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Coming soon, Gospel Music to be added as soon as the Lord permits.
What should October 31st mean to a Christian? |
Table of Contents
How do I Become a Christian?
To begin, you must recognize your need of a Savior. You must realize that you are lost, and that there is no way that you are ever going to heaven on your own merits. A lot of people consider themselves to be basically good. They will say, I have never killed anyone, or stolen money from a bank or committed adultery. But if you look at God's standards, you will soon realize that you have in fact broken every commandment. Romans 3:23 says: RO 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Everyone has sinned. You may ask yourself, how have I sinned? In Luke chapter 18, we read the story of a young ruler that approached Jesus and asked, How can I get eternal life? Jesus replied and said, "You know the commandments, Thou shalt not steal, commit adultery, bear false witness, honor your father and mother." The young ruler replied and said, "I have kept all these from my youth up." But Jesus told him, he lacked one thing, "Go, and sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and follow me." The ruler was very sad at what Jesus had told him, because he was wealthy, and he went away sorrowful. You see, this rich young ruler was a covetous man. That's commandment number ten. Coveting is a symptom of your heart, and like this commandment, all the breaking of God's laws begin in the heart. Jesus once gave a great sermon, it's in Matthew chapter 5. In this sermon, He said that if anyone looks at a woman with lust in his heart, that he has already committed adultery with her. With internet pornography as widespread as it is, this law has been violated numerous times. Consider yourself, have you found that your mind wanders into places that you might be ashamed of if it were known? He also said that anyone angry with his brother without a cause is in danger of the judgment, that anyone that says someone is stupid is in danger of the council, and if you call someone a fool that you are in danger of hell fire. Think of all the times you have been upset with someone, maybe you said things you later regretted, or maybe contemplated revenge on that person. Consider just being in traffic on the highway, someone cuts you off, or is driving to slowly for the traffic to suit you. Have you ever thought of terrible things in these cases? James, another book of the New Testament tells us that if you hate your brother you are guilty of murder. A lot of people think that its only a sin if you follow through with your thoughts, but the bible says that is not true. You are just as accountable for your thoughts as well as actions in the sight of God. At this point you may say, Well, if that is the case then nobody is good enough to go to heaven. That is absolutely correct. Nobody is good, not even one person. You can probably imagine someone that is worse than you are, and you can probably think of people that may appear better than you are (morally). But the bible says the same thing about all of us. We are fallen creatures, and we cannot change ourselves. A leopard cannot change his spots, and nobody can make the color of his skin change, this is our predicament. And we all must stand before a Holy God, when we pass from this life to the next, and give an account of everything we have done on earth. Then we might ask, can't I just repent, or say that I am sorry? Well, you might try to apologize, and promise to never sin again, but what about all the sins you have already committed? If you were a judge, and someone guilty of murder was brought before you, would you accept a simple apology? Of course not, you would have to punish that man because justice must be carried out for his crime. In fact, if you let him go, you would not be looked upon very favorably and people would begin to mock you and the justice system. So, if I am a sinner, and there is no way to apologize, then what is the answer? Well, there is an answer to this sin problem. You see, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer the penalty for you. In fact it is recorded in the most famous verse of the bible: JOHN 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. How does this help you?, you might ask. The answer is given to us in Romans. RO 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So that's it? All I have to do is confess Jesus Christ and believe that God raised him from the dead? Well, there is more. You see, you can't believe it unless God gives you this ability, which is called faith. Devils believe in Jesus, and are yet lost. Devils know that they have sinned, and are yet lost. What makes our case special, is that Christ died for us, even while we were still sinners. You must believe that Christ died for you, instead of you, and that all of your sins have been forgiven. Something special happened on the cross, Jesus Christ became sin for you. Imagine who Jesus is, he was completely innocent, and yet became sin for you, became a curse for you, and suffered the price of sin, for you. The price of sin is death, and eternal separation from God in a place called hell. How could one man pay such a price for all of humanity? I mean after all there have been many martyrs that have died and suffered for this cause, what is it that makes this case so different? Well, we have to ask this question, if you wanted to trade something, lets say a car on a car lot, what could you get for your car? Well, something of equal or less value than your car. You certainly would not be able to get more than what your car is worth, correct? So to redeem something, the redeemer has to be worth more than the redeemed, correct? If we were to look at two people at face value, it would be an even trade. Everybody's life is equally valuable to themselves. What is the one thing worth more than all of humanity, the universe, the creation itself? It can only be God. God is greater than anything you can imagine. He created all things, and He also sustains all things by the Word of His power. This is the difference. God became flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), lived in perfect obedience to the law, and was condemned to die, having broken no laws. Then, on the cross, God poured out His judgment on sin on Jesus Christ. A perfect sacrifice for sin was offered, and by the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days later we know that offering was accepted. If you can believe this, and confess your sins (repent), you can be saved from sin and the final judgment. If you are able to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you must walk after him. This is true conversion, when you not only hear, but when you also become a doer of the will of God.
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Where can I find the answers?The Holy Bible has answers for all of our situations, problems, and most of all the solution for salvation. Back to Top
Why doesn't ... ?[This is the answer to the question.] Back to Top
Who is Jesus Christ?Jesus Christ is God manifest in flesh: ISA 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. ISA 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. MT 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. MT 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. MR 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; LU 4:41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. JOH 1:14 And the Word was made 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. JOH 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. JOH 10:30 I and my Father are one. JOH 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 1TI 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. RE 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
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What is Faith?HEB 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. RO 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. RO 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. EPH 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the great "hall of faith" in the bible. To learn more about the nature of faith, it would be good to read this chapter. Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by grace, through faith, and that even the faith we have is a gift from God. Consider this, suppose that you have a television that needs repair. You take this television to someone qualified to repair it. They perform all the work required to fix the set and return it to you in proper working order. It was an act of faith that led you to bring your set to the repairman, however, it was the repairman that did all the work. You must have heard that the repairman was able to do it from someone, hence faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), the fact that you heard was a gift that you cannot ascribe to yourself. In very much the same way, God has let us have faith in Him by hearing the Word of God. After receiving this gift of faith, we understand that it is Jesus Christ that does all the work, we simply put our faith in him. We don't even put faith in our faith, as some would have it, as we can see by the above illustration, the faith we have in our own faith is irrelevant as to whether or not someone is able to perform a task. We actually may have no confidence in the repairman, yet we leave our set with him, and behold, it is repaired. If we put our faith in Jesus Christ, and not ourselves, behold, we are saved. MT 17:20 ....... for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
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When is Jesus coming back?[This is the answer to the question.] Back to Top
LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH 16441689 BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH Westminster Confession of Faith Author information goes here.
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