A Lifelong Commitment

Salvation is not just a
matter of believing in Jesus Christ and then having a guarantee of
salvation. Salvation is a lifelong commitment to submit yourself to
Jesus Christ and to obey Him, to live a life that is pleasing to Him,
a life of self-denial and of living according to His will.

If we wish to follow Jesus
and have eternal life we have to deny ourselves, pick up our cross
every day and follow Jesus. We have to live our life to please Jesus.
It will affect every aspect of our life until the very end, and we
will have to endure with Jesus, stay with Him, obey Him, every day
until the very end. It is not just a Sunday affair. It is not just a
belief. It is a way of living, to live our lives in obedience to
Jesus Christ, to pick up our cross every day and follow Him, to take
His yoke upon us and to go after Him, to follow the guidance of His
Holy Spirit, to seek Him in all things, and to submit to Him, to do
what He requires of us.

It will not be easy. You
will have your ups and downs, more ups than downs, because to follow
Jesus Christ is an uphill road. Without Jesus Christ we cannot do it.
Nobody will be able to boast in the end and say they made it into
heaven on their own. We cannot do what Jesus requires of us if we do
not follow Him if we do not obey Him. Without Jesus Christ we can do
nothing.

It is a lonely road, It is
a difficult road. You will suffer persecution, rejection. People will
hate you, they will not understand, you they will reject you, and
they will use your name as a curse word. They will despise you like
they despised Jesus, but if we endure with Jesus until the end we
will be saved.

Jesus said that the one
who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he is not worthy of
Him. We have to endure with Jesus until the very end. The righteous
will live by faith, and if they withdraw His soul will have no
pleasure in them. To live by faith means to live under direction and
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not by your own mind, nor by your
own interpretation of the Bible, but by the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. You have to make sure that you know Jesus, that you know His
voice, before you can follow Him.

Most believers do not know
Jesus. They believe in what they do not know. But to have eternal
life, we have to know Him, He has to know us and we have to follow
Him every day until the very end. Jesus said that those who endure
with Him until the end. will be saved. It is not an easy matter. It
is a lifelong commitment, it is a way of living, it is a life
submitted and dedicated to Jesus Christ. Are you ready to follow
Jesus Christ? Have you taken His yoke upon you? Have you made up your
mind, to take up your cross every day and follow Jesus Christ until
the very end? There is no other way to have salvation. Jesus is the
way. His way is the only way. We have to follow Jesus, His way, until
the very end, to have eternal life.

May Jesus bless you.

No Commitment - No Salvation

The deviant churches of this world are preaching a gospel that is
without commitment to Jesus Christ. As soon as you tell people that they
must follow and obey Jesus Christ they are quick to tell you that you
are preaching a works gospel. But Jesus Christ requires commitment and
obedience.
I read the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 11: 28
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is
easy and My burden is light." We have to take the yoke of Jesus Christ
upon us in order to learn from Him. If we do not submit ourselves to His
discipline, and if we do not obey His words, we will not learn from Him
and we will not find rest for our souls.
Jesus also said to his disciples, I read from John 15:14
"You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call
you slaves, for the slave it does not know what his master is doing; but
I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from My
Father I have made known to you." These disciples had been following Him
and living according to His words, and therefore He taught them
everything that the Father told Him, He taught them. We only learn from
Jesus Christ if we submit ourselves to His yoke; if we obey Him.
Jesus also said, and I read from Luke chapter 9:23
"And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me he
must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me, for whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My
sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he
gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is
ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when
He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the Holy
angels." The gospel of Jesus Christ requires commitment and obedience to
the discipline of Jesus Christ, obedience to His words; taking up His
yoke, picking up your cross every day and following Him, living
according to His words and being led by the Holy Spirit, submitting
ourselves to the guidance and the discipline of the Holy Spirit; then we
become His friends, we are no longer slaves but we are His friends
because He teaches us and we become part of the kingdom, we become a of
the kingdom of God. If you do not commit yourself and submit yourself to
Jesus Christ, if you do not obey His words and do as He commanded, if
you refuse to repent of your own ways, and of sin, if you repent to live
according to His Commandments, to be baptized in water if you refuse to
follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then you cannot be His disciple
and you will not have salvation.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a
gospel of commitment, of submitting yourself to Jesus Christ and
following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, or else you cannot follow
Him, you cannot be pleasing to Him and you will not enter His kingdom.
Have you taken on the yoke of Jesus? Are you living according to His
words? Have you repented, been baptized in water, and are you following
Jesus Christ every day? If you do not follow Him you will not find the
entry to the kingdom of heaven, you will perish. The gospel that is
being preached in most churches today is a deviant gospel, it is a
gospel that does not submit itself to Jesus Christ. It is a gospel that
cannot save. Submit yourself to Jesus Christ, follow and obey Him until
the very end and you will have the hope of eternal life.
May Jesus bless you.

Your COMMITMENT to Jesus Christ

Many people confess Jesus Christ. Many people say they believe in Him, many say that they love Him but the question is: Are we COMMITTED to Jesus Christ? Do we truly love Him? Do we OBEY Him  and do we FOLLOW  Him?

Our love and our commitment to Jesus Christ will be tested. Jesus said to Peter:"Do you love Me?" And he said:"Yes Lord, You know that I love You." And He said to him:"Do you love Me MORE than these here?" Peter became disheartened, but Jesus TESTED him.

Jesus said that if we love anything or anybody more than Him we are not worthy of Him. Are we COMMITTED to Jesus to the extent that we will follow Him until the end? Are we so committed to Him that even if the whole world turns against us, our family, our spouse, our children, our loved ones, that we will still stay with Jesus Christ? What is our commitment to Jesus? Are we more committed to our job, our colleagues, our country, our patriotism or do we love Jesus Christ more? Is Jesus REAL to us?

Many people can talk about the Bible, about their church and they become enthusiastic about those things, but can they talk about Jesus? Do they love Jesus that much? Are we committed to Jesus? Will we follow Him regardless of anything and everything?

Not many will stay with Jesus. Not many are being saved. Somebody asked Jesus whether those who are being saved are few and Jesus said:"Strive hard to enter the straight gate because many will try hard and not be able." Not many will follow Jesus all the way. Not many are even willing to OBEY Jesus by being baptized. Not many are willing to stop sinning. Not many are willing to give up their TV or their friends or their holidays or their own ambitions, their comforts. They are more committed to other things than to Jesus Christ. What is our commitment? How committed are we to Jesus Christ? If we are not committed to Him then we are not worthy of Him. If we deny Him He will certainly deny us. If we are more committed to other things than to Jesus Christ then we will not enter His kingdom.

What is our commitment to Jesus Christ? Do we care for His approval ? Do we care to hear His voice? Do we care for the guidance of the Holy Spirit? How committed are we to get an answer from Jesus when we pray?

Many people just give up easily. They are not committed. They are more committed to their pleasures and to holidays, the lusts of the flesh, than to Jesus. They are not willing to pray, they are not willing to give up anything for Jesus. They just want salvation. They want assurance of salvation but they don't want Jesus Christ.  They are not committed to Him.

Jesus said:"Why do you call Me Lord, Lord and you do not what I say?" If we are truly committed to Him we will OBEY His words and we will seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We will seek His approval all the time. We will be truly committed to the kingdom of God. We will be serving the King. How is our commitment to Jesus Christ? Are we worthy of Him? Or are other things more important to us?

May Jesus bless you.

Sinners Prayer Shallow Insincere Commitment

Many people believe that they are Christians, they believe that they are saved after reciting a "sinners prayer" after somebody and making a shallow, insincere commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

There are many versions of the "sinners prayer." One of the famous ones is the Billy Graham sinners prayer. It goes like this:

"Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name.

Amen."

Another version is this one:

"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be"

After repeating these lines, after somebody else people are told that they are saved and now they are going to heaven, they have security of salvation. They walk away and they believe they are saved as long as they attend church and they believe, they think that they will have eternal life but they forget that in reading these lines they made promises to God which they never keep. They go on living like the rest of the world, they do not REPENT, they do not turn away from sin. They do not obey Jesus Christ, be baptized in water, they do not serve Him as Lord and Master. They just believe that they are saved because they repeated these lines after somebody. They never meant it in their hearts and they never kept their side of the bargain, of that which they promised God to do. Can that save us? Certainly not. It is just a meaningless repetition of words. We will not have salvation if we do not obey Jesus Christ and if we have made promises to God we have to keep them because God does not tolerate fools! It is foolish to make promises to God and not keep them. He will hold it against you because you have LIED IN ADVANCE and you have added to your sin. Only those who REPENT, turn away from their previous lifestyle of sin and of serving themselves, who GO AFTER Jesus Christ and obey Him, be baptized in water, OBEY His words, live in holiness and righteousness, it is only they that will have salvation.

It is only those who get into a real relationship with Jesus Christ, who SEEK the baptism in the Holy Spirit and are filled with the Holy Spirit and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who TRULY get to KNOW Jesus Christ, only they will be saved.

There is no quick easy contractual formula that you can apply to have salvation. You have to KNOW, FOLLOW and OBEY Jesus Christ until the very end or else you will perish.

Keep your promises to Jesus Christ, place Him on the throne of your life. Serve and obey Him as LORD until the end or else you will not be part of His kingdom and you will perish.

May Jesus bless you.

No Commitment No Benefits

Many people want the benefits of being married but they are not willing to make a commitment to a marriage partner and therefor they co-habit, they live together in sin. There are many people who call themselves believers in Jesus Christ who also want His benefits but they are not willing to make a commitment to Jesus Christ - THEY WILL NOT HAVE HIS BENEFITS
The benefits of Jesus Christ, eternal life and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for those who COMMIT to Jesus Christ, who LOVE Him, who FOLLOW Him and who OBEY Him. If you do not turn away from sin, if you do not REPENT and follow Jesus Christ with all your heart then you will not have His benefits. he said:"Why do you call Me Lord, Lord and you do not what I say?" Without Jesus we can do nothing, but Jesus does not accept half measures. You cannot have His benefits if you do not totally commit to follow Him, to OBEY Him and to SERVE Him as Lord and Master.
Don't ASSUME that you will have salvation because you confess to believe in Jesus Christ and because you can recite some Bible verses to "prove" your salvation. It will all be to no avail because you will not have the benefits of Jesus Christ if you do not utterly commit to Him, obey Him, follow Him and serve Him. You cannot have it both ways. It's either Jesus Christ or DAMNATION.

May Jesus bless you.