Results 401 - 420 of 562
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Results from: Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
401 | Baptism-What Does the Bible Teach? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 133996 | ||
I would refer you to my recent Post No 133984 and the one just under it to Tim Moran. I'm convinced that baptism is required of all who want to be assured of their salvation before Judgment Day. Also, I would refer you to the sum total picture from the 87 verses on the matter of baptism found throughout the NT. After reading all these posts and the 87 verses, I'd be interested in discussing with you your response. God bless. Rowdy |
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402 | why is Acts 2:44 not practiced today | Acts 2:44 | Rowdy | 107713 | ||
After looking at this question and some of the answers, I have to agree with some of the answers and disagree with others. Why do we not have this kind of oneness, "one mind, one faith, one baptism, etc?" Basically because we as human beings become lazy and complacent with our faith. We all need to become more like the Bereans and study; testing and proving all believers/teachers to come in our midst. If their words aren't in accordance with God's word, then there's bascially two responses: 1)teach them as Annanias and Saphira did Stephen or 2)upon verifying that they're not interested in following God's word, pray with them and for them to see the error of their ways. Remember, Christ put down the Pharisees and Saducees for this same kind of problem. They had become leaders of their people and built up tremendous amounts of additional teaching, some of which altered and perverted God's will. Example: Corban, the practice of getting out of taking care of their parents by giving this financial support to some special account for God's sake. Like Samuel said to Saul: It is better to obey God than to make sacrifice. The way God sees it: we're just making that "sacrifice" to suit our purposes and really get away with some kind of sin in our lives. In summary, I believe it is very much possible for God's people everywhere in the world to agree on the oneness of Christianity if we identify all the proper limitations of God's word. In other words, "speak where the Bible speaks and be silent when the Bible is silent" and allow for different ways of doing those things. Now, you may say I sound ultra-conservative but believe me there are a multitude of people I call brethren that are far more conservative and some far more liberal than me. So I like to think I'm somewhere in the middle. The most important item to take from all this discussion (in my opinion) is to remember God's top priority is to follow His ultimate example of love (His Son) and give Him the glory. I'd be genuinely interested in your response. | ||||||
403 | why is Acts 2:44 not practiced today | Acts 2:44 | Rowdy | 107715 | ||
I'm afraid I goofed on quoting Bible characters in referring to Annanias and Saphira. (What a sap!) By now, you've probably figured I really meant to refer to Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos in Acts 18. | ||||||
404 | How often must we die and be born again? | Acts 8:22 | Rowdy | 118116 | ||
I can only respond with scripture as follows: 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. This seems pretty clear to me but basically it means as long as we established and accepted that initial gift of salvation as cited in Acts 2:38, then our biggest obstacle keeping us out of Heaven thereafter is our own human tendancy to keep sinning (either omission of good deeds or an ocassional slip and some sinful action). We must recognize this tendancy in ourselves hourly or at least daily and be constantly ready for Christ's return as depicted in the marriage feast parable with ten virgins. Your response? --Rowdy |
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405 | Favoritism? | Acts 10:34 | Rowdy | 119156 | ||
You're welcome! I'm just a very small part of a great team here at the Forum. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
406 | Was cornelius saved by spirit | Acts 11:15 | Rowdy | 113590 | ||
Just wanted to give this thread some balance. Acts 8:18, 1 Tim 5:22, 2 Tim 1:6 and Heb 6 make it very clear that all the Apostles had the ability to bestow a miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit by laying on of hands. God bless. | ||||||
407 | What about christian as a name? | Acts 11:26 | Rowdy | 131430 | ||
I'm sorry, I forgot to sign off with my name but I posted this article to the Forum. That's what you get when you in a rush. Mr. Graham actually authored the article in a christian publication. God bless. Rowdy |
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408 | What is Biblical Chruch Government? | Acts 14:23 | Rowdy | 110311 | ||
I have been an active member in many different congregations of the Lord's Body, around the country and around the world. I was a deacon in one congregation for four years. I have served in congregations, both with elders and deacons and those without. There's not any specific scripture that be called upon to support my statement so I'll call it common sense inferred from the God's intent I see in His Word. I believe God really does want us to mature as individual christians and collectively as congregations where we see the urgent need for elders and deacons. (It's my belief that you can't have one without the other, that is "elders AND deacons.") Having traveled as much as I have and seen and experienced the amount of pain and heartache I've seen in my lifetime, I now know at least a little bit of the reasons why our Lord set up this pattern of government in His Body, the church. We humans, especially Americans, have a great tendency to be individuals, think, speak and do things as an individual. But we come together as a part of the Lord's church, we need to humble ourselves to follow God's pattern. In the Bible, we see the separate congregations at least per city were totally independent and autonomous with each other. Although the elders consult with each other on tough decisions like we see in Acts 15, this is the highest form government we see in NT. And they had a miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit helping them. After installing elders in a congregation, they should be followed with complete humility and submission. The only time any decision should be questioned is if it goes counter with God's Word and not in just one man's opinion but it should be confirmed with at least one other man's opinion with specific scripture to support that conclusion. I suppose almost everyone on this Forum knows about the qualifications from the Bible for elders and deacons. But just in case, they're in 1 Tim 3. It should be understood without saying but I gotta say it anyway: It's paramount that these qualifications be followed to the best of our ability. It's those qualifications that equip our elders and deacons to do the very important job they do. It's also very, very important that elders and deacons do their jobs with this utmost in their minds. They'll all be judged to a higher standard on God's Judgement Day and that everything they do should reflect glory to God and God's love to man. In other words, these men should love all mankind to a high degree and realize how humbling the appointment of this office should be. We must buffet our spiritual bodies just like the Apostle Paul did to keep ourselves humble but this practice is paramount with elders and deacons. As I see it, following God's pattern in His Word is one of the secrets to preventing a lot of mistakes and helps toward long-term, successful life of the church. That's why divorce between husband and wife in the Lord's church is getting to be a problem throughout the church. We all need to aspire to grow in faith, maturity and understanding of God's will. This includes our aspirations to be teachers, deacons and yes, even elders. If we're not growing in this manner, then we must look inward and find out why. Soul-searching and constant re-evaluation is a very good thing to do as far as God is concerned. Now you might be asking about overseers, bishops, shepards and pastors. In the Greek language, the Bible writers were referring to the same person, as elders. The word prophet is one that means our modern day preacher or minister. Well, that's my two cents worth. Let's hear from you folks. God bless us all. |
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409 | why did paul and barnabas fall out | Acts 15:38 | Rowdy | 123107 | ||
Why indeed? Why would there a "falling out" between any two men of God? Apparently Paul was at a different stage in his life and had a very dedicated focus. He knew exactly what he had to do and I think he had an idea he had a relatively short time to do it in. Mark on the other hand was young and could expect a longer lifetime. He didn't have the drive or the Holy Spirit urging him toward the same urgent (almost obsessive) goal as his mentor Paul. Instead of emphasizing that this parting of the ways happened, I rejoice in the fact that God's Word recorded it for us as an example that christians can choose to go our separate ways when we determine it's best while both (or all of us) can and must obey God, even when we choose to obey Him with our own distinctive personalities. I'm NOT saying that we can dictate terms to our Lord. I am saying that the particular way we execute that obedience can take us in many different directions. I think the Lord has a special set of goals distinctive to each of us but we're united in following the same Master, right? This also makes sense since He gives us each our own distinctive set of talents to serve Him. I also rejoice in the fact that late in Paul's life, he and Mark had re-established their closeness as brethren for the Lord as cited in 2 Tim 4:11. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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410 | why did paul and barnabas fall out | Acts 15:38 | Rowdy | 123125 | ||
I misread the question. It's probably obvious to most everyone but just in case... It is my opinion that Paul and Barnabas parted ways as a direct result of the disagreement between Paul and Mark. Remember Barnabas was the encourager AND was an uncle to Mark. When he saw that Paul (whom he had sided with at an earlier time Acts 11:25-26) had progressed in spiritual maturity to the point he decide to "mentor" young Mark. Sorry for the misdirection, hope this clarifies. God bless. --Rowdy |
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411 | Elder meetings? Open or clsed? Prf txt? | Acts 20:17 | Rowdy | 117616 | ||
I don't think there is any specific guidance as to how the elders should conduct their meetings so their style of meetings apparently has been established over the centuries. The only scripture I can possibly think might apply would be the one about the golden rule. So, the elders would wisely choose to have an open meeting with the whole congregation to discuss those topics that apply to the whole and those private matters need to be discussed in private with only the parties actually involved. At least, that's the way it's done where we're members. What do you think? God bless. |
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412 | Acts23 | Acts 23:6 | Rowdy | 114784 | ||
I too have studied this subject quite a bit in the best and it does seem that Paul was not married. I don't know for certain about the requirement to become a Pharisee. The one tidbit I'd like to add to this discussion (for balance) that this guidance about leaving a spouse should apply to either the husband or the wife. Both are bound by the same guidance. Our God is chauvenistic in the ladies participation in our worship assemblies and in their role of following the man dominated leadership of the church. BUT God is NOT chauvenistic about marriage, divorce or separation. He intends for all marriages to last for a lifetime and expects us to treat the marriage break up (when it does happen) without bias to sex. |
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413 | What is WWJD ? | Rom 1:15 | Rowdy | 109823 | ||
I think I could certainly support both questions. WIJD is a good question to ask when we first get up and start our day. Then WWJD would be a good strategy to ask ourselves when we find ourselves being tempted or in questionable position. What do you think? God bless all who participate on this forum. I hope everyone, including those don't seem to fully appreciate the forum will grow in their maturity and come to realize God's Word really is the absolute best in this industry of religious discussions. | ||||||
414 | The Reformation | Rom 1:17 | Rowdy | 122862 | ||
In contrast, I would at least put an equal amount of value, and importance on the Restoration. The Reformation was a good basis to start but as you have stated it didn't go far enough or place the proper amount of glory and emphasis on following God's Word no matter what. The Restoration completed that process and encouraged mankind everywhere to give the proper respect to the whole Bible with the attitude that God's church in the first century was perfect. We should aspire to imitate Christ as Paul did and then maybe we can get a little closer to God's idea of a mature church in this age. Appreciate your contribution to this topic. God bless you, dear friend. --Rowdy |
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415 | The Reformation | Rom 1:17 | Rowdy | 122905 | ||
I can only refer you to history my friend on the first two questions. Regarding question 3, I can only refer you to the other recent posts, same subject. As I've stated before, I do agree with your statement that God's church was perfect. It's us, mankind that messes things up in this world. God bless. --Rowdy |
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416 | The Reformation | Rom 1:17 | Rowdy | 122929 | ||
I appreciate the sentiment of your post. I too do believe very strongly in the actions of the good men who tried to reform the Catholic organization and failed. It might be instructive to mention at this juncture that Martin Luther NEVER meant to start the Lutheran church. As a matter of fact he pleaded with his followers NOT to do so. Thus we see why the Reformation, although a very important and singifcant step in the right direction, it just didn't go far enough or with quite enough emphasis on God's Will, His Word and obedience to It. EdB's words also (at least in my mind) make it very apparent why the Restoration was necessary. However, the interpretation of God's Word in working through that Restoration also caused the tremendous splintering of the Lord's church into the many denominations we see today. This was something that our Lord and Savior specifically prayed wouldn't happen. God bless you, dear friend. I'm quite certain I too am not popular with a great number but we're in good company: Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ among many others. --Rowdy |
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417 | What does Romans 2:12 mean? | Rom 1:19 | Rowdy | 118954 | ||
I have to agree with your overall statement as indicated in several posts in response to 118406. It's interesting how many different opinions people have on this subject. I haven't figured out how they could misunderstand such a basic concept. God bless. --Rowdy PS: I'm assuming you already know how to use the Quick Search function at the right of your screen. |
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418 | What benefit does Paul afford the Jews? | Rom 3:1 | Rowdy | 119541 | ||
I'd like to add the following: 1 John 5:6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. and Rom 6:3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[1] that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. You see, God puts us in contact with Jesus' life giving blood through our faith in Him and through our humble submission to His terms and conditions. That's why baptism is so important, that's where we contact Jesus blood. Baptism is such a humbling act indicating our acceptance of God's commands to qualify ourselves as His children and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit: forgiveness for our sins in accordance with Acts 2:38. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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419 | Who will be saved? Few, Many or All? | Rom 3:23 | Rowdy | 109203 | ||
The only caveat I'd like to add is the fact that we must meet Christ's terms and conditions in the accepting of this gift of salvation. We humans do the same kind of thing in our legal system with the advent of someone's dying and leaving a last will and testament. The recipient must fulfill the terms and conditions of that will to receive that gift from his benefactor. We have to show God proof on Judgement Day that we really have been redeemed by His Son. | ||||||
420 | Who will be saved? Few, Many or All? | Rom 3:23 | Rowdy | 109222 | ||
No, I'm thinking mostly and referencing Heb 9 as follows: 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. God was the author of this plan, this document as we humans would say and Christ gave His life to have it executed. I guess we could say that the Holy Spirit is the executor and delivers the gift of salvation after we fulfill the terms of this last will and testament of Christ. I do agree with you on the one point. We can't make anyone and God won't make anyone do anything to accept this gift. It most certainly has to be a willing recipient, submissive to God's will, just like that recipient in a worldly court petitioning to receive his gift from his benefactor. As to knowing something about law, I've taken 4 years of college courses in Business courses, including Contract Law. I have been a christian for 36 years and know a little something about forgiveness and have received far more than I deserve. Is there an alternate way to look at this? I don't see how but I'll try to maintain an open mind. What do you think? Anyone else? |
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