What is the High Calling in Christ?
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Amen.
I love Jesus Culture. Kim has the most compelling voice !
Thank you for this reminder.
She has a great voice!
She's known what it means to suffer unfairly, and she's seen God's deliverance in her life. I hear the glorying of her deliverance in her songs, and it lifts me up.
Much love!
When we are Born again, though there is a dramatic change in who we are we are never "complete" and Christ like instead we have a goal to strive for. I Cannot even begin to fathom the Love of God on the cross dying for sinners such as i, let alone to put that into practice in my life to love one another as Christ loved us. You see with man, this is impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. The Holy Ghost is the perfector not man by his own strength. Holiness in man comes from the Holy Ghost.
The way I see it is that when we are born again, we have yet to make Christ the head.... in other words our will still rules our life. I Believe that Jesus even had to deal with this human will and surrender his will to the Father's will.... "Not my will but thine be done". To dwell on completeness, leads to complacency.... I am not saying this is you, but this sort of doctrine leads to this in many in the church. The western church is living in comfort and complacency because of this very doctrine. Yes, we are complete, in that all we need is the blood and the cross, but it is that baggage that is the "old man" that over time we learn to let go of as we puit on the new man.
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (Ephesians 4:15)
It leads to faith. It leads to the power to overcome. As we apprehend that which we've been apprehended for.
As we learn what God has done for us, given to us, that He has given us everything we need in His - promises - self commitment - God is personally committed toward our lives, our godliness, and in this commitment, which He has announced to us in His Word, we lack nothing. Not as though you are a "Laodicean Christian", but in a matter of truth, this is God, He's given us His promises.
Walk in His Spirit according to His Word.
Otherwise you are teaching others that they cannot. Isn't that so? Go to God for the help you need, we all need, but believe that He gives according to His promise.
Much love!
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I Love that passage for that very reason.... Whenever I run into a legalist strictly adhering to the ten commandments and castigating any who do not, I remind them of the new commandment Christ gave us of loving one another as Christ loved us.... That is the high calling of God in Christ, that is Agape Love in humans.... that is God's love being perfected in us.... I Have not attained this But am striving for this goal.... Like Paul, who finished the race.
That is to say it leads to resting from ones own works, so yes there is that truth. But once you realize I cannot by own strength and will become Christ like, what then? We rest from our works is the first step in becoming his workmanship, this is why Ephesians 2:8-9 should never be separated from Ephesians 2:10. That point we rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross is the start of overcoming and learning to walk in the Spirit, when we move from the Romans 7 Christian to the Romans 8 Christian. It is an essential first step, but not the last. Do You understand what I am saying? That is just the start of the real race before us.
If it's true that we are complete in Christ, then that truth is not what is responsible for people's bad behavior.
If we in fact have the Holy Spirit Who works in us to live according to God's will, and if in fact He provides us with the power in our lives to overcome the sin in our lives, then that fact is not responsible for some people choosing to continue in sin. They do so in spite of that fact.
Much love!
complacency is the result of a misapplication of the doctrine of rest. That we need nothing else, that we are in need of nothing.... This is the Laodicean error at work in the church. Do You see it now? The Doctrine of rest is the start of the race, not the end of the race we must run.
I ask "do you see it now"? Because there is a blindness in the church to this error. Hence the eyesalve associated with overcoming this error.
There are many ways to describe this. We rest from our own works. Christ is made unto us sanctification. We work out what He works in. We are His workmanship, and He's made us for His works, not ours.
The just by faith they live. Our walk is by faith, not by sight.
We've had this discussion for a long time. Do you understand what I am saying?
You say, we are awaiting a second baptism before we can become mature. To which I say, we are complete in Him, and in trusting that, we can go on to maturity. To which you say, No, we are not complete, we need that second baptism. I think you mean, we are not mature, and what you ascribe to a second baptism that we await, I ascribe to renewing of the mind, which we participate in, or not.
You don't need a "second baptism" of the Spirit in order to have in you what you need to overcome. But you will likely spend some amount of time coming to know and believe that is true. But God will work His way, and you will be transformed as He does renew your mind.
Those who resist will find His chastisement. Those who put into use what they learn will grow and mature and will understand.
If we participate, that means we are accountable.
Much love!
Yes, I have no disagreement with this, nor have I. We rest in Christ, which means stop insisting on our own way, stop trying to "please" God on our own terms.
Continue in that rest, in the surety of His precious promises. Take that in faith, and go on to maturity.
There are many ways to misapply Scripture and doctrine, certainly. But make no mistake, the truth of God is not overturned by the lies of faithless men.
Much love!
If you are the guy who thinks your saved because you said the prayer, but that's it . . . This isn't a big secret, right?
We seem so stuck at this point. It's like Christianity 101, yes, again, and again . . . But that's not what God meant, I should say, when He taught that we are complete in Christ.
That He has - in a matter of fact - given to us - already - everything we need for life and godliness. That this is in His great and precious promises to us - already given in His Word. If we believe them - believe Him - this is the faith that overcomes, just as Christ overcame.
Let us believe Him - in truth - and take hold of that for which He took hold of us.
There remains that truth that if we come to understand it - in it's correct sense - it increases our faith as we go on to maturity.
Much love!
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amigo de christo
Well-Known Member
COME UNTO ME all ye that do labor and are weary and ye shall FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS .
BELIEVE IN THE GLORIOUS LORD JESUS , TRUST IN HE ALONE . The ONLY NAME WHEREBY ONE may be saved .
Now lift those hands UP and let all that draweth breath , PRAISE THE GLORIOUS LORD .
BELIEVE IN THE GLORIOUS LORD JESUS , TRUST IN HE ALONE . The ONLY NAME WHEREBY ONE may be saved .
Now lift those hands UP and let all that draweth breath , PRAISE THE GLORIOUS LORD .
God does not just renew the mind, but the heart as well.... My view is the mind is first, and the heart second, your view as I see it is the renewing of the mind is the final act... this is what I mean by the doctrine of rest being the start of the race, not the finish. I Agree with 90% of what you say, but this is where I disagree. the second move of the Spirit is to renew the heart of man, the motives and desires of the heart in line with the will of God. True virtue, is not merely man being convinced of right and wrong and choosing to do right because of the mental conviction, but man given the freedom to do right or wrong and desiring to do what is right from the conviction of the heart.
True, But Many men fall into the errors of faithless men because they dismiss those sent to correct those errors as "self-affirming". History has shown this to be the case, and God sends his messengers to draw out a remnant holy unto Him and then the rest continue in their faithlessness.
amigo de christo
Well-Known Member
Continue to TRUST COMPLETELY in the glorious LORD JESUS . HE DID all that was required .
Crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification .
JUSTIFED BY JESUS CHRIST and now we have the SPIRIT by which we walk righteously .
Made the righteousness of GOD , IN CHRIST ALONE . Now let all that draweth breath praise and thank and trust in the glorious LORD .
Never let men sway you from the simple truth , THAT ITS BY FAITH IN CHRIST that one IS SAVED .
Marks , they got a monster gospel going around the world , AND ITS FALSE .
IT says it dont matter what one beleives , whether budda , allah or hushi cushi , so long as they have love they are saved and know God .
THAT IS A WHOPPER OF A LIE , A WHOPPER of a lie . NO SIRS and NO MAMS .
THE ONLY and i do repeat ONLY way to be saved , to have eternal life , to have salvation , IS BELIEVE YE IN JESUS CHRIST .
Confessing HIM by mouth and believing from the heart that GOD has rose HIM from the dead . AND I STAND ON THAT GOSPEL
and THAT ONE ALONE . cause any other hope , any other gospel so called , AINT GONNA SAVE , it can only condemn .
This is the hill i , by grace , have chose to die on no matter the cost . AND ITS NOT a popular hill either . BUT IT IS THE GOSPEL that ALONE
can save a man who believes in JESUS CHRIST . That other all inclusive lie , IT cant save anyone and it does TROD JESUS UNDER FOOT .
SO never beleive that lie my friend . You stay glued to the original life saving gospel of JESUS CHRIST , HOLD IT FIRM TO THE END .
And on that note , ME THINKS it HIGH TIME TO PRAISE AND THANK THE LORD AGAIN . SO hands up .
It's all by faith, yes I agree. Technically it's all ours, but in reality we aren't all walking in everything that is ours are we....we can see that with our own eyes looking at ourselves honestly and other believers. Kind of the "yes, but not yet" of things in reality. But we are to grow in the Lord. We must know there is a big difference between "ye are yet carnal" and "you who are spiritual" and grown into the full stature of Christ.
This is how I understand this....I'm seeing it that all the promises are ours, but we're on a journey of growth to apprehend them all. And His word is the light unto our path as we grow, the Lord leading us by His word and by His spirit. I think a few are like Joshua and Caleb and have grace to enter the land of promise quickly, while most of us have 40 years (or however long it takes) of wilderness trekking in order to die to ourselves, shedding our old man, so that we can enter. Everyone is given a measure of faith and grace in the beginning as the Lord apportions it...some have more, some less (parable of the talents)....but whatever measure we have received we are to keep growing and increasing in it. And we can only grow if we are paying the price to follow Jesus...staying on the narrow path and obeying Him and His leading even when it costs us.....don't be rolling off the altar......that is how we "buy the truth" and are buying more oil for our lamps, paying the price for it. If we are His legitimate children we undergo His discipline/chastisements of our flesh. "Be not surprised at the fiery ordeal...." because that is just the norm for His children. I had never heard this preached in the churches....it would have been very encouraging and strengthening if I had heard it earlier on, but the Lord began showing me these things after I left off with churches to follow Him outside the camp. I think sometimes you have to live it before you can see it.
As we are Christ's body on earth, we are filling up what remains of the sufferings of Christ.
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I see so much of what epi, Davidh and Lizbeth are saying in the book of Esther. There is a lot of preparation before you are ready to enter the throne room and ask for more grace.
@Lizbeth I am reminded of Philippians 1.6: "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
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