clearly see that those teaching Baptismal Remission of sin are wrong, the Bible says so!
I do not hope to ruffle feathers but I do hope to cause study here. God bless!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Where Do You Stand?
Phil. 4:19 And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (ASV)
When I became a Christian in 1990, I was riding a bicycle with slick tires ten miles to and from work in the rainy winter of that year, I had not a dime to tithe. But I did, not understanding the tithe I took ten per cent of what was in my pockets and I gave it. I came to understand the tithe better as I studied and today I do not even keep track of all I give and much is given anomalously so that there is no record.
Before that first month was over I was driving myself to and from work and all my bills were being paid in spite of my tithing what I did not have the ability to tithe. Can you out give God? Absolutely not!
According to the News, I am about to be devastated by the possible collapse of my countries government and yet, I cannot find it in myself to be concerned. I am 100% disabled and my wife was forced into retirement so that every dime we have to live on comes from the government... but I know better than that! Everything, not just my money, comes form my God! My God is the one that created everything we see and feel by speaking it into existence, there is no-one as rich as He is and without Him I have nothing but with Him I can stand firmly on my life verse, Psa. 23:1 The LORD is my Shepard and ¨I shall not want.¨
Christianity is a very proactive faith and without that faith, you are lost!
When I became a Christian in 1990, I was riding a bicycle with slick tires ten miles to and from work in the rainy winter of that year, I had not a dime to tithe. But I did, not understanding the tithe I took ten per cent of what was in my pockets and I gave it. I came to understand the tithe better as I studied and today I do not even keep track of all I give and much is given anomalously so that there is no record.
Before that first month was over I was driving myself to and from work and all my bills were being paid in spite of my tithing what I did not have the ability to tithe. Can you out give God? Absolutely not!
According to the News, I am about to be devastated by the possible collapse of my countries government and yet, I cannot find it in myself to be concerned. I am 100% disabled and my wife was forced into retirement so that every dime we have to live on comes from the government... but I know better than that! Everything, not just my money, comes form my God! My God is the one that created everything we see and feel by speaking it into existence, there is no-one as rich as He is and without Him I have nothing but with Him I can stand firmly on my life verse, Psa. 23:1 The LORD is my Shepard and ¨I shall not want.¨
Christianity is a very proactive faith and without that faith, you are lost!
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