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Monday, January 3, 2011

Salvation

Nativity / NatividadImage by . SantiMB . via FlickrSalvation
I believe you can reject your salvation. Jesus said in Matthew 10, "You deny Me before men and I'll...what?...I'll deny you before My Father." Paul writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:12, says, "If you deny Him...same idea...He'll deny you." Salvation is forever, but only if you accept it.If Jesus called you to participate in his ministry to humanity, what do you think he would say to you in light of your own personality and needs?When it comes to living out your faith, what do you have in common with a soldier? An athlete? A farmer? What don't you have in common with them?Matthew 13 where you have the parable of the soils the first few verses of 13 give the parable and starting at verse 18 He explains it. He explains soil number one which was the hard soil and the seed went on the ground and it was snatched away. The second soil was the rocky soil, verse 20, they heard the Word, received it, no root, temporary, affliction, persecution came, immediately he falls away. The one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, the weedy soil and hears the word, worry of the world, deceitfulness of riches, chokes the Word, becomes unfruitful.What "crop" does Jesus want believers to yield? What can you do to increase your "crop productivity"?First John 2:19 says, "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us , they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us." Where does love for the world compete with love for God in your life (money, time, priorities, relationships, ambition)?In John 6:66 Jesus explains His very strong teaching that you have to eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have to be willing to accept My death, My sacrifice and those things which He called for in terms of their dedication, it says, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. And He separated them from the true ones when He said to the Twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you? And Simon Peter answered Him representative of the true believers, Lord to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that You are the holy one of God." And Jesus says, Yeah, except for one of you who is a devil. So even in the midst of those who followed Jesus, there were some who momentarily believed and wanted to make Him a king. There were some who believed for a little while but when the talk became difficult, they left. When times are hard, what keeps you from junking your faith and going on to something else?Look at chapter 12 and verse 42, "Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they were not confessing." They wouldn't publicly acknowledge Him. "Lest they would be unsynagogued for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." Where do you find it most difficult to live your faith: At home or work? Why?In John 15, again Jesus points out the temporary believer, the temporary disciple. "Abide in Me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, but apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, dries up, they gather them, cast them into the fire and they are burned." There are some who stay for a while and disappear
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