The problem with "church" as I see it.....

Gideons300 said:

This is certainly the common take on things. The only problem is.... why is no one ever set free from self. If it is progressive based upon time alone, where are the multitudes of saints who have walked with the Lord for decades, walking as shining examples to other believers as to how free God can truly make a man?

This take on things buys us time and takes the pressure off, but unfortunately, at some point, each one of us is going to have to admit their walk is a plateau, with no real victory at all.

Again, would you show me in scripture that the clear promises of God to deliver us from evil, from the power of darkness, are actually nothing more than carrots on a stick, promising the children of God life, but in essence what they walk in is simply "religious niceness".

It may seem enough right now, and millions cling to such hope, but soon, such assurances will blow away with the winds of darkness that are about to overtake us.

There is one sure hope for each child of God. It is for us to to, by faith, reckon ourselves dead to sin, to put the old man off with his deeds, and to clothe ourselves with natures that can be changed, can grow up into Him in ALL things. Faithful is He who calleth us, who also will do it..... IF we stand on His promises unwaveringly.

blessings,

Gideon

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What you are saying about walking in freedom through faith in Christ is absolutely correct. We can achieve this, but not through sinless perfection. We will never be sinlessly perfect until we get to glory. Imperfection will always be a thorn in our flesh, but we don't let it dominate us and hinder our faith in Christ to do His will, and to live free in Christ. Christ has totally dealt with sin through His finished work on the cross.

The presence of sin is still with us, because we are still in our mortal body. The Scripture says that the soul that sins it shall die. This means that we die physically. This is the result of sin. But we are alive in Christ. Therefore according to our mortal body, we have the sentence of death on it, therefore, by faith, we reckon ourselves dead to sin, and alive to Christ. Our own righteousness is still unacceptable to God. This is why any attempt to better ourselves outside of Christ will bring a curse on us, because no one will be justified by works.

So what we do is to consider our sinful mortal body dead already, and go on living in freedom in Christ. But you know what Satan is like. He just loves to drop condemnation bombs on us when we slip and fall under temptation, to try and scupper our faith in Christ. But we quote Romans 8 at him to shut him up.

Gideons300 said:

Jim!! Seeing your name pop up made me smile. I hope you are well. Great to see you.

blessings,

Gids

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Thank you. I check on this section periodically.

Gideons300 said:

God said He would do a work in our day that if our eye did not see it, we would ot believe it. Welcome to that day.

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He also said "will anyone believe..." "will the son of man find faith on earth..." "even if a man were to rise from the dead(and He did), they would not listen to him..." and "two thirds left on earth will refuse to stop worshiping demons..." .. .. .. then also "when they persecute you in one city, FLEE to the next" (not 'change your tune so people accept it, and get popular') .....

Do the Ekklesia do better than the church does on earth ?

I love this post. Much of this has been on my mind lately, especially after watching Todd White’s videos. It’s like I’m waiting for this epiphany, or something to click in my head, especially the “realize your identity in Christ” thing.

And Gideon, you make a great point on faith and believing that our old selves are passed away. I’ve been struggling with that big time. Gonna meditate on this for a while.