Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Friday, March 1, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
How New Is The New Covenant??
How NEW is the New Testament? Or better yet, how NEW is the New Covenant? Does New mean new? Or does it just mean a little newer? Well, then if the New Covenant is just a moderate improvement on the Old, then it isn't new and either God is lying or the writers were lying or they were trying to get us confused...and Jesus' work in ministry and on the cross would not have been able to fulfill the law like it has. However, we are now under the authority of the New Covenant because Jesus came as our forever Priest and His arrival made everything new! He came to fulfill the law, the prophets, how sin is dealt with, how sinners are viewed and sin paid for.
Christ came to pay for our complete salvation while we were still in sin, which means we are not to look at people by human standards anymore. (2 Cor. 5:16). In the OT people were stoned or put to death because they were defined by their sin...not only because of their sin nature, but because the law was punitive and sin had to be punished! Therefore the only way to deal with the sin was to punish the sinner. However, Christ's life and death gave humans back their worth...so unbelievers as well are to be viewed as people that Jesus loves and are in the process of being drawn back to Him.
The New Covenant is "New" for another reason...because now the overwhelming factor is that we are new creatures in Christ, so essentially we are just like new born babes that have never sinned. It is just-if-I'd never-sinned! Some Christians say they are, 'sinners saved by grace'...but that is not biblically true. We are not sinners anymore. We are not just bandaged up...or renewed, no...we are completely new - justified before God!!
The following section of scripture does not contradict the fact that we are completely saved by grace...
1 John 3: 4"Those who live sinful lives are disobeying God. Sin is disobedience. 5You know that Christ appeared in order to take away our sins. He isn't sinful. 6Those who live in Christ don't go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven't seen or known Christ. 7Dear children, don't let anyone deceive you. Whoever does what God approves of has God's approval as Christ has God's approval.
8The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy what the devil does. 9Those who have been born from God don't live sinful lives. What God has said lives in them, and they can't live sinful lives. They have been born from God. 10This is the way God's children are distinguished from the devil's children. Everyone who doesn't do what is right and love other believers isn't God's child."
We are saved by grace!! The above scripture does not contradict that...altho many Christians still think that even tho we are saved by grace we still have to work hard at not sinning so we are accepted by God. However, they are misinformed. BTW, God does not contradict Himself, so if we ever come across a contradiction, then there is something we don't understand. So, the problem is with us, not Him...so this would be the time to seek God and do further study.
Believers have been cleansed of sin and are now completely new people, with the Holy Spirit living inside! Therefore what we all need to learn is that when scripture either speaks about the believer having a new nature or the indwelling Holy Spirit, it is the same thing as saying that a believer does not keep on sinning. In fact they can be interchanged.
It is just like if you were talking about a butterfly. You could call it a butterfly, or an insect that does not perpetually crawl on it's belly any longer. Each would be equally true!!
A believer could not keep on sinning without being convicted by the Holy Spirit. Then the conviction would begin a change in the opposite direction via the power and guidance from the Holy Spirit. However, if a person does not have a new nature as well as the Holy Spirit, then their sin would not be interrupted by conviction and therefore the desire and power to begin a change would not occur...which means they could easily keep on sinning.
Blessings!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Words and Testimonies....
Be richly blessed by these words and testimonies.....
Words From the Heart, by Maria Rachinskaya from Russia ~
*Why Do People...
*Faith In Russia...
Testimony By Kevin Adams ~
*Awesome Testimony...
My Life and Testimony ~
*Navy Brat...
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Evidence Of Salvation I
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“Beloved let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. Beloved LET us love one another.” 1 John 4:7-8
We are a vessel and we are implanted with His Spirit when we accepted Christ. Then in due time we begin to see the evidence that He is there. If the Holy Spirit was a mere idea, or rule, then the only evidence would be if the person decided to have a shift in their behavior due to their idea or rule.
But it is different when He changes us…because He permeates us...and we become more like Him...then we begin bearing fruit because that is what the Holy Spirit does. In time His love begins showing it's face...or the person never had the Spirit of God in the first place…not really. Because, again, that Spirit IS alive within us and His whole reason for being inside us is to empower change and then bearing all kinds of wonderful fruit in every area of our lives.
Galatians 5: 16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with (imitate) the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
I know that there are folks who go forward at alter-calls because they see everyone else is doing it…or because the emotions are high. Then they mouth the words…but the seed falls on either shallow, or thorny ground…or out in the open where the birds gobble it up right away. (Matt.13)
I know of many people who intellectually accept the fact or idea of Christ…or even follow Christ as a good man or prophet. But the Spirit of God has never really entered their lives. 2 Tim. 3:5 “They have a form of Godliness, but deny the power that will make them Godly.”
It comes down to this….that at some point in our Christian life it is important to, “Examine yourselves to make sure you are in the faith. Test yourselves. If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is in you, it means you have failed the test.” 2 Cor. 13:5
Immaturity can cause a person to act unlike they have the Holy Spirit...because even though the Holy Spirit enters and empowers, we do not at all become 'Stepford Wives' (or men:) when we are converted. We still have every ability to disobey the still small voice within us. So if we are choosing to keep our eyes on things not of God, then unfortunately our behavior will follow. Therefore if the Holy Spirit is inside, the disobedience cannot go on for very long before God must discipline or the person must accept Christ if they realize they really hadn't accepted Him before.
However, when we do decide to let the Holy Spirit be in control, we must take that step of obedience and "fix our eyes on Jesus", then thankfully our behavior will follow and then the Holy Spirit empowers us to live there in His light. So, to imitate, as the following scripture states, we must have our eyes 'fixed' on who we are trying to imitate...correct? So, what actions and characteristics come from God and which ones do not? Eph. 5:1-14 -
1Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved usa and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
3Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, let your light expose them. 12It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14for the light makes everything visible.
Part II to follow soon...
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
There Is No In Between II
To understand the brightness of God's light, I think it is also important to understand how utterly dark is the darkness of the fall.
When Adam and Eve walked and talked with God it was complete light, with no darkness at all. None. Then when the fall happened, it was indeed a long fall. It wasn't a partial fall, where it only affected the behaviors of some, and then to others they were able to avoid much of it's influence. No. It was a complete fall, where there became a wall separating us from God...and where there is no God, there is pitch black darkness. Then when Christ died, the curtain of separation was rent in two...so that all people would have access to salvation. All people.
Matthew 27:51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
Many people say that they could NEVER, ever be a homosexual for instance...or as far as the most extreme behaviors a murderer, or NO WAY a Hitler! BUT, with the same circumstances as what befell them, you and I could have very well become just like them or any other person...or they just like us for that matter!
We live in a world that is trying very hard to make it's way in utter darkness. A condition that has permeated everything, the entire creation down to the cellular level. However, we are so used to living in it that we don't pay much attention to what had actually happened to us when Adam and Eve made that fatal choice. We treat others as though they could do better...but the fact is, that without Christ we only have the carnal nature, and many of us a seared conscience, to guide us, and so all we can hope for is that the world just do the best they can with what they have.
Romans 8:18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. 19For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God’s children, 20because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did. The one who subjected it did so in the certainty 21that the creation itself would also be set free from corrupting bondage in order to share the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time. 23However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For we were saved with this hope in mind.n Now a hope that can be observed is not really hope, for who hopes for what can be seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet observe, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
But to most, the world around them just seems 'dim', and then when they do think of real 'darkness' it only pertains to the ones their Pastor preached about on Sunday....you know, 'those' homosexuals over there....now THEY are IN darkness! This attitude that the church (in general) has today is what is keeping many from coming to Christ...as Paul speaks about in 1 Cor. 9-11. They have created for many an obstacle to coming to Christ...as homosexuality has been chosen out of the long list of sins to point out and preach loudly against. Partiality stems from not understanding or accepting our own utter sinfulness, as well as our common vulnerability to the effects of the fall.
Take for instance Romans chapter 1. Spend a few minutes and read through Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome. It starts out greeting the believers there and then in about the middle of the chapter it begins sounding as though God seems pretty angry about all the sin that's in this world! Yea, those sinners!! It keeps on going too from verse 18 all the way to 32!
But then He seems to do a switcheroo. While I am busy reading and thinking about all those sinners God is talking about, then He suddenly begins talking about me before I can say WOE!!
He immediately begins telling me in the next chapter without warning that while I am pointing my fingers at those sinners over there, that I am just as guilty as they are! They may be engaged in sexual sin, but God sees my gossip, hate, pride, heartlessness, causing fights and so on just as much...and so I had better get myself right because in verse 11 He says that He does not show favoritism!
Partiality/favoritism...or choosing this sin over all others...also stems from fear. A fear that keeps me from wanting to discuss it...because if there are gender issues that do have some genetic origin, then that would shake my core beliefs to the ground! What would I do then?? How would I handle this new information??
If I show disrespect for a ruling authority that I believe is making wrong decisions, then wouldn't I be doing right? Or are my actions to be ruled and regulated by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5: 22-23) in any given circumstance? There is no in between.
To deal with partiality and fear one has to come to realize that nothing gets past God. This is something I've learned the hard way. I've also learned that God's written word has an answer to everything. This is why I've learned not to jump to conclusions or be afraid of discussing any topic, because I know that God has the answers...even if I am not aware of them yet.
Ok, but don't I have authority to judge sin? In the following- Jude is writing to a church that is being led by their carnal nature...by whim and human instinct! They have allowed some people to worm their way in who are saying they have been given the right (through their dreams) to scoff at authority as well as mock and talk about things they know nothing about!
Then Jude makes a comparison to remind them about what authority and rights are really for...as they are not for using to one's own advantage or just according to how one feels. I may have the right to do this or that, but it does not mean I use this advantage.
He reminds them about the angels that fell from heaven that are now chained in darkness because of their behavior, thinking they could take advantage of their authority. And even tho the Archangel Micheal himself had authority over Satan, he was still very careful not to take advantage even to the point of not directly rebuking the devil himself when he fought him.
Jude 1:8-11
"8In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. 9But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.)
10But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts (carnal nature) tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. 11What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion."
I can not find anywhere in scripture where it says it is OK at times to step into the parameters of the carnal nature (Gal. 5:16-26) and operate from there. Even if I thought I had the right or authority to do so, God is still telling me I am not to use my authority to please my carnal nature...to slander, or scoff, or mock, or desire to cause harm to someone...to anyone!
The following are two URLs that explicitly show many of the extreme conditions that the fall has created. The 1st URL is important to understand so that when this subject comes up we WILL know at least a little bit about it...as well as understand that many of these people are judged as sinners, when it was the fall and medical science that made a mess of their lives. These people (well, actually all people - John 3:16) need compassion so they come to Christ to be saved and healed.
The 2nd URL shows what the fall is capable of doing...of course there are images that were mixed in that are not real, but most of them are...please open this URL with caution. I volunteered at a hospital with my HS youth group that housed and cared for extremely deformed children, and so I can tell you that a majority of these images are real.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2004/06/the_cutting_edge.html
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701-21-s&va=human+anomalies
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Guest Author For This Post: Maria Rachinskaya from Russia
“However when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:8
As for me it’s probably one of the most stunning questions that Jesus has ever asked. The Lord, the Creator came to His people and became one of them, some of the most devoted ones were with Him during three years listening every His word and learning from Him… and after that He wondered if people believe in Him, if there is the faith on the earth.
Let’s imagine… what if He decided to just come again to us to find the faith among people as He went down to Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:21). What would He find?
I thought about my country, people around me, my church and me. How would we receive Him? Unfortunately, I started to realize that an idea of near God involved to the lives of His beloved people is hard to be understood in Russia. For a long time Russian thinking has been affected by Orthodoxy.
As the world goes a huge part of Russian people consider themselves being orthodox while prevailing part of them confine themselves to knowing some religious ceremonies and celebrating Christian feasts according to worldly traditions.
No doubts there are a lot of sincerely believers among the orthodox people but I would like to give some thoughts about the influence on those who don’t want to come closer to God. What do people learn from Orthodoxy? There are great amount of the Saints who are believed to be intermediary between people and God. It may seem that God is too busy for taking care about His sons and daughters and too independent, emotionally distant from His people.
In Russian people‘s mind God is he to whom you would go only in the exceptional case. Many rites need to be followed if you have troubles. It probably doesn’t concern people’s hearts, there is no need to cooperate with Him: do what you are said and wait for the improvements in your life. This leads those who sincerely come to the Lord are far from identification themselves as “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).
God seems to do not deal with the ordinary people as you and me, only the priests can dare to come nearer to Him. There is another side of such understanding. Once you want to be closer to God you decided to deserve His attention, try to earn His grace. It’s still difficult to me as well to refuse an idea of earning His love by self- righteousness.
Being a protestant I can sometimes observe the following idea in believers around me and in me as well: no matter how hard you try, you can do your best… however you will still feel ashamed before the Lord, you won’t feel forgiven and beloved by God because you don’t really realize that God desires relationships with you to death, He is not passive and in Christ He became near.
At the moment I would like to reflect on this: why after Christ’s death and resurrection, after Him being one of us, as close to us as He can be, after all that He did, He is still so distant? May be there is really no faith in our hearts? For a lot of Russian people God is either too busy or too angry at people. In both cases He is practically inaccessible.
If He decided to become person again, if we saw Him in the flesh would we realize that He is near? that He doesn’t need our services? that He loves us with all His heart? would we answer His Love with all our passion, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength (Mark 12:30)?
When the Son of Man comes to my country, to my church, to my family, to me… what will He find?
You can find +Мария Рачинская on Goggle
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