Mark 10:45 talks about Christ coming not to be served but to serve and giving His life as a ransom for many. This is also quoted in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45. This theme again is played out through His preaching to the masses as we saw in the last posting; or to His Disciples. Service goes beyond Him being a "Cosmic Vending Machine" however ( John 6:26). What people needed was salvation of their souls resulting from forgiveness of sins; and He would emphasize this when performing His miracles even though His own life was threatened. He knew of course that He couldn't be touched until His time had come; and while He was on the earth His 12 Disciples also were protected; which we see when the soldiers came to arrest Him in Gethsemene. He was there to rebuke Peter when necessary and even offered what was considered the choice sop to Judas Iscariot before His betrayal. Unlike us as mortal men Jesus had us on His mind even facing death on a cross the next day; praying for all those who would come to Him eventually being as one; and as I mentioned before for Mary his mother to have John look after her as a mother showing that Joseph was almost certainly deceased at this time. He even reached out to the repentant criminal on the cross next to Him when dying assuring he would be with Him in paradise. Luke 23:34 is the ultimate forgiveness to those who didn't know what they were doing.
Part of service and having others as a priority over our own needs is taking time out for prayer. Jesus prayed all night before picking His 12 Disciples and this wasn't the only time He did this. Communicating with His Father in heaven was a constant ongoing process as He only said what the Father told Him ( John 12:49 etal). Service therefore for the Christian must involve a commitment of time not only for prayer for others but for ourselves; He may have been restricted while on earth to live as one of us but prayed to focus on God how much more should we seek Him?
There is too much in these chapters to cover in this study. The rest of Chapter 5 gets into the law and the further extent that is expected in regard to men's minds where man's sin nature imagines all sorts of evil and where only grace will suffice. One Old Testament example of this is David with Bathsheeba. Having her husband deliberately sent to the front lines to die and committing adultery would according to the law warrant the death penalty. Chapter Six and seven get into subjects regarding how we are not to judge others (and also how to help others by having our own lives cleaned up); how to fast and pray and finally it ends with the judgment to come warning of those who don't DO what Christ says to do; reminding us of John 14:15 about loving Christ and following His commandments. In the end it is said Jesus taught with authority ( Matt. 7:29) not like the teachers of the law; which was also said about His synagogue teachings early on in His ministry.
Adhering to the method of God's calling of His chosen sheep; Jesus preached to multiple individuals with a general message; much as John the Baptist did. There were clearly individuals involved throughout His travels that He would challenge but again one basic point I see in scripture is that individuals were never targeted for a challenge to come to Christ or be saved. The closest I can find is with Paul speaks to Agrippa in Acts 26:28. That is the result of one of Paul's courtroom testimonies where scripture is quoted to a great extent to Festus and others. The seeds were cast forth and they would prosper who they would.
In every crowd there are those who would hear the Word and then it would fall to the wayside; or be in shallow soil with no root and a few would have good soil and produce good fruit. One major characteristic of the Lord is He didn't reveal Himself to just anyone and the Parables were designed that way. Likely explains Matthew 7:6.
Blessed are those who are poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God ( Matthew 5:3). Another translation attempts to define this as
'God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (NLT)
This first verse should burst the bubble for those who think they can earn their way to rightousness in their own merit.
Focusing attention on this series about Christ being the perfect man; He would say things not to please men but to preach the truth. In this case it is perhaps a unique one where He doesn't get a stern rebuke; death threat or actual attempt at His life as He is speaking to the crowds or the "common people" those who are at least potentially truly blessed as that is the meaning of the "Beatitudes" as this section of scripture is often referred to. We of course see this pattern with the blessings in Deuteronomy 28 followed by curses in the end of this chapter (and also a bunch in the preceeding one as well). Jesus would spend much time excoriating the Pharisees with no holds barred in later chapters of the Gospels. We will get into that later; in short it is safe to say that the meek; mild Jesus who never caused division or strife is at best misguided at worst delusional. We need to keep in mind that ALL of Jesus' actions were righteous; whether in anger or praise. We are reminded of this verse:
John 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
I feel that in the church this is even more important than anger as a general problem; anger at least addresses an issue while empty praise reminds us of the hymn Be thou my vision written in the 1920s by Mary Byrne but based on a 6th Century poem by Dalln Forgaill
1. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me save that thou art. ...
2. Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true Word; ...
3. Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight; ...
The Sermon on the Mount is probably one of the most famous and well known sections of scripture that many; even outside the Christian faith often quote. The intent of this section of scripture stretching from Matthew 5 to 7 is often misconstrued; and yet it has been set as a sort of moral standard for humanists and those of other religions who in their surface level analysis believe that man can all learn to love one another by their best attempt to follow these virtues. Frankly; I think these verses are INTENDED to be understood that way by those who are foolish enough to believe there is no God or that they can attain to His righeousness by following His words as a sort of guideline to live life.
As a sidenote it is interesting how the movements in the 1960s in America espoused "peaceful protests" and universal "love and peace". It at least started this way from what Martin Luther King, Jr. espoused as to the way to effectually bring change such as civil rights for African Americans in particular which drew in many others to rally for his cause. The effects of Eastern religions into this movement and the drug culture as well as outbursts of anger with his and others assassinations late in the 60's turned many demonstrations violent. The free love concept which started with nudity and fornication into the late 60s and early 70s eventually turned to what we have today with the often violent and obscene demonstrations of those espousing alternate lifestyles today; I won't put certain words here to be flagged; you get the point. It is ironic that Biblical verses which often relate to scriptures such as the Sermon on the Mount about peace and love now are so easily forgotton by those who call for "freedom" today; equal representation has transitioned to flagrant anarchy and debauchery such as seen in Sodom and Gomorrah.
In rhe next post I will dissect some of these scriptures to bring out the truth.
It is unclear in my mind exactly when this occurred; it was the first miracle where Christ did something publicly at least. It is brought up by some that Mark 3 shows how some of the Disciples such as Matthew came up later; so this is likely an informal group or part of the original 12 that were actually invited to this event. My aim here is to list things roughly chronological; to put all the pieces together based on the 4 Gospels in perfect order is something for another study.
In studying this yesterday in church even my Pastor couldn't figure out exactly what Jesus meant "before the time" in John 2:4.
Again this would seem to be before He did any public miracles but certainly that soon followed within weeks or a few months of His 3.5 year ministry. The uniqueness of providing something that wasn't a necessity of this miracle could be at play here too.
Nonetheless I am sure Jesus had God's approval to do this; and His miracle reminds me of the miraculous provision for the widow mentioned in 2 Kings 4:1-7. These were huge stone pots and at least 100 GALLONS of wine were made; enough no doubt to sell for years to come. It is interesting that all of His miracles mentioned of feeding the thousands were outside; an in fact most of His healing miracles were outdoors as well; He was summoned to the homes normally of certain wealthy men of important status.
It appears from Matthew 4 that after He was tempted in the desert; He called at least some of His Disciples and started doing miracles. The temptation in Matthew 4 was a standard 40 days period as we see Moses also fasted actually TWICE for that time (no mention if he ate anything in between after the rebellion occurred). Nonetheless it was the total trust in the Spirit that allowed for Him to get through it and scripture being deep within as the one offensive weapon against Satan. I believe I mentioned this already; so off to Matthew 5.
Thanks brother Giannis for your reply. I did appreciate the way you understand this matter of judgement, i.e. with a view to help a wayward brother to face up to his problem & to guide him with real care & affection. As Jesus spoke in Matthew 18:15: "if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." If one has sinned against me, judging & rejecting him would achieve very little for the Kingdom of God (and even then my judgement of him may well be in error). Rather, if the matter is brought up to him & he is prepared to listen & resolve it, then truly I have gained my brother. But all this has to be done as a first step: for our mutual healing & restoration in the family of God.
Yet, even before all this takes place, our own heart's first response is critical. Do we get agitated & stew over such an offence committed and then simmer down only after the Spirit deals with our uncalled-for response; or rather, the mature believer immediately knows what turmoil is ready to arise in the heart, and rather than be tempted to judge, he quickly deals with it lest it becomes sin? This maybe easy to discern but certainly not easy to deal with. As the Holy Spirit takes control more & more of our lives, dealing with our weaknesses & failings, I think our thinking & attitudes will align much more closely to what God requires of our behavior. And this will express itself in our thinking, our speech & a true loving response to the one offending. Thanks again brother for these necessary reminders and that we ought to judge ourselves first in all things. Blessings.
Please pray for us to find my wife's wallet which has been missing for over a week with all her important IDs and credit cards. Thank you. Matthew 18:19-20
7. Christ was unpredictable. Unlike the imaginary sage or wise man that everybody loved who never said anything hurtful to offend people's feelings; Jesus Himself admitted that He came to cause division rather than peace ( Luke 12:53); yet He also said "blessed are the peacemakers" in Matthew 5:9. He would be invited to homes of the Pharisees; then excoriate them as to how He was treated (see Luke 7:45). His own Disciples were confused as to the necessity of dying in Jerusalem despite many statements about it He had to rebuke Satan when Peter spoke about these things never occurring ( Matt. 16:23). This was the same Peter who shortly before that stated who Christ truly was which only could have come from God ( Matt. 16:15-16). He sidestepped about 10 attempts on His life that we know of; but then deliberately headed toward Jerusalem where He knew He would die. Thomas at least understood it ( John 11:16-26 when he knew of the opposition faced when going back to raise Lazarus from the grave which was within weeks of the crucifixion I believe). His Resurrection sadly wasn't expected once the report came back from the women who were the first to arrive at the grave to see evidence and hear from the angels that He had risen. Women were an important aspect along with the Samaritans and Gentiles which the Pharisees couldn't understand.
I will attempt to look at several specific instances in the life of Christ to show how His approach; forethought and actions represent a perfect man; and how His example and those of the Apostles in the early church show about how and how not to do God's work as everyone had their character traits; flaws and at times outward sins. We therefore can conclude we all should emulate Christ and the Apostles; but we also all live in different situations and have different responsibilities incorporated into the good works He has given us to do planned since the foundation of the world ( Eph. 2:10).
So you see brother that the intention is to help my brother repent and correct himself, and not to condemn him.
Lets read Matthew 18:15-18. It is when my brother sins to me. In all three cases the outcome we wish to get is not to punish my brother, but to make him repent and so to "..., thou hast gained thy brother.". To gain him. Everything has to be done with love not with any other intention. The outcome must be to "gain my brother.". But if I Judge/condemn my brother things change. Even in the case when a fornication occured in Corinth Paul suggests that that man had to be expelled from the church as a last means to make him repent 1 Cor 5:5, "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.".
Of course here we are dealing with serious sins, not just a lie or something similar. 1 Cor 11, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.". We must always give the chance and the appropriate time for our brothers to repent but if they never do then we must expell them from the church, for them to repent , and for the rest to be protected.
But this is something to be done only by the elders or the pastor. Nobody else has the right to intervene in such matters apart from informing the hierarchy of the church.
Lately I have started seeing all those things under a different prism. Who saved us? Who brought us in a church? Who is making a huge effort to correct us, to change us? Isn't it God himself? Is it us that we have saved our brothers? Is it us that we have planted them in the church? Is it us that we are going to change them? Obviously not. This is God's task. So our focus must be in ourselves not in what the other person is doing or not doing. We are here to correct ourselves, not the others.
Really it is a complicated topic. The following is my opinion.
If we read Matthew 7:1-5 where it speaks about judging our brothers, the point of what Jesus is saying is not about discerning our brother's actions. The wrong doings of others are obvious to everybody. But there are two ways in seeing those actions. Either we judge them which means we condemn them for what they had done. Or we still see those sins but with a mood to help, not to condemn. We can cry and pray to God to help them. This is the right attitude I believe. It is the attitude of love.
As we grow spiritually and God walks us through various events in our life we get more tolerant to our brothers. Once when I was young in faith I cought a deacon saying a lie. So I condemned him in my heart, "a deacon saying a lie?" it was too much for me at that time. Later on I found myself in a condition that I was sort of compelled to lie. That tought me a lesson. Do not judge strictly your brother if you don't know what he goes through. In his shoes you might had done something worse than what he had done. When we are strict judges of our brothers God always passes us through the same path that our brother went through, so for us to understand how it feels and also to see how we behave ourselves under the same conditions. Then and only then we can realize the trials that our brothers are going through and be more tolerant to them.
Didn't Jesus know what Judas the Iscariot was doing all the time, that he was stealing money? Yes He did. So why didn't He send him away or reveal to others what he was doing? Because He was giving him the chance to repent. And He made clear to Judas that He knew what Judas was going to do and gave him all the time to repent, although He knew the outcome. Jesus did everything from His side to make Judas repent. He even called him "friend" when Judas came with the crowd to arrest Him. It was Jesus' last effort to break that stonny heart of Judas.
More specific purposes of Christ during His earthly ministry
4. Calling out of His Disciples. He spent all night in prayer prior to this event. ( Luke 6:12-13). Some may think that He had to decide who to choose; but I doubt it. That was something I would think was foreknown; especially since the son of perdition Judas Iscariot had to be picked as well although I am not sure where in scripture the initial meeting was with him; maybe someone can let me know about that. No doubt He prayed for them to readily accept Him and for obstacles from the enemy not to thwart things to come. Overall this would complicate His mission as times had to be set aside with this "inner circle" for further discussion of matters and discipling through hard sayings. This would be the beginning of the church which He would further develop in the absence after His death and Resurrection when the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost.
5. Warning of destruction to come. The future persecutions of the Disciples and travail of the nation of Israel as a whole eventually were expanded to the birth pangs of the world in general as illustrated in Matthew 24. Everything familiar to the Jewish nation would be shook; with the destruction of the Temple and many Jews during AD 70; largely due to their blindness of Christ and who He was ( Matt. 23:37). He deliberately talked very little about ruling and reigning in the Millennial Kingdom as no doubt that was the expectation and hope even of the Disciples at that time of His soon arrival in that mode. This is mentioned in Acts 1:6 as something alluded to have happened earlier.
6. Always considering others needs above His own. Jesus came to serve and not be served. ( Mark 10:45). This could perhaps be best demonstrated in His statement to John when hanging on the cross ( Luke 19:25-29). It appears Joseph was dead at this time and Jesus knew John would live the longest so he was to take Mary in.
Christ was also referred to as the 2nd Adam ( 1 Cor. 15:45; also seen in Romans 5). Hence Adam was designed in the image of God but because of his sin it affected all his offspring therefore we inherited his sin nature during conception ( Psalm 51:5). Men at that time when Christ lived on the earth expected the Messiah to come to earth and vanquish them of their enemies; hence tried to make him king ( John 6:15). His reaction was to go to withdraw Himself to the mountains (likely to pray).
A cursory examination of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 shows statements that at first seem to contradict the law; or at the very least make the ramifications more severe for our thoughts about things that may or may not become actions. This was illustrated with lusting after a woman being adultery in the heart; and more stringent laws on putting away one's wife. This explanation was brought out further in Matthew 19:8 with the Pharisees on the subject as to the concepts tied in with Deuteronomy 24. This shows that Christ was; as a member of the Godhead able to define and even change what was considered the law to make it more perfect as no one before Him ever was able to live out a sinless life following the law perfectly. Ultimately certain ceremonial laws were brought to an end as seen in Acts 10:15; but alluded to in Mark 7:18-19.
Hence the method of rituals related to the animal sacrifices also was to be ended with the New Covenant. Overall we can say the 10 Commandments as a moral law remain as a universal statute; although the mandatory 7th day of rest only given for Israel and its occupants has been replaced with Sunday as a day of rest although Colossians 2:16-17 says we should avoid disputes over Sabbath Days and I would add Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath ( Matthew 12:8). I am not here to get into a debate over that issue.
To have the law in our hearts was a future promise that Christ demonstrates ( Jeremiah 31:16-18).
I'm going to confidently say full immersion. Reading the scriptures it was always full immersion. Jesus was fully immersed, and his disciples followed suit when they baptized. Here's part of Matthew 3:16 "16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water:" so he went up and out.
So that being said, why would they change it? Even the Jews becoming Christians in the beginning of Acts all were done like that. We don't see sprinkling baptism come until much later in the church age, and if I remember right it came from like Africa or Egypt or something and that was an invention of Roman Catholicism.
I guess in short it's always been submersion and there isn't a point in scripture ever where it suddenly becomes sprinkling. I hope this helps.
info that no one will tell you for whatever reason you know like 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Matthew 24 & Titus 1:10-11. Grace is not unmerited favor, it is the spirit of conviction your heart to obey. (G5485) it's NOT "legalism" it's LOVE ( 1 John 5:3) We've got to be obedient to his 2 covenants of promise (10 commandments and rainbow covenat "eat clean") thats what Christ(Yeshua) magnified and made honorable, just like his very own character and life was pleasing unto God(Yahovah) he opened the door for all nations to enter that covenant verbally presented and agreed to at the rock at Horeb, and *then* written in stone at Mt Sinai. but Israel had already transgressed that agreement ( Exodus 19 & 20) when Moses came down with the 10 commandments in writing. *then* the sacrificial law was added until Christ(Yeshua) would finish the punishment with a perfect sacrifice, effectively restoring the original covenant (10 commandments.) Moses prophesies about ending the punishment of the sacrificial law here in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 but never did the eternal 10 comandments go away. now because the 10 northern tribe were scattered into all the world via mixing seed(mixed offspring) the covenant is open to ALL nations and people. I really wish people actually read this book most have it wrong, with many false gospels and dangerous doctrines of men and demons, mixing holy and profane, teaching traditions as commandments while tossing out the actual commandments, ( Matt 24)
this is why he said "narrow is the path, few will find it." - Matt 7:14
Love your neighbor according to scripture - James 2:8 what scripture? Leviticus 19:15-18.
How does God work with man in order to facilitate His Kingdom and bring it to fruition in time? How do we find a balance between God being an impartial judge ( Deut. 10:17) and His personal relationship literally "possessing" us with His Holy Spirit for those who He has called and chosen? This causes Him to show favor among His children.
How do we wrap our heads around God who can't even look at sin and yet so loving the world that He sent His only Son? It is easy to brush off our understanding of John 3:16 with what Christ did for us and its effectivity for all who believe His Name but if the Father had to look away when Christ bore our sin ( Matthew 27:46) how can He even care about us; miserable worms that we are? (Spoiler alert He sees Christ in us when we are sealed with the Spirit)
How can we understand eternal destinies as compared to what we can see and sense today with those around us and the world in general as to its appearance? What can we make of our new bodies ( 1 Cor. 2:14). What about 1 Corinthians 15:35-36. Are we to understand we are foolish to ask such questions of what it will be like in Resurrected form?
35 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. I'll try to delve more into that later but it has to do with the context for that church as to how Paul was speaking.
Why were many things hidden as to Christ's first 30 years before beginning public ministry?
Why did God prophesy and bring about Judas the Betrayer and the future Antichrist Beast?
The last thing I will post tonight is the thought of why and how the Lord both REVEALS truth and CONCEALS it to those receptive and rejecting Him. 2 Corinthians 4:4 is a good start but it is still mysterious and thought provoking. I will get more into this in later postings as to how it relates to evangelism.
I thought about starting a new series of postings describing Christ as He is in the Old Testament and New (as many like to say concealed and then revealed). There is a certain broad base of topics especially in regard to the law (OT) and grace (NT). As with many theological doctrines there may be a general progress historically and according to God's plans with the Old and New Covenants; etal.; nonetheless mutual exclusivity can't be a viable option despite how tempting it may be to draw what seems like an easy conclusion. This is because Christ is the fullness of the law and thus Matthew 5:18 stands firm. The person of Christ is the essence of the summation of all the attributes of God ( Colossians 2:9). As to His earthly ministry and humbling Himself to live out a brief existence in time and space to accomplish God's purpose as the atonement for our sins certainly encompasses many prophetic promises and basically sums all of the Bible as the end of all things is preached by the Messiah and the New Testament ends shortly after the Resurrection discussing all things into eternity we need to know. Nonethless of course His eternal presence and glory as stated in Revelation 1 is a foreshadowing of how we all shall behold Him in all His splendor soon.
In regard to that thought it becomes clear to me that much of what has gone wrong with the Internet in particular is that Christ Himself as He truly is often seems to be sidetracked with all the predictions; dreams; visions and novel interpretations of often subjective experiences people have. If we aren't as John in Revelation 1; or the other prophets in falling flat on our faces with any story given about such matters then it is pretty clear they are spurious. Our obsession has to be on Him not any other agenda. John 17:3 comes close to the Navigators motto to "know Him and make Him known".
I pray this helps some people see more clearly into who He is and His manifold ways.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (further thoughts on James 1:17)
We are reminded here of another verse in James 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. (see also Matthew 6:19-20). There are other verses about silver and gold not saving us in the future wrath of God ( Zephaniah 1:18; etc). Once the mark of the Beast is established it won't be a viable option.
It is interesting to look at how a toy truck as an example is received with great joy for about a week or two maybe a couple months by a bratty kid. Five years later if he hasn't destroyed it or traded it it will likely go into storage; just for some collector 50 years hence to lovingly display it and if sold expect top dollar. Which of these is the most logical approach? Maybe the kid; because in the end it is all going to burn up with the rest of this old world. The Lord giveth and He taketh away ( Job 1:21). It is like that bad joke an elder quotes in our church about someone who got their wife to agree to take all the money with him to his grave. She said yes; I wrote a check and placed it there. In any case heaven is lined with gold streets and decorated with precious jewels. We won't be missing out there but of course it all reflects HIS glory; front and center stage.
As to the last post; in our relationships in the end we should seek to bring forth the jewels fitting for entry into heaven...And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. ( Malachi 3:17). None of us who know the Lord will miss any sinful aspects of our brothers in the Lord; and its effects of physical death and mental decline.
Luke 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Matthew 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." ( Ephesians 4:28).
These verses show that our actions should be part of what we verbally confess in order to bring restoration to those we have offended. THere are cases like with Paul where Barnabus stated in Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. This reminds us of the verse Proverbs 27:2 where another is to praise us rather than promotion of ourselves. In this case the early believers had to hear it from someone other than Paul himself for no doubt they feared he would entrap them and were doubtful that he was truly converted. This could be compared in some ways with a convicted criminal who sincerely is apologetic with a family of a victim when he has nothing to gain for himself-anyone can repent and part of OUR repentance is showing God's love toward those who offended us.
Repentance also involves a permanent turn from sin and not replacing one sin for another. This is one danger of those who say that they have a demon of "lust" or some other specific manifestation. The enemy will substitute one temptation for another; that is clear from the verses of Christ's temptation to go from satisfying hunger; to being suicidal and worshipping the Devil rather than God. We need to repent from actions and the lifestyle that leads to the broad road or directly to sin
In Christianity, the belief in the immortality of the soul has been influenced by ancient Greek philosophy, especially the teachings of two notable philosophers, Socrates and Plato. This philosophy views death as the separation of the soul from the body. Plato described the body as a prison for the soul and saw death as a means of freeing the soul.
This philosophy of death started blending in the church in the second-third century, some saying the good souls go to heaven, but the bad souls go to hell. Augustine of Hippo, a theologian and philosopher who was made a saint, held this philosophy, strongly influencing the doctrines in the church in the fourth and early fifth centuries, and later John Calvin taught it.
Some interpret 2 Corinthians 5:6-9 to mean that when we die, we go to be present with the Lord. This interpretation is also linked to Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, this is not dependent on salvation, all human spirits, regardless if the person is saved or not, return to God because the spirit in man comes from God, Job 32:8, Zachariah 12:1.
The soul: The Bible does not teach that the soul is immortal, but in Ezekiel 18:20, all souls are God's, and the soul that sinneth shall die, in Matthew 10:28, hell is the Word Gehenna which refers to the Lake of Fire. As written in the Bible, in Genesis 2:7, when God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground and with the breath of life from God, Adam became a living soul, that is all of Adam, the complete identity of Adam, including consciousness, desires, and emotions.
When God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul/being. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, which means a breathing creature, not a spiritual entity. It can describe a person's soul, life, mind, will, and even our body, not one thing, but the whole of the person, the true self. 1 Peter 3:20, eight souls were saved. Acts 2:43, Romans 13:1
The Bible consistently indicates that souls can die and cease to exist. For example, Matthew 10:28, it mentions that the soul can be destroyed, implying it is not immortal. The Greek word translated as soul is psuche, which has several meanings, including the vital breath, the breath of life, the human soul, the soul as the seat of affections and will, consciousness, a human person. Essentially, it includes who we are, and is inseparable.
This does not happen until we are resurrected, when Jesus Christ returns, it is a gift of God, Romans 2:5-7. Immortality is not given until the resurrection from the dead, only then will we be absent from this flesh and blood body and present with the Lord, Revelation 19:11-21, Revelation 20:1-6. The Bible never describes the soul of man as immortal or eternal. We die and are buried mortal, dead in corruption, and we will be raised incorruptible, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Every part of us is mortal, and we must put on immortality, 1 Corinthians 15:52-54.
The spirit: The spirit is the breath of life given to us by God, in Luke 25:46 Jesus said to His Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. In Acts 7:59, Stephen said Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. The spirit empowers us to experience God's profound love, it is through the spirit that we are empowered to live according to the ways of God, embracing righteousness and walking in His ways, in God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, rather than walking in the ways of the world.
Our spirit is how we communicate with God, Job 32:8, Proverbs 20:27, John 4:24, 1 Corinthians 2:10-12. God inspires or motivates us by stirring up the spirit in a person, 1 Chronicles 5:25-26. God inspired King Cyrus to issue a decree, allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, Ezra 1:1.
In Revelation 6:9-11, John is shown a vision of the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, the altar symbolizes the place of sacrifice and martyrdom, they are told to rest until their fellow servants are killed in the same way. This is a vision, as we see many in Revelation, it does not depict literal people's souls under the altar.
Another vision shown to Peter, James, and John on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured before them, Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus is the firstfruits of them that slept, and this is before Jesus was crucified. If Moses and Elijah/Elias were physically there, Jesus would not be the firstborn from the dead. Jesus told them not to tell this vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. The Greek word for vision is horama, the term horama refers to a supernatural vision or sight, often given by God to convey a message or revelation.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you on this one. When Paul spoke about the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, he was not referring to the words of Jesus spoken in Matthew Chapter 24. Matthew 24:31 is a prophecy taken from Isaiah 27:12-13 which is also a prophecy that the Jews looked for, that one day, God is going to gather them (the Jews) together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, north, south, east, and west. It has nothing to do with the rapture of the church.
You are correct in saying that "Collecting from four winds cannot be like a bird pouncing on a mouse." I agree with you on that, and that's why I wasn't referring to Jesus' words in Matthew Chapter 24 in my example. I was using it as an example of believers being snatched up from this earth and carried away. If you feel that it was a bad example, then so be it, I'm perfectly okay with that. I don't expect you or anyone else to agree with everything I post. Perhaps your example of Elijah would have been more appropriate to use, so thank you for mentioning Elijah. And of course I would include Enoch also.
If I may just respond to a couple of things, you say that "The Spirit always supplies instances to guide you." My response to that is yes, He does, and He has! You also seem to insinuate that either I'm relying on the Vulgate, or my Greek is inappropriate, and that I might be suggesting that St Paul's Greek was at fault. Well, I do not know Latin, and if I were to compare my knowledge of Greek to the Apostle Paul's, then yes, my Greek would be seen as inappropriate. I'm not sure if there's anyone on this forum whose knowledge of Greek could stand in comparison to Paul's, definitely not mine! No, I am not placing blame anywhere, and yes, we are to follow the Spirit's leading as we approach God's word.
We are at a disagreement with each other on this and I see no need to drag this one out. Again, may the Lord continue to bless you abundantly!
The power just went out and back on so attempt #2.
The next suggestion I just came up with in the interum; which I think is important and bears further investigation. That is learning when to share something with other believers and when not to; and of course that can involve our own situation or that of others. The obvious warning here is to avoid discussing ANY issue that is told in confidence OR someone has not made it CLEAR that they don't mind others praying about an issue. There are times of course when a person's life is in danger; but ordinarily there is enough anonymous sites such as this one where needs can be brought up and of course we can pray on our own.
Nonetheless the Lord is present when two or more gather in His Name. (See Matthew 18:19-20). I didn't even realize this related directly to prayer I should have. Insight is valuable from others again possibly to the person being prayed about; but different ways of thinking can be helpful as well.
Suggestion #4 Pray what the Spirit leads you to pray about. Someone ill may have a spiritual issue affecting them; someone who wants something may have other issues that need to be addressed. Again some of this stuff should be on our own time but we should expect that God will chastise everyone He loves. I don't have the guts to pray for God to chastize me but can guarantee 100 percent He will answer that. Maybe some here are up for the challenge..
Suggestion #5 Just realized this; we need to be open to criticism from others in the faith and suggestions. Some things of course are just plain wrong and can be delivered in a very insensitive way. We need if we are to help others to be able to accept correction ourselves.
SUggestion #6 I just thought of this as well but it seems true; don't discount prayers of a new believer. A child like faith often seems to be missing or hidden from those who are seasoned in the faith. BE SOLD OUT NOT OLD
This reply is a little late, but I just wanted to thank you for reading my post, and an extra thanks for reading it twice! I am trying to connect what I shared about a bird swooping down to snatch up a mouse by force with the passages you listed but I am unable to do so. Those passages are not what I described. My description was of a bird snatching up a living creature from the earth and carrying it away alive, not carnivorous birds coming down and eating dead bodies off the ground.
I'm sorry if what I posted led you to those passages. I was describing the rapture of the church, not Matthew 24:27-28 or Revelation 19:17-18.
Matthew 24:28 says that wheresoever the carcass is, there will the vultures be gathered together. The coming of Christ and all these carcasses were prophesied in Ezekiel 39:17 and all of Chapter 34 of Isaiah. In Revelation 19:17-18, we have the vision of the Supper of God. This is a different kind of supper. It's not the Supper of the Lamb that we believers will partake of after we are raptured.
Thanks again for reading and responding to my post. I do wish to apologize if I caused any misunderstanding. May the Lord continue to bless you and continue to give you a hunger and desire for His word. Blessings!
Can we loose our Salvation ? ? This is very scary for any Christians .
Jesus warns us about denying Him .
Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shalldenymebeforemen, him will I alsodenybefore my Father which is in heaven.
Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny Jesus.
Mark 14:30
And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before thecockcrowtwice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Peter has deny Jesus . As we know, Peter became an Apostle and still followed Jesus after His death. Peter never lost his Salvation.
Mark 14:72
And the second time thecockcrew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before thecockcrowtwice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
Jesus warns us of blasphemy.
Matthew 12:31
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin andblasphemyshall be forgiven unto men: buttheblasphemyagainsttheHolyGhostshall not be forgiven unto men.
Apostle Paul, before he got saved, use to be a blasphemer. Apostle Paul never lost his Salvation. Apostle Paul wrote 13 books of the Bible.
1 Timothy 1:13
Who was before ablasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
What is the spirit world ? ? Humans have a spirit that communicates with God and the devil can influence the spirit as well.
Satan is the spirit of this earth and the air.
Matthew 4:8
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of theworld, and the glory of them;
The Second Coming of Jesus, the saved Jew of the kingdom is the good seed and the bad seed is the children of the wicked. The person next to us could be unsaved.
Matthew 13:38
The field is theworld; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Satan can convince a person not to get saved by deceiving them and now they are the wicked. The devil has wicked seeds of lies
Matthew 13:39
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of theworld; and the reapers are the angels.
At the last days in the Second Coming of Jesus in the Tribulation, the wicked will be taken for destruction. It is not the Rapture.
Matthew 13:40
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of thisworld.
At the Tribulation, the angels will kill the wicked. It is the not the Rapture.
Matthew 13:49
So shall it be at the end of theworld: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
It is harder for a rich man to be saved because he has everything in life except Jesus Christ.
Matthew 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the wholeworld, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus promised the Twelve Disiples the twelve thrones and Apostle Paul is not included.
Matthew 19:28
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upontwelvethrones, judging thetwelvetribes of Israel.
Peter remembered what Jesus said about the twelve thrones. Peter was in the hurry to fill the slot for a new Apostle to join.
They made Matthias an Apostle of the Twelve of the kingdom.
Acts 1:26
And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell uponMatthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Why didn't Apostle Peter wait until Paul came in. Apostle Paul did not qualify to be one of the Jewish Apostle of the Twelve.
Acts 1:12-23
21Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
23And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
Will the Church age Believers received a mansion ? ?
Jesus was talking to the Twelve Disiples about many mansions for them .
John 14:2
In my Father's house are manymansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Jesus is promising The Twelve Disiples the twelve thrones, just like the many mansions.
Matthew 19:28
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelvethrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Part of service and having others as a priority over our own needs is taking time out for prayer. Jesus prayed all night before picking His 12 Disciples and this wasn't the only time He did this. Communicating with His Father in heaven was a constant ongoing process as He only said what the Father told Him ( John 12:49 etal). Service therefore for the Christian must involve a commitment of time not only for prayer for others but for ourselves; He may have been restricted while on earth to live as one of us but prayed to focus on God how much more should we seek Him?
There is too much in these chapters to cover in this study. The rest of Chapter 5 gets into the law and the further extent that is expected in regard to men's minds where man's sin nature imagines all sorts of evil and where only grace will suffice. One Old Testament example of this is David with Bathsheeba. Having her husband deliberately sent to the front lines to die and committing adultery would according to the law warrant the death penalty. Chapter Six and seven get into subjects regarding how we are not to judge others (and also how to help others by having our own lives cleaned up); how to fast and pray and finally it ends with the judgment to come warning of those who don't DO what Christ says to do; reminding us of John 14:15 about loving Christ and following His commandments. In the end it is said Jesus taught with authority ( Matt. 7:29) not like the teachers of the law; which was also said about His synagogue teachings early on in His ministry.
Adhering to the method of God's calling of His chosen sheep; Jesus preached to multiple individuals with a general message; much as John the Baptist did. There were clearly individuals involved throughout His travels that He would challenge but again one basic point I see in scripture is that individuals were never targeted for a challenge to come to Christ or be saved. The closest I can find is with Paul speaks to Agrippa in Acts 26:28. That is the result of one of Paul's courtroom testimonies where scripture is quoted to a great extent to Festus and others. The seeds were cast forth and they would prosper who they would.
In every crowd there are those who would hear the Word and then it would fall to the wayside; or be in shallow soil with no root and a few would have good soil and produce good fruit. One major characteristic of the Lord is He didn't reveal Himself to just anyone and the Parables were designed that way. Likely explains Matthew 7:6.
'God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (NLT)
This first verse should burst the bubble for those who think they can earn their way to rightousness in their own merit.
Focusing attention on this series about Christ being the perfect man; He would say things not to please men but to preach the truth. In this case it is perhaps a unique one where He doesn't get a stern rebuke; death threat or actual attempt at His life as He is speaking to the crowds or the "common people" those who are at least potentially truly blessed as that is the meaning of the "Beatitudes" as this section of scripture is often referred to. We of course see this pattern with the blessings in Deuteronomy 28 followed by curses in the end of this chapter (and also a bunch in the preceeding one as well). Jesus would spend much time excoriating the Pharisees with no holds barred in later chapters of the Gospels. We will get into that later; in short it is safe to say that the meek; mild Jesus who never caused division or strife is at best misguided at worst delusional. We need to keep in mind that ALL of Jesus' actions were righteous; whether in anger or praise. We are reminded of this verse:
John 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
I feel that in the church this is even more important than anger as a general problem; anger at least addresses an issue while empty praise reminds us of the hymn Be thou my vision written in the 1920s by Mary Byrne but based on a 6th Century poem by Dalln Forgaill
1. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me save that thou art. ...
2. Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true Word; ...
3. Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight; ...
4. Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise; ...
The Sermon on the Mount is probably one of the most famous and well known sections of scripture that many; even outside the Christian faith often quote. The intent of this section of scripture stretching from Matthew 5 to 7 is often misconstrued; and yet it has been set as a sort of moral standard for humanists and those of other religions who in their surface level analysis believe that man can all learn to love one another by their best attempt to follow these virtues. Frankly; I think these verses are INTENDED to be understood that way by those who are foolish enough to believe there is no God or that they can attain to His righeousness by following His words as a sort of guideline to live life.
As a sidenote it is interesting how the movements in the 1960s in America espoused "peaceful protests" and universal "love and peace". It at least started this way from what Martin Luther King, Jr. espoused as to the way to effectually bring change such as civil rights for African Americans in particular which drew in many others to rally for his cause. The effects of Eastern religions into this movement and the drug culture as well as outbursts of anger with his and others assassinations late in the 60's turned many demonstrations violent. The free love concept which started with nudity and fornication into the late 60s and early 70s eventually turned to what we have today with the often violent and obscene demonstrations of those espousing alternate lifestyles today; I won't put certain words here to be flagged; you get the point. It is ironic that Biblical verses which often relate to scriptures such as the Sermon on the Mount about peace and love now are so easily forgotton by those who call for "freedom" today; equal representation has transitioned to flagrant anarchy and debauchery such as seen in Sodom and Gomorrah.
In rhe next post I will dissect some of these scriptures to bring out the truth.
It is unclear in my mind exactly when this occurred; it was the first miracle where Christ did something publicly at least. It is brought up by some that Mark 3 shows how some of the Disciples such as Matthew came up later; so this is likely an informal group or part of the original 12 that were actually invited to this event. My aim here is to list things roughly chronological; to put all the pieces together based on the 4 Gospels in perfect order is something for another study.
In studying this yesterday in church even my Pastor couldn't figure out exactly what Jesus meant "before the time" in John 2:4.
Again this would seem to be before He did any public miracles but certainly that soon followed within weeks or a few months of His 3.5 year ministry. The uniqueness of providing something that wasn't a necessity of this miracle could be at play here too.
Nonetheless I am sure Jesus had God's approval to do this; and His miracle reminds me of the miraculous provision for the widow mentioned in 2 Kings 4:1-7. These were huge stone pots and at least 100 GALLONS of wine were made; enough no doubt to sell for years to come. It is interesting that all of His miracles mentioned of feeding the thousands were outside; an in fact most of His healing miracles were outdoors as well; He was summoned to the homes normally of certain wealthy men of important status.
It appears from Matthew 4 that after He was tempted in the desert; He called at least some of His Disciples and started doing miracles. The temptation in Matthew 4 was a standard 40 days period as we see Moses also fasted actually TWICE for that time (no mention if he ate anything in between after the rebellion occurred). Nonetheless it was the total trust in the Spirit that allowed for Him to get through it and scripture being deep within as the one offensive weapon against Satan. I believe I mentioned this already; so off to Matthew 5.
Yet, even before all this takes place, our own heart's first response is critical. Do we get agitated & stew over such an offence committed and then simmer down only after the Spirit deals with our uncalled-for response; or rather, the mature believer immediately knows what turmoil is ready to arise in the heart, and rather than be tempted to judge, he quickly deals with it lest it becomes sin? This maybe easy to discern but certainly not easy to deal with. As the Holy Spirit takes control more & more of our lives, dealing with our weaknesses & failings, I think our thinking & attitudes will align much more closely to what God requires of our behavior. And this will express itself in our thinking, our speech & a true loving response to the one offending. Thanks again brother for these necessary reminders and that we ought to judge ourselves first in all things. Blessings.
7. Christ was unpredictable. Unlike the imaginary sage or wise man that everybody loved who never said anything hurtful to offend people's feelings; Jesus Himself admitted that He came to cause division rather than peace ( Luke 12:53); yet He also said "blessed are the peacemakers" in Matthew 5:9. He would be invited to homes of the Pharisees; then excoriate them as to how He was treated (see Luke 7:45). His own Disciples were confused as to the necessity of dying in Jerusalem despite many statements about it He had to rebuke Satan when Peter spoke about these things never occurring ( Matt. 16:23). This was the same Peter who shortly before that stated who Christ truly was which only could have come from God ( Matt. 16:15-16). He sidestepped about 10 attempts on His life that we know of; but then deliberately headed toward Jerusalem where He knew He would die. Thomas at least understood it ( John 11:16-26 when he knew of the opposition faced when going back to raise Lazarus from the grave which was within weeks of the crucifixion I believe). His Resurrection sadly wasn't expected once the report came back from the women who were the first to arrive at the grave to see evidence and hear from the angels that He had risen. Women were an important aspect along with the Samaritans and Gentiles which the Pharisees couldn't understand.
I will attempt to look at several specific instances in the life of Christ to show how His approach; forethought and actions represent a perfect man; and how His example and those of the Apostles in the early church show about how and how not to do God's work as everyone had their character traits; flaws and at times outward sins. We therefore can conclude we all should emulate Christ and the Apostles; but we also all live in different situations and have different responsibilities incorporated into the good works He has given us to do planned since the foundation of the world ( Eph. 2:10).
So you see brother that the intention is to help my brother repent and correct himself, and not to condemn him.
Lets read Matthew 18:15-18. It is when my brother sins to me. In all three cases the outcome we wish to get is not to punish my brother, but to make him repent and so to "..., thou hast gained thy brother.". To gain him. Everything has to be done with love not with any other intention. The outcome must be to "gain my brother.". But if I Judge/condemn my brother things change. Even in the case when a fornication occured in Corinth Paul suggests that that man had to be expelled from the church as a last means to make him repent 1 Cor 5:5, "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.".
Of course here we are dealing with serious sins, not just a lie or something similar. 1 Cor 11, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.". We must always give the chance and the appropriate time for our brothers to repent but if they never do then we must expell them from the church, for them to repent , and for the rest to be protected.
But this is something to be done only by the elders or the pastor. Nobody else has the right to intervene in such matters apart from informing the hierarchy of the church.
Lately I have started seeing all those things under a different prism. Who saved us? Who brought us in a church? Who is making a huge effort to correct us, to change us? Isn't it God himself? Is it us that we have saved our brothers? Is it us that we have planted them in the church? Is it us that we are going to change them? Obviously not. This is God's task. So our focus must be in ourselves not in what the other person is doing or not doing. We are here to correct ourselves, not the others.
See pt 3
Really it is a complicated topic. The following is my opinion.
If we read Matthew 7:1-5 where it speaks about judging our brothers, the point of what Jesus is saying is not about discerning our brother's actions. The wrong doings of others are obvious to everybody. But there are two ways in seeing those actions. Either we judge them which means we condemn them for what they had done. Or we still see those sins but with a mood to help, not to condemn. We can cry and pray to God to help them. This is the right attitude I believe. It is the attitude of love.
As we grow spiritually and God walks us through various events in our life we get more tolerant to our brothers. Once when I was young in faith I cought a deacon saying a lie. So I condemned him in my heart, "a deacon saying a lie?" it was too much for me at that time. Later on I found myself in a condition that I was sort of compelled to lie. That tought me a lesson. Do not judge strictly your brother if you don't know what he goes through. In his shoes you might had done something worse than what he had done. When we are strict judges of our brothers God always passes us through the same path that our brother went through, so for us to understand how it feels and also to see how we behave ourselves under the same conditions. Then and only then we can realize the trials that our brothers are going through and be more tolerant to them.
Didn't Jesus know what Judas the Iscariot was doing all the time, that he was stealing money? Yes He did. So why didn't He send him away or reveal to others what he was doing? Because He was giving him the chance to repent. And He made clear to Judas that He knew what Judas was going to do and gave him all the time to repent, although He knew the outcome. Jesus did everything from His side to make Judas repent. He even called him "friend" when Judas came with the crowd to arrest Him. It was Jesus' last effort to break that stonny heart of Judas.
See pt 2
More specific purposes of Christ during His earthly ministry
4. Calling out of His Disciples. He spent all night in prayer prior to this event. ( Luke 6:12-13). Some may think that He had to decide who to choose; but I doubt it. That was something I would think was foreknown; especially since the son of perdition Judas Iscariot had to be picked as well although I am not sure where in scripture the initial meeting was with him; maybe someone can let me know about that. No doubt He prayed for them to readily accept Him and for obstacles from the enemy not to thwart things to come. Overall this would complicate His mission as times had to be set aside with this "inner circle" for further discussion of matters and discipling through hard sayings. This would be the beginning of the church which He would further develop in the absence after His death and Resurrection when the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost.
5. Warning of destruction to come. The future persecutions of the Disciples and travail of the nation of Israel as a whole eventually were expanded to the birth pangs of the world in general as illustrated in Matthew 24. Everything familiar to the Jewish nation would be shook; with the destruction of the Temple and many Jews during AD 70; largely due to their blindness of Christ and who He was ( Matt. 23:37). He deliberately talked very little about ruling and reigning in the Millennial Kingdom as no doubt that was the expectation and hope even of the Disciples at that time of His soon arrival in that mode. This is mentioned in Acts 1:6 as something alluded to have happened earlier.
6. Always considering others needs above His own. Jesus came to serve and not be served. ( Mark 10:45). This could perhaps be best demonstrated in His statement to John when hanging on the cross ( Luke 19:25-29). It appears Joseph was dead at this time and Jesus knew John would live the longest so he was to take Mary in.
Christ was also referred to as the 2nd Adam ( 1 Cor. 15:45; also seen in Romans 5). Hence Adam was designed in the image of God but because of his sin it affected all his offspring therefore we inherited his sin nature during conception ( Psalm 51:5). Men at that time when Christ lived on the earth expected the Messiah to come to earth and vanquish them of their enemies; hence tried to make him king ( John 6:15). His reaction was to go to withdraw Himself to the mountains (likely to pray).
A cursory examination of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 shows statements that at first seem to contradict the law; or at the very least make the ramifications more severe for our thoughts about things that may or may not become actions. This was illustrated with lusting after a woman being adultery in the heart; and more stringent laws on putting away one's wife. This explanation was brought out further in Matthew 19:8 with the Pharisees on the subject as to the concepts tied in with Deuteronomy 24. This shows that Christ was; as a member of the Godhead able to define and even change what was considered the law to make it more perfect as no one before Him ever was able to live out a sinless life following the law perfectly. Ultimately certain ceremonial laws were brought to an end as seen in Acts 10:15; but alluded to in Mark 7:18-19.
Hence the method of rituals related to the animal sacrifices also was to be ended with the New Covenant. Overall we can say the 10 Commandments as a moral law remain as a universal statute; although the mandatory 7th day of rest only given for Israel and its occupants has been replaced with Sunday as a day of rest although Colossians 2:16-17 says we should avoid disputes over Sabbath Days and I would add Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath ( Matthew 12:8). I am not here to get into a debate over that issue.
To have the law in our hearts was a future promise that Christ demonstrates ( Jeremiah 31:16-18).
So that being said, why would they change it? Even the Jews becoming Christians in the beginning of Acts all were done like that. We don't see sprinkling baptism come until much later in the church age, and if I remember right it came from like Africa or Egypt or something and that was an invention of Roman Catholicism.
I guess in short it's always been submersion and there isn't a point in scripture ever where it suddenly becomes sprinkling. I hope this helps.
this is why he said "narrow is the path, few will find it." - Matt 7:14
Love your neighbor according to scripture - James 2:8 what scripture? Leviticus 19:15-18.
(come learn with us at straitisthegate dot net)
Further questions
How does God work with man in order to facilitate His Kingdom and bring it to fruition in time? How do we find a balance between God being an impartial judge ( Deut. 10:17) and His personal relationship literally "possessing" us with His Holy Spirit for those who He has called and chosen? This causes Him to show favor among His children.
How do we wrap our heads around God who can't even look at sin and yet so loving the world that He sent His only Son? It is easy to brush off our understanding of John 3:16 with what Christ did for us and its effectivity for all who believe His Name but if the Father had to look away when Christ bore our sin ( Matthew 27:46) how can He even care about us; miserable worms that we are? (Spoiler alert He sees Christ in us when we are sealed with the Spirit)
How can we understand eternal destinies as compared to what we can see and sense today with those around us and the world in general as to its appearance? What can we make of our new bodies ( 1 Cor. 2:14). What about 1 Corinthians 15:35-36. Are we to understand we are foolish to ask such questions of what it will be like in Resurrected form?
35 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. I'll try to delve more into that later but it has to do with the context for that church as to how Paul was speaking.
Why were many things hidden as to Christ's first 30 years before beginning public ministry?
Why did God prophesy and bring about Judas the Betrayer and the future Antichrist Beast?
The last thing I will post tonight is the thought of why and how the Lord both REVEALS truth and CONCEALS it to those receptive and rejecting Him. 2 Corinthians 4:4 is a good start but it is still mysterious and thought provoking. I will get more into this in later postings as to how it relates to evangelism.
I thought about starting a new series of postings describing Christ as He is in the Old Testament and New (as many like to say concealed and then revealed). There is a certain broad base of topics especially in regard to the law (OT) and grace (NT). As with many theological doctrines there may be a general progress historically and according to God's plans with the Old and New Covenants; etal.; nonetheless mutual exclusivity can't be a viable option despite how tempting it may be to draw what seems like an easy conclusion. This is because Christ is the fullness of the law and thus Matthew 5:18 stands firm. The person of Christ is the essence of the summation of all the attributes of God ( Colossians 2:9). As to His earthly ministry and humbling Himself to live out a brief existence in time and space to accomplish God's purpose as the atonement for our sins certainly encompasses many prophetic promises and basically sums all of the Bible as the end of all things is preached by the Messiah and the New Testament ends shortly after the Resurrection discussing all things into eternity we need to know. Nonethless of course His eternal presence and glory as stated in Revelation 1 is a foreshadowing of how we all shall behold Him in all His splendor soon.
In regard to that thought it becomes clear to me that much of what has gone wrong with the Internet in particular is that Christ Himself as He truly is often seems to be sidetracked with all the predictions; dreams; visions and novel interpretations of often subjective experiences people have. If we aren't as John in Revelation 1; or the other prophets in falling flat on our faces with any story given about such matters then it is pretty clear they are spurious. Our obsession has to be on Him not any other agenda. John 17:3 comes close to the Navigators motto to "know Him and make Him known".
I pray this helps some people see more clearly into who He is and His manifold ways.
We are reminded here of another verse in James 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. (see also Matthew 6:19-20). There are other verses about silver and gold not saving us in the future wrath of God ( Zephaniah 1:18; etc). Once the mark of the Beast is established it won't be a viable option.
It is interesting to look at how a toy truck as an example is received with great joy for about a week or two maybe a couple months by a bratty kid. Five years later if he hasn't destroyed it or traded it it will likely go into storage; just for some collector 50 years hence to lovingly display it and if sold expect top dollar. Which of these is the most logical approach? Maybe the kid; because in the end it is all going to burn up with the rest of this old world. The Lord giveth and He taketh away ( Job 1:21). It is like that bad joke an elder quotes in our church about someone who got their wife to agree to take all the money with him to his grave. She said yes; I wrote a check and placed it there. In any case heaven is lined with gold streets and decorated with precious jewels. We won't be missing out there but of course it all reflects HIS glory; front and center stage.
As to the last post; in our relationships in the end we should seek to bring forth the jewels fitting for entry into heaven...And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. ( Malachi 3:17). None of us who know the Lord will miss any sinful aspects of our brothers in the Lord; and its effects of physical death and mental decline.
Maranatha-come soon
Luke 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Matthew 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." ( Ephesians 4:28).
These verses show that our actions should be part of what we verbally confess in order to bring restoration to those we have offended. THere are cases like with Paul where Barnabus stated in Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. This reminds us of the verse Proverbs 27:2 where another is to praise us rather than promotion of ourselves. In this case the early believers had to hear it from someone other than Paul himself for no doubt they feared he would entrap them and were doubtful that he was truly converted. This could be compared in some ways with a convicted criminal who sincerely is apologetic with a family of a victim when he has nothing to gain for himself-anyone can repent and part of OUR repentance is showing God's love toward those who offended us.
Repentance also involves a permanent turn from sin and not replacing one sin for another. This is one danger of those who say that they have a demon of "lust" or some other specific manifestation. The enemy will substitute one temptation for another; that is clear from the verses of Christ's temptation to go from satisfying hunger; to being suicidal and worshipping the Devil rather than God. We need to repent from actions and the lifestyle that leads to the broad road or directly to sin
Part 1
In Christianity, the belief in the immortality of the soul has been influenced by ancient Greek philosophy, especially the teachings of two notable philosophers, Socrates and Plato. This philosophy views death as the separation of the soul from the body. Plato described the body as a prison for the soul and saw death as a means of freeing the soul.
This philosophy of death started blending in the church in the second-third century, some saying the good souls go to heaven, but the bad souls go to hell. Augustine of Hippo, a theologian and philosopher who was made a saint, held this philosophy, strongly influencing the doctrines in the church in the fourth and early fifth centuries, and later John Calvin taught it.
Some interpret 2 Corinthians 5:6-9 to mean that when we die, we go to be present with the Lord. This interpretation is also linked to Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, this is not dependent on salvation, all human spirits, regardless if the person is saved or not, return to God because the spirit in man comes from God, Job 32:8, Zachariah 12:1.
The soul: The Bible does not teach that the soul is immortal, but in Ezekiel 18:20, all souls are God's, and the soul that sinneth shall die, in Matthew 10:28, hell is the Word Gehenna which refers to the Lake of Fire. As written in the Bible, in Genesis 2:7, when God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground and with the breath of life from God, Adam became a living soul, that is all of Adam, the complete identity of Adam, including consciousness, desires, and emotions.
When God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul/being. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, which means a breathing creature, not a spiritual entity. It can describe a person's soul, life, mind, will, and even our body, not one thing, but the whole of the person, the true self. 1 Peter 3:20, eight souls were saved. Acts 2:43, Romans 13:1
See part 2
Part 2
The Bible consistently indicates that souls can die and cease to exist. For example, Matthew 10:28, it mentions that the soul can be destroyed, implying it is not immortal. The Greek word translated as soul is psuche, which has several meanings, including the vital breath, the breath of life, the human soul, the soul as the seat of affections and will, consciousness, a human person. Essentially, it includes who we are, and is inseparable.
This does not happen until we are resurrected, when Jesus Christ returns, it is a gift of God, Romans 2:5-7. Immortality is not given until the resurrection from the dead, only then will we be absent from this flesh and blood body and present with the Lord, Revelation 19:11-21, Revelation 20:1-6. The Bible never describes the soul of man as immortal or eternal. We die and are buried mortal, dead in corruption, and we will be raised incorruptible, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Every part of us is mortal, and we must put on immortality, 1 Corinthians 15:52-54.
The spirit: The spirit is the breath of life given to us by God, in Luke 25:46 Jesus said to His Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. In Acts 7:59, Stephen said Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. The spirit empowers us to experience God's profound love, it is through the spirit that we are empowered to live according to the ways of God, embracing righteousness and walking in His ways, in God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, rather than walking in the ways of the world.
Our spirit is how we communicate with God, Job 32:8, Proverbs 20:27, John 4:24, 1 Corinthians 2:10-12. God inspires or motivates us by stirring up the spirit in a person, 1 Chronicles 5:25-26. God inspired King Cyrus to issue a decree, allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, Ezra 1:1.
See part 3
Part 5
In Revelation 6:9-11, John is shown a vision of the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, the altar symbolizes the place of sacrifice and martyrdom, they are told to rest until their fellow servants are killed in the same way. This is a vision, as we see many in Revelation, it does not depict literal people's souls under the altar.
Another vision shown to Peter, James, and John on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured before them, Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus is the firstfruits of them that slept, and this is before Jesus was crucified. If Moses and Elijah/Elias were physically there, Jesus would not be the firstborn from the dead. Jesus told them not to tell this vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. The Greek word for vision is horama, the term horama refers to a supernatural vision or sight, often given by God to convey a message or revelation.
God bless,
RLW
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you on this one. When Paul spoke about the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, he was not referring to the words of Jesus spoken in Matthew Chapter 24. Matthew 24:31 is a prophecy taken from Isaiah 27:12-13 which is also a prophecy that the Jews looked for, that one day, God is going to gather them (the Jews) together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, north, south, east, and west. It has nothing to do with the rapture of the church.
You are correct in saying that "Collecting from four winds cannot be like a bird pouncing on a mouse." I agree with you on that, and that's why I wasn't referring to Jesus' words in Matthew Chapter 24 in my example. I was using it as an example of believers being snatched up from this earth and carried away. If you feel that it was a bad example, then so be it, I'm perfectly okay with that. I don't expect you or anyone else to agree with everything I post. Perhaps your example of Elijah would have been more appropriate to use, so thank you for mentioning Elijah. And of course I would include Enoch also.
If I may just respond to a couple of things, you say that "The Spirit always supplies instances to guide you." My response to that is yes, He does, and He has! You also seem to insinuate that either I'm relying on the Vulgate, or my Greek is inappropriate, and that I might be suggesting that St Paul's Greek was at fault. Well, I do not know Latin, and if I were to compare my knowledge of Greek to the Apostle Paul's, then yes, my Greek would be seen as inappropriate. I'm not sure if there's anyone on this forum whose knowledge of Greek could stand in comparison to Paul's, definitely not mine! No, I am not placing blame anywhere, and yes, we are to follow the Spirit's leading as we approach God's word.
We are at a disagreement with each other on this and I see no need to drag this one out. Again, may the Lord continue to bless you abundantly!
The power just went out and back on so attempt #2.
The next suggestion I just came up with in the interum; which I think is important and bears further investigation. That is learning when to share something with other believers and when not to; and of course that can involve our own situation or that of others. The obvious warning here is to avoid discussing ANY issue that is told in confidence OR someone has not made it CLEAR that they don't mind others praying about an issue. There are times of course when a person's life is in danger; but ordinarily there is enough anonymous sites such as this one where needs can be brought up and of course we can pray on our own.
Nonetheless the Lord is present when two or more gather in His Name. (See Matthew 18:19-20). I didn't even realize this related directly to prayer I should have. Insight is valuable from others again possibly to the person being prayed about; but different ways of thinking can be helpful as well.
Suggestion #4 Pray what the Spirit leads you to pray about. Someone ill may have a spiritual issue affecting them; someone who wants something may have other issues that need to be addressed. Again some of this stuff should be on our own time but we should expect that God will chastise everyone He loves. I don't have the guts to pray for God to chastize me but can guarantee 100 percent He will answer that. Maybe some here are up for the challenge..
Suggestion #5 Just realized this; we need to be open to criticism from others in the faith and suggestions. Some things of course are just plain wrong and can be delivered in a very insensitive way. We need if we are to help others to be able to accept correction ourselves.
SUggestion #6 I just thought of this as well but it seems true; don't discount prayers of a new believer. A child like faith often seems to be missing or hidden from those who are seasoned in the faith. BE SOLD OUT NOT OLD
This reply is a little late, but I just wanted to thank you for reading my post, and an extra thanks for reading it twice! I am trying to connect what I shared about a bird swooping down to snatch up a mouse by force with the passages you listed but I am unable to do so. Those passages are not what I described. My description was of a bird snatching up a living creature from the earth and carrying it away alive, not carnivorous birds coming down and eating dead bodies off the ground.
I'm sorry if what I posted led you to those passages. I was describing the rapture of the church, not Matthew 24:27-28 or Revelation 19:17-18.
Matthew 24:28 says that wheresoever the carcass is, there will the vultures be gathered together. The coming of Christ and all these carcasses were prophesied in Ezekiel 39:17 and all of Chapter 34 of Isaiah. In Revelation 19:17-18, we have the vision of the Supper of God. This is a different kind of supper. It's not the Supper of the Lamb that we believers will partake of after we are raptured.
Thanks again for reading and responding to my post. I do wish to apologize if I caused any misunderstanding. May the Lord continue to bless you and continue to give you a hunger and desire for His word. Blessings!
Can we loose our Salvation ? ? This is very scary for any Christians .
Jesus warns us about denying Him .
Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shalldenymebeforemen, him will I alsodenybefore my Father which is in heaven.
Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny Jesus.
Mark 14:30
And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before thecockcrowtwice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Peter has deny Jesus . As we know, Peter became an Apostle and still followed Jesus after His death. Peter never lost his Salvation.
Mark 14:72
And the second time thecockcrew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before thecockcrowtwice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
Jesus warns us of blasphemy.
Matthew 12:31
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin andblasphemyshall be forgiven unto men: buttheblasphemyagainsttheHolyGhostshall not be forgiven unto men.
Apostle Paul, before he got saved, use to be a blasphemer. Apostle Paul never lost his Salvation. Apostle Paul wrote 13 books of the Bible.
1 Timothy 1:13
Who was before ablasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Ray, in Christ Jesus 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
What is the spirit world ? ? Humans have a spirit that communicates with God and the devil can influence the spirit as well.
Satan is the spirit of this earth and the air.
Matthew 4:8
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of theworld, and the glory of them;
The Second Coming of Jesus, the saved Jew of the kingdom is the good seed and the bad seed is the children of the wicked. The person next to us could be unsaved.
Matthew 13:38
The field is theworld; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Satan can convince a person not to get saved by deceiving them and now they are the wicked. The devil has wicked seeds of lies
Matthew 13:39
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of theworld; and the reapers are the angels.
At the last days in the Second Coming of Jesus in the Tribulation, the wicked will be taken for destruction. It is not the Rapture.
Matthew 13:40
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of thisworld.
At the Tribulation, the angels will kill the wicked. It is the not the Rapture.
Matthew 13:49
So shall it be at the end of theworld: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
It is harder for a rich man to be saved because he has everything in life except Jesus Christ.
Matthew 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the wholeworld, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Ray, in Christ Jesus 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Apostle Paul was a Pharisee and his name was Saul of Tarsus.
Philippians 3:5
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, aPharisee;
Was this Pharisees Saul of Tarsus ?
Matthew 9:11
And when thePhariseessaw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
Was this Pharisees Saul of Tarsus ?
Matthew 12:2
But when thePhariseessaw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Was this Pharisees Saul of Tarsus ?
Matthew 19:3
ThePhariseesalso came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
Apostle Paul does not know Jesus Christ in the flesh anymore. Apostle Paul only knows Jesus Christ in the in the resurrection.
2 Corinthians 5:16
Wherefore henceforthknowwenoman after the flesh: yea, though we haveknown Christ after the flesh, yetnow henceforthknowwehimnomore.
Apostle Paul only knows the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of hisresurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Ray. In Christ Jesus 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Why wasn't Apostle Paul part of the Twelve ? ?
Jesus promised the Twelve Disiples the twelve thrones and Apostle Paul is not included.
Matthew 19:28
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upontwelvethrones, judging thetwelvetribes of Israel.
Peter remembered what Jesus said about the twelve thrones. Peter was in the hurry to fill the slot for a new Apostle to join.
They made Matthias an Apostle of the Twelve of the kingdom.
Acts 1:26
And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell uponMatthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Why didn't Apostle Peter wait until Paul came in. Apostle Paul did not qualify to be one of the Jewish Apostle of the Twelve.
Acts 1:12-23
21Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
23And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
Ray, in Christ Jesus 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Will the Church age Believers received a mansion ? ?
Jesus was talking to the Twelve Disiples about many mansions for them .
John 14:2
In my Father's house are manymansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Jesus is promising The Twelve Disiples the twelve thrones, just like the many mansions.
Matthew 19:28
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelvethrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Ray, in Christ Jesus 1 Corinthians 15:1-4