1 John 2:7-29 Bible Study Leading
I wrote this as notes for a Bible study at Aaron's house 11/30/2004, going over the book of 1 John. Erin and I are going to be leading week 2 of the study, tonight, with these notes and some other discussion points on chapter 2, verses 7 through 29 (end of chapter). I don't think it will be emailed out as it is rather long but I think it makes good study / reading for the website so I'm including it under 'Other'. Much grace and peace, Todd Leroy
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
Beloved is a term of endearment used to address fellow believers, John was the ‘beloved’ disciple (John 13:23), and uses the term approx 10 times in his epistles.
Let’s figure out what this commandment is right away. Let’s look at two passages, 1 John 3:11 and 2 John 1:5, and the answer to this question will become exceedingly obvious.
1 John 3:11 “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
2 John 1:5 “And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.”
Okay, now it should also be clear what John means by ‘from the beginning’. He’s talking about a shared beginning and the ‘beginning’ that is most relevant now, at the writing of the letter. This commandment that has been with them from the beginning is part of the good news of Jesus, the Christ of God, coming in the flesh. ‘The beginning’ refers to the beginning of their new lives in Christ.
8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
John says at the same time this commandment we just talked about, to love one another, is also new. Who else said something very similar to that? Let’s look at John 13:34,
John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
So it’s old in the sense that it has been with them from the beginning of their lives in Christ but it is new as Christ said it was new because he is the true light that is already shining.
How do we know that Christ is this true light? Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”...But, later, in John 9:5, he says, “As long as I am in the world… I am the light of the world.” Who does Jesus say is the light of the world in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14? “You are the light of the world.”…we are the light of the world… ”A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (vs. 15-16)
What does it mean for light to be true? True light isn’t sunlight, moonlight, firelight, or starlight. Does anyone know of a prophecy that refers to a light to come? Isaiah 60:19-20 is a prophecy that talks about a coming light and contrasts it against lights of the sun and moon. It gives us a great idea:
19 The sun shall be no more
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give you light;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
nor your moon withdraw itself;
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning shall be ended.
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
The new commandment in verses 7 & 8 is for believers about loving, not hating, other believers. Everyone should show love to everyone but God says we are to love ‘one another’, exclusive, just as he has loved us in Christ. If you break this command, you’re not a believer. You’re not in the true light of Christ. The true light is not in you. You are in the darkness of sin and lostness. How can John say that? How do we reconcile, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) and this verse, chapter 2 vs. 9 which seems to say if one commits this particular sin of hating his brother, the truth is not in him either? I want to draw a line of distinction between what we would call ‘hating’ another believer by sinning against him or her and what we would more liken to hating God himself.
10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
In order to love other believers, as believers, we must abide in the light and love of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin, chapter 1 verse 7, and gives us fellowship, love, with each other. There is no ‘cause’ as the verse says here, for stumbling or sinning, but unfortunately there may from time to time (after time) be an effect, indeed, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” even the sin of ‘hating’ a brother.
See also John 15:5 – “apart from me,” Christ says, “you can do nothing,” even love your brother as you ought.
11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
This darkness is not particular to the sin of hating believers. The statement in this verse is referring to the darkness and blindness of lostness. Someone look up John 12:35, “So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.”” Jesus said the same thing about those who do not believe in the unrelated context of John 12. There’s an interlude next and I’m not quite sure how to bridge the gap here between verses 11 and 12 but we’ll just talk about what’s there in verses 12-14 and see how 11 connects with 15 after that.
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
The words translated “little children” and “children” in verses 12 and 13 are two different words. The first one is, ‘teknia’, a generic reference to ‘offspring’, children of any age or size, though referred to affectionately as ‘little’ as from parents who always call their children their babies throughout life. The word in verse 13 is, ‘paidia’, which refers to infants. John begins his poetic interlude in verses 12 to 14 by addressing all the believers he adores as ‘little children’ but then uses more specific terms to make it clear that he is addressing all of them at all of their varying stages of growth in Christ, as fathers, young men, and children, referring to their growth in maturity, not age or family relationships. In the end, we shouldn’t break this down or read into it too much, knowing that all who are in Christ Jesus are forgiven of their sins for his name’s sake, (that is saying they are saved by God for God), know him who is from the beginning,(that is God, the Father), have overcome the evil one, (that is Satan), are strong, (that is in Christ), and have the word of God abiding in them, as they abide in it in he who is the word.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
This is a command from John—“Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Love for the world and love for the Father are mutually exclusive. It’s safe to say that if the love of the Father is not in you, you are not a believer, and, as John would say and did say in verses 9 & 11, you are in the darkness, still. Why would John state it this way? If the love of the Father is not in someone, the love of the world must be. The love of the world in someone can imitate the love of the Father toward believers in goodwill, charity, and other nice things we tend to over-easily characterize as love. The world can show believers, especially nominal believers, this love like anyone else but it is not the love of the Father which may be for the world but is not in the world. Let’s look at John 15:19 and John 17:14.
John 15:19, Jesus says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
John 17:14, Jesus says, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
Okay, so the exclusiveness of the love of the Father and the love of the world is clear and stands on its own so far but we need a reason ‘why’ in order to reconcile this command, “Do not love the world or the things in the world,” with what Jesus said about loving our enemies and so on. (Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27) John gives us a couple of reasons in the next two verses.
16 For all that is in the world-- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
Everything I read about the two different desires John starts his list off with, ‘of the flesh’, and ‘of the eyes’, agree that ‘desires of the flesh’ would be things like sinful sensual gratifications, indulgences, and so on, while ‘desires of the eyes’ would be covetousness, greed, intellectual lusts of the mind and so forth. ‘Pride in possessions’, it seems to be agreed upon, refers to the world’s tendency to boast in what itself can make and its own achievements, the possessions of technology, advancement, knowledge, its own wisdom, and of course all of the gold, riches, and other trinkets that the world has apart from God. Those things are not from the Father but are from the world. That is reason number one John gives us why love of the world is not compatible with love of the Father and, if we love the world, we prove ourselves to be falsely professing Christ as our lord and savior—if he has saved you, his light is upon you and in you; he is your lord.
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Reason number two John gives us why the love of the world is not compatible with the love of the Father is really an incentive. The world is nothing(!), wasting away(!). In the ‘harvest of the earth’ section of Revelation, John reports from his vision, “19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia,” or about 184 miles, over 5 feet deep, and if you know what a winepress is, it’s a typically round large bucket with a spigot that a man can stand in and squash all of the grapes with his feet so that the grape juice runs out of the spigot into wineskins, barrels, or what have you, until they all overflow.(Rev 14:19-20) Don’t worry though, the Son who has been given authority over all flesh gives eternal life to all those whom the Father gives to him.(John 17:2) “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”(John 17:3) Don’t worry, if you do the will of God, children, young people, and parents.
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
The word ‘children’ here, again, is paidia, and so we can say that John is addressing those who are more immature in Christ and may be more subject to deception of these antichrists. I didn’t mention this before but I read that the word ‘pedagogy’ comes from this word ‘paidia’ and refers to the act of teaching. What is one aspect of immaturity that affects most new believers?--incorrect and/or undeveloped theology. That is what John used as a mark of maturity and that is what we should be looking at in the church today, rather than the multitude of other things that that have taken over as signs of maturity with the decline in popularity of good theology. Theology is, literally, the study of God. Why has it become unpopular?
Aaron gave us a great intro to this epistle last week, and he told us that essentially 1 John is written to unite and breed fellowship among believers as a book about theology. Now we’re into the part about antichrists, and what is the first way that you know to identify an antichrist?—bad theology. John says that antichrist is coming ‘so now’ many antichrists have come. The coming of the many is a sign of the coming of the one. If you did not know, let me reiterate, that ‘the last hour’ is now and has been since the advent of Christ. So who are these many antichrists? In John’s day, they were the gnostics, who denied Christ as a man being fully God and God being fully man, among others. Today they are leaders and purveyors of such “Bible-believing” cults as, Christadelphianism, The Christian Family Fellowship (Tipp City), Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, The Unification Church (Moonies), Unity School of Christianity, The Way International, Weigh Down Weight Loss Diet, and Life & Truth (WSU). They’re all around us and people are being deceived because they do not know the Bible. (see handout)
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
Now when the church gets ahold of good theology, as is John’s intent in this letter, we can see and know that it has a purging effect on the antichrists in our midst, shining a light in dark places and that it drives them away. God does not intend for the wolves to remain among his sheep. When the sheep act like sheep and know who the other sheep are by what they look like, the impostors in sheep’s clothing are exposed. In whatever way it happens, by being forced out, or leaving on their own, anti-Christ-anti-believers will not remain, or continue, with a church that is right with God, making it plain to see who God’s people are. These antichrists had a taste, John implies, and had a beginning with the believers, but they were not of them.
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
What does this mean, you have been anointed by the Holy One? First of all, the Holy One, is Jesus Christ. See John 6:69, “and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Anointing can be literal, a literal putting on of oil or something like that. It can be an appointing of one to a position, by God or by men. It can be spiritual, as we will see here, and it can also be figurative such as being anointed figuratively with ‘the oil of gladness’ (Heb. 1:9). Jesus anointed us and them with the Holy Spirit. Look up John 1:33 where John the Baptist quotes the one who sent him as saying Jesus would baptize with the holy spirit. What does it mean to have knowledge and what knowledge is John talking about? Go back to verse 7, where we started, “I am writing you no new commandment but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.” The relevant ‘knowledge’ John is speaking of here, in context, is the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in his gospel, wrapped up in this commandment, to love one another as he has loved us, by walking in his light because you are in the light, by abiding in his word because the word is in you, because the love of the Father is in us and not the love of the world.
21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
John is saying that these ones who are in Christ and have the right knowledge, know the right truth. Why? The gnostics were big on esoteric, special knowledge, receiving and revealing new knowledge, greater knowledge of God that would change, or warp rather, the word they had heard. Like all the cults I mentioned and every other cult in the past and today, the cultists want to change the fundamentals of the gospel of Jesus and/or add to that gospel additional rules, regulations, and things that one must ‘know’ are true. John is affirming the little ones that they do, in fact, already have and know the truth. There is not ‘another testament’ of Jesus Christ; there is not any strange requirement of the gospel that they have been ignorant of until the deceivers, the antichrists come along and tell them some new truth. What they say is a lie. Why? Because you know the truth. No lie is of what you know, John says.
22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
John is now specifying more exactly who the liars are—those who deny that Jesus is the Christ. What does it mean to deny that Jesus is the Christ? The obvious meaning is anyone who says that Jesus was not the Messiah, the Christ of God, ie. the Pharisees, specifically, and non-believers, generally. We know that these are liars because we know God is true. The other meaning of denying that Jesus is the Christ is denying the deity of Christ. This is what John means when he calls the antichrist, “he who denies the Father and the Son.” Every non-Christian religion denies that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus Christ is God, the Son. Most “Bible-believing,” (in quotes), cults deny that Jesus Christ is God, the Son. They have all kinds of deceptive ways to twist scripture to ‘deny the Father and the Son’ by denying the Trinity and to deny the bold words of Jesus and his apostles in their gospels and epistles. The deity of Christ is and has been a massive dividing line between orthodoxy and heresy from the earliest times of the church. Adherents to some Christian “Bible-believing” denominations that have twisted scripture in other major ways but maintain the deity of Christ are still considered believers, generally, by the Christian church at large, ie. Roman Catholics and Seventh-Day Adventists, (though it is debatable if even a majority of the members of a majority of churches in *any* denomination in America are true believers in this present day). The deity of Christ is among a list of certain ‘essentials’ that all mainstream Christian denominations agree upon, depending on who you ask. All other denominations and cults outside of mainstream Christianity do not, generally, have any true believers in their midst.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
Basically, no one who denies the Son, in any part, has the Father. If you don’t have the Father, you’re not in the light, you’re not saved, and you’re definitely not going to Heaven. Whoever confesses the fullness of the Son, his deity, and his sufficiency, has the Father and is saved. Let’s look outside of 1 John for a second, and into 2 John 1:7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” The statement, “Jesus Christ is God”, is implicit in that verse, being that only God would significantly be ‘coming in the flesh’. If Jesus is a man, as many cults and other religions say, they are not denying that he is in the flesh, but they do deny the ‘coming’ of him in the flesh. If a cult group, like the gnostics, deny the humanity of God the Son, they deny that he has come in the flesh. I don’t mean to make a point from a verse in another book by the same author, randomly, but to draw a meaning out of this verse 23 to find its true weight. This is what it means to deny the Son, to deny him in any part, or in whole. A lot of people who can’t, or don’t want to, ‘argue’ or even discuss theological topics, will jump head first into the fray when the deity of Jesus Christ comes up. We can thank God for that, and for our unity in that, and thank God that he worked and works through the writings of 1 John.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
I said a lot about John’s point in this verse when I spoke about verse 21 but now I want to add a special emphasis on the sufficiency of Christ. When cults add to the gospel, primarily by adding works that one must accomplish, rituals that one must perform, or even knowledge that one must know, they attack and deny the sufficiency of Christ. What John’s beloved, including us, heard from the beginning was the sufficiency of Christ, the pure spotless lamb, for the atonement of our sins, and not for our sins only, but the sins of all his sheep, who he laid his life down for, throughout the entire world.(John 11:51-52, John 10:11, 1 John 2:2)The light that shines, and is already shining, is all the light we need to walk in—it is the only true light. The anointing we have received in Christ, of the Holy Spirit, is a fullness of anointing and its chief manifestation here in 1 John is a knowledge of the truth and the love of our fellow believers that follows us in the light, nothing more, nothing less.
25 And this is the promise that he made to us--eternal life.
John gives us this word so that we may rest in the sufficiency of Christ. It is good for us, all of us children of God, to rest in his fullness of life. Rest in working out your salvation with his easy yoke on your neck, not the millstone of false teachers. The teachings of the anti-Christ false teachers deny the promise that we have in the sufficiency of Christ and his Word. There is no other way to eternal life but abiding in Christ, the sufficiency of the Christ of God the Father who is God the Son.
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything--and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you--abide in him.
Okay, we’ll get back to some good ol’ asking the text a bunch of questions—but first let’s use this text, as John does, to review what we’ve learned.
What things has he written?—theology of the light of the love of Christ in the gospel and what it means to have the love of the father.
Who is trying to deceive?—all who are among us but not of us, taken as “Bible-believing”, pseudo-Christian, cults and everyone who denies the fullness of the Son.
What is the anointing?—the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit and the knowledge, light, and life of God in Christ.
What does it mean that we are taught about everything and to abide in him?—salvation of God in Christ is all sufficient for us and for our needs, the truth, the light, the love, the life.
So, what are the new questions to ask? What does John mean that they have no need that anyone should teach them? In my study, a clear point was made that ‘anyone’ means ‘any man’, or ‘any person’. We don’t need human teaching or the ideas of men. We are taught by God. Did you know that? In this Bible study here tonight, looking deeply into His Word, we are effectively, essentially being taught by God. If you take anything from tonight that is the wisdom of Todd/Leroy or something that does not begin, end, and fill all the space inbetween with the truth of the Word, then you are learning what you don’t need. John says you have no need that anyone should teach you about God aside from God. God has appointed teachers and those with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom in the church and we are taught by them as they are taught by God. This is not too bold to say, I hope, in the light of teachers like Paul saying, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.”(1 Cor. 11:1) In that same respect, I say, learn from me as I learn from God. Don’t learn from me anything that I have made up or anything I say that does not agree with the Word. Like everyone else, in my flesh, apart from God, I am full of evil deceits, lies, desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, puffed up by petty achievements and recognitions, able to speak nothing with love, nothing from a true heart, doing nothing in submission to God or that is pleasing to God, apart from the gift of faith and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in me.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
It has been my goal tonight to speak in a way that is only pleasing to God, praying for conviction of my words, and fearing his wrath in return for teaching anything in error. I open myself up to your brotherly and sisterly corrections. If anything tonight has grown you in the confidence John speaks about because of your righteous actions which can only be carried out in God (John 3:21)--If anything tonight has given growth through the Holy Spirit in your maturity and sanctification, growth in likeness to the son, it is God who has done it, not me. “His anointing teaches you about everything.” If you know that Jesus Christ is righteous, you know that no one on this earth or in this room can be righteous without being born of him, born again.(John 3:3) If you know the Son, you know the Father, and you have seen the light, and know that the practices of your flesh are evil. You have seen the lights effect on non-believers, hating the truth, hating the light.(John 3:19-20) You know the truth. John 16:13 says, “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.” Abide in him and be sure. Abide in his Word. Rest in him little children, parents, young people, and infants in Christ Jesus.
Seeing Christ in the Word
We sent this sermon out 11/12/2004.
Body of Christ and those still seeking,
Here is another sermon Todd has written, and I thought I might send it out. I thank God from the deepest parts of my being for the God-centered Husband I have who "loves me as Christ loved the church and gives himself up for me that he might sanctify me, having cleansed me by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present me to Christ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that I might be holy and without blemish. " (Ephesians 5:26-27). My prayer is that of Jesus: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 11:15)
In Christ,
Erin
"See Christ, see His Word. Pray, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law," like the Psalmist of Psalm 119. The Word of God lights up the blackness of our hearts. It cleans the muck away. Behold Christ through His Word and accept no substitutes manufactured by factories of deceitful hearts, smothered with the soot of smokestacks.
One sermon a week isn't enough to feed a hungry soul. If you feel full for a week or even over-fed after your pastor's sermon, any pastor's sermon, check your stomach for the meconium of the world. Be renewed and purged by munching on the tract-refreshing sweet, sweet Word of God, "sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." Psa. 19:10
Let your pastor teach you to meditate and reflect on the scriptures the way he does. If you haven't learned yet, and your pastor doesn't show you what the scripture means and by example teach you to reflect on it and be changed, get a new one.
The Bible is not really debatable. There are mysteries in the Word beyond our comprehension but most of it is clearer than evil minds are willing to admit. There's no getting around that Jesus spoke most often in His parables about the Lordship of Himself, the savior. He came not to be served but to serve and/but He is now also in Heaven to be the Lord of the saved, the served. His Kingdom is invisible and is populated by bondservants in submission to Him. Salvation is submission to the Lord who saves. The Bible is perfectly clear. Its words abide in the saved. (John 8:31)
I think people are generally extremely caught up in their own truths, their own views of the world. I don't know about you but I've been working to dismantle my mind's own views for a long time and be reconstructed in line with the Bible in every way. If you've heard of terms like 'postmodernism', 'moral relativism', or maybe, 'existentialism', you're probably aware of this so-called intellectual atmosphere espousing new truths or personal truths that we see and make up ourselves. The lines of right and wrong are where you draw them, they say. The Bible is just one more system or symbol of authority to them that has to be pushed out of the way, discredited, and ignored, in order for each individual's own truth to be valid. Apart from knowing God, we want to be our own gods.
I see people, even Christians, afraid to open the Bible. Maybe they come from church backgrounds where people really didn't love Jesus but used the church as another institution to foster the loving of themselves. I have friends who have grown up in churches that worship their own structure, system, and authority instead of God. It's destructive to their abilities, even regenerated, to trust the Bible when so many people they've trusted have gotten it all wrong.
When the most publicized voices in our country are fascinated with discovering new ways to do things, new ways to help ourselves, better ways to better our bodies, lives and so on, it makes it hard for us to see that the Bible, "that old and dusty book," is the most alive, most active, most changing, most real collection of paragraphs and phrases the universe has ever known. When everything of the world is saying God is not the solution, the Bible says, "Yes, He is," and, "Yes, I AM."
The Bible is meant to show us God, to glorify God, to manifest the most essential substance and most dire need of every human being, that is reconciliation to God and the removal of His wrath against us through faith. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."(Romans 10:17) Faith brings forgiveness and life beyond this mortal life, by the Holy Spirit and with the one who died, making us God's objects of mercy rather than His objects of wrath.
God writes to give us to Himself. "And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."(2 Cor. 3:3) When Christ died, He wrote on the hearts of those of whom all sins were atoned. If not all of you is God's, repent, and be given to Him by being given to the reading and eating of the Word. Read and focus prayer on what the Word has said. Eating without digestion benefits the body nil. I liken reading without prayerful thought to binging and then purging.
Write after you read, as God has written in the Bible, as I am writing here, and use the mind He has given you to process and comprehend. Biblical revelation is not something to be spooked about. God intends to help us comprehend what our evil flesh considers incomprehensible through the workful submission of our minds. His word is like a helpful hammer. Let your mind be like an anvil. In the fire of the Word, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word, will be forged. Then, sharper than any double-edged sword, let it be driven into your heart. Be judged, in judgment, for condemnation of your sin, and for sight to see and life to live in abundance.(Jer. 23:29, Eph. 6:17, Heb. 4:12, John 9:39, John 10:10) In other words, think on what the Word says, and pray for help, and read some more. Rejoice how it tells you to rejoice. Change how it tells you to change. Love how it tells you to love. See Christ and repent. Look for help in the written works of those whom God has given expression with gifts of wisdom and knowledge. Then write something yourself to someone you love, first of all God. I am not an expert in reading or in writing or in wisdom. Think. Write what you know. And ask God to correct you according to His Word.
Let us all pray for the gently excruciating judgment of the Word in our lives, recognizing all Godly discipline as the extension of God's grace, and continually request the abolition of our pride in regard to how we view the authority of His Word.
Trusting Him,
Todd Leroy"
The Basics
We sent this out 10/29/2004. If you would like to be added to the distribution list of those we send the sermons out to, e-mail me at erineh@gmail.com.
All,
I thought I would forward this to you. Its part of a sermon via e-mail my husband (Todd Leroy) wrote the other day to some of the men at our church, Apex Community. I asked him if I could forward it on to some and he said "sure, although its rather basic." ...I pray we learn from even the most "basic" of teachings.
In Christ Jesus,
Erin
"...There will never be revival if even the people asking for it refuse
to unplug their TVs....
Do people want church-related fervor... or do they want a work of
God?
I'm becoming more and more convinced that SEEING Christ is the key
to everything... can you see Him... look, just above your view...
just above where your eyes can see, there He is, with eyes of faith,
God the Father in Christ...
It's the key to everything including walking on water. Even on our
most peaceful earthen days, the world is a murky depth hungry to
swallow up everything you are and murder your faith and hope.
Taking our eyes off of Christ equals pointlessness, worthless
existing, wasted life.
Ask God to give you the sight in your heart and mind and soul. He
will enrapture you. Ask Him to throw down your man-made idols and
lesser pleasures of the flesh and world. Satan is powerless against
you, believer.
Life isn't about psychology, figuring out how we are 'wired', how
our environment messed us up, or what our excuse should be when we
get to Heaven. Rather, it's about worshipping -- wanting and
loving -- God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, obeying Him, and
thereby leaving sin (the evil of how we're 'wired') and the
victimization of environment behind, realizing the irrelevance of
excuses.
God loves you regardless of how you perform today, tomorrow, or any
mark on your track record. He makes us more righteous because we
have been MADE righteous in His sight and in His heart. Pray this
way, after all your praises, after all your thanks, in your last
words of prayer about you, ask God for His heart toward you... if
you're not seeing Him above and beyond and foremost among everything
on the horizon, that's answer number one.
The Bible is all about seeing God, the work of God, God is present,
God is loving through action, God's grace is alive. There are also
other books written about seeing and beholding God in His glory...
and He is only glory.
I have more words for you, my brothers, more answers. I am not an
expert, just a learner, a student. I love to learn. I love to know
my God because I know Him, because I love Him.
God, make me and my brothers love you more.
Til writing or seeing again,
Brother T. Leroy"
Our Genesis - Prayer
Todd and I never really dated. We went from strangers, to friends, to engaged to married in about a time span of 8 months. From May 8 - June 1st (25 days) we were "just friends," and praying separately about the will of the Lord as it related to our "relationship." Todd and I were spending a lot of time together and I was concerned about us growing close and not yet having heard from God. I told Todd of these fears and that night he sent me an e-mail titled, "Prayer for us." Before I knew I even had the e-mail, he was at the house to hand deliver it. He later told me that he sent it to me via e-mail in order to put the pressure on himself to give it to me in person, knowing that I would definitely get it once I checked my e-mail. ....I'll never forget how nervous he was to give it to me. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. In hand writing below, he wrote "Before I loved you, I committed myself to you." This is a copy of the prayer:
Erin, this is a prayer for us. Father God in Christ, You are mighty sovereign Lord and Your love is the true source of everything righteous, God, and Your Holiness is the perfect fount of love. Father God You've adopted us for an inheritance greater than anything we could think of or imagine and, in time, it will be ours with Christ and the rest of Your children.
Father God, You and Your words last forever and ever and have always been. And Your word says that on this earth we are nothing less than crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but He who lives in us. Your word says that we are new creations, born again into a spirit of adoption, with gifts of the Holy Spirit, and even made to be a dwelling place for Him. Father God, we appeal to You, based on Your own word, to grant us freedom from the flesh in considering one another in any way, subconsciously, or consciously, or in ways only You know, in our spirits, and in our souls. Father God, please grant us freedom from the rule of the law of sin and death, and set us free from fear. Let us be bold with You, Lord, trusting that the desires of our hearts come from You first. Make us not doubt that corruption has sunk in once again to be our master.
Father God, we know that we have run aground and made many mistakes in relationships in the past, that the evil that is in our flesh won. But Father, we refuse to stop fighting. We lay facedown at Your throne and ask You to fight for us, this battle, any battle. That is our fight and our stance, Father God, wholly submitted to You in our hearts and minds and everything in us that can be used to Your glory. Father God, our spirits cry out to You for help and mercy, in all times and in all places. Without You, we are wastes. We are nothings. We would have vanished by now but for Your word and Your promises and Your unmistakable love.
Your perfection is like the tallest mountain and no one can climb it. Father God, You shed the perfect blood of Your son to set us free from the stain of sin, the muddy puddle of filth, and the brutal ravages of our carnal minds. For that we praise You, and we beseech You, take our hearts. Purify our minds. Father God we are all to You and all for You in spirit and in truth. So let us be pure in how we react, interact, and deal in all we think and do with each other. Father God, Your love is like the largest ocean and no one can reach its depth. Father God, we want to drown in that ocean or die trying, every day. Father God our flesh hates You and in it is nothing good at all toward You or Your children or us. So Father we know that without You, we can do nothing rightly and, apart from faith, we only sin. Let nothing but Your Spirit reign in us, all the time, in our sleep, and in our dreams, and in our unconsciousness, subconsciousness, and consciousness. We delight ourselves in You and beg You to deliver us to the desires of Your heart. There's so much we don't know about the future or the present so we ask for much more faith in obedience to whatever You have, and ask for truth and honesty and integrity to do well with everything You give and have given us. Father God, Your heart is like a sea, surrounded by pleasure and joy and soft wilderness and satisfaction in the Son and the future glory of Your creation. We ask that our hearts would be beating to Your pulse, for Your glory, and Your good and only acceptable, perfect will.
Now Lord, the wisdom of Your will is unsearchable, unknowable, unseeable, and it is high above any of our thoughts and minds. Father God and we know that in our mortal bodies lays a remnant of and a perpetual pull back toward the flesh. So we ask Your protection from the evil of our own hearts and of each others. We plead with You for Your gift of discernment in testing the spirits of emotions. We beg for Your gift of wisdom to make correct decisions, and we must have Your gift of faith to trust in Your perseverance and faultlessness.
Father God, what is love, but Your Son? What is life, but Your Son? What is worship, but to love the Son? Let every breath we expel toward each other and into each others lives be worshipful and a fragrant beautiful offering to You, as we wish our lives to be.
And we haven't even been alive that long, Lord, and You know each of our days to come. You know how we shall die, hopefully in the exact purpose of suffering to advance Your kingdom, and You know where and how we shall live. There are no surprises to You--God, You've written the end of this world. We are here for a little while to You, but we have time to us. Father God, for the glory of Your name, if it would please You to reveal to us our compatibility or incompatibility on mission with You, please do that for our hearts.
Humbly, Lord, we ask to submit to Your will and the truth of Your word. Grant us, please, this mercy.
Father God, and if it would not please You to reveal to us Your will in reconciliation in regards to our desires to be on mission with You, then bless our time together and keep us apart, as we run with You, with each other, and loving only One with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, with all of our minds, and with all of our strength.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
T.U.L.I.P.
This is my own personal introduction to the acronym TULIP. The scripture sections are being added to as we have time.
TULIP: This document was written in my own words for the glory of God alone, under the authority of scripture alone. (All references to "God" refer to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, ie. the Trinity except where obviously meant to be one person in particular.)
T: For the purposes of God, in accordance with His Holiness and perfection, and for reasons that His creations will not know on Earth, beginning with the fall in original sin and the spiritual death of Adam and Eve, no one has been willing or able to do anything in accordance with righteousness. Everyone has inherited the spiritual death through Adam and is a natural enemy of God who does not seek God in spirit or truth and will not love God of his or her own natural will. We are dead. Our works are dead. Our philosophies, systems, desires, and imaginations are dead.
U: For the purposes of God, in accordance with His Holiness and perfection, and for reasons that His creations will not know on Earth, beginning before the foundation of the Earth, God the Father chose the sheep and elected them, without any regard to anything but His own glory and purposes, that they would be born again and gain the inheritance of Jesus in righteousness.
L: For the purposes of God, in accordance with His Holiness and perfection, in order to purchase the will, faith, repentance and works of the sheep, Jesus Christ atoned for all their sins. The judgment was this--that every sin, in the past, and in the future, of Jesus' bride was purified and completely taken away, including the entire forgiveness for the natural hate and unbelief in Him.
I: For the purposes of God, in accordance with His Holiness and perfection, in order to gather the sheep, grant them faith, repentance, forgiveness, and righteousness in new life, He calls to them in a voice only they hear and respond to. He is steadfast and patient in calling His sheep, giving mercy and grace, that in time, they will respond and choose Him.
P: For the purposes of God, in accordance with His Holiness and perfection, because of the immense inadequacy of our current forms to enjoy and glorify Him in righteousness because of sin, He walks with us along the path of growth and maturity in sanctification and righteousness. He chose the sheep to want Him, to seek Him, to love Him, to respond to Him, and to follow Him until final judgment and forever in Heaven.
T: Total depravity and Total inability and Total unwillingness and Total reliance and Total dependence
U: Unconditional election and Unrelenting election and Undeniable election and Unsuperficial election
L: Limited atonement and Lifetime atonement and Lasting atonement and Life-giving atonement and Law-fulfilling atonement
I: Irresistible grace and Indelible grace and Intimate grace and Internal grace and Irrevocable grace
P: Perseverance of the saints and Pursuit of the sheep and Persistence of the Shepherd and Providence of the Shepherd
T: Gen. 6:5, Gen. 6:11-12, Job 15:14-16, Psa. 14:1-3, Psa. 51:5, Psa. 58:3, Psa. 143:2, Prov. 5:22, Prov. 14:12, Prov. 20:9, Eccl. 7:20, Eccl. 7:29, Eccl. 9:3, Isa. 1:4-6, Isa. 44:18-20, Isa. 44:25-28, Isa. 48:8, Isa. 53:6, Isa. 64:6-7, Jer. 4:22, Jer. 9:5, Jer. 13:23, Jer. 17:1, Jer. 17:9, Matt. 7:18, Matt. 7:23, Matt. 12:34-35, Matt. 15:13, Mark 10:26-27, Luke 8:11-12, John 1:13, John 3:3, John 3:19-20, John 3:27, John 6:44, John 6:65, John 15:5, Rom. 1:18-32, Rom. 3:9-23, Rom. 5:12, Rom. 7:14, Rom. 8:5-8, Rom. 9:8, Rom. 11:8, Rom. 11:32, Rom. 14:23, 1 Cor. 2:14, 1 Cor. 15:21-22, Gal. 3:22-23, Eph. 2:1, Eph. 4:17-19, Phili. 2:13, 2 Tim. 4:3-4, Titus 1:15, Heb. 11:6, James 1:14, James 1:17, James 4:17, 1 John 2:16
U: Gen. 18:17-19, Deut. 4:35-38, Deut. 7:6-8, Deut. 10:14-15, Deut. 14:2, Deut 18:4-5, 1 Chron. 28:4, Psa. 33:12, Psa. 78:67-71, Psa. 100:3, Psa. 135:4, Isa. 40:23, Isa. 41:8, Isa. 44:1-2, Isa. 45:4, Isa. 65:9, Jer. 1:5, Jer. 27:5, Jer 31:35-36, Matt. 11:27, Matt. 20:15, Matt. 22:14, Matt. 24:31, Mark 7:21-23, Mark 13:20, Luke 6:45, Luke 18:7, John 1:4-5, John 5:21, John 8:43-44, John 13:18, John 15:16, John 15:19, Acts 9:15, Acts 10:41, Acts 22:14, Rom. 7:5, Rom. 8:29, Rom. 8:33, Rom. 9:11, Rom. 9:13, Rom. 9:20, Rom. 11:5, Rom. 11:7, Rom. 11:24, Rom. 11:28, Rom. 13:1, Rom. 16:13, 1 Cor. 1:27, Gal 5:17, Eph. 1:4-6, Eph. 1:11, Eph. 2:8, 1 Thes. 1:4, 2 Thes. 2:13, 2 Tim. 1:9, Titus 1:1, James 2:5, 1 Peter 1:1-5, 1 Peter 1:20, 1 Peter 2:4-10, 2 Peter 1:10, 2 John 1:13
L: Exod. 7:3, Exod. 9:16, Deut 29:4, Joshua 11:20, 1 Sam. 15:3, 1 Kings 20:42, Job 12:24-25, Job 21:30, Prov. 16:4, Prov. 31:8, Isa. 6:9-10, Isa. 41:9, Isa. 44:21-24, Isa. 45:9, Isaiah 53:8-12, Habak. 1:12, , Matt. 1:21, Matt. 11:25, Matt. 13:13-15, Matt. 20:28, Luke 4:25-29, John 3:16, John 9:39, John 10:11, John 10:15, John 10:26, John 11:51-52, John 12:39-40, John 17:2, John 17:9, Acts 4:27-28, Acts 13:48, Acts 20:28, Rom. 3:24-26, Rom. 5:15-19, Rom. 8:32, Rom. 9:18, Rom. 9:21-22, 2 Cor. 3:3, 2 Cor. 3:13-15, 2 Cor. 4:3-4, Eph. 2:9, 1 Thes. 5:9, 2 Thes. 2:11-12, Titus 2:14a, Titus 3:5-6, Heb. 1:3, Heb. 2:14-15, James 1:18,1 Peter 2:8, 2 Peter 2:12, , , , , , 1 John 5:19, Jude 1:4, , , , , , , , , , ,
I: Dan. 4:35, Psa. 110:3, Isa. 43:1, Isa. 43:7, Matt. 16:17, Luke 1:17, John 3:6-8, John 6:37, John 8:36, John 8:42, John 10:16, John 10:27, John 17:6, Acts 2:39, Acts 13:2, Rom. 1:6, Rom. 8:30, Rom. 9:6, Rom. 9:17, Rom. 9:24, Rom. 10:20, Rom. 11:29, 1 Cor. 1:9, 1 Cor. 1:24, 1 Cor. 1:26, Gal. 1:15, Eph. 1:18, Col 1:27, 1 Thes. 2:12, 1 Tim 6:12, Heb. 3:1, Heb. 9:15, 1 Peter 5:10, Jude 1:1, , , Rev. 17:14, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
P: , , Job 14:4, Job 23:14, Psa. 79:11, Psa. 89:26-28, Prov. 8:22-23, Prov. 21:1, Eccl. 3:14, Isa. 8:18, Isa. 14:24, Isa. 14:27, Isa. 42:1-4, Isa. 43:13, Isa. 43:21, Isa. 45:7, Isa. 46:10, Isa. 51:22, Mal. 3:6, Matt. 20:23, Luke 9:35, John 6:27, John 6:38, John 10:28-29, John 17:12, Acts 17:26, Acts 17:31, Acts 18:10, Acts 22:10, Rom. 4:16, Rom. 8:28, Rom. 8:39, Rom. 9:23, Gal. 4:28, Eph. 2:10, Eph. 3:11, Phili. 1:6, Col. 1:12, Col. 3:12, 1 Thes. 3:3, Titus 2:14b, Phile. 1:29, 2 Tim. 2:10, Heb. 6:17, , , , , , , , ,
T U L I P: Gen. 6:5, Gen. 6:11-12, Gen. 18:17-19, Exod. 7:3, Exod. 9:16, Deut. 4:35-38, Deut. 7:6-8, Deut. 10:14-15, Deut. 14:2, Deut 18:4-5, Deut 29:4, Joshua 11:20, 1 Sam. 15:3, 1 Kings 20:42, 1 Chron. 28:4, Job 15:14-16, Job 12:24-25, Job 14:4, Job 21:30, Job 23:14, Psa. 14:1-3, Psa. 33:12, Psa. 51:5, Psa. 58:3, Psa. 78:67-71, Psa. 79:11, Psa. 89:26-28, Psa. 100:3, Psa. 110:3, Psa. 135:4, Psa. 143:2, Prov. 5:22, Prov. 8:22-23, Prov. 14:12, Prov. 16:4, Prov. 20:9, Prov. 21:1, Prov. 31:8, Eccl. 3:14, Eccl. 7:20, Eccl. 7:29, Eccl. 9:3, Isa. 1:4-6, Isa. 6:9-10, Isa. 8:18, Isa. 14:24, Isa. 14:27, Isa. 40:23, Isa. 41:8, Isa. 41:9, Isa. 42:1-4, Isa. 43:1, Isa. 43:7, Isa. 43:13, Isa. 43:21, Isa. 44:1-2, Isa. 44:18-20, Isa. 44:21-24, Isa. 44:25-28, Isa. 45:4, Isa. 45:7, Isa. 45:9, Isa. 46:10, Isa. 48:8, Isa. 51:22, Isa. 53:6, Isaiah 53:8-12, Isa. 64:6-7, Isa. 65:9, Jer. 1:5, Jer. 4:22, Jer. 9:5, Jer. 13:23, Jer. 17:1, Jer 17:9, Jer. 27:5, Jer 31:35-36, Dan. 4:35, Habak. 1:12, Mal. 3:6, Matt. 1:21, Matt. 7:18, Matt. 7:23, Matt. 11:25, Matt. 11:27, Matt. 12:34-35, Matt. 13:13-15, Matt. 15:13, Matt. 20:15, Matt. 20:23, Matt. 20:28, Matt. 22:14, Matt. 24:31, Mark 7:21-23, Mark 10:26-27, Mark 13:20, Matt. 16:17, Luke 1:17, Luke 4:25-29, Luke 6:45, Luke 8:11-12, Luke 9:35, Luke 18:7, John 1:4-5, John 1:13, John 3:3, John 3:6-8, John 3:16, John 3:19-20, John 3:27, John 5:21, John 6:27, John 6:37, John 6:38, John 6:44, John 6:65, John 8:36, John 8:42, John 8:43-44, John 9:39, John 10:11, John 10:15, John 10:16, John 10:26, John 10:27, John 10:28-29, John 11:51-52, John 12:39-40, John 13:18, John 15:5, John 15:16, John 15:19, John 17:2, John 17:6, John 17:9, John 17:12, Acts 2:39, Acts 4:27-28, Acts 9:15, Acts 13:2, Acts 13:48, Acts 10:41, Acts 17:26, Acts 17:31, Acts 18:10, Acts 20:28, Acts 22:10, Acts 22:14, Rom. 1:6, Rom. 1:18-32, Rom. 3:9-23, Rom. 3:24-26, Rom. 4:16, Rom. 5:12, Rom. 5:15-19, Rom. 7:5, Rom. 7:14, Rom. 8:5-8, Rom. 8:28, Rom. 8:29, Rom. 8:30, Rom. 8:32, Rom. 8:33, Rom. 8:39, Rom. 9:6, Rom. 9:8, Rom. 9:11, Rom. 9:13, Rom. 9:17, Rom. 9:18, Rom. 9:20, Rom. 9:21-22, Rom. 9:23, Rom. 9:24, Rom. 10:20, Rom. 11:5, Rom. 11:7, Rom. 11:8, Rom. 11:24, Rom. 11:28, Rom. 11:29, Rom. 11:32, Rom. 13:1, Rom. 14:23, Rom. 16:13, 1 Cor. 1:27, 1 Cor. 1:9, 1 Cor. 1:24, 1 Cor. 1:26, 1 Cor. 2:14, 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 2 Cor. 3:3, 2 Cor. 3:13-15, 2 Cor. 4:3-4, Gal. 1:15, Gal. 3:22-23, Gal. 4:28, Gal 5:17, Eph. 1:4-6, Eph. 1:11, Eph. 1:18, Eph. 2:1, Eph. 2:8, Eph. 2:9, Eph. 2:10, Eph. 3:11, Eph. 4:17-19, Phili. 1:6, Phili. 2:13, Col. 1:12, Col 1:27, Col. 3:12, 1 Thes. 1:4, 1 Thes. 2:12, 1 Thes. 3:3, 1 Thes. 5:9, 2 Thes. 2:11-12, 2 Thes. 2:13, Titus 1:15, James 1:14, James 1:17, James 4:17, 1 Tim 6:12, 2 Tim. 1:9, 2 Tim. 2:10, 2 Tim. 4:3-4, Titus 1:1, Titus 2:14a, Titus 2:14b, Titus 3:5-6, Phile. 1:29, Heb. 1:3, Heb. 2:14-15, Heb. 3:1, Heb. 6:17, Heb. 9:15, Heb. 11:6, James 1:18, James 2:5, 1 Peter 1:1-5, 1 Peter 1:20, 1 Peter 2:4-10, 1 Peter 2:8, 1 Peter 5:10, 2 Peter 1:10, 2 Peter 2:12, 1 John 2:16, 1 John 5:19, 2 John 1:13, Jude 1:1, Jude 1:4, Rev. 17:14
TULIP: Because salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and on the merit of Christ alone. And life and death and everything in the whole universe and eternity are all about God, for God, by God, from God, through God, to Him and Him alone for He is wholly Holy, wholly worthy, righteously deserving of all praise and honor, for now, the past, and forevermore.
Weep with us, in reverent joy, at the words of Psalm 139:
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
12even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
21Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
T: Only by being set free by the Spirit can we freely will and act in righteousness. Regeneration precedes faith. Faith always follows regeneration. You must be born again to receive saving faith and no one is saved without faith. The unregenerate are under the law of sin and death and, making choices out of their own free will, never please God. They cannot believe because they always choose not to. Rebirth happens in an instant for the elect and is the sovereign act of God.
U: God said and knew and made who would be saved and who would go to hell before ‘time’ began. God chooses when, how, and why someone gets saved by His grace alone.
L: Christ only atoned/propitiated/forgave and intended to forgive the sins of the elect.
I: God calls and woos all the elect to Himself. If someone is not saved, it is ultimately because they were not elect but there are infinite immediate reasons why people do not believe or never hear or are just not saved.
P: God's elect are those who seek, find, believe, repent, live, love, worship, work, and persevere through the end.
"When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”"
John 6:60-65
TULIP: Biblical, Monergism, Reformed/Reformation Soteriology, The Doctrines of Grace, Calvinism, Sovereign Grace, Amazing Grace, True
Further Reading:
A Simple Explanation of Monergism
Monergism.com - Doctrines of Grace
Contact Info
Missionaries typically have a lot of prayer requests and we are not without our own but as part of our ministry, we would like to know how we can pray for you also.
James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
If there is anything that you would like us to pray for, please send your requests to:
giveyourselftoGod@yahoo.com.
Todd Leroy's email:
toddlh@gmail.comErin Elizabeth's email:
erineh@gmail.comPhone and Mailing Address available upon request.
The most important message in the universe
One-thousand, nine-hundred, and seventy-one years ago, or there just about, a man named John was walking and talking with another man named Jesus. John followed Jesus with eleven other men for three years of his life. John, and most of the others, knew that Jesus was the one who had been prophesied about throughout the history of the Jewish people. They knew that this man, 'the Christ', was the one from God to bring salvation to God's people. Jesus accomplished what he meant to do. Roman authorities executed Jesus by the way of crucifixion for severely offending Jewish religious leaders. Jesus was found guilty, in their eyes,
Jn. 9:39 of 'blasphemy'--punishable by death--because he identified himself as the Son of God, making himself equal with God.
Jn. 5:18 On the third day that he laid dead, Jesus rose again.
John was one of many to first preach the gospel, or 'good news', of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. John was one of just a few to be inspired by God to write about Jesus and remember what he said so that you and I might hear the good news as well.
Jn. 20:31 In what we now call the 11th chapter and 25th & 26th verses of his gospel, John wrote:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
The most important message in the universe is the good news of Jesus Christ.
to be continued...
Greeting
Todd Leroy and Erin Elizabeth, two slaves of Christ Jesus, called to be set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and discipleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all those who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This blog is intended to provide information and edification to our friends and family, brothers and sisters in Christ, and whoever God happens to bring here from around the world. We have had visitors from literally around the globe including Australia, China, United Arab Emirates, Norway, Estonia, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, and Japan just to name a few.
Most of our posts are intended to be original and substantive with a good amount of effort put into them. For this same reason, we do not have a list of links, a blogroll, etc. Occasionally we will post entries that are essentially links we would recommend.
A common feature used in blogs is the ability to leave comments on entries. We have disabled comments on this blog because we see it more of an efficient way for us to post webpages rather than as a way to facilitate discussion online. Rather we encourage any potential commenters to email us directly. Click here for our contact info.