lol ... Their pondan-ness disappear when the Spirit entered into them essentially and poured on them economically (yes, those 2 words again).
And for the first time in history, the eleven stands with Peter .... in the past, all fighting to be first.

Acts 2:1 and 2 say, “And when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place. And suddenly there came a noise out of heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”

In the Lord’s resurrection, the Spirit of resurrection life is likened to breath, breathed into the disciples (John 20:22) for their spiritual being and living essentially. In the Lord’s ascension, the Spirit of ascension power, poured upon the disciples, is symbolized here by the wind for the disciples’ ministry and move economically. The essential Spirit of resurrection life is for the believers to live Christ; the economical Spirit of ascension power is for them to carry out His commission.

We need to see clearly the difference between the breathing in John 20 and the blowing in Acts 2. The breathing in John 20 is for the imparting of the life-giving Spirit into the disciples essentially for their spiritual being and for their spiritual living. But the blowing in Acts 2 is for the pouring out of the economical Spirit of power upon the believers, who have already received the essential Spirit into them. The pouring out of the Spirit of power is not for the believers’ spiritual being or living; rather, the outpouring of the Spirit of power is for the believers’ ministry and move. Therefore, the essential aspect of the Spirit is for living, and the economical aspect is for ministry. It is important for us to differentiate these two aspects of the Spirit, for then we shall understand the Gospels and Acts in the right way. Otherwise, we shall be confused.

In the Gospel of John the Spirit of life in resurrection is likened to water for us to drink. John 4:14 says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.” John 7:37-39 says, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive.” In Luke 24:49 the economical Spirit is likened to clothing that we put on: “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Water is for life inwardly, and clothing is for work outwardly.

Let us use a policeman as an illustration of the difference between the essential Spirit for life inwardly and the economical Spirit for power outwardly. A policeman does not put on his uniform in order to quench his thirst. Thirst cannot be quenched by putting on a uniform. A policeman clothes himself with a uniform when he is about to go on duty, that is, when he is ready to work as a policeman. Suppose a policeman drank something to quench his thirst and then went to work without his uniform. If he did this, no one would pay attention to him as he tried to give orders on the street. No matter how much he may drink to quench his thirst, a policeman still must put on his uniform when he is about to work as a policeman. If he is clothed in his uniform, others will respect him. Through this illustration we can see the difference between drinking and being clothed. Drinking is inward, but being clothed is an outward matter.

This post has been edited by pehkay: May 9 2012, 05:29 PM

Great! Col 2:9 does show that He was the embodiment of the Triune God. All the fulness of Godhead dwells in Him bodily.

bro, must cut straight ... especially the person of Christ. Throughout history there are these erroneous teachings:

Docetists - Christ Having Only Divinity but Not Humanity
Ebionites - Christ Having Only Humanity but Not Divinity
Arians - Christ's Divinity Being Incomplete
Apollinarians- Christ's Humanity Being Incomplete
Nestorians - Christ's Divinity and Humanity Being Separated
Eutychians - Christ's Divinity and Humanity Being Merged into One

FYI ...

Sometimes, no strength lar ... you all ... worry over a matter such as using condom ._.

A nice testimony ...

How Bible Reading Can Change Your Life
by Tom Smith

Last year, my wife and I were hosting a dinner gathering in our home and one of our dinner guests was a young woman from China. She was attending a university in the US and was visiting with us while attending a Christian conference. During our dinner together, we asked her to share her testimony of how she became a Christian. Her story confirmed to me the awesome power of the Scriptures and how simply reading the Bible can change a person’s life.

Reading the Bible—The Best Diversion

She began by telling us her story about growing up in China where she and her family were all atheists. She knew nothing of God or His word. However, while attending a university in China she had the most amazing experience.

She would often go to the library each day to seek some diversion from her studies. Though she was a student of math and science, she felt she would like to read something different—possibly something on philosophy. But when she searched the shelves of the library she could find nothing suitable to read.

Turning across the aisle she noticed the religion section. At the bottom of one of the shelves she found a large, white-covered book, with the title “Holy Bible” on it. Having never read a Bible before, she began from the first page in Genesis. She repeated this practice for a number of days and then stopped. However, after a couple of weeks of not reading the Bible, she felt something was missing. She had this strong desire to continue her Bible reading.

The Awesome Power of the Scriptures

While she was reading she came to the Bible verse that says, “And the dove came to him toward evening time, and there in her beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had abated from the earth (Gen. 8:11).

When she came to this verse she was so deeply touched that she said, “I want to become a Christian.” No one told her that she needed to become a Christian, and the subject of this verse wasn’t even about becoming a Christian. Instead, the power of the Scriptures touched her related to the need of becoming a Christian, and this simple experience began her quest to find out how she in fact could become a Christian.

Although time does not permit me to tell the rest of her story, I cannot help but marvel at how a born atheist, without ever hearing the preaching of the gospel, could want to become a Christian just by reading the first eight chapters of the book of Genesis (which, by the way, does not even mention Christ’s name). All I can say is that the Spirit of God is ready to meet people on any page of the Bible.

How many lives could be changed if more people would pick up the simple practice of my Bible-reading friend. Many more of us could share how reading God’s word changed our lives.

I know my own experience confirms this. Though born in a Christian family, I can still testify that it was my own personal reading of the Scriptures that sent me on a quest to enter into the reality of what I read in God’s word.

....

Well ... can't seem to link my previous post to someone ... so cut and pastelar

Ya. The main point is God is triune for our enjoyment and experience of Him. If you forgot all things, don't forget this. The trinity is not for theological understanding. Try going through these verses ... sorry for sucky formatting biggrin.gif

I. God being only one.
“There is no God but one.”—1 Cor. 8:4b.
“Hear, O Israel, Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one.”—Deut. 6:4.
“I am Jehovah and there is no one else; Besides Me there is no God;”—Isa. 45:5a (cf. 45:6, 21, 22; 44:6, 9).

II. God having the aspect of three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit:

A. God speaking “I” and also “Us.”
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” —Isa.6:8.
“And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;” — Gen. 1:26a.

B. The matter of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
“Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” —Matt 28:19.

III. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexisting simultaneously from eternity to eternity:
A. The Father, the son, and the Spirit all being God:

1. The Father being God.
“Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”—1 Pet 1:2a.
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,”—Eph 1:17a.

2. The Son being God.
“But of the Son, “Your throne, O God, ….”—Heb 1:8.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”—John 1:1.
“Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”—Rom. 9:5b.
“Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,”—Titus 2:13b.
“The church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.”—Acts 20:28b.
“Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God!”—John 20:28.
“Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped,”—Phil. 2:6.

3. The Spirit being God.
“But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to deceive the Holy Spirit. … You have not lied to men but to God.”—Acts 5:3-4.

B. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all being eternal:
1. The Father being eternal.
“Eternal Father”—Isa. 9:6b.

2. The Son Being eternal.
“but You are the same, and Your years will not fail.” —Heb. 1:12, quoting Psa. 102:27.
“Being without father, without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but likened to the Son of God”—Heb. 7:3.

3. The Spirit being eternal.
“the eternal Spirit.” —Heb 9:14m.

C. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexisting simultaneously.
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, Even the Spirit of reality,” —John 14:16-17a.

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, Of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,” —Eph. 3:14-17.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” —2 Cor 13:14.

“Therefore, we do not believe that the Father ceased to exist and was replaced by the Son, then after another period of time the Son was replaced by the Spirit.


IV. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coinhering and being inseparable.

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from (Gk. para + genitive, ‘from / with’) God, He has seen the Father.” —John 6:46.

“I have come in the name of My Father,” —John 5:43a.

“Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The
words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.” —John 14:9-10.

“But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from (Gk. para + genitive, ‘from / with’) the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from (Gk. para + genitive, ‘from / with’) the Father,”—John 15:26a.

“But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,” —John 14:26a.

“And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone,”—John 8:29a.

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,” —Luke 4:1a.

“And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son,
the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.” —Matt 3:16.


V. The Three—the Father, the Son, the Spirit—being one:

A. The Son being the Father.

“For a child is born to us, / A son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.”—Isa 9:6.

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves.”—John 14:7-11.

“I and the Father are one.”—John 10:30.

B. The Son (the last Adam) becoming the life-giving Spirit.

“the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.”—1 Cor. 15:45b.

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”—John 14:16-20.

C. The Lord (the Son) being the Spirit.

“And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.”—2 Cor. 3:17-18.

This post has been edited by pehkay: May 11 2012, 02:47 PM

Oooo quiet ....

Oh, you were doubting my answer?

May it not be just a day but be our daily experience

What is the power that enables us as Christians to make the best choice—to choose the perfect will of God? That is, even if we know God’s will, we may lack the power to choose it.

The Lord is our pattern of His choosing, but the power that enabled Him to choose the perfect will of God.

The Pattern of the Lord’s Choosing

The man Jesus, as our pattern, continually made the best choice. He always chose the Father’s will, spoke the Father’s word, and sought the Father’s glory.

As a twelve year old boy in Jerusalem, He chose to be in the things of His Father. Yet, He also chose to return to Nazareth and to be subject to Joseph and Mary (Luke 2:41-51). What was the power for such choosing?

Before beginning His ministry, He also humbled Himself to be baptized by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:13-17). What was the power that enabled Him to humble Himself?

To prepare for His death, the Lord Jesus chose to go up to Jerusalem, to not exult in the glory of those who said “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” What enabled Him to refuse the glory of men and choose to be “a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die” (John 12:12-28)?

In the garden of Gethsemane the Lord made the ultimate choice. He chose the Father’s will, the cross of Calvary, in order that He might die for us (Matt. 26:36-46). What was it that empowered Him as a man to give up His soul unto death for us?

How could the Lord Jesus make such selfless choices? If we are to follow His pattern, we must also learn His secret, His power of choosing.

This is referenced in Isaiah 7:14-15. Most people know verse 14 which says,

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.”

Most of us would recognize that this verse refers to the birth of Jesus Christ, the son born to the virgin. But few of us have appreciated that verse 15 speaks of the Lord’s obedient human living by saying,

“He will eat curds [or butter] and honey until he knows how to refuse evil and choose good.”

Butter is the richest part of the milk and signifies God’s rich grace. Honey is the sweetest thing and refers to God’s sweet love. By continually contacting God to enjoy His rich grace and His sweet love, the Lord Jesus chose “the good”—the will of His Father.

Eating Heavenly Butter and Honey to Make the Best Choice

It can be the same with us today.

If we have the butter and honey, we would be willing to give up everything that is ours and everything that lies at our fingertips. There is only one kind of person in this world who will consecrate himself to God; it is the one who knows His love. There is only one kind of person in this world who is qualified to sacrifice his own joy; it is the one who knows God’s grace.

Brothers and sisters, obedience requires power! If God has not first satisfied your heart, you will never succeed no matter how hard you outwardly try. We have to learn to contact God daily and receive the heavenly butter and honey, so that we can choose the good and reject the evil on the earth.

Today, we can enjoy this heavenly butter and honey, the richest grace and sweetest love, by coming to Christ. John 1:16 says, “Of His fullness we have all received and grace upon grace.” His words are words of grace (Luke 4:22). Simply come to Christ in His word to enjoy the richest grace.

By praying to fellowship with Jesus we also touch His sweetest love. We should follow the lover in Song of Songs who said “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine” (S.S. 1:2).

We need not try harder to make the right choices, but simply come to the Lord Jesus each morning and invite Him to kiss us. By letting His love be to us better than wine and by receiving Him as grace through His word, (John 6:57, 63) we’re empowered to make the best choice—to choose the perfect will of God.

In the entire universe God has only one intention, that is, to work Christ into us. God had no intention in creating the universe other than for His purpose to work Christ into a group of human beings. God had no intention in creating the many human beings except to work Christ into them. Likewise, God had no intention in accomplishing redemption other than to work Christ into us. Similarly, He has no intention to give us teachings and doctrines outside of His purpose to work Christ into us

As believers in Christ, we have the life of God in us, and this life wants to be expressed through us and be lived out of us. Hallelujah, we have God’s life in us (Col. 3:4; Rom. 8:10)! We need God to open our eyes, though, to see that our natural man, our very person, is a hindrance to the life of God. It’s not something merely outward or an aspect of our being, but our very person is a hindrance!

We need to see that we have been crucified on the cross – and we must hate our self. Actually, the more we see God, know God, and love God, the more we abhor ourselves and the more we deny ourselves, thus allowing God’s life a free way to live and be expressed through us (see Col. 3:3; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Matt. 16:24).

Many times the Lord has mercy on us and He exposes us that our whole being – our whole person – which surrounds the life of God in our being, is a hindrance to the life of God – and the result is that we try to improve ourselves. We become behavior-improving Christians by taking the way of self-improvement, doing our best to change ourselves and the way we are.

This doesn’t work, and God doesn’t want us to do this – the living of a Christian is the living out of God, not man’s effort to please God and change himself to do what the Bible says. We need to allow the divine life in us to open up a way so that God can live out of us.

Our natural disposition and character are a hindrance to the life of God being lived out of us – whether we are a calm or an irritable person, whether we are a mild or a quick person, and whether we are a kind of a rough person, we ourselves are a problem to the life of God. Sooner or later the Lord will show us and we will see this.

We need to ask for His mercy that we would not take the way of improving ourselves but that we would rather turn to Him and allow His life to have a way to be expressed out of us. Yes, we do hate ourselves (as Job did in Job 42:5-6), but we turn to Him and enjoy Him, and our ugly self is crucified, put to death, so that God’s life may be lived out of us.

We may have a burden and a desire to serve the Lord, and the Lord may open a way to practically serve Him in the church life. But we need to realize that all our work should be an overflow of life – all our activity must come out of life. This may mean that when WE WANT to do something for God we first need to stop and spend more time with Him, until His life in us has a way to overflow.

Unless our work comes out of the divine life in us, our service to the Lord will not bear much weight. We need to be persons of life, filled with the divine life, those who do everything as an overflow of the divine life within them.

The results of our work also should be measured by life. Only what comes out of life and is done as an overflow of the life of God in us is recognized and approved by God. Some may do great things for the Lord, but He does not approve them if they don’t come out of His life in them (Matt. 7:22-23). Some may preach the gospel out of envy (Phil. 1:15) while others may do things out of their good heart for God.

We should have only one desire—to know and experience the life of the Lord more, and to be able to share with others what we have known and experienced so that they too may obtain something. When we work, we should not establish a work; neither should we set up an organization. Our work should just be the releasing of the life of the Lord, the imparting and supplying of the Lord’s life to others. May the Lord have mercy upon us and open our eyes to see that the central work of God in this age is that man may gain His life and grow and mature in His life. Only the work which comes out of His life can reach His eternal standard and be accepted by Him.

Er ... When did the Lord Jesus die for you? It was two thousand years ago, even though you had not yet been born. In the same way, 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that we all, the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, were already baptized in the Holy Spirit. We became fallen six thousand years ago. We were redeemed two thousand years ago. Then, shortly afterwards, we were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Before we were born, all this happened, and everything was accomplished. Now, we have been born into this blessing.

Speaking in tongues does not equal baptism in the HS

This post has been edited by pehkay: May 29 2012, 05:21 PM

Sure lar bro .... you can check yourself also lar 1 Cor 12:13. Know the words of the Bible yourself to be safe. Interpretation from someone is good but always cross-reference with the Bible.

Asking question like this .... you come from a Pentecostal/Charismatic background?

There is nothing wrong with speaking in tongues (actually, it is to miraculously speak another dialect/language that is understandable) but there is a misplaced emphasis interpretation that you need to speak to be saved. No such things ....

Like I mentioned before, the economical Spirit (baptism of the Spirit) can be experienced anytime for your work and ministry. It is because you are regenerated that you can claim it

This post has been edited by pehkay: May 30 2012, 09:09 AM

The deepest thought in the New Testament concerning the life of a Christian

In the universe, only the death of the Lord Jesus was an utmost obedience to God. By putting Himself aside, God’s life was manifested. The life that Paul lived on earth was such a life of being put to death. He did not choose a way that was comfortable, enjoyable, self-expressing or self-justifying. Rather, for the Lord’s sake he experienced much suffering, difficulty, ridicule, and persecution. He allowed the death of Jesus to do the killing work upon him so that the life of Jesus could be expressed through him. The Christian life revealed in the New Testament is such a life of death and resurrection. It is not a life of good and evil. The Christian life does not emphasize the removal of evil and the practice of good. Rather, it emphasizes us dying and God living. For a person to do good, he does not need to die; however, for a person to live out God, he must die (2 Cor. 4:10-11)

We who have received Christ should be delivered from all kinds of philosophical thoughts. We must be free from the concept of good and evil. Humanly and morally speaking, the concept of good and evil is wonderful. But as far as experiencing God’s salvation is concerned, it is a great hindrance. God has no intention for us to do evil, nor does He have the intention for us to do good by ourselves. We should know that both good and evil belong to the same tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They belong to the same source. Only the tree of life, that is, the Christ who is God’s embodiment, is what God wants. He has become the Spirit to dwell in us as our life. Now He wants to live out from within us. We only need to know the fact of our crucifixion with the Lord and believe and receive this fact. Through daily bearing the cross, we always put ourselves to death, like a grain that has fallen into the ground and died. In this way, the life of Christ will be lived out from us (John 12:24-26; Phil. 1:21)

death and resurrection: man dies and God lives

God does not want to obliterate and eliminate man – it’s not about that. There’s a natural part in man, the part that is without the element of God, which is our natural man, our self, and our flesh – the part in man which is mingled with Satan. This part needs to be put to death and to die, so that the divine life would live in us! If we do not die to ourselves, we will not live the divine life.

We are seeds of life (Matt. 13:38) and we need to voluntarily put our self to death so that the life of God would have an opportunity to live out from within us. All that the Lord is doing on us is to put to death our natural man so that we can live the life of Christ from within us! If we fall into the ground but do not die, we abide alone; but if we die as a seed of life, much life will flourish and blossom in resurrection!

When man dies, God can live. When our natural man is put to death, the divine life in us can live. This is the deepest thought in the New Testament concerning the life of a Christian. It’s not about refining our humanity or choosing to do good things; it is not doing “good works” through our own efforts and rejecting to do evil things. Rather, through death and resurection, our natural man and our self are being put to death and God lives in us.

What’s the first thing you think about when you consider grace? Getting a promotion at your job? Or is it perhaps the Lord’s unmerited favor to us in saving us for free and that we didn’t have to do anything? That’s true. Amazing isn’t it. We never deserved it. We never had to do anything besides believe; and yet He loved us and saved sinners like us.

But how about we look a little further in the bible where grace is mentioned in a deeper context. In the book of Galatians chapter 2 verses 20 it shows that Christ is living in us. Christ is actually living in us! But then in the very next verse (21) Paul says “I do not nullify the grace of God”. This grace that he’s talking about here is the Christ who is living in us in verse 20; this is because he’s contrasting grace and the law in verse 21 and how we don’t have righteousness through the law but through grace; who is Christ in us. How could grace possibly be Jesus Christ living in me? Well John 1:17 shows that the law was given to Moses (the law as a thing) but grace came through Jesus Christ (grace as a person). When He came, grace came. Grace is a person, it’s Jesus. For Him to live in us is Him being grace to us.

So at the end of the book of Galatians Paul says “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit”. To you as you read this I say, “grace be with you.”

Hmmm ... the motive of these arguments doesn't seem to be pure OO;; It is not a matter of dispensational change.

Our God is a rich God. He does not need our money. The cattle of a thousand hills and the goats of ten thousand mountains are His. All the gold and silver are His. Then why does He need our money? It is because where our treasure is, there will our heart be also (Matt. 6:21). In other words, where you put your money in, is where your real heart is ;P

Money is a material thing that belongs to the earth. Yet the Bible puts God and mammon together. This proves that man's heart is either touched by God or by money. God's test of a man's heart toward Him is in the way of man's giving.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Jun 7 2012, 11:35 AM

What's the occasion?

Unfortunately, that is a misunderstood concept to have. The Bible or Romans 5:19a says, "Through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners." As a result of Adam's disobedience, the many, including us, were not only made sinners but were constituted sinners. An element not created by God was injected into our being and constituted us sinners. We are sinners by constitution, not by accident, for sin has been wrought into us and constituted into our being. Therefore, sin is not merely an outward deed; sin is an inward, subjective element in our constitution.

But not only is there this sin within us that forces and compels us, there are also the individual sinful acts, the sins, which are committed outwardly. In the Bible sins are related to our conduct, while sin is related to our natural life. Sins are that which are committed by the hands, the feet, the heart, and even the whole body. Paul refers to this when he speaks of the practices of the body (Rom. 8:13). But what is sin? Sin is a law that controls our members (Rom. 7:23). There is something within us that compels us to sin, to commit evil, and this something is sin.

Sins have to do with our conduct. Hence, the Bible shows us that for our sins we need forgiveness (Matt. 26:28; Acts 2:38; 10:43). But sin is that which entices and compels us to commit sinful acts. Hence, the Bible shows us that we need to be freed from sin (Rom. 6:18, 22).

But to answer your previous question ...

Galatians 6:7 and 8 say, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For he who sows unto his own flesh will reap corruption of the flesh, but he who sows unto the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life." This also shows us God's principle in dealing with man. He who sows unto his own flesh will reap corruption of the flesh; but he who sows unto the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life. Committing sin not only causes man to have a sinful record before God but also brings suffering as a consequence. The record of sins can be remitted by God, but suffering its consequence cannot be avoided. For example, a child may disobey his mother and steal candy all the time. If he is willing to repent, the sin of stealing can be forgiven, but his teeth may be ruined. Many times, even though the sins of God's children are forgiven, the consequences of those sins still remain. We gain eternal forgiveness as soon as we believe; we gain forgiveness for the restoration of fellowship as soon as we repent. But the consequence of God's discipline may be very hard.

For example, Samson was a judge, but he later fell and was ill-treated by the Philistines. Even though he cried to Jehovah in the end, saying, "O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judg. 16:28), and even though he killed more at his death than when he was alive, his eyes were never restored. His hair grew back again, and the fellowship between him and God was restored, but his ministry as a judge was not recovered.

Worst ... He is in you ....