"Knowing You Have Eternal Life" (Part II of the Salvation Series)

Some people doubt that they are actually Christians. They want to be, but feel like they are missing the joy of the Christian faith. In this blog we will discover how we can determine if we are indeed a follower of Christ and how we can put to rest our doubts and fears about this matter for good.

This blog is based on an article by Billy Graham. 

The dreadful uncertainty that haunts many people grows out of misunderstanding what the Christian experience is. Some people don’t seem to know the nature of Christian conversion, while others have been misinformed concerning conversion and seek an experience that is not biblical. But for most, it comes down to confusing faith with feeling.

Faith always implies an object—that is, when we believe, we must believe something. That something is what we call the “fact.” Now let me give you three words that will help you understand the Christian life: fact, faith and feeling. They come in this order, and the order is essential. In this order, you will have the joy and confidence of one who can say, “I know whom I have believed” (II Timothy 1:12).

"The Narrow Path" (Part I of the Salvation Series)

The New Testament is filled with information on what it means to be a Christ follower, what Jesus Christ beautifully described as “the narrow path.” This path can be summarized as: Embracing Jesus’ sacrifice for mankind, Believing He died for our sins and Living life for Him.

Jesus purposely left no wiggle room when it came to the topic of salvation, explaining that the pathway is exclusive, and that path is through Him.

In Matthew 7:13-14 and Luke 13:23-24 we see Jesus saying that "narrow is the gate" and "narrow is the way." So without question Jesus is saying that Christian way is not one that most will follow. In fact, He says that only "a few will find it."

A lot of people speculate about the number of people who will embrace Jesus as the way, but that's not the point God wants us to take away from that scripture. We know from John 3:16 that God's desire is for none to perish but for all to have eternal life. God's desire is clear, His desire is for everyone to be saved.

Let's take an overhead view of the entire third chapter of John. We start with the story of  Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling class, who visited Jesus to discuss how he could be saved.

A Gift Like No Other

I read something interesting in the recent biography,"Ali: A Life" by Jonathan Eig. It was a story regarding an old man and a young boy who showed up at Muhammad Ali's mansion in 1982. One of Ali's associates, Larry Kolb, answered the door and the old man explained that they had traveled from Tanzania to meet Ali. "We are here," the man explained, "because before I die, I wish to introduce my grandson to the great Muhammad Ali." 

Ali said to let them enter. He hugged the child, ate the gift of a Big Mac that the boy had brought Ali, and performed a magic trick for the young child. 

"Today we found you," the old man said, "Tomorrow we can go home." 

Ali gave them dinner and drove them back to their airport hotel. He embraced them both and told them to go with God. On the drive home, Kolb asked Ali why he had taken so much time for the two strangers. Ali explained that it was his belief that everyone had an angel watching them at all times, keep track of their actions and logging if they were good or bad. Ali called it a "Tallying Angel."

"When we die, he told Kolb, "if we've got more good marks than bad, we go to paradise. If we've got more bad marks, we go to hell . . . I've done a lot of bad things. Gotta keep doing good now. I wanna to to paradise."

September 21st

Do you have a favorite day of the year?

Now I'm not counting any of the Holidays, I mean who doesn't love either Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. No, I'm talking about a favorite day of the year that has meaning beyond any other day of the year. 

For me, that date is September 21st. To be precise, September 21st, 2000. 

Before I go any further let me clarify a couple of things. Unlike some people, I can't tell you exactly when I made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. I made a public profession when I was young, but I'm not totally sure that date was the origin of my faith journey. In the days and weeks after that public proclamation, I began to truly understand what it meant to accept Jesus as Lord of my life. But I can't tell you exactly what day of the year that happened. 

And my own birthday, though I admit, holds some sentimental appeal, is not my favorite day of the year. It's a day that for me is filled with "Ying" and "Yang" and over the passing years it is impossible to separate the two. 

No, my favorite day of the year is my daughter's birthday.