Essentials of Salvation

Bird City - Convention

(Thursday AM)

Getting back to the essentials Jesus said, "That they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." I think it is good for us to know the absolutes. Wonderful to know the essentials.  When someone asks you what you believe what do you tell them? Do you tell them, "Well you need to talk to our workers?" I hope you don't. I hope you don't. We are happy to talk to them but they asked you they didn't ask us. So you need to know like we all need to know what are the essentials.

Do you tell them, "Well we meet together in a home Sunday morning?" We do and that is right. Is that an essential? If we have the privilege to it is. But that is not our salvation. But some people have never been to a Sunday morning meeting. Because their privileges don't not allow that but yet they are saved. So that's not an essential in a sense. Now it is essential that we feed our faith and one of the greatest ways that we feed our faith is to have fellowship with others so if we have that privilege it is necessary that we take advantage of that.

You might tell them, "Well our ministers go out two and two they leave home like Jesus taught the disciples." And that's a good answer too, but is that really one of the essentials? But there are places in the world where there are no workers free to be. And they can not do what we do. There were years and years when there were no workers free to be in Cuba, but our friends were very much alive, very much alive. Did they have ministers there to feed them? No. So even though it is right and it is the only way for a ministry to be we are sure of that. Is that an essential? Not for my salvation it isn't. Because if there was no one else alive in the world my salvation is just as secure as it is today. I believe that. It's not what we can do it's what we are. It's knowing God and having communication with him. It is becoming acquainted with him not just becoming acquainted with his ministry. Though that is a wonderful advantage to us and we often learn allot from others.

So I am wondering if when they ask you what you believe if you will mention some of the essentials. Some of the things I have been thinking about have been: wouldn't it be an amazing thing if when someone asks you what do you believe? You would answer them, We believe that in order to be saved we have to become as a little child. Now that's awesome! I don't think they will hear that anywhere else. That's awesome! You want to know something else? We believe that in order to be saved we have to forgive every single person. That's awesome and there is not very many people who will tell you that either. That's awesome! Because we understand and John understood that when Jesus was there in Mat 6 and he said "If you forgive not every man his trespasses neither will my heavenly father forgive you. That's awesome! We get to know God when we know that to be right with him we forgive every person and we have no offense against any. That's from God.

Another thing, we must be born again John said. We must be born again. That's a good answer. John also knew that unless we were converted and became as a little child we can not enter the kingdom of heaven. That would be a wonderful thing to tell people when they ask us what we believe: we believe that we must become as a little child. They won't get that answer very many places.

You will also know that John learned about God through Jesus. Jesus said except you abide in me you can not bare fruit. That's another good answer: we believe we believe that we abide in the vine. That's the only way that we will experience anything. That's a necessity: that's an essential.

There are lots of other essentials you can think about I am sure. One of them is if we forgive our brother we can know God. And if we know God we know that we can't hate a brother and love him. If we love God we know that. That's an essential. And so rather than telling people about some of the outward things, and that's fine I've done it all my life. But I've just decided that from now on I am going to answer things a little differently; I am going to tell people what really are the essentials: that makes me right with my God. That is, knowing God and knowing His Son and because of that I have life and I have hope. I would like to know more of this for myself.

Prayer,

Father the prayer of our heart is that you will visit us again in this place. Make yourself real to us, make purpose real to us, make real to us what is in your heart for us. And we pray that you will guide us to your son. Show us again the purity of your son, and that he is worthy of all of us to cast our souls in his care. And we pray that we can come to him as we should and that we can know the surety and the comfort of what we can be to us.