Christian, Inspirational

In The Mix

Give me the Bible
Holy message shining,
Thy light shall guide me
In the narrow way.
Precept and promise,
Law and love combining,
‘Til night shall vanish
In eternal day.

So what does the Bible so beautifully reveal to us that the above song clearly commemorates? Jesus combined the law and love, teaching us by his example how to live out the law with love. Likewise, the promise of salvation carries with it certain precepts. Salvation is a mix of you and God. It’s not Jesus’s sacrifice alone. Philippians 2:12 KJV says, … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And James 1:22 KJV adds, But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Jesus died teaching us how to follow the Father. Although he is the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, salvation does require effort on our part. We have to accept Jesus as Messiah. We have to repent and be baptized by immersion in water by another in Jesus name or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We have to strive to not sin. We have to confess future sins after baptism and forsake them. We have to confess Jesus and teach others the Gospel. We have to remain faithful until death. And finally, as we are blessed, do it all with love.

That may sound like a long list of works. Jesus never said we could do nothing and go to Heaven, he did promise us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

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Christian, Inspirational

Did He Really Say That?

I’ve heard this said or asked about the teachings of Jesus Christ. Or phrased another way, did he really mean that?

If it’s in the Holy Bible KJV, my resounding answer is YES.

The hearer is having difficulty with a hard teaching of our Lord. You may find a rabbi or a preacher who changes the meaning by misinterpretation or softens it so that it is of little effect, but the Truth is the Truth.

Cut off your hand. Pluck out your eye. If they offend, it is better to enter life maimed than to burn in Hell. Matthew 18:8-9.

Matthew 10:34 KJV
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Luke 12:51-53 KJV
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: [52] For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. [53] The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

And many other teachings.

If Jesus said it, he meant it, and unless it was a parable he was generally very clear about it.

1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

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