Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Interesting how Jesus didn't just throw a life preserver to Peter, he grabbed him and helped him up.
Cute!
The life-preserver analogy is so "lame." Can you imagine? God makes the entire universe, with all its beauty and power. Then He makes man in His own image, and blesses him; Then man falls into death and suffering.
So what does God do? He throws out a life-preserver!!
You dive down and pull them up...and unconscious person is not likely to struggle and take you with them - In the alternative - take a destroyed crack head convusling in the street - to you dive into the situtation - take them home - run them a bath - feed them and give them the spare room? NO - that person does not know they can be save ....It would be better to wait for the crack head to bottom out and be laying unconscious - THEN you save them - that's pretty tricky....kind of like waiting till they boarder on death and jump in there in the nick of time...who has such percise judgement and timing? Certainly not me!
By the time a person is close to death..death has already occured..I see the walking dead and souless on a daily basis - they are not saveable.
This is a good post. I agree. We cannot save others. They are "unsavable" to us.
But God is able! He can work in a split second. He can even "open" one's heart, and "close" another heart. Some people might call this forcing. But it's better to be forced by God than to be adrift and not able to find a "life-preserver."
Looks like I should have underlined the part about some that are not Jesus' sheep.
The passage says He will give eternal life (save) to HIS sheep, but know for certain, as the passage states, that there other 'other sheep' that are NOT His. He is saving HIS sheep.
verse 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
Do you think that He was able to make them His sheep? After all, His recognition of their unbelief was accurate. But does that somehow "prevent" God from changing them?
Can God change the direction of the wind, but have a hard time changing the direction of a man??
All one needs to say to God is
I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! Mark 9:24
[Jesus said,] All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (John 6:37)
A promise you can count on.
Check out Jer. 4.10 and Jer. 20.7. Jeremiah thought differently.
It is also clear, that God makes people blind to His words, as Jesus confirmed. He does not always want people to hear everything about Him.
But this He has given me:
"18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. 5
Actually there are many things today that we need to be saved from if we do not keep watch and stay alert. And it is true we may indeed find ourselves shut out from the Kingdom and in the fire. It might not be pretty.
Actually if you check a literally translated (more accurate) scripture you will find that God says TODAY is A DAY of salvation. Not the only day.
The steadfast love of the Lord never fails, his mercies never come to an end, they are NEW EVERY MORNING. Great is his faithfulness.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
many will not...and they will perish....without Him.
Hi.....I'm baaack....
Love,
Verna.
Welcome back ma'am.
I like the verse you quoted. Jesus is the One who saves us so that we don't perish. God is able to save even when we can't. Man is limited, but God is limitless in power and glory. His very presence is able to convert the lost soul!
The steadfast love of the Lord never fails, his mercies never come to an end, they are NEW EVERY MORNING. Great is his faithfulness.
Dear sister,
some people are of the notion that God's mercies are indeed running out.
May we always guard our hearts from unbelief!
brian
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
