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Messages - JC_Believer

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: Love Your Neighbor
« on: November 29, 2017, 12:11:07 PM »
It seems that Jesus was saying that loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves was more important than burnt offerings or sacrifices.  I Cor 13 is called the "Love Chapter" because it defines what love actually is.  God is not expecting us to offer Him animal sacrifices or hurt our bodies to please Him or even give our own lives by death or suicide but rather He wants us to become "living" sacrifices by laying down our lives, our wills, while still living in this world, not only for Him but for others.  That is the true meaning of love.  Love is the fulfilling of ALL the law.  It never fails!!

I'm sorry,  firstly, that I made a word error which I have changed from "what" to "was" (noted in red and italics). 
Secondly, what I was trying to convey was the fact that in some realms of Islam, it is taught that sacrificing yourself or suicide/murder will yield rewards in paradise but in actuality it will yield nothing.  Your motivation must always be based on love to please the One True God.

1Co 13:3  "And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me"

We all know that we are to love God with ALL our hearts, mind, body, soul etc.,  but if we do not define what love is,  and how love is shown,  then one could interpret that to mean "to die for God and dying by suicide to kill the infidel."   This is a gross interpretation of what the first commandment is saying.  Hate is not a demonstration of love!!  So your murder by suicide is not acceptable to God.  The command, as Peter points out, is twofold,


Mark 12.28  And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?    29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:  30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.  31  And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.    32  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:    33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.    34  And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him [any question].


Also, I would like to point out that IF we are loving the Lord our God Who is ONE Lord then we MUST obey and love our neighbor as ourselves!!  We MUST love one another as He has commanded us.   Hating is not love.  Hating the infidel is not love and is not acceptable with the ONE true God, Who is, "The God of Abraham", "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", "The Creator of Heaven and Earth".  Jesus uncovers where hate, lies and murder come from.  Speaking to the spiritual leaders, in that day, who ruled and controlled the people by fear and false morality, and who refused the truth that Jesus was giving them, He said,

Joh 8:44  You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn't know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he's doing what comes naturally to him. He's a liar and the father of lies.

Hate, murder, lies all come from the devil and not from love.  Not from God for God IS love.  Love is the record that determines whether we know God or not.  Love is the record that determines if it is God or not.  If it is not love it is NOT God.  If it is murder, lies, hate, it is NOT God!  God is LOVE and those that are born of God are born of LOVE.

1Jn 4:7  Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God.
1Jn 4:8  The person who doesn't love doesn't know God, because God is love.
1Jn 4:9  God has shown us His love by sending His only Son into the world so that we could have life through Him.
1Jn 4:10  This is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the payment for our sins.
1Jn 4:11  Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other.

This seems like too great a task, and it is because we can only love when we are born of God.  Since Adam, EVERY man was born into this world apart from God, apart from love.  All were incapable of loving with God's love.  Though, God created us, Adam's sin corrupted us.  We NEEDED a Savior.  God provided One.  He promised Adam and Eve that He would bring a seed through the woman who would CRUSH the head of the serpent, the devil.  He sent Jesus Christ to crush the head of satan and destroy his hold of sin over us and to destroy the hold of hate and lies and murder over us.  This hold prevented us from loving with God's love.  So in love, God sent Jesus to die FOR us.  THIS was a sacrifice motivated by love!!  Motivated by God Who is love!  This was a gift of love and a demonstration of love!  It was for our benefit to set us free! 

Joh 3:16  God loved the world this way: He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life.
Joh 3:17  God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.
Joh 3:18  Those who believe in Him won't be condemned. But those who don't believe are already condemned because they don't believe in God's only Son.  (GW Version)

Rom 5:6  Look at it this way: At the right time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for ungodly people.
Rom 5:7  Finding someone who would die for a godly person is rare. Maybe someone would have the courage to die for a good person. (GW Version)
 
BUT

Rom 5:8  Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God's love for us.
Rom 5:9  Since Christ's blood has now given us God's approval, we are even more certain that Christ will save us from God's anger.
Rom 5:10  If the death of His Son restored our relationship with God while we were still His enemies, we are even more certain that, because of this restored relationship, the life of His Son will save us.  (GW Version)

The ONE requirement to access that love, the ONE requirement to live above hate, and lies, and murder, the ONE requirement to be "born of God", "born from above", to "become the sons of God", the "sons of Love",  is the BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and HIS sacrifice of love for us!  We must believe that God accepted THAT sacrifice and it was payment in full, as if it were us who died on the cross ourselves,  and by believing God raised Christ from the dead to NEW life, it becomes our resurrection to NEW life, also!!  That is when God accepts us as sons and our rebirth begins.  We become the sons of God by believing in Jesus Christ and what HE has done.  NO other name in Heaven and Earth can save us.  Not Muhammed, or Allah, or any other name, ONLY Jesus Christ.   It is not what we can do for God but what God has done for us! 

Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world came into existence through Him. Yet, the world didn't recognize Him.
Joh 1:11  He went to His own people, and His own people didn't accept Him.
Joh 1:12  However, He gave the right to become God's children to everyone who believed in Him.
Joh 1:13  These people didn't become God's children in a physical way-from a human impulse or from a husband's desire to have a child. They were born from God.
Joh 1:14  The Word became human and lived among us. We saw His glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with His only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.
Joh 1:15  (John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, "This is the person about whom I said, 'The One Who comes after me was before me because He existed before I did.'")
Joh 1:16  Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is.
Joh 1:17  The Teachings were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ.  (GW Version)

Gal 3:22  But Scripture states that the whole world is controlled by the power of sin. Therefore, a promise based on faith in Jesus Christ could be given to those who believe.
Gal 3:23  We were kept under control by Moses' laws until this faith came. We were under their control until this faith which was about to come would be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Before Christ came, Moses' laws served as our guardian. Christ came so that we could receive God's approval by faith.
Gal 3:25  But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the control of a guardian.
Gal 3:26  You are all God's children by believing in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  Clearly, all of you who were baptized in Christ's name have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Gal 3:28  There are neither Jews nor Greeks, slaves nor free people, males nor females. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants and heirs, as God promised. (GW Version)

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: Love Your Neighbor
« on: November 04, 2017, 06:32:42 PM »

Mark 12.28  And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?    29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:    30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.    31  And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.    32  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:    33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.    34  And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him [any question].



It seems that Jesus was saying that loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves what more important than burnt offerings or sacrifices.  I Cor 13 is called the "Love Chapter" because it defines what love actually is.  God is not expecting us to offer Him animal sacrifices or hurt our bodies to please Him or even give our own lives by death or suicide but rather He wants us to become "living" sacrifices by laying down our lives, our wills, while still living in this world, not only for Him but for others.  That is the true meaning of love.  Love is the fulfilling of ALL the law.  It never fails!!

The Way of Love
1Co 13:1  If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell. 
1Co 13:2  And if I have a prophet's power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing. 
1Co 13:3  And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me. 
1Co 13:4  Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride; 
1Co 13:5  Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil; 
1Co 13:6  It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true; 
1Co 13:7  Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things. 
1Co 13:8  Though the prophet's word may come to an end, tongues come to nothing, and knowledge have no more value, love has no end. 
1Co 13:9  For our knowledge is only in part, and the prophet's word gives only a part of what is true: 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child. 
1Co 13:12  For now we see things in a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now my knowledge is in part; then it will be complete, even as God's knowledge of me. 
1Co 13:13  But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. 

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: The Love of God
« on: November 04, 2017, 06:03:33 PM »
Unfortunately, history is not always accessible to people and if you only know one image of God and are kept from the truth it is more difficult to come to that decision.  One truth is that God is a righteous Judge not willing for any to perish, therefore, EVERYONE will have the opportunity to come to Him, either by Spirit or by truth.  We hear the testimonies of peoples, who never had a preacher but have had encounters with good angels, or had visions and dreams, and even encounters with the Lord Himself,  but most will hear by the Spirit of God, Who has come to convince the world of sin and righteousness and judgement.  We pray, we preach, we sow, but God gives the increase.  God is the Savior of the World!  If ANYONE wants truth He will move the World to bring it to them.  He is as close as a thought or a word.  Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.   Praise to HIS Name alone and ALL Glory to the ONE TRUE God and our Father!!

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: The Love of God
« on: October 31, 2017, 02:52:30 PM »
Yet Muhammadans don't seem to possess the capacity to understand the difference.

A related thread where a Muslim falsely proclaimed Samson to be the first suicide soldier:
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1899.0

Do you suppose this is a brainwashing that is brought on by constant manipulation and fear?  Thus becoming so deeply ingrained in them that without God's help they will not come free of it?  I know the demoniac was under the control of a legion of demons and yet, he was able to bring himself to the feet of Jesus for help.  I often tell people this story and that IF they want help no devil in existence can stop them from getting to Jesus.  It just takes a decision and Jesus can set you free from ANYTHING and put you in a sound mind, body and environment!  IF God be for us (and He is) NO ONE and NOTHING can be against us!!


And speaking of demons who are the "we" that are often referred to when Allah is supposedly speaking to Muhammed?

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: The Love of God
« on: October 31, 2017, 02:47:41 PM »
There is at least one Muslim that came to Christ through recognizing this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuCPgpQl34g

Hallelujah!!  The Name of Jesus be praised and all Glory to the One True God and our Father!

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: The Love of God
« on: October 30, 2017, 12:37:12 PM »
That being true, only God's Spirit can reveal it to them.  Our part is not to convince but only to preach the Word of God,  only to sow the love of God.  Our lives are spent proclaiming the gospel by our words and our lives.  ONLY the Spirit of God can speak to their hearts.  He knows if they are willing or not.  We know, through the Word, that broad is the way that leads to destruction and MANY there be that go that way and only FEW go the way of Life, BUT we preach Jesus and Him crucified and the Holy Spirit will confirm His word with signs following.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 
Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 
Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me; 
Joh 16:10  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 
Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 
Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 

I love the words of David when I think of the almost overwhelming factors we face in this world.  I encourage myself in the Lord, and remember who are enemy truly is, and that Jesus has made a show over him TRIUMPHING over him in it, and I repeat David's words!! 

"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? " (1 Sam 17:26)  "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied!!" (1 Sam 17:45)

We know the coming doom of the Beast and it's prophet and those who take his mark but we do not back down and continue to preach the Kingdom of God is at hand and available to all people now!

Jesus is building His church and THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT!  Praise to HIS Name alone and ALL Glory to the ONE TRUE God and our Father!!

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: Jesus on Adultery
« on: October 30, 2017, 12:04:55 PM »
Exactly, Pete!  I know that you know, that is why they need to hear the truth.  You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!  God's Word declares that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and then it frames the importance of declaring the truth by preaching the Word by saying, "How shall they "hear" EXCEPT they have a preacher."  So then, if faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, then it is most vital to preach the WORD so that faith can rise in their hearts and they can receive Christ and what He has done for us (Rom 10:13-17). 

Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).  Faith is the substance of things HOPED for and the EVIDENCE of things NOT seen (Heb 11:1).  The natural man, the flesh, can NEVER please God nor understand His truth (Rom 8:8; 1Cor 2:4).  It is spiritual and faith is a product of the spirit (Gal 5:22).

Muslims and all peoples, NEED to hear the the forgiveness of God in the Word of God preached.  The Word, regardless of which truth it is portraying,  is a seed that will germinate in their hearts and can become a reality to them because LIFE is in the seed.  When planted by our mouths it brings for LIFE, some thirty, some sixty, some and hundredfold.  All depends upon the condition of the heart.  If it is a hard heart it can be softened by more Word.  Spoken by our mouths it becomes a two edged sword in the hands of the Spirit Who wields it sharply into their hearts!  Depending upon their ultimate choice, it can either become ALIVE in them bringing forth fruit, or be eaten up by the birds of the air.  Nonetheless, we must continue to sow, sow, sow!!   

Muhammad was a false prophet which Jesus warned about and Islam is hard ground.  Much fear and deception need to be rooted out so that the truth can grow freely.  It is not an impossibility as we have seen by the many conversion testimonies.  God has equipped you with the knowledge and ability to speak to them and both to the church.  Thank you for your dedication to your call it is so vital in these last days.  God's people need to "hear." also, because if it were possible even the very elect would be deceived.  It is a time and hour we must all stand.  I feel I can but hold up your hands and pray and stand with you in the battle which we all are involved in.  We know the spirit of anti-Christ is in the world today but GREATER is HE that is in us than he that is in the world and JESUS has overcome the world!!  Praise to HIS name and Glory to the ONE TRUE God and our Father!

So keep up the good work!!

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: Jesus on Adultery
« on: October 29, 2017, 09:06:09 AM »
Adultery is sin and sin can be forgiven and cleansed through the blood of Jesus Christ.

The scripture says, Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  BUT, BUT, BUT

Rom 3:24  Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26  To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believes in Jesus.

1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from ALL sin.
1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

So WE have no place to judge others.  Muhammad was not God's judge.  Even Jesus did not judge others. God is the righteous judge.

God's Righteous Judgment

Rom 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

God's love and goodness leads men to confess their sins and repent of them, not so He can have them stoned, but so that He can forgive them their sin and cleanse them from ALL  unrighteousness through the blood of Jesus!  God didn't send Jesus to CONDEMN the world but that through Him they might have eternal life!  That is God's righteous judgement.  It is all through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Way, Truth and the Life and NO MAN comes to the Father without Him.

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: The Love of God
« on: October 29, 2017, 08:00:27 AM »
Tools indeed and the Love of God is the greatest!  Love never fails!  Love shall cover the multitude of sins!  Love is the fulfilling of all the law!  Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends!  This is not a suicide command where you kill others, along with yourself, to selfishly gain a higher place in paradise but rather a dying to yourself and your own desires for the advantage of others.

1Co 13:3  I may even give away all that I have and give up my body to be burned. But if I don't have love, none of these things will help me. 
1Co 13:4  Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn't jealous. It doesn't sing its own praises. It isn't arrogant. 
1Co 13:5  It isn't rude. It doesn't think about itself. It isn't irritable. It doesn't keep track of wrongs. 
1Co 13:6  It isn't happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. 
1Co 13:7  Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up. 
1Co 13:8  Love never comes to an end.

God is love and the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit when we are born again, born from above, born of God!

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The Love of God as Revealed Through the Word / Re: The Love of God
« on: October 27, 2017, 03:14:42 PM »
The Love of God is expressed by giving, by laying down our lives for others.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus laid down His life for others and it pleased God. 

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above EVERY name:
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11  And that EVERY tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God didn't send Jesus to condemn the world but rather, that they might be saved and receive eternal life through Him.  It's not God's will to KILL people.  He wants them to live through Jesus Christ.   Jesus told the disciples that "he that lives by the sword shall die by the sword", and he told them to put up their swords.  Murder and war are all attributes of the devil.  Jesus said to the self-righteous religious leaders who thought themselves better and above others,

Joh_8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." 

God's Word is a witness against Muhammad's challenge!  Jesus was a witness against it.  Jesus is not only a witness against it but He been given the Name above ALL names, including Allah or Muhammad.  He demonstrated God's love and Muhammad demonstrated his father the devil's lust by advocating murder and lying.  God is the only God of love because God is love.  Anything or anyone contrary to that is a witness against themselves.

God's love is to be shown to others by us.  We lay our lives down for the brethren.  We are witnesses of the love of God.  We are not called to KILL them.  We are called to lead them to Jesus, to  lead them to love,  to lead them to God, lead them to Life! 

1Jn_5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 

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