THE EXHORTATION THREAD (For Christians Who Love Jesus)

[Heleadethme]

7 hours ago, Wayne222 said:

      You change the subject back to the Catholic church. You have nothing to say. You need to read the new testament for your own sake. I see your problem. You are trying to use worthy to promote disunity. You call it interfaith and claim it's bad. But not all is bad.  You never speak against the Islamic fascist. But the Catholic who are at peace you attack relentlessly. You need to read the bible very seriously. 

Catholicism is a hybrid religion......part pagan, part Christian.  This is why in countries that are predominantly catholic, we see the people continuing to practice their pagan religions alongside Catholicism.....and reaping the terrible judgments and consequences of it.....bondages, superstitions, poverty, disease etc.  And Catholicism is fine with that, they do not preach or exhort the people to depart from their old way of life and sin.......because it is in harmony with the mixture/hybrid that Catholicism is.  The Catholic church doesn't really care about the souls of those unfortunate people, it doesn't care what else they do as long as they also remain under the thumb of the catholic institution and boosts its numbers and power.  There is a difference between loving individual Catholic people/souls and loving the institution they are in bondage to.....because I can tell you that God hates that insititution that is leading souls that He loves to hell in His name.  Dont' be deceived brother......the devil himself poses as an angel of light, so do not be deceived by emotion and outward appearances, but remember Whose SOLDIER we are supposed to be.  Having on His armour and weaponry............discern error, point and shoot it back to hell, don't make friends with it and don't be unequally yoked with it......just blow it out of the water as a good soldier of Christ, in whatever manner the situation calls for as led by the Spirit, and try to free its hostages.

Catholicism claims Christ but denies the new birth and Holy Spirit.  So it is very deceitful in leading their flocks astray, as well as posing  a spiritual danger to Christians who they are aggressively trying to seduce back into their fold.  By far the majority of Catholics are not born again and are still in their sins, though they are taught they are going to heaven based on their adherence to the Catholic church and its "sacraments".....some may even be sincere, but still sincerely lost, sadly.  Because their church  withholds and doesn't teach what they so badly need to hear that they might be truly saved and become disciples of Christ.  I don't doubt there are a few individual catholics who are born again, by the grace of God, though they are a very small minority, who i think have little hope of maturing within Catholicism.  The Islamic religion does not claim to be Christian, they are simply lost souls who need the gospel.....and hence are not a danger to the church, apart from physical persecution, which is not a spiritual danger at all, but an advantage.  There is no comparison between those who do evil in the name of Christ and those who are simply lost.

So I just do not understand your point here brother...........does unity in Christ mean that we throw out most of the new testament and don't preach it.  It was written for those who are born again, as a light unto our path.  As well as that the lost might find the way to salvation.  It needs to be preached and taught like a never ending flowing fountain....that all may come and wash in the water of the word as they have need.  Let it be lifted up on a lampstand for all to see and hear the way to Zion, as a beacon, not put under a bushel.

[enoob57]

Biblical doctrine as God has put forth in written form is to be adhered to unto God Who has put it forth.... and this cannot be accomplished without The Holy Spirit indwelling and Scripture study to show oneself approved... human responsibility, in, through, for God accomplished.

[Heleadethme]

4 hours ago, brakelite said:

Regardless of whether it is Adventist teaching or not, if you can show me from scripture where my post above is wrong, then fine. I will accept my error. Most claim that SDA teaching is unbiblical. I have shown above that it is Biblical. It is not the figment of anyone's imagination. You don't have to agree with it, but it is neither whimsical or heretical. 

One of the apostles who make up the FOUNDATION of our faith made it clear that each one is to simply follow their own conscience with regard to these matters.  And that we are to come under the rule of no-one in regards to it........"Let no one judge (rule) you in food or drink or regarding a festival or new moon or sabbath."  How wise and all-knowing is our God.

[4LdKHVCzRDj2]

5 hours ago, brakelite said:

It is not the figment of anyone's imagination.

Sorry, but to say people are condemned if they do not keep the Sabbath is incorrect.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
    who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." - Romans 8:1

 

You can keep the Sabbath, you can abstain from pork, you can follow all the dietary laws of the OT... But if Jesus is not in you, you will be rejected.

"But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
    Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." - Romans 8:9

 

When will people learn that the law is unable to save?!

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." - Romans 10:4

 

Glory to God! Amen.

[brakelite]

11 minutes ago, Heleadethme said:

One of the apostles who make up the FOUNDATION of our faith made it clear that each one is to simply follow their own conscience with regard to these matters.  And that we are to come under the rule of no-one in regards to it........"Let no one judge (rule) you in food or drink or regarding a festival or new moon or sabbath."  How wise and all-knowing is our God.

Yes, Colossians 2 is interesting. Verses 4 and 8 warns us to take no heed of those who would quote: spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Thus Paul is warning Christians that people outside of Christ would attempt to beguile them through falsehoods...from verse 18 we may deduce again that it was the deceivers, the ones outside of Christ, who was beguiling and judging the Christians in respect of those things mentioned in Verse 16. They had been imposing their man-made commandments and traditions upon the Colossians. Paul told them not to allow anyone to judge them concerning those matters. Is not Sunday...'Christ is my rest'...no special day...any day of the 7...all man-made beliefs for which there is no foundation in scripture? Has not the church been beguiled already to the extent that there is now so much hatred for Sabbath keeping as we now witness within Christendom and without any solid agreement on why?

The deception began in earnest with Rome and the setting of dates for Easter as opposed to Passover. Until that time, the church celebrated the death and resurrection at the same time as the Jewish passover...but the coercion used to bring all churches into the Papal umbrella with easter continued afterward with Sunday. Interesting history.

[brakelite]

2 minutes ago, 4LdKHVCzRDj2 said:

Sorry, but to say people are condemned if they do not keep the Sabbath is incorrect.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
    who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." - Romans 8:1

 

You can keep the Sabbath, you can abstain from pork, you can follow all the dietary laws of the OT... But if Jesus is not in you, you will be rejected.

"But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
    Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." - Romans 8:9

 

When will people learn that the law is unable to save?!

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." - Romans 10:4

 

Glory to God! Amen.

When will people learn that those keeping the law aren't doing so to be saved? On the contrary, only those with Christ in them are capable of obeying God's commandments. So why suggest that because I choose to obey God's commandments with regard Sabbath keeping and follow His recommendations on how to care for this body He made for me, I am therefore unsaved?

Rom. 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. 

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12,13)

Obviously, if it were impossible for a Christian to become hardened, or to fall away from God, there would be no need for this admonition. ("Falling away" by choosing to disobey to the Lord, not with the words of one's mouth. Unsaved people are already hardened, so why would the author caution them against becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? Nor can they fall away from God, since they don't have Him in the first place.)

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives." (Hebrews 12:5,6)

Obviously, a Christian can choose to disregard the discipline of the Lord, or there would be no need to say this; and it's obviously written to Christians, because God doesn't discipline unsaved people, but only true sons, as the passage goes on to say.

The right response to God's discipline is repentance, submission and obedience. The wrong response is to shrug it off, ignore it, make excuses for what happened to you ("It wasn't the chastening of the Lord; it was just a coincidence or random misfortune..."), and keep on doing whatever it is you are being chastened for, which leads to the hardening of the heart: The desires and promptings of the Spirit become weaker, and the desires of the sinful nature and the love of oneself grows stronger, and it becomes that much easier to ignore Him. Be careful what you make a practice of doing, and mindful of the results of choosing the one or the other.

Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (Hebrews 12:9)

(What do think will happen to a Christian who decides that he or she does not want to be subject to God, but would rather be 'free' and be his or her own master and king or queen---but still claim the promises of God?)

"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? What is not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:15-19)

Again, hardening the heart against the words of God is a choice Christians have. Note that this passage, which is addressed to true Christians, and not to false Christians among true Christians, connects the word "unbelief" with actions: Rebellion; disobedience to what they had heard. This sin cost them the promise of entering God's rest. Hopefully you can see for yourself what the warning is here for Christians, not to do likewise; which there would be no reason for the Holy Spirit to give us if it were impossible for the same thing to happen to us. That's the whole point of the example.

If you believe what God has promised us, live like you believe it and do what He says to do to keep what you have, and complete your faith by your works, as Abraham did.

"Remember then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you." (Revelation 3:3)

Again, addressing Christians here. We know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief on those who are in darkness (without Christ in them), and that these apostate Christians in the church at Sardis were on their way out of Him because of their failure to keep what they had received. If they died spiritually, as some of them already had, the day of the Lord would come on them like a thief, just like it is going to come on all the unsaved. They would no longer be in the Light or have the Light in them, but would be left in darkness, without Jesus, for not obeying Him.

"Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life." (Revelation 3:4,5)

Unsaved people have no garments to soil or to wash. Jesus Christ is Christians' robe of righteousness, which unsaved people do not have. Christians can die spiritually, like those Christians in Sardis did, and they can have their names blotted out of the book of life. A person's name has to be in the book of life in the first place in order for it to be blotted out of it. And if it is blotted out, there's no restoration for that person.

So if your name is in the book of life, and your garments are soiled in the sight of God because you're not doing what you know you should be, wash them in the blood of Jesus by repenting, as it says in 1 John 1:9, and make sure you are keeping what you received, so that what happened to the Christians in Sardis, and was about to happen to the Christians in Laodicea, doesn't happen to you.

"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from His works as God did from His.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:7-13)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Remember: God's grace is sufficient for doing all His will, and we have a Helper. Be sure you're making the most of that precious gift, rather than squandering it, like that unfaithful servant who buried his master's money in the ground (Matthew 25:24-30). You know what happened to him.

 

 

[4LdKHVCzRDj2]

17 minutes ago, brakelite said:

Has not the church been beguiled already to the extent that there is now so much hatred for Sabbath keeping as we now witness within Christendom and without any solid agreement on why?

There is no hatred for Sabbath keeping as far as I know. The problem starts when people forces this on others.

 

What profit will one have if they keep the Sabbath and walk in darkness?!

What profit will one have if they keep the Sabbath and commit adultery?!

What profit will one have if they keep the Sabbath and is a murderer?!

What profit will one have if they keep the Sabbath and is a liar?!

What profit will one have if they keep the Sabbath and is in the flesh!?

 

Until you find that the law is unable to change anyone's life.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
    for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
        for the Jew first and also for the Greek." - Romans 1:16

 

9 minutes ago, brakelite said:

When will people learn that those keeping the law aren't doing so to be saved?

And when will you learn that people are saved if they do not choose to follow such laws.

What the Lord Jesus wants is that we keep ourselves from idols and sin of the flesh.

"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
    that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.
        If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well." - Acts 15:28-29

 

"For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,
    God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh" - Romans 8:3

 

And will you deny the witness of God, that He gave His Spirit to those who do not follow these rules you are trying to force on us?

"So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
    and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." - Acts 15:8-9

 

Glory to God! Amen.

Edited March 18, 2018 by 4LdKHVCzRDj2

[brakelite]

Just now, brakelite said:

Sorry, but to say people are condemned if they do not keep the Sabbath is incorrect.

 

That is not what I am saying. However, the gospel is the way of salvation. Inherent in the gospel as I showed is giving glory to God because He is Creator...which included the Sabbath, a day He blessed and sanctified. Now regardless of whether the Jews were given it or not...regardless of whether Christians have or have not kept it since Christ's time...the day itself remains blessed and the Creator God is still worthy of all the glory because of creation, which the Sabbath celebrates. You cannot divide Sabbath from creation...and you cannot divide the Creator from that which He created...nor can you give Him the glory for doing so and at the same time set aside that day which reminds everyone of Who it is that created. 

James 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

It is also sin if we decline to prayerfully and honestly investigate these issues when we have a Bible on the shelf which informs us to what is truth. I cannot judge you personally, therefore I am not saying you are condemned for not keeping Sabbath. There will be millions of non-Sabbath keepers in heaven. But as I said, the gospel is salvational, and the law cannot be separated from it when it is the law that reflects God's character. 

 

[Heleadethme]

23 minutes ago, brakelite said:

Yes, Colossians 2 is interesting. Verses 4 and 8 warns us to take no heed of those who would quote: spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Thus Paul is warning Christians that people outside of Christ would attempt to beguile them through falsehoods...from verse 18 we may deduce again that it was the deceivers, the ones outside of Christ, who was beguiling and judging the Christians in respect of those things mentioned in Verse 16. They had been imposing their man-made commandments and traditions upon the Colossians. Paul told them not to allow anyone to judge them concerning those matters. Is not Sunday...'Christ is my rest'...no special day...any day of the 7...all man-made beliefs for which there is no foundation in scripture? Has not the church been beguiled already to the extent that there is now so much hatred for Sabbath keeping as we now witness within Christendom and without any solid agreement on why?

The deception began in earnest with Rome and the setting of dates for Easter as opposed to Passover. Until that time, the church celebrated the death and resurrection at the same time as the Jewish passover...but the coercion used to bring all churches into the Papal umbrella with easter continued afterward with Sunday. Interesting history.

I have no hatred for Sabbath keeping at all, anyone that wants to is their business entirely, it doesn't bother me in the slightest.........i only hate it when some one or religious institution tries to judge/rule me in regards to it.  Because in those cases it becomes another spirit trying to bring me under its control/rule.