Esau reconciled to Jacob, and God made a great nation if Esau's descendants

Jesus calls his sheep by name and they hear him and they will follow. This age is not about turning goats into sheep but the calling of the wheat. No grapes were ever gathered during the harvest of wheat.

Either God is sovereign Or he is not …🤷🏻‍♂️

Amen! Exactly. Those of us who were saved by the grace and mercy of God are grateful that He did for us what we could not. He opened our eyes to realize our abject poverty and sin before His Holiness and our need for Christ. Only by knowing that God alone is the cause of our salvation and our keeping, will we give Him ALL glory knowing that we did not, and could not do it in and of ourselves. It makes me concerned for Arminian brethren who profess Christ as we do but seem to think they had a part to play.

There's at least two fallacies in your coment here!!!!!!

I agree with those who don't follow either Calvinist or Arminian theology, but being a new believer I learned a lot by reading books about Christianity written by various authors and with different views and studying how their teachings line up with God's word, His love, mercy, justice and righteousness. I follow Jesus.

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Amen. I'm right with Gary. I was raised Southern Baptist and this is more like what I have always believed. I prayed and asked God to forgive me as I had been asking my mother , The pastor came and explained to me how Jesus loves everyone, but if you want Jesus to come into your heart you have to let people know. I walked down that long isle in 4th grade. Too bad they didn't follow up with classes for children and adults about savation to explain more deeply. I accepted Christ because in my youth I wanted to believe and Jesus has changed my life. Not perfect person, but loved by Jesus. Maybe will meet in heaven, Blessings, Shelley(my husbaand didn't set me up with my name on computer as it says D for Danny and I am Shelley.

“I have battled”. “Other people are proud of their religion”. Hmmm

@@creechclann I've battled with every type of friction. Mostly lost but through it i found knowledge and wisdom. I believe this is how the Lord teaches me. My stubborn, ego, pride, he shatteres it and gives me hope to rise. Many more i expect and give thanks to him who loves me soo dearly. Expects much more from me. Such a blessing. Hallelujah

@@dannyjones4044 im glad you are on your journey with the Lord. What i honor is what lord teaches about prayers and good deeds. To do in secret. Pray in your room etc. Don't let other people pressure you into doing anything. Make sure you align with the Lord and do everything else around it. Go far and explore but always come back to the Lord in your heart. Protect it from external forces. Amen

It seems the man who said “I chose Jesus” is the one who is proud. The one who in retrospect, looks back at their state before regeneration and acknowledges their inability and poverty, knowing that only God by Himself and for Himself could have regenerated them, is the one who has laid down pride and sense of self, giving all glory to God and not keeping any portions piece, or aspect of their salvation in Christ for themself. Salvation from predestination to glorification is all and only of the Lord. When you realize this, you will truly live a life of grateful and worshipful gratitude to the only God and Lord, the only Savior Jesus Christ and not hold out any boasting for yourself.

That is an encouraging word ! For every believing parent, that is a burden on their heart.

Exactly. So my conclusion of this is that he is also sovereign over who is saved. I had to research this myself. If you look up predestined, chosen, foreknown it is very clear to me that God make the choice not us. Jesus also says he will not lose or reject those who THE FATHER SENDS ME. There’s not really any way to interpret that except God is the one who chooses. We can’t be saved without the Holy Spirit. Who does everyone think the Holy Spirit is sent by. I also think that people can reject it and are still responsible for that choice. As with many things in God’s word why do we think we have the right to question who God chooses? We don’t know everything and we never will until we go home. God chose the Jews then why is it so difficult to think he chooses believers. God is sovereign over EVERYTHING salvation included. I listen to John MacArthur almost every day and he is better at explaining this than I can but I totally agree with his biblical explanation.

@@tinadehart3526 to some, God extends grace and mercy. To others, he extends justice. God is righteous and holy in both cases. God's sovereignty is on every page of his Holy scripture; it's undeniable. Like Nicodemus, we struggle with the concept of salvation through regeneration (the new birth), and we do not know where the wind (Holy Spirit) blows. If my salvation hinged on my ability to overcome my own depravity and choose a holy God without God's help, I would never be saved. Jesus told his disciples directly: "you did not choose me; I chose you." It's not our burden to understand it fully, but to proclaim salvation in King Jesus for the repentance of sins to every creature and leave the rest to God. Amen, and God bless, sister!!! Edit: grammar

John 6:44. God draws NOT; Jesus saves NOT. Unless Jesus sees the work of God, the Father, in us when God draws us to Him, Jesus will not save us.

@@oldsoul8429 Penalty flag on the “I chose you verse.” It has nothing to do with salvation, but about Jesus choosing specific disciples. As the video implicates, we should be cautious on assessing what the Scriptures SEEM to say.

@@jonathandavid9720 I completely agree that the context of that specific verse applies directly to Jesus choosing his disciples and not to us, and I understand how my lack of expounding leaves my point a little ambiguous. Thank you for pointing that out. I referenced that verse as a picture of God's ultimate sovereignty. Jesus invited these men to follow him and they accepted, yet he tells them that (ultimately) they did not choose to follow Jesus, rather Jesus chose them as followers. The scripture emphatically says "nobody comes to Jesus unless the Father draws them..." God chooses to draw some, and he chooses not to draw others. He is sovereign, and it is arguably heretical to reduce God to some kind of fortune-teller who can merely see the future (I'm not implying this is your view, just preemptively refuting the common interpretation of predestination as 'God looked down the corridors of time and saw that little Tommy would choose Jesus.' I highly recommend John Owen's 'The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.' He does a great job of explaining our free will in the context of God's ultimate sovereignty. That said, I think these theological discussions are healthy for believes to engage in and I'm glad you commented! God bless, brother!

I’m exactly like you. I grew up and was raised in an Armenian community. However, I noticed that I could be perfect, but it would be impossible to be saved by my acts. At some point, predestination made me feel forgiven, and that made me love the gospel even more. My desire to respond to this love was by living in a way that testified to His grace. But, even understanding His sovereignty, I felt bad about being elected while others were not but I can't see to be saved by my own merit anymore as well. I've just decided not to thing about it and keeping spread His love believing that everyone could reach him as they heard his voice.

Q

And both of those theological systems are wrong, partly because they share the same foundational error, the doctrine of election. Both Arminians and Calvinists believe God elects some people and not others, they just differ on how he chooses. But Jesus and Paul were explicitly teaching that all people were chosen. It’s horrendous how bad Calvin and Arminians got it wrong.

Amen

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It’s all a trap discussion. God is the beginning and the end so he knows what choices we will make before we make them. Lamentations 3:37 is the written word and it is not refutable. And he also gives us free will. He does both. So both Calvin and Armenian are true at the same time.

It is the opposite of what you think: It’s the Arminian view that God’s hands are somehow bound and that WE must choose that causes stress and doubt and creates a ‘flower petal gospel’ (He loves, me. He loves me not). For instance, how and why do you pray for your fallen family, children, neighbors, coworkers, etc if in fact, God is not sovereign over their salvation? In their fallen state, do they have to find it within themselves to work up in their ‘free will’ to be smarter, more holy, more savvy than the unregenerate guy next door? Is that what separates you from the unsaved guy next door? And furthermore, if you had to boot-strap your own salvation, it would necessarily follow that you must then keep in a right standing before God by your efforts as well. How did all that work for ethnic Israel??? Are we any different? The truth is, there is no peace or sure hope in a God that is not completely sovereign over salvation and all things. You don’t have to COMPREHEND all of God and His ways, but we can certainly APPREHEND the truths contained in His Word. We don’t pit this verse against that verse but instead rely on the analogy of faith and of scripture to help us interpret difficult passages. Those, like myself who hold to the Doctrines of Grace do indeed understand the mystery of Divine Concurrence: that God is sovereign AND man is responsible. The difference between us and Gary is that when we say God is sovereign, we mean utterly. Unregenerate humans will go to Hell not because they didn’t hear of Christ, but for their high-handed sin against God. So when Gary jokingly relates the story of the person who doesn’t know if their elect - he was part right when he said, “repent and believe! Good. Now you’re elect!” What he doesn’t teach is that the whosoevers are those whom God has given a new heart TO repent and believe. Regeneration (John 3) precedes faith. Our very repentance and faith, a true and heartfelt act, is a gift of God who has sovereignly replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh so we come to see the holiness of God, the poverty of our sin, and the beauty of the only Savior Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation is of the Lord.

God certainly knows who will accept the gift of salvation. But he does not choose for some to reject him. Judas walked with Jesus. Judas was chosen by Jesus. Jesus loved Judas. Judas rejected Jesus. When Jesus stated that the he loved the 12, was he lying about Judas? Certainly not. Judas rejected Jesus and later regretted it. If he was predestined to reject Jesus, why did it later cause him such anguish?

@whatweretheythinking3274 I want to know this if God already knows who is going to accept the gift of salvation, then what does it mean by God choosing us in him before the foundation of the world.

@whatweretheythinking3274 About Judas, Jesus already knew that he was going to betray him, for it was in the scriptures in the Old Testament, Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him before he chose him.

@@Christopher-nq1dw What Jesus knew is that Judas would choose to betray him. But Jesus chose him. Every praise, every promise, every care and concern, every kindness, every confidence, etc. that Jesus showed his chosen, included Judas. Are you saying Jesus wasn't honest about choosing Judas? Was Jesus just leading Judas on all along? God relented to Abraham's pleas and saved Lot. The same happened at Nineveh. Ultimately, God is sovereign and knows who will reject him. But it isn't because God created some hearts for rejection.

@@Christopher-nq1dw God chooses all of us. The world. Every heart is made with a desire for God. Some will reject him. But that doesn't change the fact that all are chosen. The parable of the bridegroom is such a beautiful example of this. The bridegroom, Jesus, said go into the streets and invite everyone. He excluded no one. All accepted and freely came prepared for the feast, dressed in the righteous given by Jesus. But one man rejected that gift and came in his own dress. When it was time to feast, all were chosen to sit at the bridegroom table except the one who rejected the gift of salvation. That man was not given a seat with the bridegroom. But that didn't change the fact that he among the chosen.

Because they haven’t been called or chosen.

Because they haven’t been called or chosen YET. God beckons us - according to His preordained plan and TIME.

Exactly. We will NEVER willfully choose to walk away from our sin. It’s Gods work and he chooses. Sorry but it’s pretty clear and I know that makes many people angry. This is called pride because it allows you to think you were responsible for making this choice. Sorry but you’re not!

Amen!!!!

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, (Ephesians 1:4, ESV) These verses shoot down the idea of foreknowledge.