Randolpho;736115 said:
Hi DLD, I would enjoy hearing you're thoughts on the subject. Preach on!
OK, but most Christians, when they hear this will think it is too good to be true but I will site many versus that prove my point.
Why live with rules and laws? Growing up, I remember my parents telling me I can't smoke cigarettes or I can't go to parties, or I can't drink alcohol, etc. These rules hung over my head doing just the opposite of their intention, instead of following the rules I rebelled and did the very things I was told NOT TO DO!
The rules had the opposite intention. Being told I could not made me want to do it so much more.
This is a good way to look at Galatians 2:20. When we were under the law it only created opportunity to sin, it increased sin in our desires, it had the reverse effect as it intended.
Stop listening to religion and start listening the the word of God!
There is nothing you can do to get into Heaven, Jesus already did it for you!
These are facts that every Christian needs to carve deeply into their minds to never forget!
1. You have been crucified with Christ.
2. You have been buried with Christ
3. You have been reborn into Christ
4. You have ascended and are now seated with Christ.
You are Worthy, Accepted, Holy and Righteous
for the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives in you!
The message of being saved by Grace and not works needs to be taught to every Christian who believes they have to do something to get into Heaven. The message is clear,
"The Law kills but the Spirit gives Life" So why do most Christians still lives with laws and rules when
"The truth sets us free" from laws. I think too many doubt their sins are completely and absolutely covered. Jesus did this
"Once and for All" not bit by bit, not sin by sin, but once and for everyone. So I think the message should be pushed to stop admitting sins to God who has already
"Forgiven and forgotten as far as East is from West" As a matter of fact, I think, after being Baptized and infused into the Heart of Jesus, admitting sins is reminding Him of something He forgot about already! Stop reminding Jesus of your guilt and sins, instead give Him praise, Glory and Thanksgiving for doing it all for us!
"WE ARE SAVED by the BLOOD OF CHRIST!"
-We are Spirit Soul and Body
-The Soul is a tool, it can be used to walk by flesh or spirit
-God has embraced you totally and loves you totally
-The Soul is your personality
-The Spirit has spiritual gifts, everyone's different
-Body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (holy and acceptable)
-God rejects sin not the saint
-We are holy & righteous
-We have a transformation of core of our being!
-The heart of Adam was removed and "the Hheart of Jesus is not dwelling in you"
We are not saved by Christ's Birth, we are saved by His Death!
Now many Christians pray prayers that they really should not be praying as they are denying the blood of Christ was not enough. Let us look at the Lord's Prayer:
Many people pray the Lord's Prayer not understanding that this is an Old Testament prayer and the language used is denying that Jesus died for your sins. The reason for this is the line where it is said
"Forgive us our sins as we forgive others" The problem here is that after this prayer Jesus died for us, beginning the New Covenant and under the New Covenant we are forgiven our sins. So when we mindlessly say forgive us again, over and over, it is of great disrespect to God in denying that Christ died
"once and for all" for our sins and He
"Remembers them no more"
If you want to pray this prayer is a proper context that does not discredit Jesus death for us I suggest this:
Our Father, who art in Heaven, Holy is Your name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and
HELP US FORGIVE OTHERS AS YOU HAVE FORGIVEN US, lead us far from temptation and deliver us from all evil.
For thine is the Kingdom
The Power and
The Glory are Yours
Now and Forever
In Jesus name we pray
AMEN
Do you see the difference? It brings an old testament prayer into the new covenant. It should be known that the "New Testament" or "New Covenant" did not begin until Jesus died.
Now we should also look at the New Covenant in the proper context. Many believe the New Covenant started at the beginning of Mathew, where there is a page that decides the old from the new.
THIS IS NOT THE NEW COVENANT! The New Covenant happened when Jesus died on the cross. Christmas is awesome and so are many Christian holy days but the most important thing that has ever been done is Easter when "the Father sent His only Son" to come down from Heaven and not only take our sins from us but to become sin itself! Jesus did not die for your past sins, He died for every sin in the past, the present and the future for every person who has ever lived. Becoming sin Jesus Crucified is when
"We died to Sin and were reborn into the Spirit of Christ" in His resurrection we too were resurrected into the Spirt of Christ, making us Righteous and Holy. We were literally purchased by His blood and now we belong to Him. So all Grace of Jesus has been imputed to us!
Many did not understand this at the time of His death and many still do not understand this 2017 years later. Jesus said "It is written though shall not commit adultery, but I say whoever looks at a woman with lust in his eyes he has already committed adultery of the heart" Jesus said "It is written that though shall not murder but I say if you even get angry with someone you have sinned. Jesus said "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, it is better to go to Heaven with one eye than to death with 2" What was Jesus doing here? Was He making the law more difficult for us? Not at all and this is a HUGE message people get lost on. Jesus was taking the law (633 rules plus the 10 commandments) and raising the bar showing us it is impossible for us to do the law, only God could perfectly follow the law. And remember "If you stumble with one law you are guilty of all" Jesus was teaching us that we could never do the law therefore He came to do away with the law and be crucified with it, killing it! "The letter kills but the Spirit gives life" Do you understand?
Let me give you another example I heard from someone. There was a ski slope that was so steep that the athletes would hit unsafe speed of up to 100 mph. In skiing speeds over 70 MPH are deadly. So they lowered the bar down so the incline was not as steep and they would not go past 70 mph. Well Jesus came along and raised the bar to the top of the mountain, skied down the mountain perfectly, won the Gold metal and put it around our necks. He did all the work for us even under the most impossible conditions.
I wrote this to a friend:
Christian, why do you deny Christ? Christian, why do you continue to attack the Lord with sin's He has forgiven and forgotten? Do you want to remind Jesus of the evil you have done that He has already died for? Christian, do you know that your sins are forgiven "Once and for All"? Do you know that the law never applied to you? Christian, why do you take mans word over God? Christian, learn who you are because you are saved, righteous and holy by the blood of Christ. If you think you need to do work to get into Heaven, don't waste your time, there is nothing you can do that Christ has not already done for you. So what do you pray to God for? Pray in thanksgiving for just how incredible our Father is that He sent His only Son to be punished and die for our sins! Not only that, but risen from them with you to eternity. So stop admitting sins to God who has already forgiven and forgotten them. Stop following man made rules and laws that DO NOT apply to you. Start doing God's will. What is God's will? To give Him praise, glory and honor for the gift He has given us in Jesus.
So in closing I would say
How much does Heaven cost to get into? Remember, you are saved by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! You need to do nothing but believe on this and you will be Baptized into the family of God! No works will ever get you into Heaven,
the work was already done by Jesus. But as a Christ follower faith is expressed in our inspired work to show the world that the Spirit of the living God is inside of you. There is no better news! You are saved! I tell people who want to find the truth to simply read one book in the Bible and then come back to me with what they think, the book of Roman's. Once you have read this book in the New Testament you will learn the very lessons that have been twisted by religion. God's word is good, righteous and pure, the book of Romans shows us how we are the same in Christ. Read it and come back to me and I will teach you more.