Thread: A question on Christian Scripture.

I am using an Online Bible as words and phrases are recalled, just as i could not exactly recall the other verses I have quoted . I feel I do know some of what they mean. The babe and milk kept coming to mind but I could not get to the part about the smorgasbord.

To be fair I must say I have very little confidence in walking the streets of gold paved pearl gated netherworld.

What I want is love and peace that passeth all understanding. Today

matthew 11:34
³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.


Luke 17: 20-21
²⁰And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
²¹Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Check out the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians. Paul goes into an explanation that might answer some of your questions if you read it carefully.

Originally Posted by kevint

Scott the men in your Bible study are a good example of what got me to ask this question. I am not trying to spread doubt but I have to ask: A 2000+ year tradition should be running like a well oiled machine. why is this such a difficult matter for us that after a half-lifetime of study and practice one does not become adept, become a mentor and spiritual guide with a very specific set of steps, practices that prepares/ allows the student to overcome.
John 14:12
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Why are we waiting for this to happen still? or does it happen a lot that I just font know?

I think that I understand what you are getting at in regards to steps, practices, & guidelines to overcome from being a "baby" to growing spiritually to a "mentor". I think it's actually a good question that we should ask ourselves. More than likely many of us would say that we haven't been a servant as we should have. I haven't. We have allowed other priorities to consume what little time we seem to have in a day. I will have to say that I think things are a little more complicated with our daily life compared to 1k-2k years ago. We are given that "free will" and it's up to you and I to feed our holy spirit and become the men we should be.

Scott

Originally Posted by Desdinova

Any New Testament book that is not John. Luke, Mark or Matthew are not the words of Christ.

They are the words and opinions of Paul. Paul never met Jesus and was dead-set against James who did receive the word of Christ directly.



So personally, I only read the 4 books mentioned above.

It would be helpful if you would select some passages which have strongly influenced your spiritual growth as I am most interested in what Jesus said; rather than the doctrinal precepts that define Christianity

Originally Posted by kevint

It would be helpful if you would select some passages which have strongly influenced your spiritual growth as I am most interested in what Jesus said; rather than the doctrinal precepts that define Christianity

Unfortunately, you can't separate them

Matt 28: 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matt 16:19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” to the Apostles

The words of Jesus...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I think that I understand what you are getting at in regards to steps, practices, & guidelines to overcome from being a "baby" to growing spiritually to a "mentor". I think it's actually a good question that we should ask ourselves. More than likely many of us would say that we haven't been a servant as we should have. I haven't. We have allowed other priorities to consume what little time we seem to have in a day. I will have to say that I think things are a little more complicated with our daily life compared to 1k-2k years ago. We are given that "free will" and it's up to you and I to feed our holy spirit and become the men we should be.

Scott

Something I hear from someone every day: I don't have time. Or words to that effect. A thing that I try to never say.

There are things I want to do and don't want to do. Some I need to do and some I should do. The ones that cause a bad situation to occur are those when it is both: don't want to and should.

Where do priorities come from? If I can always and only do what I should be doing then there is time enough to do everything.

matthew 6: 22-29
²²The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
²³But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
²⁴No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
²⁵Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
²⁶Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
²⁷Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
²⁸And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.


The lillies and the fowls only do what is necessary. They do not have or experience time. They only exist in the eternal moment of this one to the next. Obviously though there is a time for planning. Jesus did not just happen to see a donkey walking by and hop on and say "let's see where this donkey is going" He sent an apostle to fetch one and told them where they were going.



Philippians 2
¹If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
²Fulfil ye my joy, *that ye be likeminded*, having the same love, being of one accord, *of one mind.*
³Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but *in lowliness of mind* let each esteem other better than themselves.
⁴Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
^5*Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:*
⁷But made himself of no reputation, *and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:*





I hope those red asterisks will separate out a few phrases enough for emphasis as you read the whole passage so not to be considered out of context. To me this is some meat.


I am unsure how this is preached today, but I would think telling a babe in Christ that he is(can be) equal to God may cause some confusion.


To be clear the passage says to allow this "one mind" which was also the same mind that was in Christ- a guy who thought it not robbery to be equal with God-. Was he God, are we God? It says "in the form of God"


God as form- material existence.


I like where this is going. The verses from Phillipians came from my searching the word Servant as suggested by Scott

Two things that have always stuck with me, pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.

If you're hungry go in a closet and pray for a hot dog. My AA sponsor used to say that to illustrate that God would put the hot dog wagon on the corner but you had to get off your duff and go and get it.

The Holy Spirit is using this type of language to illastrate a meaning which the avage unsaved person will not understand unless he is bornagain and has the Holy Spirit of God in him or her to guide them. The meaning is God likens the new Christian as a babe or baby in Christ. And for a baby you can only give it certain types of food for the age of the baby for it to handle it in it's system. Babies start off with milk then as they grow they can handle vegtables, fruit, bread, then of course meat. If a young Christian doesn't grow spiritualy then the young Christian can only handle milk and not meat. He has not grown as a Christian to handle another words hard spiritual problems in scripture or in his Church or in his life. I hop this will help you. With Christs' Love razorjoe!

If you read John 17, there is a really poignant prayer. In verse 11, Jesus prayed that "those whom you have given me" would be "one, even as we are one". Then, he prayed for future believers who believed on him through "their word" (verse 20)... John 17 is pretty powerful example of what Jesus had in mind for us (believers), IMHO. He expected unity and oneness of mind as well as obedience...

Matt 7:21

I just came back from attending a funeral "down home" and just got back, what a great thread, thanks to all of you for being the brothers that we should.
I just have to believe the boss is watching this with a smile!

"The world will know that you are mine by your love for one another."