Questions week 3
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How do you know what God wants you to do if he never talks to you?
How do you know what God wants you to do if he never talks to you?
God does not talk to us through audible voices and through burning bushes. SO if that has never happened to you, then you are ok but God does speak to us daily!
How does God speak to us today?
God primarily guides us through 5 different areas in our life:
Scripture
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
God guides us through the Bible which is God’s word for us! Scripture is God’s word written through men for all of us to understand the character of God. This means that whenever we are reading our Bible we are reading what God has spoken through others.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
God’s word calls us to action and we must be obedient to it’s calling in our life! God is always speaking we must be obedient to his direction.
2. Prayer
1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Pray is open communication with God. We seek God in prayer and God communicates through the leading us forward. This is not an audible voice most of the time but it can be usually God leads us through changing our desires to match his.
Prayer is a vital form of communication with God. Here are some quotes of people who took prayer seriously.
Martin Luther: “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending 3 hours daily in prayer.”
John Wesley prayed 2 hours daily.
1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
The disciples craved prayer and wanted to learn how to pray from Jesus himself.
God speaks to us through praying to him.
3. People
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
God guides us through other believers in order to encourage us from sin. This is the important vital reason that we surround ourselves with other believers who are not afraid to call us out lovingly when we are living a sinful life style.
God speaks to us through others.
4. Circumstances
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God guides us through life circumstances. This is a major place in our life in which God takes over and changes who we are. Think of the difficulties in our life. How was God glorified through it?
How does God us our circumstances for His good?
5.Nature
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
God reveals his attributes through Nature this is not a revelation to the point of salvation but rather for us to know that God exists.
We can also see that God is the ultimate provider for his creation when looking at nature. Trees grow without the help of humans. Animals survive and thrive without the help of humans. God provides for their needs.
What is a way you could ask a mormon friend to come to Wednesday night Church?
What is a way you could ask a mormon friend to come to Wednesday night Church?
First lets look at what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe. Mormons believe that Joseph Smith was approached by an angel named Moroni and told to go to this place and find these golden plates. Joseph Smith then would go and translate this plates which turned in to the Book of Mormon or as they call it Another Testament of Jesus Christ. This new testament states that Jesus came to the Americas and the Americas is the promised land.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
The Book of Mormon is written similarly to the King James Version of the Bible and even quotes scripture. They believe in the Bible plus the Book of Mormon and if there are contradiction then they believe the book of Mormon over the Bible.
They believe that if they are a good mormon and marry to a devoted mormon spouse then they will ultimately be equal with God and become a God of a universe.
Mormonism is extremely works based religion which is completely contradictory to Christianity. 2 Nephi 25:23
Mormonism is deeply rooted in family and goes back many many different generations so what is the best way to witness to a mormon.
Know what you Believe!
When witnessing to a a person that is in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you MUST KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE AND WHY YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!!
They know the Bible and they know the Book of Mormon. They will most likely know more scripture than you because they tend to value it more than we do!
This is a shame but we need to become students of God’s Word and know why you believe things for yourself rather than because someone told me this or that.
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
We must be able to defend our belief but able to do so respectively and gently with scripture. God’s word has power and we must stand behind his word!
2. Demonstrate the Love of Christ
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
The best way to witness to a person that is in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to not argue with them or fight them for the Gospel but rather show them the love of Christ.
Arguing with people only drives them further away from the true Gospel. When sharing our faith we must be in the mindset that when we walk away they think to themselves:
“That is the most Christ Centric person I have ever met! I want to be like them!”
3. Define these Terms:
What is your definition of:
A. God
Is the creator of the world, the only true God who is 3 persons in 1. God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
God is also Spirit and is everywhere at all times. There are no limits on God and there is no one who is like God.
Mormons believe: That God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are 3 separate Gods completely and that they can become a God.
It is very Polytheistic in belief
B. Jesus Christ
Is God in the flesh! Jesus is equal with God because He is God. Jesus came to this earth to be our sacrifice on the cross. Through his death we can be made righteous. Jesus was fully human and fully God when he was on the earth.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Mormons believe: Jesus is less than God.
C. Scripture
is God’s Word to us in the Bible. We believe that the Bible is all that we need and is completely truthful.
Mormons believe: Scripture is the Book of Mormon primarily with the Bible being secondary plus other ancient writings that did not make the canon of the Bible.
D. Salvation
is faith that Jesus is God and that through his death we are made righteous. This is not something that we can do but something that God has already done through this sacrifice.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Mormons believe: faith in what Joseph Smith said plus that Jesus atonement for our sins came from him sweating drops of blood in the garden of Gethesame.
3. Explain the Gospel clearly and respectively
Jesus came to this earth as God in the flesh lived the perfect life and gave up his life for us on the cross. Then rose again 3 days later.
His death on the cross is where God’s wrath was appeased. Jesus’s Blood had to be shed for our sins to be forgiven.
4. Grace through faith
Mormonism states equality with God.
We believe reconciliation with God.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
We cannot work to be saved because we cannot be good enough to obtain salvation.
Salvation is only through God alone.
5. Mormonism puts emphasis on Missions and sharing their Gospel.
Mormons are diligently sending people to share their faith with others. They send 70,000 missionaries yearly to different parts of the world!
They take their gospel and mission seriously but they are sharing a false Gospel!
We need to be a group of people that are diligently sharing our faith with all people! We do this by starting here! We should be sharing Christ with all people rather than being a by stander in this world!