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Knight said:Hal_Jordan said:Unless I have no reading comprehension skills at all, this means that God gives faith as a gift; in other words, He gives the ability to believe. If this is true, then why evangelize? If faith is a gift given by God, then no matter how hard I or anyone else tries to believe, it is an exercise in futility.
Some Christians teach that there are certain folks out there that are "elect" and God picks the "elect" to obtain salvation and leaves the others out for arbitrary reasons.
That is a sick and perverted thought that you must reject.
The truth is God wants EVERYONE to come to Him but some are not willing.
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 5:40 “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
God draws all men to Him....
John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
1Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1Timothy 2:6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
1Timothy 4:10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
God's gift of salvation is available to all men...
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
1John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
John 4:42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Yet the majority reject Him on their own freewill...
Proverbs 1:24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
John 5:40 “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Acts 7:51 “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
For those that choose God He then God preserves their inheritance in Him...
Colossians 1:22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight —
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Romans 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Ephesians 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Ephesians 1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory
Colossians 3:24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Faith is not so much about belief as it is about our willingness to follow and our willingness to understand we need God to forgive our sins. In other words... even folks that have skepticism about the details can still desire to be associated with Christ's work on the cross and God will not reject them.
Ultimately...
Romans 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Great post!
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