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Bible Study Drawing Near to God

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While this forum does not seem as active as the Apologetics forum, this brief study comes out of discussions being held in the Apologetics forum. However, I felt this study best posted here.

Let me begin by saying that I believe that God is sovereign (can't always spell the word, but nonetheless) and that we have a responsibility. I do not believe that responsibility is the same thing as credit. I cannot take credit for my salvation or even my decision to accept the Cross of Christ. Left to my own devises, I would not choose God - however, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my need for a saviour and pointed me towards the Savior Jesus Christ. At this point I was left with the responsibility to make a decision - to accept what has been revealed to me through the Holy Spirit or to reject it.

Hebrews 11:6 says: "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

God is soveriegn and we have a responsibility to respond to that soveriegnty - God does not force us to accept Him - rather He presents our need for salvation and provides for us the way unto salvation. It is our responsibility to respond. God will respect our decisions - and He will remain there, convicting us (believers) of our sins and He will wait at the door for those (unbelievers) who have not yet accepted Him. There will come a time, when He will no longer wait - so why wait to make a decision to accept Him? Taste that God is good, that He is faithful, loving, and just.
 
Great post, I think we have the same thoughts on this.

I used to think - why doesn't God show up like He did to Paul to everyone, then everyone would believe. It is unfair for Him to appear so obviously to some and not others.

But I realised that in Revelation it talks about Satan being released again for a while after the 1000 years I think and that he will still decieve people away from God. Here we see that some people even having really witnessed God they will still choose Satan.

This also enforces for me our responsibility to respond as you mentioned, but thats just how I see it. Satan proves that you can fully know/believe in God and still turn away from Him.
 
I think if someone has something God wants, like Paul, He will seek Him but just isn't how it is for the rest of us. Paul needed a jolt to be able to do what he did in spreading the Word to Goya (Gentiles). God needed someone who was dual, both Gentile(Paul was a Roman citizen) and Jew(Paul came from the tribe of Benjamin) to bridge the gap and He chose Paul to this.
He calls to the rest of us, we just have to listen to His call and answer. Not many choose to answer.
 
^^^ Great post

It should be noted here that doubting Thomas wanted to see the very holes in Jesus' hands and feet before he would believe and he said that he would need to stick his finger in His side. After doing so Jesus said to him, "you believe because you see, blessed are those that believe and do not see". So it's a win - win situation for us. We believe and we are blessed.
 
aLoneVoice said:
While this forum does not seem as active as the Apologetics forum, this brief study comes out of discussions being held in the Apologetics forum. However, I felt this study best posted here.

Let me begin by saying that I believe that God is sovereign (can't always spell the word, but nonetheless) and that we have a responsibility. I do not believe that responsibility is the same thing as credit. I cannot take credit for my salvation or even my decision to accept the Cross of Christ. Left to my own devises, I would not choose God - however, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my need for a saviour and pointed me towards the Savior Jesus Christ. At this point I was left with the responsibility to make a decision - to accept what has been revealed to me through the Holy Spirit or to reject it.

Hebrews 11:6 says: "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

God is soveriegn and we have a responsibility to respond to that soveriegnty - God does not force us to accept Him - rather He presents our need for salvation and provides for us the way unto salvation. It is our responsibility to respond. God will respect our decisions - and He will remain there, convicting us (believers) of our sins and He will wait at the door for those (unbelievers) who have not yet accepted Him. There will come a time, when He will no longer wait - so why wait to make a decision to accept Him? Taste that God is good, that He is faithful, loving, and just.
Click to expand...

That's different than when I became born again. I received a light that changed how I saw the world. So I can no more choose to go back to darkness than I can choose to go back to yesterday because I see the world differently now.

So I didn't choose God any more than Paul did. God simply opened my eyes and transformed me into a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. Thanks be to God for how he has transformed me. :)
 
Heidi said:
That's different than when I became born again. I received a light that changed how I saw the world. So I can no more choose to go back to darkness than I can choose to go back to yesterday because I see the world differently now.

So I didn't choose God any more than Paul did. God simply opened my eyes and transformed me into a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. Thanks be to God for how he has transformed me. :)
Click to expand...

What an awesome God that we serve who uses various ways and circumstances to call His people to Himself!

Praise God!
 
Heidi said:
That's different than when I became born again. I received a light that changed how I saw the world. So I can no more choose to go back to darkness than I can choose to go back to yesterday because I see the world differently now.

So I didn't choose God any more than Paul did. God simply opened my eyes and transformed me into a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. Thanks be to God for how he has transformed me. :)
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you here, Heidi. As much as some of us guys like to debate you, I think some of your flesh nature comes through in those debates. But God still saves us in spite of ourselves.
 
tim_from_pa said:
I totally agree with you here, Heidi. As much as some of us guys like to debate you, I think some of your flesh nature comes through in those debates. But God still saves us in spite of ourselves.
Click to expand...

It seems that those of us who stand up boldly for the truth are persecuted the most. The apostles were all killed for standing up boldly and jesus told us we would be hated for doing so. So I call a spade a spade and many people don't like that.

But I can't compromise the truth, especially when I hear so many false teachings the closer we get to end times. "He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue." Unfortunately the world (satan) thinks the opposite. :wink: In fact I was told by someone here that everyone on this forum disagrees with me, which I personally know isn't true, because people have pmmed me telling me they like my posts. But this person was trying as hard as he can to hurt me. That, is the flesh that is enticed by Satan. :sad
 
Heidi said:
It seems that those of us who stand up boldly for the truth are persecuted the most. The apostles were all killed for standing up boldly and jesus told us we would be hated for doing so. So I call a spade a spade and many people don't like that.

But I can't compromise the truth, especially when I hear so many false teachings the closer we get to end times. "He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue." Unfortunately the world (satan) thinks the opposite. :wink: In fact I was told by someone here that everyone on this forum disagrees with me, which I personally know isn't true, because people have pmmed me telling me they like my posts. But this person was trying as hard as he can to hurt me. That, is the flesh that is enticed by Satan. :sad
Click to expand...

And what is gained by 'calling this person' out?
 
aLoneVoice said:
And what is gained by 'calling this person' out?
Click to expand...

I haven't named him. So it's not to hurt him, it's just to show how persecuted we will be for standing up for Christ, even among Christians. We have to expect that when walking the path that Jesus walked. it's a very lonely path because since Jesus and the apostles were killed for telling the truth, we won't be treated any better and we have to expect that. :wink:
 
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