{"id":5162,"date":"2017-10-03T09:04:53","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T09:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/?p=5162"},"modified":"2017-10-03T09:14:51","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T09:14:51","slug":"lloyd-dennys-blog-number-355-3rd-october-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/?p=5162","title":{"rendered":"Lloyd Denny\u2019s blog Number 355 \u2013 3rd October 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned\u201d<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n

[14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. [15] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. [16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last night I dreamt I was in a long and at times heated debate with a number of bible scholars about the scriptures and in particular Romans 9 through to 11.<\/p>\n

Try as I may I just couldn’t get through to a particular person. To start with he went on and on never giving others including me a chance to help him understand that what he was saying was incorrect. The others in the debate knew he was wrong but they too couldn’t convince him he was wrong for he wouldn’t listen.<\/p>\n

In the dream I am asking myself why wouldn’t he listen and a number of reasons are given. Top of the list was his natural mind. This man was a PHD, one who was fluent in Hebrew and Greek, I certainly wasn’t in the dream and certainly not in wake.<\/p>\n

He was utterly convinced he must be correct because he was able to trace back to the original Greek every word in Romans 9 through to 11 and other parts of the New Testament. All I wanted him to do was to listen for a while so I could give my explanation of the scripture but no. Another scholar had sympathy on me for although in essence his background was similar to this man, in that he also was a PHD and took a very similar line to this other man at least he believed I should get an opportunity to explain the scriptures.<\/p>\n

After some time trying to say something in my frustration I decided to walk away for I was getting nowhere and felt if I continued I would become angry.<\/p>\n

On seeing that I was about to walk away the man who would not let me speak stopped speaking. I then asked a question with the intention of leaving it with him to ponder for I didn’t expect him to want to hear my explanation.<\/p>\n

The question was, what did Paul mean when he wrote: “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”: (Romans 11:26).<\/p>\n

Try as he may he couldn’t answer the question. He went into Jewish history: their persecution, the early Jewish leaders of the church, the Gentiles getting saved because of the Jews. Many words were said and both I and the other scholar were not impressed.<\/p>\n

I then cited Jews that I knew of who were atheists, big time sinners, some truly bad people; will they be saved I asked?\u00a0For Paul said all Israel shall be saved?\u00a0Again he had another go but couldn’t convince anyone and judging from his body language he hadn’t convinced himself either. The other person had a go at explaining the text but didn’t quite get it right either. Shortly afterwards I woke up and decided to write this blog.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I am not saying the scholar or PHD cannot understand the scriptures but one cannot approach the scripture with the natural mind no matter how educated.<\/p>\n

Apostle Paul with all his education did not see Jesus as Messiah and that the church was of God.<\/p>\n

It was he who after conversion would write:\u00a0“Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: [5] Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; [6] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[7] But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. [8] Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: [10] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; [11] If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[12] Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[13] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do , forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, [14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.<\/em> (Philippians 3: 4-14).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apostle Paul was willing to renounce things he had learnt about God and the study of scripture. As a Pharisee he would have studied the scriptures a certain way.\u00a0A way based on intellect and not the Spirit for he didn’t have the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n

Through the Spirit Paul has given the church and the world a deep understanding of God. His words to the Corinthians are the title of this blog.<\/p>\n

Smith Wigglesworth the well known Pentecostal Evangelist from Bradford, England said on more than one occasion: “Some people read their Bibles in Hebrew, some in Greek; I like to read mine in the Holy Ghost”.<\/p>\n

In the next blog I will give my explanation of the statement “all Israel shall be saved”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our platform is the world and our congregation the people.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lord\u2019s servant\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lloyd Denny<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned\u201d 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 KJV [14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. [15] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5164,"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162\/revisions\/5164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rrfluton.org.uk\/rrfblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}