Are we simply adopted as God’s children through Jesus, or do we actually change into sons and daughters of God? Why am I not a Messianic Jewish Catholic? What can a university student do about homosexual activism on his campus?
Hour 1:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: This is a time for courage, standing strong, and where we renew our efforts to be unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus. Be bold, strong, and move forward, not backwards!
Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: As I celebrate my 57th birthday today, what has really made my day is hearing from so many of you and that the life that God has given me is making a lasting impact on you. That’s why I am here: to make an impact that will last forever. You can make an impact too!
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 | Pre-order Dr. Brown’s latest book: The Real Kosher Jesus: Revealing the Mysteries of Israel’s Hidden Messiah for $50 (price includes shipping) — to be released this April! |
A Queer Thing Happened to America by Dr. Brown: A Queer Thing Happened to America chronicles the amazing transformation of America over the last forty years, literally, from Stonewall Inn to the White House, and addresses the question head-on: Is there really a gay agenda, or is it a fiction of the religious right? Written in a lively and compelling style, but backed with massive research and extensive interaction with the GLBT community, this forthright and yet compassionate book looks at the extraordinary impact gay activism has had on American society.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16
For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
RE: Adoption vs. Naturally-Born-Again-Of-God
I read a book on google books that talked about how in Greco-Roman world, that “adoption” happened with a naturally-born son, when that son “came of age”; it wasn’t the same type of “adoption” that we have in our days (where you are not born into the family).
The book was called “Paul in the Greco-Roman World”, and it can be viewed @…
http://books.google.com/books?id=HFyeYZfD410C&printsec=frontcover&dq=paul+in+the+greco-roman+world+a+handbook&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sLtjT5e7E6L50gH0ouWZCA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA
happy birthday !!! Dr.Brown Bless you
I wonder if we were “adopted” into God’s household or family because we were not born the first time into it.
It was after we had already existed that we came to hear the good news and through faith in Christ we believed and became born of the Spirit.
We heard how Jesus came from heaven where he had inhabited the realm of the Spirit of God. He proceeded forth of this realm of God, the presence of the Father, even from in God himself.
When we heard that and believed, we became born of the Spirit by faith in what we heard about Jesus and became a part of the family of God, a new family, I suppose then, an adoption.
I think I should look that word up in a dictionary.
Adopt speaks of taking into one’s own family by legal process whereby one raises as one’s own.
Jesus made this process possible. He did all the paperwork, even doing all that was necessary according to the law of God.
I think he must have “signed” the agreement in heaven and when the time had come, he came to fulfull all that was written, making the purchase with his own blood.
So often it seems that we who believe receive whatever it is that God has for us, because of
what happened/was done by Jesus. (being born of the Spirit- John 3)
Concerning spiritual things, we often hear the sound thereof, but don’t know where it came from or where it’s going, just as Jesus said. (John 3:8)
And I heard on TV the other day that children are often offered some type of food about 15 times before it is received.
Dr Brown,
I’m torn, Dr Brown… I don’t know what place reading has in my life.
I know that reading can benefit, but having received the Spirit of Truth (the Author of Scripture), shouldn’t I just listen to the Spirit, and receive directives from Him? Isn’t reading to “find information” almost denying the fact that the Spirit knows all things (even everything written in the Scriptures) and guides, without any help?
John says the Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness and the judgment… what need do I have for Scripture, then?
I have to see that Moses foreshadowed Jesus, and the Fiery Law (Deut 33:2) foreshadowed the Spirit of Fire (Is 4:4; Mal 3:3). The Fiery Law of Truth written on pages foreshadowed the Fiery Spirit of Truth, Who writes the Laws on my heart; we are not to serve in oldness of letters, but newness of Spirit… I understand reading is good and can be beneficial, but have you ever experienced reading in a carnal manner – i.e.: of your own volition, in a way that lessened your fruitfulness?
I’m not saying I don’t think it is good – I even had a vision when I first received the Spirit, telling me to read exclusively Scripture – it is just confounding … I don’t want to read of my own volition, but at the same time, I understand that those words CAN be graceful if the Spirit animates them…
I understand that you believe the Words of the Scriptures are “Spirit and Life”; however, those words on those pages are not Spirit – if they WERE Spirit and Life, the devil could NEVER take them in his mouth (i.e.: he used Scripture to try to deceive Jesus) – “the Words” that “are Spirit and Life” are the Ones JESUS, Himself, speaks.
Again, I’m writing to you for some understanding; I just am sort of confounded at this. It might be satan telling me these things; I don’t want to be deceived, and harmed. I just think there has to be a balance.
Thanks.
also, Jesus said that people looked in the Scriptures to find life, but life wasn’t in the Scriptures – they pointed to JESUS, Who gives Life, ALONE.
Ray is back! I hope you’re doing alright, I noticed you were M.I.A for a good while. Just a quick hello to you.
@Dan1el,
Have you ever considered that the Spirit could say something to you and your carnal flesh could pervert what it said? The bottomline is that whether or not you just read the Holy Scriptures written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or whether or not you just listen to the Holy Spirit, you still have to get past your mortal fallen fleshy mind. I say this because I believe as much as Satan abuses the Scriptures, the shortest, quickest way into error and heresy and falling away from God is to listen to any Spirit without reading the Bible. Because it’s not only going to be the Holy Spirit speaking to you, sometimes the enemy will talk to you too, and if you heart is not in a good place, you might find yourself listening to that spirit more and more… then the Holy Spirit gets quieter and quieter till you can’t hear it anymore, and the Devil has you right where he wants you. Seriously, stopping reading the Bible is like spiritual suicide, it’s incredibly dangerous.
Am Doing fine, Sheila. Had a computer virus and knew it was expensive to get repaired.
Interesting things about fire here that Daniel is looking into.
The Spirit of God often leads me into the scripture. Sometimes a word or two comes to mind and I want to find it in the Bible.
We are told that we do not live by bread alone and that we need the scripture. (Matt 4:4)
I believe I need it daily to be well spiritually.
I’ve found that if the truth gets twisted or applied wrongly, it’s of another spirit.
I think I’m going to need to read it more and more in the days ahead. I think we can expect opposition of the devil and that it will continue
as we get closer to our destination where we will meet the Lord, for this world is not our home anymore.
I agree with what David is saying. (#10)
I guess what Jesus was telling the devil (after not eating for 40 days) was that he was more interested in the word of God than in bread.
Once adopted and taken in by God because of Jesus, we do begin to grow up in Christ that we may become more like him as time goes by.
I’m reminded of what Paul said about how it is that when he is weak he is strong because of Christ. (II Cor 12:10) Jesus told Paul that his strength was made perfect in weakness (II Cor 12:9) and this we can also see from Matt 4.
I think there’s different kinds of fire in the word. Some of it is uncomfortable and we are refined by going through it. I certainly have been humbled by it. I know it’s so that I grow up in Christ.
The same one that would not turn a stone into a piece of bread after 40 days of not eating was the same one who turned many gallons of water into wine at a wedding because that’s what they wanted and they ran out. (John 2)
I understand from the show that Volume 3 of Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus is where Dr. Brown gets into the questions re: the Messianic prophecies. Since my tough question is about one of those, that’s where I’ll turn next. Thanks!
Dan1el, if I may just respond to say I do think you should keep reading the Word. It is efficacious. It is powerful. And keep close to the Lord in prayer. You may ask that you not hear or receive any messages unless they are definitely from the Lord. Because it’s better to receive nothing than be deceived. God love you ~ What you have struggled with is something many Christians have and do…you’re not alone there.
ALL:
If a man is a believer in Jesus,
But believes he shouldn’t eat meat with milk
Having come out of a Jewish background
Should he be told to eat how he believes [kosher]
or
Is he “disobeying the Truth” [Gal 5:7]
If he does what his conscience tells him to do
Is he ‘back under the Law’-severed from Christ?
SHOULD his conscience be allowed to be bothered
EVEN IF it is ‘not according to knowledge’?
IF you allow his conscience to be bothered
(against knowledge)
THEN where do you draw the line?
Where does correct doctrine come in?
OR
Should he be told not to worry
Because he’s not under the Law
Should he be told
OBEY THE TRUTH OR YOU’LL BE SEVERED FROM CHRIST!
If you say “let him eat as his conscience dictates”, does that automatically mean he is ok with God, or does that merely mean his conscience is at rest?
If you say “let him eat as he believes he ought to”, aren’t you allowing a false doctrine (works of the Law) to proliferate? Can a person practicing false doctrine remain in God’s presence?
If so, how is the doctrine false?
If you say “he MUST eat as his conscience dictates, or it is a sin”, then where do you draw the line? Where does correct doctrine become important? Should a person just live as his conscience dictates, then? Is a person’s conscience his teacher?
If he MUST do as his conscience dictates (NOT necessarily live according to correct doctrine), in that circumstance, if the same rule were applied to the rest of his life, couldn’t he take on false burdens – i.e.: make his life a lot harder than it has to be by imagining things have importance, which they do not have, thus separating himself from God in order to serve his conscience?
The verse that comes to mind is Rom 14:17.
Ray,
So, ANYTHING you do “as unto the Lord” is ok?
What about when the Galatians wanted to practice the Law “as unto God”, and were cut off from Christ? Is getting cut off from Christ’s life a sign that someone is “acceptable” ?
If you say “if they do it for some other reason than justification, it is ok” — let’s get real; NO ONE does anything, unless they’re looking for a benefit. IF you do something that you KNOW has no benefit, you feel guilty, because YOU KNOW you are harming yourself. Don’t forget that the “unprofitable” (no benefit) servant is thrown into the outer darkness.
God wants obedience; not sacrifice, so to say they are just doing it as some meaningless, empty, neutral action… i don’t understand that.
When does my ‘as unto the Lord’ clash with sound doctrine?
When my PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Him is getting negatively affected, I’d say…
Then, “proper doctrine”, by definition, must be that which safeguards and strengthens my private relationship with God… but, what if the things which I THINK I need to do “as unto the Lord” are getting in the way of a PERSONAL relationship with God ? Are those things which I THINK I need to do “as unto God” (or else feel guilty – because of not living according to reason), then, false doctrine, if I continue to fail to do those things, and failing to do those things keeps me from God’s presence, because of a bad conscience?
Anything we do unto the Lord will be judged by the Lord. All of us will be receive whatever we have done to him whether it be good or bad.
Another thing about the word Adopt, is that it speaks of something being taken up and used as one’s own.
God has taken us into his household to raise us up in Christ. One day he will take us up into heaven. He wants to use us for his good purpose in Christ for eternity.
But what house are we now in? Is his house our habitation, or are we dwelling in the house of the old Adam who has been the head of it?
Ray,
Did you look at the resource “Paul in the Greco-Roman World” ??
The author says adoption THEN was not the same concept as adoption TODAY: a man’s NATURALLY-BORN son was “adopted” as an heir when he came of age, after being brought up under “pedagogues” (tutors), because he was trustworthy to watch over the estate.
I think the things that keep us from God’s presence are the things we do or have done which are wrong, rather than a bad conscience.
It seems to me that a bad conscience is the result of wrong actions we have done and when we come to God will all that in repentance, he takes that burden from us which we were bearing and was bearing down upon us.
It’s then that we find the joy of the Lord again.
We find the joy of our salvation again. We find that we have left the old master of our lives (the first Adam) who was taking us in to make us a slave of sin, and that God has taken us in again into a new and better way whereby we are made free.
Thank God he took us out of Adam’s household where not only we were a servant of sin, but we could have remained one of his sons! (John 8:34-36, Rom 8:14)
Daniel, I wasn’t able to open it up. My computer seems slower than it used to be and the set up is all differnt. I have to get used to using it all over again.
Now I wonder about what happens to a servant of sin, if he should abide as a servant of it for a long time, would he become a son?
Ray,
What if “sin” includes not ONLY bad deeds, but also failure to do good deeds?
Would a person be incapable of entering God’s presence until they FULFILL the good deeds which they have failed to do? If so, where would the strength come from?
As far as I know, if we know to do good but we do not, that is also sin, and that no man can enter God’s presence unless his is clothed with
Christ, covered by his righteousness which he received by faith, having come to repentance.
Yet I know all of us will be required to appear before God for judgment.
We can not fulfill all that we have not done, for we can not go back into the past. We simply must gain the righteousness of a righteous man, for our debts have been so great, and time as it is and hss been, does not permit us to go back.
Therefore God is his mercy has given us a salvation, a covering for all that we need in Jesus, by his work which God gave him to do, which did not go undone.
Let me try again:
If my relationship with Christ is hurt by “sin”
Ex: (God forbid) I deliberately go out for a “night on the town” – bars, etc., – and my heart is “loving the world”, and therefore, I cannot have the love of the Father [1 J 2:15,16]: do you think that this could hurt my relationship with Christ, or that it would be conducive to a relationship with Christ?
What would repentance look like? Just NOT doing it is repentance.
OK.
There is another “sin” – “not doing good”.
If I’ve followed the Lord into some ministry in the past, and I KNOW (or at least THINK) He is telling me to do the same thing now, and I don’t do it (i.e.: sin is not doing good), and it is causing guilt, do you think that this could hurt my relationship with Christ, or do you think it (disobeying Christ) would be conducive to a relationship with Christ?.
IF I repent, what would it look like? Fulfilling that ministry? If I am still in sin UNTIL I GO AND FULFILL THE RIGHTEOUSNESS HE IS ASKING ME TO DO -and, therefore, barred from His presence and righteousness – how can I have the spiritual strength to ‘get the job done’, if/when I wanted to ‘repent’ by doing the work (i.e.: I’m ‘going’ to do this ‘good’ I failed to ‘do the good’, in order to be considered as ‘NOT in sin’, SO THAT I can be “welcomed in His presence”. The problem is that I need to draw near to Him ‘in time of need’ to ‘find help’/grace – but, I fail to do the good, because I have no strength, having not been welcomed in His presence, up until that moment when the good is being undertaken to be done. I need to understand how to address this ‘catch-22’:
Catch-22
A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation (real or imagined), in which an individual cannot avoid a problem because of contradictory constraints or rules.[1] Often these situations are such that solving one part of a problem only creates another problem, which ultimately leads back to the original problem. Catch-22s often result from rules, regulations, or procedures that an individual is subject to, but has no control over.).
I hope that is clearer.
(obviously, some of the questions in #26 were sort of rhetorical, but said in order to make the point more clear)
All I know is the only way back is by him. To get to the cross we have to do it by him.
The cross is something Jesus always was aware of. If we honor his blood, I believe he will honor us. God is able to get us where we need to be by him.
thanks anyways