There is not a limited amount of bible teaching out there right now. You can find all kinds of teachers, all kinds of messages but it is up to you now to filter what the teachings are actually saying, and that takes a basic knowledge of the Bible or the "Word of God." The most important message in the bible is how one can have their sins forgiven, clearly a message that is being overlooked in the 21st century. You will find all kinds of messages on how to overcome the problems in your life, even though the bible does talk about overcoming difficulties in life, that is not the central message of the old and new testaments found in the bible. If you are Jewish the old testament looks forwards to the coming time when the Messiah will come, if you are Christian the new testament explains that Jesus Christ is the Messiah that the Jewish People are waiting for. The new testament teaches that both Jew and Gentile can have their sins forgiven by placing their faith in and believing in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice or death on the cross, for the forgiveness of sins for the whole world!
That is the message of the gospel that is being treated lightly, but without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Christianity would be another religion. They used to stress having a relationship with God, but really there is no point in having a relationship with anyone unless it is on their terms, not just what you think that relationship should be. This is it, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and the relationship that he wants to have with the whole of humanity is based on the forgiveness of our sins and our working to be holy and sanctified so we can go to Heaven when we die. This relationship in reality is unconditional. What most preachers these days say is that there is something you must do to win God's love, but the only things God requires us to have is faith. Not just any faith, but faith in the cross of Jesus Christ.
It is not faith in the wooden beams that crucified the Lord, but faith in what Jesus did for us there! Jesus was taking the penalty for the sins of the whole world, so we don't have to go to hell when we die, and all God asks of us is to keep the new testament. The way we do that is by faith. The bible teaches us that without faith it is impossible to please God, faith is a mystery (kind of like our lives!) and God knows that if we didn't have faith, it would be impossible to be happy with Him forever. The problem is that people these days want to know how things work, we have become too nosey with everything. We want instant access to everyone's lives 24/7 because we crave intimacy, but the greatest intimacy comes from not knowing everything.
Have you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend that you felt like there was a sense of mystery to that person? It was the not knowing everything that kept you in the relationship, and what made you fall in love more and more with that special person was finding out something new about that person everyday that you previously didn't know. (If we told all our secrets we would be the most boring people in the world.) God is the same way. He doesn't reveal everything about Himself all at once, even in Heaven we will be learning about God forever. So you see, you really have to be in love with God to spend eternity with Him. God doesn't want half hearted followers to follow Him, He wants people from every tribe and every nation who love Him completely. That doesn't mean that we can't love anything else, but we must love God more than anything else in the world first, when we recognise that God gives us life we can enjoy the other things that God has created for us with balance, and then we need not worry about going to hell when we die, only if we constantly remember that God must be the first love in our lives always and He wants us to put him first. This is Mike.
That is the message of the gospel that is being treated lightly, but without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Christianity would be another religion. They used to stress having a relationship with God, but really there is no point in having a relationship with anyone unless it is on their terms, not just what you think that relationship should be. This is it, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and the relationship that he wants to have with the whole of humanity is based on the forgiveness of our sins and our working to be holy and sanctified so we can go to Heaven when we die. This relationship in reality is unconditional. What most preachers these days say is that there is something you must do to win God's love, but the only things God requires us to have is faith. Not just any faith, but faith in the cross of Jesus Christ.
It is not faith in the wooden beams that crucified the Lord, but faith in what Jesus did for us there! Jesus was taking the penalty for the sins of the whole world, so we don't have to go to hell when we die, and all God asks of us is to keep the new testament. The way we do that is by faith. The bible teaches us that without faith it is impossible to please God, faith is a mystery (kind of like our lives!) and God knows that if we didn't have faith, it would be impossible to be happy with Him forever. The problem is that people these days want to know how things work, we have become too nosey with everything. We want instant access to everyone's lives 24/7 because we crave intimacy, but the greatest intimacy comes from not knowing everything.
Have you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend that you felt like there was a sense of mystery to that person? It was the not knowing everything that kept you in the relationship, and what made you fall in love more and more with that special person was finding out something new about that person everyday that you previously didn't know. (If we told all our secrets we would be the most boring people in the world.) God is the same way. He doesn't reveal everything about Himself all at once, even in Heaven we will be learning about God forever. So you see, you really have to be in love with God to spend eternity with Him. God doesn't want half hearted followers to follow Him, He wants people from every tribe and every nation who love Him completely. That doesn't mean that we can't love anything else, but we must love God more than anything else in the world first, when we recognise that God gives us life we can enjoy the other things that God has created for us with balance, and then we need not worry about going to hell when we die, only if we constantly remember that God must be the first love in our lives always and He wants us to put him first. This is Mike.
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