According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4 Why does God allow us to comprehend the fact of being chosen? Isn’t it confusing? — answer: to bless us with a sense of destiny — To bless us with the sense of our special calling — To give us a sense of value — and, because it is true. We are: Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. 1 Peter 1:2 Aha, I was in God’s foreknowledge. He knew me before I was born, He knew about my choice, when I was 25 years old, for Him . Can we say that God chose me based on His prior knowledge of my choice? Yes! …Through sanctification of the Spirit. God’s election was carried out as He snatched me out of this world, and separated me unto Himself, once for all. Hebrews…
Category: <span>Liberty – Redemption</span>
Culture: The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. eg.‘20th century popular culture ’The ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. eg. ‘Afro-Caribbean culture’ The attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group. eg. ‘the emerging drug culture’ 2 Corinthians 6:14 teaches us: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with the culture: for what fellowship hath righteousness with the culture? and what communion hath light with the culture?” my paraphrase I make a broad interpretation here since culture also has many advantageous aspects for all. Nevertheless, I refuse to allow the culture to be my sole guide. Lets talk about for-instances: And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Am I preoccupied with enhancing my food intake? what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Do you esteem the world’s norms and standards above God’s? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Do you worship mammon, cars, and houses and social status? “Wherefore…
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Luke_7:39 What kind of prophet? An ethics policeman? Greg Boyd makes an insightful observation in His article on “The Point of the Book of Job.” “Most of us do not like ambiguity. Life is generally easier if we convince ourselves that everything is clear and simple. This, I believe, is part of our legacy of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:1-7). In our fallen delusion, we feel it our rightphet, and within our capacity, to declare unambiguously who and what is “good” and who and what is “evil.” We are not omniscient, but having eaten from the forbidden tree, we have a fallen misguided…
“For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. … And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” Hebrews 9:26=28 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth Romans 10:4 “But the end of all things is at hand.” 1 Peter 4:7 Have you ever thought about life this way: it ended before I was born? It ended 2000 years ago when a man shouldered it to ultimate oblivion. That man was Jesus Christ. What ended? — the cursed life, sin’s nature, death’s reign, the shadowy perspective, the religious searching for God. These all ended at the judgment, the one…
Routine means: conventional, regular, unremarkable, usual, familiar, general and like words. Routine’s opposite means: abnormal, different, eccentric, extraordinary, irregular, special, strange, uncommon, unconventional, unusual, variable, breaking, original, untraditional. ” Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, The Christian life carries both elements, but, too much “routine” becomes unchristian. Frankly the idea of “special” was added to our routine existence at the point of salvation. Unusual events began, untraditional acts exhilarated us, extraordinary gifts were being discovered, and unconventional wisdom began to rule over our familiar and general existence. Christ entered our heart and mind! Paul taught us: “When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Collosians 3:4 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we…
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. John 1:16 “Grace is more than love, it is love set absolutely free and made to be a triumphant victor over the righteous judgment of God against the sinner.” “The grace of God belongs to the realm of the infinite. His measureless love and goodness are released from every restraint. They are unshackled and free.” “The supreme divine objective is then, that infinite love may manifest itself in superabounding grace.” Chafer –Grace The Glorious Theme “Grace is God acting freely, according to; His own nature as Love; with no promises or obligations to fulfill…” William Newell “Grace means the overflowing nature of God…we have no words to describe the lavishness of God.” Oswald Chambers ” The religion of legality is as though a man should decide to have an apple orchard and should try to make one by…
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. John 1:16 “Grace is more than love, it is love set absolutely free and made to be a triumphant victor over the righteous judgment of God against the sinner.” “The grace of God belongs to the realm of the infinite. His measureless love and goodness are released from every restraint. They are unshackled and free.” “The supreme divine objective is then, that infinite love may manifest itself in superabounding grace.” Chafer –Grace The Glorious Theme “Grace is God acting freely, according to; His own nature as Love; with no promises or obligations to fulfill…” William Newell “Grace means the overflowing nature of God…we have no words to describe the lavishness of God.” Oswald Chambers ” The religion of legality is as though a man should decide to have an apple orchard and should try to make one by…
“In consequence of the first sin, the internal nature of man became possessed by death. How? …by the (decomposing) of the previous unity of the (many human) powers (complimenting one another) … in the life of the spirit and of the soul, and of the disappearance of the spiritual life in God’s image, and its reflection in the soul.” from Delitzsch and Wallis “A System of Biblical Psychology” paraphrase “…when Satanic thoughts of a loveless God found entrance into man’s mind, then entered enmity (an enemy) into the place of love … soul, at peace in God, fell into confusion, and kindled in passionate eagerness opposed to God.” Same source. “The tree of knowledge was to lead man to the knowledge of good and evil; and, according to the divine intention, this was to be attained through his not eating of its fruit. This end was to be accomplished… through obedience to the…
“As your fathers did, so do ye. “ A shattered and battered friend builds a barricade — outside goes the streets, parties, men, women — no challenges, no frank conversations, no vulnerable places; nothing gets in! — nothing but a safe little bungalow with a few other cocoon-spinning associates; — they are veiling their secrets together. Left out are also secret memories of raped or violated. God also is forfeited. Some add a convenient god to their project, but the True God gets the stiff arm; He represents unconcealed truth is why, and truth stings. Can God ever get in? He can if these self-shelters can be penetrated. We got a problem. God wants to preserve rights; rights of free will, rights to want, rights to self-government, as far as it goes. God doesn’t overrule the one created in His image or He violates their being, by becoming an antagonist God. So, how can it…
Then he sent her (Hagar) away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears. But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there…. Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. Whose concubine despairs? Whose woman of incidental association bursts into tears? Nobody knows her, but God knows…