Cannalee2

Wow! Thank you for this wonderful thread! I am placing it in my favorites so I can study it more!

Long ago, before I was a Christian even, I remember a preacher once saying "If the barn needs paint, then PAINT it!" His point being of course, that we should be as attractive as possible...Paul said "I become all things to all men, that I might win some" (my paraphrase)...I do NOT think this means a woman should dress overly provacatively (risque) but for sure a little makeup if needed and some flair in style is not sinful but making the most of what one is blessed with... When Ruth approached Boaz tht night, she prepared beforehand, following Naomi's advice: advice about perfume, etc. She didn't approach him that night still sweaty from gleaning in the fields that day!

Ditto! God says His Word does not return void...and the Holy Spirit is amazing at bringing the Word forth in our lives...I don't think there is such a thing as coincidence when it comes to confirmation of the Word in our lives. Amazing is the Lord's Grace in each of our lives even while He is Maker of all the universe.

I have some conflict with this issue: while the Bible does indeed clearly state that homosexual relations is sin, there are many many sins the Bible speaks of...and I think many Christians profess holiness without sin when in reality they must be blind, deaf, or dumb... The Bible clearly says we are to build one another up, not tear each other down, gently restoring one who has fallen into sin, conscious that we ourselves could also fall into sin...Christ spoke of judging another, complaining about the speck in the other's eye while we ourselves sported a beam in our own eye... I think the Bible should be preached, rightly dividing the Word, with no undue emphasis on one sin over another, but teaching the Word, and let the Holy Spirit guide and speak to the hearers...eg. for every sermon on sexual sin, there should be sermons on lying, gossip, gluttony, etc/ More importantly, I think there should be emphasis on Jesus Christ, His Love and Grace, not the sin which He cleanses us from,,,, one edit: I was posting as qnts2 made her repy, thus I did not read it until after my post...I loved her post--it is the love of Christ manifest!

i am looking forward to my mansion in the country, with big wide windows that have no glass or screens with thick ledges that I can sit on as i watch my falcon fly in and out...no doors so my animals and friends can come and go....I am looking forward to talking with my animals and the trees etc. I am looking forward to talking with King David and his grandmother Ruth...and am really looking forward to the great music concerts praising God!

Onelight wrote Seems you like to eat steak! Yes, I'm hungry! Thank all of you for your wonderful replies--I have experienced the "groanings" of the Holy Spirit making intercession when I did not know how to pray but it was just that--couldn't be uttered! I guess my experience with God is just that: my experience...remember me in your prayers! Wilamina, I did not see your reply at first when I first posted my reply, Thank you very much for your reply....I'll just keep walking with the Spirit!

Lol Elhanan, you caught me! I was quoting from memory Rom 8:1 and indeed did leave out the second part of the verse (not on purpose but it is how the Lord brought it to my memory, in that it is Christ Jesus who delivers the wretched man!) In no way did I mean to be scripture splitting or anything of that sort--I was writing from the heart and next time will have my Bible open! Bible opened, I see that the Holy Spirit did help me recall it accurately, according to the NASV,( which is supposedly the most accurate according to the Greek ) but not to be argumentive, vs 4 in the NASV does indeed say "in order that the requirement of the LAW (caps mine)might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit," vs 5: for those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit." vs 8: "and those who are in the flesh cannot please God". OH OH! OOPS! Oh, but Thank God (literally!) read on: HOWEVER, you are NOT in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (caps mine, vs 9) This wonderful chapter goes on to state that the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and no power on earth can separate us from the love of God. But again, I left out part of a verse: Rom 7: 25: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin.:" I am not holding up sin or the flesh: the Bible clearly says we are to set our mind on the things of the Spirit...the Bible also says that if we fix our mind on God, He will give us the desires of our heart: i don't think this means we can have whatsoever we think we want, but God will put in our heart desires that will please Him... Concerning the question of the child of God who falls into/continues in habitual sin: the wording of the question answers the question--if the person is indeed a child of God (like a lost lamb??) then he is indeed still saved--John 10: 28....even if his light was to be snuffed (die) in his sin, he would still be saved. It is God's will that all might come to Him: He and His Holy Spirit are not going to turn their backs on one that is sealed....

God says for us to "Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow"...The Bible says that all things with God are possible....and that God does not lie..... I have recently learned one thing that hinders God: unbelief.... but even whem there is unbelief where there is faith as small as a mustard seed, the impossible can be done... It is God's will that all atheists be saved....tarry a little longer dear Lord for their sakes! Thank you for the mind expansion--have shared the video with my other board!

I am Southern Baptist, but a enjoy a variety of televangelists, including Joseph Prince...lately Prince has been teaching on the subject of tongues, as "evidence" of Holy Spirit Baptism--I cannot find it in scripture that this gift is "evidence" of Holy Spirit Baptism but is but one of the gifts, which the Spirit manifests as He wills... My charismatic brother seems to think I have not experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit because I do not speak in tongues...I was taught that every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ upon conversion and sealed by the Spirit until the Day of Redemption...and that we are to seek fillings of the Spirit often (be ye filled with the Spirit)--I know the Holy Spirit moves and works in my life and I have experienced His filling.... My late hubby taught me that there is but one perfect work of Grace and that one has all of the Godhead in Christ...(Colossians) and that any other teaching other than the Gospel of Grace is anathema....while Prince teaches that tongues is a more perfect way to pray and a mighty weapon in spiritual warfare...as I understand it the SBC teaches that tongues have ceased... I know that the Word says in the last days God will pour out His Spirit on flesh...I believe we are living in the last days....any thoughts, especially scripture references would be most appreciated! In Christ, Candy

many are called, but few are chosen. I think of the young man who approached Christ--"what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Christ asked if the young man had kept the Law. The young man said he had kept it since his youth. Christ said to go and sell all that he had and give to the poor--the young man left, grieved, because he was quite wealthy...somewhere I read that Christ loved the young man....I think the young man was called, but not chosen. I think it is that way in life.....

Scripture tells us to examine ourselves to see that we are of the faith...scripture also says it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God...there are somethings that Butero posted that at first troubled me: raised in a somewhat legalistic church, I have struggled most of my Christian life with legalism's spirit and the adversary consequently had a heyday in his accusations against me and in discouraging me...so when the charge of licentiousness came up against those who rest in Grace, I started doing some soul searching. What a good God is our God who gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth--there is a Psalm that says I do not concern myself with things that are too great for me, but rest like a weaned child on its mother's breast in the Lord--a weaned child does not struggle for the breast and its milk, but rests on its mother's breast, savoring the love of its mother...trusting in the mother's love. I believe that this is the rest and peace that God promises us believers while yet still on this earth. In fact, that is the work that we believers are to do: strive that we might enter that rest. (Hebrews) I believe with all my heart that King David will be there in Heaven--I personally think that he suffered from manic depressive condition (lol--jmo! ) but whatever, for sure his emotlons seemed to run the gamut from darkest despair at the brink of death to the heights of ecstasy in God's love--Butero made the comment (truthful) that David was an adulterer and a murderer: yes indeed David committed these sins and others, but then comes Psalm 51--"Wash me and I will be whiter than snow...this written before Calvary! Thlnk about the apparent annointing on David's life, his writings, etc. All scripture is divinely inspired, written by men moved by the Holy Spirit--in a time of the dispensation of Law, the Psalms are full of God's Grace and love...I once asked God to teach me how to pray--the Holy Spirit led me to Psalms.... But I digress: the main purpose for my writing this post is to refute the charge of licentiousness against those who rest in Grace: Romans 6,7,8 is I think the Bible's answer to the dilemma of the flesh vs. the Spirit--Paul sets forth the principle of the war waging in his body--that the mind concurrs with the Law (for it is holy) and yet the flesh, because of the commandment sins....and Paul says what, will we sin more that Grace might abound? God forbid! But who will save us from this wretched condition? Then comes Romans 8:1....There is therefore now no condemnation to him who is in Christ Jesus....where there is light, one sees the dirt...if it were not for the constant washing of the Blood, Christians would (should) be constantly, without ceasing, every other prayer be availing ourselves of IJohn 1: 9, (which does not mean we do not pray and confess our sins, but if we did not believe in the ever washing of the Blood we would be forever praying and asking forgiveness!) to the point that we would get nothing done! As we walk in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit ever so gently guides us, convicts us, teaches us what way we are to walk and that whole walk, we strive to rest and wait on the Lord, knowing that we are His child, sealed by the Holy Spirit, forever saved, safe from the accusations of the Accuser and pleasing to God not because of our works of obedience or works of disobedience but because we are in His Son--of course we do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit by deliberately ignoring His guidance but if and when we do, we know we have an Advocate with the Father, we ask forgiveness (and receive it!) and continue forth, knowing that we are God's child, our salvation is secure and God loves us...this is not licentiousness but honesty in our life and with God.

I hesitate to "put down" the Law, because it is Holy--Christ, having not yet died, taught by the Law, as did John the Baptist--it was not until Christ was nailed to the Tree as our Supreme Sacrifice for all our Sin that living by Grace (and the power of the Holy Spirit brcame manifest at Pentecost) became the dispensation for the Church...Christ in His Sermon on the Mount taught us that in reality, no man could live by the Law or keep it...for if we stumble on one part of the law, we have stumbled on all of it. If man, even one man, could keep the Law and live by it, then we would not need a Saviour, a Redeemer from that Law's demands....and Christ's death would have been in vain...