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Gary Patton

Instructions for Christian Households - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • Ephesians 5:21-27
    • Gary Patton
       
      Husband/Wife Relationships in Today's Western Homes This topic is, arguably, one of the most argued-over issues in all of Holy Spirit's "how-to" instructions to Jesus Followers in God's words to Their people. This is especially the case in light of the evolution from the paternalism ...if not misogynism... of many in Biblical times and even now, especially many Christian and Muslim men, to the egalitarianism of our modern age in Western society and some parts of the Body of Christ. What did Holy Spirit REALLY mean when He inspired the Apostle Paul to pen the words in Ephesian 5:21-27, not just 22-27? I have added some comments for your consideration and reaction back to me, if you will, via the e-Sticky Notes below. In this passage, Paul wrote to some new Followers of Jesus in Ephesus and elsewhere around 50 A.D.. Ephesus was a major commercial city and a spiritual hub for Paul's evangelism efforts in what was called Asia Minor at the time in what is now Turkey. Holy Spirit intended those same words for us around the world in the 21st century? gfp (2012-04-14)
  • Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
    • Gary Patton
       
      One key for me in answering the question I pose in my first paragraph above, is that I prayerfully believe that too many Christians can be, and probably are, theologically preconditioned on the relationship between husbands and their wives. I feel that they are preconditioned in reading the Holy Spirit's words by the translating-authors of many Bibles ...intentionally or unintentionally. A classic example is in many Bibles including the Original New International Version (NIV) Study Bible and the English Standard Version (ESV). The classic example lies in what I consider the preconditioning-placement of a non-Biblical footnote "Husbands Obey Your Wives" between verse 21 and 22. Hence the great possibility of preconditioning. I feel the Footnote's positioning puts a very different thrust than what Holy Spirit may have meant on the interpretation of this passage by many wo(men)! This possible perversion once more illustrates the truth of: * "[Bible] Translations are like wives ...either beautiful or faithful ...seldom both!" ~ an anonymous French wit
  • Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Reverend Chuck Swindol, the internationally-famous author, academic leader, radio and web commentator and Pastor, wrote or said, many years ago somewhere about this passage. I have never forgotten them. He intended his words as a paraphrase of a few of God's words to Their people in the Christian/Hebrew Bible that was originally written in Koine Greek. Swindol's words come to mind every time I read this verse. He said: * "Wives, submit to your slaves!" ~ Chuck Swindol The context of Jesus' relationship to His Spiritual Body, the church, is confirmed by Holy Spirit in Jesus' repeated statements to His Followers and other Jews listening in as He taught when on earth the first time. This relationship has been recorded by God in Jesus' statements throughout the Gospels and his Apostles (sent out ones) in the New Covenant portion of the Bible. In this context, I sense Swindol's quote above is an accurate translation of Holy Spirit's REAL point, not a less than authoritative paraphrase, given the different verbs used in this verse, directed to wives, and that to husbands in verse 25.
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  • Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
    • Gary Patton
       
      Regarding the possible reason for the differing verbs Holy Spirit used in this passage to lay down a Godly relationship a married couple ...submit for wives and love for husbands... ?, a U.S. author and Bible teacher suggests an interesting thesis. You can read about it at ? .
  • present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Personally, Karen, my wife and I are looking forward to sitting around a heavenly campfire in due course in our exciting, new spiritual state as "unmarrieds" after, even now, 55 years of intimate relationship. When we do, I'm planning to ask Father, Son and Holy Spirit if, in using the verbs they did to instruct us in Ephesian 5:21-27, they also were describing the relationship that They have had forever with One Another? I think about God's relationship as Trinity in this way ever since I learned about the meaning of the Hebrew word "yada" in Proverbs 3: 5-6 [ http://diigo.com/0mnpj ]. here God tells us how to relate to Them. In many Bibles, this verb is often translated as "acknowlege. Interestingly to me, it also means "to have intercourse with" as in Adam "knew" Eve in Genesis 4:1 (KJV) or "had relations with" (NASB) or "made love to" (NIV). Genesis 4:1 is one of the few other times that yada is used in the Old Covenant!
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    Ephesians 5:21-27 is one of the most argued over Scriptures in the entire Word of God in our modern egalitarian age.
Gary Patton

The Sin Nature ...Do Jesus Followers Have One? by Dr. Bill Gillham - 0 views

  • We are known as “humans.” Jesus was a human without a sin nature in that He was never descended from Adam. The Holy Spirit furnished the 23 male chromosomes which united with Mary’s 23 to enable Jesus Christ to leave heaven and take on the form of human male.
    • Gary Patton
       
      One cou;d argue that this implies that our first parent's sinful, human nature is transmitted ONLY through males. Does mr. Gillam really mean that? gfp
  • It is the sin nature that condemns a man to hell, not his sinful performance.
  • The whole ballgame for all of eternity is spiritual, not physical… the bottom line is spirit!
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is why Jesus said we can woship God ONLY in spirit and in truth" (John 4:22-24)!
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  • The Bible speaks of only two types of spirit-natures referring to them as “men.” They are the “old man” and the “new man.”
    • Gary Patton
       
      Modern Bible translated have changed the literal translation of the King James Version of "man" to "self" and noted the original word in a footnote.
  • the Bible speaks of the old man being able, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, to be born in a new way in order to change his identity (Jn. 3). Through turning from his self-centered rebellion, submitting himself to Christ’s authority as the God He is, appropriating His provision for getting shed of his dead spirit and beginning all over again with a new, good, alive, godly spirit, man can become something he has never been…alive to God through Christ (Rom.6:13). This new man is now a son of God via faith in Christ (Jn. 1:12).
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is why the Bible says only Jesus Followers are "children of God" and not all people. The latter are His "creation". But, non-Followers are not his children until they are put to death, spiritually, with Jesus and, then, resurrected or "re-born", as Jesus told the Pharisee in John 3:3-5, by Holy Spirit. gfp
  • We are cut from the same spirit-genetic cloth as our Lovely Lord Jesus! God reveals no provision in His word for adding His Spirit to a spirit-son of the devil You cannot mix Light with darkness.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Don't misunderstand what Mr. Gillham is saying in the second sentence here. All human beings are "sons of the Devil" until re-born in and by Jesus (John 8:42-45) as Mr. Gillham shares above in this article. gfp
  • A great problem exists today in that many well-meaning Christians teach that the death of the old man is simply a “positional truth”; it’s the “position in which God sees us.” They speak of it as if it were something we have to “reckon on” (count it as true) to keep it true.
  • we do not have to reckon on it to derive any benefit from it
    • Gary Patton
       
      This sentence contains a typo that confuses its sence. I believe that Dr. Gillam intended to write: "...we DO have to reckon on it..." because that is what Romans 6:11 says!
  • The only kind of sons either God or Satan have are spirit-sons,
  • In God’s ecology, in order for a man to cease to be the son of Satan and become a son of God, the man must first die (spiritually) and then be reborn (spiritually), this time to a NEW FATHER! This is portrayed clearly in Romans 7:1-4.
  • the flesh (body, brain, memory traces (flesh) in the brain
  • The reason a Christian doesn’t have a sin nature is because he is no longer the spirit-genes of God, his (New) Father! Hallelujah! Shout for joy! Whoooooeeeee!
    • Gary Patton
       
      This sentence also includes a typo that confuses its sense. I believe it should be read, and Dr. Gillham intended to write: "The reason a Christian doesn't have a sin nature is because he has no longer the spirit-genes of Satan but has those of God, his (New) Father!"
  • you are NOW a holy (Eph. 1:4), righteous (2 Cor. 5:21), saint of God (Rom. 1:7), blameless (Eph. 1:4), with Christ as your very Life (Col. 3:4), a son of God (Jn. 1:12), housed in an earthsuit (2 Cor. 5:1-8), a citizen of heaven (Eph. 2:19), on foreign assignment as an ambassador representing the “Fatherland” (2 Cor. 5:20), a righteous son of the King (2 Cor. 5:21), a spirit-son of the Second Adam (1 Cor. 11:45), spawned from His Spirit gene pool (Rom. 8:9), filled up with Christ Himself (Eph. 3:19), will all your needs (not greeds) supplied (Phil. 4:19), blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Eph. 1:3), impervious to the obstacles of this planet (Phil.4:13), taking all things in stride as a part of the Loving Father’s “obstacle course” designed to prepare us for eternal rulership (Rom. 8:28-29)!
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is an incredible list of Biblical truths that flow from our being born-again in Messiah!
  • It’s not my old self that I am fighting against inside! It’s the power of sin working on my (new) mind (Rom. 7:23) through the flesh (the old memory traces) that I battle, and we are dead to having to submit, brother! (Rom. 6:11)
  • Accept this by faith as your true identity! Set your mind on it! Dwell on it! Meditate on the truth of it! Then, moment by moment act like it is true!
  • Can a man possibly possess dual spiritual sonship? No?
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is an incredible freedom-granting truth and a major benefit of being born-again children of God!
  • Stop acting like who you are not! That’s hypocritical! Act like the new man you are by faith! That’s obedience!
    • Gary Patton
       
      Our "New Man/Creation" is truly astounding. In life or death situations, human beings can lift cars. Just think for a moment of the limitless capabilities we have as New Creations in Jesus. We are flowing and operating in the power our Inner Warrior when we "abide/rest in" Jesus (John 15:5) and "live His Spirit" (Galatians 5:15).
  • “The King is Dead! Long Live the King!”
  • was thoroughly confused
  • he was talking about two different people
  • But after the one’s “birth” as the new king, the old king could never again resurrect himself because he had no capability for self-resurrection! The very existence of the one precludes the existence of the other and vice versa!
  • The old man has indeed died (Romans 6:6, etc.) and the new man has indeed been generated by the Holy Spirit (Colossians 3:10, etc.). But, unfortunately, the pervasive position taken by most Christian leader is that the old man is till “alive and well’ within the believer…that sinful performance gives daily testimony to this as “fact.”
  • The two can’t coexist any more that the two kings can! It was the death of the old man, which enabled the new man to be born! It is impossible for the new man to exist until the old man has died and the old man cannot resurrect himself. There is but One Life Who has such resurrection power…the Life of Christ!
  • Galatians 5:17 says that the “flesh lusts against the spirit” and vice versa and there is obviously a war going on inside of every Christian, but it’s not the old man versus the new man doing battle.
  • Those cannot exist simultaneously.
  • peaks of the POWER OF INDWELLING IN (not the sin nature) working in man to produce undesirable (sinful) behavior. The power of sin simply deceives the Christian by masquerading as the old man, suggesting (deceiving) to the will that a choice be made to perform according to the old self-serving patterns programmed in previously. This is referred to as “walking after the flesh.”
  • masquerade in the thought life of the Christian posing as his unique version of the old man! The naïve Christian will believe he, himself, is generating the unchristian suggestion and thus direct his defensive efforts against the wrong foe…what he perceives to be a darker side of himself! He fires all his bullets at a shadow! This is the explanation for the frustration depicted in Romans 7:15 “…why do I do the very thing I hate? Why can I get no victory?”
  • Though it would appear that the “two-natures” view places the greater responsibility for poor performance squarely on the Christian and that the “one-nature” view is a cop out, the opposite is actually true!
  • So long as one embraces the former he is constantly deceived into believe his failure is just standard Christian experience. As Scofield said (paraphrased), “This is not standard Christian experience, it’s the standard experience of most Christians,” the tragic result of faulty discipling.
  • Once the Christian enters into identification with Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, claiming he no longer has two natures, but is now “the righteousness of God in Christ” and “holy and blameless in His sight” he is without excuse when he sins, because he knows what it is to possess the Life (“Christ in me”) which overcomes on a moment-by-moment basis.
  • In reality, it is accepted as fact that Christians no longer have a sin nature that places one squarely on the hook and totally responsible to choose, moment-by-moment, against the wooings, deceptions and accusations of indwelling sin working through the flesh. “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus (moment-by-moment) in our body.” (2 Cor. 4:10—NAS)
  • Indwelling sin deceives the “two-natures” believer into rationalizing, “I’m just human. I just fail a lot and God understands it’s just my old sin nature that got the better of me.” This is the true cop out position!
  • Awake sleeper! The king is dead! Long live the King!
  • The power of sin is what its name implies, a power to entice you into sin. It dwells in you (Rom.7:21) yet it is not you any more than a gold tooth that dwells in your mouth is you. Sin’s goal is to deceive the saints into living to get their needs (though good and godly) met by sinning rather than by using the Matt. 6:33 method; that is, “seeking Christ first.”
  • The power of sin is not your sin nature. Your sin nature is a synonym for old man or old self. That “old you” was crucified in Christ (Rom. 6:6). Before you were saved, it was as normal for you old nature to rebel against God’s authority as it is for a fish to swim.
  • Yet the power of sin is alive and well in you, saint. It indwells your body (Rom. 7:23). On page 1055 of W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vine states that sin is, “a governing principle or power” that is “personified” in the following passages. He then lists sixteen verses in which this holds true. The term personified means “represented as a person.” The power of sin can represent itself as a personage.
  • Since sin is personified, let’s call it “Mr. Sin” so we won’t confuse it with the verb. Mr. Sin tries to control you, to make you live to satisfy your bodily needs.
  • “For sin shall not be master over you…(Rom. 6:14). Mr. Sin (the personification) cannot master you. Remember how sin is “represented as a person?” It tries to master you through presenting thoughts to your mind by masquerading as the old man who has risen from the tomb. But no one except Jesus can do that, right? That’s not the old man; it’s the power of sin personified.
  • “But, if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but Mr. Sin which indwells me (is somehow doing it)” (Rom. 7:20). This verse can really be a puzzler if you interpret the word “sin” as a verb. But it’s a noun, and Vine says it is personified (represented as a person).
  • Mr. Sin the “personage,” wars, fights and seeks to control your mind. But your mind does not want to be controlled by this power, so it fights back.
  • Can you see what a difference this makes in motivating a Christian as opposed to berating him by constantly telling him what a sorry, no-good sinner he is and how he is going to face an angry God some day? Folk, it’s our works which will be judged in the future, not our personhood (2 Cor. 5:10) and God is not mad at the saved. He took our all the anger He had against us on Jesus (Isa. 53). We’ll either be rewarded or we’ll lose what we potentially could have won, but “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Rom. 8:1).
  • The Law is the source of Mr. Sin’s strength. To couple law with Mr. Sin is like pouring gas on a fire. This personage called sin needs a law to aid it if it is to optimally control you. It “eats, breathes and sleeps” via the Law.
  • “The Law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim. 1:9).
  • Why? Because you, the righteous man (2 Cor. 5:21), don’t need it. The lost man does (in order to show him his condition), but you don’t. You now “have the laws of God written on (your) heart and mind” (Heb. 10:16).
  • it was exciting to discover that a man of Vine’s stature as a scholar testifies that the power of sin is often personified in the Word. What liberty there is in knowing that the rebellious, evil, hateful thoughts I experience are being presented to my mind, not generated by it.
  • In this verse, sin is represented as a personage which can harden you through deception.
  • Is Our Sin Nature dead or NOT?
    • Gary Patton
       
      In the short articles below, Dr. Gillham demolishes the common teaching, often implies by preachers, that a Jesus Follower can have two natures ... a Satanic, sinful nature plus the righteous nature of God in Christ? This hypothesis" or opinion (http://is.gd/2tUCAb) is taught or implied by many in the church usually as truth. It also is implied by the New International Version (NIV) Bible's translating Biblical 'flesh' as "sin nature" ...wrongly as Dr. Gillham illustrates. Can a wo(man) really possess a dual spiritual sonship? You'll find freeing meditating on the clear Biblical answer presented here because Rev. Gillham says the answer is "NO! We don't have two natures!!" "Stop trying and start trusting God! It's not what you have to do that counts. But what Jesus has already fully done for you and the power He gives you because He lives in you!" ~ gfp '42™ gfp (2011-09)
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    In these 3 short articles, Dr. Gillham addresses teaching that a Jesus Follower can have two natures ... a Satanic, sinful nature plus the righteous nature of God in Christ? This hypothesis" or opinion is taught or implied by many in the church usually as truth. It also is implied by the New International Version (NIV) Bible's translating Biblical "flesh" as "sin nature". But, can a wo(man) really possess a dual spiritual sonship? The clear Biblical answer according to Bill Gillham is "NO!" "Stop trying ...and start trusting God, It's not what you do. But what Jesus has already fully done for you!" ~ gfp '42™ gfp (2011-09)
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    "Mr. Sin" is a more dangerous moment-to-moment foe for you than Satan. Pastor Gillham tells why! gfp
Gary Patton

The Fruit of the Spirit - 0 views

  • If we live by the Spirit, let us also [d]walk (O)by the Spirit.
    • Gary Patton
       
      The Apostle Paul says in this verse that Jesus Followers must "walk in the Spirit". It is a repetition of the command that he makes in Galatians 5:16 when Paul tells us to "live by the Spirit". Both are really the same command that Jesus Himself makes in John 15:5 at http://diigo.com/0jvfh where He tells us to "abide" in Him. Jesus Followers are "Dead Wo(men) Walking" in the power of Holy Spirit while Jesus lives His life in His way and timing out through us in whom He lives permananetly by His Holy Spirit as clarifies in Galatians 2:20 at http://diigo.com/0jggi .
  • the fruit of the Spirit
    • Gary Patton
       
      The Fruit of the Spirit is a package we receive when we are born-again as "New Creations" in Jesus because Jesus is them all living His life our through us.
  • Galatians 5:19-25
    • Gary Patton
       
      This New American Standard Bible passage describes the character change that is who everyone in Christ already is when they "walk in the spirit". This is because Jesus lives in us by His Holy Spirit and we are dead to sin because of his paying the full penalty for our sin nature and sins on His cross.
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  • love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, (J)self-control;
    • Gary Patton
       
      Here are the opposites of these: hatred, gloom, agitation, impatience, unkindness, evil, unfaithfulness, harshness, and unrestraint. This is the fruit of the fallen world. The above are fruit too ...the Fruit of the Flesh.
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    Galatians 5:19-25 NASB
Gary Patton

God Lives In Jesus Followers - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
  • do you not know that (C)your body is a [b]temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from [c]God,
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    1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says clearly that God lives in Jesus Followers in the person of Holy Spirit to empower us for live. Please do not doubt that Holy Spirit is a person of the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which Christians call "The Trinity". This important truth is confirmed in Acts 5:1-10 at http://diigo.com/0jv6z . gfp (2012-05-12)
Gary Patton

"Only the Holy Spirit Can Interpret Scriptures for Christians" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • 1 Corinthians 2:8-10
  • it is written:“What no eye has seen,    what no ear has heard,and what no human mind has conceived”[a]—    the things God has prepared for those who love him—(C) 10 these are the things God has revealed(D) to us by his Spirit.
  • However, as
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    "Only the Holy Spirit Can Interpret Scriptures for Christians" 1 Corinthians 2:8-10 in the Christian new Covenant (Testament) makes clear that Jesus Followers can read all the commentaries they wish but it is ONLY Holy Spirit who confirms for us in our spirit what any Scripture R-E-A-lly means (Regenerating & Relational - Engaging & Effervescent - Authentic & Actualizing - Loving & Life-giving & Loving)
Gary Patton

The Great Commission is For ALL Believers - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • Matthew 28:18-20
    • Gary Patton
       
      Christian: Jesus' (Yeshua's) Great Commission contains a confusing translation. Matthew 28:18-20 is what many Christians call Jesus' "Great Commission". It is the last command your Saviour and Lord left with you if you are His. The Great Commission is NOT a command to convert others NOR for professionals only. It simply says that Jesus Followers must share Jesus' love in their own way as they are led by Holy Spirit to let Him do the R-E-A-L work (Relational-Engaging-Authentic-Loving & Life-giving) ...as Jesus lives His life out through His Followers. You'll discover that the poor translation, as others would call it is explained in my Note on Verse 19. It has led many into believing something that Jesus (Yeshua) NEVER said. This mistranslation, I believe, has negativity impacted the sharing of His love with Jesus Followers' neighbours.
  • All authority has been given to Me
    • Gary Patton
       
      Jesus is the ONLY One who builds His Kingdom here on earth as He says here. A Jesus Follower does NOT convert ...anyone. Jesus, in the person of Holy Spirit living in you, will draw to Himself those He brings across your path that He wants to save as He makes clear in John 15: 5 at http://diigo.com/0jv2h . And if what you are doing seems like hard work, stop, because you're probably doing something wrong, e.g., not prayed for the person by name sufficiently, invested quality time in the person, nor built enough trust ...or you have the wrong heart about sharing Jesus.
  • make disciples
    • Gary Patton
       
      Jesus Followers are not to convert others! We are to let Jesus do it by living His life out through us as we invest time in others and share His love with them. A Jesus Follower's real role is to be "a discipler"! A discipler acts like a farmer. S(he) simply plants, waters, weeds and, then, collects the harvest given to them by Holy Spirit. But instead of sticking your crop in a barn or building, a holding tank most Christians call "the church" and turning them over to paid professionals, Jesus says clearly that you are to help your disciple grow. You are to be a support to Holy Spirit Who is "the Sanctifier" of every disciple that He allows you to protect and assist until they reasonably mature and "grow out" into the world. Plus, you are commanded to do so until you have assisted your disciple to be ready to reproduce him/herself by "mirroring" Jesus to another and reproducing themselves by letting Jesus live is life out through them ...as you modeled for them and taught them to do. This simple process God designed as His "Plan 'A'" to be a constantly repeating one that each Jesus Follower performs as s(he0 is going along where God has planted them at that time ...until Jesus returns or takes them home. It's called "spiritual multiplication". And Jesus has NO "Plan B'"! And yes, with prayerful practise, you can work with more than one Disciple at a time.
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  • o therefore
    • Gary Patton
       
      While the common, traditional translation of the King James Version (KJV) of the Christian Bible, plus many more modern translations uses the word, there is NO action verb "go" in verse 19 in the original Greek. The NASB alternate translation at (a) below is a better and more accurate rendering of the Greek. But, it still can be misunderstood to mean "Go over there" somewhere. For even better and more accurate clarity, I prefer: "As you are going along, make disciples ..." This rendering is best because it makes clearest that the Great Commission is the calling and commanded mandate of every person who has Holy Spirit living in them ...NOT just paid, professional preachers, pastors and evangelists... as too many Christians believe. For further documentation of the impact of the poor translation, here is what another Greek expert says: * "The sole imperative and central activity in the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew 28 is to " Make Disciples." "Go," could be translated " going" or "as you go," but takes any imperatival force it may have from the main verb. * "Baptizing" and "teaching" are also participles-not "decisions" or "converts" or "believers" or "acceptors," but "disciples." It goes without saying that the decision-making, conversion, belief, and acceptance are all involved, but the objective of the Great Commission is that we Make Disciples (followers, adherents, learners, and students) of the Lord Jesus. * Hesselgrave, David J., "Scripture and strategy: The Use of the Bible in Postmodern Church and Mission", Pages 106-07 John A. Finton makes a powerful case in his article at http://diigo.com/0qqdf for a poor translation in Matthew 28:19. Because of my evangelism experience, I believe this inappropriate translation has incorrectly preconditioned many English-speaking members of the Body of Christ since at least the publishing of the KJV.
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    Matthew 28:18-20 is what many Christians call Jesus' "Great Commission". It's the last command your Saviour and Lord left with you if you are His. The Great Commission is NOT a command to convert others NOR for professionals only. It says just share Jesus' love in your own way as led and let Holy Spirit do the R-E-A-L work (Relational-Engaging-Authentic-Loving & Life-giving) ...as Jesus lives His life out through you. gfp (2011-09-18)
Gary Patton

Sin Management: Bad Idea! | Viral Jesus - 0 views

  • Sin Management: Bad Idea!
    • Gary Patton
       
      When we substitute our strength for Holy Spirit's by trying to manage our fleshly sin, watch out! The demons have got you! gfp (2012-03-19)
  • the point of Christianity is about being good.
  • It isn’t. That’s a byproduct; an important byproduct but a byproduct nonetheless.
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  • When we start thinking in terms of behaving correctly we are, in essence, trying to live the Christian life in our own ability.
  • By “taking control” of our sin life, we push the Holy Spirit (and His power) out of the way and start trying to be good in the weakness of our own human flesh.
  • This, in turn, just drives the Spirit farther from us because we have lost contact with our own reality, let alone His. What I’m describing here is hypocrisy. Ask yourself, how did Jesus feel about religious hypocrites?
  • We also have a community were rules (and keeping them) are more important than true spirituality,
  • Because the assumption is that keeping rules will keep us holy. When, in fact, trying to gain God’s approval through rule keeping drives His Spirit away.
  • If you have a bunch of people acting like this (a spiritual community/church) what do we end up with? We end up with fear;
  • The end result is a community of judgment because phonies would rather try to control other’s sins than deal with themselves.
  • Most people who experience it only stay (if they can really stand it) because they know nothing else or they assume that that is the only place they can find Jesus.
    • Gary Patton
       
      WOW!
  • Jesus’ Spirit may not be there in any great measure in the first place. He is replaced with talk about Jesus. It’s not the same thing.
  • the only way to combat sin is to be controlled by the Spirit of God. We can’t do it ourselves no matter how hard we try. Have you ever honestly, truly been in a community like that?
    • Gary Patton
       
      Both contenders in Galatians 5:19 are heavy-weights, so we're wise to ensure we do a 5:25!
  • Have you ever wondered how the first generation of Christians was so powerful without yet having the written New Testament? Does asking such a radical question mean I don’t think the Scriptures are important?
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    When we substitute our strength for Holy Spirit's by trying to manage our sin, watch out! gfp(2012-03-19)
Gary Patton

Jesus Promises to Live His Ongoing Life Out Through the Lives Of His Followers - Bible ... - 0 views

  • Do you not believe that (C)I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? (D)The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that (E)I am in the Father and the Father is in Me;
    • Gary Patton
       
      Jusus blows His first Disciples minds by telling them CLEARLY that He is God!
  • he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and (G)greater works than these he will do; because (H)I go to the Father.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Jesus shares an seemingly impossible truth with His first disciples and through them with us, that all His Followers will do "greater things" than He Himself had done. In the following verses here, He explais how that mystery will occur through the power of His name and the truth that He will live forever in them and us! Hallelujah!
  • so that (J)the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything (K)in My name, I will do it.
    • Gary Patton
       
      It's all about God in us ...NOT about us or what we seem to be doing!
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [a](M)Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is (N)the Spirit of truth, (O)whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Here it is! The promise that Holy Spirit will continue to live in each person, Jew and Gentile (non-Jew), who belives in Jesus and a mysterious but simple truth ...when we believe Jesus Followers are a "new creation" as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 at http://diigo.com/0jis0 ...not a made-over one.
  • After a little while (R)the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; (S)because I live, you will live also. 20 (T)In that day you will know that (U)I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
    • Gary Patton
       
      In case Jesus' first Disciples, and we, Hislater ones, missed it, Jesus confirms a second time that He will live in His Followers and live His life out through us in the power of Holy Spirit. He does so as the ONE Who does the "greater things" ...NOT us! Again, Yeshua (Jesus) also says clearly that He IS God, incarnate for them in the moment, and, while returning to His Father, continuing present on earth as He had been in Holy Spirit since the beginning of time. In these verses is a clear statement of what Jesus Followers and religious Christians call the Trinity" ...One God existing simultaneously everywhere in three unique personalities. Jesus Followers "know Him", in intimate, personal relationship. Religious Christians only "know about Him".
  • John 14:8-21
    • Gary Patton
       
      In John 14:12, in context, Yeshua (Jesus) explained to His first Disciples, and through them to us, how after His resurrection they and we would do "greater things". Then, in verses 16-21 He explains to them the mystery of how this will happen. gfp (2012-02-08)
  •  
    In John 14:12, in context, Jesus explained to his first Disciples, and through them to us, how after His resurrection they and we would do "greater things". In verses 16-21 He explains to them the mystery of how this will happen. gfp (2012-02-08)
Gary Patton

Reinterpreting the Great Commission - 0 views

  • Missional Discipleship: Reinterpreting the Great Commission
    • Gary Patton
       
      Jonathan Dodson adds exciting new dimensions to the standard interpretations of Jesus' "Great Commission" in the article. It is the first of two parts. gfp (2012-03-03)
  • In evangelical subculture the ubiquity of the Great Commission is matched by the poverty of its interpretation.
    • Gary Patton
       
      The only greater "poverty" is its lack of application in their lives by so-called Christians. In North America, a too-common and oft-heard phrase exchanged between so-called Christians is: "I'd din't know you were a Christian!" "Lord, please forgive us although we know what we're doing! gfp"
  • The OT commission, frequently referred to as the creation or cultural mandate, was issued by God before the Fall of humanity, emphasizing creative activity with the following verbs: be fruitful, multiply, rule, and subdue (Gen 1.27-28).2 By producing more creators who rule and subdue the elements of the earth,
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • A surface reading of these Old and New Testament texts places them at odds with one another.
  • These impoverished readings call for reinterpretation, one that that allows both Genesis and the Gospels to speak.
  • we will be challenged to understand and embrace discipleship as more that "spiritual disciplines" or an evangelistic program.
  • following after Jesus that requires redemptive engagement not just with souls but with creation and culture.
  • the command is to make disciples of all nations not from all nations.
  • The Great Commission is not about soul-extraction, to remove the disciple from his culture,
    • Gary Patton
       
      To often in the past ...and still..., so-called Christian Missionaries who "went" and "go" into other cultures try to shape their disciples in the image of the Missionary's culture, i.e. they "clothed the naked", literally, instead of providing what's need in the moment by the individuals they encounter which is what Jesus meant. 
  • the many-splendored new humanity of Christ.
  • Where Matthew emphasizes the action of making distinctive disciples, Mark stresses the importance of preaching to all creation.
  • When Jesus used the word "preach" he did not mean converse. The Greek word for preach always carries a sense of urgency and gravity, as though what is to be proclaimed is of great importance
    • Gary Patton
       
      A better translation of the Greek, that captures it's sense and is not intentionally designed by the translator to reinforce "Sunday morning church activity", is "herald"! 
  • Paul perceives himself as an announcer of a worldly Christ-centered gospel,
  • While this worldly gospel saves, it also condemns.
  • For some it brings life; for others it brings death, but all are to be given the opportunity to be written into the story of God's redemption of all creation.
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is not a particularly "Calvinistic statement, i.e., those saved are pre-ordained (Romans 8:28) but probably accurate because we'll never know 'till we get to heaven whether Holy Spirit used us to touch the "right" people and bring them "one step closer to Jesus". 
  • Humanity was charged with the task of caring for the earth and creating culture, making the uninhabitable habitable.
  • Jesus preached a worldly gospel, a restorative message that put the creation project back on track. His glorified, resurrection body is clearly proof of the new creation to come.
  • Jesus told those who believe that they will be given power to heal the sick, restore the demon-possessed, and to speak new languages (Mk. 16:17-18). This worldly gospel is for the redemption and renewal of the earth, the body, the heart, the mind, and the cultures of the world. It is a saving message that rescues people from their unbelief, not their world,
  • we are called to preach "repentance and forgiveness of sins." A social gospel will not suffice.
    • Gary Patton
       
      And a "social gospel" approach is also not excluded.
  • What does it mean to be "witnesses of all these things"? Well, at the very least it means sharing Jesus' self-sacrificing offer of forgiveness,
    • Gary Patton
       
      And witnessing includes, I suggest, the practical and explanatory sharing of the blessings that have enriched the life of the witnesser as a result of their forgiveness and Jesus coming to live His life out through them by sharing what Christians call "their testimony". 
  • The problem with many of our stories is that they contain all spirit and very little flesh.
  • People want to touch redemption, which means they need to see resurrection power in our personal struggles.
  • The stories we tell should boast of Jesus' death and resurrection, of his forgiveness of sin and of his restoration of sinners — reconciled families and marriages, restored and housed homeless, renewed life among AIDS orphans, and so on.
    • Gary Patton
       
      And make sure these resurrection-power stories, if not about yourself, are about other you KNOW personally ...otherwise they can be considered so much fluff!
  • Whereas the previous gospel writers emphasized Jesus' command to make distinctive disciples, preach a worldly gospel, and witness a fleshly Jesus, John stresses Jesus sending his disciples.
  • According to John Piper, we are either goers, senders, or disobedient, but according to Jesus we are all the sent.
    • Gary Patton
       
      And I agree with Jesus. It's clear notwithstanding Mr. Piper's opinion, that Jesus clearly tells all his followers that we are to "go along", i.e., herald Jesus where He plants us". It's not wrong to help a Brother or Sister "go" somewhere else but Jesus never said or giving money to a so-called missionary could replace His Followers heralding Him where they are in the moment".
  • All followers of Jesus are called to live as missionaries in their culture
  • Our paradigm for living a sent life, a missionary life, is the sending of the Son by the Father.
  • So, within reason we should take on the trappings of our culture in order to contextually relate the gospel.
    • Gary Patton
       
      And for this reason, it's not wrong to accompany your work colleagues after work for a "drink" at a local strip club ...just don't oggle the strippers or get drunk! We can only earn their trust so they'll "as the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15-17) when we're not the typical judgemental Christian or pushy Televangelist-type they have been warned to avoid by those judged by those folks.
  • It leads us to immerse ourselves into the humanity of our neighborhoods and cities in order relate the gospel to people and their needs.
    • Gary Patton
       
      And this doesn't mean that we're more spiritual if we leave our middle-class lifestyle and neighbourhood and move into an inner-city slum or evangelize street people on weekends unless Holy Spirit makes clear that role is His will for you at that point in your life!
  • The power of missional living does not spring from cultural savvy or social sensitivity; it requires the otherworldly, utterly personal power of the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God can make men new.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Amen to that!! A Lone Ranger Christian carries a notch-less gun in his "heralding holster". 
  • The "good news" of Genesis 1-2 is that God created all things to be enjoyed, managed, cultivated, and recreated by humanity.
    • Gary Patton
       
      And applying 1 Corinthians 6:12 is the wise person's context for ALL her/his behaviour... not just the limited ones involving "food" and "sex" mentioned by Paul in the immediately surrounding verses of this passage.
  • This fruitful multiplication continues both physically and spiritually through the reproducing ministry of missional disciples, who increase in number and good works (Acts 6:7; Col. 1:6, 10). These good works include ruling and subduing creation through the careful, creative arrangement of the elements of the earth into art, technology, infrastructure etc. for the flourishing of humanity.
  • Retaining the cultural impulse of Genesis, the Gospels call us to a missional discipleship that entails creation care, cultural engagement, social action, and gospel proclamation. Missional disciples will not content themselves by preaching a culturally irrelevant, creation indifferent, resurrection neglecting message.
Gary Patton

Jesus Promises to Send Holy Spirit - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
  • After a little while (G)the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me
  • you will know that (J)I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Gr Paracletos, one called alongside to help; or Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor
  • John 14:15-21
  • If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
  •  
    In John 14:15-21 Jesus comforts his first Followers by sharing with them that after His death, resurrection and return to heavenly Father that God will send Holy Spirt to be with them forever by living in them to empower them so Yeshua/Jesus can continue to live his life on earth through them.
Gary Patton

The R-E-A-L Gospel ...God's Saving Power Source - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • the gospel
    • Gary Patton
       
      The Gospel of Yeshua/Jesus is "Good News". One clear description of Jesus' Gospel (NOT the Muslim Isa's Injeel) is in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7 at http://diigo.com/0kb4u . The Greek word translated into English as 'gospel' means "good news" and Yeshua/Jesus, the Messiah, is the personification of "good news". Simply put, He is the gospel! For anyone who hears them, Yeshua/Jesus and His words are heart-piercing as you can discover in His 'Beatitudes' at http://diigo.com/0kmjn . They are totally convicting because they demonstrate every hearers' total inability to behave as He commands. And, Jesus doesn't leave us hanging! Right now, He's making available to you His power. It's freely available to every man, woman and child ...despite what they may have done. He gives anyone who asks for it a "new life". Plus, He also gives us the power to live it, using His strength, when we believe His 'Gospel' ("Good News"/'Injeel'). This glorious News is that Yeshua/Jesus died to pay the full penalty that God's holiness and justice requires because of both our "sin nature" and our many 'sins'. As Deity incarnate (God with us), Yeshua/Jesus died so that His human creation could be forgiven by God and be reconciled to His heavenly Father and have peace with Him through Yeshua/Jesus's sacrifice and His subsequent resurrection from the grave. Yeshua/Jesus's death and resurrection guarantee real, eternal salvation instead by working for ones own salvation by trying to obey the law. Folks, Jesus is alive! He's living right now and praying for you at the right hand of our heavenly Father. When you respond to his pleading, He'll send his Holy Spirit to live inside you as a new, born-again Believer. "The Gospel" is the power in Jesus' words! "Stop trying ...and start trusting God! It's not what you do. But what Jesus has already fully done for you and Who is empowering you by living inside you!" ~ gfp '42™
  • the Greek
    • Gary Patton
       
      This expression and its synonym "Gentile(s)" means non-Jews.
  • it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Romans 1:16
    • Gary Patton
       
      "The R-E-A-L Gospel ...God's Saving Power Source" Romans 1:16 is only one of the many places where God confirms the power of the Gospel of Yeshua/Jesus. And in this passage, Holy Spirit clarifies the Gospel's R-E-A-L power. gfp (2011-10-11)
  •  
    Romans 1:16 in the New American Standard Bible is only one of the many places where God confirms the power of the Gospel of Yeshua/Jesus (not the Muslim gospel (book that's disappeared) of Isa). Here He clarifies it's power save all of humankind from our sin (Our otherwise unchangeable, foul and separating human nature.) & sins (What we've done contrary to God's will.) ...REGARDLESS of what we have done or how bad we have been because salvation is a gift of God's grace through our faith in His Son's sacrifice on our behalf. One clear description of what Yeshua/Jesus has already done on our behalf is in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 at (http://diigo.com/0kb4u). Good works can give us an enhanced outward demeanor. Only Yeshua/Jesul can set us free from our bondage to sin. gfp (2011-10-11)
Gary Patton

What Neuroscience Tells Us about Spritual Disciplines | Christianity Today - 0 views

  • Neuroscience sheds light on how fasting and other spiritual disciplines work by training our subconscious mental processes.
  • our conscious self is far less in control over who you are and what you do than you realize.  "We are not the ones driving the boat of our behavior," says neuroscientist David Eagleman.
    • Gary Patton
       
      I wonder, assuming this is true, might what psycology calls our subconscious be the residence of Christian flesh. However, I believe the existence of a 'subconscious' is, like 'evolution', a thesis that is usually stated as a fact and truth but no one can prove. Neither is a scientific theory and are certainly not proven theorems because they are not replicable through experimentation.
  • Jesus expected that dietary restriction would be a part of our spiritual practice. "When you fast," he said, not if.
    • Gary Patton
       
      There is no command that we fast in either the Old or New Covenant that I can find. Verse 16 for me is a suggestion not a command. If I'm correct, why do Christian pulpiteers and writers talk about Jesus' quote here like, as this writer says, it should be taken as "an assumption" that Jesus Followers for all time should fast? Why not just consider it what it was? In context, I suggest that Jesus was teaching about an appropriate attitude to take in our relationship with God and our worship of Him. To do so, Jesus used illustrations about how to fast a worship activity practised by the Jews of his day and Old Covenant characters with whom they were familiar. His illustrations were made to a group of religious Jews when He was teaching them on a hillside by using inappropriate fasting practises which some of them followed that He and everyone else present probably observed regularly. Likewise, because Holy Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness without food or water for 40 days for reasons unique to Jesus' ministry, why is it often taught that we must imitate that one time happening, as far as we know, in our Masters life? Undoubtedly, fasting can be healthy for some when properly practised. It may also have positive spiritual implications when done for reasons God leads the faster about. But, much of the super-spiritual things taught about fasting for spiritual reasons do not seem to have any real Biblical support. It is Holy Spirit Who "shapes us into spiritual people" using his lovingly slow process of sanctification ...as it says in Romans 8:29-30 at http://diigo.com/0lc07 ... not our disciplined, hard work by depriving ourselves to train our subconscious as Rob Mol says in this article. Undoubtedly, fasting can be healthy for some when properly practised. It may also have positive spiritual implications when done for reasons God leads the faster about. But, much of the super-spiritual things taught about fasting for spiritual reasons do not seem to ha
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Don't fast for a cause, but to shape your soul.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Mr. Moll explains in this article the light that neuroscience, he says, sheds on how fasting and other so-called, "spiritual disciplines" work. He says our socalled "Christian disciplines" train our subconscious mental processes. I wonder if what he says makes sense because his opinions are based solely on a number of unproveable theories which he shares like they were facts without any qualification. I've added below some e-Sticky Notes about what I think. How do you feel about what I have written? gfp (2012-03-30)
  • by making the Lenten discipline of fasting about a cause, we are caving in to our cultural distaste for self-denial.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Amen!
  • But more importantly, spiritual disciplines shape us in deep ways. Because our brains—at the very least—mediate, process, and experience our spiritual lives, the disciplines can train us to become more attuned to God himself.
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is a statement with significant spiritual implications for which Mr. Mol offers absolutely no scientfic proof or Bisbilical support. Therefore, I suggest the statement is potentially dangerous because it promotes our works rather than "rest" in God as the Bible clearly does command in Hebrews 4.
  • when our blood sugar runs low, chemical signals from the blood stream reach the brain, which sends out signals to eat.
    • Gary Patton
       
      This process and that described below are hard-wired into our DNA by God to protect us ...not the result of our pratcising disciples!
  • The subconscious brain is at work, guiding our actions and our behavior
    • Gary Patton
       
      As a charismatic Follower of Jess, I would suggest that the results Mr. Moll is describing here can be just as acceptably ascribed to God working in His Followers' spirit because He lives in us ...rather than to some unprovable thesis stated like fact about a 'subconscious' developed by worldly psychology. The subconscious is not science because the concept is not replicable nor is it provable. Jesus Followers, on the other hand however, know that they know that they know that God leads them. We do because of the always beneficial result when we do what Holy Spirit leads.
Gary Patton

Was Jesus' Last Supper a Seder? - Biblical Archaeology Review - 0 views

    • Gary Patton
       
      Why would two people, Matthew and Luke, who were the more consistent eye witnesses to the accounts that they report copy Mark? It makes no sense. Mark was a boy while Jesus walked Israel and did not travel about with Him. Mark also was not an original Disciple of Jesus and reported on most the events in his Gospel based on second hand information from the Disciples who did travel with jesus, one can assume. I feel the whole Mathew and Luke copied Mark plus Mark is based on some lost document called "Q" theory of many scholars is rooted in a desire by many to deny or ignore God's supernatural involvement in the documentation of His Son's incarnation and ignores the fact that Matthew and John were eye witnesses to all of what they wrote about. They had no need to copy but had their own perspective on what they heard and saw as do modern witnesses. Likewise, modern research indicates that the reports of most eye witnesses are highly unreliable. If God was not involved, one would have to question the accounts. If that one is not a Jesus Follower and without faith in the supernatural inerancy of the Biblical accounts of both the Old and New Covenants, that's another matter entirely.
  • Thus, in fact we don’t really have three independent sources here at all. What we have, rather, is one testimony (probably Mark), which was then copied twice (by Matthew and Luke).
  • Was Jesus’ Last Supper a Seder?
    • Gary Patton
       
      This April 2012 article in BAR analyzes the similarities between the Jewish Seder and what Christians call Jesus' "Last Supper" and the timing of the event based on archaeological evidence. gfp (2012-04-07)
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • the Gospels—with their hatred of the Jewish authorities
    • Gary Patton
       
      I wonder why the author construes an historical report of what the writer considered 'truth' and 'facts' as 'hatred'. The history of Christianity may be replete with antisemitism, especially some of the protestant Reformers of the Catholic Church, like Luther particulalrly. However, I feel the charge of hatred in the Gospel accounts of the Jewish involvement in the death of Jesus is an unfair one. The Roman authorities were jst as responsible for the crucifixion of Yeshua/Jesus. In fact the Bible seems to make clear that the sin nature and sins of every person who has ever or ever will live is the real reason for Jesus' death. We are ALL responsible ...not just the Jewish and Roman authorities!
  • John’s timing of events supports the Christian claim that Jesus himself was a sacrifice and that his death heralds a new redemption, just as the Passover offering recalls an old one. Even so, John’s claim that Jesus was killed just before Passover began is more plausible than the synoptics’ claim that Jesus was killed on Passover.
  • the Last Supper could not in fact have been a Passover Seder.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Christian historical tradition labels "The Last Supper" a Seder ... not Jesus. He is recorded to have simply called it the "last time He would eat this bread and drink this wine until ...". It was "the time for passover". That Jesus duplicated many Seder rituals seems to be clear from the Gospel accounts ...even if the timing was off. What's the big deal? The REALLY important thing about the Easter events is that Jesus died for humankind's sin nature and sins. Plus, the other big historical event is His resurrection from the grave as proof that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice on behalf of "all who will believe" in Him and what He did for us!
  • That Christians celebrated the Eucharist on a daily or weekly basis (see Acts 2:46–47) underscores the fact that it was not viewed exclusively in a Passover context (otherwise, it would have been performed, like the Passover meal, on an annual basis).
    • Gary Patton
       
      Jesus called us to "do this", i.e., celebrate His sacrifice by eating together as a community of Believers in and Followers of Him. He did not call us to celebrate Passover an eternal commandment for Jews only. Jesus claimed that he had come to fulfill "all the [requirements of the] law and the prophets"!
  • Moreover, while the narrative in the synoptics situates the Last Supper during Passover, the fact remains that the only foods we are told the disciples ate are bread and wine—the basic elements of any formal Jewish meal.
  • “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant’” (Matthew 26:26–28=Mark 14:22; see also Luke 22:19–20). Is this not a striking parallel to the ways in which Jews celebrating the Seder interpret, for example, the bitter herbs eaten with the Passover sacrifice as representing the bitter life the Israelites experienced as slaves in Egypt?
    • Gary Patton
       
      I'd suggest it is more a replacement of, as I note above, rather than a parallel with a Seder!
  • For many Jews (especially non-Orthodox Jews), the process of development continues, and many modern editions of the Haggadah contain contemporary readings of one sort or another. Even many traditional Jews have, for instance, adapted the Haggadah so that mention can be made of the Holocaust.8
  • Almost everyone doing serious work on the early history of Passover traditions, including Joseph Tabory, Israel Yuval, Lawrence Hoffman, and the father-son team of Shmuel and Ze’ev Safrai, has rejected Finkelstein’s claims for the great antiquity of the bulk of the Passover Haggadah.
  • It’s not that rabbinic literature cannot be trusted to tell us about history in the first century of the Common Era. It’s that rabbinic literature—in the case of the Seder—does not even claim to be telling us how the Seder was performed before the destruction of the Temple.b
  • the Holy One, blessed be He
    • Gary Patton
       
      Here may lie the roots of the similar Muslim practise regarding their reverance, not for God's holy name(s) but, for their human prophet Mohammud. Many Muslims are taught to rever their prophet at a level that approaches worship. The Judeo-Christian Bible reserves worship ONLY for Almighty God ...not the demonically inspired construct called Allah and certainly not a murderous Arab warrior from the 7th Century.
  • King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He
    • Gary Patton
       
      As I wonder in the e-Sticky Note immediately above, here may lie the root of the similar Muslim practise regarding their reverance, not for God's holy name(s) but, for their human prophet Mohammud. Many Muslims are taught to rever their prophet at a level that approaches worship. The Judeo-Christian Bible reserves worship ONLY for Almighty God ...not the demonically inspired construct called Allah and certainly not a murderous Arab warrior from the 7th Century.
  • Might not Jesus be presenting a competing interpretation of these symbols? Possibly. But it really depends on when this Rabban Gamaliel lived. If he lived later than Jesus, then it would make no sense to view Jesus’ words as based on Rabban Gamaliel’s.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Most Jesus Followers would work from the premise that Yeshua's/Jesus' words during his last Supper on earth, 'till His return at the end of times, were inspired by God's Holy Spirit ...like all His other recorded comments in the Scriptures.
  • Virtually all scholars working today believe that the Haggadah tradition attributing the words quoted above to Gamaliel refers to the grandson, Rabban Gamaliel the Younger, who lived long after Jesus had died.14 One piece of evidence for this appears in the text quoted above, in which Rabban Gamaliel is said to have spoken of the time “when the Temple was still standing”—as if that time had already passed.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Like many scholars, including some Christian ones, statements like this one are often rooted in a disbelief of the supernatural plus a denial of the possibility that God gave Gamaliel, the Grandfather, a prophetic "word of knowledge"! Prophesy can place the words in the elder Gamaliel's mouth who did live at the time of Jesus who also prophesied the soon-coming (about 40 years later) destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
  • And presumably they would have engaged in conversation pertinent to the occasion. But we cannot know for sure.
    • Gary Patton
       
      A Jesus Follower can know that s(he) knows by faith in the accuracy of our Scriptures. The Scriptures make clear, not 'presumably', that Jesus discussed His replacement of an Old Covenant commandment with a New Covenant. he explains clearly a NEW symbolism for the bread and wine as remembrances and tokens of His sacrificed body and blood on behalf of all who would believe ...NOT the Jews deliverance from Egypt but... all humankind's route to deliverance from the penalty of our sin nature and sins (Romans 3:23 & 6:23) through Him!
  • Having determined that the Last Supper was not a Seder and that it probably did not take place on Passover, I must try to account for why the synoptic Gospels portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal.
    • Gary Patton
       
      The Last Supper being a Seder meal on the Day of Passover is NOT the key issue for a Jesus Follower as I mentioned in my e-Sticky Note above. The key on the cotrary is Who Jesus was as the God-man and what he was about to do for us on His cross on cavalry.
  • Another motive relates to a rather practical question: Within a few years after Jesus’ death, Christian communities (which at first consisted primarily of Jews) began to ask when, how and even whether they should celebrate or commemorate the Jewish Passover
  • The Quartodeciman custom of celebrating Easter beginning on the evening following the 14th day apparently began relatively early in Christian history and persisted at least into the fifth century C.E.
  • Early on, a number of Christians—Quartodecimans and others—felt that the appropriate way to mark the Jewish Passover was not with celebration, but with fasting.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Interestingly, no where, that I can find in the Old or New Covenants, does God command or even suggest that His people should fast. I have not extensively researched the issue but, I suspect I'll discover that, this propably is a Jewish ritual that was carried on by early Christians, i.e., another man-made tradition. There is the reference in Matthew 6:16-18 where Jesus says: "When you fast ...." This is NOT a command but simply, in context, an observational reference to a practise that was common among religious Jews ...the group to whom Jesus was speaking. I comment further on this issue in e-Sticky Note on the Matthew 6 Scripture at http://diigo.com/0piw0 and in the article on fasting from Christianity today at http://diigo.com/0p9iv .
  • Thus, until Jesus’ kingdom is fulfilled, Christians should not celebrate at all during Passove
    • Gary Patton
       
      here again, and depsite what Karl Kuhn says, the issue is not celebrating Passover, but Jesus' command to eat together as a group of his Followers whenever we can and "remember" him.
  • By calling the Last Supper a Passover meal, these Jewish-Christians were trying to limit Christian practice in three ways. Like the Passover sacrifice, the recollection of the Last Supper could only be celebrated in Jerusalem, at Passover time, and by Jews.c
    • Gary Patton
       
      This heresy didn't last very long. Some Messianic Jews still today follow Old Covenant feast and other practises that other Christians do not.
  • there are various reasons why the early church would have tried to “Passoverize” the Last Supper tradition.
  • This too is a Passoverization of the Jesus tradition, but it is one that contradicts the identification of the Last Supper with the Seder or Passover meal.
  • Surely the depiction of the Last Supper as a Passover observance could play a part in this larger effort of arguing that Jesus’ death echoes the Exodus from Egypt
  • a widely popular Paschal sermon, which could well be called a “Christian Haggadah,” reflecting at great length on the various connections between the Exodus story and the life of Jesus
    • Gary Patton
       
      Typology as some call it i.e., seeing Old Covenant people, practises and places as 'types' or 'shadows' pointing to or representing Jesus is common in some Christian circles and with some teachers.
  • Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic custom of using unleavened wafers in the Mass is medieval in origin. The Orthodox churches preserve the earlier custom of using leavened bread.23 Is it not possible to see the switch from using leavened to unleavened bread as a “Passoverization” of sorts?
    • Gary Patton
       
      And regardless of leavened or unleavened bread or wafers, these kinds of issue are seen by many Jesus Followers as focusing on dead and deadly religious ritual, regalia and rules rather than on relationship, revelation and romance with a living God through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah/Christ.
Gary Patton

"How to Have Consummate Peace" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • Philippians 4:4-9
    • Gary Patton
       
      "How to Have Consummate Peace" http://diigo.com/0nkx5 If you want to always sleep sweetly, live your life moment-to-moment as Holy Spirit commands through the Apostle Paul, a sent-out one, in the Christian New Covenant (Testament) Verses below. And after 25 years of taking my worries, fears and F-E-A-Rs (False-Evidence-Appearing-Real) to God, I can guarantee that His way works ...every time! GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-07-24)
  • whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things
    • Gary Patton
       
      Before you speak or even reflect: T - is it TRUE? H - is it HELPFUL? I - is it INSPIRING? N - is it NECESSARY? K - is it KIND?
  • Rejoice in the Lord always
    • Gary Patton
       
      "Dour Christians", i.e., those who are "relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance", need to take this admonition to heart!
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Do this and you WILL succeed ...and without fretting!
  •  Do not be anxious about anything,(C) but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Now, hows that for a simple, easy-to work formula, eh? And the secret to how and why this works you can find outlined in Philiippians 4:11-13 at http://diigo.com/0s0n6 , just a few verses later.
  • And the peace of God,(E) which transcends all understanding,(F) will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
    • Gary Patton
       
      This is what I call: "God's Perpetual Promise of Peace" In late 1998, Karen, my wife, and I were dealing with life-threatening cancer in her colon. At the same time, I was totally disabled having been totally unable to work for the prior 3 1/2 years. I had serious Chronic Fatigue and Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We'd had no income coming in for over three years. This Verse describes perfectly what occurred in Karen's and my lives when we took our absolute terror about our diseases and what might happen to us in the future to our Heavenly Father! You can read more about our experience at or Website "Are You Sick & Tired Of Being Sick & Tired" at http://is.gd/5Mzhms .
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    If you want to always sleep sweetly, live your life moment-to-moment as Holy Spirit commands through the Apostle Paul, a sent-out one, in Phillipians 4:4-9.
Gary Patton

Why Paul Lists His Trials & Temptations For Us - 0 views

  • Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may [c]pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
    • Gary Patton
       
      I can do this because: "No trial or temptation can get at me except those that are common to everyone. And GOD IS FAITHFUL, He'll not let me be tried or tempted more than what I can handle. And when I am tried or tempted, He will always provide a way through it for me so I won't falter while enduring it! Halleljuljah for the promise of 1 Cor. 10:13. gfp (2011-08-28)
  • I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [[d]in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful [e]in divine strength).
    • Gary Patton
       
      Hallelujah, I can & will in the power of Holy Spirit! Amen and amen! gfp (2011-08-28)
  •  
    So You Think You've Got Problems! In 2 Corinthians 11:22-12:10, Paul outlines the severe challenges that he suffered & bore in fulfilling his calling in Christ (Ephesians 2:10). I believe that he did so in order that Jesus Followers can be encouraged in the truth that we don't have to do it at all...Jesus does it living His life our through us in the power of Holy Spirit. (Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6, 11 & 18 & Corinthians 5:17 & 1 Corinthians 10:13)! PTL!!
Gary Patton

Philippians 2:5-11 NASB - Have this attitude in yourselves which - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He (C)existed in the (D)form of God, (E)did not regard equality with God a thing to be [b]grasped, 7 but [c](F)emptied Himself, taking the form of a (G)bond-servant, and (H)being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, (I)He humbled Himself by becoming (J)obedient to the point of death, even (K)death [d]on a cross
    • Gary Patton
       
      Yeshua/ Jesus came to earth and ministered (served) here for about 30 years as the God-Man...fully God and fully man as Philippians 2:5-10 at http://diigo.com/0m1ll describes. This passage also proclaims that He came to pay by his death the full penalty required by Yeshua's heavenly Father for our "sin nature" and sins. Later, In John 14:15-21 at http://diigo.com/0m1lw, Yeshua tells His gathered Followers that after He is resurrected from the grave and thereby proving His Father's acceptance of Yeshua's sacrifice, God would send "another personality of Himself", called Holy Spirit. It is only in the New Covenant, that Yahweh discloses that He, the One God of the Old Covenant Schema, is the "Three Personalities in One God" of the 'Trinity". Together, these three unique personalities of the God-head, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are the Old Covenant YHWH. YHWH is the Old Covenant unpronounceable and unwritable in full name of the Hebrew God. Christians have transliterated YHWH to Yahweh or Jehovah by supplying assumed missing vowels. But scholars cannot be sure. How a God-man existed and died is a mystery Yeshua's/Jesus' Followers cannot explain. We accept them as outlined in the New Covenant on faith because they are confirmed by the power of Holy Spirit working in us and through us. YHWH/Trinity are NOT and cannot be the Muslim Allah. Nor is Yeshua/Jesus the 'Isa' of the Muslim 'Quor'an' because Allah is not YHWH, Yeshua's heavenly Father or 'Abba' ('Daddy'). Islam includes no concept of their deity as 'Father', let alone familiar, Daddy!
Gary Patton

The Tongue Is Big Problem - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • Let not many of you become teachers
    • Gary Patton
       
      Please do noy believe that this verse is a command to not share with those whom Holy Spirit brings across your path. That's a lie from the pit of Hell! You are clearly commanded to "make disciples as you're going along" by Jesus Himself in Matthew 28:18-20 at http://diigo.com/0jisc . This verse is ONLY a warning to coach/communicate/share/teach CAREFULLY and in the power of Holy Spirit. Please also do not believe that this verse says that you should only teach in the Body of Christ if you are a Pastor (Reverend, Minister, Bible School- or Seminary-trained graduate, etc.) That's a lie from the pit as well.The role of Teacher of the Body is open to anyone who is acknowledged by their fellow Believers as possessing the Gift of Teaching and s(he) teaches in the power of Holy Spirit.
  • James 3:1-10
    • Gary Patton
       
      All Jesus Followers have responsibility before God as sharers/communicators/coaches/teachers. This is clearly stated in James 3:1 below. And James 3:2-10 shares why we must be careful. When our sharing/communicating/teaching involves Jesus' Gospel, our intentional & non-interntion errors of ommission or commission actually incurs a curse according to Galatians 1:9 at http://diigo.com/0lvkq . Therefore, each Jesus Following communicator/coach/teacher must take responsibility for the information we transmit to ensure its integrity. More importantly, we are wise to be actively sceptical about the information we receive ...especially over the Internet where it's so easy to defraud and be defrauded. We ought to do the best we know how to check the facts, investigate the evidence, and evaluate all research for ourselves. Finally, we honour Jesus better when we regularly re-recommit to being rigorous, lifelong learners ourselves ...for it is only with knowledge that we can wisely & prayerfully evaluate the claims that we encounter.
  •  
    All Jesus Followers have responsibility before God as sharers/communicators/coaches/teachers. It is is clearly stated in James 3:1 . And James 3:2-10 shares why we must be careful. When our sharing/communicating/teaching involves Jesus' Gospel, error actually incurs a curse according to Galatians 1:9 at http://diigo.com/0lvkq . Therefore, each Jesus Following communicator/coach/teacher must take responsibility for the information we transmit to ensure its integrity. More importantly, we are wise to be actively sceptical about the information we receive ...especially over the Internet where it's so easy to defraud and be defrauded. We ought to do the best we know how to check the facts, investigate the evidence, and evaluate all research for ourselves. Finally, we honour Jesus better when we regularly re-recommit to being rigorous, lifelong learners ourselves ...for it is only with knowledge that we can wisely & prayerfully evaluate the claims that we encounter.
Gary Patton

Q: What does the Bible teach about the Trinity? - 0 views

shared by Gary Patton on 04 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • There is subordination within the Trinity.
    • Gary Patton
       
      An argument can be made that at least Jesus and The Father are co-equal, some Christians say. I also hold this belief because the references to Jesus' subservience to His Father are made by the God-man. Jesus is fully God but also fully man. Jesus makes clear that His miracles all were performed by His Father or Holy spirt. Therefore I believe that until Jesus returned to Heaven, He operated on earth without His Godly powers which He'd left behind. As a special human, Jesus therefore, was truly subservient to the other dimensions of God. The passages seemingly ascribing Holy Spirit's alleged subservience to The Fater and Jesus, I suggest could also be described as 'deference' rather than 'subservience'.
  • An infinite God cannot be fully described by a finite illustration.
    • Gary Patton
       
      While, I agree, of course, Michael does not mention what I feel is the best analogy, i.e., I am my Father's son, the husband of my wife, Karen, and the Father of my daughter, Shawna. These three dimensions are different aspects of the same, one being who is also a spirit in a temporary earth suit because I have the image of God Who is spirit. (Genesis 1:7)
  • The doctrine of the Trinity has been a divisive issue throughout the entire history of the Christian church.
    • Gary Patton
       
      Contrary to what some might feel that Michael is writing here, The Trinity is NOT a divisive doctrine among those who Follow Jesus only among non-Followers. It's a "rock" on which most non-Followers of Jesus stumble" (Luke 7:22-23 at http://goo.gl/hNMmAV). The Trinity is a core belief of our faith in God, The Father (Genesis 1:1) and His salvation through God the Son's, Yeshuaoh's/Jesus', death and resurrection (Romans 10:8-12), plus our empowerment through God, The Holy Spirit, living in us (1 Corinthianss 6:19). As Followers of God, "The One & Only", Who is NOT Allah of the Muslims of Islam or the gods of the polytheistic religionists, we believe in the Trinity, as truth, "in faith" ..."being sure of what we hope for (Biblically: 'know') and certain of what we cannot see". (Hebrews 11:1 & 6) GaryFPatton (2013-11-04 gfp '42)
Gary Patton

Jesus Public Ministry And Gospel - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • “(G)THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 (H)TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”
    • Gary Patton
       
      The Gospel of Yeshua/Jesus is "Good News". But, it's not a book or a passage of Scripture. It's the person of God incarnate Himself! And salvation is a trusting relationship in & with Him by simply believing in Yeshua's payment on His cross of the full penalty God demands for our sin & sins and, then, deferring to Yeshua's lordship of every aspect of our lives by living in the power of His resurrection!" ~ gfp The word 'gospel' means 'good news' and Yeshua/Jesus, the Messiah, is the personification of "good news". Simply put, He is the gospel! For anyone who hears them, Yeshua/Jesus and His words are heart-piercing as you can discover in His 'Beatitudes' at . They are totally convicting because they demonstrate every hearers' total inability to behave as He commands. And, Jesus doesn't leave us hanging! Right now, He's making available to you His power. It's freely available to every man, woman and child ...despite what they may have done. He gives anyone who asks for it a "new life". Plus, He also gives us the power to live it, using His strength, when we believe His 'Gospel' ("Good News"/'Injeel'). This glorious News is that Yeshua/Jesus died to pay the full penalty that God's holiness and justice requires because of both our "sin nature" and our many 'sins'. As Deity incarnate, Yeshua/Jesus died so that His human creation could be forgiven by God and be reconciled to His heavenly Father and have peace with Him through Yeshua/Jesus's sacrifice and His subsequent resurrection from the grave. Yeshua/Jesus's death and resurrection guarantee real, eternal salvation instead by working for ones own salvation by trying to obey the law. Folks, Jesus is alive! He's living right now and praying for you at the right hand of our heavenly Father. When you respond to his pleading, He'll send his Holy Spirit to live inside you as a new, born-again Believer. "The Gospel" is the power in Jesus' words! "Stop trying ...and start tr
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    Yeshua/Jesus clarified His Gospel first to the Jews and, then later, to all non-Jews through the ones who that became His Followers. He first did so using words of The Jewish Prophet, Isaiah, that Yeshua quoted from the Old Covenant (Muslim: Taurat) in this passage: 18 "(G)THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 (H)TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
Gary Patton

"One Biblical Account of Jesus' Crucifixion" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

  • So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
  • Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle
  • Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
  • When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes
  • This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,“They divided my garments among them    and cast lots for my clothing.
  •  Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
  •  Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath
  • one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
  • These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[b] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[c]
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    "One Biblical Account of Jesus' Crucifixion" John 19:16-42 in the Christian New Covenant (Testament) describes the death of Yeshua (Jesus) on His cross. He voluntarily, as God the Son, Emmanuel, God in flesh and bones. He dis so to redeem all who will believe in Him and His sacrifice for them as God from their violation of God the Father's laws and their sin nature by means of the saving power of Gog the Holy Spirit.
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