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survivor4christ
04-11-2003, 07:43 PM
Grace and Peace, all!

From reading a couple of the other threads, I felt a need to start a thread that talked about the need for doctrine...

Read what the Lord said about doctrine below...

Deuteronomy 32
1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.


We hear so many songs that proclaims we need God to rain on us. I remember one song in particular that goes, "God of mercy, God of love, rain on us from heaven above..." (John P. Kee).

Another song..."Whatchya lookin' for, I'm the one you're lookin' for. Whatchya searchin' for, you don't have to look no more...rain down on me, let it fall on me..."(Kirk Franklin and the Family)

These songs are by contemporary Christian artists and I have to say that when I hear rain in this context it is mostly in circles that do not believe in or preach the importance of SOUND doctrine.

What can be called sound doctrine?

Doctrine that lines up with all of the Word of God. Period. Precept upon precept. Line upon line. No scripture is explained away, deleted, ignored, or avoided. For ALL scripture is good for doctrine.

In the scriptures above, God is saying that the 'rain' we long for, that we await, will come from sound doctrine. Not hoopla, not hype, not excitement, not even the teaching of right vs. wrong. Because what good is it if we preach what is right and what is wrong, and then offer no real solution to the age old question of how can we do what is right.

By the Spirit of God. The rain in a lot of church settings is being taught and is believed to be the shout, the praise, the dance, the pep rally. But according to the scriptures above, God will rain down doctrine as dew upon the earth. Showers on the grass, that will cause IMPARTATION, CONCEPTION and GROWTH, not merely stimulation.

That is what teaching w/o doctrine does: merely stimulates us. Makes us aware of our sinful state. In Romans 6-7, we are presented with our sinfulness. We are told we are under grace, but b/c of such, are we to continue in sin so that grace abounds? Of course not, we then become servants of sin. And we are dead to sin. In Romans 6:17, "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Later in chapter 7, we are told the commandments, the law, was put there to make us aware of our sinful state. It is also mentioned that the law, devoid, or, at the time of the writing of the scripture, incomplete doctrine, was not able to deliver the sin sick soul from damnation. It is later exclaimed in verse 24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

That is the cry of every person where sound doctrine is not being taught and embraced.

"How can I be delivered? How can I be saved, and really know I am saved? How can I be filled to overflowing with more of God?"

It begins with the implantation of truth, of sound doctrine. It continues with sound doctrine, too, but it originates with the seed of truth.

If one is in a setting where truth, the WHOLE truth, sound doctrine is not being taught, then one will not be saved, delivered, or filled. You're just going through the motions.

The Bible says we must worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Anything else is hype. Emotion. Excitement. Stuff that appeals to how it makes one feels. That is sensory, soulish and not of the Lord. We need to be led of the Spirit of God, and then allow that Spirit of the Lord to regenerate us, renew us, refresh and revive us.

Yes...

The Spirit of God will make us feel. God is touched by the feelings of our infirmities. But when the whole service, the whole program is nothing but "God is good, and, "He is worthy to be praised" and "God is ready to bless you" then that is soulish worship, which feels good but is not acceptable or good unto the Lord.

If we continue to go to church and be pumped up, pep rallied, have three hours of exhortation, then we leave dry, empty, unrefreshed, unregenerated, unchanged. Immature.

Unsaved...

This is not the will of God.

We are commanded in Timothy to preach the Word in season and out, for there will come a time when man will not endure sound doctrine. No wonder so many who sing 'gospel' are not effecting a great change. No one sings about doctrine anymore. What it really takes to be saved. About being born again. Not in mainstream Christian music anyway. This is why they sing these songs about rain falling down on us.

Jesus has already rained on us. When we shed His Blood at Calvary, the rain fell. When He rose on the third day and filled all in the Upper room with the Holy Ghost, He rained on us. When He commanded us to be buried with HIM in baptism in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, He rained down blessings on us.

We just need to be taught, or reminded of that.

That rain of sound doctrine will fill the hungry soul. Will deliver the bound. Will heal the sick. Will save the lost. Will bring down the presence of God. Will fill those caught in the rut of religion and 'doctrines of men' with new wine.

Oh, that God will reveal to more of mankind the need for sound doctrine! He wants to publish HIS name, as stated in the scripture above.

Sound doctrine is not divisive, it is redemptive!

Any thoughts, saints?

Love, Sis. Wenona

pastorb
04-11-2003, 08:09 PM
Praise the Lord dear heart,

I feel the passion of your post, however, When we consider the word doctrine is simply means truth. In addition, as Xerf so wonderfully put it in his post, mans idea of truth is relative, but Gods truth is Absolute.

God is truth and because God is his word and esteems his word above his name because they are one and the same, man doesn't want to be subject to God's truth and they try to subvert it. Paul said in Gal, who hath bewitched you to believe another gospel.

There is only one gospel, there is only ONE, GOSPEL!!!!

The Gospel is not prosperity, but if you adhere to it and God can trust you, you will prosper.

The Gospel is not blind faith, but God faith for the just shall live by his faith.

The Gospel is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Period, and we build upon that foundation and any other foundation will fall.

Truth that is relative can only be seen through our own eyes, our own interpretation.

but if this Gospel (real truth) be hid its hid from them that have rejected it, denied it, walked away from it, hated it, didn't need it, or wasn't willing to suffer for it.

pastorb
04-11-2003, 08:11 PM
Gods truth is immutable, unchanging

survivor4christ
04-11-2003, 08:44 PM
Amen and amen, PastorB!

Sis. Wenona

servant
04-11-2003, 08:51 PM
:bow:

You go, girl!!!

Serv :)

survivor4christ
04-11-2003, 08:58 PM
Serv, you are a trip!:spin:

I thank God for the illumination. Answered many questions I have had for years...

To God be the Glory!

Love, Sis. Wenona

BroDane
04-12-2003, 12:14 AM
Heres my thoughts,

Hos 6:3 Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth.

IF, we press on, that is, pray,seek,fast,live..Endure...then we shall expierience Jesus.....

Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: :angel:

Many a time, I have gone out in the summer rain and just got soaked, I love the refreshing feeling that a nice cool rain does to my body.

Many a time I have had Needs that ONLY Jesus knew and I prayed, God came through, There have been times when I was praisin God and Got beside myself yelling, screaming..Thank you Jesus!!Thank you Jesus!!!!

Many a time I have had a need and I prayed for seconds, days or months and God always came through.

Many a time I had frustrations and sorrow and I cried out with big ole tears in my eyes..always thanking Jesus for His supply

These are my REFRESHING times of Rain..from the HolyGhost...walking in the Spirit

soldout4Jesus
04-12-2003, 01:09 AM
great post, Sis. Wenona.

Sandy
04-12-2003, 11:42 AM
Amen Sister Wenona.

Actually, one cannot continue on with the Lord until the foundational principles of Christ are laid, which is essentially revealed in Hebr. 6:1-6. Even though true, those scriptures are written for these to move on as God would permit simply because that foundation had been laid within their lives. But is God going to allow anyone to move on until the foundation has been laid in their life properly? NO, I do not believe so. But if you will notice also, verses 4-6 is speaking of moving on into the righteousness of Christ, and not specifically knowledge within itself, many believing they have moved on because of having some knowledge already, being decieved into believing this. But not true according to those scriptures.

We taste of the heavenly gift by walking in the love of God, allowing Him to burn up the flesh or dross in our lives, not within our own power of course, but by the Holy Ghost taking us over completely in our lives daily. as we submit to Him, bringing us into what 1st John 2:6 says.

Phyllis
04-12-2003, 08:04 PM
God bless you survivor4christ
wow! I know that in my life true doctrinal teaching is so imp as I came out of so much wrong teaching It is the wonderful teaching I am receiving now that is grounding me in this wonderful apostolic truth. of one faith, one Lord ,one Baptism. I needed this kind of teaching in doctrine in order to get untangled from the false stuff I had been taught so I do feel at least in my case it is so imp I be taught proper doctrine , then everything else will fall into place and Iwill be able to endure to the end and be saved . Praise the lord!

God bless
sis phyllis

ddc101
04-12-2003, 08:13 PM
Amen Sis.Wenona,
The correct doctrine has eternal implications indeed.If I would have not heard truth where would I be....I would be lost.lv sis.c

In His Service
04-12-2003, 08:24 PM
Sister,
You are correct. So many of our Apostolic Churches have an hour and a half pep rally, 10 minutes of announcements and people are ready for the preaching to be over in 20 minutes so they can get to the food house before it gets to late.

When people come to the house of God hungry for the doctrine preached to us and to help those that do not have the truth then God blesses the church. People go to the alter and people set and stare at them wishing they would hurry up and get through so they can leave. They don't want to leave while someone is praying because they will look bad. Tarrying at the alter used to be a mainstay, not many look at it as a very small part if at all.

Let us pray the church gets really hungry,
Bro. Timothy