Not By Works

So are you against the disease of the Westminster Confession as well?
Consider the fact that there is no Calvinism per se. It is just a contrivance, a label.
The Reformation was a deviation to the mean: from Rome back to biblical accuracy

True, but even the action on our part (the good we do that is acceptable before God) is due to faith alone on account of Christ alone.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV
[6] But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I don't know why these 'isms' are so hard to accept. All it is is a stream of like minded Christians flowing from the blood of Jesus.

Different ministrations?

Don't try to tell me the perfect has come when we have members of one body shooting arrows at each other. Directed moreso at another thread but am being lazy.

Looks like a war zone here at times.

Godsgrace101...

Sanctifation is Gods Spirit within us. He may direct us to move but the ability is His. Unless you are talking about baking a cake for your new neighbor. That's cultural.

Baking a cake for a neighbor is doing a good work/deed.
I had to decide to bake the cake.
I had to decide to do a good deed.
I took the ingredients out of the cupboard and put them together.

Yes. I take some credit. You think this is taking God's sovereignty away from Him?
Or the glory that belongs to Him?

There's no such thing as "cultural".
Every move we make is either either going to please God or displease God.

God can direct me to move---
But I'M the one that has to move.

The Holy Spirit is our helper...not our dictator.
John 14:26

ATTN: Rightlydivided

I am back, the Dr. actually called in sick. There is a major flu epidemic in Omaha, and she lives in Omaha. Now let, me expain. We had two people at different times in the Past, that REFUSED to give us a hint what kind of Church they hail from, one of them was proven to be a Mormon, and I am not sure about the other, but there were strong cult-like false doctrines that the person wanted to present. I admit, when you refused to tell us what type of Church you are from, I wronging thought "Here we go again!" So I want to apologize again.

I can be friends with anybody that shows they are genuine Christians, even if we disagree on certain issues, as long as they do not include these absolutes:

Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Coequal Deity of Jesus Christ.
The Importance of an attitude towards Repentance.
Absolute Necessity to be Born Again by the Holy Spirit.
SALVATION has nothing to do with WORKS, and Works to finish off Salvation, would be a FALSE GOSPEL.
Obedience is NOT part of SALVATION, but during the SANCTIFICATION Process, IT SPAWNS FROM OUR LOVE.


Apart from those ABSOLUTE ISSUES, I can agree to disagree, and still remain friends.

Baking a cake for a neighbor is doing a good work/deed.
I had to decide to bake the cake.
I had to decide to do a good deed.
I took the ingredients out of the cupboard and put them together.

Yes. I take some credit. You think this is taking God's sovereignty away from Him?
Or the glory that belongs to Him?

There's no such thing as "cultural".
Every move we make is either either going to please God or displease God.

God can direct me to move---
But I'M the one that has to move.

The Holy Spirit is our helper...not our dictator.
John 14:26

🤔
.....
your desire to do good comes from a God given heart and the Holy spirit working in you <- He deserves the credit
....you are just walking according to who He made you, and who He still encourages you to be and grow into

(any credit we DO recieve ought to come from Him as well and not ourself)

if you decided halfway through that the cake smells good and you want to eat it all
<-you deserve the credit

(imo)

Well yes there is such thing as cultural. I've always known to welcome neighbors into the community. Some do, some don't. It's not necessarily from the Lord leading, but could be. Mostly, IMO, it's just something people do.

A natural man/woman acts either good or bad.

The Spiritual man/woman is led and enabled.

I agree with you NNM.

I just don't like to hear that God does it all....
That takes away our responsibility.
As I've said before....IF God does it all, He's also responsible for our sin when we fail.

This scripture came to mind just now:
Mathew 6:1
Mathew 6:16

Mathew 6:1 tells us not to practice our righteousness before men...IOW, do not do it for men, but for God. Even unbelievers bake cakes for their neighbors --- but we do it for the glory of God (especially if they know we're Christian - it's a good testimony, as is any good work).

Mathew 6:16 tell us that if we do works for men...we already have our reward.
How?
By the thanks or admiration we get from men. This would be our reward, instead of the approval we get from God if we're quite about what we do.

There's a however here though.
If we do good deeds, and persons that know us see God in us, this is a good thing.
We just have to make sure we're doing it for God and not our self -grandisement.

Do YOU get any credit at all (quietly) for following the call of the Holy Spirit??
I like to give you the credit for following our God.

Well.... if there is any credit to be had.... couldn't it be boiled down to being honest with ourself in regards to what He reveals to us... wether it is the gospel of Jesus through His Word or wether we should examine ourself because of the Holy Spirit and examine ourself according to His standards....
I can say that I was called from unbelief... and at first didn't want to believe... but because I believed I couldn't escape the fear..

I don't take credit for hearing...or believing... or seeking...

I don't deserve credit for being made new, or the desire to conform to Him

I do deserve the credit when I don't follow Him and stumble... that was my bad

but if there IS any credit I get for any step that I took.... I can't be the one to decide


because I am often reminded how much I do need Him for everything

While I fully agree that Christianity is growing cold and we see many beginning to become more worldly in their walk, we cannot alleviate that by the word "AND" the apostasy is tied unto the Man of Sin and his revealing.......just saying.....

2nd Thessalonians 2

Hi VCO!, I just saw this, thank you for your kind response, for there is no better way to learn LOVE than from our elders in Christ! Your apology was not necessary, but I’m happy you did, only for the intent, as to show your heart is open to the word of God, and what it means to be humble, a characteristic, I’m quickly realizing, as a fruit, to recognizing those in Christ.. when I see it, I know I am among brothers. I read your posts and see my roots, you have an amazing testimony, and a walk that reaches out to others all the time..Thank you for your friendship, I know it comes from Christ in you. 70 years sir! You won’t get an ounce of disrespect from me! I hope you appointment went well!

Augustine believed in a form of predestination---but he was the only one that taught anything similar to determinism.

Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing.
Of course, He meant nothing for the Kingdom of God...since even atheists do things, but not for the Kingdom.

We're new creatures because we now believe from above, as Jesus said in John 3.

But listen to this:
Why does Paul tell us to present ourselves a living sacrifice?
Romans 12:1

Why does he tell us how to behave in every letter he wrote...here are just two:
Romans 13:6-13
1 Corinthians 5:9-12

If God did everything for us, Paul would not be speaking to us about how to behave all the time.
It must surely mean that WE have some decision to make to follow the rule of God when we take some action or do not take some action.

"Maybe we're getting giving credit to God with saying He does everything?"

Dinner time!

Sometimes I worry about what people mean by their statements.

We can surely say that God is sovereign and nothing happens unless HE wants it to.
However, I do see a difference between causing something to happen and allowing something to happen.

Even when we sin God is allowing our free will to take over and He just steps out of the way and lets it happen.

I do agree that it's our faith that makes us want to please God.
But I also believe it's my free will to make the right choice --- WHEN I DO make the right choice.
Otherwise why would Paul tell us not to tire in doing good if it was not by our intention?
Galatians 6:9

Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing.
Of course, He meant nothing for the Kingdom of God...since even atheists do things, but not for the Kingdom.

We're new creatures because we now believe from above, as Jesus said in John 3.

But listen to this:
Why does Paul tell us to present ourselves a living sacrifice?
Romans 12:1

Why does he tell us how to behave in every letter he wrote...here are just two:
Romans 13:6-13
1 Corinthians 5:9-12

If God did everything for us, Paul would not be speaking to us about how to behave all the time.
It must surely mean that WE have some decision to make to follow the rule of God when we take some action or do not take some action.

Maybe we're getting giving credit to God with saying He does everything?

Dinner time!

giving credit to God with saying He does everything?

This might be it

https://christianchat.com/account/preferences

Email options

• Receive news and updates from us by email
• Receive email when a new conversation message is received <~~

I absolutely agree with you. But if we can relate scripture to what is happening then we do have an idea of what is taking place. Like the church today definitely is having a great falling away. We can definitely relate the condition of the church to the 7th church mentioned in Revelation (Laodecia). The church status basically lines up perfect to what Laodecia was described as.

The best we can ever do is to guess. And I don't believe guessing we are getting closer to the end by what we see is wrong. I believe claiming specifics is wrong, like the end will definitely come tomorrow. But using scripture and what is currently happening in the world and church is not wrong to connect them. Jesus said we would know by the weather (look at how different this winter is and the tornadoes and multiple hurricanes happening), we would know by the signs of the times (we went 30 years ago from helping people to now we walk past a man beating his wife and pretend we never saw it)...I'm just stating there are clues we are seeing. It does not gives us anything specific, but we do get a general idea of what could be happening.