yeah I think I agree with alot of what your saying , when you say through the spirit of God what is it your actually saying ? What I’m mean is what if I were to ask you “ how does the spirit of God tangibly work in me ?” What’s the process. For a believer ?
everything God said and has to say to all of mankind and purposes for us to know is in scripture. When you say “ Gods spirit “ you are talking about Through
Jesus and the gospel .
The Holy Spirit preached the Gospel and said
believe the gospel and you will receive the Holy Spirit “
“Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying,
the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him,
and
a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:21-22 KJV
notice Jesus began preaching the gospel only at this point ? And began to speak say thing like this
“For
I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me.”
John 6:38 KJV
“And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath;
I am from above: ye are of this world;
I am not of this world.
I said therefore unto you, that
ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
I have many things to say and to judge of you: but
he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that
he spake to them of the Father.”
John 8:23-24, 26-27
This moment of the messiah being born , receiving Gods spirit , Gods voice declaring this was his son the promised Christ is all foretold , this Mans words being the words of God was foretold so when Jesus is saying
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him:
the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For
I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”
John 12:48-50 KJV
He repeatedly says this and then we have another witness from the one who baptized him
“
He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth:
he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what
he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
For
he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life: and
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
John 3:31-36 KJV
to look at what John said there and then
“For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath
given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”
John 5:22, 24, 26-
When he’s telling beloevers about receiving the holy spirit the truth about it , he’s telling them to love him and to believe keep
his words if they really love him and
he will come to them
“Jesus answered and said unto him,
If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and
the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
John 14:23-26 KJV
the Holy Spirit is who preached the gospel is my point when you say through the spirit christs word what he said is where that gets into our minds and hearts the understanding doesn’t magically happen at least not for
Me
I think it’s about pursuing this understanding not by sitting and reading a Bible but by believing learning from and the. Acting out those things we learn whe. We do study the Bible
Noah was told something by God that seemed improbable to the natural
Man you have to first hear God say “
There’s a flood coming Noah and also believe Gods telling the truth . So in relation to the gospel our flood is coming too but are we gonna believe and respond like Noah ? Again though we can’t believe what we don’t know about and can’t know what we don’t hear or read or some form of reception
I believe all thkngs come by the spirit too brother I think maybe the spirit is being interpreted differently toy by us I’m looking at it like the bolt spirit spoke forth the gospel through Christ and said it would be the same forever and sent it to everyone to believe and if they do they will receive his spirit and of course would get baptized if they believed
“It is
the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
John 6:63 KJV
We have to hear it though before we’ll ever know it already slot of folks are going to agree with a lot of what Jesus says but there’s also stuff we’re going to struggle with
I don’t believe salvstion depends on a full or even super deep
Understanding some get that some don’t but salvation I think is a loot believing what you do Hear and know and walking in that accountability or living up to it walking by that faith
I did find a lot of points of agreement in your post however urgency is important but hearing first is necassary to believe something
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and
how shall they hear without a preacher?
So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Romans 10:13-14, 17
But my belief is that we need to hear it believe it and then move into putting it into practice in our lives if we aren’t already in line with his doctrine of forgiveness , generosity , giving , seeking to do good for others In Need , getting away from the sins of our past lives and into the thkngs of the gospel I think hearing is first and then believing comes and doing results
this all the world of the spirit through the word of the gospel[/QUOTE]
I am going to share my experiences with you in brief.
I believe that your focus is correct and the gist of the whole matter is not theory and theology first but obedience.
Adam in the garden was perfect, but obedience was needed.
Lucifer in heaven was special but pride overtook him and he fell.
The same thing with Herod who worms ate up his body.
So the bottom line is that Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Now theory and theology and doctrines are necessary but those are not the prerequisites. God give those to us when we prove that we can be trusted. Yes knowledge comes afterwards like night follows day.
But our world or the natural man seeks knowledge first (like Eve was seeking) which is backwards to God's requirements.
I am not privy to your belief about water baptism. But you brought out the importance of baptism in the first few lines of post.
But John the Baptist makes very clear that water baptism would past (just as he himself would diminish) as there was one coming who would baptize instead with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Yes as the Holy Ghost landed upon Jesus after his baptism which was a requirement of the Jewish Law and of the first covenant, so too will the Spirit of Christ fall upon us (the 2nd covenant) after the Holy Spirit does his work of sanctification in our lives.
Again there will be a lot of grumbling about what I have said, but each person is entitled to his way as God has ordained it to be so.
Jesus told John, the disciple when he wanted to stop others from casting out evil spirits out of others because they were not with Jesus's group, to leave them alone, he who is not against us, is with us.
This is one of the first principles of Christianity, leave them alone, for God is sovereign and has ordained all things.
