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  Listen to these words spoken by Jesus…and please read them slowly… “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world…but that the world through Him might be saved…” Then, He goes on to clarify that ‘those who do not believe in Him…are already condemned.’ (John 3:17-18) We then read in Luke’s gospel where Jesus was reminding His followers…”The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (9:56) When Jesus first arrived on the scene, it became apparent to many that He was the ‘One’ whom the prophets of old had foretold of His coming…the ‘Dayspring from on high who visited us…to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79). Would you please underline that part in your Bible that says: ‘to guide our feet in the way of peace’. Matthew’s gospel cites the writings of Isaiah, commenting on how “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light…and how the ‘light has daw...
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  Did you know that when we have unresolved sin issues in our life, our first tendency is NOT… to run to God; on the contrary, we tend to go in the other direction, which would be opposite from the ‘light’. Do you remember what Adam and Eve did after they ate off that one tree they were told not to eat from, and then they heard God’s voice calling for them? They ran and hid in some trees or bushes. (Gen. 3:8). They ‘saw their nakedness…and were afraid’. When Peter had his first personal encounter with Jesus, what was his response? He fell to his knees begging Jesus to depart from him for he was a sinful man. (Luke 5:8) Sin has a way of doing that…driving a wedge between us and God. In fact, we are told that it is our sins that ‘separate us from God’ (Isa. 59:2). So if/when we do sin, it does indeed bring a ‘barrier’ of sorts as our heart becomes conflicted, unsure as to what to do in those moments after we commit a transgression. Think in terms of getting a bee sting or a bug b...
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  “Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” (Phil. 4:5) When it says that our gentleness should be known or be evident to ‘all men/people’, that would include those who are closest to us, who spend the most time around us, and who see us the most often. It goes on to admonish us: “Be anxious for nothing.” (6) When it says “ be anxious for ‘nothing’…”, there is no footnote in my Bible that makes an exception, suggesting it’s okay to be anxious for things like who’s trailing in political elections, or if a Muslim family moves into your neighborhood, or if oil prices spike again, or your favorite sports team gets upset over the weekend. Yes, that list could get rather lengthy here, could it not, when it comes to talking about things that make us ‘anxious’? Why, you could even show up at the wrong airport to catch an important flight home, only to be informed you are at the wrong airport in the wrong city, with less than 90 minutes to get to the airport you are ...
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  If we take the time to genuinely ask ourselves: “Am I truly abiding in Christ?”… which is a far more important question to ask than ‘am I saved or not’…then how do we even know where to start, when it comes to assessing the answer to that question? The same could be said when it comes to taking Paul’s advice to heart, that we ‘examine ourselves to see if we are even in the faith…and if Christ is in us…lest we fail the test’ (2 Cor. 13:5). Certainly ‘comparing ourselves with others’ is not the wisest way to evaluate, I hope we could all agree on. So why not use God’s word as a ‘mirror’ of sorts, to see how we ‘line up’? Jesus gave a pretty good benchmark where ‘all would know’ whether we were His followers or not…’by the love we have/demonstrate for one another’, in John 13:34-35. And while that word ‘love’ can be quickly diluted in our modern day culture where that word gets tossed around to describe how we ‘love God’ or ‘love pancakes’…1 Cor. 13:1-8 gives us a nice descripti...
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  So in conclusion…to our little discussion on the topic of ‘once saved-always saved’ that we touched on the past two days here…or as some folks like to debate- ‘can a person lose their salvation…or not?’…I’m reminded of a framed cartoon/sketch my dad, (who was a dentist) had in his office for years. The picture is of a dentist standing on a dental chair in the clinic with pieces of plaster laying all over the chair and floor. The bewildered dentist is sticking his head through a hole in the ceiling and asks: “Did I hit a nerve?” :- ). I have to wonder at times if when Jesus ran into opposition from the ‘religious experts’ of His day, usually in response to things He was teaching, if not doing…was He was ever tempted to ask: “Did I touch someone’s ‘golden calf’?” Church doctrines can become that to us if we are not careful; and usually it is the word of God itself that causes those ‘defensive impulses’ to rise up within us. Personally speaking…I have no issue with anyone if you be...
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  We waded in to a rather sensitive (if not ‘hot) topic yesterday that centers around ‘eternal security’; a.k.a. ‘once saved-always saved’. In other words, for those who may not be familiar with this terminology…it has to do with a person who comes to Jesus in faith, recognizing their need for a savior if they have any hopes for ‘eternal life’. The debate arises when the question comes up…can a person who ‘receives salvation’ ever ‘lose’ that ‘free gift’? Interestingly...the phrase 'lose your salvation' never even appears in scripture; but the idea of 'falling away from the faith' is addressed repeatedly. Do you know that one of the more significant teaching moments I have had over the past six years, (and there have been plenty) had to do with realigning how I approach this topic of ‘salvation’. We tend to always want to ask ourselves…’are we saved’…or ‘when were you saved’…and ‘can you ever be ‘unsaved’ or ‘lose’ your salvation. The real question we need to be asking...
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  Soooo…..let’s talk about it. ‘Once saved – Always saved’; it’s a phrase I’ve heard tossed around and debated amongst Christians ever since I first became aware of the concept of 'getting saved’, over 40 years ago. And I guess the definition or explanation of what it means would vary, depending on who you ask. So let’s dive in and examine this touchy topic more closely. Most of us have probably heard the statement, if not had it taught to them as ‘truth’…that once a person has ‘placed their trust in Jesus…they can never ‘lose their salvation’. I would think having a better understanding as to what ‘salvation’ is, or what it means to be ‘saved’… including ‘what are we saved from?’…would help to address this concept. And we can circle back to that later; but for now, let me present three general scenarios in how many of us have heard this 'eternal security' explained over the years. The first scenario is presented with the understanding that ‘salvation’ is like receivin...
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