thrill

Xi Luo Yun

thinking

candle

Pretty Polly

Jesus Christ had just begun his earthly ministry, and so he was calling disciples to himself to work alongside him in ministry. And when he calls us to put our faith and trust in him to be Lord and Savior of our lives, that is the call he is making on each and every one of our lives, too. For a call to believe in Jesus is not in words only, but it is a call to leave our former lives of sin behind us to now follow our Lord wherever he leads us in walks of obedience to his commands, living holy lives, pleasing to God, in his power.

I really like it that when Jesus called these men to be his disciples that they immediately left the lives they had been living behind them to follow Jesus Christ where he led them. Evidently they did not hesitate. But we do not know all the details of how this all took place because we were not there with them. But the point is that when Jesus called them to follow him, they followed him immediately. And to follow our Lord is to obey him, to do what he says that we are to do, and to be who he calls us to be for his service.

So, this sets the example for us as to what it should look like in our lives when Jesus calls us to himself to believe in him. For faith in Jesus Christ is not of our own doing, not of the will of human flesh. So we do not get to determine what that faith looks like. God does. And he is the one who gives us the faith to believe in Jesus. And he is the one who persuades us as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die to sin and to walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands, all in His power!

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18]

But these were not perfect men. They were followers of Christ, yes! But they had a lot to learn, and Jesus taught them much about what it meant to be his followers. And sometimes he had to correct them and to help them to grow in their faith. And I really don’t know at what point Judas had a change of heart and mind, and when he decided to turn against Jesus, but he was one of Jesus’ disciples for three years alongside all the others who followed the Lord wherever he led them in doing what he called them to do.

So, our walks of faith in the Lord Jesus, in following him wherever he leads us, may not be “smooth sailing” (easy) all the time. For we are mere clay in the hands of the Potter (God/Jesus Christ) being molded into the likeness of Christ, which is a lifelong process, provided our faith is genuine, and we are cooperating with God’s work of grace in our lives. But we should be followers of Christ who are going where he leads us, and who are doing all that he commands us to do, as his followers. None of us should betray our Lord.

Now, Jesus said to the fishermen, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And when we accept Jesus’ call upon our lives to put our faith in him, this is the call he is placing upon our lives, too. For a call to believe in Jesus is a call to discipleship, and it is a call to follow our Lord in ministry in sharing the truth of the gospel of Christ with the people of the world. It is a call to become whoever he created us to be in doing what he created us to do, for his service. We are his workmanship, created by God for good works.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Living Sacrifices

Based off Romans 12:1-2; Romans 6:11-14 NIV
An Original Work / September 14, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Oh, holy ones, I counsel you,
In view of God’s mercy,
To give yourselves to God in love
As living offerings,
Pleasing to God, holy in love.
This is your true worship.
Do not conform to worldly lives.
Let God transform you today.
Then you’ll be able to
Test and approve of what
God’s will is – His pleasing
And perfect will. Oh, holy ones,
I counsel you – Offer yourselves unto God.

Oh, holy ones, I counsel you –
Do not be conceited.
Humble yourselves before your God.
Do not be self-righteous.
The strength you have to live in love
Comes from your Lord God, so
Live your new lives in pow’r of God.
Be changed in heart, mind and will.
Do this because of what
Christ did for you when
He died on the cross to save
The world from sin. Oh, holy ones,
I counsel you – Humble yourselves before God.

Oh, holy ones, I counsel you –
Count yourselves dead to sin,
But be alive to God in Christ.
Do not let sin reign in
Your earthly lives so you
Obey its evil desires.
Offer yourselves unto your God
As those who’ve been born again.
For sin shall no longer be
Your lord and master.
Give of yourselves to God
For righteousness. Oh, holy ones,
I counsel you – Be alive to God in Christ.

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A Call to Discipleship
An Original Work / November 29, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

CoreyD said:

I may be wrong here, but I think you are missing what @throughfierytrial is saying.
Also, the Bible is authored by a single Person - God,
God used different writers to create one unified message in one book. In the same way a company uses different programmers to create one movie, or game.

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I agree, but I would say that the one story, that one unified story, doesnt somehow force the old testament to therefore say what the new testament says. Hosea 11:1 and Mathew 2:15 both say "out of egypt I have called my son", and Mathew explicitly quotes hosea. But that doesnt mean that Hosea is therefore about Jesus. In fact it was just about the exodus. There is a context that differs between the two books, and so we cant simply force the old testament to say what the new testament says, any time the new testament authors speak about something similar to the OT.

This is context 101, you cant force the old testament to say exactly what the new testament says, just because the Bible is a unified story. We still have to acknowledge that these are different books and they say different things, even if they sometimes use the same words or similar words.

CoreyD said:

Regarding ex nihilo, we already established, by several posters in this thread, that is not relevant to the question of young earth vs old earth.
@throughfierytrial is using Hebrews in an effort to prove the earth is young.
Paul refers to the scriptures in the Psalms and Genesis, so we cannot ignore the fact that these books were used as references by both Jesus and his apostles.

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But it is of course relevant, because if its not ex nihilo creation being described in Genesis, then that would suggest that earth was present before God began to create it. Much like a pizza can be formless before I began to create it, so too can the earth be such. And that means that we wouldnt know how long the earth was formless before God began to make it.

And as noted above, just because the new testament authors reference the old testament, that doesnt necessarily mean that they are telling the same story or re-telling it. And I gave a couple examples above where the new testament authors reference the OT but are in fact telling completely different stories, thats actually what they typically do.

stevevw said:

I don't know what your talking about lol. I have recieved no help, and I am just trying to defend those whom I linked from what I think is unjustified attacks on their credibility.

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I specifically offered, in this thread, to give you guidance on using AI to improve the concision and readability of your posts. I sent you a pm (personal message) on this forum to intitiate the process. That is what I am referring to. Click on your forum name at the top right of the screen, then on the envelope symbol on the dropdown and you should see that communication. In the meantime I'll overlook your discourteous response.

landgraf

Uzziah

Lazarus

Paulwat said:

Seoul

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Seoul is hardly a place in the Bible.

Samaria

e(X)cept the LORD Build the House

Peter

AV1611VET said:

Just like science dispels a myth, "religion" should dispel science.

In the case of this thread, when an experiment is done under the assumption of a "primitive earth," the Bible should alert us that said experiment is being done under false pretenses.

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To parrot your own words back at you: You are, of course, entitled to your opinion.

Bob Crowley said:

I know what a hallucination is and I can categorically state the business of my father was NOT a hallucination.

I think we can both leave it at that.

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Based on the foregoing I can categorically state, respectfully and understanding the importance to you of the event, that you do not know what a hallucination is.

Bob Crowley said:

Years ago a young priest displayed the following cartoon in one of his in-house lectures. I think I remember my (atheist) father saying there was some truth in it, so it's been around for a while as he died himself in 1979.

The Protestant Jesus is a shiny faced individual who is all glory and halos. The Catholic Christ is a battered suffering individual.

Obviously both sides need to meet in the middle, or if you like "the search for the historical Christ" (whatever that means).

I have noticed at my wife's Baptist Church for example most of the songs are about the glorified Christ (high and lifted up if you like).

Whereas the Catholic liturgy emphasises His suffering, the "Lamb of God".

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You're talking about praise choruses. Traditional Protestants have the same reaction. Luther contrasted a theology of glory with a theology of the cross. If you look at the hymns in mainline Protestant churches, you'll find plenty about the cross, and about our own death. Our churches typically use the liturgical calendar as a way to make sure we cover the whole of Jesus' life. Of course wallowing in suffering is just as unbalanced as nothing but praise choruses. The NT writers are confident that God will win in the end, and Christ will be all in all.