Title: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edition: First Copyright: Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1998, Parsons Technology, Inc.
Publisher: Parsons Technology, Inc.
Publisher Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
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Members Of The True Christian Church need not worry about What goes into the Abyss.
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The Abyss is strickly for the handling of those predestined for the Lake of Fire and Brimstone after the final judgement
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I ACCEPT the Gospel
I accept the Gospel because it is true
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We Must Accept The Gospel Of Eternal Life Through Jesus Christ Our Lord
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accept,approval, agree, consent
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Accept the gospel is the message going out to all mankind as the Holy Spirit brings salvation to those given to the son by the father
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Accept the gospel or perish in everlasting destruction goes out to the fallen adamic race whether Jew or Gentile
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39 My child, it will be better for you if you accept my decisions without complaint. Do not ask me to defend my actions or to explain why one person is favored and another seems slighted. The answers to these questions go far beyond your comprehension.
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471)
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1 Corinthians 2:1-16
Preaching in the Power of God
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come and tell you about God’s secret£ with rhetorical language or wisdom. 2For while I was with you I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3It was in weakness, fear, and great trembling that I came to you. 4My message and my preaching were not accompanied by clever words of wisdom, but by a display of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.
God’s Spirit Reveals Everything
6However, when we are among mature people, we do speak a message of£ wisdom, but not the wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are passing off the scene. 7Instead, we speak about God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden, which God destined for our glory before the world began.£ 8None of the rulers of this world understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. 9But as it is written,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.ӣ
10But£ God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.
11Is there anyone who can understand his own thoughts except by his own inner spirit? In the same way, no one can know the thoughts of God except God’s Spirit.
12Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we might understand the things that were freely given to us by God.
13We do not speak about these things in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words£ taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people.£ 14A person who is not spiritual does not accept the things of God’s Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually evaluated. 15But the spiritual person evaluates everything, though he himself is subject to no one else’s evaluation. 16For “Who has known the mind of the Lord so that he can advise him?”£ However, we have the mind of Christ.
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Romans 15:1-33
Please Others, Not Yourselves
1Now we who are strong ought to be patient with the weaknesses of those who are not strong and must stop pleasing ourselves. 2Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself. Instead, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”£ 4For everything that was written long ago was written for our instruction, so that we might have hope through the endurance and encouragement that the Scriptures give us.£
5Now may God, the source of endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other as you follow Christ Jesus£ 6so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ accepted you,£ for the glory of God. 8For I tell you that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth in order to confirm the promises given to our forefathers 9so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“That is why I will praise£ you among the Gentiles;
I will sing praises to your name.ӣ
10 Again he says,
“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people!”£
11And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!
Let all the nations£ praise him.”£
12And again, Isaiah says,
“There will be a Root£ from Jesse. He will rise up to rule the Gentiles,
and the Gentiles will hope in him.ӣ
13Now may God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s Desire to Take the Gospel to the Whole World
14I myself am convinced,£ my brothers, that you yourselves are filled with goodness and full of all the knowledge you need to be able to instruct each other. 15However, on some points I have written to you rather boldly, both as a reminder to you and because of the grace given me by God 16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable because it has been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17Therefore, in Christ Jesus I have the right to boast about my work for God. 18For I am bold enough to tell you only about what Christ has accomplished through me in bringing the Gentiles to obedience. By my words and actions, 19by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit,£ I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum. 20My one ambition is to proclaim the gospel where the name of Christ is not known, lest I build on someone else’s foundation. 21Rather as it is written,
“Those who were never told about him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”£
Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome
22This is why I have so often been hindered in coming to you. 23But now, having no further opportunities in these regions, I have the desire to come to you, as I have had for many years. 24Now that I am on my way to Spain, I hope to see you when I come your way and, after I have enjoyed your company for a while, to