I intend to post Real Vision quotes every now and then for us to reflect on. Here is our first one.
Speaking of a complex and controversial doctrine in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, the great reformer and Pastor John Calvin says this:
"If this thought prevails with us that the Word of the Lord is the sole way that can lead us in our search for all that is lawful to hold concerning Him, and is the sole light to illumine our vision of all that we should see of Him, it will readily keep and restrain us from all rashness. For we shall know that the moment we exceed the bounds of the Word, our course is outside the pathway and in darkness, and that there we must repeatedly wander, slip, and stumble."
Beautiful quote. This is something that many Bible believing Christians would never even think to disagree with. Yet, many of us fail to apply it. In our wrestling with complex doctrines, or wondering how to live our lives, we argue from logic and our own rationale instead of the Scriptures. Too often people are quick to throw out doctrines that don't fit their views. But what if the Bible says it? If I hear one more argument based on, "My God wouldn't do that" or "That doesn't seem right" I will pull my hair out, braid by braid lol. The Scriptures alone must be our guide. Our logic and rationale must follow suit. May we come to the Scriptures and submit all of our biases and presuppositions to what God has to say. For a moment forget about your denomination, your theological persuasion, or your church's doctrinal statement and take your cues from the Holy Spirit. Listen to what Jesus has to say:
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." John 16:13-15
Praise the Lord for His Holy Spirit. We must love Him. We must worship Him. The Holy Spirit is truly incredible. Don't sleep on Him. We owe Him our lives! Stand in awe of His moral perfection, of His wisdom, of His power. He is patient and oh so humble. He is our God. May we obey His Word
Comments
If we're going to make REAL change in this world, for people's hearts, and really spread the kingdom of God, and not just speak a lot of theology that we ultimately can't prove and that ultimately may or may not influence others, we MUST live through the Spirit. We have to realize that we are part of a great spiritual battle (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Ephesians 6:10-20, Luke 22:35-38), and so how can we ever go into battle expecting to win without a source of power? Through the Spirit come spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22), and power for witnessing (Acts 1:8, Romans 15:13, 19) etc. I just can't stress how essential the Spirit is - he is God with us, right now! The question we should be asking and earnestly seeking the answer to is "what do I have to do to bring into reality in my life the promises of God in regards to his Spirit?"
hint: see John 3:1-8, Romans 8, Galatians 2:20, Romans 12:1
we gotta grow, y'all! It's through the Spirit that we can do just that. God bless and thanks again Reach for the Jesus muzik lol
We gotta pray, stay submitted and like you said Trip let our minds be renewed daily by his Word and Spirit. Keep pushing into the grace of Christ
In Romans 12:1, Paul said that presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, is a reasonable thing to do. And Romans 12:2 goes on to say that we should not be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind, proving what is good, acceptable, and perfect, the will of God. The scripture that Pastor focused on here was this:
Romans 12:3
"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
My pastor mentioned that sometimes we put our opinions, rationale, etc. higher than God's Word. For example, if God asks us to do something, we might not because really we think its unreasonable, and we may think we have a better way of getting around this thing. Or, if we are faced with a complex situation, we might turn to our education or some book written by some psychologist instead of turning to the Word of God.
But God's Word says whatever His requests, commandments, laws, and scriptures say are reasonable things, they're good, they're perfect, and it's His will. We shouldn't be conformed to the things of the world, but transformed by our renewed mind that we received through salvation. In addition, we shouldn't put ourselves or anyone else higher than God, no matter how much education or common sense we have or who we know and what they know. And, like you said, the Word of God tells us that the Holy Spirit leads us into truth, He guides us; yeah that voice you hear telling you "don't do it!" is the holy Spirit, lol. So not only did He lay out how we should live in His scriptures, but He also gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us every step of the way. He loves us just that much!
And I love Him so much. Just like Jesus said, He has lead me to so much truth and kept me out of so much stuff that could have really been bad for me. He just continues to reveal things to me and lift me up everyday. I thank God for the Holy Spirit and for His Word. Thank You Jesus!
Sincerely, Jatima Simmons, Sag. MI
And I don't know what to do...
What did YOU do? how did you get out of that problem?
I REALLY need to know... thanks...
I mean, that song Describes me to a T (Cryin out)
i mean, i was SOOOO close to God and now i feel so distant, (Even started questioning my salvation too)
again, if you can help me out with advice, on how you handled it... i'd GREATLY appreciate it..
May the Lord Bless you!
E-mail address = twoadvanced4yall@yahoo.com
~God Bless~
I just want u to know u and the 116 fam has inspired me in such a way I cant explain. I thank God 4 u guys. And i want u to know that i pray for u, and i wanted to encourage u to keep goin no matter how hard it gets, because the the evil one gets angry when he sees the glory goin to God.
Grace
Trip you talked about going back to the word. Recall when Jesus the beloved SON was getting baptized by John the baptist. A voice from Heaven was heard, and the Holy Ghost descended LIKE a dove, while Jesus was in the river getting BAPTIZED! There was 3 different personages in that event. The scripture are filled with Jesus being described as the Son of God, or the Son of Man. In addition Jesus continues to describe a God seperate to himself known as the Father. Our Heavenly Father. Jesus sits in the right hand of The Father.
My point however is not to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ or the Word by which all things where created that was ever created by the Father. In the "Preexistence" or as the Bible says before the foundation of the world existed Heavenly Father (Elohim) and Jehovah (The Spirit of Christ). They and the Holy Ghost were the us that Genesis refers too when the creator says "now we have seen that man has become like us knowing good and evil" and are the team that God created this world and innumerable worlds.
Christ frequently admonished us to be One, even as me and my Father are one. Does this mean we are to become one entity? Or simply one in our goals to become more godly and more like our Oldest spiritual Brother Jesus Christ who existed with the Father from the beginning? We are definitly to be bound by a unity that doesn't mean assimilation into one entity.
To make a long story short there's no arguing that Jesus is God. However the way He is God is as a prince in the Godhead. Who is subjecting Himself to the King, our Father in Heaven. There is another head in this monarchy which it the Spirit who was sent down to be with us because Jesus was to return to His thrown in Heaven and His placement in the right hand of God.
I testify to you all in the Name of Jesus Christ that what I have written is the true nature of the Godhead. Amen.
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