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| Frist Roadtrip to Ogden |
I believe the reason I ended up going to Weber was to meet the people I now love with all my heart. There are no words to describe everything they’ve done for me. If they weren't a part of my life, I doubt I would even be following Jesus today.
Without small group freshman year, I wouldn’t have had the faith to fight through trials that hit the next summer. If my friends weren’t there to guide me through wrestling with God during my sophomore year, I would’ve walked away from Jesus. The past two years have been full of joy, but they’ve also been incredibly difficult. Still, I knew my friends were always with me.
Love is crazy, because it is actually God himself. So with every experience I shared with my friends I was actually encountering Jesus. Through my friends God has shown me what his love is like. His love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. His love has never failed and it never will.
A part of me will be missing when I leave this place where God has completely transformed me. And it breaks my heart to think that my time with my friends here is going to be ending soon. Yes, there will be visits, but we will never be college students again. We won’t be studying together anymore. We’ll be doing whatever adults do in real life, and I’m not sure what that will look like.
God’s love brought me to Weber to be with people who would love one another and follow God together. I have hope and am confident that the same Love that brought all these people from Utah, Colorado, Montana, Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona to this place at this time will be the same Love that will keep our relationships strong no matter where life takes us.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
ONLY GOD FORGIVES SINS
ReplyDeleteContrary to what men believe, only God can forgive the sins that have been committed against Him. Joseph Smith nor Brigham Young can forgive sins. Catholic priests cannot forgive sins. Lutheran ministers cannot forgive sins. There are no men dead or alive who can forgive the sins that men commit against God.
ONLY GOD FORGIVES SINS!
Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.
ONLY GOD FORGIVES SINS!
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity...
Only God pardons iniquity. Joesph Smith, Brigham Young, Catholic priests, nor Lutheran ministers have the authority to pardon iniquity.
Daniel 9:98 To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;
Mankind has rebelled against God and He alone can grant forgiveness.
THE SCRIBES UNDERSTOOD ONLY GOD COULD FORGIVE SINS!
Mark 2:6-11..the scribes...7...He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone? ....10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins"---He said to the paralytic, 11 "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."
The problem with scribes was they did not realize that Jesus was God in the flesh. Joesph Smith, Brigham Young, Catholic priests, Lutheran ministers, nor any other men, are or were, God in the flesh.
DID JESUS GRANT THE APOSTLES THE AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE SINS? NO HE DID NOT.
Acts 8:18-22 ....20 But Peter said to him....22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
The apostle Peter did not grant forgiveness to Simon, he told Simon to pray to God for forgiveness. Note, Simon was already a Christian.
THE PROOF TEXT.
John 20:19-23 ....23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
Jesus was not giving Peter and the rest of the apostles the power to grant forgiveness of sins to men on an individual bases, Jesus was not ordaining them as priests with that power. Jesus was giving Peter and the apostles the authority to proclaim the terms for forgiveness of sins. Peter and the apostles did just that on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:22-41...36 Therefore let the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ---this Jesus whom you crucified. 37...Peter and the rest of the apostles....38 Peter said to them , "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.)
Peter and the apostles did not forgive sins on the Day of Pentecost nor on any subsequent day. They declare God's terms for pardon.
FAITH: John 3:16
REPENTANCE: Acts 2:38
CONFESSION: Romans 10:9-10
WATER BAPTISM: Acts 2:38
Christians are not asked to confess to Joesph Smith, Brigham Young, Catholic priests, Lutheran ministers, nor any other men, in order to have their sins against God forgiven!
Christians are to confess their sins to God in order to receive forgiveness. (1 John1:5-9 ....God is light... 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.)
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between men, the man Christ Jesus,
The only priest standing between men and God is the high priest, Jesus Christ.
NOTE: Confessing sins and asking God for forgiveness is only available to Christians. Non-Christians must have FAITH, REPENT, CONFESS JESUS AS LORD, BELIEVE IN HIS RESURRECTION AND BE BAPTIZED IN WATER IN ORDER TO THEIR SINS FORGIVEN.
ONLY GOD FORGIVES SINS!