Results 241 - 260 of 562
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Results from: Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
241 | Treasure? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120218 | ||
You make several good points. The main and most important benefit or reward here on earth resulting from being in God's family is the peace and tranquility we get in spite of living and working in a world filled with lost sinners and much Godlessness. Now concerning "storing up treasures in Heaven," I do think God expects us to do everything in our power to spread His Good News of His Son's offering salvation to the whole world. And I think we'll be better able to appreciate whatever reward we get ultimately in Heaven; I'm just not sure how to describe that reward with specifics. I don't think the Bible is very clear with its description of this reward. Revelation is filled to overflowing with pictures of heaven with reference to streets of gold and mansions of wonderful jewels and costly stones but personally I think this is all figurative, especially for the first century christians. But all of humans have a great tendancy to think in finite terms as that's all we can comprehend completely. So God has great difficulty in describing exactly what He's got in store for us, but whatever it is, it's going to be greater than any of us could possibly imagine. My last point: I'm thankful to God that none of this controversy is going to matter very much as long as we put our faith in Him, His Son and the Perfect Sacrifice that Jesus performed for us on that cross. Overall the Bible seems very clear: IF we've complied with the terms and conditions of Jesus' Last Will and Testament, we qualify to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and go home to God the Father. True enough, there's absolutely nothing that you or I can do to earn this coveted reward. We just show proof just like the separation of the sheep and goats. There it's very evident who's who and what's really inside a person life: devotion to God or a choice to follow the devil. Is our name in the Book of Life? How can we be certain? Put our talents to work for Him as plainly portrayed in Jesus' parable of the talents. How can we be certain we'll get into the gate at the final showing of the bridegroom? By studying God's Word and staying in constant prayer to God, keeping God's light brightly shining throughout the world in our lives, as described in Jesus' parable of the ten virgins. I hope this clarifies my statement. God bless. --Rowdy |
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242 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120230 | ||
So, are we in agreement? Your post above seems to be drawing the same conclusion as my post 120228. Just wanted to make certain. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
243 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120253 | ||
In my mind, it all boils down to a matter of attitude. We are the branches while the Lord Jesus Christ is the main vine. Seems like a pretty simple concept. We must prove our alligence to Him as our true Lord and Master. We can't just say Lord, Lord but we must model our lives after that wonderful example we see in Him, and His Apostles. They literally used up their lives, in service and devotion. We should and must do the same. HOWEVER, we CANNOT take the attitude that any of these deeds of kindness can earn our way to Heaven; that's why we must do them in complete meekness and total humility just like our Lord shows us with every fiber of His Being. Nothing we could possibly do, even if we fill up our lives with these good deeds could make up for the life of sin of which we're all guility. That attitude of total humility should come out in these acts of kindness and service to the world. The world can tell when a person is doing these kind of acts for his own purpose. People like this won't care who gets the credit. As a matter of fact, a true christian will prefer to stay in the background and continue to be more effective. Jesus found out once you show the world you've got something they (the world) want like healing of sickness and diseases, they clamour about you and hamper your progress in meeting your goals. But He had such wonderful compassion and love, He felt compelled to give away all his powers of healing, literally exhausting His human body. Why don't you take another look at the book of James and come up with specific scriptures that speak to his points about a live and active faith, one that proves itself in our lives like those folks did in the two centuries? How does works negate faith...it doesn't. They go hand in hand. For example: Why do you continue to post statements on this Forum, reflecting your faith in God's Word? Why do continue to go to worship with your fellow members? Why do you continue to partake of the Lord's Supper every Sunday? If you've got Grace working for you, why sweat it? Just sit back and coast on into Heaven. So please tell me the answers to these questions. I do appreciate your responding to my posts so that I'm not unclear to you, anyone else or mislead anyone. God bless. --Rowdy |
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244 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120278 | ||
I knew you guys were going to tackle this subject but I was hoping you were going to address all the points in my post. The major loose ends you left dangling are: 1) The Book of James, the famous straw epistle of Martin Luther. Even he had to admit the thorny concept of works demanded by this book in conjunction with the Grace of God. How do you reconcile these concepts? 2) Why do the acts of kindness as commanded by Jesus in Matt 25? Why should we if we're absolutely assured of going to Heaven as per your teaching or interpretation of Grace without works? 3) Why should we bother with our talents as commanded by Christ in His parable of the three men, 5 talents, 2 and 1 talents? 4) What is the implied meaning of the parable of the ten virgins? Why should we maintain anything in particular with regard to our spiritual growth? 5) Why should we grow as encouraged by Paul? See below. When we could remain as babes in Christ, with less burden and less responsibilities? Eph 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. 6) Why should we bother to add the fruits of the Spirit to our lives (Gal 5:22) in our journey to Heaven which has been absolutely promised to us with no strings attached? 7) Why should we bother forgiving our enemies or our brother for that matter if they keep on sinning and making our lives miserable in spite of Christ's teaching in Matt 18:21-22? I threw in a few extra points as you may of noticed but you can handle it, right? This concept of Grace is all comprehensive, right? Any of you folks (Hank, Mommapbs and BradK or anyone else on the Forum) can feel free to answer the questions but I am looking for responses to all of them. I do hope God will bless you all with an open mind in this endeavor. --Rowdy |
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245 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120283 | ||
I was really counting on your responding to my post no 120278. I was just thinking of the different ways a person might respond and I was thinking of my response. I'm really looking forward to our discussion. Please do think about it and God bless you, dear friend. --Rowdy | ||||||
246 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120318 | ||
I guess you can call me dense but I don't see how Rom 6 and 2 Cor 5:17 provide answers to the points in my post on this subject. Apparently, you don't wish to tackle my points, all in the same response. How about if we break them down say two at a time? How about if we start with the following: 1) Please explain to me how your interpretation of Grace from God with no strings attached, no need for works is reconciled with Jesus' very own earthly brother, James' teaching on this subject? Ref James 2. 2) Please explain to me how God on Judgment Day will distinguish between the sheep and goats, (christians and non-believers) without works of any kind? Ref Matt 25. Remember, even the Devil believes in the Lord. In answer to your questions: 1) Yes, I believe very emphatically that the saving Grace of God is the ONLY thing that stands in the way between all of us and Hell as our eternal doom. BUT I also believe in the Words of our Lord when He said He would judge the world on Judgment Day by His Words which includes His delegation of some authority to His appointed Apostles. Also, He promised the Comforter or the Holy Spirit would lead them and It lead them to provide us with the balance of the NT, God's Word. So we'll be judged by the WHOLE NT. I'm not able to explain the actual mechanics of how Grace and works blend together; I just know our Father will be looking for both in our lives as His children. 2) I'll have to admit "better safe than sorry" is a modern, man-made designation. What would you call the concept where God sets the example of forgiving us over and over again? We supposed to follow that example and forgive our enemies and our brethren over and over. BUT now that we're assured of our home in Heaven, we don't have to bother. IF a brother can't get his act together, grow up and stop sinning (sins and repents over and over again), we'll just kick him out of the church and send him somewhere else. We don't have to put up with that kind of extra burden and headache, we've got Heaven to anticipate. No need to make certain of anything, we've been assured by Grace. You tell me, is there something wrong with this scenario? I do hope you'll respond in kind and answer my questions above and of course provide scriptures in support. As always, I open up the whole line of discussions for Forum-wide participation. This should result in some really good productive discussions. God bless you all. --Rowdy |
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247 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120322 | ||
I just looked briefly over both of your two posts in response. It's going to take a little more time to digest it all which I'll do and will attempt a more thorough response but meanwhile... Please forgive me but I scanned for a response to my two main points from James 2 and Matt 25 and didn't see anything specifically addressing those points. Did I miss them? If so, I'll see them upon my more thorough review. IF by chance you didn't respond to those specific points, I was hoping to get your "chop" on those two topics. I guess you've already noticed my statement that I'm not contesting the idea that God's Grace does save us but it's our works that prove that we have that faith in us as described in James 2. Of course, after doing all this study from Mr. Karleen's Handbook, you're entitled to a break, so just let me know. Thanks and God bless. --Rowdy. |
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248 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120334 | ||
I appreciate your open hearted and honest response to Point 1 from James 2. Do you have or are you working on your reply to Point 2 from Matt 25. Good discussion as I forecasted. Anyone else? God bless you all. --Rowdy |
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249 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120340 | ||
Thank you, dear friend. I couldn't agree with you more. Amen, Amen, more power to you. Yes, that's exactly what I've been saying all along. Yes, indeed, Grace and ONLY Grace can possibly save us from our sins for we've all sinned and can't possibly do a thing about that. Now we can accept God's saving Grace, by following the plan of salvation as has been discussed before. Thus we clothe ourselves with Christ, covering ourselves with our sinful ways and approach God in prayer. And after receiving that gift of the Holy Spirit, the saving of our souls, we should feel so endebted to our Lord that we should shout His Name from the mountain tops. But He settles for our being kind to the poor, the widows, the orphans, forgiving our neighbors, our enemies and other acts of kindness as we see demonstrated by His Son and the Apostles throughout our Bible. Yes, these acts of kindness (and our attempts to kick sin out of our lives) proves we are His children thus we receive the seal of approval and enter into our Father's eternal rest in Heaven. I'm so glad you agree. God bless you. --Rowdy |
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250 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120367 | ||
Tim and Emmanus, I thought of a few more scriptures that seem to emphasize my and Tim's point, from Jesus Himself: John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. If you remember this illustration, God's depicting us, His children as His vineyard is a very constant, recurring theme throughout the prophets in the OT. Here our Lord makes it very clear, if we're not a part of an active, living and productive portion of God's vineyard producing fruit of Godliness in our lives, we'll be rejected. I don't see how anyone or the Bible could be any clearer on this subject. I'm going to copy this message to Hank and BradK and get their response. And yes, I think Tim is right on target about the equation as he puts it. However, I also think it's very important that we accept God's offer of salvation on His terms, but I guess that's another subject we can tackle at a later date. God bless. --Rowdy |
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251 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120368 | ||
Hank and BradK, I just posted this note to Tim and Emmanus. Just wanted to make sure you saw it. I thought of a few more scriptures that seem to emphasize my and Tim's point, from Jesus Himself: John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. If you remember this illustration, God's depicting us, His children as His vineyard is a very constant, recurring theme throughout the prophets in the OT. Here our Lord makes it very clear, if we're not a part of an active, living and productive portion of God's vineyard producing fruit of Godliness in our lives, we'll be rejected. I don't see how anyone or the Bible could be any clearer on this subject. I'm going to copy this message to Hank and BradK and get their response. And yes, I think Tim is right on target about the equation as he puts it. However, I also think it's very important that we accept God's offer of salvation on His terms, but I guess that's another subject we can tackle at a later date. God bless. --Rowdy |
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252 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120376 | ||
I'm all for active listening and confirmation of understanding whenever possible. Let's reverse the scenario for a moment. Say, I or anyone else does a self-inspection (soul searching) and concludes he/she isn't doing quite enough in response to our God's love which really should happen almost every day above ground. If we determine that our talents are not being utilized to the fullest potential, we should do some shopping and try something else. Read God's Word with special emphasis in this area, i.e. fruits of the spirit, James or Matt 25 and other key areas of the Bible for "inspiration" or ideas. Basically we should be compelled to do everything we can to fulfill our part of that vineyard. We should make certain our heart and mind are completely humble and submissive to God's Will. We could always ask the senior members in our congregation, like the elders and deacons what areas of the Lord's church in their opinion could use another warm body and see if our talents and interests lie in that particular branch of the vine. As long as we ARE in fact doing everything we can to be productive and fruitful for the Lord, then His Grace will cover the rest. One of the most neglected areas I like to try to tackle is that ministry of Barnabas, referred to as encouraging christians in their trials and tribulations. Yes, again, I say Amen! Our salvation is NOT based on ANY thing we can do. Our Lord does it all BUT like I said, IF we look back on our lives and don't see some fruit of His Godliness in our lives, how can we expect Him to see it on Judgment Day? I'm thinking maybe this whole controversy with Hank, BradK and everyone else dealing with this subject is based on the word "works." Maybe it's a translation thing, I'm not sure. But I'm convinced like you that we can't possibly earn our way to Heaven but I'm also convinced we can't go to Heaven unless we've done everything in our power and truly gave it our best effort to be fruitful and productive in the Lord's vineyard, His church here on earth. So again, I guess it boils down to our attitude. Does this clear up the questions you had? I hope so. God bless. --Rowdy |
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253 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120377 | ||
Amen, dear friend. Preach on! God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
254 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120381 | ||
I think I can say Amen to everything you've said here. I'd just like to reiterate verse 6 is a very, very important part of this whole concept Jn 15:6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Hopefully, this should motivate all those who truly are seeking after the Lord, like a live plant seeking after sunlight. IF that portion (person) of the vine is NOT seeking after God's light, then he/she is cut off (at Judgment Day) and cast into the fire. This is very plain and clear? Is it not? God bless. --Rowdy |
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255 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120387 | ||
It's only a done deal if we're actually drawing nearer to God as He draws us nearer to Him. Remember the guidance from 1 John; we must maintain that fellowship in God's light AND our fellow brethren in God's family. Also, we must die or meet the Lord's return with a completely guilt free conscience. If we're in prayer constantly or as much as humanly possible and repent of our shortcomings as much as possible, then of course God's Grace will cover us. I hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy PS: Do you have a response to the other points in my recent posts? Nos 120368 and 120278 |
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256 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120392 | ||
Please tell me how do you reconcile this interpretation of Grace with all the other points and scriptures on my posts, 120368 and 120278. Do you honestly think God is going to admit such a person into Heaven who becomes a christian but does nothing and goes to Judgment Day, crying "Lord, Lord, I obeyed you and became a christian?" Please explain this to me. God bless. --Rowdy |
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257 | If you see with God's eyes... | Matt 6:22 | Rowdy | 122110 | ||
This verse 22 is part of an introduction to Jesus' main point in this chapter which is Matt 6:31 "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' 32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Thus if we've got our priorities aligned with those of our God and Father, He will lead us and show us how to find this true light in His Son, the author of all life and happiness in this dispensation. I hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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258 | grace on the cross | Matt 8:4 | Rowdy | 118266 | ||
I'm not sure of what you're asking but I'm going to give it a shot. From Adam's graduation from the Garden of Eden until the issuance of the Law of Moses, mankind was expected to live and die and will be judged in Heaven by how well they "obeyed" their conscience. The Law of Moses was applicable only to the nation of Israel and the ocassional Gentile that became an Israelite as in Ruth's case. This was the system that all Jews will be judged from its issuance until the first Gospel sermon alluded to earlier in Acts 2. Since that day until now and on through to the last day of this world's existence, the NT will be the standard by which we're all judged and that's IF we know about its existance through a knowledge of His Word. Throughout all 3 of these phases, if a person lives and dies without a knowledge of God's Will or His Word, he'll be judged without that standard but instead he/she will be judged by the first standard, that is our conscience. This is part of the image that God installed in all His creation of human beings, the sense of right and wrong that is whispered to us by our conscience. And yes, I like to think God's grace and His mercy will play a part in all three of God's systems of law, described herein. As you may have gathered by now, a lot of this is drawn as conclusions after a lifetime of Bible study and experience. It would be difficult (if not impossible) to call up scriptures to support every point made here but I do want to strongly emphasize that I AM definitely basing all this on the Bible. What do you think? God bless. --Rowdy |
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259 | Demons? Today? | Matt 8:31 | Rowdy | 109448 | ||
This is one issue I have to respond with no Bible basis specifically to support my conclusion. In my humble opinion, I put this topic in the same category with other miracles, faith healing, etc. I don't believe there are actually persons today walking around with demons taking possession of their body. I think this is possibly what is meant in Revelation by binding the Devil for 1,000 years with the 1,000 just representing this whole dispensation, between Christ's death and the end of the world. However, I don't want to give the impression of a closed mind so let's see some really absolute proof of a demon possessed person. Can they perform some supernatural act that cannot possibly be questioned as being anything else other than supernatural like that portrayed below? Mark 5:4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Luke 8:29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Now, don't get me wrong. I know about Peter's warning in 1 Pet 5 but I don't think that means anything different demons actually taking possession of human beings. We do need to heed Peter's words and respect the Devil, very much so. But I think the Devil tempts us directly and invites us into his world and disguises the consequences. If we can see an actual demonstration of such a person being possessed, then I'll get much, much closer to believing in this practice. What do you think? Do we have any takers? Remember, keep studying and God bless. |
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260 | Hungering and thirsting f/righteousness? | Matt 9:38 | Rowdy | 119501 | ||
Thanks for your note. It's just tough to take sometimes. Being patient with folks is a full-time job. God bless you, dear friend. --Rowdy | ||||||
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