Our Salvation-
When God saves someone...they are saved. They are not halfway saved...no, completely saved! It would take very specific and rare circumstances for someone to lose their salvation! Yes, rare. God invested so much into our salvation...so do you think He would change His mind or let someone go so easily?? NO! We get shaken by happenstance, He does not. We change our mind on a whim, He does not. His mercies are new every morning...and this was spoken even before the New Covenant!
Lamentations 3:22-24
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never
ceases;b
his
mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is
your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my
soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Rom. 8: 1 Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 Cor. 3:9 If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious,
how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!
Romans 3:21 But now
a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law
and the Prophets testify.
2 Corinthians
5:21 God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we
might become the righteousness of God.
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New converts-
Some people however will either come forward at an alter call or pray a prayer to be saved under very emotional circumstances, and not truly receive Christ...not unlike someone who would say almost anything under feelings of compulsion or hopelessness. So, in the following verses, when he was giving instructions about choosing Overseers, this is what he had in mind concerning new converts.
As God knows if someone has truly accepted Him, but we do not, so it is important for us to take these precautions. Then the scriptures after that is the parable Jesus told about the same issue....that there will be some that have not received Christ even though they appeared to have done so at the beginning.
This is my personal belief -- since I believe God meets us where we are, I also think some people are still teetering when they pray...meaning they are still in the process of being saved...and any slight wind can cause them to be swept away.
1 Tim.3: 6Must not be a new convert, so that he will not
become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7And he must have a good reputation with those
outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare
of the devil.
Luke 8: 4While a large crowd was
gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this
parable: 5“A farmer went out to sow
his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was
trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.
6Some fell on rock, and
when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other
seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.
8Still other seed fell on
good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was
sown.”
11“This is the meaning of
the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path
are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from
their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those
on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but
they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they
fall away.
14The seed that fell
among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are
choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
15But the seed on good
soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it,
and by persevering produce a crop.
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The one unforgivable sin-
Luke 12: 8"I tell you, everyone
who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the
angels of God; 9but he who denies me in
the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.
10Everyone who speaks a
word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against
the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11When they bring you
before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don't be anxious how or
what you will answer, or what you will say; 12for the Holy Spirit
will teach you in that same hour what you must say."
Against - eis (a preposition) – properly,
into (unto) – literally, "motion into which" implying
penetration ("unto," "union") to a particular purpose or
result.
God in the flesh died for us and therefore paid an extremely heavy price...therefore He does not take it lightly when His Holy Spirit makes His home inside our heart and life. It would be compared to setting something priceless and sacred inside the finest gold...therefore a union He never, ever planned would ever be touched or removed!! Can you picture it?!
We can get mad at God and even allow our human nature to run at the mouth or have temper tantrums! However, blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is very different...it is essentially tampering with that one union that God deems as the most sacred....because it is that one thing...the union between God and man...that He died for!! It is deliberately taking action against the Holy Spirit...like, trying to extract something highly sacred and priceless from pure and fine gold -- and in so doing causing irrepairable damage.
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We are saved, and God is faithful to keep us that way. If we ever get even close (which is still far) to being close to the edge of losing our salvation...God is more than faithful then too.
1 Cor. 11:32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being
disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Hebrews 12:7
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not
disciplined by his father?
Rejoice!!
This is a 3 part series, so it is a little bit long...but be encouraged, you can always come back at your leasure and finish it. Blessings!!
The church is probably the best place to successfully hide abuses...not only because many people can't believe that abuse could ever happen there (especially their own church), but because when we do something in the name of God...especially when there is enough truth added...people listen and submit.
It starts slowly, undetected. It could start with almost any doctrine...and then slowly it begins to distort that doctrine and then spreads like leaven in a lump of dough. Then it ultimately tears at the pure message of the Gospel.
The biggest hold SA (spiritual abuse) has is that people have not been grounded in even the basic truths of the gospel. For instance, if someone asked you if you like or have ever seen Foyo Persimmons before...and you answer that you've never had one before and don't even know what they look like. They got ya!! Because it would be pretty easy to fo-yo now, wouldn't it?
They could fool you fairly easily. They could tell you about anything if enough of it sounded like the truth...or is mixed with truth. So, they go on and tell you that they only grow in China during the winter months so it is hard to find them at any stores around you. They could make jams and pies out of something else and tell you they were Foyo jams and pies...and you would probably believe anything about them UNLESS you decided to get to know Foyo Persimmons for yourself.
So you go out and find some, eat them, learn about them and make some desserts from them...and learn that almost everything they said was false. But you would have never known it unless you found out the complete truth for yourself. (I hope you do, they are yummy when still crunchy!)
Eph. 5: 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Circumspectly: taking into consideration all possible circumstances and consequences before acting. Looking at all possible angles and perspectives. (Not just believing because it sounds good.)
So, what are the very basics of the gospel?? The word 'gospel' means Good News. Many people are preaching vehemently against sin...especially certain sins...with those sinners and their sins spread across a marque - while loudly lamenting how our country is going to hell for allowing these sins to go on...and call it the gospel. But I dare say that it is not.
Why is it not? Because Jesus was and is not fragmented. Meaning He is not going to say that He did not come to condemn the world, then turn around in another instance and act towards sinners as tho that is exactly why He came! His intents and His congruent actions were always directed at seeking people out for the purpose of showing God's profound love and salvation. Period. This IS why it was called the 'Good News'...because it WAS and is good news!
Luke 19:10
Indeed, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save people
who are lost."
John 3:17 For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him.
This is also why His ministry included confronting the spiritual abusers of the day - the Pharisees, to name one group. They worked hard at promoting themselves and making God appear to be a burdensome God that is very hard to please.
Then Jesus also dealt with anyone else that sought to distort and get in the way of the pure and simple truth of the Gospel.
1 John 5:3
This is love for God: to obey his
commands. And his commands are not burdensome.
