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JimfromOhio

I am happlily married with 5 kids. I am an accoutant and worked in an accounting field for over 25 years. I like to make a habit of writing down whenever I have deep thoughts about God (so I won't forget). I really into Reformed Theology that is connected to Presbyterian Church in America.

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Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States

I enjoy having deep thoughts about God and put down what I actually think about (so I won't forget).

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Different Kind of Gospel

2 Corinthians 11:4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. To restrict the gospel is to make the Gospel something it is not which is a different kind of Gospel. Too many of us want to have the temporal guaranteed healing while Christ died for our sins (eternal death), not for our health (physical death). The point for Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures is great news. Jesus purged our sins, He mediates grace to all who believe, is wonderful news for this sinful nature world. Our Messiah, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for all Christians who did not reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God's will is for our redemption, adoption and the obtaining of our eternal inheritance in the heavenly blessings (Ephesians 3:10,11). God's gifts are many; His best gift is one which is the gift of Himself. Above all gifts, God desires most to give Himself to His people so that we can have eternal life instead of eternal death. A true revival must include all manifestation of spiritual gifts and not one is greater than the other. One thing taught in the Bible is that while God gives His gifts freely, and healing is NOT the primary gift. God has also given us a wealth of opportunities to use in the Great Commission. An opportunity may be defined as a providential circumstance which permits us to turn ourselves to glorify God. In Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." This means that God is going to use me as His will to spread the gospel than we can live our life to God with temporal blessings. In the believing and surrendered soul, Christ lives His life again through US and continues to live in through US, that God will continue to work, reaching out and through the human instrument to accomplish His wonders among the lost around us. Of all gifts this is the most common, and it is the one which makes the other gifts of value to us and to mankind. The wise Christian will watch for opportunities to do good, to speak the gospel to the lost and pray the rescuing prayer of intercession for the Holy Spirit to convict the lost to know Christ. The enemy of opportunity is preoccupation of temporal blessings. When God sends His Son along a chance to turn a great victory over eternal death (sin) for mankind, some of us are too busy focusing on temporal blessings to notice the real truth. While at the same time, people focus on temporal physical healing as just important as salvation. This kind of friction within the spiritual unity will lead to real damage to the Gospel. This kind of friction is created by man's doctrines. Now, it is impossible these days to get people to pay any attention to eternal blessings that really matter because people want God to be good so that we can have good temporal life before we physically die, unless we are physically healed, we would not die. It is our personal relationship with our eternal God really matters. That eternal life takes priority over everything else including temporal blessings. Christ revealed His holiness when He cried in His agony, "Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). Sin is the voluntary commission of an act known to be contrary to the will of God. So, again putting healing ahead of eternal life is the different kind of Gospel. God's temporal gifts have their limitations because they are part of created temporary living. The true gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus is limitless and eternal. Whatever is possessed in our temporal life runs through its cycle from birth to death. After physical death, we return to dust but the life of God, we will never ceases because spiritual life is eternal.