GOD's Next

Aside from salvation being by grace through faith (not of ourselves, not of works or anything we do. It is the gift of God, lest we boast), we must also "make every effort" to enter the narrow door. Every effort. It's an all-out effort. There's effort involved and the effort is part of believing Jesus for everlasting life. The context of the narrow door [Luke 13] talks about salvation or entering heaven. Photo by Roan Lavery on Unsplash . 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you o...

Entering heaven is solely through believing in Jesus. You shall not perish but have everlasting life, says Jesus. As simple as that. Paul also wrote how salvation is by grace through faith alone. Not of works. Yet, we almost forget that it's also through obedience. Faith and obedience are one flesh, joined together by God, and no one should separate them.  Photo by Yanhao Fang on Unsplash . I very seldom hear (or probably never heard) anyone in church preach on this. They pressed on our minds that works were unnecesary--works cannot save you--and works followed after salvation by grace. But Jesus said otherwise. He said salvation is determined by how we do the will of his Father.  Matthew 7.21:  Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Supernatural powers that GOD gave the church but which the church belittled and rejected are now in the hands of the occult, distorted. ...

Salvation, as Jesus taught in Matthew 19, is far deeper than a verbal confession or a superficial acceptance of His name, which is what salvation often means in church today. When the rich young ruler asked, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16), Jesus’ response revealed that salvation is not merely about moral compliance but radical surrender. And I mean RADICAL.  Photo above by Margo Evardson on Unsplash . First, he pointed the man to the commandments, which shows that to Jesus the commandments matter a lot in salvation, specifcally loving the Lord our God with our all, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. But when the man claimed he had kept them, Jesus exposed the heart issue: attachment to wealth. Money and giving it up is a vital issue for Jesus in salvation and if you really love God with your all and your fellow as yourself. And this is what church fails to emphasize---because it will mean the church itself and its denomination should ...

Discipleship is Part of Salvation A lot of church people will say discipleship should be done after you get saved. Jesus thought otherwise. He taught that salvation and discipleship should go together. When you share about eternal life to someone (about getting saved from sin), it's vital to simultaneously discuss about discipleship---in particular, talk about denying the self, picking up our cross from Jesus, and following him. People need to understand what receiving Jesus really means. It's clear in the passage context. Photo above by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash . When Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23), he laid down the radical essence of discipleship and connected it to salvation in verses 24-25; Jesus said anyone who wants to save his life will lose it if we ignore his challenge to deny the self and pick up our cross to follow him. This call is not about half-hearted commitme...

Many church people profess to have "accepted" Jesus into their lives as Savior and Lord. To me, the proper term is "receive." Nothing is said in the bible about accepting Jesus. One definition of "accepting" on the internet is this: approving of something, or allowing someone to join a group.   When you accept someone or something, there's an overtone of your superiority, dominance or pre-eminence. Like, you're approving a subordinate, so you accept his or her work or report.  Photo above by Keagan Henman on Unsplash . The bible says we "receive" Jesus Christ as everything he claims to be. Not just Savior and Lord. He is God, King, Provider, Defender, Shield, Healer, Ruler, Friend, and many more. Receive connotes humble and grateful receipt of a gift from a superior or someone in authority over you. It's why we're told to "ask and you shall receive" not "you shall accept." We receive Jesus from God the Father...

Jesus told Nicodemus how to get to heaven. BELIEVE. As simple as that. But at the same time, it isn't as simple. Believing must be "in Him." The demons also believe, but they believe like the unbelievers who think they believe but they don't. James told them, "You believe there is one God," and hinted that belief there is one God is not good enough. You have to "believe in him." Photo above by Anna Dziubinska on Unsplash . Whoever It's an open invitation. It's an open challenge. Anyone may try to taste and see that the Lord is good. But as Jesus' wedding banquet parable shows, most people won't. Can you imagine turning down an invitation to a feast? Everybody loves to eat at banquets, and this banquet is open to all---first, to the first invited guests, later to the rest. Even those invited later had to be dragged and compelled to the banquet, illustrating the reluctance of most people (if not all people) to the Lord's invitat...

Since 1980 when I was born again in my college days, I've always wondered what the real work of God is. With so many church denominations and ministries doing a lot of busy-Martha moves here and there, and sometimes ending up competing against each other, you step back and cannot but wonder what's really going on. Are we continuing what Jesus started or are we inventing our own?  Photo above by 2H Media on Unsplash . Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 15:58 —“give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord”—is not a call to busyness in church programs, but to a deeper, spiritual ministry rooted in Christ Himself. One that transforms people radically as a genuine spiritual new born in Christ. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 18] When Jesus defined the real “work of God” in John 6:29 as bel...

Here's Part 1 Ylanite Koppens While Waiting for More Instructions After that, they had to wait for orders from heaven again. They didn't sit down and figure out what to do next. What they did was devote themselves in apostolic teachings, communion and prayer while waiting. The apostles did signs and wonders. They met together in the temple courts and fellowshipped in their homes. As they did, the Lord (it was the Lord!) added more to their number. So, they continuously shared the Word in their vicinity while waiting for further instructions. Then comes chapter three. Peter and John "happened" to be in the temple (God again arranged this) and saw a guy lame from birth. Led by the Spirit, they healed the man and the thing attracted multitudes to gather around them at Solomon's Colonnade. Again, Peter had opportunity to preach. They didn't sit and meet to make these things happen. "OK, this time we go to the temple and heal a lame there (or ...

Raw Pixel It wasn't because they didn't to go out and do mission work that God allowed them to be persecuted and scattered abroad, which suggests forced missionary work. God does everything by grace, not force, coercion or compulsion. But the story floated around by some preachers said God allowed the church to be persecuted because it refused to carry out the great commission and remained contented staying in Jerusalem. This is grossly inaccurate. From the start since Pentecost, the church has been excited about evangelism. Prior to Pentecost they locked themselves up in the upper room, but only per Jesus' instruction. He said wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. And the disciples knew well what "wait" meant. The modern church doesn't. It just does anything it sees effective and gathers crowds. It loves doing what I call just-do-it evangelism . The principle is similar to the days of the Judges--they did as they saw fit. Modern Ch...