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The Christian life is not like an insurance policy that only pays off when we die and go to heaven. Every believer has now received the grace of God and the fullness of God. We are now complete in Him (Col. 2:9-10).
When we receive Jesus as our Lord, we are instantly changed in our spirits (2 Cor. 5:17). Many Christians aren't aware of the change that takes place in their spirit. They continue to live within their physical and emotional realms and are oblivious to the new, born-again part of them that has received the fullness of God.
You can't see or feel your spirit. You just have to believe what the Word of God tells you because God's Word is spirit and life (Jn. 6:63). Your spiritual salvation is complete. Nothing can be added to it. In your spirit, you are right now as you will be...
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Jesus was not just a man sent from God, He was God.
This is the most important statement of the New Testament. On this truth hangs all other truths.
If Jesus was only a man, then regardless of how good He was, His life could only provide a substitute for one other man. But since He was God, His life was worth more than every human life since creation. Indeed it was worth more than the sum total of the universe that He created.
Any compromise on this point will negate the work of Christ in our lives. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)! Yet this Almighty God came to dwell in a human body. He humbled Himself and took the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7).
Christ's humanity truly made Him one of us. He suffered the same temptations and...
The Lord confirmed the preaching of His Word with miracles. If Jesus and the first century Christians needed the Word confirmed with the miraculous (Heb. 2:4), then we do too. There is no scripture that says these miraculous signs have passed away.
Some people have interpreted "that which is perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10, as being the complete Bible. This has led them to believe that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. Although God's Word is perfect (Ps. 19:7), it is not the "perfect thing" that is referred to here. 1 Corinthians 13:8 does say that tongues shall cease, but it will not happen until "that which is perfect is come."
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul says, "when that which is perfect is come, we shall see face to face."...
This either speaks literally of supernatural protection if we pick up a snake, or symbolically of protection in our fight against the devil. Since the other four signs in this list are literal, it is most probable that this means physically taking up snakes.
The apostle Paul experienced this supernatural protection from a viper when he was shipwrecked on the island of Melita (Acts 28:3-5). However, this is the only recorded example of this type of protection in the New Testament.
There is no record of the disciples picking up snakes just to prove they were believers. That would be tempting God (Lk. 4:9-12). This, as well as drinking any deadly thing, is a promise that if we pick up snakes accidentally or are...
This scripture has led many to believe that water baptism is a part of salvation and that the born-again experience cannot be a reality without it.
This same kind of thinking would make seeing Jesus a prerequisite for salvation, based on John 6:40.
It is faith in the redemptive work of Christ that produces salvation - not our actions. However, James writes that faith without works is dead (Jas. 2:20).
Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone; it must be acted upon.
This is what Mark is referring to when he speaks of baptism.
Water baptism is a command of Jesus and is the initial action taken upon believing. Mark's statement could be rendered, "He who believes with saving faith (i.e. faith that produces actions) will be saved." In this...