The Bible says loud'n'clear that Jesus has all the power. <Matthews 28:18> Through Jesus' victory on the cross the Devil and all his demons were defeated. Jesus won an eternal victory when he conquered and disarmed Satan. <Hebrews 2:14, Colossians 2:15>
Because of Jesus victory we as Christians never have to be afraid of the forces of darkness since God that lives in us is so much bigger. <1 John 4:4>
We can therefore go in the mighty power of God and be fearless witnesses for Jesus, since we know that God is with us and that He has all the power.
<Matthews 28:18-20, Hebrews 13:5-6>
GOD IS BIGGER! Sometimes you may face situations when it feels like there is no hope, but even then God is with you and He is always bigger than anything we meet. No matter if the problems look like big mountains God is still always bigger and He always has a solution to our problems. We just have to go to Him, pray for His help and trust that God will help us. THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFESSING JESUS AS YOUR LORD To be saved doesn't just mean to accept Jesus as Saviour but also as Lord. Cause the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. <Romans 10:9> This means that to accept Jesus as your Lord is just as important as receiving Him as your Saviour. ONLY HALF OF THE MESSAGE IS BEING PREACHED! Many times we Christians only talk about that the unsaved need to accept Jesus as their Saviour, but that is just half of the salvation message! We also need to talk about the other half, that they also need to accept Jesus as their Lord. This may not be as popular to talk about but it still is a very central part of the teaching. Cause one important part of being a Christian is that you choose to follow Jesus instead of just obeying your ego and doing what you will. In fact it is first when you bow your will under God's will and really let God be a part of your life and start to follow Him that you will really get to know God and God will be real to you. God really wants your best and He has such a great plan for your life and He really knows what's best for us. Therefore we can safely let Jesus be Lord of our lives, cause then we will always succeed best in the long run and also get the ultimate life. If you want your Christian life to be exciting you really need to let God be Lord of your life, cause then your relationship with God will really improve and you will come closer to God. As a result you will also find much more enjoyment in praying and reading the Bible. PREACH REPENTANCE! Another central message that needs to be heard more is the teaching about repentance. To repent means that you turn around and go in the opposite direction of where you were heading before. To repent from your evil ways means that you turn from your evil ways and go in the opposite direction. Jesus said that if we not repent we will all perish. <Luke 13:3> That's strong words, but it's the truth. We all need to repent from our evil selfish ways and ask God for forgiveness of our sins to have our sins forgiven. <Luke 13:3, 1 John 1:9, Acts 2:38, 3:19, 17:30, Ezekiel 33:11, Luke 24:47> Repentance is however not just something that concerns the unsaved. We as Christians also needs to repent from bad habits, hidden sins etc that hurt our relationship with God. You can never hide sins from God, He sees and knows you better than you know yourself, so it's just foolish to play games with God. That's why it's much better to confess your sins to Him, turn from them and go in the other direction. Proverbs 28:13 says that "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." The Bible also says that "if we confess ours sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrightousness." <1 John 1:9> In your daily Christian life repentance often means that you leave your own selfish way of living and follow God's way instead. To repent from something means that you make a decision to stop with a bad habit, sinful lifestyle or whatever it is, ask God for forgiveness and then turn in the opposite direction and start to do things in God's way instead. REPENTANCE IS A CENTRAL MESSAGE IN THE BIBLE When you study the Bible it's very clear that repentance is a central message that is preached repeatedly time after time. Some examples of this are <Deuteronomium 30:1-3, Isaiah 55:7, Ezekiel 33:11, Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38, 3:19, 17:30, 2 Peter 3:9> As you can see the message of repentance is coming back time after time in the Scripture. That must mean that this is something God thinks is very important! One of the most wellknown prophets that preached repentance was John the Baptist. He was very radical and dared to stand up for the truth without compromising. Despite of this or rather because of the radical message of John, a multitude of people repented of their sins and turned to God! <Acts 20:21, 26:20> Even Jesus preached repentance. <Mark 1:15> He said to the people that if they not repented they would all perish. <Luke 13:3> On the day of the Pentecost the apostle Peter preached about repentance and when the people heard the message 3000 persons were saved! <Acts 2:37-41> These examples show clearly that a straightforward teaching about repentance is well needed and that it gives result. REPENTANCE IS CRUCIAL! God urges all people everywhere to repent from their sins and believe in the good news. <Acts 17:30-31, Mark 1:15> Cause the truth is that only Jesus can take away people's sins and as long as they not repent to Jesus they will be eternally lost since no one is good enough to deserve to come to heaven on their own merits. That's why everyone need to repent and turn to Jesus, cause He is the only one that has managed to live on earth without sinning. That's why it is only through Him we can have our sins forgiven. <Romans 3:23-24, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 4:15, Luke 24:47> Of course we should also focus on other important truths like God's love, grace and similar topics. But we can not only talk about grace and love but we also need to talk about repentance, cause the truth is that if people not repent they will die in their sins and be eternally lost in the lake of fire. <Mark 1:15, Luke 13:3, John 8:24, Acts 3:19, Revelation 20:11-15> You see we are not called to talk about what people want to hear, but we are called to talk about what they need to hear and that is the full Gospel, not just the nonoffensive parts! A big problem in Christianity is all the people that have backslidden and left the faith. I think that one of the biggest reasons people leave their faith is that they never have make Jesus their Lord and really let Him be a part of their lives. Because of this they never really got to know Him and God never becomes real to them. But when people truly repent and let Jesus be Lord of their lives the possibility increases dramatically that they will stay saved, cause then they have actively taken a decision to follow Jesus.
© Johannes Jonsson 2006 e-mail: johannes@metalforjesus.org |