Results 1 - 4 of 4
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Unanswered Bible Questions Author: Zsuzsi Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | "Least in the kingdom of God"? | Matt 11:11 | Zsuzsi | 122613 | ||
Do you think that Jesus could have been referring to Himself by "the least in the kingdom of God" in Luke 7:28/Matt 11:11? Personally do I believe He was, although I read many other interpretations which are not even similar to mine... Cv. Phil 2:6-11... God bless you, Zsuzsi |
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2 | Right purposes for miracles | NT general Archive 1 | Zsuzsi | 122336 | ||
In my opinion, as long as our inner purpose is to get renowned for working miracles, we can wait forever for the Holy Spirit to give us the power to carry them out...! Even Jesus had the sole purpose of glorifying the Father, not gaining personal glory: John 10:38: But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Notice that even He did not do any miracles for Herod - probably He could have saved His life - His mission was far more important to Him than personal fame: LUke 23:8: "When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle." The working of miracles is not supposed to be anything special for Christians who truly live in God - in fact, it is mentioned as a gift of the Holy Spirit at least as common as the ability to teach! 1Cor 12:28: "And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues." Jesus clearly stated that faith would work greater miracles than what He did... He said "anyone"; to me that is not just the apostles. John 14:12: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Bible does mention that God did refuse to work miracles or answer the prayers of people, for His purposes. A few well-known examples: - David did not get to build the temple even though he wanted to (1Kings 8:18; also see 2Samuel 7) - The Father 'refused' to save Jesus Himself (even though He did pray, sweating blood in agony, for His 'cup' to be taken from Him (eg. Luke 22:42)! - compare with Matthew 26:53: "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?") - The Lord refused to heal Paul's "thorn in the flesh", even though he asked Him 3 times "lest I should be exalted above measure" (2Cor 12:7) - please read the whole chapter of 2Corinthians 12... Looking at the examples of miracles in the Bible, I conclude that God will only work miracles for us (it is Him who does it, not the actual person; John 10:32, Acts 19:11, Gal 3:5 etc) if the effect of the miracle will be glory to His Name rather than a top story on the front page of tabloid papers... Do we want our problmems solved more than we want His will to be done? Do we want to easily impress others by healing them in the mortal body more than we want to work hard to heal them in the immortal soul? Do we want glory for ourselves more than we want His Name to be glorified? If the honest answer to either of those questions is "yes", then our prayer really should not be "Let me work this miracle", but "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 God bless you, Zsuzsi |
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3 | 'Lone rangers' and spiritual discernment | 1 Cor 12:12 | Zsuzsi | 121911 | ||
It happens sometimes that believers are 'left alone' and have to become 'lone rangers'. The Bible actually mentions that most servants of God were 'lone rangers', at least for a period in their lives: - Noah was left alone (with his family). Genesis 6 - Lot and his family escaped alone. Genesis 19 - Jacob was left alone to wrestle with God. Genesis 32:24 - Joseph (alone) was even sold by his brothers. Genesis 37 - Elijah complained about feeling alone several times (though God confirmed later that he wasn't) 1Kings 18:22, 1Kings 19:10,14 There are many more examples in the OT... Also in the NT, we see: - John the Baptist was alone the voice of crying in the wilderness. Mt 3:3 - Jesus Himself felt alone and forsaken by His disciples. Jn 16:32. On the cross He even felt forsaken by His Father. Mk 15:34 - Paul and the apostles also had to be alone at times. eg. Acts 28 In my opinion, being a 'lone ranger' is not the same thing as rejecting universal church teachings... Would you consider non-denominational believers 'lone rangers', for example? I actually believe it is important for a person's spiritual development that God seperates him from solid earthly support for a while; only this way can his faith be tested and strenghtened. See for example 2Chronicles 32:31: "God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart." Of course the Bible emphasizes the need for co-operation within the church, eg. Eph 4:1-16, but I believe it also urges each person to find out and work individually the will of God. ("You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!" 2Cor 11:19) 'Individuality' does not mean 'in complete separation from the church'-all eyes must remember that they belong to a body-, but I believe God does not want a blind eye to follow a blind ear. Some churches do teach doctrines that I find unacceptable, for example. Shall I submit just because they claim to be 'THE Church of Christ', or shall I rather withdraw and seek God elsewhere? I believe each person in the universal church of Christ should feel a personal responsiblity for discerning what in the teachings of a particular church comes from God and what doesn't. I study the Bible and pray for discernment from the Spirit if I hear or read any 'Christian' teaching that I find difficult to accept. As Christians, shouldn't our purpose be to find and follow the Truth, rather than either to blindly follow earthly leaders who might as well be blind guides, or to bigotedly hold on to our personal beliefs which are clearly proven wrong? Being a 'lone ranger' is wrong if it means teaching false doctrines to people, claiming to be Christian - that is being a blind guide. But in my opinion, it is not wrong to separate ourselves to God and rely solely on the Scriptures and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, when we are in a learning period and seeking Truth. "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." Psalm 118:8 The future 'rangers' must go out alone for a while and see for themselves what the battlefield is like; the battle we are to fight is not an easy one! We can only succeed if we are backed up by the Almighty God Himself. If we do not have His support in a certain mission we feel called to, we will certainly fail anyway. We could put it this way: the eye must find the way to see by himself. He is designed for seeing, that is the only thing he has the support of the Spirit for. He might attempt to hear, but will surely fail. The ears cannot teach the eye how to see, even though they function very well in other ways: only the Spirit, who dwells in the body and holds it together, that can teach the individual parts their jobs. In the discernment period, the task of the church, I believe, is exactly to send out the believers into the hard part of the service: trying to protect them from the fight would prevent them from knowing their own abilities and limitations. Let the eye find out for himself if he can hear; he will soon realize that it is not what he is called to do. He does not need 'recipes' from any other part of the body for how to hear (there is a sad tendency that people want recipes for everything: 'How do I receive the Holy Spirit?' is a FAQ); he cannot, and will not, because he is not gifted to do that. As he turns to his Creator, he will eventually find the purpose for his existence, and be able to please God and be satisfied. It is only when we know our calling for sure and have tested our faith for ourselves (in Paul's words, know the 'fullness of Christ') that we can fully join the work in the body of Christ and function to its advantage. But then we must do so... Do you agree? Blessings, Zsuzsi |
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4 | Peace...? | 2 Tim 2:15 | Zsuzsi | 121801 | ||
Hi everyone, I have been reading your posts and this is my general answer to all of you: I agree that you need humility and subjection and patience and long-suffering when you are called by God... I also agree with the need for spiritual preparation before we get to His service. But I do think that sometimes 'staying under leadership' can do a person bad! If I had 'stayed under leadership' in submission, as you said, I would still be walking around kissing statues of saints, for example.. Mt 23:9: Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 1Jn 2:27: As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Yes, learning is important, and listening to other people's opinion is also very important; it is true that only this way can we 'test our faith' (2Cor 13:5) - but nothing is worse than quenching the voice of the Holy Ghost for the sake of accepting some earthly teaching! We have to be careful not to judge the work of the Holy Spirit in another man, it is dangerous. We try to take out a mote from someone else's eye, but aren't we having a beam in our own? (Mt 7:3-5) I do realize the responsibility of being a 'minister' or 'ordained' and thorough study of God's Word is definitely required for His service. But in my opinion, no man has the authority to decide if God is calling another or not: it is a very personal issue, and it does happen at different times with different people. Maybe the called does not have the spiritual maturity right away, maybe he is even a 'blasphemer and persecutor' at the time he is called (1Tim 1:13), but I have no doubt that God's grace is enough to sustain anyone on his way... God teaches us humility and subjection in many different ways. One is actually to surrender to Him and forsake the opinion or approval of the world for His truth! If you are called, you are called and you must go... Even if it happens in your youth: "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe." 1Tim 4:12 There are false teachers in the world whom we should keep away from. We are not to 'tolerate fools gladly'! (2Cor 11:19) "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." 2Cor 11:14. But by studying God's Word, that becomes quite clear as well... We know the good tree from its good fruit. (Lk 6:43) Please do not misunderstand me, I am not questioning the authority of the church; but the authority of the church is not above the authority of Christ in any way! (Eph 5:23-24) Additionally, 'humbleness' (or 'humility') is the opposite of pride, it means believing you are not important (dictionary definition); 'submittance' and 'patience' are accepting other's decisions over you without grudging. None of those words reflect an attitude of mistrust towards the Holy Spirit within us... Paul says he 'humbled himself' so others may be exalted (2Cor 11:7).. Although he did accept persecution and suffering (humbleness, patience and submittance), never once did he say 'no' to his calling for the sake of obeying others (faith, trust, hope)! And we are to be imitators of him, according to 1Cor 4:16. In my opinion, we must 'allow' God to choose any man at any time for His service, no matter their age or academic background whatsoever! And the task of the church is to "Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions." (Romans 14:1). Yes, there is certainly a lot of pride in saying things like 'I am accountable to only God', but the task of the church or any group of believers is to teach God's Word and not to scare people away from it... Is trying to convince someone that he is not called -without Biblical reference- a proof of Christ dwelling in us? Constructive criticism would help a lot more! If anyone is unsure about ourfathersheart's calling, let us pray for him instead of judging a person we know nothing about! This dialogue seems to be going just wrong... Where is the peace Jesus left to us? (Jn 14:27) Also, may I ask: where does the Bible warn against being a 'lone ranger'? God bless you all, Zsuzsi |
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