Jesus, Lessons for Life 12
The Most Essential Lesson
Our Lord then speaks plainly about his mission/purpose for being on earth—to provide our path to eternal salvation.
Here is one of the many places where scripture spells this out clearly, without question.
John 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
I really love to read from the book of John, because it is full of this precious message of salvation. Jesus was sent to save us! While he was here, he taught us a lot, and we will continue to explore the lessons of his life and teaching in the weeks to come.
Nothing is more important than this one.
Key Lesson — The lesson most important for our salvation is this then, that we must believe in Jesus. God loved us and sent him. The choice is then ours. We can believe and receive eternal life. If we do not, we already stand condemned. This message is brought through clearly, time and time again.
Blessings,
Larry
| A Decision for Christ In this post, we will circle back to one of our very first subjects; that is making a decision to accept Christ. I want us to do this because I know that some people have a sense that they are Christians, even though they have never made a specific decision to accept Jesus as their Lord.
The best reference I have for this was written by John Stott. His classic Christian book, Basic Christianity, was written in the 50s. I highly recommend it.
The following is from chapter 10 of his book.
"That a decision is necessary in order to become a Christian is an idea quite foreign to many people. Some imagine that they are already Christians because they were born in a Christian country. 'After all," they say, 'we are neither Jews, nor Mohammedans, nor Buddhists; so presumably we are Christians!'
Others suppose that, having had a Christian upbringing, and having been taught to accept the Christian creed and Christian standards of behaviour, nothing further is required of them. But whatever his parentage and upbringing, every responsible afult is obliged to make up his own mind for or against Christ. We cannnot remain neutral. Nor can we drift into Christianity. Nor can anybody else settle the matter for us. We must decide for ourselves."
Next time we will address again the simplicity of accepting Christ, as we did in the very first entries in this blog.
Feel free to go back and reference those earliest discussions, beginning in October 2009.
Blessings,
Larry
| Baptism Much has been said and debated about baptism over the 2000 year history of the church. In our initial conversation here, we will simply point out a few facts as presented in scripture.
In our last posting, we mentioned this scripture from Matthew.
Mat. 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Just prior to Jesus’ ascension into heaven following his death and resurrection, He gave us the command in Mat. 28:19 to take the Gospel Truth to all nations (the Great Commission); this involves baptism. Christ left no doubt that baptism was to be a part of making disciples.
Some debate occurs around whether baptism is essential to salvation. In this blog we have worked to clarify that it is through our faith and acceptance in Christ as Lord that we are saved. However, when people who have accepted Christ as Lord ask, “Should I be baptized?” I like to refer them to a question that is useful for examining such questions – “What did Jesus do?” Whenever a question is raised about Christian life and practices, the best source we have for answers is in the life and teachings of Jesus.
Matt 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
The answer is simple, Jesus was baptized. This was done by John the Baptist. The significance of John’s baptism was different. It focused on repentance from sin, in preparation for Christ. Our baptism is a public confession of our sin, however it is combined with obedience in giving ourselves to Christ to walk in newness of life, as the Gospel instructs us.
As a new believer, you should have no reluctance to obey Christ in baptism in your local church. Truthfully, it is a remarkable experience for a new believer.
Next time, we will continue with a few more scriptures related to baptism.
Blessings and thanks,
Larry | A Prayer of Acceptance The following is an example of prayer that is typical when someone accepts Christ.
Was your prayer to God at the moment similar?
Perhaps you can use this sample in the future when you are praying with someone special who is at that moment of acceptance.
Dear God,
Thank you for loving me. I confess that I have sinned against you.
I do believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross to pay for my sins, and I believe that you raised him from among the dead.
I now put my faith in Christ to forgive and take away my sins.
I confess that Jesus is my Savior and that He is my Lord.
Thank you for the gift of eternal life!
I pray this in the name of Christ,
Amen
Isn’t it beautiful – so simple how we can give ourselves, our lives to Jesus.
Next time, we add the dimension of receiving Christ’s helper, his Holy Spirit.
We are traveling to Guatemala tomorrow, so the next posting is planned for November 5, 2009.
Many blessings,
Larry | The Decision to Accept Jesus Let’s summarize what occurred with your decision to accept Jesus:
- You recognized and took responsibility for your sin. This is necessary for every person, as none of us are without sin. Romans 3:23 states it clearly. “all have sinned…”
Ro 3:22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
- You repented. Most of us have a really strong conviction in our hearts about the sins that we have committed. Repentance is something we want – at the moment of accepting Christ it is a natural component of our seeking him. It involves confessing and asking for forgiveness, coupled with a commitment to strive to overcome our sin.
Ac 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
- You were forgiven by the grace of God. We continue with another verse in Romans 3, reminding us as we discussed last time, that this redemption is a free gift from God.
Ro 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
- You confessed with your mouth that Jesus in Lord, and believed in your heart his life, death and resurrection which paid for your sin. A verse or two from Romans 10 ties these steps together for us.
Ro 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Next time – an example prayer of acceptance
Thanks,
Larry | What has happened to you? You have accepted Jesus Christ! I celebrate with you. I thank God for your decision.
Christ is the source, the one and only, through whom we can be saved and assured of eternal life in heaven. Abundant scriptures make this clear. Here are a couple of examples from Acts.
Ac 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Ac 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
(The book of Acts is the second of two volumes written by Luke, a physician who was a companion of the Apostle Paul during his missionary journeys. Estimates state it was written at approximately 64 AD. Acts proclaims the continued impact on men and women by the Word of God through the church. It gives us excellent insight into the early history, events and functions of the 1st century church.)
The simplicity of receiving salvation is beautiful. Where and when a person can receive this blessing of eternal life is not limited by any specific time or place. For some it occurs in a church, but for many others it happens in any location where we have the opportunity to be confronted with the Truth of Christ and our personal need for Him in our lives.
It will only happen when your heart is open and you are ready.
Next time we will review those simple steps – the process by which we receive the gift of grace and forgiveness from God. It is a gift, but as with any gift, it must be received in order to provide its blessing.
The next posting is planned for Friday, October 30, 2009.
Have a blessed day,
Larry | Introduction 
Welcome -- a new blog by Larry Meeker
Purpose of this blog – Being a new believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is wonderful. Those feelings of joy can be accompanied with some important questions.
- What can I do?
- How do I begin to relate to God and Christ?
- How can I live and act on the joy that I feel?
- Many more…
Why this blog now? – Our team’s travels have been extensive in 2009, including some dozen countries. This October, we returned from almost three weeks of mission work in Ecuador and Colombia.
- The harvest is ripe – in two weeks of medical campaign, 777 came to accept the Lord
- The need to have support and answers to questions of these 777 plus all new believers is immense
Intent of this blog – to provide scriptural references and thoughts that can guide you on a path of study and reflection about your faith in Christ.
We begin next time with examining how we are saved—belief and faith in Christ.
The gift from God
Eph 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians while he was in prison. He had worked with them to found their church over a period of 2-3 years during his second missionary journey. In this letter, he is encouraging the believers in Ephesus, reminding them of unifying principles such as this – our salvation is a gift from God.
That principle remains timeless today, and should be relevant and central to all of our activities.
Thank you for your interest and participation.
The next posting is planned for October 27, 2009
Larry | | |
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