A reading of Hebrews and Romans makes it clear that the children of Abraham is not those who are his blood descendants, but those who are of FAITH. Abraham believed God and God accounted it to him as righteousness. That is the argument Romans and Hebrews makes-that we Gentiles are children ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE. They did not continue in faith but tried to attain rightousness by WORKS of the Law.(Rom. 9: 31,32) But Paul is clear that they pursued in vain because of this! The STUMBLED!!( Rom.11:20)They were IGNORANT of God's righteousness (by GRACE) Rom. 1; 3 Those whom God blesses are according to Abraham's faith and we are grafted in this way.
"The children of the promise are counted as the seed" Romans 9: 8 ..that the purpose of God according to election might stand..not of works but of Him who calls. The ELECT (by grace) hae obtained, and the rest were blinded.( Rom. 11: 7)
The mystery was that God would call Gentiles by the same grace through faith.
The hypocrisy of the Judaisers was what Paul was warning about-that circumcision was to no avail Remember it was given as a SEAL of the promise! but was being abused by some."If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness wuld have been by ... Read Morethe law. BUT the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the PROMISE BY FAITH in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Gal. 21, 22 -saved by grace through faith always. Abraham was saved according to the grace of God of the promise. The Law was added because of transgressions. God used the Law to show His glory and unattainable righteousness apart from grace through faith.
and if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed, and HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE!! Gal. 3: 29 Who did Jesus redeem? Those who were under the law-Jew AND Gentile (we show the works of the law written in our hearts/conscience) ..in the fullness of time! ..to REDEEM those who were under the guardian (the tutor-the law) , that we might rceive the adoption as sons. Jew and Gentile are adopted by God according to grace/mercy. WE (Jew/Gentlile) are now heirs (Co-heirs!) of God through Christ. The Jerusalem above is free-which is the mother of us all. Heirs of God and joiint heirs with Christ Rom. 8: 16 The mystery is that Gentiles should be FELLOW HEIRS (not different heirs!) of the SAME BODY, and partakers of His PROMISE in Christ. HOw? Through the gospel given Paul by the grace of God. Paul was to make known the FELLOWSHIP OF THE MYSTERY of Jew/Gentile in CHrist. Now God's wisdom is made known by the church! Eph. 10 The same Gospel was preached to Jew/Gentile of the grace of God.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Parable of the Fishless Fishermen
So you ask, "what's up with FisherwomanforJesus?" Jesus said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
The Parable of the Fishless Fishermen
Anonymous
Fellowship. They were surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got excited about fishing!
Someone suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How do fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So hey began research studies, and attended conferences on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls. But still, no one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the Fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told that he had a special "gift of fishing." He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it.
With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, "Let’s go fishing." They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few!
So you ask, "what's up with FisherwomanforJesus?" Jesus said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
The Parable of the Fishless Fishermen
Anonymous
Fellowship. They were surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got excited about fishing!
Someone suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How do fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So hey began research studies, and attended conferences on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls. But still, no one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the Fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told that he had a special "gift of fishing." He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it.
With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, "Let’s go fishing." They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
