Is God talking to me and you?

You are right...I believe scripture says to preach the Word....if the pastor is preaching correctly and accurately from His Word,He is doing God's will.

 

Let me get this straight....you think that preachers get messages from God on specific things thay should preach on???? How can you verify this,and....why can't a pastor who is walking with God just say that he would like to preach from Romans...that is fine and well. God will use His Word to establish His purposes.

 

ittutut, I couldn't help but notice your hyper-dispensationalism.

God has spoken through his Word. That is the ONLY way one can know for certain what is and what isn't from God.

 

You are wrong and you do realize the power of God. As much as His written Word is exalted in this world He can and does work without it.

The Spirit of God witnesses to me without the written Word. If I didn't know this from the Bible (which I didn't when I was first saved) He (the Spirit) was then and still is able to communicate with me the fact of my sonship just as He convicted me of sin without it.

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother's womb.

The Spirit of God is reproving the world of sin apart from the Word of God.

The creation itself is a wordless communication of the power of God.

HankD

 

Why?

Romans 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

No King James Bible (or any Bible) needed here.

HankD </font>[/QUOTE]This is true that the Holy Spirit does bear witness to our spirit, but it took the Bible for you to realize that.

 

The letter kills; the spirit gives life.

 

Let me get this straight....you think that preachers get messages from God on specific things thay should preach on???? How can you verify this,and....why can't a pastor who is walking with God just say that he would like to preach from Romans...that is fine and well. God will use His Word to establish His purposes. </font>[/QUOTE]Yes, fine, a pastor can be one who walks with God and develops a nice message from Romans. But sometimes God will instruct him to put that message aside and preach something else.

 

Let me share with you one of the few times God has actually spoken to me with some directions I was to follow.

When I worked for the State of Oregon as a caseworker - I was at a nursing home, going over payment authorizations for residents there. At the end of the day I was visiting briefly with the staff before going back to the office. The administrator was bemoaning the fact that he was being transferred by the home company to another nursing home in another city. He expressed "you state workers, at least you have job security."
"Well, I suppose we do have job security", I agreed, and went on to the office.

That night, in bed, the Lord gave me a message. "You go and tell that administrator, I am your security, and not the state of Oregon".

It was not an audible message. The best way to put it would be to say that the Lord placed these words in my mind.

The next day, at the usual goodby chat time, I had to tell him what I was commanded to tell him. His face was utterly shocked. I have no other clue as to his spiritual state or why God wanted him to hear that from me. But I made a little sign "I am your security" and put it on my refrigerator with magnets, you can see it there to this day.

You cannot tell me that God never speaks to people today. He has spoken to me. I am not the only one.

 

No. I believe that those preachers have studied(2 Tim. 2:15), prayed and sometimes fasted for guidance from the Lord(Holy Spirit) on what to teach/preach about that particular day. They did not get some sign or some voice from the clouds saying, go and preach this.

 

Sure God speaks to people, not in a audible voice, but through his word. With your instance, God probably called back some sort of scripture or experience that happened in your life.

 

To receive the details thereof, yes.

Still, God can and does communicate with and lead His children apart from the Word of God through His Spirit. That is my point.

Your point is well taken however. His will is for us to assimilate His Word as our spiritual food.

Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Galatians 5:18
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

HankD

 

But,Hank....if you are LED by the Spirit you are living in accordance to God's Word. Being spirit led means obeying God. He does not give any special revelation to people outside from His Word.

Also,I am not saying we are not led through God's providential guidance,I believe God leads as He wills,but we can know anything that God is doing,except through His Word. We can look back and see how God helped us through situations or guided our decisions,but to presently know what God is doing is presumptuous.

We may think we know what God is leading us to do,but can we really trust what *WE* think...we can only be sure of God's Word.

What about in a church...say a man *feels led* to move to another location for that church,but another man *feels led* to stay in their present location....who is right? Who is to say one man is *led* and another isn't? It is unverifiable and we can not know....so we should not do something just because a person says he *feels led*...this is true in every situation. We still pray for God's will and desire to walk in His will...I believe He will bring about what He desires in the lives of those who put their trust in HIm.

 

Hmmm, Molly, I have a question for you. How did you come to decide that God has quit communicating to people except through His written word?

Did you read that somewhere in His written word that He says there will be no more direct words from Him?

Did you figure it out based on some logical principle?

I take it for granted you did not recieve it as a direct communication spiritually, because that would be contradictory to the claim itself.

 

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True, just one think to add. The Holy Spirit will not go against the word of God.

 

Dear Molly,

Yes, there is risk in "feeling". I would rather use the word "conviction" which is more in line with being led of the Spirit.

Further I do not have to answer for how others are "led" or how others "feel" or are "convicted".
Also, I can see how the Spirit would lead one person to stay and one person to go from the same place according to His will.

By the same token, no matter the "purity" of your Bible or translation thereof, what guarantee of accuracy do you have and how do you know which interpretation of Scripture is the correct one?

This board is a witness to the fact of the differences of opinion and interpretation of Scripture among Baptist (Remember Hebrews 6?).
In fact it is very difficult to find unanimity here concerning any verse or portion of Scripture.

I remember a debate about the shortest verse in the Bible John 11:35 "Jesus wept" which went on for several pages.

Bearing witness also is the fact of the multitudes of cults and isms which have and use the KJV (and other translations) yet do not know the simplest thing concerning the truth of the Scripture (JW's as example).

I earnestly contend therefore that one has to rely upon the Spirit of God for the communication of wisdom and understanding and the spiritual gifts of others apart from the written Word as well as having and reading the written Word.

And yes one needs the Word of God to "prime the pump" so to speak.

Two simple rules:

1) Proverbs 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

2) James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

So, it must be that the current state of affairs is because we do not turn at His reproof and/or fail to plead for wisdom (Not that I have done a good job at it either).

HankD

 

Yes! we have total agreement here.

HankD

 

I believe we can ask for wisdom and God gives it...that is a whole other issue...I,also believe that we can trust God to lead us...what I am saying is that we can not know for certain that God has told us to do certain things,except what is in scripture.

For example,I can say,because God's Word say to take care of widows,that is would be God's will for me to help an elderly lady in our church with household chores. I can not say that I felt *led* to go to the store that day.