UNDERSTANDING GOD
(HOW CAN I BETTER
UNDERSTAND GOD IN MY LIFE)
Sometimes I have to mentally live on Mars to fully appreciate life
on earth. In other words, I have to visit my grave site to fully appreciate
living today. I realize that I will NOT be remembered (after death) for any
status or wealth or any of the material things I do or achieve. I will be
remembered for my loving relationships with God and others. At my grave site I
do my best thinking and small problems all of a sudden don’t seem to be
problems at all. I can think clearer because all my life is laid out before me.
Many times during my life I have experienced small deaths and resurrections. As
a matter of fact I experience my life through faith cycles (that are small
deaths & resurrections) all the time.
For example, if Mary is to represent the Church (for traditional
Christians); then each Advent Season I empty myself of any complications in
life (to lessen my selfish or egotistical heart). I have to make room for the
birth from within me. Each Christmas day I give birth to a baby Christ Spirit
(to start new by me nourishing it with forgiveness, love and humble generosity
towards all). D. Crone
(THE GREAT PARADE OF LIFE)
Suppose life was a gigantic parade. You would be in the middle
with your love for life. Your parents and grandparents would be ahead of you;
beside you would be any siblings or friends; behind you would be any extended
family children or grandchildren. There also would be distant relationships
with people that are out of your view (ahead and behind you).
If a bystander was standing on a street corner, they would be
experiencing the parade through time (with those who have passed them and those
who will be passing in time).
God is like in a helicopter seeing the whole parade of life at
once. There is no past; there is no future … only the present. For God is not a
God of the past or will be a God in the future … God always is “I AM”. What I
am talking about is God’s time is ever lasting in the present moment. When I
have problems I place myself in God’s time. God will do for me what he is doing
for all those people around me (ahead and behind me). He is always present to
encourage me to find solutions to my problems by loving more, giving more,
sharing more and doing more. That is how he builds up my soul – through
relationship building.
D. Crone
QUESTIONS
1 Do you need God or does God need you or is it both?
2 How can you find more meaning in life through God?
3 How can you experience the endless (ever present) time of God in
your relationship with him?
4 Can you ask God to heal events of your past (if it is in the
present to Him)? Can you ask God to help in your future (if is in the present
to Him)? Am I wrong about this in your opinion?
5 Can God be a filter through which you filter all your life,
words, thoughts and actions?
IS THE GOSPEL DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND? BY STEVE FINNELL
ReplyDeleteThe gospel plan salvation is not difficult to understand if you simply read it as God inspired it. Just read the Bible and believe it.
The Scriptures only get hard to comprehend when men distort, pervert, and misrepresent the clear teachings of the Bible. Man's opinion can and does make if difficult for many to understand God's plan of salvation.
IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT!
Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
1. Who believes will be saved.
2. Who is baptized will be saved.
3. Who does not believe will be condemned.
It is not difficult to understand.
John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
1. If you do not believe Jesus is the Son of God you will die in your sins.
There is nothing complicated about that statement.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
1. Repent in order to have your sins forgiven.
2. Be baptized in order to have your sins forgiven.
3. After repentance and baptism you will receive the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit Himself.
There is nothing unfathomable presented here.
Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1. You must acknowledge Jesus as Lord to be saved.
2. You must believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to be saved.
Nothing mysterious about that.
Galatians 3:26 You are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
1. Through faith in Christ Jesus you can become a son of God.
Nothing troublesome in that statement.
Galatians 3:27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
1. Men become clothed with Christ by being baptized into Him.
There is nothing confusing about that.
Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith---and this not from from yourselves, it is a gift of God.
1. We are saved because of God's grace. No man earns his salvation.
2. We are saved through faith.
3. The gift that God gives is salvation.
There is nothing enigmatic found here.
Acts 2:47 .....And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
1. The Lord and only the Lord adds to His church.
Nothing inexplicable in that.
Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'
1. Saul was still in his sins until he was baptized in water.
You do not need a degree in theology to understand that.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
1. Whoever believes in Jesus can have eternal life. Salvation is available to all who hear the gospel.
There is nothing difficult about that.
1 Peter 3:20-21...were saved through water. 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also---not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
1. Water baptism is essential to salvation.
2. Water baptism saves you if you have good conscience toward God.
3. Without the resurrection of Jesus no one could be saved.
You do not need a masters in education to understand that verse of Scripture.
Is the gospel difficult to understand? No it is not. The gospel plan of salvation is only made complicated when presented using man-made traditions.
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
1. FAITH: John 3:16
2. REPENTANCE: Acts 2:38
3. CONFESSION: Romans 10:9
4. WATER BAPTISM: Mark 16:16
JUST READ THE BIBLE AND BELIEVE IT.
(Scripture from: THE THOMPSON CHAIN-REFERENCE BIBLE "NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION 1983)
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