but if I may call you out a bit please???�Yes you may�an please do an thank you�
1) What is "grace"�
*** Well�Gods� Grace At Christ�s Expense�Grace is a Gift, a Pardon if you will�for Past, Present an Future Sins/Crimes Against an Separation from GOD�the payment for Grace is Christ Jesus*�It is nothing You do in or of Yer Self�It is from GOD�
2) What does it mean to "call on a name"�
*** Well�to me it means�Salvation an I Surrender All that I am to the Lord Jesus*�I Willingly GIVE him back My Free Will�Cuz�I can�t�He can�an Ima let Him be my Lord an Savoir�for without Him�I am and can do nothing�Truly�.
3) Isn't it kinda selfish to only want to be " saved from hell"?�
*** Hummm�I see an hear what yer sayin�Hell�means Eternal Damnation an SEPERATION from GOD�Already been there an done that�an I don�t ever want that again�Is wanting an needing a relationship with GOD/Jesus for Eternity Selfish ?�Now ifin I wanted it for only Me�that would be Selfish�When I shared in my first reply � My Self of course ��meaning as my Free Will an Choices ( Sinful Nature ) Separated me from GOD in the past�
We who have been christians for awhile speak a different language and often don't even realize it, don't you think? ***YUP !!!�Very True�That is why Paul said he becomes everything to everyone�To share the Gosplel with the Jews�he relates it as Jew�to the Gentile�as a Gentile�I will add...To a Child...as a Child... :-)...Hope that all makes sense�xo
Luke 18:17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.�
@2Sparrows,
This may not be what you were after...probably way too much and it's not all inclusive, but it is the gist of what I've told my daughter over her seven years...and she helped me with the writing, so it is child theology. :-) It's how I explained to her concepts such as sin, sacrifice, grace, etc.
Thanks for this topic. There is such beauty in the simplicity of the message...especially when we get away from our christianeze.
Once upon an in the beginning, God made the earth and everything in it. He is perfect and He made everything perfect and it was beautiful and good. He made people and He loved them very much. He put them in a beautiful garden where they would be with Him and live forever.
God told them not to eat a fruit that was in the garden or they would die. They did not believe God, they disobeyed Him and ate it anyway. This is how death came into the world. They weren't perfect anymore the way God made them. They could not stay in the perfect garden and be with a perfect God. They had to leave the garden and be apart from God and could no longer live forever. God was very sad because He loved His children very much.
God gives us rules to live by that keep us from hurting ourselves and others. When we disobey those rules, it is called sin. When we sin, it makes us die. God loves us so He made a plan so we could all live together again. First, God said that when people disobeyed or sinned, they could put those sins on an animal and the animal would be killed or die for their sin. This is called a sacrifice. But, this only lasted for a short time. God had a better plan that would save His children from their sin and death for ever and ever.
God, our Father, has a son, Jesus, who is perfect just like Him. He loved us so much that He sent His only son, Jesus, to earth to die for all our sins and be a perfect sacrifice. Because we sin and disobey, we deserve to die. But Jesus gave up His life for our sins so we can live with Him forever. He gave us a beautiful gift that we really don't deserve. This is called Grace. When He was killed for our sins, Jesus fought death and won. He came back to life, and God, our Father, made Him King over everything. When we believe, or have faith, in the gift of Grace that Jesus gave us...that He died for our sins and saved us from death, then we will live with Him forever in His Kingdom.
The question comes up from time to time as to whether or not a person is really "saved," and/or really "born again." Some need to take self-inventory of their spiritual condition, because it is possible that God is warning them that they are not really saved and/or spiritually born again.
Is there a difference between being "saved" and "born again?" No. You can't truly be saved unless you become born again, and you can't truly be born again and not be saved.
The problem or confusion sometimes comes, however, with people who may have prayed "the sinners prayer," (or sometimes referred to as a "prayer of salvation"), attend church regularly and maybe even join a church, for instance ... and there is no obvious Christ-like change being manifested in their life as time passes (commonly known as Godly, Christ-like, Holy Spirit fruit manifesting in their life). Though they may confess Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, they continue to go on sinning just like before, seeking God's continual forgiveness, but never engaging in true repentance (which means: change! ... not just continually asking for God's forgiveness and leaving it at that) for their criminal acts against God (which is what sin really is, in the highest extent) and/or serious obedience to the commands of the New Testament (The New Covenant).
Trying to keep it simple (though it is not so seemingly simple at all in many cases, I realize), from a balanced Biblical perspective ... the person who does not genuinely manifest any Godly fruit in due season using the New Testament Bible as their measuring device in which to judge their thoughts and actions . . . that person is not saved, neither is that person truly born again. They are only hoping they are. They are self-deceived, sadly.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." -- Matthew 7:21
Over-riding the above . . . God is the sole Judge of who will make it to heaven and those who will not. God knows the heart of each of us, and no mere human can see what God sees, or knows. Yet confusion abounds about this issue, and so I will make my best attempt to try to do the topic some justice that God will not fault me for at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Please allow me to build on hopefully a proper foundation, as we address this topic of being "saved" and "born again," and spiritual issues related to it. My prayer and heart's desire is that the Holy Spirit pours out His grace upon me in doing so, so I do not confuse people anymore than what they already may be.
Salvation (or becoming "saved") is a free gift. Becoming spiritually born again is also a free gift. Both are not something you or I do on our own exclusively. God the Father draws us to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and we submit to that drawing. We don't make a decision to follow Jesus Christ solely on our own ... whereby the Holy Spirit then suddenly just shows up to help us in our spiritual relationship with Christ. It's the other way around. The Father first draws us through the Holy Spirit -- we then begin to submit to His drawing (and experience teaches us this "drawing process" can be over a long period of time for many -- a short period of time for others). We get some understanding from the following scriptures of how this spiritual process works:
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." -- John 6:44 (NKJV)
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." -- John 6:63 (NKJV)
"And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." -- John 14:16-17 (NKJV)
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." -- John 16:13-15 (NKJV)
1) Grace means unmerited favor; in simple words: God loves us even though we do not deserve it; He loves us because of who He is, not because of who we are.
2) I will have to research what it means to "call on a name" outside of a christian context.
3) yes seperation would be hell!
I liked that scripture about Paul ---1Cor 9:22 good stuff. Which means if we are share Christ with non-believers we should be able to speak their language .
You are right ; once people say the sinners prayer, attend a chruch and learn chriztianeze they may think everything is fine. When in fact if they do not know the simple truth of the Gospel they are in danger of just practicing a routine, ritual, traditions of men or religion.
When you eat dinner and you have leftovers�what do you do with them? You �Save them��right? What must you do to them in order to �save �them? You must place them in a �State� that will prevent them from �Rotting� and eventually �Decaying�. The leftover did nothing themselves that Saved them�other than �Allowing� you to �Save� them (granted we are not vegetables, but you get my drift).
By placing them in this �State� you �Save� them from �Death� (decaying).
Translating this into Christianeze�God�s Grace places us in a State of Grace�thus Saving us from Death (Spirtual Death). We do nothing to Merit this�but simply Submit Freely to it.
Is this what you were asking TwoSparrowsInTheBush? (snIcKEr).
