Dead to the World

One thing that we hope to properly explain, but will continue to communicate constantly is the true way that we have found to victory and freedom in Christ. We've explained what water baptism is, we have tried to explain who is saved and how to know if you are saved or not, we've also attempted to show a few things that might be taking place in the mind of one whom is either not saved, or one that is miserably saved.

For those that might fit into one of the two aforementioned categories, we would like to explain what happens at your initial salvation experience. We taught why Christ was baptized in water and why, (to recap we'll simply state): He did that not because He needed righteousness to be fulfilled in Him or on His behalf, but for us. By that act He was simply identifying with His own creation in stating that He had come to this earth to die for our sins and be raised again, that we might be able to attain an overcoming life here on earth and eternal life in Heaven with Him.

Many Christians get really confused about whether they were actually saved or not and wonder why sin still takes place in their lives after they are saved. Before one is saved, there is surely some consciousness of sin, but most likely there is little remorse for sin and the desire to do God's will is virtually non-existent within the heart of a sinner. In the heart of a Christian that is miserably saved, they may have the desire to live a holy life unto the Lord, but are totally clueless as to how to do so.

I actually heard the testimony today of this guy that used to be in the heavy metal band called Korn. This guy was a heavy drug user, had a daughter with this woman (I don't know if they were married or if it was his girlfriend, makes no difference), but the mother of their child had recently overdosed on drugs. The little girl was now in her dad's care, and he was not in good shape either. He was still using drugs, and somehow he heard a sermon preached somewhere. He got home with his daughter, put her in front of the tv, and went to the other room to do some drugs. He was hooked on crystal meth, and before he began to sniff this line he had just made, he looked up and said something to the effect of, "God, if you're really real and what that preacher said is true, then help me stop doing these drugs. I want to be a better father to my little girl and I need your help." The man basically somewhere over a short amount of time gave his heart and life to Jesus and was wonderfully saved. AFter he got saved, he was still using. A lot of people would love to state that he wasn't really saved if he was using drugs, (understand we are not advocating drug use as normal Christian behavior), but as this man began his journey with the Lord, he realized right away two very important things: the first one, was that he didn't have to get all cleaned up just to be able to approach God. then second, he realized that even though he now knew the things that he was doing was wrong, he didn't rely upon himself to stop doing them, instead he accepted in his heart that he needed the Lord's help to stop, asked for help, and let the Holy Spirit come in and give him the strength to stop using. What he didn't know, (and I marvalled about as I listened to his story), was that he learned something about the Christian walk that so many of us that have served Him for years have never known or are just now understanding and that is: The Holy Spirit does the Work, not us!

Paul uses a scripture: Galatians 6:14 that states, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." What the apostle is saying here is that when he received Christ into his heart, God did away with the desire for him to do the things that the world was doing, loving the things that the world loves. In Christ, he is (as well all are), a new creation in Christ Jesus. Sometimes it takes a while for the understanding in our minds to catch up with what has happened in our hearts. When you received Christ, you died. And God implanted a new desire into your heart to serve and live for Him and not yourself. God wipes the slate clean for ALL of your sins, (past, present, and all of the ones that you will commit in the future).

A lot of people refute people that preach this sort of message because they believe that it will cause people to go and sin more because they think that it gives them a license to sin now, knowing that God will forgive them when they ask for it. The truth is, when you sin (not if, but when), and you ask God for forgiveness, He is faithful and just to forgive us or all of our iniquities. Does this mean that we should go sin freely, knowing He'll forgive them, God forbid! Bottom line, if we have the desire to sin, and when you sin, if it doesn't bother you when you do it in the least, then you might want to begin to seek salvation. Truly saved people will have the desire in their hearts not to sin. The problem is, a lot of folks will try so hard not to sin, that they will in fact sin even more, rather than trusting that since they are saved, they are the Righteousness of God In Christ Jesus and when God looks at them, He loves them and isn't ready to send down fire to burn them up.

If we can begin to understand that our God is a loving God, He is not waiting for us to mess up so He can punish us, but rather, He desires that we live up to who He sees us to be (which is His Son or Daughter), then we will begin to act like it. God's not sitting on His Heavenly Throne in Heaven looking down at us and shaking His Head in disappointment when we slip and fall, rather He is the One trying continually to shower us with His Love and let us know how loved we are.

Here is a great example: Jesus was on His way to go die for your sins, for my sins, and on His way there, He stopped in a town to preach to them that He had come to save them from their sins so that they could be God's children. But the town would not receive Him or His message. Two of the disciples asked Jesus if they could pray that God would send down fire to burn them up like Elijah did in the old covenant. Jesus rebuked the two and told them that they didn't know what spirit that they were of in desiring to do such a thing. Instead, He continued to Jerusalem to die for the sins of the whole world (including the town that wouldn't receive His message), in hopes that they would hear of what He had done for them after the fact and accept Him then. That is the kind of God that we serve folks.

We hope to continue to share with our readers the love and devotedness of our Savior to us, in hopes that it will build you up and help you become what it is that God sees you as, and not what you or the world sees you as. God bless you and yours! We love you much!