I would again encourage you and anyone interested in a thorough study of what the Bible teaches about God's Salvation Program to visit the SearchingHisWord web site and download the booklet "I Hope God Will Save Me".
There you will find literature and recorded Bible teaching that endevours to be faithful to God's Word, the Bible, the only and total authority for our lives.
Hi Texsis. I think D J Grim might be referring to Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:29. And this is understood as the Cross, the stake bringing death that was once fashioned from a tree.
Thank you Jesse, for double checking the guidelines.
For me, I do check several translations if I read something that is unclear from another, even the KJV can be unclear. I am glad you come on here and help us with Greek.
Matthew chapter 20 verse 25-28 also chapter 22 verse 16 and chapter 23 verse 1-12 . Acts chapter 10 verse 34 and James chapter 2 verse 1-9 . Apostles were witnesses , they were essential for the early church , for the spread of the Gospel , we now have the whole Bible . I've never witnessed a miracle but I believe , John chapter 20 verse 29 . An apostle didn't convert me or teach me anything , God did , through His Word that He has preserved for all of us to read . In the days of the Apostles people didn't have copies of the new testament to read at their leisure like we do now . Acts chapter 1 verse 21+22 .
Hello everybody, sisters and brothers. Here in Greece the time now is 00:47, Sunday. It is Christmas.
I wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. And to those who haven't found yet their way into God's arms, may Jesus is born in their heart. Happy Holidays.
Just take it as it is written, you will get confused if you try to dig deeper. If God hasn't revealed something to people, in vain we are searching (just like the exact date Christ was born). GBU
I understand what you are saying and agree. The invitation goes out to the whole world as mentioned in 1 John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The thing is many will not come, many will travel the wide gate as mentioned in Mathews 7:13. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: "MANY WILL BE DECEIVED"
God knows who will come to him being he is omniscient; he is all-knowing in the sense that he is aware of the past present and future as he stands outside of time looking in.
I believe you see an example of this in Numbers 16:5 "And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
"The knowing comes before the choosing"
WHEN IT COMES TO BACKSLIDING.
We can look at the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 and those described as the dogs and pigs in 2 Peter 2:9-22.
The prodigal son and the pigs went back home!
THE PRODIGAL SON BACK TO HIS FATHERS HOUSE, and the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
The son went the way of the world but he never lost his sonship, a lost child of God will always be found by the great shepherd!
He will return or he NEVER was a child of God.
Those described in 2 Peter 2:9-22 returned back to the world because they never were sheep.
You can "profess" Christ and go through all the motions and great deeds all your life and never have Christ and be told depart from me I never knew you. Mathews 7:21-23.
Sorry, I wrote in my previous post, "Jesus answers him that Simon(his real name) is a stone(Peter) and upon this stonHe will build His church.", but I should had written "rock" instead of "stone".
You will get many different answers to your question. My opinion...
There is the belief in many christian churches that the age of apostles and prophets ended in that early time. But there are many that do not accept this. God and His Word have not changed, it is people that have changed their beliefs unreasonably. Unreasonably because if something that is described clearly in the Bible does not exist in our church, then we should try to find out what is that we do (or believe) wrongly and stop trying cancelling the Word of God. So the best thing is one to go to their knees and ask God what is going wrong. If we are sincere about it God will definitely find a way to answer back, this is always the case.
So there are many christians that claim that God stopped talking to people after the Revelation was written, thus putting a duct tape on God's mouth. So God humbled and offered Himself for people suffering a horrible death but at the same time He is too arogant to speak to us now? Doesn't He want to talk to His children? Is this OK? Of course God talks and hears. In Acts it was God personally that ordained the 12 and Paul, it was the Spirit that led Paul and Barnabas to the gentiles. But Silas and Luke and Apollos and the rest were not pointed out by God directly but were chosen by Paul according to the wisdom given to him by the Lord. So when a minister anoints somebody else in the name of Jesus according to the instructions given in the Word of God, it is like God personally did it. So If God did all that at that time He can still do it today. He hasn't changed the way He acts
An apostle must have results in his mission, this is a proof that he was elected by God, 1 Cor 8:1-2. An "apostle" who has no results to show is not an apostle. Also read 2 Cor 12:12, one must prove that God sent him. People must be Spirit baptized, healings must occur etc, maybe not in the degree those occured in ancient times but still they should occur, Mark 16:15-18. GBU
Have only met but one person who seem to have fit the bill of an Apostle ( in the light of scripture and pattern of Paul) But he denied it . Quite different I still think from many self proclaimed apostles .
Do you know that the word ' Christian' was first used in the book of Acts not by the church but by the world and a term of derision ?
Paul counted himself as the "offscouring "of the world . That's the scum that comes to the top of a cooking stew.
A far cry of many today .
Self proclaimed Christian's is one thing . When the world identifies you as one is another . But will not like for it .
You can go to a theological college and learn what they teach and fill your head with an historical ,intellectual parachute to the scriptures .
But it is the Holy Spirit that enlightens the mind and heart to understand the scriptures as they are meant to be understood .
Saul of Tarsus had a lot of head knowledge but no understanding .
It took over three years in the Arabian desert to unlearn what he had been taught and for the Holy Spirit of Christ to put all the scriptures in their rightful place . No man taught him .
And he said when he finally met the Apostles in Jerusalem to check if he had " preached in vain". They added nothing new to him"
His letters and confessions simply proved how qualified he was or has become .
Before he had zeal but without knowledge or understanding .
He now became as much if not more zealous because of his lively knowledge of Jesus which he held above everything and in the light of which everything else he used to boast in " was as dung".
Thank you! I read through the guidelines and rules this morning and did not see anything about that either. I started to post something earlier but changed my mind.
I would like to add something though. What seemed to be in question was the word age vs world. Although the KJV does say world, other versions say age.
Personally, what I do in situations like this is go to the source of our multitude of English translations. When I go to the Greek text, it is the word age in Greek. So to say age would be proper.
I am hoping that Duncan will give his own response. Something else I have noticed is someone sharing their email address. Although I like the idea of being able to do that (if we do choose), if I am not mistaken, the rules forbid us from doing that.
Your first question is answered in your own reply .
The Lord said " Thou art Peter a stone "
Upon this rock what Rock? " Thou art the Son of the living God "
2 Samuel 22:47
Deuteronomy 32:31
Psalm 62:7
And many more all found on a search God is the rock on this very app.
While any man can get it wrong for no man is infallible . Though some religionists foolishly claim otherwise . What does the scriptures say? "ALL scripture is given by inspiration if God and is good for correction reproof and instruction in righteousness "
Taking ONE verse to build your case is not only unwise it will inevitably lead to error . Which is why the Roman church is now full of it .
While you may be in doubt as with this one verse may mean .
ALL of scripture clearly states GOD is that rock .
Jesus being God manifested in the flesh it clearly means by the rest of scripture that it does not mean Peter but the Lord Himself .
To hold to anything else in the light of the rest of scripture is simply foolish at best .
You are one I trust to turn to if I'm looking for further clarification on the Greek. My question is, when Jesus said "upon this rock," is the word "this" used in the Near Demonstrative or Far Demonstrative?
Slept on my thoughts last night and was thinking about Jesus taking on the flesh and nature of humanity more.
Knowing that the Triune God by nature is Spirit and fills the universe, to think that the Son restricted Himself to fill a zygote with Himself and give it Personhood made me think of how much he humbled Himself to come to us. To be fully present in a single fertilized cell is astounding. And to allow Himself to grow and develop in the womb as a human even though He is the creator of all things fills me with wonder.
I also thought about conception of all other humans and about personhood. We can admit that the egg and sperm are human flesh (cells) but separately they are not persons. But when they unite together at conception, they then have personhood, as is our reasonable thoughts tell us. Human life begins at conception and the new life is a person from the point of fertilization on. Where does the "person" and "human nature" begin and how are the distinguished from one another. There cannot be a human nature without a person to possess it. And there cannot be a human person without a human nature to animate it.
So, in the case of Jesus, He was the Person that took on the human nature and flesh and life of this zygote. This zygote would not have existed in Jesus had not chosen to be the Person to possess it. It was not a person and then Jesus took over that person's flesh and life. He was the only Person connected to this zygote with its human nature and human life. But with all other zygotes, how does the "person" come to possess the human flesh and nature?
I was perplexed a bit by this. Itis easy to think of the Son of God becoming human, but when you get down to conception and when human life begins and when personhood begins and where does the personhood come from since it is not fleshly, it boggles the mind bb it. Scripture does not really give us these answers except in saying the Father prepared the body for His Son to dwell in and thru.
You wrote, "An Apostle of God is not ordained by man at all ,but ordained by God ." and you are right. My question to you is, how does God ordain ministries? Does He speak, does He show visions,..., how?
Paul in 1 Ephesians 4:11 talks about the ministries in the church, some of them are apostles and prophets. So from your posts I think we agree that those ministries should still exist in the church, God and His Word haven't changed. But according to your opinion how does God points out who is what?
Question. Where exactly in New Testament does it say that the age of apostles and prophets ended or is going to end sometime in the future? Because I cannot find anything written about it. Paul in 1 Cor 12,13,14 describes how the church should function when gathered together. Assuming that this is not the case anymore, how according to the scriptures should we function today?
When was the gospel preached to Abraham as mentioned in Galatians 3:8 ?
It what way did God perform the covenant with Abraham?
In what way did he respond when it was counted for him for righteousness?
Goodnight and God bless.
I would again encourage you and anyone interested in a thorough study of what the Bible teaches about God's Salvation Program to visit the SearchingHisWord web site and download the booklet "I Hope God Will Save Me".
There you will find literature and recorded Bible teaching that endevours to be faithful to God's Word, the Bible, the only and total authority for our lives.
For me, I do check several translations if I read something that is unclear from another, even the KJV can be unclear. I am glad you come on here and help us with Greek.
Spirit helps me to understand and guides my thinking to a good end.
Merry Christmas.
God bless you.
I wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. And to those who haven't found yet their way into God's arms, may Jesus is born in their heart. Happy Holidays.
Just take it as it is written, you will get confused if you try to dig deeper. If God hasn't revealed something to people, in vain we are searching (just like the exact date Christ was born). GBU
I am simply presenting what ' all' of scripture says to prove who is the rock and who Jesus said was a stone .
If yiur suggesting that a ' stone' is the rock would make the Words of the Lord meaningless .
The context was and is " Who do you say I am"
Peter replied " thou art the Son of the living God "
The Lord then said who Peter was and is " a stone "
Having established who was who and what was what .
The Lord then followed it and upon this rock ( who He is) I will build my church
" all" of scripture declares that God is the Rock (/ examples given ) .
GB
I understand what you are saying and agree. The invitation goes out to the whole world as mentioned in 1 John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The thing is many will not come, many will travel the wide gate as mentioned in Mathews 7:13. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: "MANY WILL BE DECEIVED"
God knows who will come to him being he is omniscient; he is all-knowing in the sense that he is aware of the past present and future as he stands outside of time looking in.
I believe you see an example of this in Numbers 16:5 "And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
"The knowing comes before the choosing"
WHEN IT COMES TO BACKSLIDING.
We can look at the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 and those described as the dogs and pigs in 2 Peter 2:9-22.
The prodigal son and the pigs went back home!
THE PRODIGAL SON BACK TO HIS FATHERS HOUSE, and the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
The son went the way of the world but he never lost his sonship, a lost child of God will always be found by the great shepherd!
He will return or he NEVER was a child of God.
Those described in 2 Peter 2:9-22 returned back to the world because they never were sheep.
You can "profess" Christ and go through all the motions and great deeds all your life and never have Christ and be told depart from me I never knew you. Mathews 7:21-23.
God bless.
You will get many different answers to your question. My opinion...
There is the belief in many christian churches that the age of apostles and prophets ended in that early time. But there are many that do not accept this. God and His Word have not changed, it is people that have changed their beliefs unreasonably. Unreasonably because if something that is described clearly in the Bible does not exist in our church, then we should try to find out what is that we do (or believe) wrongly and stop trying cancelling the Word of God. So the best thing is one to go to their knees and ask God what is going wrong. If we are sincere about it God will definitely find a way to answer back, this is always the case.
So there are many christians that claim that God stopped talking to people after the Revelation was written, thus putting a duct tape on God's mouth. So God humbled and offered Himself for people suffering a horrible death but at the same time He is too arogant to speak to us now? Doesn't He want to talk to His children? Is this OK? Of course God talks and hears. In Acts it was God personally that ordained the 12 and Paul, it was the Spirit that led Paul and Barnabas to the gentiles. But Silas and Luke and Apollos and the rest were not pointed out by God directly but were chosen by Paul according to the wisdom given to him by the Lord. So when a minister anoints somebody else in the name of Jesus according to the instructions given in the Word of God, it is like God personally did it. So If God did all that at that time He can still do it today. He hasn't changed the way He acts
An apostle must have results in his mission, this is a proof that he was elected by God, 1 Cor 8:1-2. An "apostle" who has no results to show is not an apostle. Also read 2 Cor 12:12, one must prove that God sent him. People must be Spirit baptized, healings must occur etc, maybe not in the degree those occured in ancient times but still they should occur, Mark 16:15-18. GBU
Do you know that the word ' Christian' was first used in the book of Acts not by the church but by the world and a term of derision ?
Paul counted himself as the "offscouring "of the world . That's the scum that comes to the top of a cooking stew.
A far cry of many today .
Self proclaimed Christian's is one thing . When the world identifies you as one is another . But will not like for it .
But it is the Holy Spirit that enlightens the mind and heart to understand the scriptures as they are meant to be understood .
Saul of Tarsus had a lot of head knowledge but no understanding .
It took over three years in the Arabian desert to unlearn what he had been taught and for the Holy Spirit of Christ to put all the scriptures in their rightful place . No man taught him .
And he said when he finally met the Apostles in Jerusalem to check if he had " preached in vain". They added nothing new to him"
His letters and confessions simply proved how qualified he was or has become .
Before he had zeal but without knowledge or understanding .
He now became as much if not more zealous because of his lively knowledge of Jesus which he held above everything and in the light of which everything else he used to boast in " was as dung".
Thank you! I read through the guidelines and rules this morning and did not see anything about that either. I started to post something earlier but changed my mind.
I would like to add something though. What seemed to be in question was the word age vs world. Although the KJV does say world, other versions say age.
Personally, what I do in situations like this is go to the source of our multitude of English translations. When I go to the Greek text, it is the word age in Greek. So to say age would be proper.
I am hoping that Duncan will give his own response. Something else I have noticed is someone sharing their email address. Although I like the idea of being able to do that (if we do choose), if I am not mistaken, the rules forbid us from doing that.
For we have swathes of people deceived and deluded by a ' church' that has taken but ONE verse and built an edifice upon it built on sand .
" Come out from among her says the scriptures lest you become partakers of her judgements"
I present an argument in the sense of a logical and reasonable biblical steps which try test and prove the case .
An argument in its most base form is where two people bang heads together neither listening to the other .
Or one stubbornly holding to a position untenable in the light of scripture .
You judge .
Though in truth the scriptures say the " first Adam was a foreshadow of Him who was to come .
You say the Lord did not establish any church?
Yet the scruptures state " I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"
Perhaps then it's your concept of the church that needs therefore adjusting?
Was not the first Adam created from the dust of the earth?
And did not Almighty God put Adam into a deep sleep and create Eve from the body of the man? Namely his rib.
If then the first Adam was a foreshadow of Him who was to come .The last Adam .
Then through the death of the last Adam another body the bride of Christ will come from His body .
Peter a great Apostle was none the less but a stone a pebble .
God is that ' rock of ages ' upon which the eternal church of God is built upon .
The Lord said " Thou art Peter a stone "
Upon this rock what Rock? " Thou art the Son of the living God "
2 Samuel 22:47
Deuteronomy 32:31
Psalm 62:7
And many more all found on a search God is the rock on this very app.
While any man can get it wrong for no man is infallible . Though some religionists foolishly claim otherwise . What does the scriptures say? "ALL scripture is given by inspiration if God and is good for correction reproof and instruction in righteousness "
Taking ONE verse to build your case is not only unwise it will inevitably lead to error . Which is why the Roman church is now full of it .
While you may be in doubt as with this one verse may mean .
ALL of scripture clearly states GOD is that rock .
Jesus being God manifested in the flesh it clearly means by the rest of scripture that it does not mean Peter but the Lord Himself .
To hold to anything else in the light of the rest of scripture is simply foolish at best .
At worse you judge ..
You are one I trust to turn to if I'm looking for further clarification on the Greek. My question is, when Jesus said "upon this rock," is the word "this" used in the Near Demonstrative or Far Demonstrative?
That's my only question. Thanks!
Slept on my thoughts last night and was thinking about Jesus taking on the flesh and nature of humanity more.
Knowing that the Triune God by nature is Spirit and fills the universe, to think that the Son restricted Himself to fill a zygote with Himself and give it Personhood made me think of how much he humbled Himself to come to us. To be fully present in a single fertilized cell is astounding. And to allow Himself to grow and develop in the womb as a human even though He is the creator of all things fills me with wonder.
I also thought about conception of all other humans and about personhood. We can admit that the egg and sperm are human flesh (cells) but separately they are not persons. But when they unite together at conception, they then have personhood, as is our reasonable thoughts tell us. Human life begins at conception and the new life is a person from the point of fertilization on. Where does the "person" and "human nature" begin and how are the distinguished from one another. There cannot be a human nature without a person to possess it. And there cannot be a human person without a human nature to animate it.
So, in the case of Jesus, He was the Person that took on the human nature and flesh and life of this zygote. This zygote would not have existed in Jesus had not chosen to be the Person to possess it. It was not a person and then Jesus took over that person's flesh and life. He was the only Person connected to this zygote with its human nature and human life. But with all other zygotes, how does the "person" come to possess the human flesh and nature?
I was perplexed a bit by this. Itis easy to think of the Son of God becoming human, but when you get down to conception and when human life begins and when personhood begins and where does the personhood come from since it is not fleshly, it boggles the mind bb it. Scripture does not really give us these answers except in saying the Father prepared the body for His Son to dwell in and thru.
You wrote, "An Apostle of God is not ordained by man at all ,but ordained by God ." and you are right. My question to you is, how does God ordain ministries? Does He speak, does He show visions,..., how?
Paul in 1 Ephesians 4:11 talks about the ministries in the church, some of them are apostles and prophets. So from your posts I think we agree that those ministries should still exist in the church, God and His Word haven't changed. But according to your opinion how does God points out who is what?
Question. Where exactly in New Testament does it say that the age of apostles and prophets ended or is going to end sometime in the future? Because I cannot find anything written about it. Paul in 1 Cor 12,13,14 describes how the church should function when gathered together. Assuming that this is not the case anymore, how according to the scriptures should we function today?