Today, I saw the picture below posted. The problem with it, is that it isn't even close to being sound biblically.
FAITH will always give birth to the good works that God has foreordained His followers to live into and to do with their whole heart. We are saved by grace through faith and that is the work of God, who reconciled us to Himself by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Going into all the world to make disciples (not converts) is going to take effort, cooperating with the Holy Spirit. Making disciples is good, sound, hard work enabled by the power of His life at work in and through us. Human works can never redeem anyone. It's what God has done, not what we do. But, being redeemed, His life and ministry, His works should flow as a matter of course even as apple trees produce apples.
SOUND DOCTRINE, if it is truly biblical will never deny signs and wonder; will never call them the "world's lies", for Jesus plainly stated that those who would follow Him would do the very things He had been doing and even greater because He was going to the Father. Paul, writing to the church in Corinth even warned them not to despise prophecy nor forbid speaking in tongues. Signs and wonders, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in power for doing the ongoing ministry of Jesus Christ, are given to the church and confirm the Word being declared as the Holy Spirit chooses. The church has been empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue to minister as Jesus did. To call them "lies of the world" borders on speaking against the Holy Spirit; limiting Him to one's experience, rather than sound doctrine.
BIBLICAL GRACE is not something ever kept in isolation in the intellect. God grace is not some cold intellectual assertion. It is the overwhelming, unmerited loving kindness of God in Christ Jesus that impacts the whole person: spiritually, emotionally, willfully and even physically. Experiencing the grace of God and feeling His Presence are not "lies of this world"! Now, if you believe your feeling DEFINE the presence of God with you, you've missed the point. He has promised to NEVER leave us or forsake us. Our feelings do not define or circumscribe His grace, but His grace is not something devoid of either feeling or experience. "T'was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved..." is not some cold recollection!
The cartoon below is just that, a cartoon and no more an accurate assessment of what following Jesus means than right is to almost right. Take great care. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. His Word has not changed. If your doctrine and understanding doesn't line up with the whole counsel of His Word, then your doctrine and understanding are they things that are still flawed.
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