Perrin556

Wisdom: I agree that we must be grounded in his word, we must be prepared for those to whom we have a responsibility toward. I think that it has been mentioned on the thread that in order to be an effective witness for our Savior, we must show him as a reality in our lives and be genuine in our care for those we come in contact with. In other words we can not trap people for Christ , nor should be seen as having ulterior motives when we show kindness to our neighbor. In fact it is a great testimony if we show kindness because we are kind. It gives one real joy when a hard to reach neighbor is touched by the lives of the christians around him and is eventually brought to Christ. This causes us to search our hearts and our motives for our service. Paul could say "Forbid it Lord that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..." We have received "this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency and power might be of God and not of us" What a treasure we have to share with a dying lost world. I think sometimes we forget that God has chosen us as the vessels which would bring the gospel message to the unsaved, the actual work of the heart is his. There is power in the gospel of Christ unto everyone that believes" Praise his Name! There are times when we would echo the songwriter "If I could only tell him as I know him, my redeemer who has brightened all my way". Robert :thumb:

Brothers Dad Ernie and Wisdom: A good subject since we know that should "...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear"(1 Peter 3:15) I would be interested in knowing how we best reach those in this post modern age who agree that our beliefs are fine, but so are their views even if they have nothing to do with Christ? The I'm fine and your fine attitude is one of the best tactics used to allow people to sleep through their need and miss Christ. Somehow, we have to let them know that Christ stands alone for salvation and that he is the only one who can make them right with God and fit for eternity. Thanks Robert :???:

Greetings Wisdom: As I read your post the words of 1 John 4:7 come to mind: "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." God by his Spirit has given all believers the capacity to care and love fellow siblings in Christ. This love is not some intellectual theory, but is Christ in us. "We love him because he first loved us"V.19 I agree that your challenge searches one's soul and we at times are guilty of indifference to other christians. The Lord Jesus put great value on the worth of others and the seriousness of stumbling or harming other members in his body. I thank God for those who mentored me when I was young in Christ and those who continue to provide mutual support and encouragement on the road home. Peace in his name Robert

Missy: My heart goes out to you and your family as I too have a prodical son who professed salvation at 15 and now at 32 is going on in a self-destructive life. God knows the situation and we know that each soul is precious to him. At times we do not understand why some of these things happen and yet if we want peace we have to trust him. He gave us our children and we know that it is not his will that they be lost forever. May God bless you and your family at this time and may it be that your son will be awakened to his need by the Spirit of God and know what it is to rest in Christ. Your brother in Christ Robert

What is the greatest gift which you have been given? As I think of this question in the light of God's word, the words of Paul come to mind: "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." (2 Cor. 9:15) "Unspeakable" it cannot be fully describe, it is a gift which transcends all other gifts. As I think upon God's gift and sending his only Son into this world, the words of the following hymn cause great joy in my heart. God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus, He came to love, heal, and forgive; He lived and died to buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives All fear is gone; because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives. by Bill & Gloria Gaither The gifts of this season pale in view of God's gift the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world that he might be our Savior. In Luke 2 the heavens could not be silent at his birth as the angel of the Lord declared "good tidings of great joy" to shepherds in the field. This angel was joined with a multitude of heavenly hosts "praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" The world in general was not aware of this momentous event and yet we see wise men from the East travel a great distance to see him. "and when they were come into the house, they saw the young child and Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped HIM. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented to him gifts: gold, frankinsese and myrrh. May we bow our heads before him in appreciation, praise and worship as we rejoice in the fact that "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" John 2:16 Robert

Amen dear brother: When we think of motives for posting I am reminded of the words of Paul: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..." Col. 6:14 Robert

In Revelation we read: " Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" Rev. 1:19 In other words things past, present and future. God's plans and purposes will come to past. When with finite minds we see things unfolding we often wonder "is God in control?" God is infinite and is not limited by time or space. Our minds can hardly understand that God's view is eternal, from eternity to eternity; he is not limited to the past and the present as we are, he knows the future, thus our future is in his hand. When we study the scriptures we find literally hundreds of prophecies which have been fulfilled in Christ. And we know that there are many yet to be fulfilled. At times we many be wrong in our interpretations and sometimes we speculate only to find that we are wrong, but God is in total control. God bless Robert

Brother CD I understand where you are coming from. Many are lost tonight because they trifled with the strivings of the Spirit of God. Satan's lies to sinners who are undergoing conviction of the Holy Spirit are: a) Its a good idea to get saved, but put if off until your older etc. b) Its too late, you have gone too far for forgiveness. My dad who is now with Christ, first heard the gospel at 35 years of age. He was convicted of his sin and his hopeless condition before God. He listened to the message of how Christ had died for sinners on the cross and yet he could not find peace with God. He told me "I wanted to be genuinely saved and to be sure that I was right with God". For several weeks he struggled in deep soul trouble and thought to himself "I am too great a sinner" I will never be saved. Early one morning sitting on the side of his bed he opened the Bible which someone had given him and read Romans 5, as he came to the words "When we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly" the thought went through his mind "ungodly" that's me! He re-read the verse and simply got down on his knees and for the first time thanked God for sending Christ to die for his sins. I witnessed the change of a man who became a new creature in Christ. The point I am trying to make is that had he given up and settled with the idea that he was too sinful, he may have went on and been lost forever. On the other hand we had a neighbour who throughout his life was not open to the gospel. He was a hard working man, a good father, but did not want to allow God near his life. Last year he developed cancer and faced with his mortality he was open to listening to the gospel. My brother visited with him many times, bringing the gospel to him and Christians were praying for his deliverance. The sad thing is that just before he died he said "I guess I will have to die as I lived, I can't understand it." He went out into eternity and as far as we know without Christ. May God help us to be faithful to those we live before and come in contact with. He is the only one who can save. Robert

Greetings Missy: Is there forgiveness for one who has willing rejected Christ? We cannot second guess God and how his Spirit works within the hearts of people. I believe that the Bible supports the idea that while there is life there is hope. One of Satan's lies to an unbeliever is that they have gone too far and as such there is no forgiveness. Think of Saul of Tarsus, a fanatical Pharisee, who actively fought agains Christ by throwing Christians into jail and consenting to their death. He witnessed the martyrdom of Stephen and was on his way to Damascus with letters of support to persecute anyone who stood for the name of Jesus Christ. He had not counted on God and that day on the road he was brought to his knees and made to cry out "who art thou Lord" only to receive these wondrous words " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest..." From a human point of view we would say that Saul had gone too far and deserved to be punished eternally. Think of the words of Saul, now called Paul as he speaks about the gospel of the grace of God "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15" It has been suggested, that if the chiefest of sinners is saved, then there is hope for every person who will turn to Christ in honest repentance. None of us deserved God's mercy, there was nothing in us that made him love us and yet through his grace he provided a way of salvation for us through Christ. It is my prayer that God might deal with your friend's heart and bring him to total repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleanseth us from ALL Sin". Jesus said " I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" Peace in his worthy name Robert

Brother Dad Ernie: What I meant when I said Jesus experienced sin was: On the cross he knew what it was to bear the awful load of sin that was ours and to suffer in our place. This refers back to the verse I quoted "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 5:21) I agree that "he knew no sin, he did not sin and in whom was no sin" What a Savior! Thank you for keeping me on my toes. Robert

Dear brother Dad Ernie: I respectfully disagree on the idea that Jesus had the potential to sin. He did not have a sinful nature like you and me. I believe this is way God makes the first promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. I do understand the point you are making, that in order to be our high Priest who can be touched with our infirmities he had to experience the total human experience. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. or (sin apart). (Heb. 4:15) Paul reminds us "that he knew no sin" (2Cor.5:21) Peter writes "who did no sin" (1 Peter 2:22) and John declares "in him was no sin" (1 John 3:5) How then can he empathize with us if he never experienced sin? I believe the Lord Jesus experienced sin and suffered its terrible consequences upon the cross. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 5:21) Peace in his name Robert

We live at a time when people have many opinions of Jesus Christ. Some would see him as a good man who set a good example for us to follow, others would suggest that he is the son of God who began is days at Bethlehem and others suggest that he never lived at all. Nevertheless, the scripture is clear, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is God manifest in the flesh. The study of the Godhead is profoundly interesting and yet as we approach the infinite we find that our finite minds can hardly take it in. Who are we to question our Creator? I believe we must avoid trying to bring the God of eternity to our level of understanding since "his ways are past finding out."(Rom. 11:33) The unfathomable mystery to humans is that there is one God and yet we see him manifest as three persons in one. He does not work independently of himself, indeed it is with full harmony within the Godhead which God has revealled himself to humankind. Who was Jesus Christ? Was he the Son of God or was he God manifest in the flesh? Both! We read that "God who in many parts and in many ways spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us (in) Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds (ages). Who (the Son) being in the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:1) The Son of God "being" (perfect tense) was, is and always will be in the brightness of his glory. The Son of God who is the express image of his person is confirmed by Jesus Christ himself when he said "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9) The Son of God who upholds all things by the word of his power; we see that he is co-eternal with his Father. John speaks of Christ this way "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made" ( John 1: 1-4) God by his Spirit teaches us that Christ "is", that he always was and always will be. He was there in the beginning of creation, in fact he is the Creator! Amazing grace is that in obedience to his father, the Creator takes a lowly stoop into this world. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth" (John1:14) John was a personal witness, friend and disciple to the Lord Jesus. He shows us that Jesus was not simply the Son of God who began his life at Bethlehem, but this man Christ Jesus is God incarnate. Peter writes concerning him "who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth" (1Peter 2:22) Paul writes to the Corinthians "he hath made him to be sin for us, (he) who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God through him. Peter also reminds us that we are redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Without blemish reminds us of his perfection as he came into the world and without spot points to his sinless walk in his journey here below. The important message here is that the Son of God was truly a man and yet truly God. He did not make a choice not to sin, because he could not sin, that is the divine character of God. In Phillippians 2 we consider his eternal existance and equality with his Father and his lowly stoop at his incarnation. "Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery ( or a thing to be grasped at) to be equal with God: But he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8) God again by his Spirit is showing us that Christ is God, equal and co-eternal and that he set that glory aside and took the lowly stoop via the virgin's womb and walked this scene in perfect harmony with his Father, proving time and time again who he is and willingly allowed his journey to lead to the cross where he gave his life for us. "He said I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it up again" On the cross he cried "finished!" the conquer's cry, and he said "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit" then he bowed his head and died. Even in his death we are made to realize that this is no ordinary man, this is God manifest in the flesh. Paul in writing to the Colossians "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily or (in a body) (Col 2:9) The important truth that Paul is teaching here is that the Lord Jesus Christ never ceased to be what he always was, by that which he became. When Jesus was on earth we read in Mark 2 how the Pharisees in their derision confirmed that Jesus is God. They said "Why doth this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God?" They spoke the truth, but did not know that it was God whom they were dealing with when Jesus said to the paralized man "son thy sins be forgiven thee" and then said "that you might know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins"v10 we find that he healed the man. Time and time again Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man which is equivalent to God in the flesh. Is it not wonderful that God shares with us his eternal counsel when we read prophetic truth in Isaiah 6:8 "The Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I; here am I send me" In psalm 40:7 and Heb. 10:9 we read the words of the Lord Jesus "Lo I come in the volume of the book that is written of me, to do thy will oh God" Glory to his Name which is above all others Robert

Greetings fishman: I have wondered many times of the wisdom of some who use the sinners prayer with large groups of people who are usually emotionally charged. I have known people who have prayed this prayer and left the meeting thinking they were saved. Some went on for years with a false security and thank God eventually found out that they did not know Christ. I think we would all agree the sinners prayer is not what saves us, but it is God who saves through Christ alone. I do not believe that we can tell God when to save people, but rather it should be our prayer that by his Spirit he will work within their hearts and reveal the truth of the gospel to their hearts. I believe that one of the greatest tragedys is when a soul rests upon a false profession and dies without Christ. God's word tells us "...he that winneth souls is wise." (Proverbs 11:30) Wisdom to wait upon God to do the work within the heart after we have spread the word is sometimes difficult in this day of instant results. Just a personal note. The day before I was saved I was in desperate soul trouble and wanted to be saved more than anything else in the world. My dad came into by bedroom and tryed to lead me to Christ. Much to my dismay, this man who was my hero, had to leave me alone without Christ. The next day however, when I was alone and feeling hopelessly lost, it was at that time that God by his Spirit revealed to me that Christ had died for my sins through the truth of John 3:16 which I had memorized in Sunday School. Your brother in Christ Robert

George and Timothy, greetings and thank you for your encouragement. Dad Ernie, thank you for expanding on the topic I agree with you totally. For those who know Christ we can echo these words "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor. 2:9) Praise his precious name Robert Perrin

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105) This has been the comfort of Christians for centuries and even now thousands of years hence, we can rejoice and have confidence in the word of God. The risen Christ points out to his disciples that he is the fulfillment of the old testament prophecies and that these prophecies have been made known from Genesis onward. "He (Jesus) said unto them "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me"( Luke 24:44) When we read the old testament we are given many pictures, types, shadows and prophecies of the coming Redeemer which are hard to understand. The heros of faith in the old testament "...died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11:13) As we study the new testament and see that with precise accuracy old testament prophecies are fulfilled, causing one to thank God for his amazing grace in reaching out to us in love by sending his unique Son into this world to die for those who are lost. In his last words to his disciples Jesus tells them "I have yet many things to say into you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come" (John 16:12-13) In other words the work of the disciples was just beginning. Jesus is promising them that after he is gone via Calvary, that the Holy Spirit will teach them things which they could not bear at that time and would teach them of things concerning the future. It is here that we see that the writings of the new testament are not simply memories or ideas from the eye-witnesses of Christ, but trues which are given to us through the disciples by God himself. "...he will teach you all things, and bring to your rememberance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26b) Jesus said to the people of his day "You search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39) The irony which Jesus points out, is those who despised him, searched the scriptures thinking that in their studying they would have eternal life. In their religious search they were overlooking the one who is the theme of the scriptures and is the only way to eternal life.