Hi all, I am here to discuss what I have been learning and therefore I am simply a learner and will try to be as open to other people's views that they share.
So the question is Should the Gosple of the kingdom be preached?
I will take a position to say yes, the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached.
So First what is the message of the kingdom?
And what I have read was it was the availability of entering the kingdom that begins now by believing who Jesus is. The type of belief that is ready to act as what you believe is true.
Why is this message important?
I believe it is important because not only does it help us to understand the Bible and some hard questions, but for many professing Christian without this message it may be a reason there is no real change in the heart, or transformation of our being into Christ likeness.
And without the desire or ability to change, life as we live it here on earth, lacks true meaning.
I'm really starting in the middle and pray the discussion brings us in both directions..begginging and end.
So first let's take a look at how Theological terms can be taken to mean something different then they actually
do.
For example Eternal life
Some may picture it as heaven when they die. But one def in the Bible is, to know God and Jesus whom He had sent.
One passage that I believe corresponds with that def is in John 14. Where it mentions the father and the son coming to abide in us.
Another term is Grace. Some people merely view it as a favor and only for forgiveness of sins. But I like to see grace as different type of favors depending on contexts of course.
But what I have come to accept for myself is that grace is God stepping in on our behalf to do what we cannot do on our own.
The last terms are faith, belief and trust.
And I am a fan of James. And I have accepted faith as belief with intention.
But these can be looked into as well because they need to be defined by context.
Now that I mentioned a couple of terms that can make this discussion miscommunicated I want to move on to what I learned to be the real issues.
First, is how we are evangelize. As a Baptist I have always heard that if you believe what Jesus did to secure your salvation then you will have heaven when you die. Therefore. Believe Jesus died, was buried and arose from the dead for my sins and I have heaven when I die.
And don't get me wrong...God knows our hearts and our good intentions.
While we may believe mentally that Jesus did this for us and He did, and it is an essential aspect of Salvation as a whole.
What is the issue then?
The issue could be for many that We are trusting something He did before knowing who He is and trusting in Him.
A good example is a woman who sees a man's pocket book before getting to know Him. Could it be true that after she gets what she wants she has no need for Him.
And on the flip side with Jesus....it runs almost the same way, because many may not see or ever understand why it is important to stay close to Jesus as possible. BECAUSE WE MAY JUST USE HIM FOR HIS BLOOD TO SECURE OUR SALVATION.
Therefore hopefully one can see the effect. There can be no transformation into the image of Christ without remaining close to Him.
However now let us look into the Gosple message of the kingdom and how it includes the atonement.
First thing I hear in the message is "Repent" for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
It is near us and in the midst, one might say; And reachable.
I WILL STOP HERE AND FINISH A LITTLE LATER
So the question is Should the Gosple of the kingdom be preached?
I will take a position to say yes, the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached.
So First what is the message of the kingdom?
And what I have read was it was the availability of entering the kingdom that begins now by believing who Jesus is. The type of belief that is ready to act as what you believe is true.
Why is this message important?
I believe it is important because not only does it help us to understand the Bible and some hard questions, but for many professing Christian without this message it may be a reason there is no real change in the heart, or transformation of our being into Christ likeness.
And without the desire or ability to change, life as we live it here on earth, lacks true meaning.
I'm really starting in the middle and pray the discussion brings us in both directions..begginging and end.
So first let's take a look at how Theological terms can be taken to mean something different then they actually
do.
For example Eternal life
Some may picture it as heaven when they die. But one def in the Bible is, to know God and Jesus whom He had sent.
One passage that I believe corresponds with that def is in John 14. Where it mentions the father and the son coming to abide in us.
Another term is Grace. Some people merely view it as a favor and only for forgiveness of sins. But I like to see grace as different type of favors depending on contexts of course.
But what I have come to accept for myself is that grace is God stepping in on our behalf to do what we cannot do on our own.
The last terms are faith, belief and trust.
And I am a fan of James. And I have accepted faith as belief with intention.
But these can be looked into as well because they need to be defined by context.
Now that I mentioned a couple of terms that can make this discussion miscommunicated I want to move on to what I learned to be the real issues.
First, is how we are evangelize. As a Baptist I have always heard that if you believe what Jesus did to secure your salvation then you will have heaven when you die. Therefore. Believe Jesus died, was buried and arose from the dead for my sins and I have heaven when I die.
And don't get me wrong...God knows our hearts and our good intentions.
While we may believe mentally that Jesus did this for us and He did, and it is an essential aspect of Salvation as a whole.
What is the issue then?
The issue could be for many that We are trusting something He did before knowing who He is and trusting in Him.
A good example is a woman who sees a man's pocket book before getting to know Him. Could it be true that after she gets what she wants she has no need for Him.
And on the flip side with Jesus....it runs almost the same way, because many may not see or ever understand why it is important to stay close to Jesus as possible. BECAUSE WE MAY JUST USE HIM FOR HIS BLOOD TO SECURE OUR SALVATION.
Therefore hopefully one can see the effect. There can be no transformation into the image of Christ without remaining close to Him.
However now let us look into the Gosple message of the kingdom and how it includes the atonement.
First thing I hear in the message is "Repent" for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
It is near us and in the midst, one might say; And reachable.
I WILL STOP HERE AND FINISH A LITTLE LATER
