Amen James, and two I always keep in mind:  Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.   @   John 21:15-17 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.  He saith to him again the second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

JS5777 said:

Salvation is NOT just only for our own benefit, it is ALSO so that we can be a blessing to others. Part of the iniquity that we are turned away from is to think that salvation is ONLY about us. It is to convert us from being self-centered. The SAME power of God that saves us, is the SAME power of God that makes us to be servants of each other. It is for this reason that He gave us commandment to love one another, because loving one another above our own selves, is one of the first signs of being saved

This is excellent. The cross of Christ took care of our sins, but our cross takes care of the self.

Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Notice this verse does not say "let him deny sin" or "let him deny the world" but, "let him deny himself." This cross deals with the self.

To come out of Egypt, we need the Passover Lamb. But to follow our Joshua into our inheritance, to be where He is, we need to cross the Jordan. The stones they left in the bottom of the river signifies the self.

Joshua 4:9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bore the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.

Pharaoh (Satan) was buried in the Red Sea. They themselves were buried in the Jordan. 

It is not good enough to simply be saved from sin, we need to be saved further to be a blessing to others.

   Looks like you, James and I are in agreement as touching the reality of:  Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any [of them] that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

PAULFROMNYS said:

 Looks like you, James and I are in agreement as touching the reality of:  Acts 4:32

Amen. Pity James wont stick around to defend the faith. We could have some enjoyable discussions.

Fred said: "Pity James wont stick around to defend the faith."

What part of the faith am I not defending?

After all, I did start this current thread of discussion, and I thought that we were in agreement up until now.

Shalom,

JS5777

JS5777 said:

After all, I did start this current thread of discussion, and I thought that we were in agreement up until now.

We are brother. I only said that to provoke you. You love the Lord, and I love the Lord. You love and study the word of God, and so do I. I do appreciate the opportunity to speak the truth and defend the truth with the Bible verses so I encourage you to challenge me if something does not sound right.

You said: "I encourage you to challenge me if something does not sound right"

I appreciate that, thank you.

There are very few times that I respond to something that you post out of a need to correct you.

The vast majority of the times my responses are in order to bring out details that other readers may be edified by, in refining certain points.

Through many years of ministry and the gift of ministry that the Lord has placed within me, I have a tendency to notice when there are people in the audience that may need clarification about details that are being spoken.

This particularly helped me when I was first invited to preach in Mexico and I knew next to nothing of the Spanish language.

The interpreter would often interpret details that I spoke in a certain way that did not accurately convey the thought that I was attempting to convey to the people.

As I observed the impact that the interpretation had on the audience, many times I would phrase my statements in a slightly different way in order to provoke the interpreter to also rephrase his interpretation, until I could see that the appropriate response was coming from the people.

In both English and in Spanish, many times simply speaking the same words, but in a slightly different order, can have a huge impact upon the understanding of the audience.

Some of the audience may even question the reasoning for the rephrasing, but as the lesson progresses the reasons become clear.

It is for this reason that after just a short few visits, the church that I was visiting began to have a revival, because as the people began to move into the channel that God was conveying through the Word, God also began to respond by visiting the people with His presence.

Once the people begin to experience the blessing of the anointing of the presence of God, it is time for the minister to begin to step out of the way and just let the people flow into worship, because in THAT flow is where they receive the reality that the preaching was pointing them toward.

Of course the entire process became much easier when the Lord also gave me the ability to communicate in the Spanish language, without the need for a human interpreter.

Sadly, as is so often the case, many of the church leaders became jealous when the people began to respond after a short time, with a response that had not happened during years of their leadership.

I thought that ANY true minister would be overjoyed for the people to be blessed of the Lord, as THAT is the very reason and purpose for ministering, but because of jealousy and carnal thinking about someone that was not from Mexico, going down to Mexico and the people being blessed of the Lord, just because the preacher was from a different "culture", it was too much for some of the leaders, and they began to actively fight against the people enjoying the visitation of the presence of the Lord. During some of the mid-week services, when I was not there, after some of the services the people began to gather at the altar to pray and to cry out to the Lord for more of His visitation to immerse them, and the church leaders, in the very moment when the people were beginning to pray and to cry out to God for more of Him, they began to grab the people by the shoulders and to shake them and command them to leave the sanctuary because the service was over.

I shudder at the very thought of anyone daring to do such.

But God gave His interpretation.

During the next three years almost all of those church leaders died, even though some of them were young, as in their 20's and 30's.

It is a dangerous thing for ANYONE to interfere when God wants to bless His people.

All that the people of God have to do is to begin to cry out to Him to be filled with more of Him, and He WILL respond, and woe to ANYONE that tries to interfere with His blessing.

Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It is a good thing for even ministers, or especially ministers, to learn more about what the reverential fear of the Lord is, and to respect the sanctity of what it means when the people of God begin to cry out to Him.

Shalom,

JS5777

JS5777 said:

There are very few times that I respond to something that you post out of a need to correct you.

First of all, thank you for your testimony brother. I honor and respect anyone who has given up their life to preach the gospel and shepherd the saints. Of course we will be opposed, harassed, slandered, and persecuted, but nothing can overcome the resurrection life in us. Praise the Lord!

Honestly, my burden, as I understand it, is not to correct anyone, although I can see that it can easily be taken that way. I am here to contend for the faith that was one for all delivered to the saints. To do my best to speak the truth in love for the building up of the Body of Christ. The forum affords me a venue to practice this.

According to my understanding, there is not only Mexican and American culture, but religious culture as well. For many years I was in a certain Pentecostal denomination. Looking back, I would characterize it as a mixture of the Bible, traditions, superstition and myths. This all mingled together to form a language, a thought pattern, a way of behaving, that is different from say a Fundamentalist Baptist group, or from an Evangelical group, all of which have their own culture.

Of course, if there is such a thing on the earth as the church, it would have its own "culture." It would have a language, a way of behaving, a thought process that would be absolutely out of the Bible and the expression of Christ. The Body of Christ should express Christ, not any denomination. The Bible calls this corporate person "the one new man."

Ephesians 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Everyone that claims that the Lord Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior, should be conforming to the "culture" of heaven and the character of the Lord.

This means that ALL other cultures should be cast off as filthy rags, specifically in EVERY detail where they are contrary to the "culture of heaven".

Sadly, many that are church "members" STILL have not become members of the heavenly kingdom, and thereby do not recognize that they are still trying to hold the reigns of their own lives instead of surrendering absolute control to the Lord.

By their actions, they deny Him as being their Lord, even at the same time as proclaiming Him to be their Lord.

Shalom,

JS5777

JS5777 said:

Everyone that claims that the Lord Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior, should be conforming to the "culture" of heaven and the character of the Lord.

Amen James. Well put.