Ideas about the Kingdom of the Heavens around us and the unity of believers in Christ within it
The hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” celebrates the arrival of God among us in the form of Jesus. The post highlights that God does not simply bring peace to the world; instead, he will ultimately judge and create a new, peaceful world. Those who have faith in God’s promises will have inner peace amid the world’s chaos and opposition.
The blog post discusses various scriptures in an attempt to address the topic of whether God ceased to speak after the Bible was finished. The author contests teachings that this is the case, arguing that scriptures often thought to support this view require numerous assumptions. The post suggests that the divine dialogue continues, challenging readers to approach scripture with less literal interpretation and more open-minded understanding. The author plans to discuss each scripture in greater detail in subsequent posts and videos.
If God is still speaking to us, why don’t we hear him more? This presentation reviews the reasons given in Scripture.
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A strange thing happened in the 1970’s–we learned for the first time that what we need is a “personal relationship” with Christ. But this terminology is not scriptural, and was left largely undefined, with curious results. That “relationship” became self-defined! What does it mean? What should it mean? What are a believer’s relationships with God? Jesus is our shepherd, older brother, King, teacher and friend, but the word “relationship” is not found. We are called God’s children, house, temple and sheep, but never said to be “in a relationship” with him.
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If God never speaks to me, it will be impossible for me to keep his commands to keep a soft heart toward his words, to hear and obey him “TODAY”, while I am still hearing him. Beginning the discussion of entering God’s rest today, while God is speaking to me–and the consequences of Israel’s rejection of his voice.
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God speaks to us through his Holy Spirit, who must teach us–by building within us–everything we truly know of God. God also speaks to the world through us, by his Spirit who is building his image within us.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” God says he will speak to his sheep individually, call each by name, and lead us, and he does. Stephen and Saul of Tarsus are an example of this.
Jesus came as a man–fully human–and lived under the control (“filling”) and power of the Holy Spirit, in exactly the same way we can, if we will permit him to do it. In this respect, the only difference between Jesus, as a human, and us, is that Jesus was never anything but fully under the Spirit’s control. Jesus invites us to live as He did, obeying the Spirit’s direction and living by the Spirit’s power.
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God’s intention is that, as we take delight in him, he will put his desires within us. This will make us progressively more able to trust God, do good, and avoid sin. It will also make us increasingly able to discern when our guilt doesn’t come from God.
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When Peter preached that the people should “repent,” he explained that meant that they were to “turn away from their wickedness” and so, in their behavior, “listen” to Jesus. Jesus did not come to entertain us or to offer advice, but to turn us away from our own way to obedience to him.