God’s purpose for us

What Really Happened in the Garden

Ian Johnson April 16, 2024 0 Comments

God created the first human, male and female, as a being like himself with whom he could share his life and his creation. But the disobedience of the first humans introduced shame, which drove them away from God and hindered them from agreeing with God about their sin and returning to him. This is always the effect of shame, which comes from us, not from God.

Complex unity, Confession and Repentance, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Guilt versus Shame, Knowing good and evil, Language and Speech, Male and female, Marriage, Marriage, Marriage and Reproduction, Meaning of Unity, Repentance, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Sin, To be in his image, To bear fruit, To fill and govern the Earth, Trinity, Unity, What is sin?

Adam, cloting, denial, disobedience, Eve, excuses, exposure, forbidden fruit, Genesis, guilt, hide, hioing, naked, nakedness, repent, repentance, shame, sin, tree of knowledge, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, vulnerability

And be in us our King of Peace

Ian Johnson December 25, 2023 1 Comment

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.

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, Promises, Reconciliation, Restoration of God's Image, The Problem of Evil, Through Jesus, To be in his image, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word

Christmas, God with us, God's peace, Incarnation, peace

Part 7J. The Importance of Kindreds

Ian Johnson November 13, 2023 0 Comments

The importance of broad family and kindred groups to God’s work on Earth and my initiative to my own.

A God who Speaks, Complex unity, God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, Through others, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, To live in unity

beyond this life, contacts, extended family, families, family, God, God's work, initiative, kin, kindred, kinship, long-term, Lost Cousins, nation, people, peoples, prayer, prophetic declaration, Spiritual, tribe

God’s Work and Voice in Me, Part 7F: To Speak or Not to Speak, that is the Question

Ian Johnson October 30, 2023 1 Comment

If God is still speaking to us, why don’t we hear him more? This presentation reviews the reasons given in Scripture.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's sovereignty, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Language and Speech, Must Trust God to Enter, Parables, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Show us the Way of Truth, The Bible, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Through Jesus, Through the church, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Christianity, faith, God's sheep, God's Word, God's words, Hearing God, not hearing God, offensive, refusing to hear, repentance, sheep, taking offense

God’s Work and Voice in Me, Part 7D: Voices Anyone? An immodest proposal,

Ian Johnson October 17, 2023 0 Comments

As one who has long had the experience of being aware, at times, of God’s voice, I propose to the Church at large that we should 1) treat spiritual “voices,” in general, as real and not as mere symptoms of mental illness, 2) learn to distinguish God’s voice from the other voices in our world, and 3) resolve to follow God’s voice. #3 is the key, because we will not be able to discern God’s voice unless we are his sheep, who hear and follow it.

A God who Speaks, Compulsory Christianity, Conversation with God, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, Heresy, Language and Speech, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Social control and statecraft, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be in his image

advertising, delusion, delusions, denial, discernment, God's Voice, hallucination, Hearing God, hearing voices, mental illness, propaganda, Reality, voices

Part 7B: What Does a “Relationship” with God Mean?

Ian Johnson September 22, 2023 2 Comments

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.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Language and Speech, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Social control and statecraft, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Through Jesus, To bear fruit

1960s, 1970s, Charismatic Renewal, delusional, delusions, friend, God is Dead, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Movement, king, Lord, Relationship, Relationship with Jesus, sheep, shepherd, Teacher, vine

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 7A: God Uses No Cookie Cutters

Ian Johnson September 9, 2023 0 Comments

God uses our uniqueness and gives unique gifts and roles. He does not make interchangeable, cookie-cutter believers for our administrative convenience. Examples: the first deacons, Stephen, Philip. Paul and the anomalous New Testament prophets.

A God who Speaks, Complex unity, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, His Children, His Friends, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Prophecy, To be in his image

Apostle Paul, cookie cutter, cookie cutter Christians, deacons, God, Holy Spirit, individuality, offices, Philip, Philip the evangelist, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophets, Spiritual Gifts, Stephen, Stephen the martyr

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

Ian Johnson September 4, 2023 1 Comment

The modern emphasis on first identifying my “gift” so that I may then “help” God develop it gets the matter exactly backwards. The important thing isn’t identifying my gift, it is offering my body as a living sacrifice so that the Spirit may exercise any gift He chooses through me. Then any gift I am observed to be actually exercising can be identified as my gift, and its exercise will be genuine and have God’s power.

A God who Speaks, Desire to have our own way, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, Historical Background, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personal Background, Personality cults, Prophecy, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity

fruit, Fruit of the Spirit, gifts, gifts of the Holy Spirit, Gifts to the Church, Holy Spirit, Love, love one another, Spiritual Gifts

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6A: Persons given to the Church and formal “offices.”

Ian Johnson August 27, 2023 3 Comments

Addresses the subject of the roles of the people said in Ephesians 4 to be “given” to the Church by Christ and the qualifications and roles of church officers mentioned in the New Testament–overseers, officially recognized elders, and church servants (deacons). Also discusses the role of elders–older people in the church–even when not formally recognized as leaders, with application to me, the author of this presentation.

A God who Speaks, Confession of Sin, God's purpose for us, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Prophecy, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity

Apostles, bishops, Church officers, deacons, elders, evangeists, Fruit of the Spirit, God's gifts to the Church, Jesus' gifts to the Church, live worthy, living worthy, overseers, Pastor, pastors, People given to the Church, presbyters, Prophets, servant, servants, shepherd, teachers

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 5: God’s Callings for All of His Children and Friends

Ian Johnson August 20, 2023 1 Comment

God “calls” all believers to love one another and to be conformed to the image of His Son–to be made, by God, to be just like Jesus. There is also a number of other things to which God “calls” all believers–almost all of them things we simply let him do to or through us, and all of them summed up by loving each other and being remade into His image.

A God who Speaks, Adoption, Choosing darkness over light, God Acts by Speaking, God is light, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's sovereignty, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Must Trust God to Enter, Pride in accomplishments as our own, Promises, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Show us the Way of Truth, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be in his image, To bear fruit, What is sin?

called, calling, children of God, chosen, Christianity, friends, friends of God, God's call, God's children, image of God, image of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Love, repentance, sin, to be like Jesus

What Really Happened in the Garden

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And be in us our King of Peace

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Part 7J. The Importance of Kindreds

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God’s Work and Voice in Me, Part 7F: To Speak or Not to Speak, that is the Question

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God’s Work and Voice in Me, Part 7D: Voices Anyone? An immodest proposal,

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Part 7B: What Does a “Relationship” with God Mean?

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You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

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You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6A: Persons given to the Church and formal “offices.”

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You Are Not the One to Build, Part 5: God’s Callings for All of His Children and Friends

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God’s purpose for us

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