Tag: salvation

1 Peter 1:3; Part 2 of a Verse by Verse Study of 1 Peter

by Lisa Groen

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

What is a Living Hope and How Does This Living Hope Affect and Impact Our Relationship to God?

God Himself has caused us to be born again! It is according to God’s great mercy that He has caused our salvation. We know whatever God starts he will finish, because he is the author and perfecter of our faith, according to Hebrews 12:2. One aspect of our hope in God is that He has His hand on our faith from the beginning to the end, and this alone points to his mercy towards us and ensures our hope in Him. The word in the Greek for the English word perfecter in Hebrews 12:2 is teleiótés, which according to Biblehub’s online Greek Lexicon (found at https://biblehub.com/lexicon/hebrews/12-2.htm) can be translated as “perfecter, completer” or “finisher”. The Greek word for the word author in the same verse is archégos, (see same biblehub.com site above) which can be translated as “founder, originator, author, prince, and leader”. So, we get from Hebrews 12:2 no matter what version of the Bible you are using, that Jesus begins or originates our faith, and perfects, or completes our faith.

This is encouraging because our faith may have many challenges, and God’s goal for us is that we mature into Christlikeness.  Because our hope is living, because it is from God and Jesus holds that living hope out to us, I believe He designs and provides us opportunity for how we latch onto that living hope in a way that pleases and glorifies Him. Because our hope is in God, our view of God shapes our hope and with God in mind we are motivated to hope for things that please Him. This would include not just hope for a newer vehicle, a 4 year university education, or hope to get married, or merely temporal blessings, although our hope in God can include those things. Our hope from God includes eternal hopes. And because The God of hope provides us hope in a way that would please and honor Him we have been prompted by God to hope for these eternal things because they are made available to the believer in Christ. These could include godliness, holiness, humility, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and other qualities of spiritual growth to name a few.

These things should characterize our lives as believers in times when we are tempted to rush forward not giving place to them, or when we are challenged with the needs of others around us. We are prompted by God to hope for these eternal character traits, because of our awareness that God is writing the script for these qualities to be and become evident in our lives, and bring us to maturity in Christ. These things should deepen in us from simply abiding in relationship with God over time.

Therefore, we can understand the type of things our living hope is being shaped to make room for in our lives by Christ the author of our faith. These are things that have innate  spiritual virtue, spiritual weight or spiritual value and things that are on a higher spiritual plane than just temporal blessings. So being born into a living hope enables us to develop Christ-likeness.

Imagine a Hope So High In Caliber

This hope so high in caliber is spoken of by Bible book writers and Bible characters again and again that they describe their relationship and the average believer’s relationship with God to be one of hope, giving us hope, pointing to our hope, strengthening our hope and describing the nature of our hope. A few examples would be from the following scriptures:

Psalm 146:5 which says “How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God”.

Psalm 33:17-18 A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,

Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O Lord our God? Therefore we hope in You, For You are the one who has done all these things.

Lamentations 3:21-22 This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Micah 7:7 as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

Romans 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 33:22 Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in You.

1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers

The benefits, privileges, mercies, and blessings of hope are truly too numerous to count, and too full to fully describe! This is truly a multifaceted, enduring hope for every situation! All of these things people were hoping in were just a small facet of the living hope that is available through faith in Christ!

This Living Hope Is Given Life Through Christ’s Resurrection and Will Culminate in the Resurrection of the Dead for the Believer

Acts 24:15 having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

Romans 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Acts 23:6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Not only that, but the resurrection somehow solidifies the many promises about salvation that God has made over the centuries and gives firm evidence that God does not lie. Several passages in the Old Testament (see 1 Kings 17:17-24) point to the reality of the resurrection from the dead. We saw glimpses of it in his promises to Abraham when God promised him all the families of the earth will be blessed through him as Sarah was beyond childbearing years becoming pregnant with Isaac, and again with Abraham showing he believed Isaac could be risen from the dead by God. Christ lived out the hope of the resurrection to make it available to us!

As believers today that are being united with Christ in his death, we experience his life of hope flowing through us. Through faith in his salvation and because of the powers of salvation that were working and available in Christ to those who trusted in him and prayed to him before He died for the sins of the world, living hope was available to those of Old Testament times. Today, likewise we in New Testament times, through our faith in his work, because we are united with him in his death will surely be raised with Him as well, because we will be united with Him in His resurrection. What Jesus set out to do he accomplished, which is our salvation. This is simply another reason to rejoice in the truth that the undeniable reality that our living hope exists, and the born again condition of believers in Christ is full of living hope, and this hope has great spiritual value. Because the resurrection of Jesus Himself empowers this hope we are born into, we can experience multi-leveled hope in this life and in the next, and it is chock full of the mercy of God.   LG

Traits of True Saving Faith:

The Faith is from God, and not of the self. There is no way a man or woman, boy or girl can save themselves. Salvation only comes from God. Therefore, we must receive saving faith under God’s terms, and it must be the kind of faith God approves for us and accepts from us for it to save us from our sins.

Saving faith understands the need all mankind has for being saved from their own personal sin. And that personal sin of yours and mine has offended The perfectly, pure, innocent, holy and without blemish Jesus of Nazareth, The Lord of Glory.

The faith is active, alive, and fed by God—It is fed primarily by the Word of God itself-The Bible. Dead faith is in danger of being withered and burned up, along with the person possessing the dead faith.

Will the sermon you hear inspire faith? If the message brings glory to Jesus, it will focus on his qualities and characteristics. The focus of the message will not just be about blessings, health and prosperity. It will be balanced and talk about both the free gift of salvation from God, but also the way God changes us in our hearts, disciplines us when we do wrong, trains us in righteousness, and challenges our faith to grow according to God’s plan revealed in His word. Some of His plan involves some measure of suffering for each of us.

It recognizes Jesus as Lord, and Him Alone as Lord (in unity with the Father and The Holy Spirit).

It understands the difference between what it means to be affected by the Lordship of Jesus rather than just thinking you’re saved because Jesus is “the Savior”.

It wants to understand the requirements of God. The 10 commandments were called the 10 commandments, not the 10 suggestions. And we can say there is much instruction in God’s word that is not a suggestion but are commandments other than the 10 commandments.

It understands that there is no salvation without repentance.

True saving faith brings gladness and thanksgiving to the heart and mind, and inspires our true praise and worship of God, even as we go through times of difficulty and through the all too common pains of life.

With it we bear good fruit for the kingdom of God that will last through the suffering, and difficulties, and hardships we may go through in this life.   

These are some basic traits that come to my mind. Leave a comment if you can think of any I may have missed. LG

In His Service,

Lisa Groen

Can God Change the LGBTQIA+, the Non-Binary Person, or Person With a Different Gender Identity Than What They Were Born With?

by Lisa Groen

I use the pronoun “he” or “they” many times to describe heterosexual men and women, LGBTQIA+, binary, non-binary, and people with a different gender identity than what they were born with throughout this post.

I am making these statements based on a fundamental belief that God tells us what the definition of sin is and God is the only one who has the solution to sin.

I am making these statements based on what God gives as the solution to sin for the heterosexual, the binary person, the LGBTQIA+, the non-binary person, and person with identity issues which is something called repentance which God can give freely to any person who agrees with God about his sin.

The person who is willing to repent and wanting to repent must agree with God’s definition of sin and turn from that lifestyle of sin that they have as either an unsaved binary or unsaved non-binary person or as an unsaved person with identity issues.

The Bible states that God accepts everyone who comes to him for help to be free from sin.

This is salvation. God’s salvation is spoken of in the Bible and is available to the heterosexual person and in the SAME FULL WAY to the LGBTQIA+, the binary, the non-binary person and to the person with a different gender identity than what they were born with.

There are conditions for all said people that God places upon them in order for them to have a faith in God that results in salvation and thus results in being in heaven with God for eternity.

The conditions are that God wants everyone no matter the group they are in to leave his life of sin by faith and turn to Jesus the Lord of Heaven and earth who gave his righteousness through dying on the cross for that sinner to receive (Jesus’) righteousness and forgiveness.

FREE GIFTS FROM GOD FOR THIS:

Faith in Jesus The Lord is a free gift of God

Repentance from Jesus is a free gift Jesus gives to sinners

Jesus’ forgiveness is a free gift he gives to sinners

Bearing fruit in keeping with repentance is a free gift but we must mix our faith with God’s command to bear fruit for God.

Following Jesus is a command of God that is a free gift but we must mix our faith with this command and follow Jesus through scripture

God’s word is a free gift we can find in many places on the internet. Abiding in the Word of God is a command that we must follow by mixing our faith with it which simply means to go through the Bible to learn His Word well so we can get a good understanding of what the words of God are we should be abiding in. The more we study the Bible and understand it the more we get better at abiding in it. Abiding in the word is part of the supernatural relationship God gives the believer to equip him to recognize his sin and overcome his sin by the power of the Spirit of God day by day.

What overcomes sin in the believer’s life?—The power of God’s Spirit working through the life of a person who comes to God as any of the above groups of people. The power of the Spirit is a FREE gift.

What will the result be for the heterosexual person who came to Christ and the LGBTQIA+, binary, non-binary person, or person with a different sexual identity than what they were born with who came to Christ? THE RESULT WILL BE THE SAME FOR EACH OF THE HETEROSEXUAL, LGBTQIA, BINARY, NON-BINARY, AND DIFFERENT GENDER THAN WHAT THEY WERE BORN WITH PERSON=EACH WILL RECEIVE AN IDENTITY CHANGE THAT COMES FROM GOD. No group can pursue their old identity and maintain a growing relationship with God; we, all of us MUST PURSUE CHRISTLIKENESS as our new identity. This New Identity is a free gift from God. It is not something we muster up in our own strength. It is a supernatural free gift of an identity change.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 reads “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; (Such were some of you means some were homosexuals, (pursuing same sex relationships–some were full of other kinds of sin, sin is an identity issue in God’s book) but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” This passage talks about God changing people to prepare them for freedom from sin and gives them a holy lifestyle of Christlikeness for eternity with Him

Can God change anyone? Yes! Can God give us the power to pursue Him? Yes? This is called bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. The identity change God makes in a person through salvation is supernatural, and will result in the person taking on Christlikeness, aligning their pronoun, gender, and sexual orientation, and spiritual pursuits, with the Biblical sexual orientation of Christ-followers, spiritual pursuits of Christ-followers, and becoming binary. Before I came to Christ I had the identity of a thief, I had the identity of a liar, I had the identity of someone who did not respect some authority figures, I had the identity of a person who cursed, I mocked, I was arrogant, I was hostile at my dad for the abuse me and my siblings suffered and mad at my mother for letting it happen. I carried bitterness around and a snarky attitude. Probably a lot of other things! Did God change me? YES! I ended up with a wonderful relationship with my dad before he died. I am not perfect, but I was giving to my mother and helped with her care and was patient with her and overlooked her tendency toward passivity in order to build a relationship with her and realized she needed people to understand her and that there were people she did not trust. I gave up selfishness in a lot of ways and found it is more blessed to give than receive. I still could give more to others around me, but I am growing. I gave up lying to follow the truth and speak the truth of God. I gave up bitterness because I had been forgiven, I gave up cursing because I had been blessed and in order to praise God, I gave up snarky-ness order to be a better friend to people because Jesus was a friend to me when I was not easy to get along with. I gave up pursuing emotions that made me bitter because I saw Jesus had a better way of life for me.

Most of all, I am an example to every LGBTQIA+, non-binary person, or person with a gender identity different from what they were born with out there. I have not pursued romance since 2013. Although I was never struggled with gender identity issues and never been tempted to pursue a same sex relationship for dating or romance, I did pursue heterosexual romantic relationships for a while during my walk with God. I am an example now for how to not pursue romance of any sort for the last 10 years but live simply for God. The Lord Jesus has given me the gift of celibacy and I don’t feel a need to get married, so I don’t date. I have joy and happiness in the Lord although I am celibate. I have a new identity in Christ different than when I first came to Christ years ago with multiple sin patterns in my life that controlled my life until He changed me. It was a free gift! I have a Christ-like identity now thanks to the grace of God which changed me! LG