Back to the Basics

 Happy Saturday morning everyone!

I hope you have had a good week, mine has been busy, but I have accomplished a lot. Getting ready for a couple of weeks of traveling so things are about to get a little busier.

So, a series of events has prompted this week's blog. First, we started a new book study Sunday night at church, it is called The Unsaved Christian and it is very compelling to me. It is about our friends and family who confess to be a Christian but have never really accepted Christ as their Savior, or have that personal relationship with God, in one point of the book it mentions that a lot of people believe if they are not atheists, they are Christians, One of the study questions was, "If someone asked you why you're a Christian, or more specifically, how you know you are a Christian, what would you say?" We discussed 1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

Then Monday morning, on my way to the gym, listening to My Daily Bread, that verse came up again. And wouldn't you know, on Thursday, while on the treadmill, watching David Jeremiah, it came up again. You know how sometimes you wish God would give you a sign? I think He was saying, "Here's your sign".

So, today, I give you my own testimony as well as a path to salvation if you have never really made this about you and God.

I was saved when  I was 12. Well, I will back that up a little. I believe I was probably saved earlier than that but my dad was a big believer in the age of accountability and he didn't want me to profess to be a Christian before he was sure I was old enough to really understand what that meant. So, the year I was 12, I  went forward at the end of church service and professed to our congregation that I wanted to be a Christian. Our pastor at the time, Richard Young, took me through the following verses to make sure I understood.

There is a set of verses in Roman's that spells out the entire path of Salvation, we call it the Roman Road. It starts with Romans 3:23

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

This means absolutely everyone. We are human so we are sinners. Many people believe they are good people, so they don't sin. You know when you spouted off in anger at a friend or loved one, or even a stranger as you were driving down the road? Or when you had a not so nice thought about someone? Or when you told "a little white lie" or got upset because someone you didn't believed deserved something got it? That is all sin. Sin is not limited to getting drunk, having an affair, or premarital sex, stealing and murder. It's the little things and I am afraid we all do them. Bottom line, the first step to being saved is understanding you need to be saved.

When Adam and Eve sinned, that brought sin into the world, and God said because of sin, we would now be subject to death. Romans 3:10 says "No one is righteous- not even one". That means you and me and Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

The book we are reading brought up a point that a lot of unsaved Christians believe in Heaven but not hell. There is both, the Bible tells us so, and if you have never asked Christ to be your Savior, the cold hard fact is, you are not going to Heaven when you die. Hell is not a place I would wish on my worst enemy, and we may have a talk about that in the near future, because the Bible does tell us what Hell will be like.  

As I said, God made a way out for our sin when He sent Christ to earth. Some people may think they have done too many bad things in life to ever be saved. But I want to remind you of something, God MADE you! This may be easier to understand if you are a parent. Your kids can do a lot of things against you but you know you will always love them. There may be times you don't like what they are doing, but you always love them.

So the next verse of the Roman Road is Romans 5:8, "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Nobody and I mean NOBODY is too bad to be accepted by God if they turned to Him.

So, now, you may be thinking that's all well and good, but what is next.

Romans 10:9-10 says "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by belief in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

See, God sent Christ to earth, in the form of a human, had him walk this earth for 33 years and then had him die on the cross for our sins. He was the only perfect person to ever walk the earth. And he was put on the cross and died to cast your sins away. Three days later, Christ rose from the grave, which means He is a living Savior, and He transcended to Heaven and is there today with our loved ones who believed in Him in their lifetime.

 John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He sent His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

So, when you accept that God sent Christ, Christ died for your sins and by believing that, you will go to Heaven when you die, and you confess that to others, you are saved.

Sounds too easy, doesn't it? People try to put good works with Salvation. Good works is not a part of Salvation, it is a product of it. Once you are saved, you realize that you want your friends and family to be saved too, and you really want to start learning more about what God wants you to do. When you start realizing the depth of love it took to have Christ suffer and die, you find gratitude and that is where wanting to do your best for someone who took on all your failures, mistakes, stains and scars comes in. 

So, I want to remind you of a few more verses:

Romans 5:1, "Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us."

and

Romans 8:1 "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ."

So once you are saved, you are saved.

I know when I was saved, I know why I was saved, I know how I was saved.

I also know that once you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit. When you are a Christian, I personally believe your conscience is from the Holy Spirit. That voice telling you when you know you are going against what God wants you to do. It could be a deep subject to talk about your conscience before being saved, but I believe if you aren't being led by God, you are being led by Satan, and Satan wants nothing more than to have people who consider themselves "good" to miss the boat to God's goodness. So I believe he can even tell you to do good things to keep you from seeing the need for Salvation.

The Holy Spirit can guide you in what you should and shouldn't do, but he is also a comforter. In those times when the weight of the world has been on my shoulders, and I give it to God, I can truly feel the peace wash over me. That is a huge thing to me. Once you belong to Jesus, you are truly never alone.

It wasn't long after I made my public profession of faith that my dad had a massive heart attack. There were many times as a 12-year-old, we were told he wouldn't live. He lived for another year and then, on a normal November day, while doing the job he loved, he had a second heart attack and was gone. I had indescribably peace even though I was hurting.  I have the assurance of knowing I will see him again. I have the assurance of knowing he is in a beautiful place worshiping at the feet of Jesus and our parting is only temporary because I too know I am Heaven bound.

I also know I am a sinner and I sin even though I try not to. Our goals as Christians is to try to be perfect, we know we will never achieve that here on earth, but we must try as every time we sin, we can see the nails being driven into Christ's hands. That is why He died. So you could live. Forever.

If you have never made that personal confession of faith, I just gave you all the steps. Once you have accepted Christ, you want to try to grow in your faith, There are plenty of places online and on your phone to find the Bible, Bible Gateway on your computer and the app YouVersion of your phone are two great places to start. Then, you need to find a place of worship. Seriously, the Church was created in the Bible, so you can fellowship with other Christians and being a new Christian, you will have tons of questions. Learning the answers to those questions is how you grow in faith.

Our church- Hidalgo Independent Christian Church has worship services every Sunday morning at 10:00, we have a Sunday evening Bible study at 6 on Sunday night and at 9:00 on Sunday morning, we have Sunday school. Our Worship service is on FaceBook live every Sunday morning at 10 (just search for Hidalgo Independent Christian Church and like our page)  if you are farther away. If you are close though, attending Sunday School and Bible Study are two great ways to let you discuss with other Christians what the Bible is trying to tell us and we would absolutely love to have you!

I hope this helps someone, if you are already a Christian, maybe this will give you the courage to share your faith. If you are a baby Christian, welcome to the family!

I am leaving you with Chris Tomlin's At the Cross (Love Ran Red), I made the statement earlier that when you realize the depth of God's love, it makes you so humble. This song describes that.

Happy Saturday!