Long but good... so read it?
First a few short notes from today's class with Lawson Perdue,
Lawson Perdue-Covenants Romans Lesson 8
Keep a good conscience before God and men. Romans 14:1-11
Righteousness comes from the inside out, is not reliant on what we look like or feel like.
Don’t be legalistic.
The law will kill everybody.
Works is a fruit, not a means of, salvation.
The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness.
The mark of a strong person is not how much they can knock down other people, but how well they pull other people up.
An Apple tree doesn’t have to say “I’m an apple tree! I’m an apple tree! I’m an apple tree!” for you to know what it is, all it has to do it bear fruit, and in the same way, you bear fruit, and love one another and people will know who and what you are.
A church with no people is a church with no problems.
If you want a church with no problems, then you don’t want a church.
Then of course, MORE ARTHUR! haha, this guy is good right here, He knows God!
Arthur Meintjes-The Heart of the Gospel Lesson 7 continued
Our salvation was not because of our choice, in the sense that, God sent Jesus and had planned on doing so LONG before we ever had a desire to be saved. It is only our choice to believe on Jesus’ name.
You preach this kind of grace and goodness of God… and you never know what people will do… Is this why “gospel preachers” don’t preach this message? If you DON’T Preach it, then people will never be free!
Do you think that if you preach it this way, that it will just give people a license to sin? Well look, if after hearing this kind of message, you Want to go and sin, then we now know what is in your heart. But for a real Christian, there is No Desire to sin! You don’t want it! But without this you are still held captive by it! Jesus did not come to judge but to take judgment.
Romans 5:6 -9“For when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would ever dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much More then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
The unconditional love of God, how do people not see this, prove that God loves me, there it is, Christ, while we were (please do notice the past tense…for those “Sinners saved by grace”) still sinners, died for us. And… even much more? Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
When we mess up, we are saved from wrath through Him.
Now, if Jesus did this for us WHILE we WERE still sinners, that love for us then, what reason would we have to fear the wrath, the anger, the judgment of God in our lives? None whatsoever.
Jesus was the soul expression of the Character of God.
And there was more to that, but I'm sorry, I couldn't type, it was so amazing I just sat there and listened.
Went something like this,
Peter after Jesus died, went fishing, and the others with him, but you see, they were going back to what they did before the followed Jesus, and they were doing it without Jesus, and what happens when you do that? What do you accomplish? Nothing. What did they catch that night? Nothing. Jesus was on the shore and... I think just for fun... asked them "Did you catch anything?" And the answer? "No" So, then they follow Jesus' directions, cast on the right side, and catch a net full, without, nothing, with, everything, you follow? simple enough!
So then, He went on,
Jesus and the disciples were sitting around the fire after eating, and Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?" (Greek word here is Agapao, meaning God's unconditional mind blowing love) And Peter Answers, "Yes you know that I love you" (Phileo, however you spell that..., means the Brotherly type of love) and again, Jesus asked "Peter do you Agapao Love me?" and again Peter answered in the same fashion, then Jesus said "Peter do you Phileo Love me?" meaning, do you even like me? So, we ask ourselves, do we even like Him? But thats kind of condemning sounding isn't it? Well then, here is the good news! The Gospel! God doesn't care if you love Him or not, crazy? Nah, While we were still sinners Christ died for us, He first loved us, so yes, we should love Him, but He doesn't care, He still loves us the same! His promises are the same! And really, once you realize this, does it not encourage you and simply deepen your love for Him all the more? It does for me!
And thats it for that class... I think we will have at least one more class with Arthur, and then a test... and I'm not sure if we have him anymore through the year... I'll have to check sometime.
And here is Wendell Parr on the Holy Spirit...
Wendell Parr-Holy Spirit II Lesson 6th
More on the Fruit of the Spirit, things you already have in you, what they are, to what extent, lets… define some things for you…
First though, lets remember, when you are born again, you no longer naturally sin, you have to work at it, you were a sinner and therefore you sin, you are a new creature and a son and therefore you are righteous and therefore you do righteous things.
Longsuffering, (as Wendell says, Looooooooongsuffering)
Steadfast patience, and endurance, that enables us to persevere, in spite of difficult circumstances and people.
As long as you are in this world, you will have trouble. But be of good cheer! I have overcome the world!
-Jesus
This is the ability and fruit that God has put into us, longsuffering.
Psalm 86:15 “But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”
We have His spirit in us, we have those abilities and fruits that naturally come out of us.
Numbers 14:18 “The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” God is good, yes, and who knows that in many Christian circles people are still teaching generation curses? What about this, Ezekiel 18:2 “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 “As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.” 4 “For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son--both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.” No more Generational curses.
2 Peter 3:9
Isaiah 53:3-7
Matthew 24:13; 2 Timothy 2:10-12; Luke 9:62
1 Corinthians 15:58
If you can touch, taste, smell, hear, or see it, it is temporary! It too shall pass!
Gentleness-Warm hearted tenderness- Mellowing that which was harsh.
Isaiah 40:11; Nehemiah 9:17; Jonah 4:2
After reading these, how can you say that God is mean or is going to beat you up? You can’t, He is kind, gentle, patient, loving, and everything good.
Are you going to say that these fruits of the Spirit of God are not also all things that are in and parts of God? All His nature, what He always is, as much as He is always good.
But then we see that the fruits of the flesh are all evil things, all bring death, and Yet! So many preachers want to say that God is going to judge you and beat you up to teach you a lesson! Lets just say this, God is Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirit, are also who God is, and the fruits of the flesh are who GOD IS NOT. God cannot do those things.
God does not show favoritism, He has given the same thing to me that He has to you, He spoke to men and women the same, He loved the rich and poor, the young and old, Jesus did all this, He loves all, and has paid for the salvation of all.
God has never asked us to do something that He has not given us the ability to do!
Even for me, if I was not so good on stage, speaking to people, or even speaking clearly, all that has changed, I enjoy the stage now, I LOVE talking to people, and I’ve been complimented on how clearly I speak.
Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is Good!
The goodness of God endures continually. Psalm 52:1
It is the Goodness of God that leads men to repentance.
And I believe that catches us up to date! I have no school tomorrow, will be working from 2-5 covering for someone, and hiking and or juggling the rest of the day! And probably making some food for church Sunday, so, enjoy your weekend!
God has blessed,
God loves,
and what more do you need?
Think about it.
-Ben Heath
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