UncleAbee

Powerful.

Both Salvation requires repentance - Peter says in Acts 3:19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away,...." Repentance requires salvation - Jesus says in Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." This is an ongoing repentance. Only those who have been saved are covered by the blood of Christ. This blood continuously cleanses the Christian who messes up whether intentionally or not (1 John 1:7). In order for the blood to work Christians must repent and confess their sins to God (1 John 1:7,9). So, the answer is both. You need to repent to be saved. Youcan't become a Christian if you don't turn to God which that is what repentance is. Only those who are saved can continually repent and be cleansed of their sins over and over again.

The HG does not cause you to dance. When people say this they are mistaken. When the HG hits miracles happen. The HG causes the church to move, shift, and change as a whole. This phenomena of dancing in the Spirit is purely emotional. You can find no scripture where the HG compelled anyone to dance. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with dancing. You just need to understand that dancing is a result of your own emotional condition and you can control it. The Pentecostal church teaches that this dancing (amongst other charismatic items) is compelled by the HS. They are teaching false doctrine. THe HG does not compell you to dance, clap your hands, roll on the floor, run around the church, shout, howl or whatever else emotional display you do. These are all results of your own emotional state during service.

Men should be leading women in bible issues. 1 Cor 11:3 says "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ." There is a certain order that God has put things in. This does not mean that the man is to "Lord" over the woman. We are both to be in subjection to Christ. All things are subject to Christ (Eph 1:22). The husband is to follow Christ and the wife is to follow the husband who is following Christ. The husband and wife are to be subject to one another (Eph 5:21). If a dispute amongst the scriptures comes up among a married couple then what is suppose to happen is that both are to search the scriptures for the truth and both should bind themselves by what the scriptures say. The man should not take a "my way or the highway" approach. The man is is supposed to love his wife like Christ loves the church (Eph 5:25). If a man loves his wife in that way then he will not act like that towards her. If they can't come to an agreement on the meaning of the scriptures then I would suggest both studying it with your minister or elders. What I am saying is that the husband and wife should work together to discover what the scriptures are saying.

Where is it found in the bible that God numbers our days and sets the time of our death?

THat's fine, but this is supported by from where? To what portion of the Universe do you think the Heavenly Jerusalem will come? What is all the bible-speke concerning a New Heaven and a New Earth? That's what I'd like to know. I want to see the passages that talk about a new Heaven and a new Earth. I know they exist, but I'd like you to present them. 2 Peter 3:10 - 1 Thess 4:13-18 makes it clear what will happen in the last days. Christ will come and take all those who are found faithful with Him to Heaven. 2 Peter 3:10 goes on and says that the Earth will be burned up. There will be no 2nd Earth. New Jerusalem is the city in Heaven where God exists.

There are various crowns mentioned on the NT (Exultation - 1 Thes 2:19, Righteousness - 2 Tim 4:8, Life - 1:12, etc). All of these crowns describe the same thing which is eternal life in Heaven. Heaven will be eternal, is for the righteous, and will be filled with glory. These are all proper descriptors for the crown we will receive if we remain faithful. We will all receive the same reward in Heaven. This reward is eternal life with God. Matthew 18:1-6 is a good set of scriptures for addressing this question. The disciples ask Jesus which of them will be ranked the highest in Heaven? Jesus counters by telling them to only be concerned with getting into Heaven. The only thing you have to do to receive the crown is to be faithful. We must obey God.

Over the centuries two different lines of thought of Christians has developed. 1 - Performing the various works of Christ is necessary for salvation. Faith is active and you play a role in your salvation. You are not the source of your salvation but you must do something to receive it. 2 - The other says that the works have nothing to do with salvation. Faith is a passive act in which Christ does everything and you do nothing. All of your actions are responses to the salvation you have been given. I agree with # 1. I believe the deeds we perform through faith in Christ are necessary for our salvation. I agree with this because I see Christ commanding us to work in the bible (Matt 10:38). The works grow us as Christians (Eph 4:15). We work because Christ worked and we are to follow His example (John 13:15). Jesus says we will be judged according to these works (Matt 16:27). I also think that those who give examples such as "what if you are on a plane and can't get baptized...." are ignoring the command and providence of God and are focusing on the exceptions instead of the rule. If the plane crashes before the man has the opportunity to be baptized then God will judge that properly. That in no way should effect the fact that baptism is commanded to all who want to be saved for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Let us focus on what God told us "to do" and not on the many "what if's" that rarely if ever happen.

Did the apostles all belong to a single Church? If so, which Church was it? Have you read any of the history of the early Church? The Apostles did not belong to any church. They taught in synagogues. They also taught in the streets and from house to house. They followed Jesus without a name. What they believed was call "The Way" in Acts. They were given a name of "Christians", which was supposed to be demeaning. They all belonged to the Church built by Jesus. Matthew 16 17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 1 Timothy 3 15if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth Matthew 18 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Acts 15 22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. I agree. The apostles belonged to Christ's church (Rom 16:16). A single body with common leaders unified in Truth. Right? I edited my comment so you might want to go back and read it. The church is a single body with one leader. This leader is Christ and Him alone. Our job is to obey what He said do. That's all. No man has any authority in the church.

Did the apostles all belong to a single Church? If so, which Church was it? Have you read any of the history of the early Church? The Apostles did not belong to any church. They taught in synagogues. They also taught in the streets and from house to house. They followed Jesus without a name. What they believed was call "The Way" in Acts. They were given a name of "Christians", which was supposed to be demeaning. They all belonged to the Church built by Jesus. Matthew 16 17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 1 Timothy 3 15if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth Matthew 18 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Acts 15 22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Jesus only started one church. The word "my" in Matt 16:18 implies one. Peter preached the 1st gospel sermon in Acts ch 2. In doing this he opened the doors to the church. The gospel message of salvation had never been preached before. The church is all the believers in Christ (1 Cor 12:12). Jesus called for unity of all his followers in John 17:21. Denominations began when the believers began defying John 17:21 and held their own doctrinal beliefs seperating themselves from other Christians. The 1st historically recorded denomination is the Roman Catholic Church. Other denominations splintered from it (Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.) Why are denominations wrong? 1 - Christ didn't start any of them. Their names are not given by Christ. Jesus has promised to uproot all things not started by Him (Matt 15:13). 2 - They are started out of confusion. God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). The church of England began because the King wanted to divorce his wife and started his own church. Protestant churches began because the RC church dominated and abused it's followers through false doctrinal practices. Black denominational (AMEZ, AME, CME) churches began because white christians would not treat black christians equally. Jesus church began because He loved his followers enough to die for them on the cross. Jesus church began out of love not out of doctrinal differences or because of mistreatment by the leadership. 3 - They defy the unity Jesus called for of all believers in John 17:21. The different denominations are not one in each other as Christ is one in God. 4 - They are defined by their traditions violating what Jesus said in Mark 7:9-13. The church is defined by Christ and not by traditions. I could go on and on. Denominations are the opposite of the unity taught by scriptures. We all need to be seeking to be in Christ's church alone.

I like Luke 18:1-8 for the answer to this - Wear Him out with your prayer whatever it is.

There has never been a time when there were no Jews in Jerusalem. Pain of death or not and the church was also full of gentials as well so even if there were no Jews in Jerusalem the church was still very much alive and in control of its self. The Bar Kokhba revolt didn't result in the fall of the Jerusalem church it resulted in the fall of an antichrist and his followers. If you could point me to where I can find this information I would be grateful as I am trying to get a better grasp on the division between the Gentile Believers and the Jewish Believers, and the emergence of the Catholics from the Believers diaspora and how overall Church authority fell into the hands of the Bishop of Rome. Of course some of what you seek is in the New Testament where some division between the gentiles and the Jewish believers is spoken of but those defferences didn't last long because inder great persecution the church became one. As for over all church authority falling into the hands of the church of Rome it did not fall it was put into the hands of the Bishop of Rome by Constentine the Great. When Constentine converted he stopped all of the persecutions of all Christians throught out all of the Roman empire which included Jerusalem. Then he forced all of his armies to convert to Christianity as well and gave all of the power and wealth of the Roman empire to the church of Rome with Constentine as head of the church etc. With all of that wealth and the great differences between the two churches the Roman church simply took over and the Jerusalim church as the seat of authority just faded away. Study both church and secular history. The RCC coming into power is about the worst thing that could have happened. They significantly changed worship. They returned Christianity from a relationship based religion (you and Christ, priesthood of all believers) to a more dictatorial type priesthood (you accessed Christ through the designated priests). They actually took Christianity back to an Old Testament type religion. This is how they held power. Denominations splintered off of the RCC. Most denominational worship is based on the RCC pattern.

We talked about this in Sunday School this morning...... most all of us read the Bible through filters that we've developed over the years. A Church Denominational teachings, or who we listen to on TV or read different books on the Bible. Those who don't have filters often take short pieces of scripture out of context and make them fit with other short pieces of scripture out of context and create things that are not real..... There are many reasons this happens, but ti almost always boils down to taking a thought or idea and getting the Bible to agree with that idea instead of just reading or listening to the Word and letting it speak to us. It also hurts when Paul writes sentences that are so complex and long that it's takes a bit of reasoning and knowledge of the english language and punctuation to really understand what the Bible is saying........ I agree with what was written here. Christianity is a taught religion (John 6:45). Our biases interfere with what is being taught and how we teach. In order to really learn Christ you have to divorce yourself from your cultural dogma. Denominationalism keeps us trapped in these dogmas.

This leads to the question if we are to strive for the unity for which Christ prayed, how is that defined? - All Christians focused on Christ. What does the target look like? - Christ. What is it that Jesus had in mind? - For all people to be saved and conformed to His image. If we would focus on Christ and not our man made designs we would find the unity Jesus sought in John 17.

How did the early churches operate? They assembled (Heb 10:25) for worship. They took the Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 11:23ff) They preached Jesus (2 Cor 1:19) They prayed (Acts 4:31) They sang (Eph 5:19) They gave of their means (1 Cor 16:1-2) Elders were appointed in every congregation (Acts 14:23) making each one autonomous. Deacons were appointed to assist the elders (1 Tim ch 3). Each congregation consisted of Elders (Acts 14:23), deacons (1 Tim ch 3), a preacher (Rom 10:14), and other members (Acts 15:30). This made up the congregation. The church evangelized (Matt 28:19), edified the members in Christ (1 Cor 14:26), and practiced benevolence (1 Cor 16:3, Gal 6:10). That's it. This is how the church operated. Very simple and nothing magical.