I have finally succumb to the temptation and joined the blogging subculture!
It feels like a slightly conceited thing to do, even as I’m writing this, I am thinking: “who cares what I have to say about anything?”
So I just ignore those voices and carry on!
Maybe even if no one cares what I have to say, it will be good for me to say it anyway – at least that is what I think.
Why am I blogging and why new LIFE?
I’m blogging because there are so many things I see and think about regarding our culture, the church, government and the world in general that I would like to discuss with other people who are like minded and those who can point out my dumb ideas.
I believe that there is nothing more valuable and more important in this world than LIFE. And at the same time when I look around me I see more death than life.
Jesus came to give LIFE in capitals, because the existence we know apart from Him is simply that, just an existence not real LIFE.
I believe that there is amazing news that the world needs to hear – call it the Gospel – and I believe that this TRUTH (also in capitals because there so many weird ideas about truth nowadays) has the power to bring new LIFE.
And that is why I am blogging becuase I want to discuss matters of life as I see it in this world we live in and as I read it in what God has told us about LIFE.
Your comments along this journey will be much appreciated!
Being a fellow blogger myself I share the same concerns as you about whether or not anyone is going to read what I have written and if they will benefit from it? I love the idea of NEW LIFE – as once we have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour – that is exactly what He gives us. We are new creatures in Him. Adopted into His family. Isnt it wonderful??
The body of Christ, or church that I belong to, strongly believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are encouraged to firstly, accept Jesus as Saviour, then in obediance to His word, we are to make a public statement to fellow believers, God, all the angels in heavan and to whoever else might be witnessing, that we have in fact received new life!! How do we do this, well through water baptism. Water baptism is a statement that we make to say that Jesus our King, was crucified on the cross for our sins, he was then burried, with the sin of the world and then rose again three days later. Having taken care of sin, for once and forall. Jesus is the victor. By going through water baptism I am making a public statement to all princepality and powers saying “Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent by His Father and through obediance to His Father’s will, was crucified for my sins so that I may enter into fellowship with my creator and have everlasting life”!!
We then believe that the next step is being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, reveals Jesus to us, he is like a magnifying glass. And if he dwells inside of us, how much more, would Jesus be revealed to us. And not only that, but the Holy Spirit brings with it gifts, directly from God!! The most comman of these would be “speaking in tongues”. This is very special, becuase we have read how this happened to the disciples after Jesus had gone back to be with God. He sent the Holy Spirirt to be our comforter. We then also actively participate in the gifts of prophesy. Many times has God spoken directly to us, using a willing vessel in our body, to bring to us, His children, a wonderful message of NEW LIFE!!!
I agree with you about believers not wanting to share the gospel with others. And isn’t it shocking to know that there are many churches, claiming to be sons of God, that do not teach the gospel???
But the truth of the matter remains, that without hearing the gospel – we cannot be saved.
Also I think that believers put to much pressure on themselves, to “say or do the right things” when sharing with others. Where all we need to do is just relax, trust God that He is in control and that He knows exactly what he is doing. We need to put our own “will” aside and just let the Holy Spirit work. God wants to use us as His vessel, to work with. We cannot do anything, or save anyone in our own strenght, but only through Gods strenght. What we do need to do, is be obediant to God’s voice about sharing to others. Take that first step in faith and then just watch and see how the Holy Spirit leads us!!
I also believe that God can save anyone!! No matter where you come from, what culture you belong to, what language you speak, which country you live in or what you have done in your life! It says in God’s word that “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” That means that God already decided to save us from before the beginning of time! How aweseome is He? God will make that individual’s heart soft and God will speak to them through us as the vessel and then we can be rest assured that God WILL SAVE THEM, through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ!
I agree with you that our “lifesong’s” should be one that demonstrates the love and grace of God and it is a good “advertisement” if I can put it that way. They do still need to hear the fact that Jesus died for all of us and they too can be saved!!
I like the fact that you say “maybe we have stopped believeing that this news is really good news”
As scary as that sounds, I believe it is a real threat!
The word of God says “When Jesus returns, will He find faith??”
If you have been born again, meaning responded to the gospel of Christ, believeing that he has died for our sins and by accepting Him we have everlasting life. Then we are saved! God gave us the gifts of Grace and of Faith when he saved us. So if we believe that we are saved, then we need to believe that we have faith too!!
The church where I worship, also puts a big emphasis on “breaking of bread”
We practise this every Sunday and I have heard so many things from so many people as to WHY we perform this riatual so often. “Oh but arn’t you suppose to only do that on Easter?” Well, there are no rules as far as this is concerned. And performing it only once a year turns it into more of a ritual or tradition than a very important meeting with God. In thw word of God, Jesus says that we should break bread, to remember His bosy that was broken for us and drink wine, to remember that his blood was spilt and it payed the price fo us.”
This declaration is so special to us. The fact that God sent his only Son to die on a cross, for us, so that we may have everlasting life. This was the perfect sacrifice of love. We honour Jesus to remember what He did for us. We praise Him and Honour Him for being who He is, THE SAVIOUR OF OUR SOULS!! Thank you Lord, in Jesus’s wonderful name!! We bless the king of kings!!