I agree dont need coffee at church but I do seesome church gatherings that have signs saying free coffee in huge letters, shouldnt they be saying Free salvation ?
Having free coffee is not going to lure me into church.
I think different formats draw different kinds of people. My home church where I heard the gospel of my salivation and believed has an excellent format. Luring or drawing out thy soul to the hungry with someone who has not heard the gospel of grace, or a encouragement using the necessary things of this world like bread or
coffee (4 cups a day LOL) Pot luck lunches etc in a hope of feeding the flesh while the hope of feeding our new born again soul. This of the true fast spoken of in Isaiah 58. Not a fast for the necessary our dying bodies but a fast of sharing the gospel …... using the temporal things seen to give us the spiritual understanding
The gospel in the parable Isaiah 58, as part of it (verse 6-10). Also using the prescription needed to give the parable understanding in 2 Corinthians 4:18. The
temporal reveals the hidden eternal.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the
poor that are
cast out to
thy house? when thou seest the
naked, that thou
cover him; and that thou hide not thyself
from thine own flesh? Then shall
thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee;
the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And
if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:58: 6-10
The kind of fast called the gospel is the reason the disciples could not cast them out .It is the work of God that men can believe God not seen, as with Timothy the incorruptible seed forming Christ in us .Not of us.
I will offer another demonstration of the work of God working in us to make our heart softer .Using the same prescription; the temporal seen to reveal the eternal spiritual unseen to compare as informed in 1 Corinthians 2. The spiritual unseen to the same place of faith, faith to faith the gospel
My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of
his lips; I have esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my
necessary food. But he is in one mind, and
who can turn him? and
what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. For God
maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: Job 23: 11-16
Same principle with John who was about to get his head chopped off. He had doubts . When he heard the answer he knew it was the true fast spoken of in Isaiah 58 the fast that drew out Johns' soul satisfying his new soul giving John the rest needed to go to his eternal Home.
Luke 7:22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and
tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the
blind see, the
lame walk, the l
epers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the
dead are raised, to the
poor the gospel is preached.
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