Riverwalker

point taken...I was more commenting on the need

Of all the things we can spend time fussing about....this one, to me, is just not that crucial. Faith without baptism, you are still saved Baptism without faith....you are just wet Ephesians 2: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. Works follow grace, faith and salvation

I really try not to reach beyond the word that God has given us, whether Old Testament , End times or anything else Genesis 6: 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth God specifically names MAN...so gotta go with that

That depends on who you are fighting If you are fighting a corrupt society, that want's to take away your freedom or change what is right, well we have Jesus as an example. He was very outspoken about the misteachings of the Pharisees If you want to fight God......well that never ends well. The choice is submit to His will and receive His salvation Or seek your own way and find damnation

There is nothing wrong in Questioning God...so long as you are ready to accept the answer Abraham Questioned God (Sodom and Gomorroh) Moses Questioned God ( About his fitness for the job) David Questioned God (Over and over again the Psalms) Mary Questioned God - (About how she would bear a child having no known a man) Paul Questioned God - (About the thorn in his side) Even Jesus questioned His Father - Take this cup away... But each of them having received their answer, submitted and went on to do His will It is okay to question God Being Angry.....well that's a little different Why are we blaming God?

Like My Sig says

He will be missed by us and welcomed by the Lord

Our body is in the ground....we are in heaven with God we are not our body....this is just an earth suit

Excuse me for jumping on this train way late, and probably repeating what has already been said... When we die, our bodies go in the ground, or the sea or wherever....but our spirits are present with God, in heaven while we await resurrection 2nd Cor 5:6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. John 6:40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Very nice...indeed we do all we can and rely on Him for the rest - Grace

Ah yes...another arrow to the heart of the matter, Amen.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit... John 14:5 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. Indwelling of the Father and the Son 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. The Gift of His Peace 25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Yeah....I have to disagree There is a difference between the Pentecostal experience for ministry and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that is for all believers Romans 8: 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [d]through His Spirit who dwells in you. Sonship Through the Spirit 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba,[e] Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is wickedness (corruption, stupidity), but be filled with the [Holy] Spirit and constantly guided by Him. - AMP You can drink wine and beer in limitations and not get drunk....but hard liquor really has only one purpose, and that is to get hammered. And that is to run away from your problems, and God tells us to run to Him

If your name is not written in the Lamb's book..it is because of the choices you made. Nothing fairer than that

We still have to deal with that little thing the bible calls the "Flesh" Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. When we are saved our spirit is regenerated, made new....born again But our flesh remain corrupt, and we must sacrifice it....daily and our soul (mind will and emotions) needs to be retrained Which is why Paul Tells us Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. and Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So while we are saved at once.....there is still a lot of work to do

Hebrews 13: For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If my feelings are in opposition to the word of God, then I know I have stepped away from Him somewhere along the line. I try to find where I strayed and fix it 2nd Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not [a]carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. especially my disobedience

I would assume that God has some role for me in the tribulation, I would pull on my big boy pants and get ready to rock Rapture is for the faithful...not the worthy. Its not about whether or not you "earned" it...is is whether or not you have believed and been faithful As the song says, "I have a couple of dents in my fender, a couple of rips in my jeans" I am not perfect, but I am loved, I am forgiven and God will never leave me, nor forsake me....so If I am still here....there is a purpose.

2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: We bring the judgement on to ourselves by what we choose to do. But God balances the book.

took me a while to reconcile the title with the scripture posted...But since it is acts 11 and we have just opened up the Gospel to the gentiles, I assume those or the "others" being referred to As always loving others can be the hardest of all things - always makes me think of this

Jesus kind of explains this in the Gospel of Jon Chapter 16 John 16:1 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do [a]to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. “And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. The Work of the Holy Spirit 5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. The road that lay before them was a very hard road, all of them but one would die as a martyr and before Jesus left, the POWER of the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them (as it did at Pentecost). All they knew that This was Jesus, this was the Christ...this was the promised redeemer of Israel....how could the promise die? As Jesus said, being natural men with natural understanding they could not comprehend this, which is why they needed to wait in the upper room for the Holy Spirit to come upon them before their ministry started

Well that would not be the way of forgiveness, and it is by forgiving that we are forgiven. To want your story to be heard is one thing, to continue to hold a grudge and be bitter is another, and you are only hurting yourself

This topic always makes me a little uneasy, because of my previous attitude When I was first a Christian I attended a Word of Faith church where it was stated if you had enough faith God would heal you, and of course if He didn't there was something wrong with you and your faith. When I was young in Christ I would visit the Christian book stores (back in the 80's) and always feature among the book was one By Joni Erikson (later Joni Erikson Tada) a woman who had been paralyzed and continued to have faith in Jesus. I looked upon this book with scorn thinking that if this woman had faith she would have been healed Fast forward nearly 40 years and this woman who became an evangelist and preacher has reached more people with her message of hope love and overcoming adversity in Jesus Christ, than I could ever hope to reach in ten lifetimes God used her condition to reach a multitude of people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gave hope to the hopeless....and there I was, the little holy ghost bible thumping know it all passing judgement on what was a gift of God. We are all going to die, what matters is how we live...for Him. In the time, and in the condition that we have.

Hmmm be very careful there. Let us not blame the one who is not healed for their lack of healing. Even if sometimes true, it is rarely helpful

Ah good word....oddly refreshing in its tribulation