Christianity Archives - Page 10 of 37

Repent – Process of Salvation 3

When it comes to salvation, many people want to just keep living the way they have always been living even after they become Christians. Even though this is the philosophy of Calvinism, once a person is saved, they are always saved, even if they went on to murder, rape, and do any number of diabolical deeds. But the reality is that a person must repent and change the way they live if they want to receive and maintain salvation.

But the reality is that there must be a change of action in the person who is becoming a new Christian. You cannot continue to live the way you were living before. It simply is not possible. Instead, you must repent.

The Bible clearly teaches time and time again that repentance is necessary for salvation. Yet many various denominations and religions do not push their members to actually change or to maintain their change.

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'”
Acts 2:38

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Matthew 9:13

“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:3

Repentance is a change in the way a person acts. This change is generally brought on by a change in a person’s pattern of thinking.

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance”
Matthew 3:8, indicating that repetnace has observable action tied to it.

Many people try to define repentance as “A change in heart that results in a change in action”. But as you know, I’m not a fan of the word “heart” because of its excessive emotional connotations. If we want to use the word “heart” correctly, we need to understand that it includes more than the way a person feels. Even though I’ve denied it in the past, emotions are a part of a man’s heart, but they are not the only part.

When it comes to repentance, not only must your emotions eventually shift, but your thinking and attitude about your life must change as well. This all results in a change in your actions. You must think differently about your life purpose and goals. You need to change your attitude towards sin from one of acceptance to one of hatred of sin.

Also, you must recalibrate your conscience. A Conscience may be defiled, Evil, Seared, or irrelevant before it can be good.

When we live as part of the world, there are many things that do not bother our conscience. If a person does not know the gospel and engages in many sexual relationships, he/she may not feel a sense of guilt because he/she does not know the law of God. Only once the law is heard, understood, and believed does an individual begin to feel the tug of their conscience.

That is just an example, but there are many various sins like the sin of extramarital sex that may cause no guilt in the heart of the person engaging in those sins until they become aware of the commands of God. But once these laws are known, a person must change their action, hopefully, spurred on by a sense of shame from living in opposition to God.

Once understood and obeyed, a person must repent – he/she fundamentally changes the way they live their lives. That is the next step in the process of salvation.

You have heard the gospel message, the story of Christ. You have accepted it as true, which is what it means to believe. And now what you must do is change the way you are living your life. You can no longer live just in anyway you want. You need to completely renovate your lifestyle. That old life you were living is dead, and you cannot live it any longer.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ²Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:1-4

Many people try to skip this step in the process of salvation. They complete all the necessary steps in order to accept the free gift of salvation from God, but they do not change their lifestyle. This is unacceptable. The life of a Christian is one of constant change and of constant war against the desires of the flesh. Constant repentance is the lifestyle of the Christian.

So you heard the gospel and believed it. Are you willing to change the way you live? Will you repent? Are you willing to have a paradigm shift in your lifestyle? That is the next requirement on the path to salvation. I would encourage you to study with your local church of Christ, continue to learn, and complete the steps of salvation.

Belief- The Process of Salvation 2

So you heard the story of Christ – so what? Many have heard the same story and have done nothing with their lives. They pass on by after hearing the story, unwilling to take action. They are unwilling to obey the simple gospel message of Christ. This was one of the many meanings of the parable of the sower – the seed cast to the wayside was immediately eaten by the birds. Most people simply lack belief.

Read the Parable: Matthew 13

In the previous post we underscored the value of hearing the gospel message, the question now is, do you believe it?

What does it mean to believe something? Belief is accepting that something is true, typically by valid evidence or testimony. We know that without faith and belief that salvation is impossible.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6

You read the brief gospel message, and I would encourage you to read more on your own to fill out more of the details. But do you accept it as being true?

This is difficult for many people and it is something that remains difficult for many Christians throughout their lives. It is difficult to accept the fact that God clothed Himself with humanity, lived perfectly, was killed for sins, and then resurrected from the dead. No one is trying to say that it is easy to believe these things.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18

But I believe that with the evidence presented throughout history, which we will not discuss specifically here, you can come to the rational conclusion that these events happened. Even if you are a rational thinking scientist, you can come to the conclusion that God exists, that the bible is true, and that the story of Christ is reality etched into human history.

The Historical Christ: Fact or Fiction

This is why the second step in the process of salvation is belief. Many people hear the gospel, but very few accept it as being true. And beyond that, even fewer follow through with the remaining steps required to obey the gospel (repentance, confession, baptism, faithful living).

So the question for you is this: do you accept as truth that Christ is God, the Son of God who lived perfectly and died to take away the sins of the world?

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'”
John 1:29

I would encourage you to continue your study. Work with your local church of Christ until you understand the truth and follow through with the remaining steps of salvation. Why are you waiting? That salvation is free.

Belief alone is not enough, because even the demons believe in God and in the story of Christ. It must be followed up with additional action, and I would strongly encourage you to take that action.

What the Bible Says about The Church of Christ

Hearing the Gospel- The Process of Salvation 1

“So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17.

How can you believe in something you have never heard? It is simple, you cannot. So let me tell you a brief version of the gospel message.

Through man, sin entered the world in Genesis 3:6. This sin was a violation of the commands of God and put a wall of separation between man and God.

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”
1 John 3:4

This wall of separation could be removed by nothing other than sacrifice – blood sacrifice.

“And according to the law almost all things are ^[h]purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no ^[i]remission.”
Hebrews 9:22

Over the next few thousand years, the religion of Judaism would be established and through it, various animal sacrifices would be offered every day, and some every year in order to roll back the sins of the people to the next year. But these sacrifices could never fully take away sins.

“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
Hebrews 10:4

So there needed to be a perfect sacrifice to cover the sins of man. This is why Christ, a person of the divine nature known as God, put on physical flesh and lived among men.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
¹⁴“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:1-3, 14

He lived a perfect life, never violating the laws of God, never falling short of any of the commands of God. He was born of the correct lineage as a descendant of King David.

¹⁴Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:14-15

He lived this way for over 30 years before willingly dying for our sins. He suffered death through crucifixion, overseen by Roman soldiers who were experts in dragging out the crucifixions, and making them incredibly painful. In fact, we get the word “excruciating” from out painful this execution was. The word means “out of the cross”.

Christ willingly gave Himself to die, not like an animal. Animals cannot voluntarily surrender their lives, and that is one of the reasons their sacrifice is not enough.

Animals are innocent per se because they lack rational thought not because they live perfect sinless lives like Christ.

And finally, Christ was God, clothed in flesh – God the Son gave Himself for the sins of the world. So even though the flesh that He was clothed with was tortured and died, the spirit of Christ lived on, seemingly went into the realm of the dead for a period of three days, and then came back and reanimated that same body that was killed on the cross.

⁵But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
Matthew 28:5-7

Here Christ was resurrected from the dead after being in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea for 3 days.

⁵⁷Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. ⁵⁹When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.
Matthew 27:57-60

The stone that covered His tomb was rolled back and Christ walked forth. He remained on the earth after this for 40 days before ascending into heaven and reentering the presence of God.

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ²until the day in which ^[a]He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many ^[b]infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
Acts 1:1-3

That is the gospel message. It took just one chariot ride for Philip to explain to the Ethiopian eunuch what was necessary for salvation.

You have just finished hearing a short version of the Gospel message. We will continue on this path with the rest of the requirements for salvation at other times.

You’ve just read the abbreviated gospel message, and the way to obey this message is to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of your sins. Why are you waiting? Find your local church of Christ and study with them and be baptized and be saved. You have heard the good news.

What the Bible Says about the Church of Christ

God is Glorified by YOUR Success

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:15-16

Ask any father when it is that they are proud of their children. No doubt they will tell you that they are proud of their kids when they do well at something. It does not really matter what that something is. They could be doing well in school, sports, or displaying good character. Whatever it is, the father is proud when his kids do well.

Does it then make sense that God the father would be proud of His children when they do well? God is glorified when you do well in life.

When you succeed, the glory goes back to He who made you.

Some people have made it virtuous to aim low in life. This is especially true of modern Christians. These are the people we have talked about before who think success is evil. They also think that poverty is a virtue.

I do not see anything noble associated with aiming low and achieving few successes in life. It does not matter what those successes are. Whatever you can define as success, somewhere you can find a Christian who thinks it is good if you do not reach that successful image.

Instead of aiming high, giving credit to God along the way, they aim low. They think that the less they achieve, the nobler they are. Or that the less money they make, the more spiritual they are. Wealth and spirituality are not inversely correlated.

If you work as hard as you can, you glorify God. This is a biblical principle.

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for^[a] you serve the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24

Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
Ephesians 6:5-8

God is glorified by your success.

it does not bring glory to God if you aim low in life and achieve very little. Others will look at you and mock you. Every man, religious or secular, has the responsibility to achieve. This is an integral part of man’s nature. It was built into him from the beginning of time. God created you to not just work mindlessly at a 9-5, but to improve and achieve both personally and professionally.

It is not masculine to wallow in failure and lack of success. It is not noble to try to lead others down the same path you are on.

This is one of the many reasons you must be careful about who you allow being your friends. You have to control your circle of influence very carefully. Treat it like your immune system and always be on the lookout for someone who is a parasite.

Parasites are thousands of times smaller than their human hosts, but cause massive problems to the human machine. Negative influences around you are the same way. They must be rigorously controlled, monitored, and modulated.

Do not associate with anyone who promotes the idea that your lack of success is okay. You are not okay just the way you are. That has never been true and it never be will be true. You must at all times be working to cast off your current self and be more.

to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24

Nobility exists in facing our personal insufficiencies and working to correct them. Never content with staying in the same place, we always look for ways to improve our weaknesses. Even if we can only make small progress, that is infinitely more profitable and masculine than making no progress.

Do not let limiting beliefs hold you back from being successful. If some Christian is trying to get you to limit your personal or professional success on the grounds that it is spiritual, get away from them. They have no biblical backing for their belief. They are propagating false doctrine. Only listen to men you admire and want to emulate. And then only listen to those who can back up what they believe with scripture. And not only with scripture, but with rational thinking as well.

It is one thing to quote a verse. It is another thing to be able to quote and think about the bible with a rational mind. Use your own mind to decide what you believe. Never take someone’s word for anything. Make sure everything passes the test of logic so you can be a man. And never limit your success. It is not spiritual, it is fatal.

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.
1 John 4:1

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true
Acts 17:11

How to have a Strong faith when times are good.

It’s natural to move closer to God when times are bad. Every crisis pushes us back towards religion. What do you do when everything is going your way and you feel the urge to forget the God of the Earth? How do you keep your faith when times are good?

When times are good, we forget God.

“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He ^[a]swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, ¹¹houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— ¹²then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹³You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. ¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you ¹⁵(for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 6:10-15

God warned the children of Israel and told them that they would forget Him one day. It is natural for us to do this as humans. When times are good, we think we have everything under control. It is only once a crisis strikes that we remember how helpless we are to many of the circumstances of life.

As much as I advocate taking control of your situation and being in charge, there is still uncertainty in this world. We do not know how the world will be when we wake up tomorrow. And it is in the moments when the world acts contrary to how we think that we remember God.

So how do you have faith when times are good?

I – Get in the habit of remembering God every day.

Start your day by remembering who gave you all the advantages you have.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:16-17

If you have something good in this life, it came from God. You need to remember that you do not have any of your possessions or advantages solely because of your own merit. Now it is certainly true that we have to work for and earn things in this life. There is definitely a certain amount of responsibility that falls on us as men to get out in the world and pursue success. We need to work hard and focus on our goals. But all the while we must remember that God has the final say in this world. We can do nothing apart from Him.

It is our responsibility to work as hard as we can, but to also not forget that it is God who has allowed us to build an extreme work ethic.

II – Remember that at any moment, your fortune could turn against you.

There is nothing certain in this entire world. Do not put any trust in human beings or anything comprised of atoms.

Never become overly attached to any of the things that are in this world. Do not attach yourself to any of the material things you have.

There is a story of a man who had an immensely valuable teacup. However, as an exercise in stoicism, he behaved as if the teacup were already broken. Every day as he used it, he thought of it as already broken and destroyed. Then one day when it finally did break, he said “Ah, as it always was“. It was not a shock to him because he practiced detachment.

We must be the same way with our own material things. I remember when I purchased my first new vehicle. I engaged in this exercise so I would not become attached to it. Then, one week later when my wife was driving the car and someone ran into the rear bumper, I was not bothered at all. Because since the day I owned it I viewed it as totaled. So it was much easier to tolerate a small fender-bender since I did not overly value the vehicle.

You must get in the habit of viewing everything you have as already lost.

Act as if all your materials have been taken from you. Who are you without them? Only your character remains. And it is from that character that you can rebuild any of the wealth you have currently amassed.

III – Remember God early in your life, before you become successful.

⁶Remember your Creator before the silver cord is ^[a]loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.
⁷Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12:6-8

It is much easier to remember God during your success and when times are good if you are already in the habit of remembering Him. The earlier you can start this the better. Although it is never too late to start this habit, it will pay better dividends if you can install it earlier.

It is simpler to live a life centered around God as you build success than it is to become successful and then try to build God into your life. You will have better luck by placing God as the priority first than you would in trying to make Him a priority later on.

The priority principle applies to many things in your life. That which is the priority will get the most results. This applies in the simple laboratory of the gym. The muscles you train at the beginning of the workout and at the beginning of the week will get the best focus. You will be fresh and energized, ready to train them. Those muscles placed at the end of the workout and the end of the week will not be the priority. While they still are addressed slightly, they do not get the same benefits that the prioritized muscles get.

Your life is the same way. What gets your best energies and your best focus will be the parts of your life that improve the most.

Do not focus on things that are irrelevant. You must be in the habit of teasing out the most important aspects of life and focusing on them.

Follow those three principles to remember God when times are good. It is easy to rely on God when the world is crashing around us. This is why every terrorist attack in the United States causes the people to band together and remember God. Even the most secular, worldly people in the world will call on the name of God when the situation is dire. We cannot be those people. We have to remember God and focus on Him now while times are good. Do not wait for a crisis to have the proper focus in life.

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