Tag what must I do to be saved

Seven Musts of Salvation #2, BELIEVE

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The Holy Spirit uses the Word for His work

“She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” [John 11:27]

Almost no one would deny that believing in Jesus as the Christ is essential to salvation. Except those who practice infant baptism, universalism, Joel Osteen or any other who thinks that just because you are a decent, non-murderous person you will go to heaven.

Belief is a work. “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” [John 6:29; cr. 1Thess 1:3; 2Thess 1:11]

#2, we must BELIEVE:

Some have the false impression that we in the churches of Christ lack faith. This is far from the truth. We BELIEVE, and we know it is essential to salvation. What do the Scriptures teach about what we are to believe?

We believe that Jesus was BORN in the flesh. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:” [1John 4:2]

Verse 2 says, “and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist,” Thus, we believe that EMMANUEL, God is with us. [Isaiah 7:14]

We believe that faith must be a LIVING, working faith. “Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself… Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.” [James 2:17, 24]

We believe that Jesus IS the Christ, the Son of the Living God. “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” [Acts 8:37; Mt 16:16; Acts 8:37; Joh 6:69; 9:35,38; 11:27; Ac 9:20; 1Jo 4:15; 5:5,13]

We believe that ETERNAL life is only through Jesus. He is the way the truth and the life. [John 14:6]

We believe that Jesus is without sin and that He has VICTORY over death. “But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” [1Cor 15:54-57; cr. 1Pet 2:22; Acts 2:24]

We believe in the EXISTENCE of God and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. [Heb 11:1,6]. We believe that without faith it is impossible to please Him. We seek to do those things He has commanded to be found well pleasing to him. [Gal 1:10; 1Thess 2:4; Jas 4:4;]

We BELIEVE, do you?

Spencer

1. All quotation are from the ASV

Seven Musts of Salvation #1, HEAR

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Conversions in Acts

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

These are the words of the Philippian Jailer in Acts 8. Going against today’s popular opinion, the Jailer recognized that there was something one must do to be saved.

If you asked your pastor this question, would he take the same steps that Peter takes with the Jailer? Before you answer, compare all the conversion stories in Acts and then answer.

  • Jews @ Pentecost. Acts 2:38
  • Samaritans. Acts 8:5-13
  • The Eunuch. Acts 8:36-41
  • Saul of Tarsus. Acts 9:1-9
    • 22:16; 26:12-19
  • Cornelius. Acts 10:33-48
  • Lydia. Acts 16:13-16
  • The Corinthians. Acts 18:8
  • The 12 men from Ephesus. Acts 19:1-5

Would your pastor teach all these things?

#1, we must HEAR:

Hearing is the first MUST of salvation. Without hearing and understanding you cannot move any further. To LISTEN to the word of God, or to hear, is to understand and goes beyond the physical sense of hearing.

To hear you must LET the word of Christ get through. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;” [Colossians 3:16] Most people cannot hear because they’re talking over the message or the messenger. “But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord;” [Acts 7:57]

A good hearer INVESTIGATES the message to see if it is so. “Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.” [Acts 17:11]

A good listener will SEEK clarity by asking questions. The good evangelist encourages people to seek for clarity and loves getting questions, even if they challenge the message. “Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some one shall guide me? And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him.” [Acts 8:30-31]

The same word you must hear also encourages you to TEST or prove for accuracy by the word, what is being said. “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” [1Thess 5:21; 1John 4:1]

Another way you can tell if you have heard & understood is by EXPLAINING back to the speaker what you have heard. This is a great practice for anyone trying to learn something new. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” [Acts 8:35-36]

Lastly, we must understand by the verses at the beginning of this article that hearing is NECESSARY to salvation. This disqualifies babies (they are safe; Matt 19:14). Salvation will not be separate or apart from the revealed word of God. God is expecting us to study, to read, to learn.

–Spencer

1. All quotation are from the ASV

Why I chose the Church of Christ

The Preacher 4 Comments

I like to talk with people, actually, I like it when people talk to me. The other day, while getting my haircut, I asked one of my “magic questions”. A magic question is when you ask a person an open ended question that acts as conversation starters.

This lady began talking about her church. She said that she had visited EVERY church in town, but always found herself back at the Baptist church. So, I asked her what it was about the Baptist church that “always brought her back”.

She paused, paused some more, and finally said, “You’re putting me on the spot.” I gently reminded her that she had brought it up and I was just curious. Noticing that she was uncomfortable I moved the conversation on to another aspect of church. This got me to thinking about my own choice for “church”.

Why did I choose the church of Christ?

Like this lovely lady, I too had visited numerous “churches” in my quest to learn about God. I had started a family and recognized that there was something missing. So I went looking. Actually, I already had been looking, even before I was married. I went to the Baptist, the Catholic, the Episcopal, the Methodist, the Universal Church of Christ and multiple other denominations over the course of my search.

In every single case, there was something that didn’t seem quite right. It was a logical feeling that I couldn’t quite place my finger on to know. So, we kept looking.

Would you like to study the Bible?

Then, my wife and I were asked if we would like to study the Bible by an older relative. This simple invitation clicked, no one previously had ever asked if we wanted to study the Bible. So we accepted. Do you know what? We studied the Bible and only the Bible. I asked questions, he answered with scripture. She asked questions, he answered with scripture.

More questions, more scriptures. Then came the question, which interestingly was asked for us by reading the scriptures. [Acts 2:37]

“What must we do to be saved?” [click here]

He answered with the scriptures. Multiple scriptures. He showed us the passages on belief. I asked about the sinners’ prayer. There wasn’t one. He said that he had looked and never found a prayer a non christian prayed and received salvation.

We studied the scriptures for several weeks previously, but on that night, the same hour of the night, my wife and I obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [Mr 1:1; Acts 16:33]

  • We had been hearing the word of God. [Rom 10:17]
  • We believed that Jesus was the Christ. [Acts 8:37]
  • We confessed the same thing before men. [Mat 10:32]
  • We repented of our sins. [Lu 13:3]
  • We were baptized [by immersion] for the remission of our sins. [Acts 2:38; Gal 3:27]
  • We committed to live a Godly life. [Mat 28:1-208; Acts 2:42]

Why did I choose the Church of Christ? It was the only one that used scripture, book, chapter and verse for everything that it teaches, everything it believes and everything it does.

Would you like to study the bible and have your questions answered with the Bible? [click here] and I would be happy to study with you.

Spencer – Borger, Tx  806/274-5021

Ask me how to make your calling and election sure. 2Pet 1:10