Willa

The following are comments from Got Questions concerning "seekers friendly churches". Basically, the seeker-sensitive church tries to reach out to the unsaved person by making the church experience as comfortable, inviting, and non-threatening to him as possible. Theatrics and musical entertainment are the norm in the church service to keep the unsaved person from getting bored as he does with traditional churches. Expertly run nurseries, day care, adult day care, community programs such as ESL (English as a Second Language), and much more are common fixtures in the larger seeker churches. Short sermons (typically 20 minutes at most) are usually focused on self-improvement. however, rarely are sin, hell, or repentance spoken of, and Jesus Christ as the exclusive way to heaven is rarely mentioned. Such doctrines are considered “divisive.” The focus of the seeker church then is not Christ-centered, but man-centered. Further, the seeker-friendly gospel presentation is based on the idea that if you will believe in Jesus, He will make your life better. Relationships with your wife or husband, coworkers, children, etc., will be better. The message the seeker church sometimes passes on to the unsaved person is that God is a great cosmic genie, and if you stroke Him the right way, you will get what you want. In other words, if you profess to believe in Jesus, God will give you a better life, better relationships and purpose in life.

Heb 10:22 AMP Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water. In other places Amplified uses trust in and rely on as terms for faith. Faith is dependent by God's character, good NAME and reputation because He has shown Himself to be trustworthy over the centuries.

You and your sister can pray together that God help them to forgive each other and to remember the things they liked about each other when they got married. Pray that God draw them closer to Himself and to each other, and that they place Him in the center of their lives and their marriage. "The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much". So pray this way desperately and often till He brings it to pass. Also, thank God for His faithfulness to help in time of need.

When I think of the sinner's prayer I think of "God have mercy on me, a sinner". This is a person who has been convicted by the Holy Spirit to the point that he knows he is lost and going to hell unless God does something. It is not a person who is sorry for his sins and has turned away from them but is still trying to be good enough to get to heaven. It is not someone hoping the good outweighs the bad, either. The person that I am thinking of is done for, totally humbled. He gives his life to God and surrenders to Christ as Lord. He may repeat the prayer a pastor leads him in, but his heart is flat on the floor with nowhere to go, completely unworthy. Psa 34:18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Isa 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. This is entirely biblical. John the Baptist preached repentance. Jesus preached repentance. Paul preached repentance and confessing Jesus as Lord, risen from the dead. But we don't know the heart of those who repeat the sinner's prayers. Some are very genuine and are born again. Some don't understand the meaning of the term Lord or understand Who Jesus is but they do want salvation. I think God sees them and continues to draw them and teach them as they hunger for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Some are just joining a club. My father in law boasted that he had joined the baptist church and the episcopal church, but the one that did him the most good was the Elks. It got him the most clients! After all, he was just a good as the next guy so he sure wasn't going to hell! We prayed for him and witnessed to him till the end. It was nice for us, but he didn't want any part of it. So I think it is presumptuous to assume that every person who repeats the sinners prayer and confesses Christ is born again.

Anything you receive by direct revelation should be backed by Scripture. People can be deceived by not depending on Scripture. I have heard ridiculous things being a manifestation of the Holy Spirit like making animal sounds or wetting one's pants!. These are not things found in Scripture. Preaching the gospel with boldness is one. Look at Peter before Pentecost denying Christ and afterwards preaching and 5000 people were saved. The power to preach was one of the things promised in Acts 1.

The Assembly of God teaches that it is proof. I don't agree with that. On Worthy we say that the fruit of the Spirit is evidence: love joy peace long-suffering, kindness goodness meekness faithfulness and self control. Also, the Holy Spirit will bear witness in your heart that you are God's child. You will be able to understand the Scriptures more clearly and see how they apply to your life.. These are all evidence of the Holy Spirit being in your life.

Humility and willingness are really big requirements, as is diligence. I have a neighbor who wants to be a missionary. I hired him to help with weekly yard work for just my back yard. He came weekly or every other week for a couple of months and then he just stopped coming. He didn't say anything to me or his family. He just stopped. I paid him $10. per week for working about 15 minutes.

I believe for some people they are saved and born again at once, and others are not. I first was convicted of sin, repented and decided to follow Christ when I was in the 8th grade. But I had a lot of bad teaching and was caught in a web of trying to be good enough to go to heaven. Deception. Even though I was baptized, it took some years for me to understand that salvation is by faith. So I backslid and came back to God in 1970. This time when I was convicted of sin I knew I was lost and could never be good enough. Only God's mercy would save me. Again I start walking in the Spirit obeying that which He showed me to do. Finally I surrendered all-- all my doubts, struggles and resistance, all my questions and every area of my life. That was when the Holy Spirit came upon me and I knew but I knew God. Every word of the Bible came alive to me and was pertinent. Joy flooded over me for days. Some people call it a second blessing. I haven't figured it all out. I began in the Spirit in the 8th grade and started over in the Spirit when I was 25.

The only spandex I should wear would be an undergarment!

Rayon is horrible! I never buy it. It doesn't wash well and doesn't wear well. Avoid it like the plague. Buy permaprest or other wash and wear. Avoid ironing!

Yes God wants us to be holy and righteous. He has done that for us legally, but He also has changed our hearts so that we also want to reflect the life of Jesus. We are being changed from glory to glory as we gaze at Jesus in the word. 2Co 3:18 ESV But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. But even Paul said he had not attained perfection but he pressed on to the high calling of Jesus. We will never be perfect as He is until we get to heaven. As soon as we think we have attained perfection we become self righteous. We can't see our own faults but everyone else can. That is why David prayed: Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: Psa 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. It is solely because of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us that we are worthy of heaven. Our salvation is a gift because we can't do it in our own strength or righteousness. That is grace. We have this Treasure in earthen vessels. We are made of clay and our only claim to perfection is Christ in us. 1Co 1:28 ESV God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 1Co 1:29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 1Co 1:30 And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1Co 1:31 so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Unfortunately you have misquoted an oft misquoted verse. 1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 1Ti 6:7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 1Ti 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1Ti 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Col 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The love of money is akin to coveting. It is a heart problem. The answer is thankfulness. When we acknowledge God as the source of all we have, that He has provided for us and we are grateful, we become contented. Our true wealth is the spiritual provisions IN CHRIST listed in Ephesians 1. Getting rid of money would accomplish nothing. It is like trying to prevent murder by getting rid of guns. If they don't have guns they will use a knife or poison or some other means. It is a heart problem.

Only the church at Jerusalem did this. Since people sold their land and all they had just to feed everyone, there was nothing saved or stored when the famine came. So only a short time later you find Paul taking up offering to send to them while he was establishing other churches. So it was perhaps the first failure of communism. The poverty in Russia and other communist nations show that not much has changed.

Mat 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Three questions are asked here with three different answers: When will this happen? (the destruction of the the Temple) What will be the sign of Your Coming? Whit will be the sign of the end of the age? We know when the Temple was destroyed. But neither the signs of His coming nor of the end of the age have been fulfilled in their entirety.

I have seen you change tremendously, Mabel. Praise God for all His help in your life.

It was part of Obama's curriculum that those things should be taught as early as kindergarten as to what constitutes a family. The universities are teaching it and now they have put out teachers and are teaching the junk to our children. My grandchildren are in high school or above now, but when in grade school their grades were penalized for taking a godly stand, and they received bulling from other children because of it. When mom talked to the teachers about it she received a lot of hostility. This was in small town rural America.

Wouldn't it take a constitutional amendment to change or eliminate the electoral college?

They are singing "Glory to the new born King!" Angels are messengers of God and are there to glorify God. Jesus in His humanity also came to glorify and reveal God the Father. The Holy Spirit came to glorify and reveal the words and person of Jesus Christ. Our purpose as well is to glorify God.

Job 7:17 “What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, Job 7:18 That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment? Psa 8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, Psa 8:4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? Psa 8:5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. Psa 8:6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, Psa 8:8 The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. Psa 8:9 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! Psa 144:3 LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him? Psa 144:4 Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

God looks for servants' hearts, like Jesus came as a servant and washed the disciples' feet because it needed to be done. If you are willing to be used where needed He may eventually move you if your heart is not rebelling and you have a good attitude, doing it as unto the Lord. So throw yourself into serving and sing, praising and worshipping God with all your heart as an inspiring example to the congregation.

They were all freely elected to represent their constituents. It would appear that the people of all beliefs mostly want Christians to represent them.

For some people it is how they survive. This is especially true if they are from other countries and were not taught it is wrong to steal. Sometimes their parents even sent them out each day to find what they can to steal. We had kids walk into our house thinking no one was home. When I asked them what they were doing they asked if I had any money! A family was doing this. It is a good thing I was sitting by the door at the time. Now I keep doors and cars locked. We even had a bike stolen that was chained to a post at our house; they unlocked it and left the chain behind! So never leave stuff where people can easily take it. Always keep your things out of sight and locked away. People can even have their packages kept at a local post office where you can pick them up, I am told. We can't change people but we can make it harder for them to steal. If you get a chance to do so, tell the neighbor that Jesus even loves people who steal and died so that she can be forgiven. Tell her the devil steals, lies and destroys, but Jesus came to give a good and satisfying life that is not afraid.

There are many good answers here. But I have to confess that the reason behind my unforgiveness toward my father in law was self righteousness. By my holding unforgiveness toward him I became like him, and not any better than him. Eventually when I forgave him I was able to love him as God did, with a pity for him because without Christ we all are dirty rotten sinners. Each time I was around him and he did something else that was so offensive, I had to work through forgiving him again and get my attitude right with God. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes again, but it did serve to humble me. We all are so dependent on God's grace.

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2Th 2:11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 2Th 2:12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 1Ti 6:20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—1Ti 6:21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

George posted a video on salvation and being born again in the video section that was very thought provoking. It is supported by the Luke 8 passage on the sower and the seed. We probably aren't truly born again if we aren't producing good fruit, and that may occur later in our Christian experience. I also have doubts that a truly born again person would leave Christ. The person may be called and led by the Holy Spirit and be in the process of becoming good soil that will produce good fruit but not yet be born again according to the early evangelists like Jonathan Edwards, Wesley and many others. The idea of instant salvation and being born again when you repeat a prayer did not come into vogue till Billy Sunday. Until him people were never told they were born again. They waited till the person had the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. They say that is why so many alter call conversions don't remain. It is worth watching and thinking about. It is probably true in many cases, but my own pastor was truly born again at an alter call the first time he went to church. I may not have been born again till after I backslid and came back to the Lord in 1970. So each person is different.