peacebringer

missed answering questions from 1st session, I know from past experience best not to go back and catch up as will let myself fall behind. Jesus is God with us. He is the remembered reveal reality. He is the light, the true reflection of God's charter and person. The invisible made visible. Yet, even with that image we fail to grasp fully as God is beyond our comprehension and understanding. Yet, Jesus has given us something tangible, which today is but a memory and image.

hey, looking forward to this and starting on track with the study and not falling way behind as did with the 1,2,3 John studies.

Teachers are people GOd has blessed with an ability to communicate God's word to others to build them up. WE need teachers because we are all growing and a teacher serves the role of helping facilitate growth. We need other parts of the body to help us grow up in the faith. WE were not created to be in isolation. In the body, cells work together.

Abiding, is remaining in, continuing in, drawing from. It is how being fed. Abide in Jesus, remaining faithful to the Gospel. Someone abiding inJesus will fellowship and draw strength from. Abiding in Jesus will not add to or take away from the Gospel. SOmeone who falls to abide will be selfish. They will add something to the gospel. Often may even take of special understanding or elevate self to a place of "specialness". Ultimatey something is taken away from Jesus and ascribed to self.

THis fits with gaining understanding of worship in spirit. It is a relationship. It is the still small voice. It is bringing awareness of sins and teaching us the truth. The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus in all ways.

It is the empowerment and designation from God through the Holy Spirit. It is the receiving of the Holy Spirit which also serves as the seal. Each Christian receives the annointing, yet we do not always walk in the annointing, but rather self. The be being filled is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is being indwelt by the Holy GOd, with God truly with us. It is surrendering to God's power and authority and the Holy Spirit.

THe antichrist is the final adversary. The antichrists up until the final one are all that put self against the gospel. They serve as types and eminate deception, that which seeks to change or distort gospel, by using one of the 3 ways of world described previous as did with Jesus in wilderness. The spirit of antichrist is at work mightly with many deceptions and threads of deception working through out the body of Christ.

It covers every aspect of sin/worldliness. It is difficult to discern in self often, because we are locked in self and focused on self. Wordliness is harmful as it is a focus on the temporary and a move away from God.

The world is the kingdom of darkness, all that which is against the kingdom of God. The love of the world that keeps us from loving the Father is a self-focus. A focus on desires. We live in a day and age where the view of morality is that which restrains desire is immoral. This is evidenced in the culture such as the new TV show Glee. It is a focus on what is good for self. If we focus on what is good for self, than we are not loving God with our whole self. Rather we are pursuing that which makes us feel good. In particular is referenced the "love of money" which in essence if you broaden it, is love of self gain. Ultimately it stems to a love of self.

Encouragement and building up is an act of love. He is seeking to build them all up to further growth and give them strength where they stand. He encourages them at the level they are with words to build them up.

Actually hadn't thought of that aspect and is fascinating. My mother is losing vision. She cannot see things clearly. She has areas she cannot see. When we hate, we can only see out of that limited filter. In terms of coming back into light when been hurt and hate, it involves essentially forgiveness and letting go. It may involve remember truth, particularly if at a point of anger at God, leading to darkness. Now this may serve as fodder for a blog article.

It comes down to worship in spirit and truth. http://peacebringer7.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/worship-in-spirit-and-truth-how-do-we/ really gets into my thoughts on the matter of worship in spirit and truth. It all comes down to loving response not obligation. What comes from love comes from inside. It flows from surrender of self and a genuine response to what God has done.

Jesus advocates us, his righteousness is replaced for ours. It is comforting in knowing that it is not about measuring up. We can overcome that which we become embroiled in because it does not depend on us. It leads to avoiding sin, because in a love response and because of what Jesus did, want to grow past self and show love toward God. As state earlier, moves to darkness often are precipitated by being upset with God at some level. Moving away from sin comes from loving response.

Confession is agreeing with God that what is sin, is sin. It is consenting to our being wrong and focused on self. It is important because unless you first recognize your sinfulness, you will not let God move to change. The promise is God will forgive and cleanse. Forgiveness is not being counted against us, it is being redeemed. Cleasing is the ongoing process of santification, of having impurity removed, overcoming the areas of selfishness.

I have had one period of time when I absolutely walked in darkness, it was triggered by anger with God. God is generally there always with you, calling you back. Yet, there is a disconnect and lack of peace. When embracing darkness, it is a self focus. When trigger by anger with God, it is over some perceived lack that is focus on self and connected often to some real or perceived suffering. When we walk in light, we display light to others. It is evident. Getting back into the light involves confession and repentance.

First of all sorry for lack of participation I have had flu bug and was on vacation when this started. So I have a lot of catching up to do. In terms of surface level interaction. I agree some level of it is cultural. We live in a society where relationships are more and more quick and superficial. It takes some building trust and willingness to open up. It really takes our walking in genuine response of love with one another. We do not trust loving response so often likely to keep things at surface level. Any group to grow is going to need to exhibit genuine loving response. Loving God with whole self and loving others is needed to be seen and felt.

My name is Tim. I go by peacebringer on the internet these days as it reflects the call and purpose God has on my life. I am 44. I am a psychologist and in a period of transition as recently became liscensed. I have known Jesus basically all my life, since the first choice really at age 4-5. God currently has me writing a blog at http://peacebringer7.wordpress.com and running a forum at www.peacebringer.net/phpBB3. I am married for 9 years now. We have no children. We are continuing to grow together in love. It is alway interesting to see how God moves in our interactions. I am looking forward to this study.