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Douglas Summers said:
Hi Rollo, As a born again believer, the Spirit of Christ has always been a mirror to see my self and my Adamic nature and God's undeserving grace and eternal security. But I find few to fellowship with at times, as I share and teach the things that the Lord has enlightened me in because of (what seems to be their pride of knowledge) and not joy of their salvation. I have been misunderstood many times because of the lack of believers foundation in a Spiritual walk and obedience to the will of God and have taken it upon themselves as overseers of other believers, influenced by their Adamic nature. And as I'am humbled by the grace of God, the Lord tells me not to let that keep me from being bold in the faith of my calling and election. Their is never a day or moment that I'am not in fellowship with the lord, He rules my life....He is my life as he is to all of His sons.

Christ in me
Douglas Summers
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Hi DS
The grace of God certainly does humble us. In the Beatitudes, Mathew 5:3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God will be theirs.

It will be theirs because the poor in spirit understand how much they need God. They understand how great is the Grace of God in relation to their sinful nature. They realize they have nothing to contribute to the Kingdom of God, but their own love for God.

They have repented and have no arrogance and no self-righteousness. To enter the Kingdom, which begins right here of course, you must be poor in spirit since salvation is a gift and cannot be earned. One who humbles himself is able to accept the frail nature of both himself and others. Thus we repent and allow God's grace to convert us (change from one thing to another), or to lead us to sanctification.

Let us lead others to Christ the Savior and edify them at the same time.

Wondering
 
wondering said:
Hi DS
The grace of God certainly does humble us. In the Beatitudes, Mathew 5:3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God will be theirs.

It will be theirs because the poor in spirit understand how much they need God. They understand how great is the Grace of God in relation to their sinful nature. They realize they have nothing to contribute to the Kingdom of God, but their own love for God.

They have repented and have no arrogance and no self-righteousness. To enter the Kingdom, which begins right here of course, you must be poor in spirit since salvation is a gift and cannot be earned. One who humbles himself is able to accept the frail nature of both himself and others. Thus we repent and allow God's grace to convert us (change from one thing to another), or to lead us to sanctification.

Let us lead others to Christ the Savior and edify them at the same time.

Wondering
Click to expand...
Hi Wondering, Grace and peace to you. Only a born again believer can write like this above, because it is what we have become in Spirit. And the same Spirit in me is the same Spirit that you witnessed in your post. This is what you call fellowship between believers by the one and same Spirit that binds us together.

Christ in us
Douglas Summers
 
3. INSTRUCTION ON BAPTISM

I know of 3 baptisms: The baptism of John, the baptism of Jesus, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

1 THE BAPTISM OF JOHN the BAPTIST

John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Propets were sent to let their people know the Word of God. To procalim what God wanted from His people.

John was filled with the Holy Spirit from before his birth. Luke 1:15

He was sent to prepare the way for the Lord, to prepare a people for the coming of Jesus and His message. Luke 1:17. Isaiah 40:3.

John came to bear witness to the light, Jesus, and prepare the hearts of those to whom Jesus would speak.

So the baptism of John was a baptism of repentance. A heart sorrowful for the wrong it had done to God and who now wanted to repent, go the other way – toward God – and be washed by the water of John's baptism so as to begin a new life. Acts 19:4

He baptized in the Jordan River, probably close to Jerusalem. The people came repenting and asking for forgiveness for their sins.

2. THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

While John baptized with water, Jesus' baptism was with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

John felt his baptism very inferior to that of Jesus'. In Mathew 2:11-12 John tells that one mightier than he is coming. John was only baptizing unto repentance. Jesus was mightier because Jesus held the ax. He held the authority to cut down any tree that did not bear good fruit. Mathew 2:10

Jesus will judge even at the resurrection. This makes Him mightier.

Baptize means to fully immerse in water. We go into the water. We die unto ourselves, when we come up out of the water, we have new life. We rise with Jesus and are reborn of water (as in natural birth) and Spirit. We become the Father's beloved children: Sons in the Son. We rise as a new creature 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Water is throughout the bible.

God moved over the waters. Genesis 1:2

Noah's ark saved 8 people through the waters of the flood. 1 Peter 8:20

The crossing of the Red Sea. As liberation from the slavery of Egypt. So we are liberated from the slavery of sin.

The crossing of the Jordon River. God kieeps His promises for a new land and a New Covenant.

Jesus' Apostles also baptized. Acts 2.


3. BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE

The baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place in Acts 2. The Day of Pentecost.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is to receive power to do God's work. Tongues as of fire rested on each disciple and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues. Acts 2:4

1 Corinthians 12 speaks of spiritual gifts given for different ministries for God's work. Verse 10 speaks of the gift of tongues. Paul says that not everyone will receive this gift because not everyone may need it.

Paul says that one and the same Spirit gives all these gifts as He wills. This gift is received after salvation.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
 
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Allen Wynne said:
How about it Ezra?
Can you encourage us with words on either the resurrection of the dead or eternal judgment?
Click to expand...
sure if your not saved you will be in the last Resurrection and you will stand before the white throne judgement seat of Christ and hear depart from me you worker of iniquity .. so i encourage you to make sure your saved ... does that help?
 
6. Eternal judgment

This is where unconditional love comes into play. Unconditional love for God and for others. Sometimes life is not going as we have planned. Sometimes we can't possibly think God knows what he is doing, or else life wouldn't look this way. Love God through the difficulties in life. Love others through the difficulty of their own personalities. Some people feel like they are the oil to our water. Trust God to love them through the absurdness of it all.

Matthew 5:43-48 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? Do not even the pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Romans 13:8-10 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal,""Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does not harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

1 John 4:19-21 We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God", yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Those scriptures are the process of the unconditional love for others. The following scripture sums up judgment on our souls.

1 John 4:16-18 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in loves lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
 
5. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

This is an interesting topic for me because I had a difficult time understanding the resurrection of the dead as I was growing up into adulthood.

Somehow I believed that we would lie dead in body and soul, and spirit, and then, one day at the end of the world, God would resurrect everyone and give them their new body which would never get sick or grow old. A "spiritual" body.

Of course this was wrong. Our body is energy, and energy doesn't die but is transformed into something different.

What happens when we die?

When we die our body goes into the ground to become the dust from which we were first formed.
Genesis 3:19
We are nothing but dust.

Immediately upon our death, our spirit goes to be with the Lord. Our spirit is that part of us that relates to and responds to God. It is our "God part".

2 Corinthians 5:6-8
Paul tells us that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord in verse 8. And that, in fact he would prefer this to being present in the body and away from the Lord because while we are in this "tent" we groan and are burdened. But God guarantees to us what is to come. Verses 4,5.

When Jesus was dying on the cross He told one thief "This very day you will be with me in paradise".
There is debate as to whether "paradise" means heaven or Abraham's bossom,
Luke 23:43
In any case, it would still have been that very day that the thief wuld be in heaven because those being held in Abraham's bossom were freed when Jesus died.

Jesus also said that God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. This means we are never really dead, but live even after earthly death.
Mathew 22:32

What happens at the end of the world?

The end of the world will bring the resurrection of the body.
1 Corinthians 15:35-47 explains this in detail.

Verse 43 tells us our body will be raised in glory. We will have a glorified body. No one really knows what this is - I like to think it is like the body of Jesus, Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration.

1 John 3:2 tells us that when Jesus appears (at the end) we will be like Him. There will be only joy for all eternity.
We will recognize each other as Moses and Elijah were recognizable, we will have a spiritual body, or a glorified body that will never die again.

At the end everyone that has died will rise.
Everyone alive who is saved will be taken up.
Everyone who is not saved will go to their destination.
John 5:28-29

Everyone will be judged, the good to everlasting eternal life.
The lost to everlasting disgrace.
Daniel 12:2

Acts 24:15 tells us that we indeed have this hope in God of the resurrection.

So, at death we go immediately to be with the Lord.
At the end of the world, we will receive our glorified bodies to live with God forever.

Wondering
 
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wondering said:
5. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

This is an interesting topic for me because I had a difficult time understanding the resurrection of the dead as I was growing up into adulthood.

Somehow I believed that we would lie dead in body and soul, and spirit, and then, one day at the end of the world, God would resurrect everyone and give them their new body which would never get sick or grow old. A "spiritual" body.

Of course this was wrong. Our body is energy, and energy doesn't die but is transformed into something different.

What happens when we die?

When we die our body goes into the ground to become the dust to from which we were first formed.
Genesis 3:19
We are nothing but dust.

Immediately upon our death, our spirit goes to be with the Lord. Our spirit is that part of us that relates to and responds to God. It is our "God part".

2 Corinthians 5:6-8
Paul tells us that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord in verse 8. And that, in fact he would prefer this to being present in the body and away from the Lord because while we are in this "tent" we groan and are burdened. But God guarantees to us what is to come. Verses 4,5.

When Jesus was dying on the cross He told one thief "This very day you will be with me in paradise".
There is debate as to whether "paradise" means heaven or Abraham's bossom,
Luke 23:43
In any case, it would still have been that very day that the thief wuld be in heaven because those being held in Abraham's bossom were freed when Jesus died.

Jesus also said that God is a God of the dead, but of the living. This means we are never really dead, but live even after earthly death.
Mathew 22:32

What happens at the end of the world?

The end of the world will bring the resurrection of the body.
1 Corinthians 15:35-47 explains this in detail.

Verse 43 tells us our body will be raised in glory. We will have a glorified body. No one really knows what this is - I like to think it is like the body of Jesus, Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration.

1 John 3:2 tells us that when Jesus appears (at the end) we will be like Him. There will be only joy for all eternity.
We will recognize each other as Moses and Elijah were recognizable, we will have a spiritual body, or a glorified body that will never die again.

At the end everyone that has died will rise.
Everyone alive who is saved will be taken up.
Everyone who is not saved will go to their destination.
John 5:28-29

Everyone will be judged, the good to everlasting eternal life.
The lost to everlasting disgrace.
Daniel 12:2

Acts 24:15 tells us that we indeed have this hope in God of the resurrection.

So, at death we go immediately to be with the Lord.
At the end of the world, we will receive our glorified bodies to live with God forever.

Wondering
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I would that everyone understood theology as well as you do, Fran. That understanding has brought a very troubled soul such sweet peace in my old age.
 
th1b.taylor said:
I would that everyone understood theology as well as you do, Fran. That understanding has brought a very troubled soul such sweet peace in my old age.
Click to expand...
Our eternal life in the Lord should bring every believer great joy!
Paul says that heaven is so beautiful that there are no human words to describe it.
Jesus promised to prepare us a home there.
We can trust Jesus.

Wondering
 
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