Category: Faith

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We Must Walk By The Spirit To Be Free

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

–Romans 8:1 (NKJV)

Many of us know about there being no condemnation as a follower of Jesus, but we forget that we have to walk by the Spirit.  Here in the Greek Spirit is pneuma, the capitalization of Spirit by the translators of the NKJV translation of the Bible indicates that we think pneuma here is the Holy Spirit.

We agree with that thinking, but at the same time, we are believers should be ‘spiritual’.  We should walk by the Spirit which is our human spirit in tune with the Holy Spirit.  Here you can see pneuma as both the Holy Spirit and your human spirit in union with the Spirit of God.  We must walk by faith, we must walk by the Spirit.  We must walk by our spirit in tune with His Spirit to be free from condemnation.

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Why Does Pastor John Fullerton MacArthur Seem To Hate Christians?

The beauty of the church of God built by Jesus the Anointed is the diversity.  Not ‘diversity’ in terms of the sexual perversion the world tries to flog today.  Diversity in that there are many people with many different types of personalities as well as giftings and callings.

God is so gracious.  When we get off He corrects us.  If we are like David, and correct ourselves we are back on God’s path for our lives.  If we ignore, we are stepping outside of God’s will.

I don’t know much about John MacArthur other than he is a pastor, publishes a lot of books, and is more of a religious guy who doesn’t like Spirit-filled Christians or shall we say, Spirit-filled Jesus people.  He doesn’t believe in signs or wonders, so you’d never see me in a church like that.

Indeed God is gracious.  When someone says they are a prophet we should always be careful, it seems that God did indeed send someone to warn John about attacking Jesus people and the move of the Holy Spirit.  We know from Acts with Ananias and Sapphira, you can’t work against the Holy Spirit and expect to continue.

https://youtu.be/U8H4OG0ZGWI

This video of a ‘prophet’ warning John MacArthur really gets you thinking.  He speaks with a Scottish accent and may have come from far and really felt that God wanted him to deliver that message.

Generally, it’s best to avoid John MacArthur’s materials as it comes from a Calvinist perspective.  They see God as always angry and judgmental. Maybe because that is the way they are? However, God is not like that now.  Judgment will come.

Let’s be praying for John that he will have know Jesus personally and be filled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit so he will be able to lead the people in his circle to God and not away from the Kingdom.

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How Reliable, Biblically, Is The GotQuestions.org Website?

GotQuestions.orgIf you search on the net for Bible related questions you will surely find Michael Houdmann’s Got Questions.org website. The website is apparently his full time job that he started after Bible school. He writes weekly articles from his home in Colorado and solicits giving from people on their mailing list. Houdmann does a good job answering a lot of questions about life with Bible verses that he quotes. Overall he’s doing a good job of getting lots of content on the net and answering some basic questions. However, we have received a lot of questions about the answers there.  We will answer your questions about how reliable and true to the Word of God his site is from a Spirit-filled believer’s perspective.

Generally, it is interesting and can be used as somewhat informational but you can’t trust GotQuestions.org essays all too much. From our research, it is written by people coming from a very conservative, evangelical religious perspective. Apparently the ‘whatever happens to you is God’s will’ group (we call it Dark Ages Mentality or DAM). For example, anything about the Holy Spirit is usually not in line with Spirit-filled believers or people accustomed to the Biblical beliefs such as what the mainline Assemblies of God, or the Foursquare Christian groups know or expect.

Recently, Mr. Houdmann’s was labeled as a false teacher by several other Christian ministries. Why is this? It is likely the result of “what comes around goes around”, or just plain old ‘sowing and reaping’. He answers the typical questions about Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses with the usual cult responses, but he doesn’t stop there. He also labels other Christian ministries as cults or ‘scripturally off’ who are not cults but just different from his background.  That is really saddening to see a Christian attacking fellow brothers and sisters in the Kingdom.

Ministries that we see leading people to Jesus and helping people to walk in His ways are labeled cults and should not be. We don’t see him as a false teacher but from the site answers, just more as an over-zealous traditional religious person.

Generally, Mr. Houdmann seems to be working hard on his website Got Questions.org, raising funds,  and trying to develop new sites. But like any information on the net, there’s good but unfortunately, there’s a bit of error as well.  Error comes when people write about what they do not understand or have not experienced.  It completely missed the boat on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit calling the Baptism “tongues” and saying that this ended with the destruction of the temple in 70AD.  You wonder, “What Bible did that come from”, if you are already baptized in the Spirit and seeing miracles working in your life.  After all, Jesus said we would do greater works than He, because He was going to the Father in John 14:12.

Although, generally interesting reading, the website can sometimes be a distraction, misleading, and divisive among the church.  From a Bible-believing Christians’ perspective, it’s better to see his essay’s as  needing to be examined according to the Word of God.. Would love to see him and his website helpers baptized in the Holy Spirit and promoting unity among the body of Christ that would surely bring more people into the Kingdom. I hope that answers your question. 😉

UPDATE 28 April 2016- FaithPro.org BETA

There is so much misinformation and religious teaching out there that distracts us from our relationship with God, we have decided to do something about it.  We want Jesus, not religion.  The Spirit is our teacher according to John 14:26.  It’s time to get inspired answers to life’s questions directly from the Holy Spirit who inspired the men and women who wrote the Bible.

We are creating a new site is called FaithPro.org.  We all need inspiration. If you read and study the Word for yourself, the Holy Spirit will inspire and teach you.  You will learn from believers who are filled, inspired and led by God’s Spirit.   You will learn to walk by faith like a PRO!  After all, it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Check out the new Faithpro.org site here.  It’s still in BETA so please let us know how to make it better.  Be a part of the inspiration.  Some good is going to happen to you, BECAUSE you believe!

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Running With Champions

I have said a lot “If you want to be a champion, you have to run with the champions.” Well, I saw that in action in my first Gold’s Gym experience. Never been to this franchise until this week. I noticed a lot of buff little Japanese guys at this gym as opposed to the other clubs I have visited. The serious lifters seem to congregate together here.

One thing I did notice is you can’t use a gym as an escape. You still have to make time to get into God’s presence and work hard in life as well.

“Get that exercise and get back to work” is probably a good model.

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Who I Am In Christ Jesus

1. I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood (Ephesians 1:7).
2. I am greatly loved by God (Colossians 3:12; Romans 1:7; I Thessalonians 1:4; Ephesians 2:4).
3. I am part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (I Peter 2:9).
4. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit; I am not my own (I Corinthians 6:19).
5. I am an ambassador for Christ (II Corinthians 5:20).
6. I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:21).
7. I have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5; I Corinthians 2:16).
8. I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).
9. I am His elect, full of mercy, kindness, humility, and longsuffering (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12).
10. I am delivered from the power of darkness and translated into God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
11. I am redeemed from the curse of sin, sickness, and poverty (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
12. I am firmly rooted, built up, established in my faith and overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:7).
13. I am healed by the stripes of Jesus (I Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5).
14. I am raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:6).
15. I am submitted to God, and the devil flees from me because I resist him in the Name of Jesus (James 4:7).
16. I press on toward the goal to win the prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward (Philippians 3:14).
17. I am complete in Him Who is the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10).
18. I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
19. I am born of God, and the evil one does not touch me (I John 5:18).
20. I am holy and without blame before Him in love (I Peter 1:16; Ephesians 1:4).

~~~

1. I have the peace of God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
2. I have the Greater One living in me; greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world (I John 4:4).
3. I have received the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened (Ephesians 1:17,18).
4. I have received the power of the Holy Spirit to lay hands on the sick and see them recover, to cast out demons, to speak with new tongues. I have power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm me (Mark 16:17,18; Luke 10:17,19).
5. I have given, and it is given to me; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, men give into my bosom (Luke 6:38).
6. I have no lack for my God supplies all of my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
7. I can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one with my shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16).
8. I can do all things through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13).
9. I show forth the praises of God Who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).
10. I am God’s child for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever (I Peter 1:23).
11. I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).
12. I am a new creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17).
13. I am a spirit being alive to God (I Thessalonians 5:23; Romans 6:11).
14. I am a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind (II Corinthians 4:4).
15. I am a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions (James 1:22,25).
16. I am a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).
17. For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7).
It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).