Rivendell Fellowship

The reason God won't go beyond his word the bible on salvationor any other issue, is because God is not a liar, so does not lie.  If God said salvation is only through repenting and believing in Jesus in the bible, and then went beyond the bible and allowed people to be saved some other way, then that would make God a liar. And we know God is no liar. God gave his written word to speak his truth and tell us how he operates. So people can't say, "God told me", when he didn't. It is a check on claims. Salvation through Jesus verses: Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" John 3:16–18 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life"

By Kirby Harris The Spirit really spoke to me today. Thought I would share it with you. We try and kill sin and the flesh by controlling and modifying our behavior, when that doesn't kill it. Our heart desires feed the flesh and our sin.  We need to let the Spirit change our heart, our desires by focusing on what Christ did for us and how we are only holy because of what he did, not what we do. Colossians 2:20-23: Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed.  You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again.  At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal.  Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power.  But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of o

1 John 4:8 describes one of God’s primary attributes as love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” This verse does not define God as love; it describes God’s love as permeating His essence in all He is and all He does. As for today’s headlines tout stories of scandal, tragedy, and war; believers can be confident knowing all they need is God’s love. Theologian A.W. Tozer once stated, “Nothing God ever does, or ever did, or ever will do, is separate from the love of God.” Everything He has ever done has been out of love. Here are several key implications that this attribute - God is love - that is for all people today. Read the entire article here: https://tinyurl.com/fxab6n8y

A servant does what he has to do out of obligation or because he gets paid. But a Son does what he does because he gets to and requires no pay! God says we are no longer servants but sons! So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. ~ Galatians 4:7 A servant is accepted and appreciated based on his contribution.   A son is accepted and appreciated based on his position, not his contribution.

Can we change our own hearts?  Are we capable of doing the inner work of heart transformation necessary to follow God, adore Jesus, and listen to the Spirit? The answer is no.  We find a very strange statement in the book of Deuteronomy after God had given the people of Israel all the laws they would need to observe to stay in fellowship with him.  “But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (29:4).  Israel could not understand the things of God, nor could they truly listen to his commands in such a way that they would obey them. Why? Because their hearts were not right.  After this verse, God tells them that, in the near future, they are going to break his covenant and fall under his wrath. And sure enough, as we read the rest of the Bible, we realize this is exactly what happens.  So what hope did they have? What hope do we have? If we can’t follow God’s commands and stay in right relationship with him, what are they,