This is part of a sermon I am planning to give someday when God has anointed me to go out and preach the Good News. It came to me one night - God woke me up out of my sleep at 2am and I was inspired to write it. I would love your thoughts...
Our salvation, or course, means we are saved. But I want you to really meditate on what that means for you. And for the people in your life who arent saved that you can minister to. What are we saved from?
I KNOW I believe in God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. I KNOW I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that God raised Him from the dead three days later and conquered death, and that through my belief in this, I share in His resurrection, and all my sins are washed away.
Ive KNOWN that - since I was a child. But what I DIDNT KNOW, is what salvation meant as far as my day-to-life. I didnt know what it MEANT as I faced troubles, internal pain, doubt, low self-esteem, fear, anger, and so on. I didnt know HOW to APPLY that knowledge to my life so that God could change me. It was like I knew I was free, but I didnt know what to do with that freedom, or I didnt grasp the concept of what that freedom allowed me to do. Maybe some of you who have just recently come to Christ or are a child in Christ have thought the same thing. Ok God. Im saved now what???
I want you to reflect today on what your salvation really means. And how you are MEANT to use it.
In new members class at my church, the very first thing I learned was that salvation means being RESCUED from the bondage of sin . Id like you to consider for a moment, taking that one-step further. Salvation also means being saved from ourselves. The Bible says to take off the old man. Sometimes we forget that the old man isnt just taken off the moment we confess Christ, but has to be taken off daily. Do you think that maybe, sometimes, we forget what our responsibility is with that? Our salvation requires us to be an active participant in the process.
You have to renew your spirit daily. You have to talk to God, daily. You have to cry out to God, daily. You have to read your Word, daily. You have to meditate on the Word, daily. You have to make a conscious choice to trust in the Word and in Gods love, daily. You have to do these things DAILY and ON PURPOSE, so God can continue to work in your life.
When you go out in the world, you meet all manner of people who you can ask are you saved? and many of them WILL tell you, yes, I believe Jesus Christ died for me on the cross and was raised from the dead three days later. You know as well as I do that these are the same people who are STILL suffering inside the hearts and minds, and they are STILL hurting! They are still drinking their problems away, smoking their problems away, eating their problems away, fornicating their problems away. Yes, they ARE saved in that they know Jesus died on the cross for their sins - BUT theyre not living in that victory! Yes, they have confessed Jesus, but they dont know what to do with what theyve got! And, I dont think I would be wrong in saying that at least 60% percent of us in the church have been there too! We knew we were saved, but we didnt know what we had!
But I thank God that NOW I know what I have! Im not just free from the bondage of sin, but Im ALSO free to enjoy the fruits of the Spirit! Im free to enjoy peace, love, joy, happiness! Not only are my sins washed away, but I am now called a child of God and I have the PRIVILEGE to lay my problems, my pain, and my suffering down before God, and in the name of Jesus let God work for me so I dont have to struggle with this old man that keeps trying to jump on my back again! Who the Son sets free is free indeed!
We need to realize that with salvation, the greatest gift you have is that you are free from YOURSELF. You know, a lot of times we forget that what we call our power is not our own. When I say that, I mean that we forget that our will power doesnt mean anything to God. Every time you try to use your will power for something, I bet God is sitting up in heaven on His throne, looking down at you saying, Youll be back. Lets see how that works for you! I think youll agree with me on this, but I think a lot of times, our greatest pain and heartache come from what we cant seem to make ourselves do, or what we cant seem to keep ourselves from doing. And yet, we forget that Jesus not only died for our sins on the cross, but died so we could live in victory, and He sent us a comforter, a counselor, a guide and a helper in the Holy Spirit, so we didnt have to keep doing it on our own!
Paul said, what I want to do, I do not do. And that which I do not wish to do, I do. Hes talking about that internal struggle. The INTERNAL struggle - the fight within yourself to do what is right. But dont you know, if YOU had the power to keep yourself from doing the wrong thing and make yourself do the right thing, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come down on earth, suffer persecution, be arrested, beaten, whipped, crowned with a crown of thorns, be spit at, ridiculed, have nails driven in his hands and feet and be hung on the cross for you and I to have life and have it more abundantly- if all you had to do was use your will power to do whats right. He might as well just stayed up on his thrown in heaven if thats all we had to do!
The sad thing is, that as Christians, we often forget that WE CANT SAVE OURSELVES! We cant rely on our own power to do whats right all the time. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, we forget that we cant rely on ourselves to make our pain go away, or our fear go away, or our anger go away. We keep saying things like, well, I know I need to change that but Im working on it. Im working on it. I know I need patience, Im working on it. I know I have a problem with my temper, Im working on it. I know I have a problem with self-esteem, Im working on it. I know I have a problem with lust, Im working on it. NO! THATS THE PROBLEM - YOU ARE TRYING TO WORK ON IT! God didnt tell YOU to work on it, He said to put your trust in Him and His Word and let HIM WORK ON IT. All you need to do is fast, pray, read and meditate on the Word, and BELIEVE that all things you ask in the name of Jesus Christ that is according to Gods will, will be given onto you. Dont say, Im working on it say Gods working on it and Im working on getting closer to God. THATS ALL YOU NEED TO SAY!
We keep trying to do it ourselves! Thats not freedom! Thats not the freedom Jesus died for! Yes, you SHOULD take responsibility for your life, but your FIRST responsibility is to live according to the WORD and the WORD says give it to God, trust in him, stay rooted in the Word and have it rooted in you, stay in prayer and walk in the Spirit, and He will take care of the rest! When God's spirit is in you, willpower becomes an afterthought.
When you feel like youve let yourself down, or like you just arent measuring up to the expectations that the world puts on you, or like youre just not worthy of love or respect, you need to remember you are saved! And you are chosen! And God has a plan for you! And nobody has the right to look down on you because they have their skeletons too! And God is working on THEM too! You need to know the Christ died so you can be free of this guilt and shame you have. We need to FOCUS! The Devil is trying to steal our focus! Hes trying to tell you, youll never be good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you were saved you wouldnt still be doing that so you might as well give up being a Christian because youre no good at it! Thats what the Devil is trying to tell you! He wants you to give up the hope that God has made you into something new.
End of Part 1*****
Our salvation, or course, means we are saved. But I want you to really meditate on what that means for you. And for the people in your life who arent saved that you can minister to. What are we saved from?
I KNOW I believe in God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. I KNOW I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that God raised Him from the dead three days later and conquered death, and that through my belief in this, I share in His resurrection, and all my sins are washed away.
Ive KNOWN that - since I was a child. But what I DIDNT KNOW, is what salvation meant as far as my day-to-life. I didnt know what it MEANT as I faced troubles, internal pain, doubt, low self-esteem, fear, anger, and so on. I didnt know HOW to APPLY that knowledge to my life so that God could change me. It was like I knew I was free, but I didnt know what to do with that freedom, or I didnt grasp the concept of what that freedom allowed me to do. Maybe some of you who have just recently come to Christ or are a child in Christ have thought the same thing. Ok God. Im saved now what???
I want you to reflect today on what your salvation really means. And how you are MEANT to use it.
In new members class at my church, the very first thing I learned was that salvation means being RESCUED from the bondage of sin . Id like you to consider for a moment, taking that one-step further. Salvation also means being saved from ourselves. The Bible says to take off the old man. Sometimes we forget that the old man isnt just taken off the moment we confess Christ, but has to be taken off daily. Do you think that maybe, sometimes, we forget what our responsibility is with that? Our salvation requires us to be an active participant in the process.
You have to renew your spirit daily. You have to talk to God, daily. You have to cry out to God, daily. You have to read your Word, daily. You have to meditate on the Word, daily. You have to make a conscious choice to trust in the Word and in Gods love, daily. You have to do these things DAILY and ON PURPOSE, so God can continue to work in your life.
When you go out in the world, you meet all manner of people who you can ask are you saved? and many of them WILL tell you, yes, I believe Jesus Christ died for me on the cross and was raised from the dead three days later. You know as well as I do that these are the same people who are STILL suffering inside the hearts and minds, and they are STILL hurting! They are still drinking their problems away, smoking their problems away, eating their problems away, fornicating their problems away. Yes, they ARE saved in that they know Jesus died on the cross for their sins - BUT theyre not living in that victory! Yes, they have confessed Jesus, but they dont know what to do with what theyve got! And, I dont think I would be wrong in saying that at least 60% percent of us in the church have been there too! We knew we were saved, but we didnt know what we had!
But I thank God that NOW I know what I have! Im not just free from the bondage of sin, but Im ALSO free to enjoy the fruits of the Spirit! Im free to enjoy peace, love, joy, happiness! Not only are my sins washed away, but I am now called a child of God and I have the PRIVILEGE to lay my problems, my pain, and my suffering down before God, and in the name of Jesus let God work for me so I dont have to struggle with this old man that keeps trying to jump on my back again! Who the Son sets free is free indeed!
We need to realize that with salvation, the greatest gift you have is that you are free from YOURSELF. You know, a lot of times we forget that what we call our power is not our own. When I say that, I mean that we forget that our will power doesnt mean anything to God. Every time you try to use your will power for something, I bet God is sitting up in heaven on His throne, looking down at you saying, Youll be back. Lets see how that works for you! I think youll agree with me on this, but I think a lot of times, our greatest pain and heartache come from what we cant seem to make ourselves do, or what we cant seem to keep ourselves from doing. And yet, we forget that Jesus not only died for our sins on the cross, but died so we could live in victory, and He sent us a comforter, a counselor, a guide and a helper in the Holy Spirit, so we didnt have to keep doing it on our own!
Paul said, what I want to do, I do not do. And that which I do not wish to do, I do. Hes talking about that internal struggle. The INTERNAL struggle - the fight within yourself to do what is right. But dont you know, if YOU had the power to keep yourself from doing the wrong thing and make yourself do the right thing, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come down on earth, suffer persecution, be arrested, beaten, whipped, crowned with a crown of thorns, be spit at, ridiculed, have nails driven in his hands and feet and be hung on the cross for you and I to have life and have it more abundantly- if all you had to do was use your will power to do whats right. He might as well just stayed up on his thrown in heaven if thats all we had to do!
The sad thing is, that as Christians, we often forget that WE CANT SAVE OURSELVES! We cant rely on our own power to do whats right all the time. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, we forget that we cant rely on ourselves to make our pain go away, or our fear go away, or our anger go away. We keep saying things like, well, I know I need to change that but Im working on it. Im working on it. I know I need patience, Im working on it. I know I have a problem with my temper, Im working on it. I know I have a problem with self-esteem, Im working on it. I know I have a problem with lust, Im working on it. NO! THATS THE PROBLEM - YOU ARE TRYING TO WORK ON IT! God didnt tell YOU to work on it, He said to put your trust in Him and His Word and let HIM WORK ON IT. All you need to do is fast, pray, read and meditate on the Word, and BELIEVE that all things you ask in the name of Jesus Christ that is according to Gods will, will be given onto you. Dont say, Im working on it say Gods working on it and Im working on getting closer to God. THATS ALL YOU NEED TO SAY!
We keep trying to do it ourselves! Thats not freedom! Thats not the freedom Jesus died for! Yes, you SHOULD take responsibility for your life, but your FIRST responsibility is to live according to the WORD and the WORD says give it to God, trust in him, stay rooted in the Word and have it rooted in you, stay in prayer and walk in the Spirit, and He will take care of the rest! When God's spirit is in you, willpower becomes an afterthought.
When you feel like youve let yourself down, or like you just arent measuring up to the expectations that the world puts on you, or like youre just not worthy of love or respect, you need to remember you are saved! And you are chosen! And God has a plan for you! And nobody has the right to look down on you because they have their skeletons too! And God is working on THEM too! You need to know the Christ died so you can be free of this guilt and shame you have. We need to FOCUS! The Devil is trying to steal our focus! Hes trying to tell you, youll never be good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you were saved you wouldnt still be doing that so you might as well give up being a Christian because youre no good at it! Thats what the Devil is trying to tell you! He wants you to give up the hope that God has made you into something new.
End of Part 1*****
