THE WINDS OF DOCTRINE

..that we henceforth be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and their cunning and craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;..

                                                                     Ephesians 4:14

 

 "I'm a Christian!"

"I believe in God too!"

"I believe in Jesus!"

"I'm also a believer!"

...All good to hear, but we mustn't stop at these statements, believing that our mission to tell people the good news of the gospel of Jesus the Christ is complete. 

 

Lets continue the dialogue...

"That's so awesome you are a Christian..How did you come to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?"

The answer to this will vary in how exactly the circumstances surrounding a person's conversion played out..BUT..The TRUTH will always be present, and it will always boil down into the same thing.

"I was.......And I HEARD (or read) THE WORD of God (Bible~Holy scriptures). I realized, knew, felt, BELIEVED IN MY HEART that Jesus is real, what He did for me actually happened because I AM A SINNER and He, BEING THE ONLY SON OF GOD, WAS PERFECT (SINLESS). He took my place on that cross..took MY PUNISHMENT..SUFFERED THE DEATH THAT I DESERVE!

Now, I know that when I die (physical death)  My spirit will leave my earthly body and be present with Jesus. Someday my body will be transformed and I will be resurrected to a life lived with my Savior in Heaven (Wherever He is) for all of eternity. BECAUSE HE WAS RESURRECTED Himself and HE PROMISED HE WOULD DO THE SAME THING FOR ME!" 

 

 “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 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 saved.  For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.…Romans 10:9-10

 

And lets not forget where Jesus came from, and why he was not only a mere human being.

 

Isaiah's Oracle

Over seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (meaning 'God with us')

Isaiah 7:14

Jesus is fully human, yet fully God (Divine) There's so much to say about this . Here is a good source for an explanation for this statement of belief:

Jesus fully God, fully man

"Who is Jesus to you?"

 

Jesus the Christ may be many things to many people..You have your own examples, I am sure..as do I; but there are some important scriptural descriptions of exactly who Jesus is, most of which was written even before he walked the earth in human form.

But, for the sake of this essay..Let's start with who Jesus says he is:

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”   Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”(John 24:25-26)

 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ( Matthew 16:15)

 

When I was a new Christian I read this famous statement about who Jesus is: 

 

 In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement,

 “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”

And finally, lets take another look at what Jesus says about himself that answers another age-old question ..

"Are there other ways to get to the Father in heaven?"

 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6

* IMPORTANT MESSAGE* 

I did not write this post in order to judge other people..No, This is only to serve as a reminder that we must not just accept what someone says regarding their faith in Christ and then just leave them there where they are, because they might need more! They might not know that they need to know more than what they know. 

For a more thorough teaching on this from my blog you can read here:

NO OTHER WAY

Thank you for taking the time to read through this rather lengthy post. I hope it's in some way helpful to your own journey in your walk with the Lord.

Blessings & Love,

and remember, we are...

~NEVER FORSAKEN~