Do you know Jesus Christ?

The apostles creed puts it nicely Begotten not made. Being of one substance with the Father by Whom all things were made. Or the Nicene creed God of God Light of Light very God Of very God

You should write a book, perhaps called “Left Pocket Ministry,” telling about the various responses you’ve had, what you learned, etc. You seem to be a good writer, and I think a book like that could be a real blessing.

And without a father born before all worlds... Begotten not created (I have lousy Latin sorry).

Eternally in begotten relationship to God the Father. Two persons of the Triune God. (The third is the Holy Spirit.)

I was watching a video the other day of some Christian - Muslim Dialogue between Dr. James White & Dr. Yasir Qadhi. I thought it was quite pathetic. I felt like this Dr. White guy just basically gave the muslim a stage to sell his religion.

I was reading the Bible the other day and ....

Genesis 1:2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Is the “Spirit of God” in this sense referring to the Holy Spirit? Was the Holy Spirit there from the beginning?

For some reason, I thought of this the other after watching some Christian - Muslim dialogue where the muslim said they didn’t believe in the Trinity.

Thank you for this clear presentation of the Gospel! May our Lord continue to bless you and direct you as you minister for Him.

Thank you for following what was surely a nudge from the Holy Spirit! Although I am a undeserving Christian saved by grace your reminder of that plan of eternal salvation and its true simplicity touched me deeply. That you placed your words here on Free Republic for others to take what is offered by a loving God reminded me of my own salvation story. Thank you and may God continue to bless you!

Welcome Jacqueline.

You should have come to my church because I am sure my pastor would have come up with about 90 things for you to do. :>)

Of course the Spirit was there from the beginning God does not change. The plural is used for God from the first verse of Genesis.

Blessings!

As I thought.

I was just trying to think of this as opposed to what this muslim scholar was saying. Muslims use the Book of Genesis so 2 of the 3 parts of the Trinity should come easy to them. The one thing Muslims are missing is that the tomb was empty. That Jesus is Lord and that he was crucified, was dead for three days, and he arose.

The entire Trinity is in Genesis. The Gospel is forst recorded in Genesis 3:15. The Muslims do NOT worship the Triune God of the Bible no matter how much some would like us to believe we worship the same God.

Please don’t take it to suggest that I believe muslims worship the same God. I was just thinking of the inconsistencies of islam.

muslims sell their so-called religion by telling others that they believe the same God. They say that they believe Jesus was a great prophet. They disarm people by soft selling the God of the Bible and then pushing to their evil allah on them.

THE APOSTLES CREED

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord

(At the words that follow up and including “the Virgin Mary,” all bow.)

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell;

on the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy Catholic Church,

the Communion of Saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.
Amen.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sorry was posting on the run and mixed some of the apostles and Nicene creed. Both are equally valid. However I never learned the all bow at the Virgin Mary part. I haven’t seen it in any printed version of the creed either. You bow to Mary I bow to Christ. But you knew that would be my response when you posted it.

If you are lead to you can start a free blog. Another means of witness is replying online to articles in the news. We definitely need to plant seeds there. Facebook, twitter, etc are also ways to witness. Be prepared to being attacked and when you are, you know you are doing it right.

Have dinner with our Freeper brothers and sisters sometime in the future when there is a new heaven/earth, eh?

However, I do not wish to engage in that discussion on a thread about who Jesus Christ is. He alone is the author and perfector of our salvation. All who call upon Him will be saved.

It is Christ’s incarnation that we are bowing to.

Keep Posting Here...
You bring out The Best!

Thank you. I have actually started a sort-of book. I kept a log for the first several weeks. I had about a dozen pages, but my computer was attacked by someone who wanted money to unlock my files, so I lost it.
But I did manage to save the first few pages.

Learning to be Generous
5/15/17
It is the second week of Lent, and I have done nothing about it. There was a time when taking Lent seriously was very important to me, but that seemed to end last year. I think it may have to do with putting time limits on God: “Just keep this for forty days . . . then you can go back to normal.” I know that’s not the intent of Lent, but that is what it was beginning to feel like for me. That, and my natural tendency toward living like a Pharisee – counting days and measuring quantities. I complaint about this to God a couple of weeks before last year’s Lent, and He agreed: “Just start right now,” He said.

“Two weeks before Lent even begins?” I complained. “And how long would this last if I start early?”

“I thought you wanted to get away from counting – but don’t worry – I’ll let you know when you can stop.” And he did – a week before Easter. So I went an extra week.

I know – I asked for it.

So this year I’m two weeks into Lent, and nothing – until now. This year He says, “What would you do if I gave you $100 a week to give away?”

“Who would I give it to? – how would I know it was OK? – and just how long does this go on?” See, I told you my natural inclination is sympathetic toward Pharisee tendencies.

God said, “None of that is the point – I want to teach you about generosity – just letting money flow through your fingers. Who you give it to and why is not even important. Just give it all away every week.”

“I AM generous – did you see what I offered in the big fundraising at church?” I retorted.
“But that is not the same – writing checks is not handing out money. I want this to be personal.” I was still confused.
“And how will you give me this money?” I was getting practical again, but I had already guessed the answer.

“Look in your wallet and you will see that you have $100, and it will be there every week.” I knew it – we were talking about MY money. And that’s when it hit me. That is exactly the kind of thinking I needed to work on. None of it was mine, and I had to learn to treat it like God’s money for a change. Or at least that’s what I though the message was going to be.

So I started this journal so you could come along with me in this adventure. I have no idea how this is going to turn out. But I am starting with $100 in my wallet.

“Taking” with God?

I think I need to take a few minutes to describe what I mean when I have a “conversation” with God. Otherwise, you may decide that I am crazy or, worse yet, far more Spiritual than is warranted.

It always amazes me how ready we are to give the devil credit for influencing us: “The devil made me do it,” or “the devil made me say that.” And it is often the truth. We are all under the influence of the spiritual world, but just quicker to give the devil the credit than God the credit. With just a little practice, we can distinguish between “my” ideas, the devil’s ideas, and God’s ideas.

I suspect part of the problem is that we consider ourselves “basically good”, so bad ideas must come to us from outside. Good ideas, on the other hand, could certainly come from such a good person as “I” am. We would be much closer to the truth if these two positions were reversed.

God’s voice never contradicts His word, never causes injury, always lifts up.

The “voice” I hear is my own – but the ideas are God’s. I can usually tell because it is often something that would never occur to me – and I can ask questions and get answers. It almost always happens within the context of prayer.
This is a good example. I was in prayer asking about Lent, and this “thought” came out of the blue. I have never heard of anyone doing this and had no basis for the idea. It is, of course, fully supported by scripture: everything is God’s, and we are to look out for our neighbors. And that’s how this whole crazy thing got started. What’s next? The $100 is counted out and in my pocket – we shall see . . .

Getting Started

I saw her right away. She was at Walmart, very pregnant, and her husband was right behind her. They looked happy. I remembered what it was like to be young, expecting, and broke – I wanted to give them some of God’s money – but I froze – then it was too late. This was going to be harder than I expected! But why? I needed a plan. I needed to decide ahead of time what I was going to say, so I could be ready. When the moment strikes, there really isn’t much time.

The next day I was ready – Twice! We were standing in line to get our car license plates renewed and – just like before – she was pregnant – but this time her husband was holding their daughter in his arms. They were laughing. They accepted God’s money with joy and thanksgiving – I could not think of a better way to start!

The second was a harried woman with two toddlers walking into Walmart. She looked tired. I said, “You look like you have your hands full,” then offered her some of God’s money. She tried to say no (as a matter of fact, she did say no), but I told her God loved her and wanted her to have this money. Then I was gone.

I wondered if it was OK to give the money to her.
“It does not matter who you give it to or why – the important thing is that you find someone – anyone for any reason – and give the money away.”

Week Two

Time to look in my wallet and see if another $100 is in there – it was.

I took to putting “God’s give-away money” in my left pocket, so my “right hand would not know what my left hand was doing.” I carry it with me wherever I go.

I was at a Walk for Life event and thought this would be a really good place to put some of God’s money. But before I could finish the thought God said, “No! – I can find plenty of money for them – this has to go from your hand to someone else’s hand. Besides, if you give it to an organization some of the credit will fall to you.” Obviously, I still had a lot to learn.

Once again, I was at Walmart (spending WAY too much time there!). I was pulling into my parking space as they were getting into their pickup truck. She was pregnant and he was helping her shop. They were laughing.

“I remember what it was like starting a family – never enough to go around.” This was my introduction. “God loves you and would like for you to have this extra money.”
I have never seen such unexpected Joy. The husband had just gotten into the truck. He got out, came around to my side, and said, “I just want to shake your hand.” He was beaming as we shook hands. Those few seconds remained with me the rest of the day. It is wonderful just thinking about the stories they will share with their friends. This is really getting good.

I was starting to notice something I never expected. I was looking at everyone differently. For starters, I was LOOKING at them, questioning in my mind, “What could they need that I could provide?” It was like my whole relationship, my whole basis of contact with the world was changing. And it had not even been two weeks! I could never have imagined!