I have some questions and need help please

[Unregistered]

I have some questions and need help please

Hi, I am new here, kinda a baby christian..Both me and my husband are. Here is the situation. I was raised with the little teaching that I received as a baptist, Now i live elsewhere and my life has changed, however the one who brought me back to Jesus is pentacostal...Both religions are very different, I lean more toward the baptist faith as it was my fundamental background, however reading my bible KJV I was confused, the baptist church that I had attended thought that tongues and hands on prayer and healing was basically of the devil. Yet I read in Col, or Corinthians about tongues and the prayer and healing, and it said to not hold those who do such in contempt. My daughter who is 18 through her other grandmother came to follow the pentacostal faith. I have been concerned from the reading that I have been doing. 1) my beliefs have always followed John 3:16, that you cannot lose your salvation, the church that I have been going to does not believe that way, they believe that you can go to hell even if you are a christian.So i really need some clarification here. 2) I have read on the (forgive me if I spell it wrong)ecurmercurial movement- about all the religions coming together to create something that will have something to do with the anti christ and that all those that follow that path will go to hell.......Ok I am a little freaked out!!!! It is like each religion belief has it's own way of doing things that may or may not explicitly follow the Bible.....So i am afraid to even attend/become a member of a church, worried that I am doing something wrong. I am really trying to walk in the word, and want to do what is right. I was baptized just over a week ago in the pentacostal church..Now another question..They believe that speaking in tongues is a sign that you have the Holy Spirit, I believe that I have had the Holy Spirit since I was saved, however else could my life changed so much?????
Any advice that those of you here could give would be greatly appreciated. I have been scouring the internet for bible studies that i can do at home with out a computer, i have no power, or net where i live, and do not get to spend as much time as i feel i would need to devote to online studies, I have ordered devotionals that i can obtain for free, we literally have no income, I study, pray, study more, pray, ask for guidance and direction.

OOPs another question/observation.

I have been reading my Bible and listening to Walk in the Word, and Charles Stanley. My family is in a bad finacial way, like many others. I have been praying about our needs, and our situation. Then i started trying to learn how to pray, and about being a better christian. It came to me that 1) i am confused 2) We are here to be more like Jesus, and to walk like him to the best of our ablilities 3) When we pray we should be praying for ways to serve God, Not for our own selfish needs 4) yet we have needs 5) This is where i got a bit confused. I was trying to walk right in order to please God so that he would help us, that was wrong! I should have been doing things to please him, because Jesus died for our sins, and I should be gratefull and do all that I can to show my thanksgiving for this wonderfull gift that we were given. And through our love for him, and by walking with him as he would have us, through that our needs will be met. I am getting that. How do i convey this to my husband? I know that desperation brought him closer to Jesus. I mean he was saved and baptized as a young man/teen. But has not really been involved know what i mean. I do not know that he yet knows how to love him, does this make sense? I am trying to bible study with him, and help him gain more understanding, but i feel like i am not doing things right. I keep encouraging him, hinting perhaps we should find a bible group, but he does not want to do that yet, and financed keep it from happening. so well any help that we could get would be appreciated

Thank you

 

[Rumely]

I have found fellowship in a variety of churches including Lutheran, Baptist, Christian Missionary Alliance, Congregational, Presbyterian, Evangelical Free, Assemblies of God, and a number of independent fellowships. Currently, I am looking for another home church, leaning toward a couple of local churches, one being Baptist and the other being Evangelical Free. I'm not a church-hopper, I've just moved around a lot. Anyway, my point is that you can find healthy churches and unhealthy churches in many flavors. You don't necessarily have to agree with every point of doctrine of a given denomination to fellowship and grow in that church. I was a deacon in the Assemblies of God for five years even though I don't speak in tongues and made no attempt to hide that fact. I also found it one of the most toxic spiritual environments I've ever encountered, but that wasn't because of the denominational affilliation or the pentecostal distinctives.

If the pentecostal church you are currently attending is helping you draw closer to God and become more effective in your spiritual life and service, that's a good thing. If the leadership and congregation display the fruits of the Spirit (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - Galatians 5:22 & 23) and do balanced and solidly Biblical teaching, discipleship, and mentoring, you're in a good place.

When you were saved, it was indeed the Holy Spirit Who transformed your life. Pentecostals typically view the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" as a separate event in which you are, in effect, "supercharged" by the Holy Spirit and begin to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including tongues. Personally, I think that tongues are valid for today and a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, I'm not convinced that they are THE evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit, I think the fruits of the Spirit are a better indication of being full of the Holy Spirit. This difference in viewpoint did not hinder me from spending ten years in a pentecostal church, five of which were on the board. People of sincere faith have been debating the details of this doctrine for ages. It's certainly an interesting debate, but one which I feel should not lead to division or condemnation.

I'll try to adress some of your other points in the next day or two if some of my forum compatriots don't beat me to it. In the meantime I will pray that God will give you clarity in your search for fellowship and service and will provide for your needs.

 

[GodSpeaks]

Yet I read in Col, or Corinthians about tongues and the prayer and healing, and it said to not hold those who do such in contempt.

Now that you are saved the Spirit of the Lord will reveal more and more to you as you read His Word and it looks like He already is doing so. He is our teacher.

Being a new Christian, the Lord knows it take a babe in Christ time to learn and walk in His ways. But you desire to do so with His help. At the moment we realize we have failed in some way, if we do as John 1:9 says and confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us. God gives us grace and time to grow in Him. So you can have peace and relax, knowing you are right with Him. You are trying to learn to follow Him not turn from Him, so there is a difference in failing sometimes and purposely, continually doing wrong, knowing its wrong. Either way, we go to Him and He is ready to forgive when we repent.

The Spirit of God also guides us and gives direction. He can lead you to a church that will feed you and help you. We are all at difference stages and ages in our spiritual walk, so a church that ministers to one may not help another person.

Concerning the Holy Spirit and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, these are two different things.
Look at these verses


1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit


Its when we turn from sin to Jesus, ask Him to be the Lord of our life and say we believe He died and rose again, we come a member of the BODY of CHRIST. We are saved, born again, because the Holy Spirit changed our heart and we are a new creation.

Then after salvation, if we ask we can be baptised with, filled to OVERFLOWING with, the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. That is the overflow. Its two separate things, This is not the same as being saved.

Matthew 3:11
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.

Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Concerning prayer, He said He would supply our needs, but He also says to ASK Him for what we need.

He sees your heart and knows you want please Him and that greatly pleases HIM!

 

[Falgn0n]

. . . they believe that you can go to hell even if you are a christian.So i really need some clarification here. 2) I have read on the (forgive me if I spell it wrong)ecurmercurial movement- about all the religions coming together to create something that will have something to do with the anti christ and that all those that follow that path will go to hell.......Ok I am a little freaked out!!!! It is like each religion belief has it's own way of doing things that may or may not explicitly follow the Bible.....So i am afraid to even attend/become a member of a church, worried that I am doing something wrong. I am really trying to walk in the word, and want to do what is right. . . .

Hi there "unregistered" - I sincrely hope you make it back to this thread to read this reply. I want to be able to give you some comfort regarding your concerns about the "antichrist" and "hell".
A couple questions you should ask yourself:
1. WHEN and HOW did the word: "HELL" come to be in the Bible in the first place!?
2. How is it that the translators of the KJV saw fit to translate THREE DIFFERENT words with THREE DIFFERENT MEANINGS into ONE ENGLISH WORD with JUST ONE "MEANING" ( I am of course referring to the greek words: "Hades" [which means: "imperceptible/unseen"] , "Tartarus" [this word occurs exactly ONCE in the Greek scriptures] & "Gehenna" [which refers to the Valley of Hinnom])
3. WHY would God (Who KNOWS ALL THINGS) create BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS of people, just to finally delegate the VAST MAJORITY of them to an "eternal hell" of endless torture in literal fire FOR NO REDEEMING PURPOSE WHATSOEVER!!!???
4. Is God INCAPABLE of saving His OWN CREATION?
5. Is God UNWILLING to save His OWN CREATION
6. If He is BOTH WILLING and CAPABLE - why does the Church teach that HE WILL NOT DO IT (save His own creation)!?

Consider the following article:
Installment 16

With regards to the rest of your email.
I know what is like to be in desperate financial circumstances, so I do empathise with you (and with your husband) in that area. I am a husband and a father of 4. The pressure that we (as men) feel when we KNOW that we are not providing for our own families (as the bible instructs us to do) is beyond unbearable.
Be patient with him. Be close enough to him to be available when he needs you.
Don't pressure him, most of all about his faith. God will reach into his life when the time comes. (perhaps God is already doing that, but it is simply too deep inside for you to notice.) It is only in these times of desperation that we truly learn to FULLY rely on God for ALL THINGS.

Phil 2:13 - "... for it is God who works in you to, both to WILL and to DO of HIS GOOD PLEASURE (according to HIS PURPOSE)..."
Phil 4:6 - "... be anxious for nothing..."
Matt 6:25 - "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on."
Matt 6:31 - "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? "

Peace