I believe when we walk with Jesus, we come to a point where we start to separate scriptural truth, and things the Lord makes plain to us, from man made doctrines, and denominational beliefs.
The scriptures are full of verses that do not make free will, the king / big dog on the block, but instead talk about Gods Sovereignty. Let me just give one example, Paul says the following in
Romans CH 9
"16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?"
Notice the underlined, I hope you concentrate on "Not of Him who wills" and "Why does He still find fault" (Note they are NOT disagreeing with Paul), then lastly "Who are you to reply against God (Notice Paul is strengthening their argument, he is not saying, no, no, you misunderstood my point, I meant, you know, if you are willing, then God does X,Y, or Z).
Here let me give the same verse from The Message Bible:
The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for better or worse.
19 Are you going to object, “So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”
20-33 Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either
Now let's talk about what we call the Godhead or trinity (I think we make this hard to understand)... We have one God, but we have 3 that are separate, yet one. You might say that sounds impossible. No, it's not. Let me share how I see it OK?
Let's start in Genesis, this is where we first see "The Word" in action. God (who is Spirit), says "Light Be" and Light became.
Now John Ch 1 says that Word (Lite be), created everything we see, and everything invisible.
John also says, that Word "BECAME" flesh and dwelt among us. Further John says that "One" (Jesus) was full of the Spirit without measure. For God is Spirit, and God filled the Lamb (Jesus), that sinless one, not like the first Adam, who sinned, full of His Spirit.
The scriptures also declare God and Jesus are "ONE"... How so?
Has God ever been flesh? Nope!
Has Jesus ever been totally flesh, absent of Spirit? Nope!
So they are one in Spirit, that is their common denominator.
So we have God, who is Spirit, Jesus who was born in the flesh, via a virgin, without sin, full of Gods Spirit, without measure, they are 2 and yet in Spirit they are one.
Then Jesus says, when I leave I will send this same Spirit to indwell you (of course this is not without measure). So we have 3, yet all have the same single common denominator, which is Spirit
The scriptures are full of verses that do not make free will, the king / big dog on the block, but instead talk about Gods Sovereignty. Let me just give one example, Paul says the following in
Romans CH 9
"16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?"
Notice the underlined, I hope you concentrate on "Not of Him who wills" and "Why does He still find fault" (Note they are NOT disagreeing with Paul), then lastly "Who are you to reply against God (Notice Paul is strengthening their argument, he is not saying, no, no, you misunderstood my point, I meant, you know, if you are willing, then God does X,Y, or Z).
Here let me give the same verse from The Message Bible:
The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for better or worse.
19 Are you going to object, “So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”
20-33 Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either
Now let's talk about what we call the Godhead or trinity (I think we make this hard to understand)... We have one God, but we have 3 that are separate, yet one. You might say that sounds impossible. No, it's not. Let me share how I see it OK?
Let's start in Genesis, this is where we first see "The Word" in action. God (who is Spirit), says "Light Be" and Light became.
Now John Ch 1 says that Word (Lite be), created everything we see, and everything invisible.
John also says, that Word "BECAME" flesh and dwelt among us. Further John says that "One" (Jesus) was full of the Spirit without measure. For God is Spirit, and God filled the Lamb (Jesus), that sinless one, not like the first Adam, who sinned, full of His Spirit.
The scriptures also declare God and Jesus are "ONE"... How so?
Has God ever been flesh? Nope!
Has Jesus ever been totally flesh, absent of Spirit? Nope!
So they are one in Spirit, that is their common denominator.
So we have God, who is Spirit, Jesus who was born in the flesh, via a virgin, without sin, full of Gods Spirit, without measure, they are 2 and yet in Spirit they are one.
Then Jesus says, when I leave I will send this same Spirit to indwell you (of course this is not without measure). So we have 3, yet all have the same single common denominator, which is Spirit
