THE
BIBLE PRAYER LINE – Bible Questions Answered
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Bible
Prayer Line Index
Bible Questions Answered:
“I
read Acts 13:48, does God determine who will be saved or lost?...”
Vern/
Raleigh, North Carolina U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Texts:
Acts 13:44-49 NLT (Paul And Barnabas Turn to the Gentiles)
44
The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them
preach The Word Of The Lord.
45
But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they
slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46
Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was
necessary that we first preach The Word Of God to you Jews. But since
you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal Life,
we will offer it to the Gentiles.
47
For The Lord gave us this command when He said, ‘I have made you a
light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of
the earth.’”
48
When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked The
Lord for His message; and all who were chosen for eternal Life
became believers.
49
So The Lord’s message spread throughout that region.
Acts
13:48 KJV
And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified The Word
Of The Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal Life
believed.
Other
Versions:
Acts
13:48 BSB
When
the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified The Word Of The
Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal Life believed.
Acts
13:48 ISV
When
the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying The Word
Of The Lord. Meanwhile, all who had been destined to eternal
Life believed,
Acts
13:48 WNT
The
Gentiles listened with delight and extolled The Lord's Message; and
all who were pre-destined to the Life of the Ages believed.
Acts
13:48 AMP
When
the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying
[praising and giving thanks for] The Word Of The Lord; and all those
who had been appointed (designated, ordained) to eternal Life
[by God] believed [in Jesus as The Christ and their Savior].
Acts
13:48 CEV
This
message made the Gentiles glad, and they praised what they had heard
about The Lord. Everyone who had been chosen for eternal Life
then put their faith in The Lord.
Acts
13:48 NOG
The
people who were not Jews were pleased with what they heard and
praised The Lord’s Word. Everyone who had been prepared for
everlasting Life believed.
Acts
13:48 NRSV
When
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised The Word Of The
Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal Life became
believers.
Acts
13:48 WYC
And
heathen men heard, and joyed, and glorified The Word Of The Lord; and
believed, as many as were before-ordained to everlasting Life.
Gentiles, who were...
Appointed
Before-Ordained
Chosen
Designated
Destined
Ordained
Pre-Destined
Prepared For
...came to The Lord.
When a person just reads Acts 13:48, he could reason, God selects
people to be saved or lost, but oh how wrong that kind of thinking
would be!
The all important question arises, (why did God choose them?)
Albert Einstein once said, "God does not play dice with the
universe." And most certainly He does not play dice with the
lives of men and women!
The absolute answer to Acts 13:48 is something called “The
Foreknowledge Of God.”
Our Lord said through His foreknowledge...
John
6:64,70,71 NLT
64
But some of you do not believe Me.” (For Jesus knew from the
beginning which ones didn’t believe, and He knew who would
betray Him.)
70
Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.”
71
He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve,
who would later betray Him.
John
13:1,11 KJV
1
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His
hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto The
Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them
unto the end.
11
For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all
clean.
John
18:4 KJV
Jesus
therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went
forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
John
19:28 KJV
After
this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
What Christian, would dare to say that our all powerful God, does not
have absolute and complete, foreknowledge?
Well, He does!
Romans
8:28-30 KJV
28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
29
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be The Firstborn
among many brethren.
30
Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He
called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also
glorified.
Romans
8:28-30 NLT
28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good
of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for
them.
29
For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them
to become like His Son, so that His Son would be The Firstborn among
many brothers and sisters.
30
And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having
called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having
given them right standing, He gave them His glory.
Ephesians
1:3-5 KJV
3
Blessed be The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ:
4
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
5
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Ephesians
1:3-5 NLT
3
All praise to God, The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms
because we are united with Christ.
4
Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ
to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
5
God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us
to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do,
and it gave Him great pleasure.
In the eons of time past, Almighty God, saw and knew all of us, and
He knew what our choices would be in life. Nothing, but nothing,
takes our God by surprise! Our God's foreknowledge is perfect and
complete.
Seeing that there would be those who would love God, and turn to The
Savior, He chose to ordain their lives for blessings and life!
Romans
8:29 KJV
For
whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate...”
Romans
8:29 NLT
For
God knew His people in advance...”
Romans
8:29,30 NLT
29
He chose them to become like His Son
30
And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having
called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having
given them right standing, He gave them His glory.
God's Foreknowledge:
Psalm
139:4,16 KJV
4
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
16
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book
all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm
145:7 KJV
Great
is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
Isaiah
41:4 KJV
Who
hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?
I The Lord, The First, and with The Last; I am He.
Isaiah
42:8,9 KJV
8 I
am The Lord: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to
another, neither My praise to graven images.
9
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I
declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah
44:7,8 NLT
7
Who is like Me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let
him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people
and explained its future.
8 Do
not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim My purposes for you
long ago? You are My witnesses—is there any other God? No! There is
no other Rock—not one!”
Isaiah
46:9,10 KJV
9
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none
else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all My pleasure:
Jeremiah
1:5 NLT (The Lord's
message to Jeremiah)
“I
knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were
born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah
29:11 NLT
For
I know the plans I have for you,” says The Lord. “They are plans
for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Daniel
2:20,28 KJV
20
Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and
ever: for wisdom and might are His:
28
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known
to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy
dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
John
8:58 KJV
Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I
am.
Acts
2:23 NLT
But
God knew what would happen, and His prearranged plan was carried out
when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you
nailed Him to a cross and killed Him.
Acts
3:18 NLT
But
God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about The
Messiah—that He must suffer these things.
Acts
4:27,28 NLT
27
“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod
Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel were all united against Jesus, your Holy Servant, whom you
anointed.
28
But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your
will.
Acts
15:18 KJV
Known
unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.
Romans
11:2,33,34 KJV
2
God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew..."
33 O
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
34
For who hath known the mind of The Lord? or who hath been His
counselor?
Ephesians 1:3-8 NLT (Spiritual Blessings)
3
All praise to God, The Father Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms
because we are united with Christ.
4
Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ
to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
5
God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us
to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it
gave Him great pleasure.
6 So
we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who
belong to His dear Son.
7 He
is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with
The Blood of His Son and forgave our sins.
8 He
has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and
understanding.
I
Peter 1:2 KJV
Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God The Father, through
sanctification of The Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of The
Blood Of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
I
John 3:20 NLT
Even
if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows
everything.
Revelation
13:8 NLT
And
all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are
the ones whose names were not written in The Book Of Life that
belongs to The Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.
God saw us, knew us, and our decisions concerning The Lamb slain
before the foundations of the world.
Those
who loved Him, and His precious Son, were ordained (set apart), for
His blessings.
Romans
8:29 NLT
For
God knew His people in advance...”
Romans
8:29,30 NLT
29
He chose them to become like His Son
30
And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having
called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having
given them right standing, He gave them His glory.
His
Eye Is On The Sparrow
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Author: Civilla D. Martin
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV19P73HFBs
Prayer:
Dear friend, have you received The Lord Jesus as your
own personal Savior?
John 1:12,13 NLT
12 But to all who believed Him and
accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.
13
They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human
passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
John 6:37,40,47 KJV
37 “...him that cometh to Me I
will in no wise cast out.”
40 And this is the will of Him that
sent Me, that every one which seeth The Son, and believeth on Him,
may have everlasting Life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
47
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath
everlasting life.
II Corinthians 6:2 NLT For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
