Posts Tagged ‘christian salvation’
When you feel that you are not as good as other people, you are dark, ugly, rough complexion, unattractive, very short and nobody likes you. You feel that you are nobody, a failure. All these feelings will make you feel hurt and cause you pain. These are all feelings of inferiority.
Feeling of inferiority is caused by accepting the wrong values of the world. We know that wrong thinking leads to wrong actions and wrong feelings. It also bring about wrong reactions also.
These are all of Satan’s lies
World values are physical outlook, worldly wisdom, status and wealth in terms of money and materials. Most young people think that they must have these things in order to be accepted by the society and their own peers.
Satan tricks us by telling as that a person’s look is one of the very important things in life. Because of this wrong worldly value, young girls and women spend a lot of money to make themselves look attractive, beautiful and even younger. Some of them even go through plastic surgery in order to have double eye-lids or make their noses sharper.
However, in GOD’S kingdom, God wants us to see that our worth as a person does not depend on our outward appearance. He tells us, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)
Our value is not determined by how smart, how intelligent, how highly educated or how learned we are.
God never values a person by how intelligence he is. He chose plain, ordinary people to be His disciples. He does not choose people who are useful but He chooses people who can be used by Him as a vessel of honor yielded to Him for His glory and His service.
The Bible says,
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth ” (I Corinthians 1:26)
Christians are supposed to be simple and plain in their habits and behavior. It is all about our manner, our speech, our dress, our behavior. The very soul of our beauty should be simplicity.
Christians should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Always be kind-hearted, tender hearted and seeking to win others over by the gentleness of our words and actions. Christians should not use harsh words! They must have a heart of compassion towards those who need their words of encouragement.
The gospel is the message of the God of love to a depraved, lost and fallen world. Christ’s last command to his disciples was, “Love one another.”
The gospel of Christ is holy. It never excuses sin but it pardons sins – only through atonement only. The way that we speak, think and act must always be in line with the word of God.
The greatest joy that a Christian can have is the joy of be able to lead someone to Christ.
All Christians are God’s instruments in the salvation of others.
All Christians have the privilege of leading people to Christ, every Christian is called upon by the Lord to witness for Christ, and every Christian can be a soul-winner.
Lord Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)
The Bible tells us that, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”(John 3:36)
God values the souls of men that He sent His only Son to die on the cross so that men might be saved.
To be able to win souls effectively, we must know how to use the Word of God. We must have a good working knowledge of the Bible.
We have to read our Bible daily, to memorize the Scriptures, to have a Quiet Time with the Lord. Most of all, we must have the power of God to help us. This power comes from the Holy Spirit.
When Lord Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the gospel to every creature, He also promised to give them the power of the Holy Spirit to help them. He said,
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
On the day of Pentecost, all the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter stood up and preached in the power of the Holy Spirit and about 3,000 souls were saved.
Every believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.
It is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin and shows them their need of a Savior, and it is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ to them.
Before we share the gospel to others, let ask the Holy Spirit to fill us so that we can be an effective soul-winner for Christ.
The word “gospel” means “good news” and the good news is that Christ died for our sins and rose again to be our living Savior.
Paul tells us, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures “(I Corinthians 15:1,3,4)
To lead someone to Christ, we simply have to explain four basic truths of the gospel to them
- The fact of sin.
- The penalty of sin is death
- Christ had paid for our penalty.
- In order to be saved, we must receive Christ.
To lead a person to Christ, we have to show him from God’s Word that he is a sinner, read Romans 3:10—12 verses to them. Make him read Romans 3:23 to make him realize that he is a sinner. Tell him/her that he/she needs to repent and be willing to give up his sins in order to be saved. Show him from God’s Word that the penalty of sin is death.
Make him/her read, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”(Luke 13:5)
Tell him/her that we cannot save ourselves, so God gave Jesus to us to be our Savior.
Show him/her John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Then turn to John 1:12, and ask him/her to read this verse.
How to become a child of God? By receiving the Lord Jesus. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God ”
Then, you can ask him/her these questions: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that He died on the cross for your sins and rose again? Do you believe that He is able to save you? Do you believe that He is willing to save you? Do you believe that He would come into your heart and save you right now if you asked Him to?
If the answer to these questions is “Yes,”
then you can ask him/her, “Would you like to invite Lord Jesus to come into your heart right now? If yes, then pray this prayer with me:
“Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. Please forgive me of my sins and iniquities. I believe that You are the Son of God, and that You died on the cross for my sins and that you rose again to save me. Please come into my heart right now, and be my Savior and my God.” Amen
Our relationship with God is built on the foundation of an unbreakable blood covenant that God first made with Abraham and then with Jesus Christ.
God made the blood sacred. In all the covenant making, the blood has always had special importance.
When people of the Old Testament times enter into a blood covenant with each other, blood was looked upon not only a symbol of life but also the very life itself. It was the priority relationship. It superseded all family relationships. A blood brother was closer than a natural born brother.
The blood covenant is also a pledge. It’s the pledge of life, it was a totally unqualified commitment of each one to the other. Failure to live up to the demands of that covenant meant death. When two people or families made a blood covenant together, if one person were to break that covenant the other party was obligated, by the terms of the covenant, to kill the covenant breaker.
This was symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on our behalf to atone for our sin.
Exodus 4:24-26 tells us that when Moses was on his way back to Egypt. “The Lord met him to kill him.” Moses had broken the terms of the covenant because he had not circumcised his son which was the sign and the seal of that blood covenant. God, by the terms of that covenant, was obligated to come down and to challenge Moses. If Moses refused to abide by the terms of the covenant God would have to kill him. The terms were fulfilled and Moses’ life was spared. We must realize this is a powerful pledge.
Similarly, God is obligated to fulfill His part of the terms of the covenant. God is alive, He cannot die because He is the source of life, therefore, God cannot break His blood covenant with you and I. The pledge is irrevocable.
In the Old Testament times the pouring out of blood in animal sacrifice and an eating of that flesh was a sacred ceremony that brought the participants into communion with our God. They made the sacrifices, spilled the blood, went through the ceremony, and then ate the flesh of the sacrificial animal, symbolically they were becoming at one with their god.
When we go through the Bible, we find many times where God talks about “cutting a covenant” or “remembering a covenant.” Throughout the Scriptures we find little scattering of how a covenant was made. We have it here in Gen. 15, we have it in the story of David and Jonathan, and we also have it in many other stories.
We need to understand how solid the promises of God are to you and I. God is 100% committed, He doesn’t look for loopholes.
God has put the body of Christ together as it has pleased Him. In the members of Christ, when one member is strong another will be weak and you’re weak I will be strong. Sometimes we get upset with one another because we compare our strength with their weakness and wonder why they cannot be like us. We need others to support us in our weaknesses while we support them in their weak areas. When we do that the body of Christ will function in strength and in perfect harmony.
We know that God is perfect and complete in every way. How could God have an area of weakness? God doesn’t have an area of weakness but God has a desire. God created us because of His Love and His own free will. God desired and had a heart for a family. He created Adam and Eve that the earth might be filled with a Godly seed that related to God as children relate to their father.
When sin came in and destroyed that relationship, a blood covenant was cut because God wanted something that we could provide. We needed forgiveness. We needed to have fellowship with God. We needed God’s provision. We needed God’s strength. We needed God’s health. We needed all of these things and so God’s strength flows to our weakness and a covenant was cut from strength to weakness.
”He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)
Because of God’s covenant with us, we don’t have to carry anymore condemnation. We don’t have to carry sickness, diseases, bondages and attacks of the enemy anymore. God’s strength flows to our weakness. God’s committed to us by covenant. He didn’t spare His only Son, He made Him the covenant, He made Him the covenant sacrifice.
What is your area of weakness? Is it physical, spiritual, mental? God’s strength flows to that. By His stripes we were healed.
If it involves spiritual or mental sin in our lives, what we need is to REPENT – repent means not only to be sorry for but also to turn away from our sin, our weakness because His strength will flow to your weakness. You’re free because the covenant blood has already been shed, and you’re free. It’s yours.
We have a Savior who is our covenant, who is our representative and who is also the representative of heaven. By the blood of Calvary, the families of heaven and earth have become one.
Those who are saved must help to tell those who are unsaved about Jesus.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:18)
One must believe in Lord Jesus, then only he or she can call on Him. One must hear of Lord Jesus, then only can he or she believe in Him. One cannot hear of Him unless someone tells him or her. Therefore, chrstians must go and share the Good News with them about Jesus, so that they will be saved also.
But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ( Romans 10:14-15)
Many in the world are still living in spiritual darkness and under the deceptive powers of Satan. Some have never seen a Bible before, some have never heard the name of Jesus Christ before.
Lord Jesus has commanded us to preach the gospel to every creature.
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)
We must obey our Lord, to take the gospel to the lost. The Bible tells us,
“If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”(Ezekiel 3:18)
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. “(John 4:35)
Lord Jesus said, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into His harvest.”(Luke 10:2)
We have to do all we can to bring the gospel to those who have not heard it before, to those who are lost, so that they will have a chance to be saved.
It means that every believer can come directly to God without going through a priest.
Lord Jesus is our Great High Priest. We can confess our sins directly to God and receive forgiveness directly from God.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5)
It also means that all believers should serve God.
Lord Jesus Himself has chosen us and ordained us to serve Him.
As christians, we are to love, obey, and serve our God. Every believer should be a worshipper, reading bible everyday and a soul winner. He/she must obey what the Lord commands us to do and to follow His teachings as written in the Bible.
The church is not a building or an organization; it is the living body of Christ, and it functions as a body. Paul said to the believers in Corinthians.
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”(I Corinthians 12:27)
We are the body of Christ. Christ is the Head of our body. The great truth is we are Christ’s body, we must work together as the body of Christ.” A local church should function as a living body.
In the human body, we have many different members — eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, fingers, legs, tongues and feet. All are different parts, but all are equally important and are all needed for the body to function well.
Christ’s body has many members also. They are all different but all are equally important.
The Bible tells us, “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” (I Corinthians 12 :14- 21)
Every member of Christ’s body must function. When any member of the body cannot function, the whole body will suffer. Every believer is a member of Christ’s body and has a function each which is vital to the body. The Bible says that the body of Christ must build itself up in love.
In order for the body to function properly all members must obey the head – Christ.
We must subject to Christ, it means we must subject to God’s Word. We must also submit to those whom God has placed as leaders in our church.
The Bible says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage ” (Hebrews 13:17)
The local church is not perfect, it is made up of imperfect people such as you and I. When the church assembles together, every member of the body of Christ has a God-given responsibility to attend to and participate including children, young people, and adults. Each member must answer to the Lord for his or her failure to perform his or her duties.
The body of Christ needs one another. One cannot become a strong Christian unless he or she share in the life of the body. When we meet with the other members of Christ’s body, we can draw strength and life from the members of the body.
God wants a body, a whole body, and not just a member here and there?
Lord Jesus gave His church two ordinances. An ordinance is a ceremony ordained by Christ which pictures a spiritual truth. We are still observing the two same ordinances till today:-
- Baptism
- The Lord’s Supper.
What Is Baptism?
Baptism – a ceremony which pictures our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
- When we stand in the water to be baptized, we testify to the fact that we are crucifying ourselves with Christ on the cross.
- When we are placed under the water, it pictures our burial with Christ.
- When we are lifted up out of the water, it pictures our resurrection with Him.
Our Lord Jesus commanded every one who believes in Him to be baptized. It is a command! By baptism we are giving our testimony to the public that from now onwards, we belong to Jesus, we are united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. We do not belong to the Kingdom of darkness anymore, now we are in the Kingdom of light.
What Is The Lord’s Supper?
The Lord’s Supper – a time of remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross.
- The cup which we drink represents His blood which was shed for our sins and iniquities.
- The bread of which we partake represents His body which was broken for us.
The Bible tells us that we are to observe the Lord’s Supper till Jesus comes again.
When we speak of “the law of God”? We mean the commandments of God. God’s law is the expression of His will – it tells us what things are right and what things are wrong in God’s sight.
On Mount Sinai God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. God wrote these commandments on tables of stone with His own finger.
God’s law includes more than just the Ten Commandments. There are many other commandments of God in the Bible and these are included in His holy law.
“And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers “(Deuteronomy 6:18)
When we break God’s law, we commit sin, and we know that sin results in death.
The Bible says, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”( I John 3:4)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
No man has kept God’s law perfectly. No one, other than the Lord Jesus.
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”( Romans 3:20)
What The Law Could Not Do
God’s law is good, and holy, and righteous, but there are three things that it could not do.
- The law could not forgive sin.
- The law could not give eternal life.
- The law could not make men good.
The law told men what they should do, but it could not give them the power to do it. What did the law do?
- The law condemned the sinner.
- The law tells men that they need a Savior.
The Bible says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. “( Romans 3:20)
God’s law not only showed a man that he was a sinner, but it also condemned him to death.
The Bible says, “The soul that sins, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20a)
The purpose of the law is TO BRING US TO CHRIST THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24)
What Christ did for us when He saved us.
- Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.
- Christ delivered us from the dominion of the law.
- Christ came to live in us.
The law demanded perfect obedience. Those who broke God’s holy law will come under the curse of the law.
The Bible says, “Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Galatians 3:10b)
Because we had broken God’s law, we were condemned to death, but Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Christ bore the penalty of the broken law for us, He died for us. The Bible says,
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13)
The fact that we were crucified with Christ is the basis for victory over every enemy in the Christian life. By our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, we have been delivered from the power of sin, Self, the flesh, the world, and Satan.
This is our standing in Christ, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”(Philippians 4:13)
The Christian life is Christ living His life in me.
Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)
We live it by faith, TRUSTING CHRIST TO LIVE HIS LIFE IN US. Christ lives in us, and as we count on Him to live His life in us, He is faithful to do this.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
Satan goes about “as a roaring lion” tempting, deceiving and destroying the children of God. No child of God is able to overcome this terrible enemy by himself. We can overcome him only through Christ.
God’s Word tells us,
“Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”
(Ephesians 6:10)
We are not to be strong in ourselves, but we are to be strong in the Lord. Christ is the Victor over Satan.
We can overcome satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word our testimony, and we love not our lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)
Satan is a deceiver and a murderer, one of his main attacks against Christians is accusing them. He is also called “the accuser of the brethren.”
Satan accuses us before God, and he also accuses us in our minds. He tells us that we are useless, we are not worthy. He also tells us that we are weak and sinful and so on ………..
Our defense against Satan’s accusation is “the blood of the Lamb.” Through the blood of the Lord Jesus shed for us, we can overcome Satan’s accusations. We can tell Satan, “Yes, I am sinful, but the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses me from all sin.”
God has given us “the blood of the Lamb” as our defense against Satan’s accusations. He has also given us another weapon to use against Satan himself. That weapon is “the word of our testimony.” It means that we can declare to Satan – Christ’s victory over him.
We can tell Satan, “You are already defeated! Jesus Christ is Lord! Jesus is Victor! Jesus is King! I am one with Christ. “These are all true facts, and Satan cannot dispute them. He knows they are true.
To overcome Satan, we must not love ourselves. If we love ourselves, we will be defeated. We must not let ‘Self’ rule over us. We were crucified with Christ that we might no longer live unto ourselves but unto Him who died for us.
Through our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, we have been delivered from the power of every enemy. We can say “No! ” to sin, to Self, to the flesh, to the world, and to Satan himself.
Lord Jesus not only delivered us from the power of our enemies, but the victorious, risen Christ Himself also lives in us. We can be overcomers! The Bible says,
“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He (Christ) that is in you, than he (Satan) that is in the world.” (I John 4:4)
We belong to the Lord. The Bible says,
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” ( I Corinthians 6:19, 20)
“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8)
These verses tell us very clearly that we are not our own. We belong to the Lord. We have been bought with a price.
What was the price the Lord Jesus paid for us? His own precious blood! The Bible says,
” knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He ” (I Peter 1:18,19)
Lord Jesus has redeemed you, He is your Lord and Master; you belong to Him. Since you belong to the Lord, it is only right that you give yourself to Him.
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ” (2 Corinthians 5:14)
The purpose of consecration is that God’s will may be done in your life. Lord Jesus wants to work through us to do God’s will. To do this, He needs us to offer our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”(Romans 12 :1)
The result of consecration is that you die to your own plans and ambitions and live to do the will of God only.
There is a great blessing in consecration. The Blessing of Consecration is in finding God’s perfect will for your life. God has a work for every child of His. The Bible says,
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
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