The Master has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
The koine apollumi is one of the strongest words for destroyed in all Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ has come to seek and save the destroyed, broken sons of Adam. Our God completes what He has started, not one digjt missing from His intention.
"A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself." -Watchman Nee
Are you drowning? He will save you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjXK9PdCpis&t=7s
Yes, salvation in the here and now. I got "saved" because I had a need, a need for freedom from fear and confusion. Jesus taught me to love as He loves, our perfect example. I'm interested in this gospel of the kingdom now, I've never really seen a gospel of this and a gospel of that, but one gospel.
Hi Ed,
Could you share the story of how you got saved? I love hearing testimonies.
Sure Andrew, thanks for asking,
I was raised in a split household, Mom went to the baptist church, Dad was agnostic. I learned of God through Sunday school, the story of Noah and the Ark scared the heck out of me, I went in the bathroom and begged God to save me. I must have been 9 years old. Growing up with that kind of salvation experience did not ever get me into a relationship with Jesus Christ. I tried to be good enough for God and failed so many times I asked God to kill me if I "fell away" again. I was abused by a false doctrine of salvation. Filled with self hate, I carried on, till I was about 18 years old.
At about 18, I started journalling my thoughts. I was looking deep into myself, and writing what I found. I was challenged from myself to not be so selfish. I decided if I was just doing things for me, life was not worth living. I started on a journey of doing for others, without any return to myself, I found some satisfaction in this. Then I realized I was doing what they taught me in church, to love. I started reading the Bible looking for this love that I was finding satisfaction in. Jesus started training me, as I took verses that I thought were speaking to me and memorizing them. I was getting raised up by the spirit of the Lord. Saved is the Greek word Sozo, to be made whole.
Enter pride, I thought I was doing pretty good. Joined the Army, my faith helped me a lot, I turned 21 in boot camp in 1986. In the Army I met a group of believers that had great zeal, The Way International. I learned a bit from them, but they split up a few years later. Met my wife in one of their fellowships, we are still together.
God never stopped working in my life, but I stopped hearing from the pure Spirit, by replacing it with doctrine. One day I heard pretty clear from Our Lord, "I am not your Lord, Doctrine is your lord." I've been questioning every doctrine............proving all things, ever since. I lost my love for Bible study, but never my love of the Spirit. I tried to leave Christianity because I could not live with some of the doctrines that I felt the Spirit disagreed with. Well, Jesus drug me back, I had deep roots.
So I've been saved multiple times, in many ways, and I'm probably going through some kind of salvation right now as we speak. I've very excited with what the Lord is doing in me at the moment. I'm studying J. Preston Eby's Revelation series and getting some good training there. I tend to use the Body of Christ as a sounding board to test the things I'm being challenged with. The internet is a great tool for that, I used Tentmaker for a few years to get clear on universal reconciliation. I came back here to look for some of the articles that inspired me back then. Great ministry here.
Thanks Ed. I enjoyed reading your testimony. Take care
Andrew
Hi Ed,
Could you explain more what your experience has been with being made whole - Any feelings, thoughts or experiences that you would like to share would be appreciated. I only ask because you mentioned Sozo after your experience.
Thanks Andrew
Quote from: Andrew on September 01, 2021, 05:29:10 AM
Could you explain more what your experience has been with being made whole - Any feelings, thoughts or experiences that you would like to share would be appreciated. I only ask because you mentioned Sozo after your experience.
Being reconciled, or reconnected to Spirit is the first step for me, this is what we find with our faith. "To be carnal minded is death, or broken, lack of wholeness, in need of life, salvation". To be spiritually minded is life and peace, salvation, wholeness, everything is right 8n my world.
Spirit mindedness is gained through renewing the mind to truth daily as a spiritual practice, we have a constant helper that is Jesus the king of heaven, my heaven, my place of worship, my secret place, my prayer closet. I'm incomplete without my constant union with God.
Affirmations and denials help in establishing a strong stand in truth. We learn to affirm truth in our self talk, we establish righteousness in our self examination, we allow ourselves to be judged by the light of Jesus Christ in our being. Denials are similar, we deny every falsehood that tries to work into our thinking, we make sure we are not denying what God says. Self denial of what God says is what keeps the Christian in a poor state of existence, needing the salvation of rightly affirming the Logos.