Posts tagged ‘fellowship with god’
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 5
Christians who live like the people who are lost in this dark world have no fellowship with God at all, though they have salvation (if they are true Christians). Let’s remember that John is writing to actual believers, true Christians. He is not questioning their salvation. He is providing them guidelines to understand how to enter into fellowship with God in Christ. The Christian whose life is virtually no different from those around him/her who are lost, might have salvation, but has no fellowship with God at all. John is very clear about this.
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 3
I’m not saying that if we get serious about fellowship with God, America will turn around and God will once again make her a great nation. That’s not the point at all to 1 John and frankly, I believe we have passed the tipping point there long ago. God wants us to fellowship with Him because He wants to use us in the Great Commission. A time is coming when things will be exceedingly dark and even though I believe the Rapture will occur prior to the Tribulation, I have absolutely no idea when the Rapture will occur or specifically how dark and evil things will get before that event. We cannot count on it whisking us away to the safety of heaven though it will happen.
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 1
People who become born again or born from above (cf. John 3) are still required to make the decision to enter into fellowship with God on a daily basis. When we choose not to fellowship with God, the world seems far more appealing.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 20
Look, if Satan can’t keep a person from gaining salvation (he can’t), he will do whatever he can to keep us from fellowship with God (he can). In essence, this is what he accomplished in the Garden of Eden through his temptation to eat of the forbidden fruit. He knew that succumbing to that temptation would cause the fellowship that Adam and Eve enjoyed would be broken. The final result was death, spiritually and physically. Satan knows that he cannot keep people from gaining salvation so his next best thing is to keep them from fellowship.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 19
There has been tremendous confusion among believers (myself included), over this whole issue of eternal security. I believe, along with Kelley and many others, that salvation is absolutely something that we can never lose once we actually have it. Fellowship with God, on the other hand, is something that can be broken and even destroyed because it is conditioned, as Kelley notes, upon our behavior. Though God will never cast us out of His Kingdom, He will not continue to fellowship with us when we involve ourselves in sin. It’s that simple. Though all of our sin – past, present, and future – is forgiven by God, we still need to confess it as we are made aware of it because it is that sin that dampens and breaks our fellowship with God. Once we realize that we have sinned, confessing it restores that fellowship with God.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 17
When Moses met with God on the mountain, there was certainly a “to do” list of sorts and part of that included giving the Ten Commandments. Other parts included providing all the parameters for the building of the tabernacle, which eventually became the Temple under Solomon. Still other areas included all aspects of the Law, including the ceremonial aspects of the Law that dealt with daily living in Israel. But Moses also simply enjoyed God’s presence and who wouldn’t? It was through this “face-to-face” that Moses began to learn about and got to know the Pre-incarnate Jesus. It was based on these experiences with Jesus that Moses grew in knowledge of the Lord, how He wanted things done, and how He expected Moses to live before Him.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 7
There could be no debate. Jesus would actually raise someone from the dead! Jesus constantly saw the Father at work and partnered with Him in order to help complete the Father’s will. This is our calling as well. We’ll probably never be used by God to raise someone from the dead. We will probably be used for more of the seemingly mundane things, albeit extremely important things of God. We will do so by “looking” to see what the Father is doing. This is done by keeping our spiritual eyes open through prayer and also by simply keeping our physical eyes open to see what the Lord brings into our lives each day. Going through life in an attitude of prayer brings us and keeps us close to God. It also makes us sensitive to the Spirit’s movement in our lives so that we see needs and realize that we are in a position to meet them.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 3
I would like to remind that entering into fellowship with God is something that is only available to authentic Christians, those who have, by faith, received salvation. This salvation changes our legal standing before God from unrighteous to righteous and provides a way for us to enter into that fellowship. Scripture provides many references to the fact that God does not hear the prayers of those considered (labeled) unrighteous (unless of course, it is the prayer for salvation). Whether or not we fellowship with God is up to us, though God will do what He can to draw us to Him. I’m hoping that you will see why fellowship is only available to authentic Christians (and how we enter into it), as you continue to read this series.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 2
We should not have fellowship with God in order to get what we want from Him. We do not fellowship with God in order to see Him as the Genie in the Sky who wishes to lavish material gifts on us. We fellowship with Him because we want to partner with Him. He will then work in and through us to bring others to Him for salvation. In the process, He will refashion our character so that it becomes more like His. It is to the degree by which we partner with Him in this life that we are rewarded with greater responsibilities in the next. You don’t care about fellowship with God (on His terms) now? Don’t expect much beyond salvation in the next life.
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 1
While our legal standing has nothing at all to do with our feelings (though the more we realize the truth of our legal standing before God in Christ, the greater the chance that our feelings will react to that truth in a very positive way that makes us feel wonderful!), relationships do involve our feelings, but they should be kept in check when it appears as though they are trying to guide or direct that relationship. Feelings should always be a reaction to truth and in that way, feelings can react to our legal standing and our fellowship with God. They should be allowed to do that, but they should never direct the way we think. Feelings/emotions should always react to truth. They should never create the way we think or believe.
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