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I know of a person who recently reached down into his own pocket to see to it that a poor, disabled widow lady had some things she desperately needed but could not afford....and I have no doubt that God will bless that amazing generosity.
Preachers who use the tithe to extort money from the poor while they themselves live in luxury...well, never mind my opinion. I'm sure God will deal with them, and for their sakes, I would hope it would be during this lifetime.
Anyway, as someone else said...God looks at our hearts...not our...
Each of us is struggling to follow our Shepherd along the way He is leading us. Some are a bit further along than others...and some have occasionally wandered off the path and had to be found and brought back...
One thing is sure, though...we have all "tripped over a little rubble"...:janitor
You know, it occurs to me that one way to "hijack the faith" is to overthink stuff like leaven and mustard seeds....
Christians have spent 2000+ years working hard at complicating what Jesus died to make simple.
Think about it.
Is it possible for someone that we have known, and perhaps even loved as a Christian brother or sister to turn his or her back on God, and walk away from Him?
Sadly, yes it is.
However, God, as usual, knows what we do not:
1Jn_2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had...
"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith..." (Ephesians 2:8 NASB)
You need to finish that verse:
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
IOW, you did nothing to earn your salvation...it is yours because God gifted it to you.
No one comes to Christ on his or her own...
Just so. You can never "work" your way to salvation.
Consider a man who has the Holy Spirit of God within his heart.
He looks around himself and he sees someone in need. He doesn't stop to consider whether he's "right with God"...he looks for a way to meet that need, as Jesus Himself would do...
How long did you think God would quietly allow us to behave like sex crazed wild animals? He wiped out an entire civilization for the disgusting crime of sacrificing their babies to Moloch by putting them in the fire. These were only certain babies, conceived during a "festival" that happened...
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
May I humbly suggest that a person who thinks Jesus would leave him may not truly know Him?
Someone who thinks he can lose his salvation maybe doesn't understand what salvation is....
I guess we're in the same boat, then. My "magnum opus', a beautiful novel called 'The First Sinner' is well over 700 pages...believe it or not, I've actually sold two copies. Plus I have a bunch of smaller books in your price range...so far I'm only sold a couple of those...
Ahh, well...at...
And then there is James' famous verse:
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
As I have already said:
And back to James;
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
So you see, living faith is working faith...
Lots of folks just love to quote these verses:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
I love those verses, myself.
But let's not forget this verse that follows:
Eph 2:10 For we are...
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth...
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