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Wherever you are, you are constantly being-exposed to
Gospel information. When you reach God-consciousness, and you express
a desire to know the Lord, He will provide information on which you
can make a decision to believe in Christ or to reject Him as your only
Savior ..... the Lord will not force you.......................... He
has provided a free will by which you may choose for yourself.
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and
he that does not believe in the Son of God, shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36
"Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Acts 16:31
Once a
person believes that Jesus Christ died as a substitute for him, he has
eternal life. He then becomes a newborn child of God, and needs to
grow up. No one would seriously say that he wants to remain an infant
all his life, would he? In 1 Peter 2:2 we are given a command, "As
newborn babes, DESIRE the sincere milk of the Word, that you may GROW
in salvation." We grow spiritually by learning and applying God's
Word.
We are
living in what the Bible calls THE CHURCH AGE. It is the "Mystery Age"
in which no Biblical prophecy is being fulfilled ................. the
next item on God's agenda is the resurrection of all Church Age
believers.................... theologians call that event, the RAPTURE
OF THE CHURCH. No one knows when it will take place, but while we are
living in this exciting period of time, we have the Holy Spirit as our
mentor to teach God's Word to us. We must be in fellowship with the
Lord in order to be taught, and we do that by recognizing and naming
our known sins. The more we understand His Word, the more easily we
will be able to recognize sins.
"If we
confess (name) our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse (purify) us from all unrighteousness (unknown
sins)." 1 John 1:9
As we learn
God's Word and metabolize that knowledge, it becomes wisdom. When we
have enough Bible Doctrine in our minds and use it, we can solve our
own problems and not have to depend upon other people to solve them
for us. God's thoughts become our thoughts, and the production that
follows glorifies the Lord.
Here are 3 "R's" to remember:
1. RECEPTION
.....................................................................................
a daily intake of the Word
2. RETENTION.............................. metabolizing what has been
taught by a qualified pastor/teacher
3. RECALL............................................. having the
ability to apply the doctrine stored in your mind
The Lord has
escrow blessings set aside for every one of us who has believed in
Christ, and He wants us to withdraw them while we are alive on this
earth.
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