servantanna

You stated the answer clearly in the Bible study. Jesus is the Son of God (God), He is our Savior, He is coming back again, sin has been judged in believers, and will be judged when Jesus comes back. The one which is underemphasized by the Church is the wrath of God against sin. Most people say, "We are all sinners, and we need a Savior. Jesus is that savior. Trust Him and you will be saved." This is correct, but does not go far enough. Saying that "we are all sinners" is too generic. I believe that entailed in salvation is, "I sinned, by doing such and such and so and so." In my case, stubbornness, pride, and an extremely independent spirit. It is difficult to let God have control. Then, we REPENT of those things, changing not only our minds, but forsaking the sins. The repentance is done by God (Acts 11:18 and 2 Timothy 2:25), and the change are done by God -- HE transforms us (2 Corinthians 3:18) -- but we must confess with God what He is saving us from. Then, He can change it.

The Holy Spirit is important to effective ministry because it is the Holy Spirit who saves people. We get nowhere when the power is our own will-power. I have tried to convince others of the gospel, and have had NO reaction: positive or negative. I figure that was in my own power. I pray for God to speak through me, but am never great at knowing when it is Him and when it is me. Miracles can validate a person is being from God. I do believe miracles can happen, but I also recognize that when the rich man (Luke 16) in Hades wanted to talk to his family (come back from the dead), he was told that if they didn't believe the Bible, they would not believe him either. And, we are told that faith comes by hearing(Romans 10:17) -- that we live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) The Bible emphasizes Paul's words more than his miracles. Having said that, I do believe that, I agree completely that the Holy Spirit includes miracles among spiritual gifts, for His own reasons, and that spiritual gifts are given to bring others to Christ for the glory of God. I'm not sure what would happen if there were more miracles. I believe we don't see as many miracles because people lack faith that they can happen. If we have faith as a mustard seed, we can say to this mountain "move" and it will. One reason faith is lacking is that so many church father's over the ages have said that they are "no more" and so there is not much of a record on them. But, majority opinions, although they sway others, are not always correct. The Bible never says they are done away with. And, to me, Acts 2:16-19 indicates that they would be on the rise in the last days. Technically, the "last days" started with the Church, but I also believe that, as history closes out, there will be a resurgence of miracles. People are so lost now, and false doctrine is more prevalent than ever, that miracles would be a sign to show truth.

I believe there was opposition to Paul's ministry in Thessalonica because the Jews there wanted to hold on to their traditions, and wanted the Greeks to be circumcised. Paul was against that. Violent reactions come from people set in their ways who don't want to change, and suspect they should. The first reaction is to fight against the change. The fact that they reacted violently meant that Paul struck a chord with them. God could work through that chord to tear down defenses, and save the person. Where there is NO reaction, the person is just not interested; ie, doesn't care. He was getting through. No, a violent reaction doe not mean we should stop. It does call for extra prayer, though because God is trying to break through defenses.