Post by Jesse Morrell on Feb 26, 2009 18:30:02 GMT -5
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, PEMBROKE
FORNICATORS DO NOT LOVE EACH OTHER
We had a great day out on campus. I talked one on one to a woman who said she is living with her boyfriend. I said, "he doesn't love you or else he would marry you". She said that she does not love him, and he does not love her. They are both more like friends who live together and sleep together. I explained to her God's plan for male and female, and why God has instituted marriage.
A RECOVERED SINNER
She has a drug and alcohol background, but is in "recovery". I explained how she needed to be born again. I used to sin through drugs and alcohol but through Christ I am recovered.
SIN IS NOT TRUST WORTHY
She said that because of her background, she has trust problems. Part of the reason she says she doesn't obey God is because she doesn't trust God. I explained how her problems were because of sin, not because of God. It is sin that she should not trust. That is why she should get all the sin out of her life. God is worthy of our trust. He has the best interests of everyone in mind. We should always do what He says.
IS EVERYONE A SINNER?
She said, "But doesn't the Bible say we are all sinners?" I explained how the Bible says all have sinned (past tense) but that we don’t have to keep sinning, we don’t have to keep obeying temptation. The Bible calls Christians saints, not sinners, because they are new creatures. She said, “nobody can be perfect.” I explained how if that were true, we would have an excuse for sin. But sin is inexcusable. God has given us the ability to be morally perfect. We are either obeying God or disobeying God. That is our free will choice.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED?
She asked me my views of “Once Saved, Always Saved”. I explained how there are conditions for receiving God’s mercy and therefore there are conditions for keeping God’s mercy. To get saved, we need to turn from sins and trust in Christ. Therefore to stay saved we need to stay away from sin and continue trusting in Christ. If we turn back to sin, or if we stop trusting in Christ, we are no longer meeting the conditions of God’s mercy.
I ended our conversation with an encouragement to read 1 John. I told her that we are to love God because He first loved us. Christ dying on the cross for us shows us God’s heart, so we should have no problem trusting and obeying Him
GNOSTICISM ALIVE AND WELL
I also talked to a man who said that we couldn’t stop sinning because we have a flesh, a sinful nature. Therefore we need to wait until we die before we can be free from sin. I explain to him how the Gnostic’s denied that Jesus Christ came in the flesh because they believed the flesh was sinful. But the flesh is just dirt. Dirt cannot be sinful. Paul said our bodies are instruments we can use for righteousness or unrighteousness. No doubt, we have natural desires of the flesh which we can choose to gratify in an unnatural and unlawful manner. But our flesh itself is not sinful. Sinfulness is nothing more than disobedience. God’s law tells us what type of choices to make, not what type of body or flesh to have. I said, “I think you are confusing temptation with sin”. He said, “Temptation is sin”. I said, “No, Jesus Christ was tempted yet without sin. James says that we are tempted by our lust but when we obey our lust, then we sin.” The desires of our flesh are only temptations until we choose to gratify them in a sinful or unnatural way. We do not have to wait until glorification to be free from sin. We can have sanctification in this life. Sin is a choice, a free will choice, therefore we can stop sinning in this life.
A GOOD DAY
We also preached open air. The amphitheatre provided plenty of seats for the students. Kerrigan had on his sandwich board and I had a big banner. That helped us to get attention. Eventually we were able to draw in a crowd that stayed for hours. We talked about the usual issues. There were a lot of homosexuals in the crowd so we focused on that a little bit. We called the students to forsake their sinning and follow Jesus. All in all it was a good day.
FORNICATORS DO NOT LOVE EACH OTHER
We had a great day out on campus. I talked one on one to a woman who said she is living with her boyfriend. I said, "he doesn't love you or else he would marry you". She said that she does not love him, and he does not love her. They are both more like friends who live together and sleep together. I explained to her God's plan for male and female, and why God has instituted marriage.
A RECOVERED SINNER
She has a drug and alcohol background, but is in "recovery". I explained how she needed to be born again. I used to sin through drugs and alcohol but through Christ I am recovered.
SIN IS NOT TRUST WORTHY
She said that because of her background, she has trust problems. Part of the reason she says she doesn't obey God is because she doesn't trust God. I explained how her problems were because of sin, not because of God. It is sin that she should not trust. That is why she should get all the sin out of her life. God is worthy of our trust. He has the best interests of everyone in mind. We should always do what He says.
IS EVERYONE A SINNER?
She said, "But doesn't the Bible say we are all sinners?" I explained how the Bible says all have sinned (past tense) but that we don’t have to keep sinning, we don’t have to keep obeying temptation. The Bible calls Christians saints, not sinners, because they are new creatures. She said, “nobody can be perfect.” I explained how if that were true, we would have an excuse for sin. But sin is inexcusable. God has given us the ability to be morally perfect. We are either obeying God or disobeying God. That is our free will choice.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED?
She asked me my views of “Once Saved, Always Saved”. I explained how there are conditions for receiving God’s mercy and therefore there are conditions for keeping God’s mercy. To get saved, we need to turn from sins and trust in Christ. Therefore to stay saved we need to stay away from sin and continue trusting in Christ. If we turn back to sin, or if we stop trusting in Christ, we are no longer meeting the conditions of God’s mercy.
I ended our conversation with an encouragement to read 1 John. I told her that we are to love God because He first loved us. Christ dying on the cross for us shows us God’s heart, so we should have no problem trusting and obeying Him
GNOSTICISM ALIVE AND WELL
I also talked to a man who said that we couldn’t stop sinning because we have a flesh, a sinful nature. Therefore we need to wait until we die before we can be free from sin. I explain to him how the Gnostic’s denied that Jesus Christ came in the flesh because they believed the flesh was sinful. But the flesh is just dirt. Dirt cannot be sinful. Paul said our bodies are instruments we can use for righteousness or unrighteousness. No doubt, we have natural desires of the flesh which we can choose to gratify in an unnatural and unlawful manner. But our flesh itself is not sinful. Sinfulness is nothing more than disobedience. God’s law tells us what type of choices to make, not what type of body or flesh to have. I said, “I think you are confusing temptation with sin”. He said, “Temptation is sin”. I said, “No, Jesus Christ was tempted yet without sin. James says that we are tempted by our lust but when we obey our lust, then we sin.” The desires of our flesh are only temptations until we choose to gratify them in a sinful or unnatural way. We do not have to wait until glorification to be free from sin. We can have sanctification in this life. Sin is a choice, a free will choice, therefore we can stop sinning in this life.
A GOOD DAY
We also preached open air. The amphitheatre provided plenty of seats for the students. Kerrigan had on his sandwich board and I had a big banner. That helped us to get attention. Eventually we were able to draw in a crowd that stayed for hours. We talked about the usual issues. There were a lot of homosexuals in the crowd so we focused on that a little bit. We called the students to forsake their sinning and follow Jesus. All in all it was a good day.