Make A Difference Monday

Time to pray!  Love it… just leave and prayer requests, struggles or praise reports.  I’ll be praying for each person on my blogroll today, and then some… Oh and HOW ABOUT THOSE SAINTS????    Have a wonderful Monday!

Saying Yes to God

I’m really tired of the question of what can a dead man do, when the obvious answer is nothing.  Problem is, we’re not dead.  We’re very much alive.  The whole complete depravity thing gets way bent.  It takes both faith and regeneration to be saved.  One is the response of the lost and sinful man to the gospel, the other a supernatural work of God.  They go hand in hand.  I can’t imagine when the Philippian jailer asked Paul what he must do to be saved, Paul’s response being something like, “Nothing, sorry, you’re dead and if God doesn’t regenerate you, you’re doomed.”  He said “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”  John 20:31, says ya gotta believe in order to have life.

To compare physical death with spiritual death is a mistake.  Someone who is physically dead cannot speak, breathe, laugh, walk… a spiritually dead person can.  It’s wrong to say, they can do nothing.  Even as a believer, I can reject Christ, refuse to pray, read the Bible or not, sin, or do good works…. I have the ability to choose.

No one can believe on Christ apart from God’s great work in our heart and spirit which involve enabling and enlightenment.  But faith and regeneration work together… to exclude one is wrong.  ”Believe” is everywhere in the word.  God can throw stuff to us all day long, but we won’t get it til we believe it.  I find it interesting that even RC Sproul, who believes regeneration precedes faith wrote in the Holiness of God “Once Luther grasped the teaching of Paul in Romans, he was reborn”.  If he believed his own theology, he would have written.. “Once Luther was reborn, he grasped the teaching of Paul in Romans.”  oopie…

Even Spurgeon recognized the folly of saying it’s only regeneration:

“If I am to preach the faith in Christ to a man who is regenerated, then the man, being regenerated, is saved already, and it is an unnecessary and ridiculous thing for me to preach Christ to him, and bid him to believe in order to be saved when he is saved already, being regenerate. Am I only to preach faith to those who have it? Absurd, indeed! Is not this waiting till the man is cured and then bringing him the medicine? This is preaching Christ to the righteous and not to sinners.”

Really glad that God is bigger than these little boxes we try to put Him in.  Being too extreme in any direction can cause alot of wasted time and grief to the body.  God allows us to be part of things because of His love for us….I for one continue to say “yes” and to Him be all the glory.

Courage

Last night, before my Nyquil kicked in, I was in prayer for some time, about some needs at Make a Difference Monday, and some needs of my own.  One of the things I, and every Christian needs in order for spreading and preserving the truth of Christ is courage.  I’m realizing more and more these days, that my excuse making for not doing the things God calls me to is a lack of it.  Not standing for the truth of God, whether it is being intimidated to not pray in public, to running from resistance when teaching or speaking God’s Word, to being obedient to His calling, dishonors Him.  We need to be bold in our faith. If we read to the end of the book, we win right?  There is a bit of cowardice that only tells truth when it is safe to tell it.  So I’m beginning to look at what God says about courage and where I can find it.  Here is what I have found so far in the Nyquil fuzz I am calling my brain today…

Courage is found from being forgiven and righteous: “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven’” Matthew 9:2

Courage is found from trusting God and hoping in Him “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD” Psalm 31:24

Courage is found from being filled by the Holy Spirit: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness” Acts 4:31

Courage comes from God’s promise to be with you: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9

Courage comes from knowing that the One who is with you is greater than your adversary:  ”Be strong and courageous . . . for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles” 2 Chronicles 32:7

Courage comes from knowing He is sovereign over my battles: “Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight” 2 Samuel 10:12

We find courage through prayer: “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul” Psalm 138:3

This is only a glimpse of what God says on courage.  How do you find the courage it takes to stand for God and go the straight and narrow path?  Christian courage is a willingness to say and do the right thing, regardless of earthly cost.  It is my prayer that all of us would find this courage and boldness that we are called to.  Right now, I don’t have it.  That’s being honest.  But I believe that God will be faithful to complete this good work that He has begun.

Make A Difference Monday

Today is a day of prayer here… if you need prayer, or know someone who does, please leave it here and please pray for eachother.  I love that we can go to Him, talk with Him anytime…. Have a Happy Monday!

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,” Colossians 1:9-10

Simple Question

What does “saving faith” mean to you?  Can you have faith and NOT be saved?

Got This At Carl’s Blog

I love to get excited about who He is…. this did it for me tonight!  Thanks Carl!

My Prayer for the Weekend

Lord just lead me to the cross….

In Light Of Recent Discussion…

There are thousands of “I’ve got the handle on it” denominations of churches… but two are being discussed right now, and in particular, regeneration, justification and conversion.  The following are presented views of each of these topics from both the Protestant and Catholic views.  My prayer is that the conversation will continue as it has with a great deal of respect.  I’m simply offering a fresh start here.

Regeneration:

Protestant: “Regeneration is a one-time event, initiated by God through the work of the Holy Spirit. I believe that regeneration – the heart of stone being changed into a heart of flesh – makes faith, repentance, and perseverance possible. Without regeneration, one cannot please God, because one cannot have faith. I do not believe baptism to be at all regenerative. Baptizing a non-believer results in a wet non-believer, not in an immediate Christian.”

Catholic: “I doubt we disagree on this. Christ said we must be born again. Reborn of water and Spirit. The “spot” that happened for me was at my Baptism.  Here’s where we might differ: We believe that “by Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.66 In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God.”

Conversion:

P: “Conversion is not continual. Conversion happens once when the believer in Jesus Christ is changed from death unto life. Repentance is a continual, daily process of turning from sin and self to Jesus Christ, however there is often a clear moment of “repenting of sins” at true conversion. Repentance is a crucial part of the salvation process, but it is brought about by faith rather than being the instigator. Sanctification is this ongoing process.”

C: “Conversion is a turning from one thing to another. I don’t view conversion as a one time event. We are called to convert every time we fall into sin. Whenever I turn away from God – and we all do – I need to turn back. Every turn is a conversion. My first conversion was when I was freed from the original sin I was born with. My most recent one was this afternoon.”

Justification:

P: “Justification is immediate and complete. The price for our justification was paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. No work I do can add to it. There are no penances in Scripture. I will show you my faith by my works, but my works have absolutely nothing to do with my justification. Works are demonstrative only and are completely ineffectual in regards to salvation both prior to and after regeneration. I do not perceive justification to be a removal of sins.”

C: “Those who die before the end of the world will be judged immediately at their deaths. We call this the “particular judgment.” The Epistle to the Hebrews says (9:27): “It is appointed to men to die once, and after that comes the judgment”. Then, “Each one will receive his pay, according to his works” (1 Cor 3:8).
As defined by the Council of Trent, “Justification is the change from the condition in which a person is born as a child of the first Adam into a state of grace and adoption among the children of God through the Second Adam, Jesus Christ our Savior”. On the negative side, justification is a true removal of sin, and not merely having one’s sins ignored or no longer held against the sinner by God. On the positive side it is the supernatural sanctification and renewal of a person who thus becomes holy and pleasing to God and an heir of heaven. For me as a baby, I was justified by baptism and the faith of the one who requested the sacrament for me (Mom and Dad).”

Questions to consider:

1) Did Jesus put anything in place to resolve both reasonable and unreasonable doctrinal conflicts among believers so that we could remain both united and accurate?

2) If he did put something in place, are his followers obligated to use that system, or is it optional?

I love this….

“Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late – and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.”

Thank you Mister Tozer….

He was going….

Reading in Matthew 9:35 it occurred to me that this one scripture pretty much summarized all that He did.  ”³⁵Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.”

What word stands out for you?  For me it is “went”.  Reminds me of Matthew 28:19-20.  ”Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Right after the word go, ministry followed.  Jesus Himself did, He went, which is what He instructed us to do.  Behind all ministry is a time that we feel like we are being thrust into a new and uncomfortable place.  We have the Spirit of God in us to accompany us wherever we go.  I am not just talking about physical movement, but also the opening of our hearts to others rather than closing them out.

When Jesus went, He ministered.  The word ministry means “to serve” from the Latin ministerium.  The focus of Jesus’ in other words, were the needs of others rather than on His own.

We have so many in our church who are willing to go into full-time service, many of them know the key to that is for us to be willing and active right here and right now.  We are taught to not just watch church happen, and that none of us can afford to stay still.  We all need to go and do.

I love that it is His harvest.  He has everything all arranged.  He is waiting for us to seek Him so He can direct us.  The harvest is plentiful, but we need to act now.