Results 1 - 19 of 19
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: stoneslinger Ordered by Date |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | where is my joy? | John 14:25 | stoneslinger | 207807 | ||
just remember Galatians 6:9. Never give up. I have experienced very similar feelings over friends who seemed very relucant to change for Christ and understand the fullness of salvation (from the life, to the grave, to the ascension, to the heavenly life). I too felt very sad and like I was on this walk alone. It is actually good in several aspects. Sometimes it can be bacause God has placed a prayer burden on our hearts for someone we know. That is a tremendous blessing when God brings His lost sheep back home and you know He included you in His good work. To me the perfect picture of intercessory prayer and friends bringing a loved one back to God is the story of the friends lowering the paralytic down through the roof to Jesus (and remember: Jesus was faithful to make him well based on their friends faith). it also teaches us perseverance and how to have faith that He has not forgotten us or our friends. I can't tell you how many times I have been lucky enough to experience God's 11th hour grace. There is also a good chance that you are the first to understand a very imporant lesson and God wants to have you show your friends and family the concepts of discipleship through quiet demonstation. When they see it goes well with you, they usually fall in line. hope this helped....dave ps...my wayward friend that had me so worried ended up having a dramatic turn around after almost a year and now he is highly involved with the our church and teaching others how to wholeheartedly pursue God...be of good cheer indeed...faith will see it through |
||||||
2 | Born Again | Rom 3:23 | stoneslinger | 207676 | ||
This verse says it all. Our ability to judge properly between good and evil comes from study of the word and divine revelation of how truly holy God is. It is just as Isaiah said (Isaiah 6:5) when he saw a vision of God. He suddenly became completely aware of the fact that even his lips were unclean and not worthy of being in the presence of God. We all fall terribly short. Popular opinion today seems to subconsciously think that some men are not that bad. The fault here is what we measure up to. True men may not be so bad, when compared to men's standards. The problem is when we enter the white throne judgement(the unsaved) we will not be judged based on man's standards. God will hold the gavel and God alone will set the standard. Also read Psalm 14:3. Hope this helped. | ||||||
3 | thanks. who were His brothers? | NT general | stoneslinger | 207019 | ||
actually i believe that James and John (the sons of Zebedee) were brothers (Boanerges: the sons of thunder). Simon Peter and Andrew were also brothers and worked as partners in their father's (Zebedee) fishing business. | ||||||
4 | Glorious church? | Rev 1:11 | stoneslinger | 206168 | ||
upon a second reading of your question i felt compelled to state that i don't think the church will fold up or anything. The bible is God's word, and His word will stand; if He says it, it will be done. Do i think we are coming onto and in hard times? Absolutely! It is almost certain. We are living in the end of the ages and God's judgement is certainly coming at some point. Why else do you think it is coming? Things have gotten bad. My opinion is that a region is only as strong as its strongest church. But the idea of persecuction coming to the church, i believe the bible states that. That will be for our own good. It won't weaken the church, only separate the wheat from the chaff. We will retain the saved, and rest assured they will fight twice as hard to fight for what is theirs. A crushed rose smells all the stronger. As far as my point, it was only to be realistic about the current circumstances. The church does not have a whole lot of power minus the Spirit of God. If we have allowed our hearts to be hardened and apathetically ignore the spiritual progress that needs to be done in our lives, how will we utilize the Agent that is here to bring God glory? I am not saying it is hopeless so give up. I am simply saying that too many have already thought that for themselves. Since the beginning of time God has been sending people to raise the bar, and I'm just saying, there are higher heights to be attained. As far as rev. 22, i thought we were talking about the present church. ps if the enemy didn't fear us he wouldn't be trying so hard to split us all up! We will storm the gates of hell! |
||||||
5 | Glorious church? | Rev 1:11 | stoneslinger | 206115 | ||
i think the state of the church from God's eyes can be seen in revelation when He addresses the 7 churches. the church is doing many wonderful things, but Spirit led believers are becoming harder to find, and division is becoming rampant in the churches. There is also way too much "bad fruit." I believe it saddens God's heart. God bless them all, I consider you all my family but we can do so much better. Jesus also spoke as well as a considerable amount of others concerning the false prophets and the frequency of them in the end of the ages. Some of these wear sheep's clothing as well. I believe this is sad for us all but from an optimistic point of view this leaves us all awaiting a ripe harvest we did not work for, our lights will shine brighter in dark places, and this does not have to be the best that it gets. Lets be the salt that preserves us all and makes things taste better, the shining city on a hill; it all begins inside of one, every person has to sign on for themself; If Christians everywhere would put love at the top of the list and stop arguing about relatively unimportant things and do our best to evangelize, wow: what Jesus prayed for: heaven here on earth. Do we have the faith to see it through? |
||||||
6 | Ministered to those killed in the flood | 1 Pet 3:19 | stoneslinger | 206113 | ||
1 peter 3:19 | ||||||
7 | They had the knowledge of God | Matt 5:20 | stoneslinger | 206094 | ||
The reason they were hippocrites in my opinion is this: where you treasure is their your heart will also be. Their hearts were obviously very far from God. That is because they did not treasure Him. They only used Him as a way manipulate people and get power. Their whole reason for being as they were was because they were prideful, the pride forced them to believe that they deserved this kind of attention and power. Hippocrites for the fact that they kept other people from entering the narrow gate (from gross misrepresentation of the law) and yet did not enter themselves as stated by Jesus. Pride is the key "demon" here. This is the beginning of all sin. It is not the one we want to mess with. Think of the glory that Lucifer once reflected and that one sin caused the fall of one third of the angels. Pride is also a heart hardening agent (we see this in Pharaoh). This simply means that when the Spirit of Truth speaks you simply ignore and insist that your way is best. A prolonged mentality of this fashion makes you unable to here the voice of God and you can no longer realize heavenly truth without repentance. david |
||||||
8 | Do you know a way to get into the Bible? | Heb 8:10 | stoneslinger | 206035 | ||
hey california! i can't think of any devotionals that are great to read with the bible but if you are just now trying to get into the bible i suggest that you start in the new testament (with the gospels) and maybe even read them twice. Then finish the new testament and then after you feel more confident there, then move on to the old testament. both are loaded with great information but i have once heard it said that the old testament is the word concealed and the new testament is the word revealed. i think it also offers a simpler path to the heart of God. my story does sound very similar to yours. It helped me greatly to try and consciously realize every time God allowed a blessing (large or small) to come my way. It helped me to realize how intimately involved He is in my life. It also helps to magnify God and i believe that in Psalms it states the the Lord is enthrone upon our praises. (psalm 22:3 "but You, o Lord, are enthroned upon the praises of Israel") After that it became my hearts desire to know the God that sustains me! good luck after proof reading i do remember that Henrietta C. Mears did write a book breaking down the bible and it also laid out a plan to follow. I believe it is called What the Bible is All About |
||||||
9 | Version 1 | Matt 6:5 | stoneslinger | 206022 | ||
i believe the simplest answer is this: i believe that matthew 6:10 states the main purpose of the Lord's prayer which is our model to go by. That verse states that Jesus prays for His Father's will to be done on earth. This is how we should also pray. To know and do all we know of God's will. That is where the word comes in. This read under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit is our only tool and way to know and learn to discern the Lord's will. I hope this helps david |
||||||
10 | God's Regard for Cain's Offering? | Gen 4:5 | stoneslinger | 205992 | ||
i believe that it was the earliest sign for us that we will not enter God's favor without the blood of Jesus. Some theories state that after Eve ate the fruit that God made atonement for them when He provided them with the tunics of skin. I believe the point for us to gather is that we can not simply skate into the Holy of Holies without first atoning for sin. There are many today who believe in God and think they will enter heaven based on good works (or symbolized here by the freewill offering of Cain). We cannot please God without the remission of sins (as symbolized by Able's sin offering). It is the life of Christ that is accounted to us that allows us to stand before God(I believe this is also what is meant by Abraham's faith being counted to Him as righteousness. Rom 4:3). | ||||||
11 | Purpose of the parables? | Matt 13:1 | stoneslinger | 205938 | ||
i pray you all can forgive me as i 1) switch to a different track and 2) take you out on a little bit of a limb. i believe the bible gives us much information and then we are supposed to ask questions and possibly come up with our own ideas hoping the Holy Spirit will guide us in truth. Here is my theory on the subject: we need to consider how many people were included in the story and what their part and significance was. firstly there was the Rabbi. He was there to teach and for many more reasons obvious to us that were not yet realized by the crowds surrounding Jesus. Then there was the multitude: they caught a glimmer of something interesting and decided to follow. There were undoubtedly some believers in the crowd for whom it had not yet "clicked." It seems to me that these were largely part of a group Jesus frequently used as well as God in the old testament when He referred to us as a sick and perverse generation (the idea was they were self centered and followed God/Jesus around seeking the next thrill but never truly bought into His godship lest they would have obeyed. Hebrews hits this idea on the head when it states Israel didn't enter the Promise land because they did not have faith (unbelief)). We can then see the obvious disciples following Jesus around everywhere He went. These are the people that gave up their lives, left behind their nets. Though, at first they did not realize the extent to which they would follow, Jesus had known it would be to the death. Usually those parties people don't miss. But it seems to me that Jesus may have been smiling or even winking at the person that is reading the scripture (who would understand this point). I believe the vast majority of this scene was for our benefit and ours alone. This seems to be the paraphrased question here: "Are you going to forever follow me around with your selfish wants (after all, once the benefits stopped, the crowd left) or are you all going to be like these disciples? Only a disciple (someone who sat at Jesus' feet or had their feet washed by Him) could ever truly understand what the Master had been doing and discern His will for their lives. I strongly believe this is why Jesus' last words to His followers was to go and make DISCIPLES of all nations. Only the disciples had the "till death do us part" mentality that Jesus stated made up His church (bride). Whaddya think? |
||||||
12 | John5 | Ex 20:10 | stoneslinger | 205905 | ||
thank you for the welcome! it is always good to meet up with other believers who have been diligent to study God's word. May God bless you on your quest to bless others! david | ||||||
13 | John5 | Ex 20:10 | stoneslinger | 205796 | ||
ooh....they accused Him of not keeping the sabbath (the healing broke it) and also of blaspheming God by calling Himself the son of God. Neither accusation was true because their basis of interpretation of the law i believe came from the talmud which took the very technical side of the law and focused on that (when in fact the central focus of the law was love of God and neighbor). We also know that he was not blaspheming or even lying for that matter, because what He had said was true. |
||||||
14 | very few accept the Lord today | Gen 6:5 | stoneslinger | 205794 | ||
Charlo, i think that is a very complicated yet also very simple question. I will try to restrict my answers to a simple few guesses. Firstly and most importantly, i believe that on the part of most Christians today we don't bear nearly enough of the responsibility to accomplish God's great work. In the early years of a Christians life much of the habits are laid down that will stick and this is where we are most formable as faithful Christians. Deut. 6:6 cautions us that we should be very diligent in teaching our kids the scripture and showing them the correct model for being a good example (disciple). We are after all the body of Christ: when He was on the earth, his body was doing a whole lot; we should also take the same initiative. The scripture makes it very clear in Revelation 3:16 that God has a distaste for lukewarm believers: this is why. Not only does it drag His name through the mud (but God is patient and that has been done many times before), this point has become cliche but is most definitely true: we are the most Jesus that some people will ever see/know. If we are not setting the good example and receiving the blessing or "selling" Christianity effectively, who will want it? Remember, God's plan was to prosper Israel to breed fear of God in the other nations hearts, and fear is where God's saving graces begin. The first point feeds into the second: the Pharaoh concept. Even though we have been raised a different way, and we don't know all the details about God, when He reveals Himself to us (even in acts of judgement) we must at some point humble ourselves and come back to God (the idea of repentance). That is our first option; the second option and the thing that makes accepting God so hard for us today involves pride. This is the hard hearted approach; God wanting our surrender in a certain area but we clutch and he is forced to pluck that thing from our grasp; this is a painful process. At the end we surrender to Him or we surrender to ruin. Today's society, however, does not facilitate this humility (otherwise suggested as the idea of soft pottery in the hands of the Creator, the meek). We are all the masters of our destiny and you have to make yourself. We ultimately know what is best, we choose what seems right to us, and their is no absolution for that matter. This is a very tangled web. The grounds of accepting Christ in this age surrenders many hard held freedoms, it invites new types of persecution, it is anything but cool. We lie in the bed we make. God is love and even that is hard enough to find now. 2 chronicles 7 :14 The path back to God is this (and He could not state it any simpler) : "If My people, who are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." I don't know about you, but that sounds exactly like what this nation needs. I believe the step by step instruction to this lies in the beloved sermon on the mount. |
||||||
15 | Help! Unclean vs clean meat? | Acts | stoneslinger | 205789 | ||
Jim you have made excellent points. To read further into this matter i would suggest an in depth study on the book of Hebrews (the point of the book being the superiority of the new covenant (the cov. of grace solidified by Jesus Christ) as compared to the Mosaic coventant of the law). The law was simply a shadow of better things to come: the point being love. The covenant could only be changed in the fulfillment of the law (on the part of Jesus)and in our cases: our death to it (as acknowledged by accepting Christ as our saviour). As Jim has said our only possibility of fulfilling any part of the law is by the manifold graces of God, any otherwise and you are chasing the wind. (a further note on the law is if it is attempted to be fulfilled without the knowledge of grace it has a tendency to raise up pride in each of us and make us bitter just as it is shown in the case of the pharisees. It is dangerous because it takes our eyes off of Jesus and places them on ourselves. This is the point of walking on water when Peter sank) |
||||||
16 | Please define sin. | 1 John 5:17 | stoneslinger | 205604 | ||
I should hope that this answer does not come across as a cop out. In my entirely less than professional opinion the true defo of sin cannot be fully understood outside of the light of God's holiness. Unfortunately that rules humans understanding to limited at best. Another issue we face is as proven by Jesus after the Pharisees had remarked that they couldn't possibly be blind is that some sins, under the blanket of innocence and ignorance are covered under the wonderful grace of God and not placed on our conscience as sin. Therefore the definition of sin does appear to somewhat change after our ability to understand and discern right and wrong improves. Remember, in the Garden of Eden there was but one sin: not to eat. The best answer that I could provide for someone seeking holiness is this: first sin is anything that takes our hearts further from God. This being said it would seem there is a better approach to this. First start with the idea of stewardship. If God has given you the knowledge to know something is a sin, don't do it. Sometimes easier said than done. When we fail (and we will) it will eventually run us to the end of our selves, our strength, our pride, our thinking we have the ability to do this on our own, etc. Believe it or not, this is the best place for us to be. Peter no doubt gave up on himself after he had denied Jesus, but after this lack of hope in one's self, we see one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time. This puts us into a great position to fall into God's grace and under the power of Jesus Christ we will accomplish and overcome. After we realize this truth and continue on that direction with a greatful and sacraficial heart, God's beauty becomes more and more manifest to us and we receieve a greater vision of God's glory. At that point, the idea of sin goes out the window. We then make the central focus of our life knowing and serving the Triune God. At this point much of the things we used to struggle with kind of fall away. This concept is evidenced in the 7th chapter of Deuteronomy i believe verses 21-23. God gave the battle with the inhabitants of the Promise land over to the Israelites a little at a time(the victory), lest they would become overcome, so we must exercise great patience. The point of this whole rambling is evidenced by the entire book of Hebrews. The grace covenant is far superior to the law in every single way. The only way to know and to defeat sin is to entirely love God with all that you have. This will even cover the second law to love your neigbhbor. If you love God like that and He tells you to love your neighbor, you will undoubtedly do it. The question changes from, "What is sin?" to, "How can I love God better?" This thinking in essence will eventually exclude all sin and in time anything short will affect the person's spirit just as sin already does. |
||||||
17 | Please define sin. | 1 John 5:17 | stoneslinger | 205590 | ||
I should hope that this answer does not come across as a cop out. In my entirely less than professional opinion the true defo of sin cannot be fully understood outside of the light of God's holiness. Unfortunately that rules humans understanding to limited at best. Another issue we face is as proven by Jesus after the Pharisees had remarked that they couldn't possibly be blind is that some sins, under the blanket of innocence and ignorance are covered under the wonderful grace of God and not placed on our conscience as sin. Therefore the definition of sin does appear to somewhat change after our ability to understand and discern right and wrong improves. Remember, in the Garden of Eden there was but one sin: not to eat. The best answer that I could provide for someone seeking holiness is this: first sin is anything that takes our hearts further from God. This being said it would seem there is a better approach to this. First start with the idea of stewardship. If God has given you the knowledge to know something is a sin, don't do it. Sometimes easier said than done. When we fail (and we will) it will eventually run us to the end of our selves, our strength, our pride, our thinking we have the ability to do this on our own, etc. Believe it or not, this is the best place for us to be. Peter no doubt gave up on himself after he had denied Jesus, but after this lack of hope in one's self, we see one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time. This puts us into a great position to fall into God's grace and under the power of Jesus Christ we will accomplish and overcome. After we realize this truth and continue on that direction with a greatful and sacraficial heart, God's beauty becomes more and more manifest to us and we receieve a greater vision of God's glory. At that point, the idea of sin goes out the window. We then make the central focus of our life knowing and serving the Triune God. At this point much of the things we used to struggle with kind of fall away. This concept is evidenced in the 7th chapter of Deuteronomy i believe verses 21-23. God gave the battle with the inhabitants of the Promise land over to the Israelites a little at a time(the victory), lest they would become overcome, so we must exercise great patience. The point of this whole rambling is evidenced by the entire book of Hebrews. The grace covenant is far superior to the law in every single way. The only way to know and to defeat sin is to entirely love God with all that you have. This will even cover the second law to love your neigbhbor. If you love God like that and He tells you to love your neighbor, you will undoubtedly do it. The question changes from, "What is sin?" to, "How can I love God better?" This thinking in essence will eventually exclude all sin and in time anything short will affect the person's spirit just as sin already does. |
||||||
18 | water to wine? | Not Specified | stoneslinger | 205505 | ||
Just curious, what are your thoughts on the signifance of Jesus' first miracle; water to wine: wedding in cana? | ||||||
19 | water to wine? | John 2:1 | stoneslinger | 205507 | ||
Just curious, what are your thoughts on the signifance of Jesus' first miracle; water to wine: wedding in cana? | ||||||