I'm not saying you or anyone here denies living for the Lord Donna but how I read this scripture is that man does have on small bit of effort to take part in all God provides in grace... God gives all things and even after entering into a relationship with God we are led and sanctified by his indwelling spirit in all things throughout our lives .
I may be thinking wrong and welcome criticism but it seems to me God has set the table providing grace, faith and salvation in Christ... our only need is to (submit) to Him, repent, come to obedience by His leading receive the gift and let God be our God..
[12]�But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
[13]�who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
[14]�And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[15]�(John bore witness about him, and cried out, �This was he of whom I said, �He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.��)
[16]�For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17]�For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
[18]�No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
(John 1:12-18 ESV)
ESV Notes...
John 1:12�13 Receive him implies not merely intellectual agreement with some facts about Jesus but also welcoming and submitting to him in a personal relationship. �Believed in� (Gk. pisteuō eis) implies personal trust. His name refers to all that is true about him, and therefore the totality of his person. Born, not of blood � , but of God makes clear that neither physical birth nor ethnic descent nor human effort can make people children of God, but only God�s supernatural work (8:41�47; cf. 3:16). This extends the possibility of becoming God�s children to Gentiles and not just Jews (11:51�52; cf. 10:16). See also 3:3�8. To all � who believed � he gave the right indicates that saving faith precedes becoming members of God�s family through adoption as his children.
Some salt in the wound just makes a Raider fan tougher girls so bring it! ;) lol Yup the Broncos looked pretty darn tough last night so we'll see if they can keep it going when they come to Oakland. I don't have a back up team Cat, Raider fans are loyal and don't jump ship even if they do stink! lol Come play off time if my team doesn't make it I do cheer our division champ though even if they are the Broncos so there.
Teach, I realized after I made to comment last night that hey... Miami has won 3 in a row huh? Hopefully they will put on a football clinic when they play the Patriots too!
I've been more baseball fan also and guess what? I'm an A's fan too Teach so we may be having some more fun and if your boys make past the first series... :boxing::buddies:
Well your Dolphins are looking pretty good this year, if they get past 2 wins it will be a true miracle dear! just teasing my friend.. My younger brother is a dolphin fan too so our super bowls are when our two teams play and it gets pretty rowdy :)
Oh my!! And here I thought we were friends... hehehe
It's looking bad for my boys first half so far... but the door isn't closed yet and underdogs ain't bit em where the door should'a hit em yet! XO Teach! ;)
Being from the area and a Raiders fan since I was a young boy I'm gonna just gonna say... it's Raiders over the Broncos tonight!!! :dancingp::bouncy::dancingp: LOL
I went to a youth service retreat this weekend. Was for a nearby Christian camp grounds in the nearby mountains to help ready for winter by stacking a bunch of split fire wood and clearing some of the out lying property of some burned brush and making burn piles mainly. Got rained on, hailed on and was miserable and cold! lol I had almost backed out out from this trip last minute because by leave time Friday not all the kids who signed up to go showed yet, n to be honest... I just didn't feel I belonged being a part of this, me having no young kids involved and all.
We'd forgotten a couple items to bring along so made a quick trip to walmart and picked up the bus we were to be taking up country and by the time we were back the kid count had grown from 10 to 16, with 15 parents there. Still, I thought gosh! I'm not needed here so I'll try to weasel my way out of this trip and finally take a free weekend from work and just watch some ballgames and relax...
not a chance!
They would not allow it and made me keep my commitment! lol
What if I had backed out?
So glad they did, (if not) I wouldn't have gotten to get miserably soaked by rain, pelted by hail, shivering cold and a sore back! hehe
The positive and bestest thing was that we all became closer and shared an experience by working together side by side with a common goal, in service to the Lord helping this camp and not for ourselves. The evenings ended in a devotion where we all shared and participated and centered the day's experiences on the Lord, then finished with a good game of kick the can for the kids in attempt to tire the young n still energetic kids out for some sleep.
