All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
When I Am Down
When you feel down, beat-up or overwhelmed, what does God use to pick you up and get you through?
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator
Views: 876
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Carla on
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LT, This quote of yours is a keeper.. Good Word!
"The lost are not looking to be saved, God is looking to save the lost."
Blessings, Carla
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Amanda,
The bottom line is no one finds God unless He calls them and reveals Himself to them. Until the time a person is called they are blind to God. The state of being blind does not mean they will stay blind. All men are blind until God calls them and reveals Himself to them.
God has chosen to seek the lost through the sharing of the gospel by the church, His body (Rom. 10). He speaks to people through creation and dreams, but in the end they must hear the gospel and believe in order to be born-again.
Not everyone will be given an opportunity to be saved for not everyone will hear the gospel message and not everyone who hears the gospel will be saved as evidenced in the parable of the seed sown of four different paths.
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator
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Amanda,
No need to apologize. May God give peace and guidance to this family as they deal with their loss.
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator
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Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on
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But, LT, what will God the Sovereign LORD say to those who will not "be given an opportunity to be saved"? Tough luck!?
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Michael,
I have no idea what God will say to those on that day regarding this or if He will address it at all. They will be standing before God in guilt because of their sin.
Let me ask you some questions:
Who deserves to be saved?
What does the Bible say is required for one to be saved?
What does the Bible say regarding the lost and the the future they face if they remain lost?
What does the Bible say is the method one will come to know what is required for salvation?
Where does the Bible say that every one will have that opportunity?
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator
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Amanda,
In this context godly sorrow is basically when we come to the point of recognizing our sin and thus our guilt regarding that sin. This knowledge, coupled with the truth of God's Word regarding salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit bring us to the point of true repentance. We have had a change of mind (agreeing with the fact that what we have done is wrong and that we are guilty before God) and then choose to turn from the sin and follow God's path, the righteous path.
Grief is godly in that it is used as part of the conviction package applied by the Holy Spirit on us, both pre and post salvation. Salvation comes with great joy and sorrow, for we recognize that Jesus died for us. For our sins He went to the cross. I was guilty deserving death, but Jesus paid it. I deserved to go to hell, but now am saved from damnation and saved unto God. Thus, grief is an acknowledgement of personal guilt and joy follows recognizing that Christ paid it all for me.
Lord BLess,
LT
TheNET Coordinator -
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Amanda,
Holiness and righteousness are both positional and experiential. At salvation we are changed and receive the new spirit. In the change from the old to the new we receive the holiness and righteouness of Christ. This is postitional. We start as babes and will grow toward maturity. The experiential deals with our daily living in the flesh. The spirit is changed, but not the flesh. Our battle is against the flesh that wars against us. We are to subdue it and then begin to see the fruit of the change within being manifested through the subdued flesh through acts of righteousness. This takes time as we must mature, become stronger over time, in order to truly subdue the flesh daily.
The grace of God is to be transformational. Our lives over time are to become mirrors of the life of Christ, never perfected but ever straining toward the goal.
We are freed from the penalty of death and freed in that we are capable of experiencing the presence of Christ and desire to live for Him out of love. We are also empowered to overcome, but this empowerment is tied into our maturing over time as we seek Him as we war against the unregenerated flesh.
In essence you are talking about the sanctification process.
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator -
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Amanda,
That can be one possibility. I cannot say that this is you as I only know you through this forum (internet). I would agree that the longer we are away it is harder to come back. Don't let circumstances dictate your direction, but simply respond tot he love of God and draw near to Him ... He is always ready and ever waiting for His children to come home.
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator -
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Amanda,
My schedule is very tight for the next several days. I will respond to this ASAP and future responses will be slower than usual due to my schedule.
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordinator -
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LT,
I wanted to highlight what you said here.. This is good stuff. I hope that everyone reads this and really takes it in. This is your comment. Amen to this brother! :
"Holiness and righteousness are both positional and experiential. At salvation we are changed and receive the new spirit. In the change from the old to the new we receive the holiness and righteouness of Christ. This is postitional. We start as babes and will grow toward maturity. The experiential deals with our daily living in the flesh. The spirit is changed, but not the flesh. Our battle is against the flesh that wars against us. We are to subdue it and then begin to see the fruit of the change within being manifested through the subdued flesh through acts of righteousness. This takes time as we must mature, become stronger over time, in order to truly subdue the flesh daily.
The grace of God is to be transformational. Our lives over time are to become mirrors of the life of Christ, never perfected but ever straining toward the goal.
We are freed from the penalty of death and freed in that we are capable of experiencing the presence of Christ and desire to live for Him out of love. We are also empowered to overcome, but this empowerment is tied into our maturing over time as we seek Him as we war against the unregenerated flesh.
In essence you are talking about the sanctification process."
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Amanda,
So, basically, “works” play no role in eternal security? They are just a result of being saved?
That is correct. Works do not gain, assure or retain salvation. We are saved through the work of God, by His grace through faith. Good works follow salvation and are enabled as a result of salvation.
Works that try to prove obedience in order to keep salvation would really be of the flesh, right?
Yes, or a misguided understanding of God’s Word that follows a legalistic teaching.
Our works should come naturally by growing in faith and being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Works show faith and show proof that a person is genuinely saved.
Yes, but the type of works may vary from one person to another.
Were we created to do good works, or were good works created beforehand that we might walk in them (Eph. 2:10)?
Both aspects are actually true.
Works are supposed to glorify God and not make us look good by doing them.
When we truly love Jesus, we want to obey Him (John 14:15).
Yes, but what should happen is that people see Jesus living in us, thus they are being drawn to Jesus, not us.
How do I do my part in the works that God calls me to do?
Surrender daily subduing the flesh and then following the Word and Spirit of God as they guide you.
You talk about progressive sanctification. Some think we are sanctified wholly at the moment we are born again--that the Spirit sanctifies us right then.
Positionally we are sanctified (set apart from sin and set apart to God) at salvation. Experientially in this life it is a process that begins with a crisis that is followed by the progression over a lifetime. It deals with being filled with the Spirit of God and empowered to overcome sin, the flesh, in this life.
Is the concept of abiding in Christ what you are calling progressive sanctification?
It includes abiding, but really focuses on a complete surrender unto Him.
The believer and the Holy Spirit working together? For life?
Yes.
But we don't produce the fruit, The Spirit does.
Two kinds of fruit. Inward fruit that God is the cause of the change and the causation of the growth toward maturity, the “Fruit of the Spirit”. The outward manifestation of what is taking place inward is part of the surrender process and the call for us to seek live godly lives.
And the fruit of love, joy, peace, kindness...etc...is it actions (works) or simply attributes of the character of the saved?
The fruit listed in Galatians are all states-of-being. God literally changes us at salvation and we receive the presence of the Holy Spirit who brings these attributes into our lives. He then begins the work of maturing us in conjunction with our hunger for God and surrender to His will.
I do not try to be kind—but I am kind? Automatically? By nature?
As a babe in Christ yes. As these mature they will be manifested in outward actions that flow from the inward person.
Lord Bless,
LT
TheNET Coordiantor
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