Admired and Accepted by Jesus!

[Michael The Disciple]

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. 3:7-11

If Paul thought he had to forsake all and live like this to win Christ and attain to the resurrection we should take it very seriously. Do WE want to win Christ? Attain to the resurrection?

Will God accept us if we live less?

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by acerrak

But if your out here labouring cause you have Gods love in you and believe your already accepted though the sacrifice of Jesus, then My dear sister its a whole new ball game.

I think if you go back and read my post again, I mentioned putting on the mind of Christ.

What exactly is the mind of Christ? HOW do you put on the mind of Christ? How do you become a new creature?

You see, a change takes place in one's heart with the new birth, salvation, spirit infilling.... and because of that change, there is a deeper love in your heart, far different from any other kind of love you have ever experienced. That kind of love makes you want to do whatever you can to please the ONE you are in love with.... that is the kind of love that I am talking about .... the one where you feel you are indebted the rest of your life to the ONE who has given so much to you. That kind of love and desire for deeper fellowship with Christ will by nature, in and of itself, cause one to begin to work to shed any remnants of your former fleshly nature, and to begin to fast, and pray, crucifying the flesh, so that the life of Christ can begin to regin in your life. This kind of love will produce true WORKS of the spirit, and not works of the flesh.

And dear sir, I am certainly not what you would call a legalist, if you will go back and read my post again. I said that the SPIRIT would convict you of things in your life. So let me re-post what I originally said.

Our focus each and every day is to put on the mind of Christ. Putting on the mind of Christ will cause us to lay aside things that hinder our relationship with him. Those things may seem "legalistic" to others, but a true child of God will recognize the value of setting things aside in their lives in order to more completely abide in Jesus.

When you get a glimpse of eternity, setting aside the things here that cause us to stumble will be worthwhile in order to spend eternity with our Saviour!

If I personally lay aside things that cause ME to stumble, why would you label me a "legalist"? I am doing it unto the Lord. That is my position. I hate legalism. I hate man's way of doing things, the Pharasical way! Just as Jesus condemned it! Yet, there is work to be done in our lives. We are in a constant battle with the flesh against the spirit, and if we just lay down and never try to discipline our flesh as in with fasting and prayer (as Jesus himself did), and if we never evidenced of the love of Jesus living in us by helping and loving our fellow man, than what good has it done in taking upon the blood of Jesus done in my life? I have not allowed the POWER of the blood and of his grace and mercy to transform me from my fleshly, wicked ways, into a new creature!

I am not a legalist by any means, and I can't understand how you thought that!

But I do believe with all my heart that as I seek to follow Christ with all my heart, that I am going to have to let go of some things that my flesh likes in order to have more fellowship with Him.

I don't impose those things on anyone else, other than my own self. I don't go around prating that now I have a great revelation, and everyone else should join me in letting go of ________ (Fill in the blank) thing that the Spirit dealt with me about.

IF I begin to condemn others because they are not doing the things as I have been bidden of the SPirit to do, then I am in the wrong..... and THAT is what is wrong with legalism, and Pharaseeism - it puts the emphasis in the wrong place.

I am a contender for PERSONAL HOLINESS, that being that the Spirit will lead and guide each one of us, teaching us, correcting us, and showing us the things in our lives that cause us to stumble. If we listen for the voice of God in our hearts, we will know without a doubt what things we are to do in order to have closer fellowship with the Lord.

Of course I believe in the grace and mercy of Jesus, it has transformed my life!!!! But let's not abuse that precious blood shed for us as a means of continued unrepentant sinning.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. 3:7-11

If Paul thought he had to forsake all and live like this to win Christ and attain to the resurrection we should take it very seriously. Do WE want to win Christ? Attain to the resurrection?

Will God accept us if we live less?

Our faith in the end is what saves us, of course.

Can I add a little more to this train of thought?

So... HOW can we have faith without ever allowing our lives to be transformed by believing that the precious blood shed at Calvary was to give us the power to overcome our flesh?

If we carelessly accept the precious gift of Calvary, and continue walking on in our unregenerate way, and never allowing his Spirit to completely transform us, we are crucifying the Son of God afresh. Heb. 6:6

We are to be NEW creatures, unlike our past ways that were lived in gratifying the flesh. In Christ, we live to please Christ, and in so doing, we have to lay aside things of our flesh in order to have closer fellowship with Him.

I am not going to tell anyone exactly what they need to do in order to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, but the SPIRIT and the WORD will! If we begin to tune our voice to the Spirit, and the Word of God, we will begin to hear what we must do in order to walk in fellowship with Jesus.... and that little thing that we may have to stop doing.... our brother or sister may do it shamelessly without any regard, or any need to cut it out of their lives.... but that is between them and God.

This is the difference between the legalists, and those who advocate personal holiness.

I will seek personal holiness as unto the Lord, with my husband, and my family, and yet, in that same thought, I will not condemn my brother or sister if he/she does not carry the same personal holiness standard as myself, because that is between them and the Lord.

[acerrak]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

I think if you go back and read my post again, I mentioned putting on the mind of Christ.

What exactly is the mind of Christ? HOW do you put on the mind of Christ? How do you become a new creature?

You see, a change takes place in one's heart with the new birth, salvation, spirit infilling.... and because of that change, there is a deeper love in your heart, far different from any other kind of love you have ever experienced. That kind of love makes you want to do whatever you can to please the ONE you are in love with.... that is the kind of love that I am talking about .... the one where you feel you are indebted the rest of your life to the ONE who has given so much to you. That kind of love and desire for deeper fellowship with Christ will by nature, in and of itself, cause one to begin to work to shed any remnants of your former fleshly nature, and to begin to fast, and pray, crucifying the flesh, so that the life of Christ can begin to regin in your life. This kind of love will produce true WORKS of the spirit, and not works of the flesh.

And dear sir, I am certainly not what you would call a legalist, if you will go back and read my post again. I said that the SPIRIT would convict you of things in your life. So let me re-post what I originally said.

Our focus each and every day is to put on the mind of Christ. Putting on the mind of Christ will cause us to lay aside things that hinder our relationship with him. Those things may seem "legalistic" to others, but a true child of God will recognize the value of setting things aside in their lives in order to more completely abide in Jesus.

When you get a glimpse of eternity, setting aside the things here that cause us to stumble will be worthwhile in order to spend eternity with our Saviour!

If I personally lay aside things that cause ME to stumble, why would you label me a "legalist"? I am doing it unto the Lord. That is my position. I hate legalism. I hate man's way of doing things, the Pharasical way! Just as Jesus condemned it! Yet, there is work to be done in our lives. We are in a constant battle with the flesh against the spirit, and if we just lay down and never try to discipline our flesh as in with fasting and prayer (as Jesus himself did), and if we never evidenced of the love of Jesus living in us by helping and loving our fellow man, than what good has it done in taking upon the blood of Jesus done in my life? I have not allowed the POWER of the blood and of his grace and mercy to transform me from my fleshly, wicked ways, into a new creature!

I am not a legalist by any means, and I can't understand how you thought that!

But I do believe with all my heart that as I seek to follow Christ with all my heart, that I am going to have to let go of some things that my flesh likes in order to have more fellowship with Him.

I don't impose those things on anyone else, other than my own self. I don't go around prating that now I have a great revelation, and everyone else should join me in letting go of ________ (Fill in the blank) thing that the Spirit dealt with me about.

IF I begin to condemn others because they are not doing the things as I have been bidden of the SPirit to do, then I am in the wrong..... and THAT is what is wrong with legalism, and Pharaseeism - it puts the emphasis in the wrong place.

I am a contender for PERSONAL HOLINESS, that being that the Spirit will lead and guide each one of us, teaching us, correcting us, and showing us the things in our lives that cause us to stumble. If we listen for the voice of God in our hearts, we will know without a doubt what things we are to do in order to have closer fellowship with the Lord.

Of course I believe in the grace and mercy of Jesus, it has transformed my life!!!! But let's not abuse that precious blood shed for us as a means of continued unrepentant sinning.

alot of that post was directed at his verses not you specifically. but how would one view this scripture, what would be some of your personal thoughts


hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

[acerrak]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. 3:7-11

If Paul thought he had to forsake all and live like this to win Christ and attain to the resurrection we should take it very seriously. Do WE want to win Christ? Attain to the resurrection?

Will God accept us if we live less?

well your either for the kingdom og God or your not. your either born again or your not, your either given a Spirit of adoption or your not.

your sealed to the day of redemption or your not.. we know you cant be either or.

but beyond what Paul said Christ won us. His actions wa shis life style, and he encouraged others to be like him. to run the race as though you want to win it. even though we as christian are not competing with each other.

Pauls point in general is everything that is here today will be gone, and Christ is more than these, but at the same token when Paul spoke of baptism in romans 6 and col 2 he spoke of being raised like Jesus through faith

and i really think that is what your trying todo is substitute works for faith. Instead of having faith that produce worth.

Paul was a extrodenary man, but paul also slipt back under the law and did a sacrifice, he also did a purification ritual to please others. He wasnt with out fault. But His faith was always keeping him pressed tword Jesus.

The deeds he did wouldnt gain him access, but the faith he had that produced those very works would be what Got him to heaven,

No one can ever do enough, Paul couldnt, Peter couldnt. I cant, you cant. we can never pay the debt. we can never do enough. That is the power of the cross. that is why we need grace.

ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. and not of works less anyone should boast

Mike what is a gift? Do you have to labour to get a gift? or is a Gift given out of Love.

John 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

Acts 15:11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

Romans 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 9:16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

Ephesians 2:5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

[StillStanding]

This past Sunday, the message was about the difference between salvation and sanctification.

The pastor said once you're saved, its OK if you want to cuss somebody out! He said its OK if you want to have an affair with that person at work! He said its OK if you want to cheat somebody out of their money! It's OK if you want to ignore the elderly or poor! .............AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DO IT!

Even Jesus himself was tempted. Not MY will, but THINE be done! We should all strive to be Christ-like.

When you're born of the spirit, you'll show the fruits of the spirit!

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by StillStanding

This past Sunday, the message was about the difference between salvation and sanctification.

The pastor said once you're saved, its OK if you want to cuss somebody out! He said its OK if you want to have an affair with that person at work! He said its OK if you want to cheat somebody out of their money! It's OK if you want to ignore the elderly or poor! .............AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DO IT!

Even Jesus himself was tempted. Not MY will, but THINE be done! We should all strive to be Christ-like.

When you're born of the spirit, you'll show the fruits of the spirit!

Blessed are the pure in heart for THEY shall see God. Matt 5:8

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by acerrak

alot of that post was directed at his verses not you specifically. but how would one view this scripture, what would be some of your personal thoughts


hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

My thoughts on this scripture would be to learn to live within your means, and with such things as God has given you, and to not look on others or things with a spirit that desires to have more than you need.

I just read this scripture this morning:

Romans 13:14 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof."

This scripture seems to sum up most of what Paul taught. Allow the spirit of Jesus to so transform your life, and in so doing this, you will not make provision for your fleshly lusts, but will begin to deny them in order to have closer fellowship with Jesus.

You will not be producing fleshly, manmade works, but spiritual works as evidenced by the fruit of the spirit....