James 4: 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.
If your church teaches otherwise, it isn’t a church. Jesus is the only way to salvation.
1 John 5:12-13 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
From The Simpsons
Lisa: You promised to take us to the lake.
Homer: I promise you kids lots of things, and that’s what makes me such a good father.
Lisa: Actually, keeping promises would make you a good father.
Homer: No, that would make me a great father.
God is a great Father. God makes lots of promises, and He keeps them all – 100.00% of the time. Try flipping open your Bible and seeing how many you find.
I did a test once to show how this and other Bible study techniques work. I had someone pick numbers at random without telling them the purpose. I used the first number to pick a book of the Bible and the second to pick the chapter. The first choice was 1 John 5. I had people search for what stood out to them, what commands they saw, and if there were any promises to claim. And there just happened to be some big time promises. Check these out:
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Try looking for promises when you study your Bible — but be sure to read them in context. For example, the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is not for any reader or even for Christians today. It was part of a very particular promise made to the exiled Jews. God kept that promise, of course, but it wasn’t aimed at us.
God is the most trustworthy being in the universe. He always keeps his promises. No one has ever regretted putting their trust in Jesus.
Imagine someone about to have a limb amputated without anesthetic. You try to make them feel better by telling them that it won’t hurt. Pretty foolish, eh?
Yet why are Christians so reluctant to tell dying people about Jesus? They are about to go off into a Godless eternity and people are worried about making them feel bad? It is even more ridiculous than the amputation example.
I like to share this video now and then. It was surprising but so encouraging to see that the clip below was on the TV show ER a few years back.
The chaplain is the classic fake Christian you’d expect to find in most theologically liberal churches today. I love how the patient doesn’t buy her “just make up a god in your own image” type of platitudes.
The money quotes from the dying patient:
All I’m hearing is some new age “God is love” one-size-fits-all crap . . . I don’t have time for this now . . . I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real Hell . . . I don’t need to “ask myself,” I need answers, and all your questions and uncertainty are only making things worse . . .
I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness, because I am running out of time!
Hey Christians, time to fire up! Some people don’t want the truth. But there are lots of real people like this in the world who need and want the truth. They must be so sick of the lies and the politically correct “God is whoever you want him to be” nonsense taught by the world and by far too many churches. Is it really so hard to understand that you do not get to tell the creator of the universe how eternity works?
Of course, we should be gracious in how we share these truths and not force it on anyone. Jesus didn’t run after the rich ruler and tackle him when the young man rejected him.
Are you ready to tell them the truth and the Good News? Forgiveness, redemption and eternal life are possible, but only through trust in Jesus.
It was surprising but so encouraging to see that the clip below was on the TV show ER a few years back.
Eternity Matters 