Not By Works

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stonesoffire

Poetic Member
Nov 24, 2013
10,665
1,829
113
wrong parable stones...tares and wheat is not the parable of the sower...
That was what Jesus said when the disciples asked Him to explain the parables. He said several in sequence.

I would say it is the work of Holy Spirit but they are One.
 

BillG

Senior Member
Feb 15, 2017
9,022
4,441
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call me silly, but maybe your concept is difficult to believe because it is not the truth....
Hello silly. I hope you are having a good day:)
 

BillG

Senior Member
Feb 15, 2017
9,022
4,441
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This is very true....worship is a lifestyle, prostrated before God...not sultry "worship" sets performed by girls in skinny jeans and their breasts/cleavage being exposed.......all performed in the dark with a choreographed light show and smoke machines bellowing out fake shekinah glory....
I must say I have not seen anything akin to the last part of your sentence.
Very true worship is a lifestyle.

This may sound a bit weird but I often pray before our service.
I pray for those in the service that are hurting, in bondage, weary and heavy laden, who are worried about finances, health or anything else and the list goes on.

i pray "Lord may they/we all know that any of the above that we struggle up we lift it up to, lay it at you feet and leave it there"

Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 6:25-27
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

I have seen quite a few posts on this thread that talk about works and obeying Jesus. Now I am not saying this is wrong.
Jesus gave us two new commandments that to me summed up the 10 commandments.
But some seem to focus on not sinning, crucifying the vile sins of the flesh (which once again I am not saying is wrong)

Yet to be honest I can't recall seeing anyone tell people to obey Jesus when it comes to the above verses, and I am sure there are others verses.

Jesus wants every part of our life, that includes worries, fears, hurts, pains and yes also our honesty. He wants us to come before him when we sin and confess it. He doesn't want hiding behind closed doors.

Romans 12:1
Chapter 12
Living Sacrifices to God
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

12:1: dear brothers and sisters: Literally brothers. See note on 1:13. • Your bodies refers to the whole person in contact with the world, not just the physical body. • because of all he has done for you: As described in chs 1–11. • This is truly the way to worship him (or This is your spiritual worship; or This is your reasonable service): This phrase has at least three possible meanings: (1) Our sacrifice is reasonable in light of all God’s mercies; (2) our sacrifice is spiritual, not the offering of an animal but of ourselves in spiritual service; or (3) our sacrifice is intelligent, offered with complete awareness of God’s goodness to us.

Bill
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,910
29,289
113
That was what Jesus said when the disciples asked Him to explain the parables. He said several in sequence.

I would say it is the work of Holy Spirit but they are One.
Yes, Jesus used the metaphor of us being plants grown from seed more than once :) In Matthew 15:13-14 also, Jesus said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
 

Cee

Senior Member
May 14, 2010
2,169
473
83
They have no discernment, therefore they can't see anything.

Their delusion won't let them use commentaries that's 150 yrs old that's tried & true.

Ironically, sinners never saved can read those commentaries & make some sense out of it.

It's the delusion that turns their understanding totally off.
This is one of the most hypocritical statements I've ever read.

If you shall know them by their fruits - you're in big trouble.

You're by far one of the most carnal minded Christians I've met on this forum.

Yet, you puff yourself up, think yourself to be the one correct with your pet dogmas that denounce everyone unlike you.

You've insulated yourself from correction of every form that I've seen.

Your posts have numerous infractions of Scripture. You posts are neither loving, gentle, or kind.

You preach the need for good works, but I rarely see any from you.

You are the one who is deceived.

And I'm done casting my pearls before you.

I suggest you take a GOOD hard look at your life and examine yourself to discover which one of the gospel characters you would be.

Show your posts to people who you are accountable to in your life. And you if don't have anyone, I suggest you get one.

We are not called to walk alone, but to walk together. So I pray that you have someone that can help you with whatever root of bitterness you are deceived by.
 
May 12, 2017
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That was what Jesus said when the disciples asked Him to explain the parables. He said several in sequence.

I would say it is the work of Holy Spirit but they are One.
Matt 13.36-37

[h=3]The Tares Explained[/h][SUP]36 [/SUP]Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.[SUP]37 [/SUP]And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

The word is pretty clear what he was explaining....
 

TruthTalk

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2017
2,904
2,262
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I have to say I am genuinely perplexed by this debate about duality.

On the one hand, I still stumble and sin, and therefore am I not a sinner who is constantly being washed by the Blood of Christ?

On the other hand, I understand what posters like Megiddo and Stone is saying. I don't want to, nor do I believe I should, regard myself as a sinner. And I believe my greatest Spiritual growth happens when I don't regard myself as a sinner, yet I still sin.

I just praise God with all my heart that BOTH hands realize that it is by the Blood of Christ ALONE I am saved.
Hi PennEd,

Point: "By grace you are saved:" "Present Tenths;" Christian's remain in a state of "saved" until Christ's return. You are not saved one day and lose your salvation the next day; should we seek God's forgiveness and confess our sin's daily - yes of course. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1John1:9

And God continues to forgive our sin until the return of Jesus - this is basic fundamentals of the Faith. God bless.

Attribute: Ephesians 2:8 Commentaries: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

HELPS Word-studies

4982 sṓzō (from sōs, "safe, rescued") – properly, deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin and into His provisions (safety).

Strong's Concordance
sózó: to save
Original Word: σῴζω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: sózó
Phonetic Spelling: (sode'-zo)
Short Definition: I save, heal
Definition: I save, heal, preserve, rescue.


For by grace, the free favour of God, as Ephesians 2:5, are ye, even ye Ephesians, Gentiles, who had not such promises made to you as the Jews had, Ephesians 2:12,

saved, from first to last, from your calling, Ephesians 2:5, to your glorification, Ephesians 2:6.

Objection. How are believers said to be saved, when they are not yet glorified?

Answer.

1. Because Christ their Head is glorified.

2. Because their salvation, begun in their effectual calling, shall be as certainly accomplished in them as it is begun in them, and perfected in their Head, Christ.

Through faith; by which ye lay hold on the grace offered you in the gospel. Faith is not considered here as a work done by us, but as an instrument or means applying the grace and salvation tendered to us.

And that not of yourselves; not for your own worth, nor by your own strength.

It is the gift of God; that ye are saved is the gift of God, and therefore free and purely by grace.

God is opposed to self: gift relates not merely to faith immediately preceding, but to the whole sentence.




 
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Here is an excellent article addressing "Just what are the commandments of Jesus?"

( Hint: it has nothing to do with following the Sabbath day or the 10 commandments as in the Old Testament way which was a "shadow" of things to come - but it has everything to do with the true Sabbath rest and life that which is found in Christ Himself )

I like to use this site from time to time as it gives a grace-based view of the finished work of Christ. it also has a place at the bottom where people can ask questions. I have found I have learned much from that area too.

John 14:15 – The Commands of Jesus

If God loves us unconditionally, how do we account for those scriptures that link His love with our obedience, like this one:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15)

A legalist reads this backwards: “You will keep my commandments if you love me.”

In other words, we must prove our love for God by doing what He commands.

Commandment-keeping is our duty, a condition we must meet if we are to enjoy His love.

But someone who is walking in grace reads it just as Jesus said it. He understands that keeping His commands is a by-product of love.

Paul explains this in Romans 8:3-4, but let me give you an everyday example inspired by something I read.

"Here in New Zealand we have a big problem with domestic violence. Consequently, there are many laws governing the responsibilities of fathers. Break any of these laws and you might go to jail or have your kids taken away.

It’s a serious business. But to be honest, I couldn’t tell you what these laws are. I’ve never read them. Yet I can confidently declare that I am keeping every one of these laws.

How do I know? Because I love my kids. I don’t keep the laws to show the authorities that I love my kids and I don’t relate to my children on the basis of these laws. I relate to them on the basis of love and keeping the laws of the land flows naturally from that love relationship.

I know the laws serve a good purpose, but they weren’t written for me. They were written for fathers who don’t love their kids."

Similarly, the laws found in the Bible were not written for those who love Jesus (1 Tim 1:9). Contrary to what the legalist may tell you, keeping the laws to earn what He freely offers is a surefire sign that you don’t know the love of God.

A legalist reads the words of Jesus above and sees a threat. Do the commandments or else! But love makes no threats. Jesus is returning for a bride and it won’t be a shotgun wedding.

What are the commands of Jesus?

The next time someone tells you that you must keep the commands of Jesus to prove your love, ask them, “what are the commands of Jesus?”

They will probably respond with the greatest commandment which is, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul” (Mt 22:38). This is fine, I guess.

But if you insert that command into the phrase above it becomes, “If you love me, you will love me with all your heart, mind and soul,” which is kind of redundant.

If you read John 14:15 in context, you will see that on this occasion Jesus is referring to two specific commands. Here’s the first:

“A new command I give you: Love one another….” (Jn 13:34)

And here’s the second:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me… Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (Jn 14:1,11)

How can we be certain that these are His commandments? Because John – who was there when Jesus spoke these words – says so in one of his letters:

“And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.” (1 Jn 3:23)

What does it mean to keep His commands?

Lest we dilute His commandments to accommodate our experience, Jesus outlines His expectations of obedience for both. Here’s what He expects from the first:

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (Jn 13:34)

How did Jesus love us? By laying down His life for us (Jn 15:3). That’s a high standard of love! Indeed, there is no greater love. And what are His expectations regarding the second commandment:

“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…” (Jn 14:12)

Believe in Jesus and you will do the works of Jesus. Put it altogether and Jesus is saying this:

“If you love me, you will love one another as I have loved you and your faith in me will lead to miracles like I have been doing and greater miracles still.”

If you’ve been in any church for at least five years, you will know that Jesus’ first commandment is pretty much humanly impossible to keep, while the second commandment is definitely impossible.

So the next time someone tries to lay a heavy burden on you by telling you that you must keep Jesus’ commandments to earn God’s love, just ask them how many people they’ve raised from the dead!

When they look puzzled, tell them that Jesus commanded us to believe in Him and He said that those who did would do the same works He did and greater works besides!

Now that we begin to understand what Jesus wasn’t saying He wasn’t saying that we need to keep His commandments to prove our love – we’re ready to dig deeper into what He was saying.

That’s the subject of the next post. You won’t want to miss it. When you see what Jesus was promising His disciples and you, it’s going to blow you away!

Maybe you’ve been intimidated by John 14:15 and the other new covenant laws. If so, prepare to be set free. When you get a hold of the words of Jesus you’re going to be so pumped that you’ll want to frame them and hang them on your wall. Stay tuned!

Unquote:

Here is the link if anyone wants to look at the questions or to see the next post as he mentioned at the end of the article.

https://escapetoreality.org/2011/06/03/john-14v15/
Hi Grace


Waiting on you're reply to my post no. 398.

In the meantime, I'd like to remind you that I am a born again believer and I Do Not believe that works save us.

Of course, as any Christian would, I do believe that Jesus meant for us to obey Him and follow His commandments. I'm sure you agree although you do tend to post sites that encourage believers to find excuses Not to obey God.

So, do you think Jesus left us with commandments that are impossible to follow?
Is that your problem?

It's funny because you've always said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
So when did you decide this was wrong and it's actually impossible to follow Him like a good disciple should?
 

Cee

Senior Member
May 14, 2010
2,169
473
83
What are GOOD WORKS?

Ephesians 4:29Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

1) No corrupting talk coming out of mouth. We are to build people up and speak what gives grace to people around us.


30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

2) We are SEALED by Holy Spirit until redemption. But, we are not called to grieve the One we are in union with.


31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

3) We are to put away ALL bitterness. This means every form of offense that ends up changing how we see one another. It becomes a root that defile those who eat of it.

4) We are to put away all wrath & anger. This is what happens when we eat of bitterness that we are ensnared by. As we consume the bitterness in our hearts we start attack one another.

5) We are to put away clamor and slander. Clamor is fault-finding in ourselves towards others. Strife is the outward fruit of fault-finding. Slander is when we deliberately start lying about one another.


32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

So then what are good works? Be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving one another.

Good works are how we treat one another.

Those who believe we can lose our salvation without them would be wise to remember them to walk in themselves.

My stance is simply loving one another we end up following these principles.

And sometimes love does look like being super real and raw with one another:

As we see in Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend."

All of these "good works" come from a pure heart before the Lord.

Yet in all these things, it is the work of Holy Spirit that empowers us to love one another. And do good works of love. Because He loved us first.

And it is by our love, that we teach theology to the world.

 
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Originally Posted by Grace777x70



“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15)

A legalist reads this backwards: “You will keep my commandments if you love me.”
Benson Commentary
John 14:15-17
. If ye love me — As ye profess to do, keep my commandments — For that will be a surer test and more acceptable expression of your regard for me than all your trouble and concern at parting with me. Keeping Christ’s commandments is evidently here put for the practice of godliness in general, and for the faithful and diligent discharge of their office as apostles in particular. And I will pray the Father — Here we see, that he required a steady obedience to his commands, as the condition on which their prayers would be heard; (see John 15:7; 1 John 3:22;) and assured them, on their complying with that condition, he would send them another comforter, advocate, monitor, encourager, or intercessor, as the word παρακλητος may be properly rendered; another — For Christ himself was one: that he may abide with you for ever

Barnes' Notes on the Bible
If ye love me - Do not show your love by grief at my departure merely; or by profession, but by obedience.Keep my commandments - This is the only proper evidence of love to Jesus, for mere profession is no proof of love; but that love for him which leads us to do all his will, to love each other, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow him through evil report and through good report, is true attachment. The evidence which we have that a child loves its parents is when that child is willing, without hesitation, gainsaying, or complaining, to do all that the parent requires him to do. So the disciples of Christ are required to show that they are attached to him supremely by yielding to all his requirements, and by patiently doing his will in the face of ridicule and opposition,
1 John 5:2-3.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15. If ye love me] The connexion with what precedes is again not quite clear. Some would see it in the condition ‘in My name,’ which includes willing obedience to His commands. Perhaps it is rather to be referred to the opening and general drift of the chapter. ‘Let not your heart be troubled at My going away. You will still be Mine, I shall still be yours, and we shall still be caring for one another. I go to prepare a place for you, you remain to continue and surpass My work on earth. And though you can no longer minister to Me in the flesh, you can prove your love for Me even more perfectly by keeping My commandments when I am gone.’ ‘My’ is emphatic; not those of the Law but of the Gospel.
keep] The better reading is ye will keep. Only in these last discourses does Christ speak of His commandments: comp.
John 14:21, John 13:34, John 15:10; John 15:12. See on John 14:27.

 
May 12, 2017
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Benson Commentary
John 14:15-17
. If ye love me — As ye profess to do, keep my commandments — For that will be a surer test and more acceptable expression of your regard for me than all your trouble and concern at parting with me. Keeping Christ’s commandments is evidently here put for the practice of godliness in general, and for the faithful and diligent discharge of their office as apostles in particular. And I will pray the Father — Here we see, that he required a steady obedience to his commands, as the condition on which their prayers would be heard; (see John 15:7; 1 John 3:22;) and assured them, on their complying with that condition, he would send them another comforter, advocate, monitor, encourager, or intercessor, as the word παρακλητος may be properly rendered; another — For Christ himself was one: that he may abide with you for ever

Barnes' Notes on the Bible
If ye love me - Do not show your love by grief at my departure merely; or by profession, but by obedience.Keep my commandments - This is the only proper evidence of love to Jesus, for mere profession is no proof of love; but that love for him which leads us to do all his will, to love each other, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow him through evil report and through good report, is true attachment. The evidence which we have that a child loves its parents is when that child is willing, without hesitation, gainsaying, or complaining, to do all that the parent requires him to do. So the disciples of Christ are required to show that they are attached to him supremely by yielding to all his requirements, and by patiently doing his will in the face of ridicule and opposition,
1 John 5:2-3.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15. If ye love me] The connexion with what precedes is again not quite clear. Some would see it in the condition ‘in My name,’ which includes willing obedience to His commands. Perhaps it is rather to be referred to the opening and general drift of the chapter. ‘Let not your heart be troubled at My going away. You will still be Mine, I shall still be yours, and we shall still be caring for one another. I go to prepare a place for you, you remain to continue and surpass My work on earth. And though you can no longer minister to Me in the flesh, you can prove your love for Me even more perfectly by keeping My commandments when I am gone.’ ‘My’ is emphatic; not those of the Law but of the Gospel.
keep] The better reading is ye will keep. Only in these last discourses does Christ speak of His commandments: comp.
John 14:21, John 13:34, John 15:10; John 15:12. See on John 14:27.

Is it just me or did grace7 say the same thing, twice?
 
Apr 30, 2016
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What are GOOD WORKS?

Ephesians 4:29Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

1) No corrupting talk coming out of mouth. We are to build people up and speak what gives grace to people around us.


30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

2) We are SEALED by Holy Spirit until redemption. But, we are not called to grieve the One we are in union with.


31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

3) We are to put away ALL bitterness. This means every form of offense that ends up changing how we see one another. It becomes a root that defile those who eat of it.

4) We are to put away all wrath & anger. This is what happens when we eat of bitterness that we are ensnared by. As we consume the bitterness in our hearts we start attack one another.

5) We are to put away clamor and slander. Clamor is fault-finding in ourselves towards others. Strife is the outward fruit of fault-finding. Slander is when we deliberately start lying about one another.


32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

So then what are good works? Be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving one another.

Good works are how we treat one another.

Those who believe we can lose our salvation without them would be wise to remember them to walk in themselves.

My stance is simply loving one another we end up following these principles.

And sometimes love does look like being super real and raw with one another:

As we see in Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend."

All of these "good works" come from a pure heart before the Lord.

Yet in all these things, it is the work of Holy Spirit that empowers us to love one another. And do good works of love. Because He loved us first.

And it is by our love, that we teach theology to the world.

Hi cee

Who are you addressing?
Just everybody on this thread in general?

So you're another teacher of theology.
Did I understand that?
So you have a PhD?

I'm just happy to hear that you believe in doing good works as Jesus instructed us and that we're so lucky as to k ow that the Holy Spirit helps us.
 

BillG

Senior Member
Feb 15, 2017
9,022
4,441
113
Hi Grace


Waiting on you're reply to my post no. 398.

In the meantime, I'd like to remind you that I am a born again believer and I Do Not believe that works save us.

Of course, as any Christian would, I do believe that Jesus meant for us to obey Him and follow His commandments. I'm sure you agree although you do tend to post sites that encourage believers to find excuses Not to obey God.

So, do you think Jesus left us with commandments that are impossible to follow?
Is that your problem?

It's funny because you've always said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
So when did you decide this was wrong and it's actually impossible to follow Him like a good disciple should?
Hi Fran.

Yes you are a born again believer and it's been a privilege to get to know you over the last couple of years.

I know you know as you say that works do not save us, yet you have said that we need to do works to keep saved.
To be honest this confuses me. Either works save us or not.

What works after believing in Jesus keep us saved? At what point are they not enough?

I do agree that Jesus left us with commandments to follow. No one can deny that, and let's be honest he has asked to do it then surely it is possible.

But I think it can go deeper.

How can someone love their neighbours/enemies if they don't love themselves. Therefore works required by Jesus can be harder.
Jesus gave many commands which include "Come to me you are weary and I will give you rest, give me your yolk and take mine, don't worry about tomorrow, what you will eat, believe God will meet your needs and so on.

Many a beleiver fall foul of that and to me if we are talking about the commands of Jesus then they must be included as well.

I would say that it is not impossible to follow him but I would say it is impossible to be 100% like him but I would also say that is what we should aspire to be.
 
Apr 30, 2016
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What are GOOD WORKS?

Ephesians 4:29Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

1) No corrupting talk coming out of mouth. We are to build people up and speak what gives grace to people around us.


30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

2) We are SEALED by Holy Spirit until redemption. But, we are not called to grieve the One we are in union with.


31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

3) We are to put away ALL bitterness. This means every form of offense that ends up changing how we see one another. It becomes a root that defile those who eat of it.

4) We are to put away all wrath & anger. This is what happens when we eat of bitterness that we are ensnared by. As we consume the bitterness in our hearts we start attack one another.

5) We are to put away clamor and slander. Clamor is fault-finding in ourselves towards others. Strife is the outward fruit of fault-finding. Slander is when we deliberately start lying about one another.


32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

So then what are good works? Be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving one another.

Good works are how we treat one another.

Those who believe we can lose our salvation without them would be wise to remember them to walk in themselves.

My stance is simply loving one another we end up following these principles.

And sometimes love does look like being super real and raw with one another:

As we see in Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend."

All of these "good works" come from a pure heart before the Lord.

Yet in all these things, it is the work of Holy Spirit that empowers us to love one another. And do good works of love. Because He loved us first.

And it is by our love, that we teach theology to the world.

You said...

It is by our love that we teach theology to the world.

CC CC CC CC CC CC CC CC CC CC CC

I think you're maybe referring to something that St. Francis of Assisi said back in the 1,200's.

He said...

Preach the gospel always,
And only when necessary,
Use words.


Very beautiful.
Thanks for reminding me.
 
Aug 15, 2009
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They have no discernment, therefore they can't see anything.

Their delusion won't let them use commentaries that's 150 yrs old that's tried & true.

Ironically, sinners never saved can read those commentaries & make some sense out of it.

It's the delusion that turns their understanding totally off.
This is one of the most hypocritical statements I've ever read.

If you shall know them by their fruits - you're in big trouble.

You're by far one of the most carnal minded Christians I've met on this forum.

Yet, you puff yourself up, think yourself to be the one correct with your pet dogmas that denounce everyone unlike you.

You've insulated yourself from correction of every form that I've seen.

Your posts have numerous infractions of Scripture. You posts are neither loving, gentle, or kind.

You preach the need for good works, but I rarely see any from you.

You are the one who is deceived.

And I'm done casting my pearls before you.

I suggest you take a GOOD hard look at your life and examine yourself to discover which one of the gospel characters you would be.

Show your posts to people who you are accountable to in your life. And you if don't have anyone, I suggest you get one.

We are not called to walk alone, but to walk together. So I pray that you have someone that can help you with whatever root of bitterness you are deceived by.
Note how out of character Cee is. It's as if it's not the same guy.

I don't remember Cee ever slamming anybody before, at least I don't remember.

The same thing happened last week by stunnedbygrace. Totally out of character. A total slam.

Now, do you know WHY he did it?

Those that slam you out of the blue do so because they are exposed for who they are, then they react as what they've been exposed to be. A wolf in sheeps's clothing.

If you go back thru these posts, you'll find I said nothing about Cee, nothing about his doctrine, called him no names, nothing. And I'm not going to.

But boy, you would have thought I said something about his Mamma the way he lit into me.

Jesus said:
Matthew 7

New Living Translation

15“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.16You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?17A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.18A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.19So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.20Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

I used the NLT to give a plain interpretation of what Jesus said.

It says what it means & means what it says.

Do not be deceived: A tree is known by his fruit, & a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

One cannot possibly have that much malicious attitude in his heart & be holy.
 
Apr 30, 2016
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Hi Fran.

Yes you are a born again believer and it's been a privilege to get to know you over the last couple of years.

I know you know as you say that works do not save us, yet you have said that we need to do works to keep saved.
To be honest this confuses me. Either works save us or not.

What works after believing in Jesus keep us saved? At what point are they not enough?

I do agree that Jesus left us with commandments to follow. No one can deny that, and let's be honest he has asked to do it then surely it is possible.

But I think it can go deeper.

How can someone love their neighbours/enemies if they don't love themselves. Therefore works required by Jesus can be harder.
Jesus gave many commands which include "Come to me you are weary and I will give you rest, give me your yolk and take mine, don't worry about tomorrow, what you will eat, believe God will meet your needs and so on.

Many a beleiver fall foul of that and to me if we are talking about the commands of Jesus then they must be included as well.

I would say that it is not impossible to follow him but I would say it is impossible to be 100% like him but I would also say that is what we should aspire to be.
Bill,
I'm not at a computer and can't write too much.

I agree with you. You know this.
Did I ever sound like a legalist?
No.
So why do I sound like one now???

Because on THIS thread, and others, I hear strange things that I fear are in our churches.
We're not over there, but I could see what's happening.

IF we want to be disciples of Christ, we must follow Him as our master.
If He is our master we must do as He said.

Some of those things were outlined by Cee, but there are many more.
I don't have a problem Declaring this Loudly.

I'm not ashamed or afraid to say that God must be obeyed.
Now, why is it a problem for some here to make the same declaration?

If they have a problem with this, I'm interested in understanding Why.
Grace is saying John 14:15 is understood backwards when, in reality, it means the same no matter which part comes first. WHY is he so bent on proving that it doesn't mean what it says???

It simply says that JESUS said to love Him and obey Him.
This requires an explanation???? WHY?

I've asked Many times on this thread for an answer to a Very Simple question...

Is it necessary to obey Good?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Why is that such a difficult question to answer?

Here's what I think...because the church is rapidly approaching the teaching that Jesus did it all so we don't have to do Anything Anymore.

Sounds good.
Sounds easy. (This is why it's called easy believism)
Gets people into church because Nothing is required of them.

Unless I hear a real explanation, I'll believe my reasoning is correct.
And, I might add, some on here become Very Upset when I say works are needed.
Why would that be?
Don't they also want to do good deeds as Jesus instructed?