Category: Salvation

Are you a visitor or a Christian?


In churches you sometimes see little cards to quantify if you are a visitor to the church. When you fill out one of these you admit that you are “just visiting” but what about the members of the church? Are you just visiting? Why do I ask this question? Because some people who come to church on Sunday morning don’t even darken the door at any other time. Some come to Sunday school and church on Sunday morning but you don’t see or hear from them until the next Sunday and this covers many people in the church today. To explain what I mean when I say that you are “just visiting” even when you attend every Sunday morning I want to ask a question of you: Does anyone at your place of business or your workplace know that you are a Christian? I am not speaking of those who may know that you attend church on Sunday. I am asking you if they can see the influence of Jesus in your work and in your speech when you are at work?

Or do you sound like everyone else at work and in public? Do you act like those around you when you are away from your church or can they see Jesus in your everyday life?

See, visitors who attend church only get a little bit of what is available to each of us. When you are committed to Jesus and your walk with Him goes out of the church and into the world then you are NOT visiting…you are being the church which Jesus wants us to be. Because, how are your co-workers going to know about Him if you don’t show Him to them in your life and your words? In many parts of America only twenty percent of people even attend church so if you aren’t taking Jesus with you then how will the other eighty percent find out about Him?

Many of us don’t even invite other people to come to our church so how will they ever find out about their Savior unless you show them how He has changed your life? God sent Jesus to the entire world and everyone in it. While it is true that He came to the Israelites first His message was intended for everyone. So how will it get to everyone if the church (people who are committed to Jesus) doesn’t carry the message outside the church building?

The world and those living in it have eternity ahead of them and you have a message to give them about Jesus Who can bring salvation to their lives and give them an eternity worth dying for. Because each of us has an eternal soul and whether you decide to follow Jesus and know Him as your Savior or not has an impact on your destination to live out your eternity. If you aren’t sure about your salvation or where you will spend eternity I would suggest that you take care of that as soon as possible. Not one person is guaranteed to see tomorrow and if you die tonight your eternity begins at that point. The question still remains: where will you spend eternity?

There is a chapter in the New Testament which the Apostle Paul wrote which gives a clear description of your life and mine as believers in Christ. Read chapter 8 in Romans and you will see. We are responsible for our lives and what we say and do here on Earth. We cannot be sinless because we sin every day. There are no sinless people on Earth, Christian or not because we cannot be sinless. Our life is given to us every day by God Himself and if you are a Christian we should be telling others about our Savior especially if we aren’t sure about their salvation and especially if they aren’t sure of it either.

Don’t be a visitor in church, be a disciple who takes God’s Word and your Salvation in Christ out into the world around you so others can see it and hear about Him. Be doers of the Word not just hearers only.

Salvation in Jesus


Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/act.4.12.KJV

Today’s question is…


Why have people, young and old, left the church? Are they not satisfied with God? Are they bored with the sermons that they hear? Are they really listening with their heart…their soul even when they are at church or reading God’s Word? All of these questions need to be asked of the church, the people who make up the church. When you read these questions I want to ask you to do one thing for me and for Jesus: place “you” where the word “they” comes in the sentence. Then re-word the sentence to read: Am I…._______.

Most of us don’t think of this when we are in church. Especially when we have grown up going to church with our parents. We think because we’ve been in “the church” all of our lives that we are covered…that we are Christians like it says in the Bible. We don’t really break any of the Ten Commandments (at least in our minds) or do we? The answer to the last question is a resounding YES! We do break the commandments every day even if you’ve spent your entire life in the church. We cannot keep the commandments without Jesus or without His blood covering our sins. Do Christians wander from their faith sometimes? Yes, they do but eventually that spark in your chest, the Spirit in your soul will show you what you’re doing wrong and steer you back to the right path.

What if I’m not listening to the Spirit in my heart? What if I can’t feel His conviction of my sin or feel convicted by Him? Well….you might want to consider that your salvation may be counterfeit. You felt His Presence and you went down and talked to the preacher and came back and got baptized. Then you spent the next few years trying to do all of the things that you know that Christians do and don’t do, then you felt a temptation from something or someone and you began moving in that direction and away from “church people”. You felt a little guilty about it but eventually even that went away.

What now? Seek Him out in the Bible and find a true Christian friend or your pastor who can guide you back to Jesus. It isn’t a long trip because He never left you. Why do I say this so easily? Because I did it myself. I got wet a few times actually. I thought my conversion was real and I went through the baptism at least twice, maybe three times, but later I found that I was still feeling empty inside. We can fool ourselves into believing that we are saved even when we aren’t and that is a very dangerous place to be in. If you died, you would stand at the judgement seat and you might confess that you believed in Jesus but He would say “I don’t know you”. What a horrible way to start eternity.

Some of us have had family praying for us which has kept us fairly safe until the day we finally find our way to Jesus. If it weren’t for those people, a brother or a sister or your mother or your grandmother praying for your salvation your life would be stretched on a very thin string. If you could see what that string was keeping you from falling into….you would run to Jesus. God has provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus’ blood. Believe in Jesus for your salvation because the time grows shorter every day. Seek Him for your eternity depends upon your position of belief in Jesus. Eternity is there without Jesus but it will be without life or love or joy because you will be in a place of torment. Make sure of your destination and that it will be with Him.

In hell there will be no light nor water for Life, only weeping and mourning because of your choices. Make the right choice now.

The Earth belongs to God


The earth is the Lord’s , and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Psalms 24:1‭-‬2 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.24.1-2.KJV

Are we living during the last days?


pestilence
1: a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating

Matthew 24: 4 …Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

False Christs 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

According to the predictions of Jesus and the book of Revelation, I believe we are at the point where Jesus says that “these are the beginning of sorrows”. The last days can last for a few years before any of the other signs begin to be fulfilled and there are no dates or indications in the Bible that point to a certain year or anything that we can use as a specific sign. We don’t know the day or the hour. It could happen tonight or next year or in six months. The timing is up to God and He knows the exact time that He will send His angels to gather the church from the Earth.

Will this happen in our lifetime? Yes, I do believe that it will because the signs that we can see and read from God’s Word all point toward a time when news videos can be transmitted all over the world as they happen. We are living in that time.

God has provided a way for every person who is seeking salvation to have it through belief in Jesus for their salvation. He is the only way and if you want to be a part of the church that He began with His disciples, I would ask you to seek Him out as your Savior soon. The clock is ticking closer to that time but once the church is taken away it will be even harder for anyone to accept Him as their Savior. Read the chapter that I have highlighted above in the link and also the book of Revelation and Daniel chapter 9 and following.

Don’t turn away from His call on your life and in your heart. If you have felt it please turn to Him even on your bed at night and ask Him to be your Savior and Lord. A child can do it and you can too.

We are not condemned…


Amen

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.8.1.KJV

God has provided a way…


I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/gal.2.20.KJV

If you’ve never believed in Jesus for your salvation, I urge you to reconsider your eternity. One day soon, the Lord will come for those who belong to Him and if you are not part of that number, you will regret it.

Disciples should teach others


The word disciple conjures up ideas and ideals which most of us today really don’t think we can pull off. But today our country and the families in it has taken up the profession of teaching and teaching is part and parcel discipleship. What about looking at it in this way: apprenticeship. This concept has been a part of many shops and businesses ever since a father or an uncle in the past wanted someone to carry on the family business. Sometimes it may not be a family member, it could be a man who asks to become your apprentice. The teaching which we are having to practice now is a type of discipleship which parents are having to get into without any training at all.

If we practice discipleship in church and in our homes with our family, teaching is not so hard to do. Pray about how you can do it and what needs to be taught. The Word of God needs to be at the center of home-based schooling now and from this point on. God’s Wisdom and teaching should be the beginning of all of our schooling at home from this point on because when we are teaching our children at home, the home is the school not a government funded school. This is how God had intended for us, as parents, to do with our children and it is in the Old Testament. This is not some new idea, nor is it a “new age” type of teaching.

If the next generation is going to grow up to know anything about God it is up to the parents to teach them. They will learn some interesting facts from going to church and maybe Bible school in the summer but the most useful learning is actually done at home. Children young and old need to see that their parents are invested in their faith in God and most importantly in Jesus as their Savior. If children don’t see this at home then church or Bible school will not have much influence on them. They will know about God and Jesus Christ but they won’t have a solid foundation in their faith because the foundation has to start at home.

Disciple your family. Teach them about Jesus so that both you and they can learn that Jesus was part of the plan from the very beginning. He didn’t just show up in the New Testament, He has been part of the Trinity since before the universe was created. Read the Bible with your family and discuss what you have read because this “social distance” thing is keeping some churches from meeting. The church began in homes so make sure to do so now in order to make Jesus a part of your family and you will be part of His family too. Stay as safe as possible but don’t push Bible study and Jesus out just because you aren’t meeting in a church building…the people are the church.

Love doesn’t add sorrow but rejoices with you in all things


Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 1 Corinthians 13:6 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/1co.13.6/613

Hope only in Jesus


Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/1pe.1.3/2627