sharing: The reason why your old testament bible is useless...: The Old Testament has Become Obsolete Moving on from having addressed the beginning of the Christian life and how that occurs, to...
Grace IN Christ alone saves alone
Friday, November 18, 2016
The reason why your old testament bible is useless-CURLED FROM EARTHLINK-SOLFARD-GOD'S DON
The Old Testament has Become Obsolete
Moving on from having addressed the beginning of the Christian life and how that occurs, to seeing how the Christian experience should actually unfold and be lived out, we now turn to the generally accepted standard bearer for Christian faith and practice, the Bible, to look at the 2 primary methods that Satan has used to bring a myriad of error-filled teachings and practices into the Church..
We’ll address each method in its own study and we’ll first be looking at the mixing of God’s Old Covenant with the New Covenant. Jesus illustrated it as trying to put new wine into old wineskins or trying to put an old patch of cloth on a new garment. Either example will eventually result in disaster. The New Testament makes it very clear that the NEW COVENANT IS SUPERIOR TO THE OLD IN EVERY WAY, so much so that it has made the Old Covenant, OBSOLETE AND READY TO VANISH AWAY. (Hebrews 8:13)
Yet even though these last two facts are unequivocally true, Christian churches and teachers still continually appeal to the Old Covenant and almost always end up negating principles in the New. The result has been confusion, chaos, disagreements, division and a Christianity which bears little resemblance to that seen in the book of Acts and for the first 300 years following. Before I begin to dig in a little deeper I feel it is important to clarify a few things. First, when I speak of the Old Covenant/Testament I am primarily referring to God’s law given to Moses for the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. This is how the New Covenant/Testament identifies the Old, so this is what I will be referring to also. (Hebrews 9:18-20) Second, when I and the Bible say that the New Testament has made the Old Testament obsolete, we are not saying that the reading of all of the Old Testament is not valuable and profitable, it most certainly is for a number of reasons. But the point that I’m making is that once you become a partaker of the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, you should no longer live by the rules and practices of the Old Covenant. As we’ll see a much greater and higher standard has taken its place. With that being said, let’s begin by taking a look at how the Bible contrasts God’s Old Covenant with His New one and we should begin to see why it is so absurd to continue to appeal to the Old for our practices.
We are told that the Old Covenant was weak and useless. (Hebrews 7:18-19) It offered no power to overcome sin and the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t remove our sin (Hebrews 10:4) so it led us to nothing but condemnation and death. (2Corinthians 3:7-9) The Old Covenant offered us high priests who were faulty and sinful, (Hebrews 7:27-28) and the way to God was covered by a thick veil. The Old Covenant was also recognized primarily as a contract of the written letter. (2Corinthians 3:6) God’s laws were written down to be studied and people tried to come to know God through study of this letter. The Old Covenant was also an earthly covenant, focused on earthly things which are temporary and corruptible. The Bible sums all this up by letting us know that this Old Covenant was merely a shadow of what was to come and that the New Covenant would be the fulfillment and the reality, or the very image of God’s best for us. (Hebrews 10:1) At the Last Supper Jesus took the cup and announced, “This is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28).
This New Covenant is lauded to be a better covenant based on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6) With this covenant God promises to completely take away our sins, (Hebrews 10:11-18) and He also provides us with power from Him to sin no more. So instead of condemnation and death we now have true righteousness and eternal life. This New Covenant provides us with the ultimate High Priest, one who will continue forever to always make intercession for us, one who was tempted as we are, yet he remained sinless, one who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, (Hebrews 4:14-15; 7:24-26).
His flesh providing a new and living way for us to come directly to the throne of God for help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16; 10:19-20) So instead of faulty high priests, severely limited because of sin and death, we have one who is perfect and eternal who brings us straight into the presence of God. This New Covenant is a covenant, not of the written letter, because the written letter alone brings forth death, but a covenant which provides us with God’s Spirit. This is the fundamental difference between the two covenants. One is of the written letter, dependent on the flesh of man, which leads to death, and one is of God’s Spirit, where through faith God does all the work, leading us to eternal life.
We no longer have to read to know God and His laws for His Spirit makes us partakers of God’s very own nature (2Peter 1:2-4) and His laws are now written in our hearts and minds. (Hebrews 10:15-17) And finally this New Covenant is a heavenly agreement where we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:4-6) where we can have an actual relationship with the God of the universe, and where God blesses us with all available spiritual blessings which are abundant and eternal. (Ephesians 1:3) This is in contrast to the earthly blessings of the Old Covenant which were only temporary and nowhere near as fulfilling. The greatness and excellence of this New Covenant has made the Old Covenant obsolete, and ready to vanish away, yet Christians still appeal to it, and more often than not, attempt to establish doctrine, rules, and practice by it. How could this happen? Why would God’s people turn their focuses back from heavenly things to earthly things? And from the New Covenant of righteousness and life to the Old Covenant of law, sin and death? Herein lies the answer, our arch-enemy has taken the Christian’s focus off of primary reliance on the Spirit of God and has turned it to almost a 100% focus on the written letter. This inordinate focus on the written letter has brought death into the Christian church in a variety of ways. Our focus here will be on some of the false teachings and practices that have been brought in with the blending of the Old Testament with the New.
We’ll address each method in its own study and we’ll first be looking at the mixing of God’s Old Covenant with the New Covenant. Jesus illustrated it as trying to put new wine into old wineskins or trying to put an old patch of cloth on a new garment. Either example will eventually result in disaster. The New Testament makes it very clear that the NEW COVENANT IS SUPERIOR TO THE OLD IN EVERY WAY, so much so that it has made the Old Covenant, OBSOLETE AND READY TO VANISH AWAY. (Hebrews 8:13)
Yet even though these last two facts are unequivocally true, Christian churches and teachers still continually appeal to the Old Covenant and almost always end up negating principles in the New. The result has been confusion, chaos, disagreements, division and a Christianity which bears little resemblance to that seen in the book of Acts and for the first 300 years following. Before I begin to dig in a little deeper I feel it is important to clarify a few things. First, when I speak of the Old Covenant/Testament I am primarily referring to God’s law given to Moses for the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. This is how the New Covenant/Testament identifies the Old, so this is what I will be referring to also. (Hebrews 9:18-20) Second, when I and the Bible say that the New Testament has made the Old Testament obsolete, we are not saying that the reading of all of the Old Testament is not valuable and profitable, it most certainly is for a number of reasons. But the point that I’m making is that once you become a partaker of the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, you should no longer live by the rules and practices of the Old Covenant. As we’ll see a much greater and higher standard has taken its place. With that being said, let’s begin by taking a look at how the Bible contrasts God’s Old Covenant with His New one and we should begin to see why it is so absurd to continue to appeal to the Old for our practices.
We are told that the Old Covenant was weak and useless. (Hebrews 7:18-19) It offered no power to overcome sin and the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t remove our sin (Hebrews 10:4) so it led us to nothing but condemnation and death. (2Corinthians 3:7-9) The Old Covenant offered us high priests who were faulty and sinful, (Hebrews 7:27-28) and the way to God was covered by a thick veil. The Old Covenant was also recognized primarily as a contract of the written letter. (2Corinthians 3:6) God’s laws were written down to be studied and people tried to come to know God through study of this letter. The Old Covenant was also an earthly covenant, focused on earthly things which are temporary and corruptible. The Bible sums all this up by letting us know that this Old Covenant was merely a shadow of what was to come and that the New Covenant would be the fulfillment and the reality, or the very image of God’s best for us. (Hebrews 10:1) At the Last Supper Jesus took the cup and announced, “This is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28).
This New Covenant is lauded to be a better covenant based on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6) With this covenant God promises to completely take away our sins, (Hebrews 10:11-18) and He also provides us with power from Him to sin no more. So instead of condemnation and death we now have true righteousness and eternal life. This New Covenant provides us with the ultimate High Priest, one who will continue forever to always make intercession for us, one who was tempted as we are, yet he remained sinless, one who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, (Hebrews 4:14-15; 7:24-26).
His flesh providing a new and living way for us to come directly to the throne of God for help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16; 10:19-20) So instead of faulty high priests, severely limited because of sin and death, we have one who is perfect and eternal who brings us straight into the presence of God. This New Covenant is a covenant, not of the written letter, because the written letter alone brings forth death, but a covenant which provides us with God’s Spirit. This is the fundamental difference between the two covenants. One is of the written letter, dependent on the flesh of man, which leads to death, and one is of God’s Spirit, where through faith God does all the work, leading us to eternal life.
We no longer have to read to know God and His laws for His Spirit makes us partakers of God’s very own nature (2Peter 1:2-4) and His laws are now written in our hearts and minds. (Hebrews 10:15-17) And finally this New Covenant is a heavenly agreement where we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:4-6) where we can have an actual relationship with the God of the universe, and where God blesses us with all available spiritual blessings which are abundant and eternal. (Ephesians 1:3) This is in contrast to the earthly blessings of the Old Covenant which were only temporary and nowhere near as fulfilling. The greatness and excellence of this New Covenant has made the Old Covenant obsolete, and ready to vanish away, yet Christians still appeal to it, and more often than not, attempt to establish doctrine, rules, and practice by it. How could this happen? Why would God’s people turn their focuses back from heavenly things to earthly things? And from the New Covenant of righteousness and life to the Old Covenant of law, sin and death? Herein lies the answer, our arch-enemy has taken the Christian’s focus off of primary reliance on the Spirit of God and has turned it to almost a 100% focus on the written letter. This inordinate focus on the written letter has brought death into the Christian church in a variety of ways. Our focus here will be on some of the false teachings and practices that have been brought in with the blending of the Old Testament with the New.
Is there a difference between praise and worship?
Worship is what you do to acknowledge, or thank another being, done by, thanking the other party, and is not done by virtue of a song's melody, which is entertainment or in singing to God alone.As an addendum, worship cannot be done without praise in mind,because they can not be done exclusively, without one another. You must praise with worship in mind or worship with praise in mind...
Worship when properly expressed is directed towards God. It is a wide term, which includes praise, but with an emphasis on reverent devotion to God and the practices by which this reverence is expressed.
The English word ’worship’ comes from the Old English word ’worth-ship’, a word that denotes the worthiness of the one receiving the special honor or devotion.
Worship is characterized by joy and adoration being the response of those that are in the good of God’s gracious redemption in Christ.
It is only truly possible through the leading of the Holy Spirit, John 4: 23–24; Phil. 3vs 3.
At the very centre of the early New Testament church worship was the Breaking of Bread or the Lord's Supper. It was instituted by the Lord Himself. Although not used in connection with the supper, worship can be the only real outcome of participation. Coming together on the first day of the week, believers sought to remember Him as He had commanded.
The elements of their worship appear to have been:
- Praise and thanksgiving, either by individuals or in hymns prayed or sung together, Acts 4: 24–30; 1 Cor. 14.15.
- Prayer, 1 Cor. 14: 15, 17.
- Teaching and reading of the Scriptures, Acts 20: 7; 1 Cor. 1: 19, 26.
- Offerings, that of money or substance, regularly on the first day of each week, 1 Cor. 16: 2.
Praise is an act of worship or acknowledgment,or reverence for an entity's benevolence by which its virtues or deeds are recognized, and extolled.
It can be done to two entities or in three ways:
- The praise of one human being toward another. Although this is often beneficial, 1 Cor. 11: 2, it can be a snare, Matt. 6: 1–4.
- The praise of God toward His people. This is the highest commendation Christians can receive, meaning God acknowledges their actions or approves of it Matt. 25:21.
- Praise toward God. This is the means by which we express our joy to the Lord. We are to praise God both for who He is and for what He does, Psalm. 150verse 2. Praising God for who He is is adoration; praising Him for what He does, is thanksgiving. Praise of God may be in song or prayer, individually or collectively, spontaneous or prearranged, originating from the emotions or from the will.
Worship can include any act of devotion as Romans 12 verse 1, states,
''I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service''.
These last words could be translated 'worshipful service'.
Unlike Old Testament worship, New Testament worship is nowhere identified with a building, ritualistic performances, musical instruments, dancing or the presentation of material sacrifices.
New Testament worship is often silent, always a matter of the exercise of one’s spirit and centers on the divine Persons as to who they are and what they have done, rather than any blessings we have received. The Holy Spirit always leads and directs worship. Anyone acting as a 'worship leader' would certainly put themselves in danger of usurping His authority amongst the people of God. A careful reading of John 4, verses 21-24, helps to clarify these issues as one of the fullest expositions of God’s will in the matter for His people today.
Friday, November 11, 2016
Bible, Science, Proofs: Is Jesus God's real son?
The Bible says, Jesus and God are one person all over the old and new testament which would be explained in detail as we begin to see.
Jesus claims over and over again to be the"I AM", which is how God referred to himself when he was speaking to Moses in the wilderness before the return of the nation Israel after over 400 years in the land of Egypt.
Jesus is referred to as the WORD. "In the beginning was the WORD(Jesus), and the WORD was with God, and the WORD(Jesus) was God." (John 1:1)
Jesus is God..... that was made to live as a man, God in the flesh. God was born into the world through Mary as Jesus.
In short, yes. you see it states clearly in the Bible that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all the same being. They are what is called the Trinity. Jesus is God's son, and the Holy spirit is what God sent to earth to be with us after the death of Jesus. So in answer to your question, yes Jesus and God are the same entity.
The religions, Judaism and Islam, teach that Jesus is a prophet like Mohammad, Noah, Moses, and others, but not God in the flesh, this is a lie. These religions generally do not believe that God could be Jesus because he lived as a man with all the characteristic of a man .
Christianity is unique and does not in any way teach what the followers of these religion belief, this belief is very important and must not be toiled with as a Christian.I would also want to emphasize that Judaism as we see from the old testament is not the same as Christianity.
Some believe that Jesus and God are not the same being. Their reasoning is:
John 8:16-18 says "...if I judge, My judgment is True: for I AM NOT ALONE, but I and the Father THAT SENT ME. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of TWO MEN is True. I am one that beareth witness of MYSELF, and the Father THAT SENT ME beareth witness of ME."
Is He absent-minded? Is He confused... or insane? Is it deceived man who is confused or is the Trinity idea something that man cannot grasp because it is beyond his reasoning abilities?
Jesus tells us that the Father "sent Him." So... did His Father send Him, as He says? Or did He send Himself?.........
That makes Jesus and the Father two distinct entities as a logical reasoning man would say, but the word triunity or trinity as used in the context of the word ''one'' as we see in the preceding verse conotes a single compound as we know in chemistry.
A compound entity here, as with chemical compounds we see in nature such as salt conotes a single substance, but is composed of two elements which could also be said to be two things that can not exist as seperate elements and still retain its property as salt.
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