Today is Post Your Question day.
What is your question? Post it here and read what others may have to say in response.
We may take some of those questions for future discussion.
Do you have a question about something in the Bible?
Do you have a question about how we should live?
Do you have a question about our society?
Anyone is free to post their question, and all are free to respond.
What is the Spirit saying to the Church?
We reserve the right to edit or delete any comment or question that demeans, disparages, or otherwise disgraces another person.
www.practicalbibleteaching.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
23 comments:
Where is the verse that says "once saved, always saved"?
Yeah, we know it's not in there like that. So, where do we draw that from?
I have a promise of a future with the Lord. So not only do I enjoy the present, use it for His glory, I am also content in knowing I have a future directed by Him, for Him. gracie
My question is: Is man a Dichotomy or a Trichotomy?
I believe we're a trichotomy:
According to I Thessalonians 5:23, we are a triune being..."Spirit, Soul, and Body." We experience life through our Body, we acknowledge life through our Soul, and we influence life through our Spirit.
According to Gen 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground (body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit); and man became a living soul (soul)." KJV
We care for our Body with proper rest, exercise, and nutrition.
We care for our Soul - our mind, will and emotions - through developing these areas of our psyche, as well as through the expression of a nurturing inner Parent, an impromptu inner Child, and a discerning inner Adult.
We nurture our Spirit through Bible study, church attendance, prayer, fasting, Christian fellowship, service, and sharing our faith with others.
The Body is our existence, the Soul is our expression, and the Spirit is the essence of our life.
Without fully developing all three parts of our being, we live as handicapped individuals. Unless we acknowledge and nurture each entity, we will never reach wholeness within ourselves, or help to nurture others in our life.
What do you think? ~ kat
We do have a future in the Lord, but we cannot live in the future at this present moment of life, we can only live in the present.~kat
Jer 29:11-14... "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD,"
NKJV
Eternal Security of the Believer ~
The Perseverance of the Saints
Check out these verses: John 3:16, John 5:24, John 11:25-26, John 10:27-29, Romans 10:9, Matthew 7:21-23, Hebrews 12:8,II Cor 13:5, Acts 1:8, John 15:1-8, Jude 24,
Philippians 1:6
The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again. ~ Kevin
Has the Lord revealed anything to you, about your heart and life, that makes you want to take a prayerful second look at your lifestyle, attitudes,service, motivations, etc.?
Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him..
The Triune God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Mind, physical and spirit. We are created in his image.
John 1:1,3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...through him all things were made...
The Lord told me to take a prayerful look at the hectic lifestyle pervading my life and preventing the Holy Spirit from using me as He desired. I knew my eternal Salvation was guaranteed by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, but I still tried to earn God’s love by my works. I was so active for God that I couldn’t squeeze a personal relationship with Him into my busy schedule. My cluttered life left no room for Him to make His presence known to me. I had to empty myself of “myself” to make room for Him.
I learned that all of the power of the entire Godhead resides within my spirit, every attribute that is in the Father and the Son resided in me through the Holy Spirit and His fruit. I sat in His presence and allowed Him to replace: hatred with love, depression with true joy, discontentment with peace, irritation with patience, criticism with gentleness, backbiting with goodness, pride with meekness, excess with self-control, and worry with the faith of God as I am controlled and guided by His Spirit. ~ kat
How should we live? Today marks 60 years on this earth as the individual, Gracie. What have I accomplished? What has been done for the Lord is all that truly counts.
What is my Purpose in life? My purpose is to know my God and share that knowledge. My primary purpose is to know Him in every way. I could spend another 60 years just studying God's Word, I think, and still not have discovered all there is to know Him.
But, I can't keep that knowledge to myself. It brings with it a compulsion to share. Sharing for me is being. The knowledge becomes me and affects my treatment of others. In that answer I can say I fulfill the two commandments above all others:
Matthew 22:37,38 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandments. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commands.
Mark 12:29-31 Hear, O Israel, the lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.
Deuteronomy 6:3 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
So how should we then live? Live as Jesus lived. Be so filled with the spirit and being of God that others see him in us, in our actions, in our speech, in our touch. gracie
Hi ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm commenting on Gracie said... How should we live?
I agree with you, especially your final words: Live as Jesus lived. Be so filled with the spirit and being of God that others see Him in us, in our actions, in our speech, in our touch. AMEN, SISTER! ~ kat
When reading Proverbs 6:6-10 I came across a cross refernce to Leviticus 25:35. How do these compare? How then should we (the church) handle those less fortunate who need a helping hand. How do we determine the status of 'sluggard'?
Gracie,
Lev. 25:35 refers to the alien in the land. The law concerning the alien in the land is found in Lev. 19:34 where we are told to treat the alien as a countryman. Therefore, the alien comes under all the guidelines for those in our midst.
Poverty comes on the lazy like an armed man, according to Proverbs. fortune and misfortune alike fall on both the just and the unjust. The outward circumstances do not reveal a person's stance with God.
Riches do not prove God's blessing, and poverty does not prove His displeasure. Both can be the result of a cause and effect principle operating in the person's life; and both can be the result of that which happens. In this also, we cannot determine whether God has blessed or cursed. we can only acknowledge what is.
So, to try to answer your three questions: the two passages compare in that it is expected of us to work; and it is also expected of the alien among us to work.
The church should handle those less fortunate with the wisdom that God gives, not according to some form that needs to be filled out to see if they are worthy or needy or deserving.
We can determine the status of sluggard simply by observation. According to Paul, in Thess., if he won't work, he can't eat.
This is my new questions:
We had a discussion at church about the difference between backsliding and apostacy.
Heb 3:12-13 says, to the BRETHREN!!! "12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;"NKJV
2 Peter 2:21 "For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them." NKJV
Matt 24:12-13 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." NKJV
1 Tim 4:1-3 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron," NKJV
Are these backsliders or apostates? How can a person who supposedly has a personal relationship with Christ walk away from Him for years, or possibly never to return?
Kathy,
My take has always been that Bscksliding is the pathway to Apostasy. For an interesting article (not mine) on the backsliding path being taken in America, go to http://www.articlecircle.com/religion-and-spirituality/christianity/the-osteen-bible-and-other-apostasy-milestones.html
Highlight from the "http" all the way to the "html"
Press Ctrl C and then go to the address bar on yur browser. click in the address bar, press Ctrl V and then you can read the aricle.
Hi~
I read the article you recommended and I agree, as does my husband, about pastors watering down the Word to please others.
My questions is: What about people who say they are Christians, but don't stand in the day of adversity and then fall away for years? Then they suddenly reappear on the scene as if nothing ever happened.
Will they be able to stand under the coming persecution of the church? Or will they just conveniently fall away again? Are they truly saved, or are they lying to themselves and those to whom they are currently ministering? ~ kat
kat,
Good question. What would be your answer?
Hi~
I'm perplexed about this!! That's why I asked. What would make someone walk away from the Lord for years, or forever, once they've walked with Him?
Did they never had a true conversion experience and so they walked away; and then they do have a true conversion experience and they come back?
I want to know from anyone whose walked away and come back, how this could happen? Any wisdom ~ kat
Kathy,
Since you asked to know from anyone who has been there, done that, I will try to get some from our local church to answer. There are many, who, according to their own testimony, walked away and have now returned.
I cannot answer from personal experience, but I can talk about what the Bible says.
We are not able to know another's heart. Actually, we have trouble enough knowing our own. (Jer. 17:9)
In reference to your first question (@10:32am), I am reminded of Moses, who knew of his place in God and slew the Egyptian, then disapppeared for 40 years, only to suddenly appear on the scene again. The whole time the hand of God was upon him. But, the people judged him nonetheless.
Then there was David, who as a young boy was publicly anointed as the king. He said, "Wow! That's cool!" and went back to tending his father's sheep. Wasn't heard of for decades.
The purposes of God in a person's life when they are on the backside of the desert are worked into that person's life away from public scrutiny. God probably views that as a good thing. What the circumstances are surrounding their removal to that place is what was necessary in order to get them to go where God was leading them to work things out in their life.
When Isaiah walked around naked for 3 years (Isa. 20:2), he was violating all the customs of society at the time. But, he was obeying the word of the Lord to his heart.
When Saul/Paul suddenly showed up on the scene, those who had been around awhile and stayed true would not receive him. That was a part of God's plan that moved him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And he then withstood more persecution than many of his time were able to bear.
For my own part, I am most often brought back to Rom 14:4, which says that I am not to judge the outward things that speak of possible sin or weakness in another (see context of chapter), because the Lord will hold them up.
Hi~
What I hear you saying is that some people stop bearing fruit for the Lord, because they are in a desert and need time to work out their own issues before coming back to serve God. Is this correct?
So then this person would be a backslider, and not an apostate?
But as you said in one entry, backsliding can lead to apostacy.
I rejoice that those we've prayed about for years did not go into apostacy then, and instead came back to their First Love. This news gives me more faith to trust that my children too will eventually come back to the Lord.
In response to the "onced saved always saved" and "the perseverance of the saints"
---------------------------------
"The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again"
- I read several (but not all) of the verses posted by Kevin.
What I do not see in them is this statement about what perseverance means.
I believe we have done great misfortune to MANY people by extending the once saved always saved message. I do believe we are saved through Grace and not works. The problem I see is that we have had thousands of events where dedications are made (It's not just those events either. It happens weekly at many Churches). Someone walks forward, prays a prayer and is assured of their salvation. Yes, they believe, but if they do not continue believing (and it should be clear that believing means works will happen) I do not think they will go to heaven.
People have a choice to believe and a choice to quit believing. People can get on the straight and narrow road and they can go right off it.
The assurance I see in scripture is the assurance that I can know that I do NOT have to earn salvation, because there is certainly no way to do that. The assurance that I see is that God will always love me and never give up on me. What I do not see is that I have no choice to walk away.
The results I have seen are that people do not live very committed lives. They do not live to be disentangled with this world. In fact, the opposite is more true. We have a world (or at least united states) full of people that claim to be Christians. From what they were taught and experienced, this is a genuine/sincere belief. Yet, their lives do not reflect that they treasure Christ more than this world.
This is in response to a statement found in newsletter 3 from the practicalbibleteaching site.
that comes from being focused like a laser beam. This phrase from the newsletter reminded me of a statement I read long ago. Prayer acts like a magnifying glass focusing God’s power on the subject of the prayer. Made prayer come alive for me and much more meaningful.
To point out the truth in what you say, I also heard commentary on the radio once, while getting ready for work. It stated that many say it is so hard to get ready and get to work on time because we have become so multi-tasked oriented.
They recommended focusing only on what you are doing at the moment instead of preparing for the day ahead while you get ready. Novel thought. gracie
Gracie's Blog (from my Yuwie site)
What is the motivation of the heart when plans are made? Proverbs 6:6-10 and 16:3 then 9, then 1.
Proverbs gives advice to make plans -
But first seek the kingdom of God gain the knowledge of what fits the will of God - then proceed in that knowledge.
We (I think) need to be careful not to treat the Word as if it were a crystal ball - rather it tells us of the nature of God - what he would approve of - it tells of His laws - consequences for actions.
Do the plans we make fit our purpose and goal as He set them for us? Answer that question when you plan.
What is the motivation of the heart when the plans are made?
Hi~
I agree with Gracie's comments on Feb 22 & 23. I appreciate what you shared. ~ kat
Post a Comment