*Blue lettering is Scripture.

*Brown lettering refers to original Greek language.

 

Some people say that all you need to do is speak some words out loud and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and you will be saved. But, you cannot isolate one verse from another without sometimes taking them out of context. 

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT)

Compare the verse above to the one below.

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.   (James 2:19 NLT)

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*So, what does it mean,to believe, and what does it NOT mean:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever BELIEVES in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.   (John 3:16)

*Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves…                                                                   (2 Corinthians 13:5)

*Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness.                                (Luke 11:35 NLT)

*But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, YOU ARE ONLY FOOLING YOURSELVES. (James 1:22 NLT)

 

The following verse says our sins are wiped away…when we repent.

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.                                 (Acts 3:19 NLT)

STRONG’S GREEK CONCORDANCE (repent)

3340 metanoeó: to change one’s mind or purpose

Original Word: μετανοέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: metanoeó
Phonetic Spelling: (met-an-o-eh’-o)
Definition: to change one’s mind or purpose
Usage: I repent, change my mind, CHANGE THE INNER MAN (particularly with reference to ACCEPTANCE OF THE WILL of God), repent.

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Jesus told a parable about a farmer scattering seeds. We see 4 GROUPS of people here.

    (Luke 8: 5-8) A sower went out to sow his seed.

Group #1: (vs 5) And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.

Group #2: (vs 6)  And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.

Group #3: (vs 7) And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

Group #4: (vs 8) And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.”

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     (Luke 8:11-15), Jesus explains the meaning of the parable:

                  (vs 11) Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.

Group #1: (vs 12) The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Group #2: (vs 13) And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.

Group #3: (vs 14) And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

Group #4: (vs15) As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

– – – – – – – – – –

Verses 5 & 12(Group #1) speak of seed that falls on the path, but the birds of the air (Satan) snatch and devour it; they do not believe and are not saved.

Verses 6 & 13 (Group #2) speak of people who ‘believe for a while’. They receive the Word with joy, but have no moisture because they are not connected to the root and they fall away when times get hard.

Verses 7 & 14 (Group #3) speak of people who hear the Word, but over time they get entangled by ‘thorns’: the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life. Like new plants that get choked out by weeds, they do not grow into mature, fruit-bearing plants.

(We can see from these verses that sometimes people may initially hear the Word and ‘believe for a while’. Maybe they even go forward in a church service, during an alter call, but there is no growth.)

But, verses 8 & 15 (Group #4)  speak of seed that takes root in good soil. Those who hold fast to the Word. These are the ones who patiently stick with it, who cling to Jesus, trust Him and bear fruit. They abide in Christ.

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When we love someone, we have a growing desire to please them. God wants us to love Him this way, and He wants us to turn from our old ways and follow Him.

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15 ESV)

Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? (Luke 6:46 ESV)

 4 If someone claims, “ I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.  (1 John 2:4 NLT)

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. (Matthew 7:21 NASB)

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? (James 2:14 NLT)

28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law……..31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. (Romans 3:28-31 NLT)

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People who embrace teachings like easy-believism, the prosperity doctrine, name-it-and-claim-it, and the faith movement are often immature Christians who don’t have a firm Biblical understanding. Their feelings and all the good emotions that they get from listening to ‘preachers’ and ‘prophets’ on the internet are more important than putting in the time to learn God’s Word and grow in knowledge. Thus, they can be more easily misled by false teachings, because they aren’t familiar enough with what the true teachings are.

If we don’t know what the Bible actually says, how can we know if something we hear is Scriptural or is perhaps being twisted out of context to mean something different? We need to be able to compare it to the truth, so that we aren’t led down a dead end path.

There are many churches that embrace a feelings-based ‘Christianity’, where people don’t look deeply into God’s Word for themselves.

We should be more like the Bereans:

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. Acts 17:11 BSB

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.  2 Timothy 4:3 NLT

[and] examined
ἀνακρίνοντες (anakrinontes)
Verb – Present Participle Active – Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong’s 350: From ana and krino; properly, to scrutinize, i.e. investigate, interrogate, determine.

 

   So, the question is

DO I WANT GOD...OR MY IDEA OF GOD? (C.S. LEWIS)

 

Is it Biblical to ‘Speak things’ and ‘bind things’:

Positive Confession from GotQuestions

What does it mean to decree and declare? from GotQuestions

Is ‘name it and claim it’ teaching Biblical? from GotQuestions

 

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