The Mission of the Christian Church in these last days.

[Gary O']

Man...get on a great topic and it disintegrates into three or four different topics, and arguing back and forth.

How sad

 

[Gary K]

Man...get on a great topic and it disintegrates into three or four different topics, and arguing back and forth.

How sad

I'm curious as to your thoughts on the mission of the church of the last days. What do you see it as? Is it RxF as taught in scripture and the writings of Ellen White? If not, why not?

 

[Andrewn]

Whose theology?

In my experience, SDA's depend on interpreting nefesh as the soul to prove that souls are asleep or unconscious after death from the OT. Perhaps I misunderstood.

 

[Gary O']

I'm curious as to your thoughts on the mission of the church of the last days. What do you see it as? Is it RxF as taught in scripture and the writings of Ellen White? If not, why not?

Oh, that's big......the biggest.
It certainly has been my salvation.
I'll tell ya, Gary, a prayer of thanks is on my lips every waking hour.
He's been working on me.
I know it's not me, my works.
Boy, do I know that.
Desires I've had are gone.
No longer a struggle.

Yes, Righteousness by faith, in His power.
That IS our salvation.
We're not salvageable without it.

Martin Luther made a huge impact.
And that drove us to study.
Righteousness by faith has been preached for many decades now.
Seems it's no longer an unknown.
Even though it seems SDAs cling to works a bit.
It's not said, but it still comes thru.
There's a smugness there.

And it makes Bob's observation even more pertinent.
Prophesy shows we are in the end times.
We have urgent messages to carry.
We should be bursting with them.
But it doesn't seem to be happening within the church.
Laodicea?

That little book, Steps to Christ, is packed with direction, info.
It's become a handout for me.
I buy 20 at a time.
For the homeless, we tuck a couple bucks in each book.

Anyway, I hope I answered your question.
I'm rather new at this

 

[Gary K]

In my experience, SDA's depend on interpreting nefesh as the soul to prove that souls are asleep or unconscious after death from the OT. Perhaps I misunderstood.

Yeah, you did. We believe that the person is unconscious of what is going on around them while dead. Jesus referred to death as sleep. John 11:11

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

The Hebrew word translated as "spirit" means breath.

7307רוּח
rûach roo'-akh
From H7306; wind; by resemblance {breath}that {is} a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively {life} anger6
unsubstantiality; by extension a region of the sky; by resemblance {spirit} but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions): - {air} {anger} {blast} {breath} X {cool} {courage} {mind} X {quarter} X {side} spirit ({[-ual]}) {tempest} X {vain} ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

Genesis 2:77 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

[Gary K]

Oh, that's big......the biggest.
It certainly has been my salvation.
I'll tell ya, Gary, a prayer of thanks is on my lips every waking hour.
He's been working on me.
I know it's not me, my works.
Boy, do I know that.
Desires I've had are gone.
No longer a struggle.

Yes, Righteousness by faith, in His power.
That IS our salvation.
We're not salvageable without it.

Martin Luther made a huge impact.
And that drove us to study.
Righteousness by faith has been preached for many decades now.
Seems it's no longer an unknown.
Even though it seems SDAs cling to works a bit.
It's not said, but it still comes thru.
There's a smugness there.

And it makes Bob's observation even more pertinent.
Prophesy shows we are in the end times.
We have urgent messages to carry.
We should be bursting with them.
But it doesn't seem to be happening within the church.
Laodicea?

That little book, Steps to Christ, is packed with direction, info.
It's become a handout for me.
I buy 20 at a time.
For the homeless, we tuck a couple bucks in each book.

Anyway, I hope I answered your question.
I'm rather new at this

So, if I understand you correctly RxF is responsible for your salvation. Has it changed your life? Has it changed the way you live, i.e. your behavior, your attitudes?

 

[Gary O']

So, if I understand you correctly RxF is responsible for your salvation. Has it changed your life? Has it changed the way you live, i.e. your behavior, your attitudes?

Absolutely.
I see changes in myself daily.
Like I said, I know it's not me.
It's Him...working in me.
And it really establishes/strengthens my faith.

I have this shop.
I'm a wood butcher.
I get these orders.
Things like live edge bookcases;

The customers seem to have a knack in making my crude carvings look good in places;

and my tiny avian abodes have been a hit;

Anyway, while in my shop, I crank up the stereo.

Anymore, i have no desire to play secular music.
I mean, I have scads of CDs
But what I play now is Christian music
Can nay be helped
and they all stop me in my tracks, bringing tears of joy.
That's not me....no, not the old me.

Here's one now;

 

[Gary K]

Absolutely.
I see changes in myself daily.
Like I said, I know it's not me.
It's Him...working in me.
And it really establishes/strengthens my faith.

I have this shop.
I'm a wood butcher.
I get these orders.
Things like live edge bookcases;
View attachment 309840

The customers seem to have a knack in making my crude carvings look good in places;
View attachment 309839

and my tiny avian abodes have been a hit;

View attachment 309843


Anyway, while in my shop, I crank up the stereo.

Anymore, i have no desire to play secular music.
I mean, I have scads of CDs
But what I play now is Christian music
Can nay be helped
and they all stop me in my tracks, bringing tears of joy.
That's not me....no, not the old me.

Here's one now;

What you are describing is sanctification. The changing of your heart that is impossible for you to do for yourself that changes your behavior. Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5. The OT speaks of this too in relation to the Sabbath. Exodus 31:13 Jesus describes this same thing in his conversation with Nicodemus. John 3

BTW, I really like your woodworking.

 

[Andrewn]

The Hebrew word translated as "spirit" means breath.

Some scholars go so far as to translate:

Gen 1:2 and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters—

I think "ruach" should always be translated "spirit". But this is not the subject of the thread, so we may discuss it at some other time .

 

[Gary O']

BTW, I really like your woodworking.

Thank you, Gary.
I mostly build cabins.
To keep from staying off topic in this thread, you might want to cruise thru a thread of mine, on the geezer forum;

Our Retirement Dream Fulfilled | Christian Forums

 

[Gary K]

Thank you, Gary.
I mostly build cabins.
To keep from staying off topic in this thread, you might want to cruise thru a thread of mine, on the geezer forum;

Our Retirement Dream Fulfilled | Christian Forums

I hope you aren't done commenting on RxF. This thread is just starting to get intersting. There is so much to it.

Took a quick gander at the first part of your retirement thread. I liked it.

 

[Gary K]

Some scholars go so far as to translate:

Gen 1:2 and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters—

I think "ruach" should always be translated "spirit". But this is not the subject of the thread, so we may discuss it at some other time .

I'm not quite sure I agree with you on ruach in Genesis 1:7. Remember there was no firmament around the earth. That means there was a whole lot of solar winds sweeping across the surface of the earth.

 

[pasifika]

It is called the "first resurrection" in Rev 20 and it happens at the revelation/appearing/Advent of Christ in Rev 19. But they also "come to life" at the second resurrection.

Rev 20:
4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

In 1 Thess 4:13-18 it is the body of the saints - "the dead in Christ" that rise first - but in terms of the soul it "has fallen asleep in Jesus" according to 1 Thess 4:13-18 -

In the technical terms of Matt 10:28 only the body is destroyed at the first death - not the soul. That which "sleeps" -- 'exists'. That which returns to dust - no longer exists as 1 Cor 15 points out.

Hello Bob, I disagree with your interpretation of Revelation 20. Those who ressurected in the first ressurection are those who reign with Christ for a 1000yrs. The rest who had not ressurected in the first resurrection will ressurected in the second and that ressurection is for the wicked "resurrection for damnation" as in John 5:29

 

[Gary O']

I hope you aren't done commenting on RxF. This thread is just starting to get intersting. There is so much to it.

Oh, I'll hang here.
Wonderful stuff.

Took a quick gander at the first part of your retirement thread. I liked it.

Yeah, I kinda dropped it when my son passed away last April.
May take it up again in the near future

 

[Gary K]

Oh, I'll hang here.
Wonderful stuff.


Yeah, I kinda dropped it when my son passed away last April.
May take it up again in the near future

I'm glad you are interested.

Hope you like the following version of Amazing Grace. I first ran across a month or so ago and it's become a favorite of mine.