I would guess it is because God has unlimited creativity and weaving all the circumstances in a life together, it just comes out different each time. :applause: :laugh:
The NT has many examples of Salvation...Grace an Dennis have touched on it an shown that each person is a unique creation unto the LORD...each person has a perspective, personality, character traits...etc...GOD is not a Boring GOD an After all He likes a Challenge...He knew what He was gettin with us All...:winksmile:...So Leon...you know ima simple Gal...when the question is asked Why ?...Its cuz GOD said so !!!...Luv ya all....xo
I cannot argue with anything you have posted, it is all true, but I was making a different point. Let's look at the following scripture:
Luk 14:16 Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,
Luk 14:17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'
Luk 14:18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.'
Luk 14:19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.'
Luk 14:20 Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'
Luk 14:21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'
Luk 14:22 And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'
Luk 14:23 Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luk 14:24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.' "
We see those that were called and refused. (Free will in defiance of God)
We see God's change from Jew to Gentile, and their acceptance of the call. (Free will to follow God)
But then we also see those who had no choice. (Verse 23, compel means force)
So see, in all our arguing and calling names, saying one or the other was not saved, etc., we were all wrong. Both are biblical, it just depends on which group you belong in.
Much love,
Leon
PS - This entire parable is about salvation, so context cannot be used as an excuse to continue arguing this point.
Well now bother...wish ya would of put these scriptures up in the openin...Yes Sir these scriptures sure are bout Excuses an Salvation...your point is well made an taken...excellant Leon...:applause:...xo
If you are asking why the salvation experiances vary, it's because we are on different paths. Some find the Lord from the gutter and others receive Him from their earliest days. Some read and believe at once and others struggle.
We are all different, but there is one Lord waiting for those who will come to Him.:angel:
For some reason the Holy Spirit just reminded me of this story in the Bible. I always loved this.
2Sa 4:4 In addition, Saul's son Jonathan had a son who was crippled. When the boy was five years old, the news about the death of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled to Gittaim. She was in a hurry when she left, and he fell from her arms and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)
2Sa 9:1 David asked, "Is there anyone left in Saul's family to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"
2Sa 9:2 Now, Saul's family had a servant whose name was Ziba. He was summoned to come to David. "Are you Ziba?" the king asked him. "Yes, I am," he answered.
2Sa 9:3 David asked, "Is there someone left in Saul's family to whom I can show God's kindness?" "Jonathan has a son who is disabled," Ziba answered.
2Sa 9:4 "Where is he?" the king asked. Ziba replied, "He is at the home of Machir, Ammiel's son, in Lo Debar."
2Sa 9:5 So King David sent men to get him from the home of Ammiel's son Machir in Lo Debar.
2Sa 9:6 When Mephibosheth (son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul) came to David, he quickly bowed down with his face touching the ground. "Mephibosheth!" David said to him. "Yes, sir," he answered.
2Sa 9:7 "Don't be afraid," David told him, "I will certainly show you kindness for your father Jonathan's sake. I will give back to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table."
2Sa 9:8 Mephibosheth bowed down again and answered, "Who am I that you would look at a dead dog like me?"
2Sa 9:9 Then the king called for Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family.
2Sa 9:10 You, your sons, and your servants should farm the land for him and harvest the crops so that your master's family will have food to eat. However, your master's grandson Mephibosheth will always eat at my table." (Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.)
2Sa 9:11 Ziba responded, "I will do everything you've commanded, Your Majesty." From then on, Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons.
2Sa 9:12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. Everyone who lived at Ziba's home became Mephibosheth's servant.
2Sa 9:13 However, Mephibosheth, who was disabled, lived in Jerusalem. He always ate at the king's table.
Your response looks like you believe that a person actually finds Yeshua, and that Yeshua is just waiting for someone to be coming to Him.
I do not find this in the Word of God.
Man has never ever looked for the Lord:Since Adam and Eve
Sinned and hid themselves from the Lord,He looked for them.
Since this time the Lord looks for us,not the other way around.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
The Lord asks Adam:Do you know where you are.
Man does not come on his own merits,or his own strength,nor his own initiative.
Rather the Father has to draw man unto Himself.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Left to our own will and ways, man/we desire evil,we desire ungodliness,we desire this life and everything within this realm.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Rom 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Without Yeshua/Jesus there is no way to the Father,There is No Life of God;No Justification,No Redemption,No Godly Righteousness,No Holiness,No Sanctification,and No Glorification Unto Eternal life.
There is only death and seperation from the Lord.
I hope you believe the Gospel Of Yeshua the Christ of God.
I hope that you are trusting Yeshua as your Lord and Saviour.
I trust that you will understand my concerns for you,and for what you write.
You brought back memories for me with that quote. A couple of years ago, I gave a sermon on that using the following as a reference scripture:
2Sa 5:8 Now David said on that day, "Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites (the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul), he shall be chief and captain." Therefore they say, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house."
When I first read this I couldn't believe my eyes! Why would a man after God's own heart hate the disabled? But as I read and prayed, it came to me. This was talking about the spiritually blind and lame. It describes the journey to maturity.
First he separated himself from all the evil he could, and hated those that were doing it, just as we did when first being saved. He didn't yet know how to hate the sin and not the sinner.
After conquering his kingdom, and putting his house in order, (getting himself straightened out) he looked for someone to help. He brought him into his house, gave him his inheritance, and fed him bread from his table daily.
It is a beautiful story when it is all put together. I know I didn't do it justice here, but you see where it was going.
