Narrow Road

Take great care brothers and sisters of the gospel that lessens what Jesus did for you.

There is a teaching out there that says what Jesus did was good but not everything relating to salvation and eternal life. It likens Jesus work on the cross to a first step or gateway to the narrow road of holy Christian living. If a person does not walk this road correctly then it does not matter what they believe about Jesus they are going to hell. The gospel of Jesus in this case is not just believe but “do” too. Without the “do” there is no eternal life.
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” - Romans 10:9-13

NOT:

* act right

* make promises to do better

* perform good deeds

* stop sinning

* try really hard

* look like a good American Christian

Don't Get Tricked

Don't let anyone trick you into believing this lie my friends. There is only ONE thing that determines our eternal destiny.

>>"Salvation isn't the result of an intellectual exercise. It comes from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ as revealed in the Scripture; it's the fruit of actions, not intentions. There's no room for passive spectators: words without actions are empty and futile...The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny" (Hard to Believe, p. 93).<<

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:23
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that NOT of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2 Timothy 1:9

Red Flag Warning

• If someone presents a theology, doctrine or conviction as scriptural but the average person cannot find it in the scriptures then it is false.
• Even if they list verses but the ordinary Christian, using a good translation and reading in context, cannot see the teaching understandably in those verses then it is most likely a false teaching.
• If other scriptures do not support a teaching it is false.
• If you are told that you need a teacher, pastor or theologian who has been trained in the original languages, or the "hard-to-understand" doctrines,to tell you what those verses actually mean then it is most likely false.
• If you are told you need to know the historical and cultural context to be able to really understand a verse's meaning then again it is most likely false. Helpful yes but key to understanding what God meant? No.
• God wrote what He meant and meant what He wrote.

Don’t get me wrong I like my human teachers and they have helped out lots BUT and it’s a big one..... If my bible does not prove your doctrine by itself I’m not going to believe it.

God wrote to regular folks, common people and ordinary joes. We have the added bonus of the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us understand and clarify things. The same Spirit that inspired the scripture in the first place. Sometimes it make take time and prayer to really see clearly but if we trust Him He will open our eyes and hearts to the truth.

 

Repent

Repent it may not mean what you think it does. Look it up in any Strong's Concordance to see it's true definition.

I do not agree with the notion that repentance is...

• feeling sorry for your sins(feeling sorry isn't bad but it is not repentance either)
• self reform or behavior modification turning from naughty to being good 
• promises to stay clean or promises to live a holy life
• confession of specific sins

Is "Gay" A Special Sin?

* a sinner is a sinner is a sinner
* the tiniest sins separates you from God exactly the same as the big ugly ones

* Jesus blood cleanses all sins equally

* Jesus didn’t come to put down the sinner but to save them and lift them up

* just because an opinion looks biblical doesn’t always mean it is, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light

* how we treat & judge others is how we will be judged & treated, by the humans around us and by God

* we were disgusting filth ridden sinners when Christ died for us, we were nothing special, our super-coolness did not inspire Him to lay down His life for us

* being gay is not a “special” sin, it’s just sin

* a gay man or a lesbian woman is nothing more than your future brother or sister waiting to be found

* hate and disgust are easy, real love is hard

Love like Jesus it will be the hardest thing you will ever do as a Christian.

Mark 16:15, James 2:10, John 3:15-17, Matthew 7:2, Romans 5:6-10

Is It An Apple Tree

Is it an apple tree because it has apples on it or does it have apples because it's an apple tree? Does bearing fruit make someone a Christian or do they bear fruit because they are a Christian? So if you happen to catch them fruitless(winter-time) or don't recognize the kind of fruit they are bearing, are they not saved/"false converts" or is it just bad timing?

Sin Scale Rant

If sin is like cancer and Jesus is the cure does it really matter what kind of cancer the sinner has? Will he go to Hell slower if he is dying of little sins? Is Jesus blood not strong enough for the big bad sins of our day? Why are the big bad sins the disgusting ones? Why don't we get into a twist over coveting, chewing someone out and "little-white" lies? They all send you to hell. Jesus is the cure for all of them. So is it God that holds a sin scale or is it us?

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10 Not much room for a scale there.

Do we like to cling to our sin scale because it makes us feel better about ourselves and gives us license to look down on the really bad sinners? Does it give us room to be tough, coarse and abrupt with the disgusting sinners because their sins are so much worse than anything we would ever consider? Does that little sin scale let us off the hook from being like Jesus to “the least of these”?

Next time you get proud about the other guy’s sin start praying for his salvation, or return home, instead of thinking haughty, prideful or black(evil) thoughts about his sins. Pray him to the cure.

And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and LOVE ONE ANOTHER, as he gave us commandment. 1 John 3:23

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8

LOVE LIKE GOD! It will be the hardest thing you ever do as a Christian.