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 LYN Christian Fellowship V09 (Group)

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pehkay
post Mar 5 2015, 03:36 PM

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QUOTE(prophetjul @ Mar 5 2015, 12:37 PM)
Dont you think its the other way.

That The principle of the Law is maintained? But the ritual commandments are done away?

What of the 7th day sabbath then?  If commandment is maintained then we are to observe this?
But if the principle of rest is maintained, we can then say that its not necessary on the 7th day.
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Hey prophetjul, I will try to define some terms, which I have done before:

QUOTE
There are three aspects of the law: the principle of the law, the commandments of the law, and the rituals of the law. If you do not differentiate between these three things, we will never have a proper understanding of the law. As we have seen, the principle of the law is over (Gal 5:18; Rom. 10:4). Today, in the dispensation of grace, God does not deal with us according to the principle of the law; rather, He deals with us according to the principle of faith. Whether or not we shall be justified, saved, and accepted by God depends on the principle of faith, not the principle of the law. This is what it means for the principle of the law to be abolished in Christ under the dispensation of grace.

Although the principle of the law has been abolished, the commandments of the law have not been annulled. Instead, the standard of these commandments has been uplifted. Thus, the commandments, related to the moral standards, have not been abolished; they will remain for eternity. In His heavenly kingdom the King has uplifted the standard of the law in two ways: by complementing the lower laws and by changing the lower laws into higher laws. In this way the morality in the commandments of the law has been uplifted to a higher standard.

The kingly Savior Himself kept all the commandments of the law when He was on earth. Then He went to the cross to die for us. Through His substitutionary death, He fulfilled the law on the negative side. His intention in satisfying the law's demands was not to produce law-keepers but to acomplish redemption as the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29).

The third aspect of the law is the rituals of the law. For example, offering sacrifices and keeping the Sabbath are outward rituals of the law. These rituals were also terminated because they were part of the old dispensation of shadows, figures, and types, all of which have been fulfilled by Christ as the reality. We are no longer obligated to observe the rituals of the law. Therefore, the principle of the law and the rituals of the law have been terminated, but the commandments of the law, which require a high moral standard, have not been terminated. Rather, these commandments have been uplifted. By means of Christ as the resurrection life in our spirit, we can fulfill the standard of morality required by the higher law of the kingdom of the heavens.
As much this sounds like a "technical" term, yet we should not read the above with a view to answer questions like "do we observe this? maintain the principal? Etc...". Again, the law is a testimony of God and God's purpose is to gain a people to be His expression and His testimony.

Intrinsically, it is not a matter of the keeping a laws per se, but who God is. The moral commandments still exists because intrinsically it testified that God is righteous, holy, light, love etc. Who and what God is and His purpose never change regardless what age we are in. Also, God requires His people to MATCH HIM.

Although Paul uses his terms from his background that there is the LAW of the Spirit of life [There is this reality] and that we no longer walk according to an elevated ethical code. Paul is saying that it NOT faith in Christ, but Christ Himself, His wonderful person, who is the end of the law for believers. Note that it is for believers that He is the end of the law. This means that after we believe in Christ, to whom the law as a child-conductor has led us (Gal. 3:24), the law is superseded by the person of Christ.

So, the New Testament economy is much higher than simply empowering Christians with enhanced vigor to keep the law. Romans 8:4 assures us that we will spontaneously fulfill the righteous requirement of the law when we walk according to the spirit. This same chapter consummates with the highest goal----being conformed to the image of His Son as the full reproduction of God’s firstborn Son (vv. 29-30).

God's intention for His children is not simply to supply them for a virtuous living, a behavior according to an elevated ethical code. Rather, God intends to give us Christ Himself. Thus, the highest ethic is actually Christ expressed within our human virtues. When Christ is lived out through His many brothers, divinity is expressed through humanity, and all the requirements revealed in God’s law are more than adequately fulfilled in us. We certainly should not make the mistake of deliberately shunning ethics. However, the Bible reveals that genuine ethics are found in the living out of Christ through the members of His Body. These ethics are the expression of God’s divine life in man. The expression of Christ as the image of God through the believer is the excelling human virtue and ethic. All virtues, ethics, human conduct, and law-keeping, when devoid of Christ, cannot compare to what is manifested in a Christian who is living out Christ. When Christ is lived out through His believers, He is reproduced and enlarged in His expression;

Indirectly, the moral commandments are fulfilled spontaneously. BUT THIS IS NEVER the POINT in the New Testament, it is Christ as the reality lived out.

The First Three Commandments Requiring Man to Have Only God and Not Have Any Idols aside from God.

If we only have Christ as our center and everything, these commandments are fulfilled already. Many people shed tears today for various reasons, but we have rarely seen some brothers or sisters shed tears for the Lord. Perhaps we have never shed tears for the Lord. biggrin.gif

The Fourth Commandment Requiring Man to Take Only God and All That God Has Accomplished for Man as Man’s Satisfaction and Rest

The keeping of the Sabbath means that you can take only God and all that He has done for you as your satisfaction, enjoyment, and rest. Keeping the Sabbath indicates that you have nothing on earth other than God; you take only God Himself and all that He has accomplished for you as your enjoyment, satisfaction, and rest. Your God is your everything, and He has accomplished everything for you. All you need to do is enjoy Him and take Him as your satisfaction and rest.

I realize that this is the way God deals with us. He is doing things for us, but if we try to help Him, the more we help, the more work He has to do. He does not want our help. Rather, He wants to do everything for us. Today everything is ready, and all we need to do is to come to the feast and enjoy Him. What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? To keep the Sabbath is to take God and everything that He has done for us as our satisfaction, enjoyment, and rest. Otherwise, we violate the Sabbath. When the Lord Jesus came, the Sabbath was simply the Lord, for the Lord is the real Sabbath. Therefore, there is no longer the need for us to keep the Sabbath as a ritual.

The Fifth Commandment Requiring Man to Honor His Parents and Trace Back to His Source, His Origin—the God Who Created Man

The fifth commandment requires us to honor our parents and thus trace back to our source, our origin—the God who created us (Exo. 20:12). To honor our parents is to remember our source. We came from our parents; without our parents, how could we have existence? But where did our parents come from? When we trace back to our source, our origin, we trace back to God. I believe that everyone who honors his parents venerates God. Hence, although it seems that the fifth commandment is concerned with parents and is therefore related to man, it is listed in the first group of five items, which belongs to the first tablet of stone, and is related to God.

The Sixth through the Tenth Commandments Requiring Man to Live Out the Virtues That Express God according to God's Attributes

So, when you have Christ as your centre and everything and lived according to this wonderful Person in the Spirit, expressed Him out. You have "indirectly" fulfilled 10 commandments [but that is not the point!]

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 5 2015, 03:37 PM
pehkay
post Mar 6 2015, 08:17 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 5 2015, 11:30 PM)
Yeah, that part I get it.

I'm just saying why did God create the laws when we can't even follow it?
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The short version:

The function of the law is to expose men in their sinful nature and evil deeds (Rom. 3:20b; 4:15b; 5:20b; 7:7b). In this sense, the law works as a mirror. If we do not look in a mirror, we cannot see how dirty our face is. But when we look at the mirror, the dirty condition of our face is exposed. The law works like a mirror to expose our sinful nature and evil deeds.

Why:

After the creation of man, however, something happened. Satan came in, sin followed Satan, and man became fallen. Thus, man became a fallen man constituted with sin to be a sinner. God created man in His own image and after His own likeness (Gen. 1:26) with the intention that man could take in God, live God, and express God. The main line of God's economy began with man and was on the way when something happened. A "car accident" occurred. Therefore, the law needed to come in alongside the main line of God's economy. This should help us to understand Paul's word in Romans 5:20a.

Now God had to fix the situation. Would God keep man out of His plan, forgetting about man? Of course, God would never do that because He is the Alpha and also the Omega (Rev. 22:13). He cannot start anything without completing it.

In order to continue His purpose with man after man's fall, God added something to the main line of His economy. The Chinese version of the Bible says in Romans 5:20 that the law was added. It was something in addition to grace. The law was in addition to the orthodox line of grace in God's economy.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 6 2015, 08:22 AM
pehkay
post Mar 7 2015, 07:42 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 7 2015, 12:20 AM)
So if I find certain chapters in the Bible confusing, can I skip that part?

I would just read the commentary if its too difficult to understand or read the German version. hehehe...
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Just read it. It is like food. You don't have to understand it. You just eat it and enjoy it. wink.gif

Eat His Word. Reading the word is like a spiritual washing. You feel refreshed and watered.
pehkay
post Mar 8 2015, 10:24 AM

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Praise the Lord! We are covering Exodus from this week onwards. Enjoying this:

The book of Exodus reveals God in various aspects:
1. God is the self-existing and ever-existing God (3:14).

2. God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob (vv. 6, 15-16; 4:5; Matt. 22:31-32).

3. God is the God of the Hebrews (Exo. 3:18; 5:3; 7:16; 9:1, 13; 10:3).

4. God is the God of Israel (5:1; 24:10; 32:27; 34:23).

5. God is the speaking God (4:10, 30; 9:35; 20:1).

6. God is the God of the covenant (2:24; 6:4-5; 24:8; 13:5).

7. God is the sovereign God (3:20-21; 4:21; 7:3-5; 8:10; 9:16; Rom. 9:15-23).

8. God is the redeeming and saving God (Exo. 6:6; 15:13; 14:30, 13; 15:2).

9. God is the blessing God (23:25; 32:29).

10. God is the healing God (15:26).

11. God is the infusing God (34:29-35).

12. God is the courting God (19:4-6; Jer. 2:2; 31:32).

13. God is the processed and consummated God (Exo. 17:6; John 19:34; 7:37-39).

14. God is the God who dwells in the tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; 29:46; 40:1-2, 34-3
pehkay
post Mar 9 2015, 09:17 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 8 2015, 06:07 PM)
Sure.

How come Catholic got 7 extra books? Eastern Orthodox got 12 extra books?  hmm.gif
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This is quite debatable. IMO, [I could be flamed biggrin.gif]

There were fourteen books of the Apocrypha which were not included in the Bible. Some have thought that these fourteen books were included in the Old Testament before the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek in 277 B.C. But we can find out from verified historical information that such a postulate is wrong.

1. The Proof of Josephus

The authoritative Jewish historian Josephus (born in A.D. 37) said: “We [the Jews] are not like the Greeks, having a lot of books that do not agree and are contradicting. We have only twenty-two books, including all the past writings, as recognized correctly to be divine. After such a long time, no one has ever dared to add to, delete from, or alter them.” This proves that even at the time of Josephus (first century A.D.), the Old Testament had only the original twenty-two books without the additional fourteen books from the Apocrypha. Therefore, to assume that the Old Testament contained the Apocrypha before 277 B.C. is not correct.]

The Old Testament today has thirty-nine books. Originally, there were only twenty-two. Judges and Ruth were one book. Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles did not have first and second books. Ezra and Nehemiah were one book. Jeremiah and Lamentations were one book. Hosea to Malachi, twelve books in all, were one book. These twenty-two books were divided into the present thirty-nine when the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into the Greek Septuagint Version.

2. The Proof of Cyril

There was a scholar in Jerusalem called Cyril, born in A.D. 315, who said, “Please read the Holy Scripture, the twenty-two books of the Old Testament, which were translated by the Seventy-Two.” This shows that even as late as A.D. 315, the authoritative Jewish scholars still recognized their Old Testament to have only twenty-two books. His words also clearly prove that in the translation of the Septuagint (Cyril referred to the Seventy-Two, the number of scholars who translated the Septuagint. The historians are unclear whether it was seventy or seventy-two people there.), there were no fourteen apocryphal books in the Old Testament.

3. The Proof of the Lord Jesus and the Apostles

The Lord Jesus and the apostles quoted the Old Testament frequently. If the fourteen books of the Apocrypha were already among the Old Testament books, the Lord and the apostles should have quoted them. However, we cannot find them quoting from the Apocrypha once. This proves that at the time of the Lord Jesus and the apostles, these books of the Apocrypha were not there in the Old Testament.

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Among three manuscripts of the Bible which are considered some of the oldest in the world, one is kept in the Vatican, the place where the Roman Catholic Pope resides. It is called the Codex Vaticanus, or the Vatican Manuscript. According to the historians, this manuscript was finished in the fourth century A.D., and in the Old Testament part, which was a Septuagint translation, it included the fourteen books of the Apocrypha. This must have been added after A.D. 315. It might have been the objection to this move that caused the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church to call a council at Laodicea in A.D. 361 to officially denounce these fourteen books of the Apocrypha. They also forbade the use of these apocryphal books in the church. This proves that up until A.D. 361 there was a big question whether or not these apocryphal books should be included in the canon of Scripture.

The Recognition by the Roman Catholic Church

It was not until April 8, 1546 that the Roman Catholic Church called a council in Trent directly under the Pope to affirm the authority of these fourteen books of the Apocrypha. From that time on, these apocryphal books remained in the Roman Catholic Bible. This proves that until the sixteenth century A.D., even the Roman Catholic Church did not officially acknowledge these apocryphal books as canonical. Although this matter was affirmed at the Council of Trent by the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutherans solemnly denounced that these apocryphal books were divinely inspired. In 1646 more than one hundred fifty Protestant Bible scholars put together the “Westminster Confession,” which also declared that the Apocrypha has no divine authority and is the same as any other human composition.

pehkay
post Mar 11 2015, 09:15 AM

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QUOTE(unknown warrior @ Mar 11 2015, 09:04 AM)
When you mention coexist............., okay I don't understand what you mean by that.  tongue.gif
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He is correcting his previous statement that both coexist tongue.gif
pehkay
post Mar 11 2015, 10:42 AM

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QUOTE(De_Luffy @ Mar 11 2015, 10:08 AM)
Please forgive me if I offended you in my writing here, when I said OT is way for the Jews to be saved, I meant it. However Jesus did also said I did not come to abolish the laws(OT)  but to renew it. (NT)

OT coexist with new testament because they complete each other as new testament is the fulfilment of the old testament,

Old testament help us to understand The Lord and what He wanted us to follow and obey which was eventually in the new testament Jesus come to earth as a mortal to spread God love to the Jews and gentiles but however the Jews rejected Jesus
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Hmmm .... if you are open to see a little more details to OT, that there is the covenant of promise before the covenant of the law. Now I know that old covenant we often speak of denotes not only the old covenant under the law; sometimes it also denotes the entire age of the Old Testament.

But according to the old covenant of the law, there were certainly no saved ones, but according to the entire age of the Old Testament, there were still many saved ones. For example, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all people in the age of the Old Testament, but they were all saved. However, they were not saved under the old covenant of the law. They did not belong to the old covenant of the law but to the eternal covenant God made with Abraham.

The new covenant is the continuation of the covenant God made with Abraham. This matter is clearly explained in Galatians 3 and 4. Originally, there was the covenant of Abraham. Then the covenant of law was added, and following this, the new covenant. The covenant of law inserted in between was temporary.

In time God recovered the covenant of Abraham, which became the new covenant. Therefore, there are saved ones only under the covenant of Abraham and the new covenant; there are no saved ones under the covenant of law. Under the covenant of law, what men saw was Mount Sinai. This mountain had fire, darkness, gloom, a whirlwind, the sound of a trumpet, and a terrible voice. Yet in the covenant of grace, including the covenant of Abraham and the new covenant, there are Mount Zion in the heavens, the city of the living God, the angels, the church, the God who judges all, the spirits of those who were saved under the covenant of Abraham in the Old Testament age, Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and His sprinkled blood. These are all matters of the new covenant.
pehkay
post Mar 11 2015, 12:46 PM

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QUOTE(kron_ka @ Mar 11 2015, 12:40 PM)
Wow why is it that when one respectable brother brings out some issue, he gets the undue respect of forgiveness from another?

Whereas I get labelled as the guy with BGR problem?
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You need forgiveness from us? biggrin.gif

What is BGR?
pehkay
post Mar 11 2015, 02:11 PM

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QUOTE(de1929 @ Mar 11 2015, 01:21 PM)
bro, when ppl asking protestant church, imho it refers to traditional church protestant but not roman catholic
put it bluntly, the church that does not speak tongue in public or like prophetjul say: no babbling please in public

i don't think there is traditional charismatic nor traditional pentecostal.

I stand to be corrected.
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It will be lovely to check your facts first lor biggrin.gif

"Speaking in tongues is not universal among Pentecostal Christians. In 2006, a 10-country survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 49 percent of Pentecostals in the United States, 50 percent in Brazil, 41 percent in South Africa, and 54 percent in India said they "never" speak or pray in tongues"
pehkay
post Mar 11 2015, 08:03 PM

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happy.gif
pehkay
post Mar 15 2015, 04:29 PM

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THE WATERS OF MARAH

After crossing the Red Sea, the children of Israel traveled for three days through the wilderness and found no water; then, they got to Marah, but the waters there were bitter, and they murmured against Moses, and Moses cried out to God. God showed Moses a tree (typifying the healing cross of Christ—1 Pet. 2:24), which he cast into the waters and they became sweet. It was there that Jehovah made a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them.

In our Christian life we encounter many situations and environments that are bitter, and even in our being there’s nothing but bitterness; we are thirsty for water, but what we are given to drink is something bitter.

Bitterness results from an expressive or severe grief and disappointment. Sometimes we come to situations of severe grief, anguish, and disappointment; in such situations we need to cry out to Jehovah, and cast the crucified and resurrected Christ into our situation!

To be bitter is to be marked by resentment or cynicism; when someone is bitter, he is resentful and scornful of the motives and integrity of others. What should we do when we encounter bitterness in our situation or even in our being?

We should turn our bitterness into prayer: whenever we come to bitter circumstances or when there’s bitterness in our being, we need to pray and apply Christ as the crucified and resurrected One to our situation and to our being, and the bitter waters will turn to sweet.

We may be on the verge of becoming bitter toward God because of sufferings and bitter circumstances which we don’t understand and we can’t accept, but we need to turn our bitterness into prayer, cry out to the Lord, talk to Him, and have honest crying out talks to Him, then cast Him as the crucified and resurrected One into our bitter circumstances and being!

This picture corresponds to our spiritual experience. After we are baptized and begin to walk in newness of life, we are troubled because we have no natural water. On the one hand, we are like the people who complained and murmured. On the other hand, we are like Moses who cried to the Lord. When we cry out to the Lord in prayer, He shows us the vision of the crucified Christ. We need to see a vision of the cross. Seeing this vision, we apply the cross of Christ to our situation, and immediately the bitter waters become sweet. I have the full assurance that everyone who has truly been baptized into Christ has had this kind of experience. Our experiences may differ in degree, but in principle and in nature they are the same.
pehkay
post Mar 18 2015, 05:53 PM

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QUOTE(Sophiera @ Mar 18 2015, 05:28 PM)
Okay I've been brewing for a long time now I guess it's time to admit it.

I kept thinking that if I don't love God 'enough', I would be rejected in the end days.
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Well, here is a passage from Watchman Nee, that might help you:
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Do not think that we can love the Lord by our self. The Lord rejects all that comes out of our self. Even our love for Him is useless. On the one hand, if a believer does not have a deep love for the Lord, He is grieved; on the other hand, even those who love the Lord can grieve Him because they love Him in their souls. If a believer exercises his soulish power to love the Lord, this love is not pleasing to the Lord. The believer's love, even for the purpose of loving the Lord, should be completely under the control of the spirit. Today there are too many who love the Lord with a worldly love; it is rare to see a love that is of God. What does this actually mean?

Believers primarily receive the things of God with their human hearts. They speak about their Father God; they call the Lord their "dear Lord"; and they remember the sufferings of the Lord. When they do this, their hearts are filled with joy and the sensation of love for the Lord. They think that this feeling is from God. Perhaps when they think of the cross of the Lord, they cannot help but shed some tears, as if they have an unspeakable, burning love toward the Lord Jesus. But these things pass through their life like a ship that sails through the sea without leaving any trace. Such is the love of many believers. But what kind of love is this? This is the kind of love which only causes one's self to feel happy. This is not loving God but loving the feeling of happiness. The outward appearance of the Lord's sufferings moves their heart, but the truth contained therein does not influence their lives.

How powerless have the sufferings of the Lord Jesus become in the hearts of today's believers! When they think about these things, they become proud of how they love the Lord and of how others cannot compare with them! When they talk about these things, they are like heavenly people. But, actually, they have not yet left their pitiful self one bit. When you listen to their talk, you think that they love the Lord very much. You praise and admire them. But actually they love themselves completely. The reason they remember the Lord, talk about the Lord, and long for the Lord is just because this makes them feel happy. When they do this, they feel happy. They do these things because their goal is to obtain happiness. It is not for the Lord. Such remembrance causes their "spirituality" to feel comfortable. Therefore, they continue to remember the Lord in this way. This is soulish and earthly. It is not from God. Therefore, it is not spiritual.

What is the difference between spiritual love and soulish love? It is very difficult to tell the difference outwardly. However, every believer can distinguish the source of his own love. The soul is our self. Therefore, all that is soulish cannot be separated from the self. A soulish love towards the Lord is one that is from the self. Loving God for the sake of obtaining a happy feeling for the self is loving God soulishly. If the love for God is spiritual, then there is nothing for the self mixed in with it. This is loving God for His sake, for the sake of loving Him. Any love for God that is for self-happiness or any other reason, totally or partially, is from the soul. Moreover, if we look at the fruit of this love, we can also tell its source. If it is soulish, this kind of love does not have the power to help a believer to be permanently delivered from the world. He has to labor and struggle to stay away from the attractiveness of the world. However, if the love is spiritual, worldly things and matters are naturally abandoned because of this love. The believer looks down upon them and reckons them as something to be hated. He no longer has his eyes on the world because the glorious light of God has blinded his fleshly eyes. After having this experience of loving God, he does not esteem himself highly because of it; rather, he humbles himself, as if he has diminished before men.

The nature of God's love is forever changeless. Our love is very changeable. If we love God with our own love, our love toward God grows cold when we feel unhappy. After a long period of trial, it surely fails because the believer loves God with his own love; he loves God for his own sake, for his own happiness, etc. Therefore, when he cannot obtain the expected happiness, he shrinks back. If it is the love of God, no matter what situation or position he is in, he still loves God without any change. "Love is strong as death;/jealousy is cruel as the grave/...Many waters cannot quench love,/neither can the floods drown it" (S.S. 8:6-7). If a believer truly loves God, regardless of his circumstances and feelings, he still loves God. Soulish love ceases when the effect of the emotion ceases; spiritual love is strong, cruel, and does not let go.

The Lord often causes a believer to experience what he considers to be painful in order that the believer would not love God for himself. When the believer loves the Lord with his own love for himself, he has to sense the Lord's love in order to love Him. But when the believer loves God with God's love and for God, God does not let him sense His love. Instead, God wants the believer to believe in His love. In the beginning of one's Christian life, the Lord always attracts the believer to feel His love in many ways. After the believer experiences this, He leads him to take a much deeper journey. God does not let him feel His love, but He causes him to believe in His love. We should pay attention to the fact that deeply tasting the Lord's love is a step which must be experienced by every believer who desires to go on in a deeper way. Only by the attraction of the Lord's love can the believer leave all for the Lord and come forward to the Lord. In the initial stage of the believer's spiritual life, it is necessary and helpful to have the sense of the Lord's love. This is something the believer should pursue. After the experience of feeling the Lord's love and after a suitable period of time, the believer should not "hold on" to this kind of feeling. Otherwise, his spiritual life will suffer damage. There are different kinds of experiences for different stations on the journey of the spiritual life. It is appropriate and profitable to have a certain kind of experience at a certain station. But if a believer desires to maintain the experiences of the previous stations up to the last station, he would have to go backwards or remain at a certain place. After the believer feels the Lord's love, the Lord wants him to believe in His love; therefore, shortly, but not immediately, after he experiences the feeling of His love, God no longer causes him to sense His love. Then He wants him to believe that His love is still unchanging. If, after an experience of feeling the Lord's love, a believer suddenly does not have the same feeling, he should realize that this is the time for him to believe. He should not be alarmed.
pehkay
post Mar 19 2015, 07:28 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 18 2015, 10:54 PM)
Thank you for all your caring concern. I just want to be alone and concentrate on my work this month.
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My condolences to you and your family. May the Lord graced and comfort you abundantly.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 19 2015, 07:30 AM
pehkay
post Mar 19 2015, 12:48 PM

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QUOTE(MassimoTuna @ Mar 18 2015, 07:52 PM)

Wow, that was deep. I guess what you were saying is that a lot of believers today who claimed to love God is when they are in worldly peace. When a true trial strikes them, their love towards God can be easily shaken and thus, lose faith in Him.

I do agree in this matter. All those so-called "loving" and "touching" feelings won't hold us forever. Such emotional-dependent believer, one trial or the feeling that God is not there will cause him/her to lose faith. How do we combat this then?

1) We must learn and train to defend our faith. That art of defense is called Apologetics. (read Mere Christianity by CS Lewis // On Guard by William Craig)

2) After item (1) is accomplished, you will learn that the God truly exists and in no way you can deny His existence. Then, read this out aloud and remember it with your heart (Deuteronomy 6:5 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.)
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «


All that being said, I admit I have my own struggle as well. As a single with strong sexual drive, I struggled with masturbation (pray for me  icon_question.gif ). As a guy who is surrounded by non-Christian friends, I tend to be swear a lot (thanks to God's strength all these years, I have greater self control now). Well, human is not perfect and we, Christians certainly are not. We struggle everyday but also grow everyday. Ask God for forgiveness whenever you sin and don't be arrogant to think that God will not forgive you. There is nothing that God cannot forgive. Jesus paid a huge price for that by dying on the cross. Lastly, don't take God's forgiveness and mercy for granted (see Romans 6).
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IMO, there is a need for in these days, to have warm, intimate, close affection between you and God. The seeker in Song of Songs 1:4 said, "Draw me." She did not say, "Draw us." Draw me is personal. We want a drawing from the Lord that is His personal and affectionate doing. We want Him to be with us in a personal and affectionate way.

Just to say "Lord, I love you" moment by moment daily do make a difference. A simple, "Lord Jesus, You are altogether lovely! O Lord Jesus, You are altogether lovely!" biggrin.gif

Apologetics do have their use but tend to be a lot in the mind. It is like vaccination or inoculation ... it is best given or very effective to healthy individuals, i.e. backsliding Christian tend to be less effective. sweat.gif But to generalise this will be too much.

To know the kalam cosmological argument or ontological necessity of God's existence can be helpful ... but nothing more helpful than loving and enjoying Christ biggrin.gif

pehkay
post Mar 24 2015, 07:16 PM

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Wah... Take it easy.

"Finally my brothers, rejoice in The Lord ...." (Phil 3:1a) wink.gif

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 24 2015, 07:18 PM
pehkay
post Mar 25 2015, 07:18 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 24 2015, 10:11 PM)
I want to ask, who is Son of Perdition? Is it The Antichrist?
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Eh? No one answers?

Pretty much most, if not all, interpretations tells us that Antichrist is the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

But in John 17:12 the Lord Jesus also said that Judas is the son of perdition. XD

This is a minor thing ... but the identity of the false prophet kinda varies. IMO, based the verses put together, the one most qualified to be it must be Judas.

Both the Antichrist and the false prophet will be persons returned from the dead. The first beast, Antichrist, comes out of the abyss (9:11; 11:7; 17:8), and the second beast, the false prophet, comes out of the earth. This false prophet may be Judas Iscariot. In Acts 1:20, Peter refers to Judas by quoting Psalm 109:8, which says, "May his days be few; / May another take his office." Verse 6 of this Psalm says, "Appoint a wicked man over him, / And let an adversary stand at his right hand." This indicates that Satan stood with Judas, the one who betrayed the Lord Jesus. In addition, Acts 1:25 says that after Judas died, he went “to his own place,” not to his people as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did (Gen. 25:8; 35:29; 49:33). Only these two persons are called the sons of perdition. Lastly, in John 6:70-71 the Lord Jesus called Judas a devil.
pehkay
post Mar 26 2015, 07:40 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 25 2015, 09:09 PM)
Should we be worried about it? Yes, no?
Errrrrrr .... hmmmm ...... ahhhhhh ..... no (directly) and yes (indirectly). biggrin.gif

No as it doesn't really affect your relationship with the Lord. Don't be a prophecy chasing "freak" tongue.gif This doesn't mean we don't read the news and be aware of what's going on.

Yes as in ... well ... the end is nigh. Just grow to be the overcomer that the Lord wants.


pehkay
post Mar 27 2015, 08:19 AM

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QUOTE(tinarhian @ Mar 26 2015, 10:50 PM)
tongue.gif
How about de1929? Is he a "prophecy freak?"  hmm.gif
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No biggrin.gif.

A prophecy "freak" IMO is one who chase prophecies like it is a MAJOR truth or thingy in the Bible. For example, I have seen one person who has already target someone prominent in Europe, who he thinks is Antichrist. He will like "bend" all news about this person, to be signs that he is the one. You get what I mean. This year's blood moon tetrad will be interesting tongue.gif

In principle, the central thought of prophecy is not the events mentioned in the prophecies; rather, it is Christ and the church. We tend to lose ourselves in interpretation of prophecy on what will happen to the nation of Israel, to the church, and to the Gentile world. But never see that the two central matters of the prophecies of the Old Testament or the New, are Christ and the church.

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How about our dear de1929? biggrin.gif He is your archetype of someone who is on the other end of the Spirit-Word spectrum [in simple terms].

In our Christian experience, the Word and the Spirit must always be one. It is an utter falsehood to say that we take the Spirit without taking the Word. Without taking the Word, we cannot have the Spirit. In my experience, I receive the Spirit mostly through the Word. As I contact the Word in a living way, it becomes the Spirit to me. However, some take the Bible without the Spirit. This also is wrong. Those who wish to grow flowers need both the seeds and the life contained in the seeds. It is impossible to separate the life within the seeds from the seeds themselves. In order to have the life, we must take the seeds. The relationship between the Word and the Spirit is like that between the seeds and the life. We must have both. The Lord Jesus is both the Spirit and the Word. He is not the Spirit without being the Word, nor the Word without being the Spirit.

IMO, I think he is on "Word -----------------------------------X Spirit". While he thinks we all are in "Word X---------------------------- Spirit". Basically, we are fundamentalists to him.

BUT, please don't misunderstood me. I do not say that Pentecostalists are wrong. No. Rather, probably I am the only one in this thread [could be wrong] who is "not charismatic" says that Pentecostal was raised up by the Lord in response to dead situation or dead works in Protestant Christianity today. Christianity today is full of works but dead [kron was ranting these few days tongue.gif]. A lot of works done independent of the Spirit.

To be fair, overemphasising on other extreme is not healthy either. Many Pentecostal Christians are too Pentecostal in shouting, in speaking in tongues, in prophesying, and in healing .... till it became forced, manufacturing or worst, fake.

In the early 19-20th century, three things: inner life, pentecostalism and evangelism were the Lord’s reactions to the dead rituals and dead doctrines. But very few people pay attention especially to inner life of knowing the indwelling Spirit. Consequently, this frustrate today's evangelism today. Once we lost the Spirit, believers will tend to "burnt out" and become judgemental because within they have no supply of the Spirit. Without the spirit, there is no transformation in their life, so there is no testimony of Jesus.

There are many things that we can talk about .... but this is enough lar.
biggrin.gif

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 27 2015, 08:36 AM
pehkay
post Mar 27 2015, 08:20 AM

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QUOTE(De_Luffy @ Mar 27 2015, 08:12 AM)
is he replying to you in the first place? i doubt so, pehkay is replying to tina not you why so angry?
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HAHA ... at first the emoticons were deceiving till I saw the pictures
pehkay
post Mar 27 2015, 02:28 PM

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QUOTE(de1929 @ Mar 27 2015, 11:44 AM)
Hmm... Thanks for the analysis. Allow me to add:
Spirit VS Word are 2 things (2 dimension). You should bring the third things (I called it A, the third dimension) to educate our brothers there.

There are spirit things that does not bring A
There are spirit things that bring A
There are WORD things that does not bring A
There are WORD things that bring A

What is A ? A is relationship with JESUS. Then JESUS will decide which spirit things is correct for you, and which WORD things that is correct for you.

you are right... don't overemphasise... but emphasize what JESUS told you to emphasize... cuz you and me has different life, therefore different things to emphasize...

Proverbs 3:5-6 (AMP)

5 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
6 In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
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Lol, that is if you separate Christ from the Word and the Spirit .... which is quite heretical bro .... XD

Now if you think Christ is the Spirit and the Word, then you have the best from both world icon_rolleyes.gif

The only 3rd dimension is depth biggrin.gif .... how deep are you in both the Christ as the Word and the Spirit.



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