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Date Posted: 06:26:09 05/25/17 Thu
Author: c
Subject: Repentance, faith and salvation

Repentance, faith and salvation


John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 12:31,32 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.

Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?


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intouch.org radio 10/8/15 "Those who resist the gospel"

12:26


So the question comes: "can anybody be saved?" Anybody called by God. Anybody the Lord God draws.

"Well, can you be saved any time you want to?" No you can't. You cannot be saved until you are convicted of the need of salvation - till the Spirit of God works in your life and you sense the call of God in your life. That will not come in everybody's life the same way.


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intouch.org radio 5/25/17 solving problems through prayer part 2


1:55


The promise of salvation is to unbelievers who are willing to repent of their sins and accept Christ.


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Then, the issue arises "how do individuals respond to the Gospel message and what is the Heavenly Father's role in this process of individuals accepting or rejecting the Gospel message?"


Romans 9:14 - 24

David Guzik commentary

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide_Rom/Rom_9.cfm?a=1055001


3. (Romans 9:14-16) Does God's choosing one over another make God unrighteous?

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows mercy.

a. Is there unrighteousness with God? Paul answers this question strongly: Certainly not! God clearly explains His right to give mercy to whomever He pleases in Exodus 33:19.

b. I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy: Remember what mercy is. Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. God is never less than fair with anyone, but fully reserves the right to be more than fair with individuals as He chooses.

i. Jesus spoke of this right of God in the parable of the landowner in Matthew 20:1-16.

ii. We are in a dangerous place when we regard God's mercy towards us as our right. If God is obliged to show mercy, then it is not mercy - it is obligation. No one is ever unfair for not giving mercy.

c. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows mercy: God's mercy is not given to us because of what we wish to do (him who wills), or because of what we actually do (him who runs), but simply out of His desire to show mercy.


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John Gill commentrary

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/romans/9.htm


Romans 9:18

Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.


"and whom He will He hardeneth;" which is the just and natural consequence of what is contained in the latter; for if God could, or He did, without any injustice, raise up Pharaoh, and harden his heart against Him and His people, that He might rise up against him and destroy him by His power for His own glory, then He may harden any other person, and even whom He will: now this hardening of men's hearts may be understood in perfect agreement with the justice and holiness of God: men first harden their own hearts by sinning, as Pharaoh did; what God does, is by leaving them to the hardness of their hearts, denying them that grace which only can soften them, and which He is not obliged to give, and therefore does them no injustice in withholding it from them; by sending them both mercies and judgments, which through the corruption of their hearts, are the means of the greater hardening of them; so judgments in the case of Pharaoh, and mercies in the case of others; see Isaiah 6:10; by delivering them up into the hands of satan, and to their own lusts, which they themselves approve of; and by giving them up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, as a just punishment for their impieties.


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Adult Bible Class

A Union Gospel Press Publication - Christian Life Series

Summer Quarter: June, July, August 2016

August 14, 2016

Jarl K. Waggoner

Dependent on God's mercy

(edited message)


p 53

Pharaoh, like all people, did not deserve God's mercy; so when he did not receive divine mercy, but rather God's judicial hardening, we cannot charge God with injustice. Pharaoh was merely receiving the judgment he merited.

Therefore, Paul concluded, God has mercy on those He chooses and hardens those He chooses to harden (Romans 9:18). There is no injustice in this, for it is completely consistent with God's holy and righteous character. In fact, His righteousness is upheld by His sovereign choices.

It is also important to remember that while Romans 9 particularly emphasizes God's sovereign choices, God's sovereignty does not rob human beings of responsibility for their actions. The apostle went on to demonstrate that in chapter 10.


p 54

Golden text illuminated

"Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth" (Romans 9:18)

Jeff VanGoethem

(edited message)


The text points to the mystery of God's sovereignty over salvation. He has mercy on whom He has mercy. He hardens whom He hardens. It is a difficult saying but one that urgently points all people to seek the mercy of God. A text such as this leads us to ponder some deep theological truths.

First, we see the reality of human depravity and unbelief. Sinful hearts are hard. God takes no blame for this even though He may work in His sovereign majesty with such hearts.

Next, we see the necessity of God's mercy in salvation. We must become the children of God through saving faith. And this can happen only through the mercy of God as He opens our hearts to see the Lord Jesus and believe in Him. Mercy is found in Christ, Who shed His Blood for sinners.

Finally, we see that however God works in mercy and hardening, there is no ultimate unfairness toward any person (Romans 9:14). God's ways are mysterious in these matters, but in no way is it proper to conclude that somehow we or anyone else has been treated unfairly by God. It just is not so.

So the clear response to the great theological truths embedded in this powerful text is to cry out to God for His mercy. Let us teach all men everywhere to cry out for God's mercy so that they might be saved.


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Adult Bible Class

A Union Gospel Press Publication - Christian Life Series

Fall Quarter: September, October, November 2015

October 25, 2015

John Alva Owston

p 41


Repentance is both a command of God (Acts 2:38, 3:19, 17:30) and a gift from above. If the Spirit does not draw us to Christ (John 6:37, 44; 16:7 - 11; Acts 16:14), we remain spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1 - 5).


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intouch.org radio 2/12/16 "The God Who cares enough to rescue us" - part 1

4:13


A person isn't condemned by God because of the things they did - a person is condemned by God because of what they are. It is our nature: we choose to sin against God....man rebels against God because he has a nature of rebellion within him.


5:09

There's not a single person who has enough righteousness on their own part to be accepted on the eyes of God. Verse 11: "There is none who understands" - there's not a single person who understands the ways of God unless the Spirit of God reveals that to them. Verse 11: "There is none who seeks after God" - he says there's not a single person who on their own initiative ever goes after God. Every single person who has ever responded to the grace of God has done just that: they have responded to the initiative of the Holy Spirit Who convicted them of their sin and made them aware of their need for God.


22:54

There is no such thing as repenting of sin without a heartfelt sorrow toward God for the fact that we've sinned against Him and broken His Law and secondly, there's no genuine repentance unless there is a turning around and heading in the opposite direction.

One of the reasons many people are unsaved who sit in churches because they felt sorry over something - felt bad about it and said: "God, forgive me - I'm going to do better. I'm going to stop this, stop that, stop the other." Listen, stopping this and stopping that and stopping the other isn't genuine repentance unless it is a heartfelt - listen - repentance toward God. That is that you've sinned against Him. And that you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior which means - listen - the only way you can turn around is by the power of the Holy Spirit.


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2 Corinthians 7:9,10 Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants His people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.


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intouch.org radio 7/7/16 "God's call to genuine repentance" - part 1

13:31


Therefore, when a person receives Jesus Christ as their personal Savior - listen - repentance is a part of that. Repentance means what? I have a sorrow and regret for the life that I've lived and I am committed to a different kind of life. Now watch this, which does not mean "now I'm going to clean up my life." You can't clean up your life. Listen, salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit.

When you say "I receive Jesus Christ as my personal Savior" and you really and truly mean that, the Spirit of God at that moment does what? Deposits within you - listen - and in essence, the Holy Spirit comes within you - listen - your spirit is renewed, you have a new spirit, the Holy Spirit is living within you to enable you now to live out this life that you have received because salvation is a life we receive. It isn't some gift that God gives apart from Himself, it is the life that He comes to live within us.

Therefore, it's inconsistent - think about this - it's inconsistent for me to claim that I'm a christian and live the same old life that I used to live - how can I do that when the Spirit of God is living within me? Repentance means what? A godly sorrow has taken place in my life and like the prodigal son slopping hogs - he said "I will" he made a decision - and what did he do? By faith, he turned to go back to his father. And what did he say? He said: "I'm going to tell him: 'I know I'm not fit to be here'" but he went in faith that his father would accept him. He didn't say: "oh my goodness, here's what I gotta do. I gotta get myself a bath and clean myself up and change clothes, get my hair straightened out and really look good because I'm going to see my father."

You know what he did? He got up with slop all over him...and he headed up the road. He must have looked like a hag when his father saw him. But the Bible says the only time in the Bible that where God is pictured running - and in those days dignified people didn't run - and his father went running toward him and put his arms around him and hugged him - and here he is trying to confess and repent and whatever it might be - he'd already settled that in the hogpen: "I'm going back to my father where I belong no matter what happens." And the father forgave him. Couldn't be a more perfect example of genuine repentance and genuine salvation than is found in that chapter.


17:37

Listen, salvation has nothing to do with good works. You can't clean up your life. Repentance - watch this - repentance is not cleaning up my past. Repentance is acknowledging my past is wicked and it's sinful against God, acknowledging my helplessness and turning to him, asking for His mercy, placing my trust in Him because He said: if I would come to Him, He would forgive me and cleanse me and change my life - it's what He does in us.

So somebody says: "well now, but don't you have to clean up something to get saved?" No. You can't clean it up. If you could clean it up, there'd be no cross. Listen, we're desperately lost from God apart from the grace and mercy and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to the realization we need to be saved.


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Bishop TD Jakes' sermon 11/20/16 "The mind is the first thing to go"

(summarized points of a sermon - not direct quotes)


Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.


A person who is struggling to progress is usually held back by the experiences of the past that shape that person's thinking. That person needs to have something extremely positive in front of himself or herself that is more powerful than those negative things of the past to break free of those negative things from the past and have a true change of mind to move forward positively and effectively.

The prodigal son while in the hog pen saw the blessings that his father had available for him. That vision of the blessings of his father's house was more powerful to the prodigal son than the negative things that had the prodigal son in a state of ruin in the hog pen.


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intouch.org radio 2/26/16 “Our great salvation”

16:47

God has narrowed it down to one Man: Jesus. One plan: salvation through the shed Blood of His Son Jesus. One requirement: trust – and that trust includes repentance of my sin because repentance says when I place my trust in Him – what happens? I turn. And what happens? When I place my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, something happens in my life: transformed.


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intouch.org Daily devotion 8/28/15

A Right View of Repentance

Acts 2:37-39

Preaching the truth about Jesus Christ in Acts 2, Peter left thousands of listeners asking the same question: “What shall we do now?”

The apostle’s response is simple: “Repent, and . . . be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).

As a result, 3,000 people were added to the new church that day (Acts 2:41).

Is this the message of most churches today? Does it seem strange that Peter said “repent” instead of “believe”? Actually, Scripture often uses these concepts interchangeably. You see, repentance and faith are really two sides of the same coin: Both are essential for salvation, and each is dependent upon the other.

In terms of salvation, you cannot separate faith and repentance—both happen simultaneously. In order to be saved, you must place faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and that faith decision requires a change of mind (repentance) about your way of life. Yet many people mistakenly believe they must change their way of living long before they can make a faith decision for the Savior. The truth is, repentance does not mean that we must completely change our ways and “clean ourselves up” so we can receive Christ as Lord.

If you’re holding off on a decision for Christ until you think you are “ready” or “worthy,” you’re waiting in vain. Jesus is ready to receive you right now. Only as a child of God will you find the power—His power—to truly become the person you were created to be.


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intouch.org Daily devotion 8/29/15

Repentance in the Believer’s Life

Proverbs 28:13

Is repentance necessary in the believer’s life? Yes, and we can see this critical truth in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You may say, “The word repentance isn’t in that verse.” But let’s take a closer look.

Remember, “to repent” simply means to change your mind. For unbelievers, this refers to saving faith—that is, the decision to place trust in Jesus. But for Christians, repentance involves a change of heart with regard to behavior or attitude. We must make an ongoing decision to lead an obedient, Christlike life.

In 1 John, this choice is represented by the word confess, which originally had the sense of “agree with.” In other words, if you confess your wrongdoing to God, you are coming into agreement with Him about that sin and, in turn, disagreeing with your previous view. Here, confession isn’t a matter of salvation; rather, it means allowing the Father to continually reform your mind, molding you more and more into the image of His Son.

God absolutely hates sin. So if you agree with Him about sin, then you are changing your mind about the disobedience in your life. Thoughts, attitudes, and actions that once seemed perfectly natural will no longer fit with who you are. As God continues to work in your life, your mind will gradually reject old thought patterns, and you’ll more closely represent His way of thinking.

Is there sin in your life that has become too uncomfortable to bear? Confess the matter to God, and allow Him to change your mind about it today.


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Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him:


intouch.org radio 9/8/16 God’s gracious gift

8:37


Repentance is not works. Repentance - the Bible teaches us - is a change of attitude, which will – if you change your attitude about anything, you’re going to have the different results. It isn’t – watch this carefully – repentance is a change of attitude. Repentance isn’t me going over here and stopping my drinking, stopping my stealing, stopping my lying, stopping my lust – that’s not repentance.

Repentance is a change of mind. Repentance says: I do acknowledge the witness of Scripture. I do believe what God says about His Son, Jesus Christ. I do surrender my life to Him. That is all an act of my will: I do believe. I do surrender. The different direction and the different actions and habits and attitudes are going to be the result of a whole different perspective of Who Jesus Christ is.

Now watch this: he says “as you have received Him.” How did you receive Him? You received Him by faith – trusting Him - “so walk ye in Him” which means – listen – Who was totally responsible for our salvation? Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. “As you received Him” – by faith: surrendering your life to Him – “so walk ye in Him” – what was salvation? A gift. What is the christian life? It is a gift. Listen – it is not the exercise of works. The christian life is a gift equally to the gift of salvation.


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intouch.org Daily devotion July 09, 2016 Clearing Up Conversion Confusion

1 John 5:10-15

God gave us the Bible so we could know Him and live in a way that pleases Him. He desires that we truly understand His teachings and how they apply to our life. Simply put, the Lord wants us to trust in Him with complete confidence.

We have an enemy, however, who attempts to undermine that confidence at every turn. We’ve all been there—joyfully moving along through life, sure of our salvation, and then, BAM! We stumble into sin, and our feelings take over. The devil uses our remorse and conflicting emotions to eat away at our confidence. We think, There’s no way I can be saved. If I were truly saved, I would never have done such a thing. Overwhelmed by feelings of regret and shame, we find our faith coming under fire.

It’s amazing how effectively our fleeting emotions can undermine assurance in God’s promises. But we shouldn’t really be surprised. After all, we’ve been conditioned to let our feelings lead us through life. “If it feels good, do it”—a popular saying from the ’60s—is still an all-too-common idea today.

Yet the Lord does not speak in feelings; He speaks in truth. Whenever your emotions contradict the Bible, you can be sure that the Scriptures are reliable. For a believer, “feeling saved” is as irrelevant as a husband or wife “feeling married.” You either are or you’re not; feelings simply do not make it so.

Have your feelings of regret stolen your confidence in eternal salvation? Lay them before the Lord today, and embrace the certainty that comes only with His truth.


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intouch.org radio 12/16/15 "The riches of God's grace" part 1

11:24


Then #6, that is He has forgiven us of all our sin through the death of His Son and our response to that death by confessing and repenting of our sins and receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior - first of all, He judicially - positionally forgave us of all of all of our sins - past, present and future. That is, we're the forgiven children of God.

Now when we sin against God, we come to Him confessing that sin, admitting it, acknowledge it - thanking Him for His forgiveness by the way of the cross - not on the basis of our behavior or our performance. Our forgiveness is totally the result of God's lovingkindness towards us.


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intouch.org radio 1/14/16 The Spirit-filled life: How to maintain it - part 1

1:53


You see, salvation is not the result of my performance, it is the result of the performance of Christ at Calvary. And when you receive Him as your personal Savior, your sins are forgiven. And they're forgiven forever. They're not forgiven "except", "if", "and" and "but" - they are forgiven forever.

So salvation is the gift of God through the Lord Jesus Christ and maintaining that salvation is the work of God - not of the believer.

But someone else says: "what about being filled with the Holy Spirit?" "If I'm filled with the Holy Spirit one time, does that satisfy the requirement forever?" When it comes to being Spirit-filled, it is a different situation altogether. Salvation God maintains, but my Spirit-filled walk, I am responsible for it - in relationship to the Holy Spirit, I am responsible by faith in maintaining the Spirit-filled life.


3:22

A person receives the Holy Spirit at salvation. And you have all the Holy Spirit you're ever going to receive once you are saved by the grace of God. The issue is: how much of us does He have? And that depends upon our willingness to submit, to yield, to surrender our lives to Him.


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Matthew 19:22 - 26

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.


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http://biblehub.com/commentaries/bengel/matthew/19.htm


The Divine omnipotence is seen, not only in the kingdom of nature, but in those also of grace and glory. That power is more than human by which the human heart is led away from earthly things. The cause of the rich may be pleaded with the greatest effect by the poor and the scrupulous.

Johann Bengel


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So the main point of Matthew 19:22 - 16 seems to be for saints to pray for salvation for people even when those people seem to be in a situation where salvation seems impossible

The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3 - 9, 18 - 23, Mark 4:1 - 20, Luke 8:4 - 15), with its emphasis on different soils and their ability to allow the Word to take root and grow, can be viewed not as a judgment passed upon the "unprofitable" types of soil, but Jesus Christ's way of affecting those soils through the power of His Word:


Isaiah 55:11 So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, but It shall accomplish that which I please, and It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent It.

Mark 4:9 And He said unto them, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Hebrews 4:1,2 Let us therefore fear, if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.


So the Word is effective just like prayer can affect hard-to-be-saved rich people and other types of seemingly "difficult" people who are represented as types of "soil" in the Parable of the Sower.


----------------------=



Adult Bible Class

Christian Life Series

Union Gospel Press

March, April, May 2016 Spring Quarter

Lesson 2 March 13, 2016
(edited message)

p 11

It is not just the rich who have a problem coming to Christ; it is a humanly impossible step for every person, poor as well as rich. Only God can do the work needed in any person's heart for him or her to respond to the offer of salvation, and there is no heart too hard for God to reach. However, the incident with this young ruler shows that those with much can have a harder time realizing their need for a Savior than those who are already physically poor and needy.

Keith E. Eggert


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http://biblehub.com/commentaries/lange/matthew/19.htm


The expression men refers to the ancient and corrupt world, lost in its worldliness; while the Lord is here presented to the view of the disciples as the Creator of a new era, in which the world would be crucified to believers, and they to the world.

John Peter Lange


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To the readers:


You most likely can tell that this portion of the messageboard (if by chance, you have started to explore other sections of this messageboard before returning to the "Repentance, faith and salvation" section) is somewhat challenging and seemingly needing of clarity.

Any further need of clarity for a section of this kind in this type of messageboard that is so close to the top in priority in sections (and one that follows the salvation message of the "Where are you going to spend eternity?" section) rather should be taken as an indication by the readers that, as much as I hope this entire messageboard can be helpful and a good start in many ways, the overall journey of being a christian is always one in need of a mentality of not fully "acquiring the 'whole picture'" at any given point on this journey:


In Touch magazine 1/16

Divine in the Twilight

by Winn Collier

p 44

Scholar Philip Sherrard observed how "modern thought, with its distrust of anything that escapes rational analysis, has practically eliminated the word 'soul' from its vocabulary."

In contrast, early Christians were familiar with another way of knowing truth - one centering on our communion with God. These Christians knew that there were certain truths we must discover through divine revelation and through our deep encounters with the Holy One.


p 45

We are immersed in deep mysteries.....We couldn't possibly comprehend all these generous wonders, but we can receive them. We can trust them and be thankful for them.


We encounter realities too complex for our minds, too broad for our imaginations, because there is only One Who holds all knowledge. We are not God and cannot fully comprehend Him. This is why Augustine Hippo insisted that if we believe we fully understand God, we can rest assured that whatever we understand is, in fact, not God.

The question is whether or not we will embrace this twilight place. Will we insist on mere precision and lose the nuance, the harmony, the deeper shades of grace? This is no demand to abandon solid ground or to haphazardly dismiss rationality and good common sense. God has given us our minds and has charged us to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks...the reason for the hope that (we) have" (1 Peter 3:15 NIV). Rather, this invitation simply pushes us beyond our comfort so that God may offer us something more.

To embrace the twilight requires risk, as any act of faith does....We must resist our demand for the emotional comfort of absolute certitude. We must surrender to the fact that even as we seek to understand God's truth, the ways of His Kingdom will never make total rational sense within our limited understanding. In other words, we have to trust God.

Most things of deep value will require us, at some point, to venture a risk....God calls us into places requiring courageous faith, places of profound mysteries, because the God Who is above and beyond us call us to Himself.


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In Touch Magazine 11/15

Hidden in plain sight

by Tony Woodlief


P 35

Maybe the challenge for us who 'see dimly" isn't to get more knowledge into our heads but to get more truth into our hearts. Indeed, what good is all this head knowledge if I fail to embrace the soul-liberating truth that God loves me - ....It is that awful, beautiful truth that sparks us to be "transformed by the renewing of (our) mind" (Romans 12:2).

Receiving the Word of God - rather than evaluating it - demands humility I often lack.


The world tells us we should believe something only after seeing proof. But consider how often in Scripture humble faith precedes knowing.

Someone who is wise and mighty in his own eyes will approach God's Word like a field of intellectual study. But we foolish and weak ones approach it with heads bowed. We meditate on each word and welcome it into our hearts.

The weak and foolish haven't wisdom or cleverness to interpret God. We can only receive Him,


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Our Daily Bread

(edited text)


2/12/16


Undigested knowledge


Author Barnabas Piper noticed a parallel in his own life: “I thought I was close to God because I knew all the answers,” he said, “but I had fooled myself into thinking that was the same as relationship with Jesus.”….


Piper recalls how things “fell apart” for him before he “encountered God’s grace and the Person of Jesus in a profound way.” When we allow God’s truth to transform our lives, we gain much more than the right answer. We introduce the world to Jesus.


Tim Gustafson


Faith is not accepting the fact of God but of receiving the life of God.


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Mark 10:15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter It.


http://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/mark/10.htm

To receive the Kingdom of God “as a little child,” is to receive It after the manner of a child, with simplicity and faith, humility and love.


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To the readers:



These encouragements about being humble and embracing the twilight are useful so that you will correctly use this messageboard as a start and not get bogged down in trying to use this messageboard as a comprehensive answer to every christian issue. Like Bishop TD Jakes taught in his sermon from December 2015 "The Whole world blind" "for now we see through a glass darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12) and that "we're living in a blurred church....doesn't know as much that we think that we do...we don't have it all together." "Can you walk with God in the blurry places?" "Can you be faithful out of focus?" "Being clear about this and blind about that." Peter was clear about Jesus Christ being the Messiah, however Peter was blind about Jesus Christ having to go to the cross (Mark 8:27 - 33). A christian can later learn that he or she was wrong about earlier attempts at understanding spiritual and Scriptural issues so a christian should hold back from attacking other christians with different views in harsh ways. A christian has to honest about needing more help from the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ about many situations, especially for a better understanding of Scriptural and spiritual matters.

There should be more than enough on this entire messageboard for it to be very useful, Jesus Christ willing, to many people for a significant amount of time. It is best to start at the top and in order (regarding the sections) and be prayerful and wise to reach out to other vital resources like intouch.org and blueletterbible.org and biblehub.com and Beside the Still Waters devotionals and Our Daily Bread devotionals and Union Gospel Press - Adult Bible Class - Christian Life Series quarterly Bible study publications and The Potter’s Touch broadcast – lightsource.com (TD Jakes) and a local church where the Bible is respected as Truth and that church teaches about the Cross and the Holy Blood of Jesus Christ.

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