All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
We Should Have Left With Him
A little levity - When the Supreme Court kicked God our of our schools, maybe we all should have got up and left with Him. We didn't and ever since we have been guilty of giving our children a godless education. Could that have anything to do with what we are seeing today?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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Do you think Jesus was only speaking to the apostles when He said you will do greater things? I have no opinion on this. I was curious what your thoughts were on it.
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Permalink Reply by RoyW on
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No, I don't think He was just talking to the apostles here as He says:
Jn 14:12-14 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. NIV
He puts no limits on what His followers can do. His words were, "anyone who believes." I personally am not against God's people doing great works. I think we should pray and believe. Right now I am praying for a big miracle. I believe He is going to do it but I have to put my faith in Him and in Him alone. It is beyond me to do it.
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Permalink Reply by JB on
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Roy,
I think the key here is “In His Name” we need to understand what it means to do these things in His name. Just saying “in His name” is not what gets the job done, it is doing it in His name; For instance, if I say I come to you in the name of Jesus, I am either coming to you in His character, with love, compassion etc. or I come to you with His authority, He has given me the use of His name to do these exploits, by ourselves we can do nothing, it is all in His name. It is like the power of attorney, to use His name. We do the same thing when we say at the end of a prayer: “Amen” we are saying; let it be from our point of view, but from God’s point of view, He is saying “So be it” Most of us just use it as an ending to a prayer, or request.
This is how I see the sovereignty of God; He gives us the use of His name, yet holds complete control over everything.
I will at some point explain what I was meditating on this morning, and what was shown to me concerning this.
Blessings to you,
JB
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Amen. It is beyond our comprehension to be given the power to use His name. Who are we to speak in the name of God? What have we done? Yet, that is exactly what He has done. He has given us the right to say to all the demons in hell, "In the name of Jesus." And, they have no choice but to listen and obey. Why has He done this? Joe, this is excellent!
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I am going to give an example of someone taking credit for what God has done. We can talk about storms, changes through elections, etc., and think that possibly we had something to do with that. Let me explain:
I'm going to take Saul's kingdom and give it to David. I will establish the throne of David over Israel as well as Judah, all the way from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south." 11 Ishbosheth didn't dare say another word because he was afraid of what Abner might do. 2 Sam 3:10-11
I was just reading this portion this morning. It is a great example when one man actually thinks he is doing something or has the power to do something. Abner was Saul's general. When Saul died, he had taken Saul's son Isbosheth and crowned him king of Israel. Then, when Isbosheth questioned Abner about sleeping with one of his concubines, Abner became angry and made the decree you see above. This statement reminds me of some of the outlandish statements I hear from men today. They actually believe they are making something happen. The truth is, it was God's will that Isbosheth would not be king but that David would be king. Abner may have been a pawn in the exchange but he had nothing to do with causing it to happen. It was God's plan all along to make David king.We also sometimes want to take credit for something that God did. I used to go to a lot of pastor's conventions. I remember how we would all get together talking about how many we had in church. Then, when the winner came in and said that he had 300 (I belonged to a smaller denomination) that made him the king and we would all bow to him. I also go to some school conventions. The same thing happens. We always want to know how many students each has in their school. As we become older we begin to realize that these are not the things that are important but I can guarantee that kind of thing does go on with pastors and school administrators. Our school did at one time have one of the best if not best basketball team in the nation among other Christian schools. How many think I bragged on that a time or two. We defeated another school that actually had a future NBA and several division I players on their team. See, I'm bragging again and that happened sixteen years ago. It took us two overtimes to prevail but we did. We had to get all three of their 6'9" players fouled out before we could win the game. See, I could talk about that for pages. But, who really did that? I guarantee I did not shoot in one basket during that game. Even though I don't think God really gets involved in these sort of things (I don't know if He does or not), I really felt He did in that game. Everything had to go our way for us to have that upset victory. Now, I do give God glory for that championship win. We had a good team but not that good.
Can you imagine Abner saying that he was going to make David king of all of Israel? Nonsense! If you have been to some really good charismatic healing services, you have probably heard the speaker or prophet telling about all the miracles he has performed. Nonsense! He hasn't done anything that God didn't come down and do in spite of that individual. That individual didn't cause anything to happen just as Peter did not cause that man to get up and walk. That was God and Peter was quick to give Him all the credit. We have no power, no supernatural abilities, no ability to live a godly life, etc., etc., etc. It is time we all gave God the glory for everything that is happening. None of us do anything but get in His way. And, we can't even do that. He is going to do what He is going to do. His plan is going to be accomplished in spite of us. If He doesn't want Romney to win, Romney won't win regardless of what we do.
As you can see, I believe in the sovereignty of God. We need to submit to His will. It will go much better for us to submit to God rather than trying to take some credit for something good that happened through us. This morning I gave my students this advice in Bible class: Just remember, if anything good happens in the Kingdom of God, it was God that did it. Don't try to take credit for it.
Have a great day!
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Roy, I’m sorry if I offended you in any way, please accept my apology.
You are as set in your beliefs as I am, so I don’t see any reason for us to continue this discussion any further.
Have a great evening.
Blessings to you and family.
Joe
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Hi Joe,
I think you did get a little ire up in me but I will survive. I struggle a lot with the miracle services and healing services when no one really gets healed. I think these kind of advertised services have a negative effect on the body of Christ. However, I am also convinced that I have a lot to learn about these kinds of things.
I happened to attend a service recently with a prophet. The prophet promised miracles. A lady came in a wheel chair hoping to be healed. She was told that she had unforgiveness in her heart and as a result could not be healed. She begged to be told what the unforgiveness was. She was ignored and the service continued with everyone exclaiming how wonderful it was to learn why some are not healed. I really struggle with these kinds of things. I'm not sure how we got onto that in this discussion. I don't think we really know when God is going to do something miraculously but I know that it does happen. I believe in the gifts of miracles, healing and all of it. I have seen it and know it is true.
I believe we are right to pray for people to be healed of their physical problems. Sometimes they don't get healed and I do not think we need to start making excuses for God why the person doesn't get healed. It may be that you believe it is always God's will to heal. I see those in Scripture that were not healed such as Trophimus, Timothy, Epaphroditus (he eventually was healed and did not die) and Paul himself. Not too long ago I visited Kenneth Hagin's grave. He died in intensive care of heart failure. There is nothing to be ashamed about in that. Yet, it is obviously different than many believe.
I cannot explain these things. I do believe that we must balance all these things in Scripture. Maybe some of my reactions are due to some bad experiences I had in the past. I believe His Word is true. There is still more for me to learn than I have learned.
I might be set in my ways but I don't really think so. I am still trying to learn. I will be glad to change. I do believe we that have received Christ have been healed. Our bodies may not have been delivered from the curse but we certainly have been. By His stripes, we all have been gloriously healed.
We may disagree on this but we do agree that Jesus is Lord and that is what is of utmost importance.
Blessings to you as well.
Roy
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We may disagree on this but we do agree that Jesus is Lord and that is what is of utmost importance. - Amen brother
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Roy, I would rather serve with 20 people who serve the Lord then 2000 that go out of habit. What you should have asked the pastors is how many have you baptized this year?
What grade do you teach? My brother has been a high school teacher at a Christian school for years. He's now also the chaplain. I don't know how many students they have though. lol. I know you are a great blessing to those kids brother.
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