"Has He saved you from depression and suicidal/self mutilating thoughts? Or restore your family who you have never heard from or seen in over 15 years? Or putting the right person in your path who blessed you with money for a need when you were broke? How about when you need a place for a roof over your head, and watch as he opened a door in less than 5 days that lets you live within walking distance from the Church He has you at?
*****My brother, if you don't have any testimonies that are like this, then you have never truly experienced what it means to live for Christ.."*****
"Did I say it would have been better that you were a drug addict, or have to have been through sexual abuse as a child growing up or any of the other extremes you said?"
Take a week. Think about what you have said. Then compare it to what God has said.
Would you feel more comfortable if I overdosed on drugs, or was sexually molested as a boy, or committed a bunch of felonies, or grew up so poor that I picked stale donuts out of a trash can behind the donut shop, or maybe had a father that spent a year in the state mental hospital? Just curious as to what it would take for God's word to be respected as a source of love and grace.
Think you that God's grace and love does not fully envelop every word of His testimony about His universe? Do you think His standards are not His love and grace trying to protect people from future harm?
Will you show love and grace to God in the choosing of His weak vessels that He chooses to communicate His truth and take His word as His, and not those of the messenger? Or will you judge the messenger and decide whether or not you will accept the message as from the Lord, based on the acceptability of the messenger? it is God's grace that allows you to question the messenger-servant. Would you prefer a donkey so you were sure it was from Him? God's commands are full of grace and love to keep us from harm. If Satan tempts us to think any other thing, we can respond, "It is written, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and IS PROFITABLE... ."", and God intends it for my well being, and I will accept it as such.
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity[a] that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted�you may well put up with it!" 2 Corinthians 11
"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at[a] His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
God does not want false doctrine going unchecked. He expresses His concern that some might put up with it, and He instructs us that we must not. He commands us to be vigilant in opposing it. This needs to be understood as an act of love and grace towards His sheep for their protection, especially of those who have no reached maturity, that are subject to being easily swayed away from truth into believing lies that will harm them and those around them. On a dime, Jesus would turn and rebuke sin, and expose the error of their thinking. No doubt He seemed a man out of control and in sin to those many of those who witnessed the two cleansings of the temple. But He was in perfect control, fully submitted to the Father, and fully submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
"For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man�s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For �who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?� But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2
And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
You see but an extremely thin sliver, and think you know the heart of the speaker? Were you there yesterday, when a young man in a rage was calmed and said he felt better and like I knew what was in his heart as the Spirit gave me wisdom regarding my words to the young man? Assume nothing. Pray always. Pray people understand God's word comes from His hand down from heaven, not from the hand of man.
"�For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,� says the Lord. 9 �For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 �For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55
"Being a new creation in Christ means that you have been renewed. The old sinful person you once were has gone as a result of your being completely renewed through Christ. In fact, the word renew can be defined as "changing into something new and different, something better." "
This is in fact, false. God does not rehab the old us. He makes a new us when He causes us to be born again. The old man still exists, as Paul clearly states in Romans chapter 6. Of the old man he says to reckon, or consider it to be so, that the old man is crucified. verse 11.
Understand the difference between positional truth, that which is true in heaven, but yet to occur on earth, and understand that this positional truth only has application as we appropriate the truth in our daily walk. Please read Romans chapter 6-8, and understand Paul says "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." Positionally, the old man is crucified, but we can yield to the flesh, and obey it's desire. Remember, if Christians can't sin, the APOSTLE Paul has no business saying he serves the law of sin with the flesh. So we need to realize our position in Christ, that the new man cannot sin, as the Apostle John says, but the dual natures are at war, one with the other, until such time as we go to be with the Lord. It's a matter of submission.
It sounds like you are not satisfied with persecution, but are looking to provoke an attack on yourself which gets you killed. This is not martyrdom. Just because someone persecutes you does not mean they intend to kill you.
Again, I suggest you memorize Ephesians 6:10ff, so that you can be focused on the warfare that God has called you to undertake.
If one is dying for Christ, he is laying down his life. He is fighting the spiritual battle.
"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, �Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,� says the Lord. 20 Therefore �If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.� 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:14-21
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints� 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Ephesians 6:10-20
"�You have heard that it was said, �You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.� 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
There are times, like when you are in the company of Christ when He makes war, you fight a physical battle for Christ, but that is not the nature of our most important warfare now, in His absence from the earth, and we are not the nation of Israel. The rule is that leaders of the nations are charged with keeping the peace at the borders by war, not individual people on their own.
Christ didn't commission the church to fight holy war physically. That is the error of the Crusades. We are to fight the spiritual battle, in the spiritual realm.
If you want to be a successful front line warrior, get out your bible and get on your knees and start praying through the scriptures.
To be more specific, because it will be raised, the word keep, is not used in the context of guarding a wall, but in tending a garden. To keep a garden is to maintain it, not guard it. H8104 is primarily translated as keep, 283 times, but sparingly as watchman/guard, only 8 times.
Context, context, context. In its more narrow context, the one here, it is being in charge of and maintaining the garden. The minority meaning has to do with keeping a watch, as in guard duty. Adam wasn't on guard duty, he was taking care of the garden.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, �Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.�
18 And the Lord God said, �It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.� 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: �This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.�
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, �Has God indeed said, �You shall not eat of every tree of the garden�?�
2 And the woman said to the serpent, �We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, �You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.��
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, �You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.�
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, �Where are you?�
10 So he said, �I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.�
11 And He said, �Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?�
12 Then the man said, �The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.�
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, �What is this you have done?�
The woman said, �The serpent deceived me, and I ate.�
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
�Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.�
16 To the woman He said:
�I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.�
17 Then to Adam He said, �Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, �You shall not eat of it�:
�Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.�
20 And Adam called his wife�s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, �Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever�� 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Where exactly does it says that Adam was to "guard" the garden? The only ones I see charged with guarding the garden were the cherubim, after the fall, and after Adam was driven from the garden.
Where exactly does it say that Adam was a bum? Adam was busy with tending the garden and naming the animals in a sinless state until he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which Eve gave to him.
These comments, that Adam was a negligent bum do not fit the story, and it appears you have added to God's word as well, by suggesting them as facts of the story. I don't see where it says anything about Adam failing to communicate the truth to Eve. I do see where God included where Eve offered up a wrong answer concerning the matter.
Considering the context and order of God's narrative, the inference is that Eve was the one who came up with the error. Of this there can be no doubt, she gave the errant answer. God was intending to communicate a specific truth. He is not careless about detail.
To come up with your conclusion, one must add to the word of God. One must add to the story 3 things. 1. Adam was a bum. 2. He was supposed to be guarding the garden, instead of tending the garden and naming all the animals. 3. That he misinformed Eve regarding God's statement about the matter.
And we've not even touched on the reality that Eve was deceived. How? By whom? By Adam? No. Adam was sinless, and would not be trying to deceive Eve. She was deceived by the serpent.
See how crafty the evil one is? He tries even here to shift the focus from the sin of adding to God's word, to who was the one who did it first. Is that the most important part of the lesson? No. The most important detail is to know the evil of adding to God's word.
But Satan would have you focus on anything but that, and keep you focusing on, what in the big picture, is the far less relevant question of who, between Adam and Eve, added to God's word first. The takeaway is this. Don't add to God's word.
This is beginner bible study material. I am mindful of Paul's stern admonition in 1 Corinthians 3 when I say, if you cannot handle this simple exercise, you need to be very careful about representing what is said in the bible, unless you are quoting it in its entire context.
I will make it as simple as possible.
1. What did God say about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
2. What did Eve say God said about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
3. How does what Eve say about what God said differ from what He actually said?
"And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;" 1 Corinthians 3:1ff
Again, that is not what is STATED IN THE TEXT. There is a specific error made plain by the text, if you read for detail. You get the answer from the text itself.
COMPARE
"The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
...
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, �Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.�" Genesis 2:8-17
WITH
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, �Has God indeed said, �You shall not eat of every tree of the garden�?� And the woman said to the serpent, �We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, �You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.��"
This is why some many do so poorly in life. Poor understanding of how to let the text speak for itself in it's own simple language. This is a very basic lesson in compare and contrast.
