LJdecree, I will try and answer ALL you ask, and thank you for asking.... First the END we have to endure to, is the END OF THE SINFUL MAN.... but! Why people think that if they stopped sinning they are now perfect, I do not know. The Bible teaches if you STOP sinning you are NOT PERFECT YET! (a person declared SAINT, by God, is already a person who STOPPED SINNING) but SAINTS NEEDS TO BE PERFECTED BEFORE THEY ARE JOINED TO THE BODY OF CHRIST, BEFORE THEY ARE EQUIPED FOR THE MINISTERY... Let there be no confusion... even if we stop committing sin we are NOT PERFECT! WE only reached the SAINTSHIP status. Saints ARE NOT PERFECT, but they are SINLESS!
How sinless they are we have no idea, but God has,,,, they are MOST HOLY ( but not perfect yet.) Eph 4 says PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS... means Saints still to be made perfect....
Secondly, how can God RESURRECT something that is not DEAD! How can God's Spirit quicken or MAKE ALIVE something that is already , or still alive? My friend Jesus says those that wants to save their life will lose it, but those that lose it for HIS NAME SAKE and the GOSPEL, THEY will save it... That means if we hang on to the OLD life we will loose life eternal, but if we LOSE THE OLD LIFE FOR HIS NAME AND THE GOSPEL, we shall save ourselves for LIFE ETERNAL. WE shall GAIN life eternal.
JDecree, I know I have MUCH truth for I have tried the ways of just about every doctrine on this world. Then I asked God... HOW DO I GIVE MY LIFE FOR YOUR NAME AND THE GOSPEL.... And he said DIE OFF THE OLD MAN! And get BAPTIZED...That Baptism is when GOD CLOTHE ME WITH JESUS! When God FILLS me with JESUS, when God SATURATS me with Jesus.
God CLEANS EVERY vessel before HE FILLS IT.. and god cleans it as clean AS HE IS CLEAN... that clean vessel already does not sin, but it is still just an EMPTY VESSEL. CLEAN (Saintly clean) but not FILLED YET!
If God did save 5000 men on one day, I have NO PROBLEM with it...However, I see MANY people say Peter SINNED after he was batized with the Holy Spirit. MAn I wish people will judge AS GOD judge, not as a SINNER JUDGE!
If you think Peter SINNED doing what God wanted done, then OK I guess God also does not know wht He is doing. My friend why did Peter and Paul have words?
What was the outcome? What did YOU LEARN from their "SIN"? Was there ANY other way God could have TAUGHT US THE LESSON? If you think that was the WORST mistake GOD made, think about the one making HIS GLORIOUS SON A HUMAN!
If you can just think a few seconds on that....
Let me PLEASE share with you the lesson, and then you decide again if it was sin or not...First let us get it VERY clear how Jesus/God did react to Peter when HE DID SIN (before HE was baptized) When Peter rebuked God/Jesus Jesus said to him... GET THEE BEHIND ME SATAN! Please note that God adressed the spirit in Peter as SATAN!...
Now Paul and Peter... Even before Saul was Paul, God showed Peter and the other JEWS... IMPORTANT TO KNOW... THE OTHER JEWS ALSO SAW THIS.... Cornelius (a SAINT) in Ceasarea (a GENTILE SAINT) WOW!... And an ANGEL of the LORD said to him ... Send men to Joppa, and call Simon Peter.... HE SHALL TELL THEE WHAT THOU SHOULD DO!... Ok the rest you can read in Acts 10. So PETER and some of the BRETHREN (JEWS) from Joppa went to Cornelius...This was the FIRST GENTILES, that the SPIRIT OF GOD FELL ON! And this happened WITHOUT A WATER BAPTISM.... Very important to KNOW THIS.ALso without a JEWISH CIRCUMSITION....
My friend do not miss these points I share now. It makes the WHOLE Gospel of God for us OPEN! Cornelius was a SAINT. He did not sin for a long time. God says he lived a GOD FEARING life, He prayed to God NON STOP, and he gave a lot to the poor. It looks like he was quite a good person if even judged by a sinner like me. But! he had NO HOLY SPIRIT... NONE! So obviously there was some TRUTH in the man... Some Word of God that he man could live GOD FEARING...
Then this..... An Angel tells him how he will GET IT ALL... PETER would tell him WHAT TO DO....
Also you have to see this... when Peter ENTERED, CORNELIUS FELL DOWN BEFORE PETER AND WORSHIPPED HIM...Peter said STAND UP I MYSELF ALSO AM A MAN! But remember it was an ANLAWFUL thing for a Jew to keep company or come into the house of a GENTILE... However God showed Peter HE SHOULD NOT CALL ANY MAN COMMON OR UNCLEAN....Remember this.
Then Peter preach about the GOSPEL, and the LIFE OF JESUS, and the SPIRIT FALLS ON THEM ALL... but they ALL LIVED GOD FEARING LIVES,... Cornelius and HIS WHOLE HOUSE... ONE THAT FEARED GOD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE... And THEN BAM! AS you say BAM! but please note that this man was already a GOD FEARING MAN... He already KNEW GOD'S way! The HOLY SPIRIT FELL ON ALL OF THEM. Just as HE DID N THE BRETHREN IN JOPPE!
Now! HERE IS THE LESSON, HID IN ONE VERSE.... OF A THRUTH I PERCEIVE...GOD IS NOT A RESPECTOR OF PERSONS... What did GOD RESPECT IN CRNELIUS AND HIS HOUSEHOLD?.... THE TRUTH! THE GODLY WAYS OF THE MAN. God knows there was NO HOLY SPIRIT in or around or leading CORNELIUS, but the man LIVED A PRAYING, GOD FEARING life. AND HE HAD A GIVING HEART... Why did CORNELIUS live such a life? He BELIEVED THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD! He believed that God can REWARD HIS FEAR OF A LIFE WITHOUT GOD!!!! A God fearing life, is TO FEAR LIFE WITHOUT GOD... AND HE PRAYED FOR GOD TO BE IN HIS LIFE.... What do you pray? FATHER LET THOU WILL BE DONE IN ME AS IN HEAVEN... Same with CORNELIUS... GOD FEARING...
Ok that is the FIRST PART... ALL the Jews would get the NEWS that the Holy Spirit fell on a Gentile and his whole house. This ASTONISHED all the CIRCUMCISED that came with Peter.... But they had to KNOW that the Holy Spirit can also fall on GENTILES... UNCIRCUMCISIONED... This is what it is about... This man recieved the Spirit of God as a GENTILE, UNCIRCUMCISIONED and NOT WATER BAPTIZED, and NONE OF THE JEWISH TRADITIONS... NONE!
The LESSON this far is GOD GIVES THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PEOPLE THAT DID NOT UPHOLD ONE OF THE JEWISH TRADITIONS... Not SABBATH, NOT LAW, NOT CIRCUMSITION, NOT BAPTISM WITH WATER, NOT SACRIFICE, NO JEWISH TRADITON, NONE!
LEt me do part two in another box.