Au contraire, sounds like it's all about "me" (YOU) AND GOD (a truly GENUINE PERSONAL relationship with God, brodav9...and with idiosyncrasies/quirks also).
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Prism got all hung up on your use of "most successful Christian", but you have the right idea, it's not about us loving man, it's about us loving GOD (and loving Him as "Abba Father" instead of "Master", then we can be SONS OF GOD).
Romans 8:15
"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!".
Galatians 4:6
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!".
Ephesians 3:16
"his Spirit in the inner man".
Romans 8:16
"it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God".
Ephesians 1:14
"which is the GUARANTEE of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it".
By ACCEPTING Jesus to be "savior", salvation ("purification of the flesh", Hebrews 1:3) is MADE AVAILABLE to a person ("all flesh shall SEE", Ephesians 2:15), but the GUARANTEE is to "walk in the spirit" and let God's spirit purify your conscience, Hebrews 9:14).
Most believers simply want to be PARTISAN ("proper obeyers" of rules, protocol and ordinances) and also need to be "commanded" in order for goodness to be done by them (because they are not LOVERS OF GOODNESS).
Titus 1:8 " a lover of goodness, master of himself".
Because, as a principled person, you are accountable to your conscience (accountable to yourself, SOVEREIGN) and are a law unto yourself....
Romans 2:14
"do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves".
....because your 'prayer offering' is not mere words, but your everyday "walk"/behavior.
Ephesians 5:2
"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God".
Unlike the Jews whose worship involved "gates', your worship/devotion"WALK" began on Straight....."STREET"...
Ezekiel 46:1.......(the worship temple in the desert had two courts)....
"Thus says the Lord GOD: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened...".....
........The Lord's "day" is eternal,.....the ETERNAL "sabbath" rest.
JESUS (His body,....the one that hung on the cross) is the new worship temple (John 2:19 and John 2:21)......He is the outer temple and we each are the inner temple.
John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh"......NOT TEXT.....JESUS is the "Word of God".
2 Timothy 3:16 says "SCRIPTURE", NOT "bible".
(the word "bible" is not in scripture, scripture is the "word of truth".....the "gospel of our salvation" that we are to "rightly handle").
There was no "bible" 2000 years ago. The Gentiles glorified JESUS......(you don't/can't glorify a book or story).
glorified the word of God;
God ensured that you remained the person you grew up as (a "PRINCIPLED" person,.....and you are also CONSCIENTIOUS, do not ignore your conscience),
God wants us to think in terms of "principles",.....a two-sided coin 'DICHOTOMY', (Hebrews 5:12....necessary in order to grow our devotion/relationship on "solid food" after we've had enough "milk".
Hebrews 5:12 "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God's word. You need milk, not solid food".
Hebrews 5:14 "But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil".
Deutoronomy 32:8
"When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God".
Most believers are comfortable being being a product/result of MAN'S IDEA of 'spirituality', but you desire "solid food" for a "more excellent" (1 Corinthians 12:31) devotion/relationship (so you can be reconnected with the creator in a genuinely PERSONAL way)......in order to have a devotion based on (the GREATEST of these" (1 Corinthians 13:13).
We have nothing to fear from satan, satan is being restrained for now.....
.The apostate devotion is one of self-works/deeds and loving OTHERS (like you said)....."For God is not so unjust.......Hebrews 6:10.....(you got it right,...God is teaching you because He sees that you LOVE HIM).
1 John 2:27
"the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything"........AND IS THE REAL TRUTH.
Acts 11:26...
"and in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians".
About seventeen years after the crucifixion, the Jews that came to Christ decided at the "Incident at Antioch" to no longer be of "THE WAY" because they still wanted to follow MOSAIC LAW.
Incident at Antioch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Jewish/Hebrew believers who came to Jesus as the promised messiah in the O.T./Judaic scriptures needed to understand that they must no longer have a "foundation" of "repentance" because JESUS must now be THEIR ONLY FOUNDATION.
Hebrews chapter 6 is explaing that the new teachings/principles about 'Jesus salvation' no longer require performing 'works of righteousness' in order to acheive cleanliness/"repentance" (spiritual purity) and that our ONLY FOUNDATION should be Christ Himself.......AND NEITHER should we have a simple "faith TOWARD God" (we should have a "FAITH FOR faith").....
Romans 1:17....."the righteousness of God is revealed through FAITH FOR FAITH".
Having a foundation other than CHRIST ONLY is "apostasy".....(having a foundation other than CHRIST ONLY makes it "impossible" to "restore" us to spiritual purity).
This understanding is very relevant today also. When someone first comes to Jesus, they are a "babe in Christ" and are taught/"fed" with "milk". They are taught to do works of righteousness (have a foundation of repentance), but they are not taught the need to "move on" to maturity in Christ so that they will have ONLY JESUS as THEIR FOUNDATION (if the Jewish 'Godlovers' needed to be taught this, then why is it not also explained to us today?.....the god of confusion has always been hard at work).
Today, TRUE "repentance" happens when we first accept Christ as savior. True repentance is a one time thing because SINCERELY accepting Christ means that we no longer choose to live a life of bad behavior (in Jesus, "repentance" happens ONCE ONLY when first accepting Him as savior). The "doctrine of Christ" ("Christ and Him crucified") has been DONE/accomplished, NOW MOVE ON to a better/more excellent relationship based on TRUE LOVE for GOD.
At that time, God fully recognized that many believers today would make the same mistake of not 'moving on' to a mature ("more excellent", 1 Corin.12:31) devotion, so He ensured that this important explanation was in scripture for us to read, but it does not mean that those who never learn to move on to a deeper devotion based on the love FOR GOD ("the GREATEST of these", 1 Corin. 13:13) will end up in the lake of fire.....for "GOD IS NOT SO UNJUST" as to overlook all of the "works" they did and the love they showed to each other FOR HIS SAKE (it's not about love for EACH OTHER, it's about having TRUE love FOR GOD HIMSELF').
So do not make it impossible to be restored to spiritual purity (as Adam before the fall) by not moving on to a deeper and truly PERSONAL relationship with Jesus. Learn of the "better things" that are part of salvation (Hebrews 6:9) and have a "faith for faith" (trust that God is a REWARDER, not a punisher', Hebrews 11:6).
John 14:6...."I am THE WAY...".
All verses are from the RSV.
I didn't want to edit my previous post because the editor function on this forum doesn't work correctly with my computer for some reason, but after re-reading, I noticed some thing left out and not clarified (some verses also).
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Some verses are extra meaningful.
Acts 11:26...
"and in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians".
Acts 9:2 (who SAUL persecuted)
"that if he found any belonging to THE WAY, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem".
Acts 19:9
"but when some were stubborn and disbelieved, speaking evil of THE WAY before the congregation".
Act 24:22 "But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of THE WAY".
About SEVENTEEN years after the crucifixion, the Jews that came to Christ decided at the "Incident at Antioch" (a meeting of the Council of Jerusalem) to no longer be of "THE WAY" because they still wanted to follow MOSAIC LAW.
John 14:6 "I am THE WAY...".
Peter the denier misused the powers of The Holy Spirit and killed Ananias and his wife because the lied to HIM, they didn't lie to the Holy Spirit, they lied to PETER (Peter BLAMED IT on the Holy Spirit). Peter also let HIMSELF be glorifuied in Acts 5 and used FEAR to gain followers. Jesus characterized Peter well when He said "Get behind me satan". Peter also said "NO,Lord" on the roof of Cornelius's house.
Also this verse.....
Hebrews 6:1
"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God".
All verses are from the RSV.
Beware of modern versions....
http://www.bible.ca/Jw-NWT.htm
http://kelschbiblestudy.tripod.com/christ_news/versions/
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Government/Police%20State/501c3.htm
If my memory serves me correctly, I just wrote a SEPARATE post for my clarifications/corrections (maybe the moderator saw what I was doing and included my corrections in the original post, if that's the case,....THANK YOU MODERATOR, if not, then I'm going crazy forgetful).
I've been writing for 6 years about the deep truths of God ("depths of God", 1 Corinthians 2:10). It' takes a 'paradigm shift' in thinking (different reference point) to understand God's DIVINE SPIRITUALITY (only HE is "spiritual", WE are GUESTS of His "divine" spiritual world,....and we are 'qualified participants' ONLY by His gracious welcome/mercy, "vessels of mercy"/grace, Romans chapter 9).
We (the 6th day creation) were taught about the 3 manifestations/dispensations (3 aspects of God,....Father, Son, Spirit) as though without Jesus we have a right to the "SPIRITUAL" (we only have a right if we are "SONS OF THE MOST HIGH" (like the prodigal son was GIVEN a "welcome right", it was NOT "DESERVED")..
As taught, we (6th day creation) enthusiastically play the false role of having the ability to be "WORTHY" of the "3 aspects of God" (3 sixes are the everpresent stumbling block,.....the "flesh" is a mortal WEAKNESS, NOT INNATELY WICKED).
....WE are our own stumbling block (666) because of our own stubborn ways of pride, greed, etc.
666 is not the number of a 7th day creation/NEW CREATION ("living, breathing soul" like Adam before the fall), it is the number of "MAN" (fallen man).
In Revelation 13:18, we are told (in the RSV) that "it is a HUMAN NUMBER" (other versions say "the number of a MAN").
Satan's lies and confused understandings have permeated all devotional thinking for centuries (but also that The Lord doesn't put His "pearls" out in the open for every 'Joe Blow' to find (the "dogs" and "swine" who don't really want to LOVE HIM utterly, completely, AND EXCLUSIVELY). He is a JEALOUS God...and will not tolerate any "gods"/kingdoms before Him,....AND SO, He sent the "strong delusion" a long time ago............(the strong delusion is NOT a future event).
In speaking of the INSINCERE, He told Ezekiel that "I will answer them MYSELF" (Lay off Ezekiel, don't you go chewing them out rebuking them, THEY"RE ALL MINE).
Ezekiel 14:4
"I the LORD will answer him myself"....(in verse 3, God says "AT ALL" regarding His TRUTH).
The Lord is "SHAKING" His "church ("heaven" is wherever The Lord is) so that.....
"what cannot be shaken may remain" (Hebrews 12:27)....
....(many claim Him, but,.....are you shakeable?).
Search the scriptures with THE SPIRIT instead of with COMMENTARIES AND BOOKS (1 Corinthians. 2:10).
Overwhelmingly MOST of what was said 2,000 years ago and earlier was said TO OTHER PEOPLE and is not relevant for TODAY's devotion/relationship......(of course EXCEPT the "doctrine of Christ" gospel).
(not relevant for the PERSONAL "LOVE RELATIONSHIP" of a "son of the most high"/son of God).....
Psalm 82:6 "I say, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you".
...why are you afraid of satan?....(your spirit strengthened by God's Spirit will protect you,....satan has no HOLD on a righteous man....no "HOLD", can only TEMPT).
"And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time" (2 Thessalonians 2:6).
"be STRENGTHENED with might through his Spirit in the inner man".
When my dad taught me the error of my way, it was the loving correction I needed in order to learn to do what is right. I do not now nor did I then resent my dad's reproach. Do not fear The Lord's loving correction either (don't you want The Lord's loving attention?).....make your love become "PERFECT love"....
1 John 4:18
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love".
In The Lord there shall be NO FEAR at all (no spiritual fear).
There are many "truths" that have not been taught for centuries, but The Lord......looks at the heart....and will teach you what He has decided that you need to know ("wisdom" is on a 'need to know' basis).
....The Lord's GRACIOUSNESS is to give you what HE DECIDES that you NEED (we foolishly ask for WHAT WE "want"........is The Lord's grace sufficient for you?
