Are You a Christian and what did You Do to be one?

 

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First of all, a word about the so called sinners prayer you may have heard of.

The Sinner’s Prayer is a Christian name for any prayer of repentance, prayed by individuals who believe convicted of the presence of sin in their lives and have the desire to establish a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10 is often cited as Gods will and authorization for the use of a sinners prayer to be saved. It says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” This is not the case because it short circuits Gods will for us to be obedient to his instructions I will mention shortly.

The basic version of the prayer goes like this: “Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe You died for my sins so I could be forgiven. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for coming into my life. Amen.”

This mode is not the way one becomes a Christian. Nowhere in the Bible does Gods word teach a simple prayer and mentally receiving Jesus in ones heart to be saved and have the gift of salvation. In fact this unbiblical practice bypasses obedience to Gods will in a gross way and will make it very difficult to renounce and correct because one will have disobeyed the gospel (2 Thes 1:8-10). The sinners prayer in any form is probably the number #1 reason millions will end up somewhere else other than heaven on the day of judgment by Jesus Christ. We emplore you not to do it!

Now, Gods word teaches that we need to test the spirits, and that responsibility falls on our personal spiritual inventory as well.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.”

1 John 4:1-3

If asked, how do you explain you are a Christian? It’s kind of egotistical to talk about ones self and I understand the person asking may be a Christian desiring to test your spirit. This is perfectly biblical and there should be no angst on the questioner’s part if he or she is asked the same question in this conversation. 

Here is the biblical response to the questioner with scripture references God has left both parties to learn from.

First, we must inform them we have within our heart, mind and spirit that Jesus Christ came to earth by the Holy Spirit from his heavenly home in the flesh. That He was God in the flesh here 2,000 years ago. Then tell them you believed and obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Then we need to inform them we had to be obedient to the gospel by faith making our salvation actual by the following biblical teachings.

Tell them you read and heard the word from teaching or preaching. Romans 10:17

You believed the word of God the Bible. Ephesians 1:13. And the gospel of Jesus Christ which is, “Christ died for my sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day defeating death according to the Scriptures” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Then you repented or turned away from your sinful life walking towards God now. Acts 3:19, 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, 2 Peter 3:9, Revelation 2:5-6

Then tell them you verbally confessed Jesus as Lord, King and your Savior in front of witnesses acknowledging he was God in the flesh on earth. And that he is the only way to God the Father now. John 14:6, Acts 8:36,37, Romans 10:10, John 8:56-59, Heb 1:8-12, 1 John 4:1-2

Then you by obedient faith in the working of God was baptized in water by another for the remission of your past sins in the name of Jesus Christ as commanded by Jesus, apostle Peter and the Holy Spirit who inspired the written word. Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 22:16, Galatians 3:26-27, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:11-12.

Finally you began walking in newness of life everyday a new creation exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit in your life the best you can as a new citizen in the kingdom of God, the church. All the while Loving God with all your heart, all your strength and with all your mind, and loving your neighbors as yourself, even those who persecute you for your faith. Matt 22:37-40, Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and  difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Matthew 7:13-14

Resurrection Evidence.

7 proofs of the Resurrection:

1. Jesus really existed and died in history.

2. The empty tomb was verified by the guards who reported to the chief Jewish priests of such, and without proof the priests offered them large sums of money to keep quiet, and if asked to tell people Jesus disciples stole the body. If the body was stolen, how long do you think this lie would take to be revealed? A huge lie especially one like this would eventually be revealed by somebody with or around the disciples. No body has been unearthed for nearly 2000 years!

3. The disciples saw Jesus after his resurrection and were willing to die for the fact. And they changed their centuries old prior beliefs worshipping on the sabbath Saturday to worshipping on the first day of the week Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. They celebrated the Lords supper on the first day of the week as we do today until he comes again. And they taught baptism for the remission of sins in place of sacrificial circumcision. The disciples would never have manufactured the resurrection account.

4. The doubting disciple Thomas needed physical proof of seeing the imprint of the nails in Jesus hands and the scar in his side to believe. After he touched the risen Jesus in these areas of his body he called him my Lord and my God! And over 500 other witnesses saw the risen Jesus for 40 days.

5. Most all modern day non believing New Testament scholars agree the resurrection of Jesus occurred in history. It cannot be refuted.

6. Early first century historians attest to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus.

7. Apostle Paul’s reporting of the resurrection to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, our earliest historical writing within months of Jesus ascension to Heaven.

Why do we believe? Because we believe in the record of scripture. Why do we believe the Bible? Because the Spirit of God has not only given us faith in Christ, but faith in scripture. We haven’t seen the risen Christ, but we have experienced the risen Christ by his power and his presence. We weren’t argued into believing the Bible, we were led by divine power into believing the Bible. We walk by faith, not by sight. He is risen and reigns at the right hand of the Father today and forever.

ERJ

The Heart of God - Holy Spirit Studies

 

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead we read about in the Bible. Some call the Holy Spirit an "it" when in fact He is a person. A personality of God and the "Helper" of God given to those who have by faith put Jesus Christ on in water baptism (Acts 2:38, Rom 6:3-4, Gal 3:27). The Holy Spirit actually takes residence in the disciples soul here on Earth...


Our Lord Jesus condemned the leaders of Israel for attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan, and in the modern Pentecostal movement of today, the reverse is occurring where works of the devil are being attributed to the Holy Spirit.  It’s a very sad insult, a grief to the Holy Spirit and in some cases even a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

When we worship God, we worship the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Somehow, the Holy Spirit has been trailing behind in terms of emphasis when, the Holy Spirit is the member of the Godhead most personally, and intimately involved in the life of a disciple. 

The Holy Spirit is responsible for three marvelous ministries in the disciples life:

First, the ministry of regeneration.  He gave us life.

Secondly, the ministry of sanctification.  It is He who increasingly conforms us to the image of Christ.

Thirdly, the ministry of security.  He secures us until that final ministry of glorification when as the Spirit raised Christ from the dead (Rom 8:11), He raises the saints up into glory.

The Holy Spirit understands our flesh, understands our weakness, understands temptation. When they came to arrest Jesus, He wouldn’t let them arrest the disciples because the Scripture needed to be fulfilled that none of them would defect, and so they were never going to be in a position where defection would happen.  It’s a securing that is not simply a stated fact. It is a securing fact that is a constant work by the intercession of the Son and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit yearns and waits for our final glory. This is the heart of God.

We hope you can spend some time reacquainting with the Holy Spirit, learning of His character and His ministry to the Saints today through the word. We have offered these video lessons for your consideration.

 

God does the work of Salvation

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not just for non-believers, but for Christians by name only also.

Saved by grace alone, Faith alone, in Christ alone according to Scripture alone. Not by works. This statement by evangelical Christian movements and their leaders is what they say is the true doctrine of salvation. It’s history did not begin with God, but began with the theologian Martin Luther’s adjustment in the passage Romans 3:28 which originally says,

“For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”

Having problems with apostle James letter in the New Testament, in 1522 Luther added the word “alone” after faith in the blessed Greek text of Romans 3:28 in his German translation of the Bible, thus adding to Gods word (Rev 22:18). He claimed it was necessary in the Germanic language to fully understand apostle Paul’s writing in the Romans 3 passage. This set in motion the false doctrine that one is saved by faith alone neglecting the full obedient gospel message from heaven, and has permeated the religious world to this day not running its course anytime soon!

The passage Luther wrestled and had great consternation with in connection with Rom 3:28 was this,

“You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” James 2:24

This is the only place “faith alone” is written in the original 66 books of the Bible. When Luther added “faith alone” in Rom 3:28, preachers and teachers the last five centuries have chosen this soft half-gospel to stake ones eternity on without understanding the actual “workings of God” during the conversion process. They traded Gods truth for their human truth. Now there are millions of evangelicals propagating this incomplete gospel from the meek to the most well known teachers of today.

We can only put the deeds of the body to death by the Spirit which we received as our helper/teacher at the point when biblically baptized. We do not have the power otherwise. But the choice to live by the Spirit is ours once gifted with Him, and we are commanded repeatedly (especially in Rom. 8 and Gal. 5) to do so.

As Paul says, “if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, then (and only then) we will live.” We cannot live without the Spirit. And we cannot be blessed of the Spirit until He indwells the new convert. When does this occur? Read on and be sure to watch the video.

Jesus' death and blood are tied to our justification and our reconciliation to God. These words are used to refer to our salvation experience in the past. We die to our old life, and in baptism we are by faith buried with Christ for the cleansing of our sins by his blood (Acts 2:38) in that heavenly process, and clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27). Our salvation, in the sense of our entrance into Christ, happens purely by faith, apart from works of man. Baptism by faith is not a human work! We can never work ourselves into being born again or into becoming new creatures. But God himself can by His blessed work.

Free Power For Change

If you could wave a magic wand over humanity and cure it of hate and worldly ambition, would you do it? Of course you would. This is wishful thinking, nothing to do with reality. But, there actually is a way to re-steer humanity and individuals onto a path towards changing mans will to destroy itself, and it doesn’t cost a thin dime to do so, and its guaranteed.

The Holy Spirit of God is the beautifier and teacher (1 Corinthians 2:13) that can help all individuals of mankind if we let Him. We already know this because He is transforming lives daily as you are reading this. City’s wouldn’t need to abolish police departments. People wouldn’t have to gather by the thousands to force their point across in pursuit of justice. The unlawful ones could be empowered to cease continuing more law braking. And believe it or not, even politics and politicians could reform into truly having their constituents at heart.

How can the Holy Spirit do this? It just takes a decision for Jesus Christ by people of all colors for the Spirit of God to transform societies with the fruits of the Spirit. You see, once one makes this good decision and is baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38, Galatians 3:26-27), the Holy Spirit will be given you to heartfelt change (John 14:16-18), and the free gift of eternal life. You will be transformed as you walk and live in the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25). Its that simple. The Holy Spirit will then help all the more who allow Him to formulate ways of change society has rejected throughout mankind’s ugly side of history.

We hope you take some time to consider the opportunity laid before you because God gives us choices, even the bad and good ones. Enjoy these lessons on what and who the Holy Spirit is, and how He ministers in the life of the new and experienced disciple.

God bless...

Click Here for our series on the Holy Spirit

Christianity Requires Thinking

Contrary to the belief Christianity is a crutch or a belief system of “blind faith,” little do our accusers realize, Christianity is a thinking person’s religion. It requires us to use thought and reason for dedicating our time of service to others. It requires we think about our willingness to use gifts God gives each individual Christian according to his or her faith. Our money, our daily walk in life away from our church home during the week. How we treat others requires much thinking in light of teachings in the bible. Christianity requires us to read and think about how Jesus would want us to decide on a matter other than our personal opinion. Ultimately Christianity requires us to think about what apostle Paul called “running the race to win the prize”. That living a life based on humanism and selfishness will not result in winning the prize of heaven on the last day (1 Cor 9:24-27).

When asked by an expert in the Jewish law as to what commandment ranks above all others, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:1-3, which is the passage that Jews use to distinguish themselves from their pagan neighbors. Yet, Jesus added something to it. While verse 5 in the original reads “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might,” Jesus added the phrase “and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Jesus put a huge importance on the use of our minds.

Christianity is fact based in history and eyewitnesses play a huge part in its message. The disciple Luke (the doctor) tells us that when he began writing his account of Jesus life to Theophilus, he sought out “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses” and that he himself “investigated everything carefully from the beginning” to provide the exact truth" (Luke 1:1-4). This means Luke collected the data, thought about his findings and shared them as a fact of history.

Christianity is a literate faith, relying on the teachings of the apostles in the scriptures. Apostle Paul told Timothy to “do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15-16). This required Timothy to work at discerning the text to avoid “babble and lies” that leads to ungodliness.

Thinking and meditating about “worship as a lifestyle” requires daily thought and life decisions utilizing the tool of the word of God. So how does a Christian “think” about his Christian faith in real life terms? Again, the inspired Apostle Paul teaches that people need to “renew their mind” to prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:3). Renewing the mind just doesn’t happen by osmosis, forced feelings or wishing it so. The mind needs to be fed daily with the word of God given us through His Spirit, and prayer (2 Timothy 3:16). Then taken to heart translating godly guidance into practical daily decision making in a way that is right and godly. Here are some examples:

The wife is working late tonight. Without asking will I take the initiative and cook dinner?

If we have ailing relatives unable to care for themselves, will I offer my home and resources to help them?

(Matt 25:45)

My neighbor’s car is broken down with a burnt-out motor starter and no money. Am I willing to make myself available and ready to spend $75 or whatever to get him a new part to fix the car so he can go to work?

A young man needs some funding help to finish his last semester of class in order to graduate. Will I step in and think of his future over mine and help him graduate?

If I have the gift of consoling a person who has just lost their loved one, am I willing to put myself out there and give up my time and emotion to a stranger who is in dire straits over his or her loss? Including the possibility of becoming a part of her life to help her get through the difficult time? Phone calls, visits, meals etc. (1 Pet 4:12-13)

If I have the gift to teach, am I willing to make myself available to whomever needs instruction on the gospel of Jesus Christ when they ask me? Am I willing to defend the gospel to my adversaries when called?

Part of the problem even in some church congregations is, they want to show a big splash, a big bright shiny billboard of good works in the name of God - in a worldly way. What I mean by this, are the splashes done in a way that appears like a TV commercial rather than heart to heart with compassion and understanding? Is it effective, loving and caring or is it circus like and cold? Have they really “thought” out how the style they have chosen may miss the mark? Service to others in our walk with God requires thinking and action in our individual Christian faith from the heart into the mind. And God gives each one of us the tools to do so in a way that helps Him increase His church in this world one soul at a time. Remember, the 12 were discipled one at a time by Jesus, then they set in motion the Lords church beginning at Jerusalem, then into the world.

Jesus and the world are watching.  Are we by faith thinking?
Philippians 2:1-5

Are You Racing to Win?

I have had my share of racing motorcycles beginning in my teenage years, through my 20’s and 30’s. And later in my 50’s without much winning success as the reflexes lagged, and the old body just wasn’t built up to withstand the abuse moving along at full throttle. Winning was sweet when it happened. Mentally though I was always focused and determined to do whatever it took to win the race even if I didn’t. After all, what is racing? It’s about winning.

This reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a fellow Christian about paying a bit too much attention to matters of the world. How it can get in the way of our race to win the “imperishable prize” (1 Cor 9:24-25). If we set our sights on worldly (perishable) matters, they can get a hold of us and distract us from what the Lord wishes our sights to be fixed upon. Even Christians being human can be easily swayed. I can tell you this is true from personal experience!

The bible teaches us that we are to “Set our mind on things above, not on things on earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Col 3:2-4)

One of the words in this passage is a clue to a Christians response one way or another to worldly matters thrust before him. Will he address it, make it important, or turn away from it in the Lord? That word is “died”. We are constantly reminded by Jesus of having to give up our worldly ways, carry our cross by being long suffering servants of the Lord. And by the apostles in establishing the early church through all the near-death trials and challenges they experienced by faith, apostle Paul even said, “To live is Christ, To die is gain.” (Phil 1:21)

Is paying too much attention to the Coronavirus and all its details, or religious freedoms and the Nations government all that important to the Christian? Or giving it all you got in making sure ones second amendment rights aren’t infringed upon, freedom of speech guaranteed and on and on? Some of these things are precious to us in the United States. But how does being militant in these worldly matters adding to ones walk in Christ to win the prize? Is walking in the Lord in this manner dying to yourself? Is it long suffering that glorifies Jesus by the Holy Spirit? Is it Gods will for you to concentrate much time and resources to try and make a worldly difference? Might I suggest focusing too much on worldly matters can pull one away from winning the prize. Some say, “I have freedom in Christ to focus on these matters, I’m not in danger of losing my salvation.” That’s what the frog said in a warm frying pan. That’s what the hare said to the tortuous. And that’s what God says about not focusing on things from above! God gives us choices.

In motorsports or any other type of racing there is a saying when you finish in second place. It’s called the “first loser.” Let’s not walk in a way that causes us to win at the expense of our salvation. Even the inspired apostle Paul who knew all truth said he could become disqualified (1 Cor 9:27). Let’s walk in a way that glorifies and props Jesus up by the way we serve and suffer for His sake in all that we do as His disciples, lest we become the first loser…

In Christ