Spreading God's Love Thru Prayer
I Can Do All Things Through Christ Which Strengtheneth Me. Philp:4-13
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Started by Elder Stephanie Pinckney Feb 19, 2010. 0 Replies 0 Likes
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GRACE AND PEACE ,FAMILY OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER ,I JUST RECEIVED THIS AND THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE OF HELP TO SOMEONE LOVE ALL
Unmet Expectations
Theme of the week: God Shines Light into Our Darkness
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Who Said It … Frank Viola
Frank Viola is a leader of the house church movement, a frequent conference speaker, and the author of numerous books on the Christian life and church renewal. His writings include Reimagining Church, the best-selling From Eternity to Here, Finding Organic Church, and Revise Us Again. Frank and his family live in Gainesville, Florida.
What he Said … Unmet Expectations
When the Lord doesn't act according to our expectations, our faith gets tested. Some people fall away. Note the words of Jesus about this: "God blesses those who do not turn away because of me" (Luke 7:23). Here's the context. John the Baptist had just been put in prison. John's prison experience caused him to doubt that his cousin was the Messiah. So John sent emissaries to Jesus, asking him, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Luke 7:19, NIV).
Jesus' reply comes straight from Isaiah 61: "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor" (Luke 7:22, NIV).
Jesus, however, leaves out one phrase from Isaiah 61, the one John would have expected to hear: to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
John never left the prison.
"Blessed are those who do not fall away from me, especially when I do not meet their expectations."
Key Study Passage: Psalm 88
Adapted from Revise Us Again (David C. Cook, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.
Copyright © 2012 by Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
Prayer for the Week |
food for thoughts
Question: "What is predestination? Is predestination biblical?"
Answer: Romans 8:29-30 tells us, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Ephesians 1:5 and 11 declare, “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” Many people have a strong hostility to the doctrine of predestination. However, predestination is a biblical doctrine. The key is understanding what predestination means, biblically.
The words translated “predestined” in the Scriptures referenced above are from the Greek word proorizo, which carries the meaning of “determine beforehand,” “ordain,” “to decide upon ahead of time.” So, predestination is God determining certain things to occur ahead of time. What did God determine ahead of time? According to Romans 8:29-30, God predetermined that certain individuals would be conformed to the likeness of His Son, be called, justified, and glorified. Essentially, God predetermines that certain individuals will be saved. Numerous scriptures refer to believers in Christ being chosen (Matthew 24:22, 31; Mark 13:20, 27; Romans 8:33, 9:11, 11:5-7, 28; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1-2, 2:9; 2 Peter 1:10). Predestination is the biblical doctrine that God in His sovereignty chooses certain individuals to be saved.
The most common objection to the doctrine of predestination is that it is unfair. Why would God choose certain individuals and not others? The important thing to remember is that no one deserves to be saved. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23), and are all worthy of eternal punishment (Romans 6:23). As a result, God would be perfectly just in allowing all of us to spend eternity in hell. However, God chooses to save some of us. He is not being unfair to those who are not chosen, because they are receiving what they deserve. God’s choosing to be gracious to some is not unfair to the others. No one deserves anything from God; therefore, no one can object if he does not receive anything from God. An illustration would be a man randomly handing out money to five people in a crowd of twenty. Would the fifteen people who did not receive money be upset? Probably so. Do they have a right to be upset? No, they do not. Why? Because the man did not owe anyone money. He simply decided to be gracious to some.
If God is choosing who is saved, doesn’t that undermine our free will to chose and believe in Christ? The Bible says that we have the choice—all who believe in Jesus Christ will be saved (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10). The Bible never describes God rejecting anyone who believes in Him or turning away anyone who is seeking Him (Deuteronomy 4:29). Somehow, in the mystery of God, predestination works hand-in-hand with a person being drawn by God (John 6:44) and believing unto salvation (Romans 1:16). God predestines who will be saved, and we must choose Christ in order to be saved. Both facts are equally true. Romans 11:33 proclaims, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Recommended Resource: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer.
Good morning Family of the most HIGH ,I shared the below post because I received the questions in relation to my oldest son death,he fell off a 13 feet high porch roof and die on 1/07/2010 ,so last night we started to answer the question and it became hard for my family so we prayed together and asked our heavenly father to give us the strength to go through and finish the questions, and the post below was sent to me this morning as the verse of the day ,our Heavenly Father is awesome ,thank you DADDY through my big brother JESUS THE CHRIST ,love you all give your burden to JESUS .
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