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Showing posts with the label spiritual growth

Faith Believing Obedience: The Courage to Count on Salvation

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"These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." -Hebrews 11:39-40 True faith has the courage to count on Salvation, this is why it is the pinnacle of all of faith. From Able to all the great prophets of old never received salvation, or the new covenant. They never knew personally, THE Messiah, but they believed in the promise of a Redeemer, the promise of Jesus, and of a new covenant. What makes them courageous? What put these great men and women on faith into the hall of fame? Faith believing Salvation. 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us: Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glor...

A Peter Problem

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"Peter said to Him [Jesus], “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?" -Matthew 14:28-31 Last night as I was emailing a friend of mine, my thoughts came together, and I quickly realized I have a Peter problem. I was telling her some of the things the Lord has revealed to me the past few days. I am ADD so I do 100 things at one time, because I can't focus long enough to do 1 thing and take it all in, then on to the next. Hard to explain. When I write I'm on several other sites, and doing other things and my posts eventually get done. It's ridiculous really. I've always liked the disciple Peter, because I can id...

Called to War: The Way of the Disciple

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" Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. " -2 Timothy 2:3-4 In the last post we discussed how suffering is the mark of a true disciple. In this post we will look at how being a soldier is another mark. This is how the Holy Spirit describes us: "He is not his own. His time belongs to his Master, so does his body. He goes where he is told, he eats what he is given, he wears what is supplied. He has no will of his own, but is an implicit servant of the military forces. He studies the ways of the enemy, he finds means of defense from the enemy, and of offense toward the enemy. This should be true of every believer." Before we can go to war, there are a few questions we must ask ourselves. We can't go into war unprepared, we must know what is required of us. 1. Are you spiritually fit? " Do not waste tim...

Unity: Spiritual Growth

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This is the first of a mini series on Unity. This will carry us to Sunday, when we will begin Advent. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Yes, I will post something on Thanksgiving. In the meantime let's get started on Unity and Spiritual Growth. Koinoina is the Greek word that means communion by intimate participation; the trust of one another, sharing of material goods, and harmony rather than hostility. The word is used frequently in the New Testament of the Bible to describe the relationship within the early Christian Church as well as the act of breaking bread in the manner which Christ prescribed during the Passover meal. As a result the word is used within the Christian Church to participate, as Paul says, in the Communion of - in this manner it identifies the idealised state of fellowship and community that should exist - Communion. We need to experience Koinoina love with God, with each other, and in the church. The foundation for a Koinoina church is found in Ephesians 3:14-1...