Dear graduates, just between us, tell me: are you done with High School? Are you ready to move on to new endeavors? I thought so. Perhaps some of you were ready months ago, right? Or even some of you thought that you were already ready when I was your soccer coach in Middle School! I promise I won’t tell that to Mr. Johnson or Mrs. Heilman. / However, on the other hand, that is how life works. Our life is full of temporary things. You keep moving on to the thing as the years pass. So I would like to ask you to image two places you might live. Think of where you are living now as a tent—not a summer vacation away from the frustrations of life, but a tent as the best place you have to live under your present circumstances in life. Yes, the …show more content…
Hebrews 9:28 says that “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Though your salvation is paid in full, you have not yet received it in full.(…) God has given you a deposit now which points toward the time when you will receive in full the salvation bought by Christ. That deposit is the Holy Spirit, whom you received in Holy Baptism or when you first believed in Jesus. At that moment, God forgave your sin and gave you the promise of eternal life. The Spirit received then is the guarantee for your future. / And God freely gave the deposit to you. You did not earn it or deserve it, and may well have been a helpless infant when you received it through baptism. The Father made you for the purpose of living with him, and Christ died to make this possible. (B)The wonderful news is that life now in the tent is different because the guarantee has been given. / Because a deposit has been made on your future home, you can be realistic about life here. Enjoy the many good things on earth without being afraid of losing them, since they are just temporary and will be surpassed. Endure the problems of living in a tent, knowing you have a secure future home. Guilt, sickness, failure, and disappointments will not destroy you, and there will be many. The Holy Spirit is your deposit for your guaranteed future in heaven (v 2). Because a deposit has been
Salvation describes the deliverance by God for those who believe in him. It is the saving of the soul from sin (and its consequences) through Gods will and grace. Though it takes different forms in every religion, the principle is still the same, often emphasising the necessity of both good works, repentance, and asceticism, as well as divine intervention (in this case the action being the grace of God). If assuming that Christ is the full truth, then the only way to gain access to God after death is through the salvation given by the Christian God. Jesus himself has indicated that a person must hear the word, believe it, repent of past sins, and be willing to confess faith before others, be baptized into Christ for the remission of sins, and then continue to live a faithful life throughout this physical life if we are to go to heaven.
Ephesians 1: 13-14 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
According to Christian worldview, one gain eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ (John 14:6). He who believes in Him will not perish, but receive an everlasting life. The sin that we owe cannot be paid by us because we are imperfect. We can do all the good deeds, good moral, pray everyday, go to church every Sunday, none of those will pay our sins that was created in the past. God loves us so much that He sent his only son to live among us that was crucified, died, and was buried for the salvation of our sins. Jesus Christ is our savior. Through Him our past, present, and future sins are
We read about this in (Ephesians 1:19-21 NLT, as well as in Romans 6:4: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life).” In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see the clear demonstration of the power of the true God. (Ephesians 1:19-21) tells us that it is the power of our heavenly Father that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Our salvation depends on our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In (Romans 10:9, we are told how to be saved. It says that “if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
Here we begin to get a real sense of what it means to receive new life in the Spirit; for as Fitzmyer argues, "The Spirit is the dynamic principle of new life received in baptism." For while bondage to the law meant that it was impossible to please God and eventually led to destruction, serving in the "new condition created by the Spirit, [is] a condition that brings life and fruit pleasing to God." For as Moo notes, "Written on stone tablets, the law of God cannot change the human heart; only God's Spirit can do that." Hence the new life received by the believer through the power of the
I am shaking a little bit and I am struggling to steady my breathing. I sense tension and a little anxiousness running through my veins. When they announce my name, my turn to obtain confirmation takes place; I stroll up to the Bishop and get on my knees in front of him. Julia, because she remains my sponsor, sets her hand on my shoulder while the Bishop proclaims, “Be sealed with the gift of the holy spirit.” Immediately after he spoke those words and wiped the holy oil on my forehead, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. As I paraded back to my seat, I spotted my mom, dad, and sister all smiling at me. I also recognize my priest, Father O’Dell. He supported me to get to where I stand now and I appreciate and remain so thankful for him. I felt very cheerful, grateful and like a new
The text that we read for this session was Acts 2:14a, 36-41 and this time in the first reading I was drawn to “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” and in my reflections I was discovering the reminder of reassurance was present on this day, a powerful testament to redeeming power of our baptismal promise. As we moved into the second reading I still was taken back to a similar feeling of uncertainty, once again I wrote a similar prayer of weariness saying, "O God, I come before you weary, despairing, grant me peace, that I can embrace the assurance of your baptismal promise given to in the waters of your Spirit." And as we entered the third reading, I felt a cool breeze pass through, and I wrote, "Thank you for the gift of wind, thank you for the gift of baptism, thank you for the gift of friends that shepherd us along the way. May we continue to sustain the journey ahead and travel the roads that sometimes feel dangerous or the roads we are too fearful to venture on." [56: Joan Chittister, The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life (New York, NY: Blue Bridge, 2011),
ETERNAL SECURITY (ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED) DR. LEMONS SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY RELI 4350 01 The doctrine of eternal security or (once saved always saved)has been at the center of the discussion of salvation. While we will look at the theological beliefs and frame works of someof our church fathers, some of our contemporary Theologians and Pastors, we will primarily focus on key biblical passages that seem to speak on both sides of the issue. I am a born-again believer who have been saved for 21 years, ministering for 19 years, and now is the Pastor of a local Baptist Church. I chose this topic because I wrestled with this question myself when I was first saved. However I am now convinced that I could never lose what was eternally given to
In the New Testament, receiving the Holy Spirit does not take place in a cookie cutter method, or a method reducible to a bullet point outline. Each account of receiving the Holy Spirit varies slightly. This does not imply that receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit contains inconsistencies, instead it is an experience that takes a certain form based on the circumstances of the individual or group that receives the Spirit. While this paper will attempt to put several accounts of receiving the Holy Spirit in the New Testament into two broad categories, it should be noted that giving specific definitions of how receiving the Holy Spirit works would not do the topic justice. The Holy Spirit, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, appears differently in each situation researched for this paper, leading to the conclusion that receiving the Holy Spirit does not take place in a systematic way, but rather in a way that leaves
Growing up in and out of church I have not only heard about the Holy Spirit but also seen the works of the Holy Spirit and the gifts that accompany it. The Holy Spirit plays a key role in a Christian’s daily life. God has given us this companion as a substitute for himself to lead and guide us on our Christian walk. With this companion comes gifts which we have the ability to receive through Christ to help us along our journey. Here, we will discuss the baptism
Now, in Romans 5, vv. 6-8 Paul explains the nature of God’s love for us. Verse 6 teaches that Christ died for us while we were weak and ungodly. Calvin stated that, “Being ungodly, they had need of one to die for them, to satisfy for guilt, and to bring in a righteousness”. In other words, we needed a sin offering because we were weak, godless, guilty sinners. While Christ was without sin (2 Cor. 5:21) God offered Christ for us when we were weak and ungodly. In the Old Testament sin offerings were mandatory as atonement for sin (Lev. 5:14; 6:7; 7:1-6). Douglas Moo noted that the word “godless” is always critical, but the word weak is not always negative. However, in this case Paul is describing “a characteristic of the unredeemed” which means we are not equipped for good. Nevertheless, Christ did not consider the facts, he did not care that we were enemies of God v. 10 or that we were godless v.6. Although we were lost in sin, and we could not help ourselves at the right time God intervened. Paul described it as “due time” v. 6 or “right time” the scripture reads, “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly”. F. F. Bruce described due time as “The right time; it was a time of greatest need, when nothing could help but death”. In addition, Moo stated that “due time” is “right time” culminating ”eschatological time” of God’s intervention in Christ”. For example, in Romans 3 v.
Nevertheless, Baptism puts us on the path of salvation and new life but does not guarantee that we will arrive at the end of this path. Therefore, we must look for, encounter, and walk with Christ Jesus daily on this earth-to-heaven journey. He is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life that will guide, enlighten, and empower us. Certainly, the Second Person of the Trinity became man for our salvation and offers us new life through the sacraments, with the help of His Spirit, and in Him who is the True Vine. (Jn
As I predicted, I felt the forces of that night of rapture ebb. With it, I felt the guilt of causing grandma’s death dissipate. The nightmare helped cure my mind. Also, attending church, any church lost its appeal. The one thing that was missing from my life, sanctification through the Holy Ghost was already in me according to the preacher. If what I had was enough to be a saint, it was not worth the trouble I determined. It made no sense that I would spend the remainder of my days half empty spiritually. In church, I learned how good God is—that He can do anything. What was I supposed to do in return and how would I know it when I did it?
This reserved place in you was necessary, for it was by this secret place in you that God tilled and cultivated the ground of your mind to plant His seed (Word) into. The Lord God did this to grow and yield Godly fruitfulness in the process of His time. Due to God’s wisdom, divine intervention and mercy, you were allowed the opportunity to be saved today; hence, being made peculiar unto God.
Having the presence of God in you helps you make the right decisions in life. God will put obstacles in your life so u can conquer them and learn from your mistakes if u fail. God won’t ever want you to fail in life. God created us to worship him and enjoy life. Only through him we will have eternal peace and strength. I can apply this to my life by getting rid of all distractions that I have in my life and letting God in me. I know that God will give me peace and strength so I don’t have to worry or stress about anything. The holy spirit stays in you and supports you everywhere you go. Having the Holy Spirit in your heart will make you a better person in life. The world we live in is not what it was meant to be. Before the fall we saw the world in God’s eyes. If the fall didn’t happen we would have lived in peace without any pain and suffering. God intended us to live by spirit. After the fall God’s intention was completely