Q: Why are people not getting saved? Is our delivery Bad?
Why are so many sinners drawn to Jesus, but hate Christians. In Mark 2:16-17 Jesus told them that he didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinners, just as a doctor comes for the sick, not the healthy, Jesus modeled Grace then Truth. (John 1:14) Sometimes we want to hit people with the truth so they come to grace, but that can chase people away from the very thing we desire to lead them to. Christians just want to love you; or do we? Isn’t it harder to love someone than to let someone love you? Are we being like Jesus, or more like Pharisees? This causing a problem to why sinners aren’t being saved?
- Ashley Wenk
Q: How does Salvation Work, What about the wrath of God?
The Bible Tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by faith. Salvation is nothing we can earn, we have to accept Jesus for the payment of our sins through faith not just works. We know that in order to accept Christ we need to confess we are sinners. (1 John 1:9) we deserve to die because of our sins. (Romans 3:23:-25) But God chose to save us from his wrath while we were in the midst of our sins, through his love by allowing Jesus Christ to come and die for us. Romans 5: 8-9, 1 Thessalonians 5:9
- Katy Pishcura and Keta Smith
Q: Who saves?
Spiderman can save you from the Green Goblin and his arsenal of high-tech weapons. He also may be able to save you from Doctor Octopus, but the true question is can he save you from yourself? There is only one that can truly save you and his name is Jesus Christ!
Q: How can you be saved?
Are you in Danger? Well…. Donatelo can save you by using knowledge to solve conflicts. Not good enough? Leonard will fight anyone off with his katanas. Raphael will have your back in any situation. And Michaelangelo will find a creative way to rescue you from anyone. But would they give their life for you? There is one who already has given up His only son for you. He extended grace upon us and if we believe in him he will save us.
- Deidra Cohoe and Christine Aki
Q: Is there true Salvation outside of Christ?
Christ’s unique approach argues for His accuracy. Instead of salvation through rules or actions He taught that His grace was the only way
- Dan Hagg and Javaar Howard
Q: Historically has the church abused the message of salvation? Are we still teaching unbiblical methods of salvation?
In history man has wavered between worshipping religious relics and trying to buy their way into heaven through works and/or wealth. Today, some people do the same thing but in different ways. Isn’t the Bible clear that salvation is by faith and not by works? Doesn’t it also state that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice paying the price for our sins?
- David and Angeline Yarbrough
Q: Are all who trust in Jesus saved?
Can there really be trust in Jesus without being saved? Trust means to have complete confidence in someone or something. If someone is saved they are saying that they have given their trust completely in Jesus. How can you give yourself over to Jesus without that trust being there or vice versa. Yes. All who truly trust in Jesus are saved.
Q: When is someone sure they are saved?
Like the question above, when you give up the ‘my way’ mentality, when you make the decision to place your life in the hands of Jesus and trust that he will help you through all your good and bad and when you make that decision to ask Jesus to be your life, repenting of what you have done, are doing, and will do, and start to make the change that reflects your decision then you will know.
- Tyler Heinz and Sarah DeVries
I want to invite people to share their thoughts on salvation. Our questions above are there to stimulate some thought on salvation. But we want to know what think about it. Do you believe there is salvation in eternity? Or is this... right here... all we get? Is there more that we don't understand about it or is it truly spelled out for us somewhere?
ReplyDeleteSo your saying in that last one tyler and sarah that just because you change your way of life your gonna be saved. Does this mean once saved always saved
ReplyDeleteTo Jeremy:Help me understand; what part of our answer implies that we believe "Once saved Always saved"? Our response was more about peoples Genuine surrender leading to true Security in their own personal Salvation, as the question states. -Tyler
ReplyDeleteNo you can be mother Teresa and live your life completely for others and be a wonderful person but until you accept christ as your Savior it won't mean more than a few grains of sand in an empty sandbox. And even when you are saved its absolutely possible to backslide onto the way you were before. The only difference being that we know that jesus wants us all the more to come back to him
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ReplyDeleteI think that true salvation is proven through a repentive heart. You have to decide to trust God when He shows you your issues. Whether through others,(like when King David is told by the prophet Nathan that God is upset w/what he did) or through God convicting your heart, that you are willing walk away from the things you were doing(With God's help).
ReplyDeleteAs long as you live on this earth you will suffer from mistakes, setbacks and feelings of temptation, but the WILLINGNESS to admit your are not perfect & to do your best to respond to God is the true heart of repentance. Repentance actually means to turn & go in another direction.
You can't do this by yourself and while some are delivered from addictions and issues immediately, not all are. Salvations is worked out "through fear & trembling" between each individual & God & honestly is a process that takes a lifetime because God doesn't overwhelm you with demands for perfection on this earth. Instead Christ walks you through each and every day giving you the strength to make it through the good & bad. :-)
I think we as Christians should learn how to receive. I think many of us think we have to work for God's free gift of salvation, but the truth is all we have to do is believe and receive. Imagine yourself being at a Christmas party and your getting hungry and there is a waiter giving out free sandwiches. So now you have this hunger and there is this waiter trying to find someone who is hungry. If you don't diligently look for him and if you don't believe he is there guess what your gonna miss out on the free sandwiches. Now think of this hunger being your sin and the waiter being God, your sin will draw you to God but He has given you a choice to believe and receive what He wishes to give you or to not believe and receive nothing. If we desire to receive something from God we must have faith in Him and believe He is there. It also takes faith to receive from God because what we are getting from Him is supernatural and we cannot see it. So I challenge you to learn more about how to receive God's free gift of salvation and the many more gifts He wishes to give you.
ReplyDeleteI think we as Christians convey the message of "The Gift of Salvation" loud and clear, it's FREE all we must do is accept and believe... until we do. It's then that we can and do make new Christians feel like we have to work to keep it. I personally haven't made a concrete decision on the Eternal Salvation doctrine, however I DO believe that GOD so loved the WHOLE world that He gave His only SON and WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM shall NOT perish. I take that to mean He LOVES me and as long as I hold on to Jesus and the sacrifice He made so I can abide with Him one day, I will! He's not an indian giver so that when I stumble or I'm not someones version of a "christian" I'm doomed. We CANNOT work our way to heaven whether we have been saved or not. It's a FREE GIFT, and the blood of Jesus covers up all of my shortcomings in God's eyes... man's vision is faulty. That alone makes you want to do whatever you can to please the GIVER of the Gift. I will never meet the standards some think I should... I'm so glad Jesus loves me this I know....
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of becoming sanctified/saved through the free gift given to us through Christ's sacrifice is that it does not end there. When someone comes to a place of acceptance of that gift it is the beginning of a life of becoming more and more sanctified. Not because it is being held over our head that we will lose our salvation if we don't but because the relationship that develops with Jesus makes us want to change and become more like Him. The fault I see with seasoned Christians and new believers is the lack of patience in allowing God to work those changes in the timing that is right for that person and at the same time know when to encourage that new believer to press through.
ReplyDeleteI love Acts 26 because it gives a real life demonstration of the Apostle Paul's witnessing technique. Here we see Paul defending his ministry before King Agrippa, a man he'd never met before or spoken to or lived in front of. Paul first points to his own past as a Jewish Pharisee and persecutor of the Way--a sinner. Then he speaks of his own salvation on the way to Damascus. In that encounter with the risen Christ, Paul is told that, in persecuting the church, Paul is actually persecuting Jesus Himself! Paul recounts how Jesus called Paul to the ministry while he was yet on the way to destroy the church! Jesus said, "I am sending you (to your own people and to the Gentiles) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in (Christ)." Paul's very next words? "So then...I was not disobedient to the vision...I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds...saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles." Agrippa recognized that Paul was trying to convert him to Christianity, for in verse 28 Agrippa says, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" Paul replied, "Short time or ling--I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."
ReplyDeleteNotice what Paul preached: Repentance, Turning to God, Proving their repentance to be true BY THEIR DEEDS (See James 2:14-26), that the Christ would suffer, rise from the dead and proclaim light to the Jews and the Gentiles. These things are essential to the Gospel message. And so I say, if we do not preach repentance from sins, we are preaching a different Gospel than that of the Bible. John the Baptist preached it (Matt. 3:2, 8; Mark 1:4-5; Luke 3:3, 8; ) Jesus preached it (Mark 1:14-15), Peter preached it (Acts 2:38-40), Paul & Barnabas preached it (Acts 14:15; 17:29-31; 26:20-23), etc. It is clear from all of these verses that repentance from sin and turning to God must be central to the Gospel. To leave people as you found them is no Good News at all! And so, in conclusion, I present this question: If Paul had continued to persecute the church, would that have been true repentance? NO! Christ told the woman caught in adultery "Go and sin NO MORE". He told the invalid, "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." John the Baptist told Herod it was unlawful to have his brother's wife, and Paul stopped persecuting the church and became perhaps its greatest champion! While the gift is free, yet it came at a great cost! And so, Hebrews says, "Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The LORD will judge His people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:28-31).
"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." James 4:8-10
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says that the will of God is your sanctification. Sanctification is the process of becoming pure or holy. I do believe that if we are not moving in this process of sanctification, then we are not in the will of God.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I also believe that one of the most damaging things 'older/more mature' christians do to newer believers is to not give them time for the Holy Spirit to work them through the process. Our job instead is really just to encourage them to be ON the process of sanctification... not to try to force them to be at the end already.
In the end, Christians are just people and make mistakes probably as much as anyone. That's certainly no excuse, but perhaps that's 'their' sanctification process they are working through.
I have to say that this has played a huge part in my last week.. God is an awesome God, He has been moving within me and changing my heart. He re lit my oil lamp that had burnt out, it truly is never too late to find your way home, to repent and change direction. God has always loved me through my struggles, and has always been there even though I have not acknowledged Him. Through my own personal experience, in my dreams and through vision, I have remembered that I was called to greatness, as the prodigal son remembered that he once ate better than the servants in his fathers home. That is the first step to coming home and then repentance comes after. To truly accept the greatness God has called you to and to walk with Him in that direction. When you are married, you have a plan and a goal to get to together, and you have to work at your marriage EVERY DAY!!! So in the sense that we are a part of the Bride of Christ, we must work at our intimate connection to Him everyday in showing that affection that we feel for Him and the joy and excitement He brings to our lives and to our heart, and we needn't expect anything in return, because we trust in our King that His work is in the love He has given us and still shows us to this day. Share the love He has given you with everyone you know because you know that they deserve to feel that love too!!!
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