THIS IS MY STORY...
BELIEVE/BELIEVER
When I was a kid, my grandparents brought us to church I remember being bored out of my mind and wondering if this guy was ever going to shut up.
Later on, our parents brought us to a church on Arcade Street, eventually I went to confirmation classes and was confirmed.
This is catechism for all you Catholics, (Several weeks of classes learning about God)
If anybody ever asked me if I was a Christian of course I would say yes and if they asked me if I believed that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I would say yes, I believe that that is true because that is what I was taught.
The problem is absolutely nothing in my life reflected it.
But I wore a gold cross around my neck and if anybody asked, I was a Christian / believer (both words mean the same thing).
The key here is the word BELIEVE or BELIEVER and what that word actually means, you see intellectually I did believe what I was taught, that Jesus is the Son of God, He came to Earth as a man, died on a cross, rose again on the third day, for the forgiveness of my sin.
In my mind I believe that wholeheartedly but it was just head knowledge and knowledge without application is useless.
You can believe in gravity and jump off a building without a parachute and it's not going to end well.
You see the difference between jumping off with a parachute and without a parachute is the application of knowledge. You apply the knowledge that you would go splat if you did not have a parachute, so you put on a parachute, that is knowledge and application working together to keep you alive.
Because you took action and put on a parachute this is evidence that you truly believe in gravity.
So, let's say somebody tells you it's okay to jump off the building without a parachute all you have to do is believe in gravity. Just a mere fact that you believe gravity exist or existed at some point will save you don't worry you'll be fine.
Are you going to jump????
I personally believe that this tragedy is happening in the church today with many believers or people who think they are believers.
Many people will tell you all you have to do is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God that He died on a cross as a sin offering so that you can be forgiven of your sins and if you believe this, your sins are forgiven and you will go to heaven where there is no more tears and no more pain.
And this is absolutely true.
Look at John 3 :15 through 16, Mark 16:6, John 3:18, John 5:24, John 6:40, John 6:47,
John 11:25, acts 10:43, Romans 1:16, and Romans 10:10.
Every one of these verses will support that statement along with many more in Scripture.
But the key word in every single one of these scriptures is the word BELIEVE.
Everything and I mean absolutely everything hinges, on this one word, BELIEVE.
And the reason I believe everything hinges on this one word is because of these next scriptures:
Matthew 7 :21-23
Galatians 5:19- 21
Revelations 22:12-15
Read these now
In Matthew 7:21-23, Galatians 5:19-21, and Revelation 22:12-15 these are Christians he is talking to, or at least people who think they are Christians, and the list of these scriptures goes on, Ephesians 5:5-6 1st Corinthians 15:1-2 and more.
These scriptures will blow a huge hole in the belief that the mere fact that I believe Jesus existed at some point in time means I am saved and I am going to heaven to be with God for eternity, this is just simply not true.
Even the demons prove this, Matthew chapter 8:28-29, intellectually they believe in Jesus, they recognized Him, they absolutely believe He exists, not only that but they believe that He is the ultimate authority on the scene, and I can pretty much guarantee you that they are not saved, nor are they going to heaven, or entering the kingdom of God.
Now you might be saying to yourself, how can this be, they are calling him Lord obviously they know His name, obviously they believe He existed, what about John 3:15-16 and all the other verses that say all I have to do is believe, Mark 16:6, John 13:8, John 5:24, John 6:40, John 6:47, John 11:25, Acts 10:43 Romans 1:16 and Romans 10:10.
There is that keyword again BELIEVE
By now I think it's pretty obvious that intellectually just believing He existed and going to church once in a while is just not going to work.
I personally believe that this is a lie from the pit of hell, it is a false gospel, and if you believed this like I did it's because you've been tricked, you've been deceived, you have been lied to.
But it's not your fault, it's our fault for not telling you the truth, and giving it to you straight. You see we were afraid to give it to you straight for fear of hurting your feelings because you may not come back to church, well, I don't care about your feelings I care about sitting at the right hand of God and seeing all of my friends and family sitting next to me when it's all over,
John 15:13.
And personally, I think we're almost out of time.
The key to all of this is a true belief and repentance.
I have studied this word believe in the English the Greek, the Hebrew and the Aramaic even all the way back to pictographs where words weren’t even words yet they were pictures.
And because everything and I mean everything hinges on that one word I wanted to know exactly what it meant, who spoke it, what language they spoke it in, and what exactly did they mean by it when they said it.
In my opinion the most accurate word to describe the word believe in scripture is the Aramaic and Hebrew word (Amen).
It is more than an intellectual belief,
If you truly believe your life will reflect it, if you truly believe there will be application of the knowledge that you possess.
There will be evidence of your knowledge the Bible calls this fruit.
Again, the keys to all of this is a true belief (Amen) and repentance.
You may be asking yourself what is repentance or how do I repent.
It's quite simple actually, because of your upbringing, your friends, family, TV, radio, film, combined with your life experiences, you have developed a deeply embedded belief system whether you know it or not, if that belief system does not line up with, agree with, or match up with the Bible it is wrong!!and it needs to change! it doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't matter what you feel, it doesn't matter what you believe, or how it got there, if it doesn't match what the Bible says, you along with the help of the Holy Spirit need to change the way you think, feel, believe, talk, and act so that it does; this is repentance.
2nd Chronicles 7:14
So, here's the good news we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and we deserve his wrath we are all guilty as charged but if you truly believe (AMEN) in Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior and repent, all of your charges are dropped and the verdict is not guilty John 3:15-16.
Today, I would like to offer you the chance to accept Jesus the Christ of Nazareth as your Lord and Savior and the free gift of the Holy Spirit which is the helper the counselor some might say your conscience.
If this is something you want then say this prayer, Holy Father I confess that I have sinned against you, I am sorry, please forgive me, Jesus I open up the door to my heart and my life to you, please come in and be the Lord of my life, please baptize me with the Holy Spirit and lead me into all truth, I reject Satan and all of his ways in the name of Jesus the Christ of Nazareth amen.
The gospel of John chapter 3 verse 3 says (and this is Jesus speaking).
John 3:3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
Then in verse 5 he says this,
John 3:5 “Most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdome of God.
Unless you are born again, not only can you not enter the Kingdome of God, but you can’t even see it, if you can not even see it, how can you understand it, or know its power, its simple, you can’t.
To be born again you need to:
1. accept Jesus the Christ of Nazareth as your Lord and Savior,
2. be baptized with water
3. be baptized with the Holy Spirit
If you said the prayer earlier you have done the 1st one, 2. Get baptized as an adult, your baptism a child was not a baptism it was a dedication, it was not a baptism of your choice (baptism as a child is not in the bible)
3.To be baptized with the Holy Spirit can only be done by God but you need to be in agreement with it (want it, pray for it) then I suggest you find a spirit filled, Holy Bible teaching church, go to the elders of the church, ask then to pray over you in agreement that you may receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit. (Just remember the church is not a building, it is other believers, so if you need to, call somebody to come over and pray with you ,read Mathew 18:verse 20)
Mathew 18:19, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my father in heaven”.
If all of this seems to be too much, to live up to/or to do, trust me it’s not, and I know this for a fact, I have lived it for the past 13 years, but there is no way you can do it alone, that is why you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Being baptized with the Holy Spirit is like taking your best friend to work with you and he does 90% of the work and you get paid for it. I know this seems like fantasy but it’s not! (Read John 3:3 again) this is why it seems like fantasy, but again, trust me, it’s not!! I know this for a fact, this is real
This is not meant to scare you or condemn you in any way, shape or form, it is meant to tell you the truth and tell you the good news, (the gospel) of Jesus the Christ of Nazareth.
The reason I share the gospel with you is because you are my friend and you important to me and I want to see you in heaven sitting at the right hand of God when this is all over.
Love,
Shawn
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THIS IS MY STORY...
The weather had been unusually nice in the fall of 1931, but in Minnesota winter upon us, we needed warm clothes.
Our family consisted of Mother, Father, a three-year-old brother, two sisters in grade school, myself. I stayed in town with my grandmother during the week and attended high school.
My father was a pastor of a small country church of about thirty-five people. Since it was during the Great Depression, money was sparse, but we never went hungry. God always supplied our needs.
Father's only income came from the free-will offerings of the church. I don't remember how much they were but I don't think they were ever more than five dollars a week and some times much less.
To supplement our food supply we kept a cow, some chickens and rabbits. The people also brought in farm produce from time to time. There was never an over-abundance of food, but there was always enough, even to satisfy the appetite of a hungry teenager.
Teddy the dog, also a part of our family, Was part collie and the rest of uncertain ancestry. Although his coat was reddish brown and white and he was marked like a collie, he had the temperament of a bulldog. He and I grew up together, or so we thought. I was fifteen at the time.
Teddy chased squirrels, woodchucks, and even skunks. We once tracked a wolf to its den. But Teddy's specialty was raccoons. One time we caught one and I carried it home in a sack. When we got home, the raccoon revived and I kept it as a pet for several months, finally i had to free it because I couldn't get a permit to keep it. My parents wouldn't let me keep it without a state permit. They insisted I obey the state laws.
Now on that cold late November day, winter had arrived and we needed warm clothes. After breakfast my father took down the family Bible and read a chapter as usual. Then we knelt and prayed. We told God about our needs and asked for winter clothes. We rose from prayer with the assurance but not the evidence that God had answered. But before night the answer came.
After prayer my father went to work on our car. It was a 1925 Model T Ford. It had the usual three foot-levers on the floor, but it also had a special transmission with a stick shift. This gave the car more speed and power, but it also caused it to break universal joints and axels. That day it was broken again and my father was working on it.
He needed a wrench he didn't have and asked me to go to the neighbor's to get it for him. It had been unseasonably warm the night before but the wind had suddenly switched to the north and now the ground was frozen.
As I walked along the road there, was a cornfield on one side and an oak grove on the other. I noticed raccoon tracks frozen in the soft dirt beside the road. The raccoon had been feeding in the cornfield during the night.
When I returned with the wrench, I helped my father repair the car. Suddenly we heard Teddy barking in the oak grove north of the house.
He had been shut in the house when I went for the wrench because he thought it was his duty to go every place I went. When I had returned he had been let out and now he was barking, telling me that he had found something important. I told my father that I was going to see what the dog had, and he said he would go with me. This surprised me because my father was not a hunter.
When we found the dog he was circling a pile of gray and black fur. There were heads sticking out in different directions, and Teddy got too close to the raccoon so it snapped at him but didn't get out of their warm huddle. After feeding in the cornfield they had crossed into the oak grove, found a sheltered place, and curled up. There were five or six of them, and we got them all.
We took them home, skinned them out, and stretched the hides. They were all nice prime pelts. As we stood there admiring the hides, suddenly my father's face turned from joy and satisfaction to one of disbelief and dismay. He had suddenly remembered that we needed a license to take a raccoon, and we didn't have one!
As needy as we were, my father would never had taken the raccoon if he had thought of the need of a license and He would not have let me take them either because he always said that laws were made to be obeyed.
The raccoons were dead and the hides were stretched. What were we to do now. The next best thing was to conform to the law as soon as possible, but we had no money.
A bachelor neighbor , who was not a member of our church but came from time to time, had told my father that if he ever needed money he should come to him. Now my father wrote a note asking to borrow two dollars. I took the note, walked to his place, got the money and bought a trapping license.
We called a fur buyer who came out and bought the hides. We had money enough to buy warm clothes and to pay back the two dollar loan. Our morning prayers had been answered.
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