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John here:
No, you are mistaken. (perhaps is is my fault) OBEDIENCE is 'Desired' by the Born Again heart. One that is RECREATED WITH TRUE AGAPE LOVE, OK?
I agree with you on this. When we are born again our new heart is one that desires to keep Gods commandments. (Ezekiel 11:19-20 and Hebrews 10:16-17)
Acts 5:32's surrender is required before one can receive the Holy Ghost. See Matt. 28:20. The Law of God r-e-a-l BONDAGE to sinners! But not the SAVED AT PRESENT ONES! (Sabbath KEEPING INCLUDED!)
To surrender is a work. It requires us to do something. Acts 5:32 is an interesting verse.
Acts 5:32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that
obey him.
It seems to contradict a lot of what we both are saying. Don’t we have to have a new heart to obey? Doesn’t God have to give us that heart?
I see nothing in Acts 5:32 about surrendering, obeying yes. Surrendering, no. Remember Ezekiel 11:19-20? The heart change must come first.
In my judgment this verse falls in with the many verses where God gives us a commandment to do something we can’t do. But He gives us the solution, Ezekiel 11:19-20 and Hebrews 10:16-17. Other examples of things we are told to do, then His solution:
Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Mark 12:30 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.
!!!HE MUST DO IT!!!
Deuteronomy 30:6 And
the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
!!!HE MUST DO IT!!!
Proverbs 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue,
is from the LORD.John 1:12 But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
!!!HE MUST DO IT!!!
John 3:27 John answered and said,
A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
!!!HE MUST DO IT!!!
Deuteronomy 29:4 Yet
the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and
ears to hear, unto this day
Time and time again God tells us to do something to get our selves saved. But we can’t do what is required because SPIRITUALLY WE ARE DEAD.
The dead can’t hear, believe, surrender, keep His commandments, think, etc.
The dead can’t wake themselves up.
Ephesians 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Colossians 2:13 ¶ And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
From the old testament we are given the example of the dry bones. Spiritually we are the dry bones.
Ezekiel 37:1 ¶ The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
Ezekiel 37:2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
Ezekiel 37:3 And he said unto me,
Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
Ezekiel 37:4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O
ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Ezekiel 37:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
And in Isa. 8:20 we see where God places His Portion of Scripture that He ONLY WROTE, it is along (together as a test) with the rest on His 'Inspired Testimony'. If any go contrary to it? They are LIGHTLESS! (or see 1 John 2:4 for these ones being a liar with NO TRUTH, but the why, is what is important?!)
Read Isa. 8:20 now, OK? (in the K.J.) And about the testimony part of HOLY MEN? Surely we agree that Matt. Mark, Luke & John are not The HOLY SPIRITS WORDINGS?? These Holy men 'penned' the Words as best that they understood them to describe the meaning. If not, the four books that are called Gospels would all be written alike. They even are somewhat contrary if not studied as a 66 book whole! See 2 Tim. 3:16
Now I see the problem. YOU DO NOT BELIEVE THE ENTIRE BIBLE is GOD BREATHED.
What EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE that the ENTIRE BIBLE IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD?
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Those six words, is given by inspiration of God, come from one Greek word, theopneustos.
theos means God. It is where we get words like theology.
pneo means blow or to breath. It is where we get words like pneumonia.
The NIV actually does a better job of translating this.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
You don’t believe that the ENTIRE bible is God breathed. You might as well rip the 4 gospels out of your bible because they must be flawed.
In fact why trust any of the bible? Do we have stone tablets? NO. That also can’t be trusted.
The true gospel is circumscribed by the entire bible. Nothing more and nothing less.
With your church you have not only eliminated the gospels, but you have added the visions of Ellen G. White.
You have set yourselves up as authorities that know what belongs and what doesn’t belong in the bible.
You will never come to truth if you don’t accept and trust in God’s ability to protect and deliver His word.
It is true that the 4 gospels very in delivery, God didn’t change the personalities of the scribes He selected. And each Gospel emphasizes different things. BUT ALL FOUR GIVE THE EXACT SAME MESSAGE CONCERNING THE CHANGE IN THE SABBATH, all 4.
Very rarely does God emphasize something so many times. Reject the gospels at your peril.
And then we see others in 'the Inspired Word of God' with their choice of descriptive Words, as in 2 Ki. 18:27 or 1 Sam. 25:22. Do we see this as the Holy Spirits language??
Yes it is the language of God. Why would you question His word?