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You bet, Mike! Glad it was helpful.

Hi. Thanks for listening. I’ll address your questions here below: Christians agree on this: that Jesus is God. If one goes outside of this belief, he defines himself outside of the Christian faith, as the Jews did during Jesus’ day and today. When Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one,” the Jews hearing Him picked up stones to put Him to death for blasphemy. Christians are not making up what they want on this, but simply believing the things Jesus said and that the rest of the New Testament teaches clearly. John 1:1-14, John 10:30, and John 20:30-31 are clear on this; to simply pull a few of many that communicate this in the Gospel of John. In John 20:31, John summarizes the point of his Gospel when he writes that apart from belief that Jesus is God, a person does not have eternal life. Additionally, Jesus received worship in the Gospels (John 9:38, to give one place of many), which is another way the Bible shows this truth. Thus, if one person and another don’t agree that Jesus is God, it is not two Christians disagreeing, but a Christian disagreeing with a non-Christian. When a theologian in the 4th century, Arius, claimed that Jesus was not eternal God, he was identified by an international, ecumenical council, the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325), as being outside the parameters of Christian faith. They wrote, "We believe in . . . one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.” In regard to baseless claims, I’ve given a few above that are a basis for this belief and Scriptural evidence for it. In regard to Christianity being a cult, 2,000 years of people of all kinds have not called Christianity this, but there have been, of course, many cults that have arisen from Christianity. Ironically to this discussion, the chief identifier that has categorized all cults is a belief than Jesus is not fully God. Again, thanks for listening. I hope the above helps you with some the things you expressed.

@@ChristChurchClayton No, Christians don't agree that jesus is god. Unitarians, etc do not agree with you. Of course, you will likely claim that the only TrueChristians(tm) are your version, and alas, you can't show your version is any more true than the rest. Notably, not a single one of you can do what jesus promises to his true followers. All of you are frauds per your own bible. Yes, christains do make up what they want, and that's why there are dozens and dozens of different versions of Christianity. The gospel of john is what christians hang onto when they want to claim their jesus is their god. Unfortunately for them, the other gospels don't agree with the nonsense in John, showing again that christians simply made their stories up. And even in John, we have this; "28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. " John 14 and "17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” - John 20 How can god ascend to himself? and "44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment-what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”" John 12 Yep, christians have been claiming each other are wrong for thousands of years, and yep, not one of you can show that your claims are any better than the next. The Council of Nicea was just more of the same. That some cultists disagree with other cultists isn't anything new. That some people haven't called your cult a cult doesn't make it not a cult. Your religion aka cult is no different than other religions/cults. Your supposed messiah says to give up everything for the cult, including family. Many cults do that. And yes, you've all taken to calling each other cultists, heretics, satanists, etc and still not one of you can show you have the "right" version.

Thanks for listening!

Absolutely!

Amen! Thanks for listening. 👍

You bet. Thanks, Tom. Not many people think of Him that way (as king), but only as Savior. They haven’t been taught that it’s the king who saves his people (and that savior is a subcategory of king). Plus, Dispensationalism specifically teaches that Jesus is not king to the people of the Church and that He’s not now king. They teach it’s not until an earthly, millennial reign He’ll have over the Jews that He’ll be king. 90% of Christians have had no teaching that Jesus is king-and their king!

@@ChristChurchClayton great insight-- thanks!!

Sure is! Thanks, Tom.

Indeed. What an example Jesus is to all His flock! Thanks, Tom.

May Christ be praised, indeed! Glad He was in your listening, Tom. Thanks for the encouragement!

Very nice! Glad it’s helpful.

Thanks, Tom. Glad this ministered to you in this way! And, yes on being quick-to-repent over being perfect. :) A great relief!

So glad. Thank you for the encouragement!

Thank you, Tom! I appreciate your encouragement. Great seeing you yesterday.

He doesn’t! :)

Thanks so much, Tom. You are a great encourager! So glad these are helpful!

Super! Hope it went well!

Jesus is God with us, indeed, foreshadowed by that ark, coming into Jerusalem and dwelling with people! Glad that was helpful! Thanks for encouraging me, Tom!

That's the goal. He's the center, and what life's about! Thank you, Tom, for the constant encouragement. Your cup of cold water to this child will be rewarded greatly. So many discouragers to those serving Christ (gladly not in our church!), and you push back the tide of persecution. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Glad it helped!

Thanks, Tom, for your continued encouragement!

Thanks,Tom. You are a great encouragement to me!

Thanks, my friend. That’s the goal. I am just a servant of the great king (and He is awesomely wonderful!).

Thanks, Tom. David was a precursor of Jesus, his son, indeed! And, what an example of how God treats us and how we are to treat each other. When one “comes to his senses,” no matter what harm they have done to us (as the prodigal son and here Abner, seeing that blessing is through the house of David and that we fight for him), there is no probation period and no second-class citizenship in the Church. The repenter is simply forgiven and enfolded in the great king’s flock. The gospel, shown here by David and later fully realized by Jesus, is good.

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

You are kind. Thank you!

Great!!!

You’re welcome, Tom!

Hi. Thanks for listening. Here are some things I find helpful. One thing: in life and in the Scriptures, we speak of things or of persons being equal, but we rarely mean they are equal in every way. If one is born in North Carolina, he’s equal to Michael Jordan in that way, yet he is not equal to him in basketball skill or wealth. With my siblings, I am equally the child of our mom and dad; yet, I am not their equals in age nor, in the case of my sister, in gender. I am an equal to my wife in days married, yet am not an equal to her in ability to play the piano; nor is she my equal in soccer skill. All this to make the point: you can be equal in some ways to something or someone else, but rarely (or never) is something equal to something or someone else in every way. Regarding Jesus, there are many ways Jesus is equal to the Father. He is a person of the godhead/the Trinity, and is divine like the Father. Pastors and elders through the Christian centuries have agreed that Jesus is not less divine, but is equally divine as the Father. Those who have declared otherwise have been deemed heretics. Jesus was not created nor was and is He a secondary divine being. Such has been deemed heresy from the earliest times of the Church onward. Hence, the statements of the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), when Arius said that Jesus was a created being and the Church declared Him a heretic. The Church has agreed with Nicea without wavering, up to this day, in disagreement with Arius’s view that Jesus was a lesser divinity. A second aspect I find helpful: Each person of the Trinity has different roles. For instance, the Father doesn’t die on the cross. Jesus does, as that was His role, not the Father’s and not the Holy Spirit’s. One of the roles we see of the Father is that He is the head of the Trinity. He decrees what is to be. He is the one who has decided to entrust all judgment to the Son, for instance (John 5:22, 27). And, as Jesus said in this passage, Jesus never transgresses the Father’s decree/will. He always does the Father’s will and He only speaks words the Father has commanded Him to speak (John 5:24, 7:17, 8:28, 12:49). I believe it’s in reference to the Father’s headship in the Trinity that Jesus spoke that the Father is greater than He (John 14:28, which you quoted). A third and last thing I’ll mention that I find helpful is this: Jesus is accused specifically of “making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18). Jesus could have answered, “I am not.” He didn’t answer that way. With such a heavy accusation, and with the Jews “trying all the harder to kill Him” (5:18) because of what He had just said, if Jesus were not equal with the Father, I find it too difficult to believe that Jesus wouldn’t have set the Jews (and the Church, reading John) straight with a simple and clear denial that He was not equal to the Father. Instead, He stacks on top of each other several ways that He and the Father are the same (equal): they do the same things (5:19), speak the same words, Jesus words are the Father’s words (5:24), they both have life in themselves (5:21, 26), they both raise the dead (5:21, 28-29), and they both are worthy of honor (5:23). Thus, I can’t conclude that Jesus is arguing against the Jews' accusation that He is making Himself equal to God. He gives no denial of their accusation, does not defend Himself from it, and adds a lot in His answer that would make them think-rightly-that He owns/agrees with their claim. So, in conclusion, Jesus and the Father are equal in many, but not all ways. Jesus highlights some ways in this passage that He and the Father are equal, as the Jews had rightly surmised, despite themselves. I hope that helps! Again, thanks for listening. I appreciate it.

Tom, your words are always an encouragement. Thank you!

Thanks, Tom.

Great! Yes, the “Jesus was repenting for us” view of His baptism never seemed to fit. John the baptist and Jesus is Samuel and David in 1 Samuel 16, done one final time to indicate who the Father’s choice was for king. The parallels between Samuel’s birth and John the baptist’s are enormous, and, of course, Jesus is the son of David. Acts 4:27 and 10:38, too. Thanks, as always, for your encouragement, Tom!

He will!!! Great news.

Thanks much, Tom! I appreciate your encouragement. Glad you’re getting to appreciate Jesus’ kingship better. That was totally foreign to me (His kingship), and I’ve grown in it, too. It makes great sense of His declaring (and the Gospel writers writing) that the good news was the kingdom of God and its having arrived. When He is king, and you’re in His kingdom, things are really, really good for you. All the kingdom stuff is defined so thoroughly in the Old Testament that Jesus didn’t need to explain it to His fellow Jews when He was here. They knew the definition of king and kingdom. We don’t, but can, as we learn it from the Old Testament better. Again, glad it’s helped. Thanks, again, for your constant encouragement to me.

I also am not! Yes, reminders are necessary! Jesus is a better king than you and I. Glad you were encouraged. Thanks, Tom!

Thanks, Tom. Truth! Why waste time and life on the musings of men, right?

Thanks, Tom. Glad for your listening!