From: christlife@googlegroups.com
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:10:02 +0000
Subject: [ChristLife] Digest for christlife@googlegroups.com - 1
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To: Digest Recipients <christlife@googlegroups.com>
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: christlife@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/topics
- Experiencing the new life [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/59f44be1de0585fd
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Topic: Experiencing the new life
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/59f44be1de0585fd
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From: Jacob <jninan@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 03 04:55PM -0800
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/msg/ec1da2e4a10bd972
Can we take for granted that those who are brought into God's kingdom
will grow up spiritually? When some radical conversions take place
where people sincerely repent from their sins, God does a deep and
mighty transformation of their desires, and they experience a mighty
impact of the new life in Christ. But many people come to Christ
without truly giving up their old life and choosing to live for
Christ. Certainly God will be at work in them through the Holy Spirit.
But they also need to be taught many things about God's nature and His
ways before they can stabilise in their spiritual life (He.5:12).
Jesus told His disciples not only to preach the gospel but also to
teach people to obey all that He had taught them (Mt.28:19,20).
This is specially relevant when people come to Jesus from anti-
Christian backgrounds. A new believer in the Corinthian church
continued to live with his father's wife (1Co.5:1). Simon who, after
listening to the preaching of Philip, had believed and got baptised
(Ac.8:13), was still in the bond of iniquity (v.23). Peter told him to
repent of his wickedness because his heart was not right with God. It
is a simplistic explanation to say that people like this have really
had no proper conversion in the first place. Of course there are cases
like that. But it is also true that in many cases their experience
with the Lord is only partial, a first small step, and there is much
to be set right. There is also need to build up a good Christian
foundation in their lives. Their old worldview needs to be changed and
brought into alignment with God's ways.
There are also many people who have yielded parts of their life to
demonic influences, either by indulging their fleshly desires without
restraint or by entering into occult practices where Satan rules. Even
when such people come to Jesus in the sincerity of their heart it may
be that they have not repented from such things or renounced such
practices. Even born again, spirit baptised believers who enter into
such indulgences find that Satan and his demons get a hold over those
parts of their lives. Certainly the ownership of these people is with
God because they have yielded to Jesus. But at the same time they have
yielded a part of their lives to demonic oppression. Paul warns
believers to be careful not to give the devil any foothold in their
lives (2Co.2:10,11;Ep.4:26,27). People need to be taught to recognise
what has happened and to give up all such connections through
repentance and yielding such areas deliberately to God.
These changes do not happen automatically just because someone comes
to Christ. That is why there is much need for pastors, teachers and
counsellors to work with new people to provide the right foundation.
Without this type of care it is easy to see why many of them are
continuing to suffer from various types of bondages, and on the top of
it all wondering why things are like this even though they believe in
Jesus.
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