Results 361 - 380 of 562
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Results from: Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
361 | Some questions to consider on John 10:10 | John 10:10 | Rowdy | 114499 | ||
I tranposed the following for context: John 10:8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. In this discussion, Jesus is painting a wonderful contrast between himself as the real deal, the actual owner of the sheep as the shepard and the deceiver or imposter, one who claims to be something he's not. We must be on constant guard against such persons who are wolves in sheep's clothing. Their words and actions must be compared to God's Words. When we notice discrepancies between the two, then we must approach the one in disagreement and attempt to correct him, doing so with love and concern for their souls of course. Upon their defiant refusal to turn away from the deceptive ways, they should be marked and avoided. While I was stationed in Greece, I found out some interesting tidbits about sheparding sheep, especially in Bible times. (Thought you might want to know.) In Israel, good shepards were expected to corral their sheep at night, especially when it was cold and they needed to stay warm. During this time, the shepard was expected to literally sleep in the doorway just as is depicted in Jesus parable here in John 10. It makes the story come alive a little more for the reader as the shepard was to give his life in defense of those sheep just as our Perfect Shepard did at the cross. Good questions and God bless. |
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362 | Teaching about Santa Claus? | John 10:10 | Rowdy | 114502 | ||
Dear Pixel, I have to agree with charis. We did basically the same thing with our two boys who are now grown and have their own lives to live. Personally, I think we have precious little time to spend with them as parents. Let them have fun, especially as young as your daughter is. Believe me, once you get as old as I am, you'll wish you had spent far more "pretend" time with her like I do with my boys. God bless your ultimate decision. |
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363 | Thomas being sarcastic or serious? | John 11:16 | Rowdy | 121537 | ||
I'm inspired to say that we should be just as suspicious when someone claims to have miraculous powers of healing and/or speaking in tongues. We should hold up the standard for measuring such feats as we find in the Bible. If their healing doesn't match the same truly miraculous (supernatural) quality of the Bible descriptions of such miracles, we must reject them as being mistaken. They have either decieved the public whom they're serving or even worse they've deceived themselves into believing their own show. The Apostles predicted this age would be filled with false teachers and people who love to claim some special relationship with God but we're commanded to "test the spirits." If Christ Himself stood up and proved Himself; if Paul was challenged time and time again and met that challenge sucessfully, we are obligated to do the same for all such people who claimed to be representing God. For God does NOT represent Himself to be "a house divided" but instead He is One with His Son AND the Holy Spirit. So let all beware, true men and women of God will be expected to follow God's commands and look for the fruit of such people and look for true Godliness. God bless. --Rowdy |
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364 | Sin in the life of a believer? | John 13:10 | Rowdy | 121171 | ||
Cited for reference 1 Jn 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. I understand the Greek word for "clense" above is the active progressive tense, that is in order for us to enjoy this constant clensing action of Jesus blood, we have to remain faithful and in fellowship with God and our fellow christians. Also see Rev 2:10. So it's just a constant state of humility and submission to God's sovreignty and Grace. Nothing we can do can take the place of our daily sacrifice of our will to His every morning and to go to bed at night after repenting of whatever we done not in accordance with God's Will and to repent of whatever we've left undone. God bless. --Rowdy |
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365 | Sin in the life of a believer? | John 13:10 | Rowdy | 121173 | ||
But we do know how to repent to the best of our ability and clear our conscience as best we can, leaving the rest to the Grace of God. I acknowledge all the scriptures that have been given but I must admit, as I've stated before I believe Jesus is going to judge us all by ALL of the Words of the NT. This includes the verses from 1 John 1, Rev 2:10 and 2 Pet 2:22. We enjoy all the benefits as you, Hank and BradK have mentioned if we comply with these other verses as we can't escape them on Judgment Day. Hank, I'm sorry that you see this as being a never ending wash cycle. But how in the world do you think anybody here on earth could possibly qualify for something as good as Heaven otherwise? God bless. --Rowdy |
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366 | Sin in the life of a believer? | John 13:10 | Rowdy | 121222 | ||
Thanks for the encouragement. I just count myself as a broken vessel, kept together only by the Grace of God, and part of a great team here on the Forum. God bless. --Rowdy |
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367 | Sin in the life of a believer? | John 13:10 | Rowdy | 121255 | ||
As a friend, I would only encourage you to consider Hank's words as wise counsel. I read the post in question and it does seem you've come down a little harder than is warrented. When I re-read how incredibly patient our Lord was with his disciples, even after He went to the cross, dying for THEIR sins (as well as yours and mine) these disciples still wanted to make Him an earthly King. So you can see that all of us humans need a great amount of patience and forebearance (that means bear up under). I'm quite certain there are some things in your life of which the Lord is quite ashamed just like there is in my life. It's absolutely ONLY by the Grace of God that any of us make it to Heaven. I don't think any of us even come close to the righteousness as exhibited by Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Melchazidek, the Apostles or any of the other heros in the Bible. Personnaly, I think it's literally impossible because of all the modern distractions of our progressively sinful world, but that's just my opinion. Finally, I would urge you to pray and see if God endorses mine AND Hank's words. I feel sure you'll end up regretting saying those words. I know I did, after the few words of anger and frustration I've posted. I do enjoy sparring with ALL of the Forum's participants, including you so I don't want to see you go. I do hope this message helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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368 | Sin in the life of a believer? | John 13:10 | Rowdy | 121313 | ||
I can only remind you of a few things I didn't include in my previous post. In spite of all the bad stuff Christ went through, there was one single thing that made Him angry and that was the abuse of His Father's Temple so we should align ourselves with our Lord's priorities. Further we can gather much from his parable in Matt 13. There the Lord provides one of His most famous parables about the wheat and the tares growing up together AND He provides a bonus, His very own interpretation so we can't possibly misunderstand. We really must remember that God's Word is subject to interpretation and some people focus on those scriptures that emphasize Grace. Yes, I tend to agree with you on this subject but we must let God's Truths seep into other people's consciences at their own rate of speed. One more point and I'll hush. God's Word is a sword and its power to divide right and wrong should be used judiciously. We also should remember Jesus' last reaction when one of His disciples drew a sword in His prescence. He had Peter put the sword away and healed his victim's ear. God's Word reveals itself to people when they open both their hearts and minds. Our job is to just keep showing God's Truths in our lives so as to reflect that about which they're reading. I do hope you'll reconsider about your position. Usually, it's the bigger person in such a scenario to realize their need to be more like God and be patient like our Father in Heaven. But regardless of your decision or that of the Forum, I pray for God's richest blessings on you during this phase of your life. --Rowdy |
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369 | The Abiding Life | John 15:6 | Rowdy | 133275 | ||
Good post. Upon doing a thorough study of God's Word, one has to draw the conclusion there is definitely some major costs involved in this proposition of discipleship or Christianity. I guess we all realize to some this is not a very attractive proposition. I'm convinced the first and most difficult job for us as christians is to help convince those folks there truly is a God AND that He meant every word in our Bible. Rom 14:11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD." 12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. God bless you in making such a good post to this Forum. Rowdy |
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370 | "You did not choose Me" | John 15:16 | Rowdy | 133190 | ||
In contrast, I would offer the following: John 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?" John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. John 8:35 "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. John 8:36 "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. and Acts 13:38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, Acts 13:39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. There's a lot more scripture on this subject so I encourage you to get the WHOLE picture from God, with special emphasis on the NT. God bless. Rowdy |
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371 | Please explain John 19:27 | John 19:26 | Rowdy | 107918 | ||
I think I might have an answer to your question about Jesus' preference of John over James and His other blood siblings. I think Christ was trying to once again give us another example of a whole new standard for us as humans to follow. You remember Jesus' mother and His brothers thought He was going crazy thus in Matt 12, He lets the world know who His real family was. Remember James and probably his brothers didn't become christians until AFTER Jesus' death and resurrection. I understand this very well because one of my sisters has been a member of another faith for many years in spite of her growing up in the same household with me and the rest of the family. Our father was an elder; my brother is currently a deacon; I was a deacon in a previous congregation. (I've traveled quite a bit.) Don't get me wrong...my sis and I meet several times per year, her house, my house, Dad's house but we don't go to worship together and the subject of religion is taboo between us. So I feel MUCH closer to my own brethren in our congregation than I do to my blood sister. Again, I think this is God's preference in His world which should take precedence to our world. Remember, Christ predicted that His ways would come between family members and we see that every day. We need to get used to seeing things God's way and discard our preferences. |
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372 | Is THE SABBATH ON A SATURDAY | John 20:19 | Rowdy | 109444 | ||
You seem to be omitting a very important detail. Jesus specifically gave the authority to Peter in giving the keys of the kingdom to him before His death. He also specifically instructed the disciples to stay put in Jerusalem until they were to receive the power from Heaven. He predicted the Holy Spirit's coming by calling It the Comforter so we have a clear and specific authorization from the Perfector of Salvation to heed the words of the Apostles. They did a mighty fine job of minimizing the number of restrictions and specific commands to be followed. So the least we can do is follow their example and the little bit of guidance in their epistles, or the New Testament. Don't you think it's better to play it safe and heed those commands rather than take a chance of rejecting those words on Judgement Day. Remember Christ told us His words will judge us on that day. God bless. |
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373 | Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9 contradict each o | Acts | Rowdy | 108417 | ||
Very well done. | ||||||
374 | Does speaking in tongues come naturally? | Acts | Rowdy | 108437 | ||
The history I'm referring to is that of the first couple of hundred years after the death of Christ. The learned folks of that day knew their history preceding their generation just like we know ours. They knew about miracles and where they came from because a few historians recording their happening and their circumstances. The knowledge to which I'm referring is that special dose gifted to a select few, in the same manner as the other miraclous gifts, immediately preceding it. This and all the other miraclous powers could only be bestowed by the Apostles' laying on of hands. So after the death of the Apostles and those blessed with these powers, no one was able to perform these kind of miracles. As you may know this was only way of getting this kind miraclous power was the laying on of hands as shown in Acts 6 and 8. The main purpose of miracles was God's endorsement of the message or Gospel these men were preaching as shown in Acts 5. Now that we have the Bible and secular history recording these facts, we have no need for miracles. I'm always open to discussing this and any other topic of the Bible but let's agree to define miracles in the same manner as they're described in the Bible. That is replacement of body parts, restoring life to the dead after several days of confirmed death or other supernatural acts that are clearly and unquestionably endorsed by God. Maybe we can agree that there is no human being that can claim such wonderful abilities. Let me know what you think. God bless. |
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375 | connection: baptism and holy spirit | Acts | Rowdy | 113544 | ||
Only in an effort to give this discussion some balance, let's not forget Cornelius and his group (in Acts 10) received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the miraculous powers to go with it BEFORE they were baptized and became christians. Thus the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Gospel are two separate relationships. One carries with it miraculous powers and the other does not. The only other way it was imparted unto disciples/ christians was the "the laying of hands" of the Apostles as you've mentioned. Now that we have God's Word in Its complete form, there's no more need for miraculous acts from human beings to confirm Its coming from God. We have historical testimonies from secular historians to document that fact. God bless. |
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376 | Sanctification - set apart FOR God's us? | Acts | Rowdy | 118121 | ||
Well said and Amen! However, I would like to add a thought or two. We should remember James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. This is also part of the sanctification process and I'm thinking this nation is approaching such a time and need of purification. It does seem that God might visit some discipline to us, His children as cited in Heb 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13"Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. God bless all those who study and obey God's Word. --Rowdy |
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377 | who is the number twelve person in 1 Cor | Acts 1:21 | Rowdy | 119891 | ||
Remember this Book was written by Luke who "interviewed" the Apostles and other key folks and of course was guided by the Holy Spirit. So his perspective was from a historical viewpoint; that is, he wrote long after it happened. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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378 | Acts 2:38 Repentance and Baptism? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 110527 | ||
This debate will probably go on till the end of time and we face Judgement Day but I gotta say that once again the attitude of "Better safe than sorry" should prevail in these kind of discussions. When presented with two or more conflicting interpretations, why would a person want to take a chance and regret the wrong choice all through eternity? It seems relatively clear to me that baptism is required, especially when you get a clear picture from Paul's Letter to the Romans, Chapter 6. There, it is clear baptism represents the burial that Christ went through and from which He was resurrected. It's there we contact the life-saving blood of Jesus through faith and rise up a new creature. There's just too many scriptures leading me to believe this conclusion in spite of the discussion of Greek grammar which is difficult to fully comprehend even by the scholars. I don't think I would want to take a chance and face the wrath of God on such questionable evidence. I would beg of you to keep studying and make up your own mind. It's important, at least to God and His Son. And I still pray for God's blessing on ALL of you. |
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379 | Acts 2:38 Repentance and Baptism? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 110546 | ||
I too enjoy reading your stimulating messages and appreciate your knowledge of the Word but I'm afraid I must stand by my original statement. In support of that, I can only say there are just as many scholars with PhDs on both sides of this controversy. The fact is that the Koine Greek is no longer spoken or written anywhere in the world. (Ironic isn't it...so our Father wants us to accept Him on His terms on faith. That means we can't know absolutely with such certain evidence that we could prove it in a court of man's law.) Anyway, the bottom line boils down to what is meant by "Better safe than sorry," just like Mommaphs and I have been discussing. In this particular scenario, I'm contrasting the two views of being saved with or without baptism. Some people think that too much emphasis is placed on this single point but it's not our emphasis, it's God's. He sent His Son to take our place on that cross and He gets to dictate the terms of His Last Will and Testament. The Holy Spirit is the executor and bestows the gift of salvation to those who qualify, those who accept the terms and obey God's commands in order to please Him. In Mark 16, Jesus Himself commissioned his disciples to teach everything He taught them to the whole world. He said he who believes and is baptized is saved...I know you're going to quote the rest of the verse back to me about the missing word "baptize" in that latter phrase. But don't you see, if a person doesn't believe there's no need to mention baptizing to him. It's illustrated as follows: If a man wants to live, he must consume nourishment and digest it into his body. If a man doesn't ingest that food or nourishment somehow, there's no need to discuss digestion, he will simply die. We see this kind of consummation of relationships throughout the world. When does a man and woman actually get married in the eyes of the world, at least here in America. It's the point they both say "I do" and not before. When does a person actually receive the gift from his dead benefactor, after he's completed ALL the requirements as provided in that will. Throughout the NT, we see many scriptures on this subject of baptism. It's done for the remission of sins, it represents the burial of Jesus as I stated earlier. There's just too much emphasis from God's Word to ignore this conclusion, at least for me. But one last item and I'll hush at least for now. Let's take the two different views to their ultimate conclusion (and utlimately Judgement Day): 1) my view as I've stated above with the conclusion that all who have been baptized are indeed in God's family. And 2) your view that one can be saved without baptism. With the latter view, one goes to God with His faith in the words, the grammar and Greek as has been discussed. But God asks "But did you obey?" like I instructed you. Remember, God's words through the phrophet Samuel, "It is better to obey God than to make sacrifice." That's what I mean with the phrase "Better safe than sorry." Please think about all this and pray about it. God bless. |
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380 | Acts 2:38 Repentance and Baptism? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 110622 | ||
Thanks for the encouragement. I'll let you have the last word. Do keep studying my friend. Hope to see you in Heaven. | ||||||
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