Listen To The Question, Listen To The Answer.

Acts 16:30-31 "And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (31) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

The question is an age-old question, and has been asked by every saved sinner, what must I do to be saved? While many ask this question, not too many know the true answer to the question. God has over and over again in His word answered this question and still lost people try to answer it and always get the answer wrong. This is the most important question a person will ask in their life, and the answer must be correct. This is the most important work we as Pastors have, and churches alike. The last thing Jesus told the apostles was to “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15 not to a few, not to the local church, not to the community, not even to your state, but to every soul you can find to preach it too. While it is our job or work to feed the sheep, it should also be our greatest passion to get the gospel to every living soul that will listen. There are so many out there who take their gospel to the world, but that is useless. As pastors we must consider this witness to be our most important work. We absolutely cannot allow this question to weaken or get frustrated because that God is not saving as many. We must press forward as though it is as important as it is, because it is. Sinners must hear the truth about salvation. Not everyone who says they are saved, truly are saved. There are so many who have been led down the satanic path of lies, and the results are the same, they are still lost. God says they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Romans 10:2 People must be made aware that salvation is only in Jesus Christ. The question asked by this jailer was “…what must I do to be saved?” and the answer given by the Apostle Paul and Silas was bold, true, and exact “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” there were no play with words, no trickery, no fancy theology, just the plain and simple truth. Jesus Christ is still the Saviour of mankind and no one can ever see or enter the kingdom of God without going thru Jesus Christ and Him alone. Jesus said in John 5:39-40 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (40) And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” This is exactly what Jesus told Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews in John chapter 3. People will flock to hear false prophets, phony preachers, and outrageously biblically wrong churches but will not turn to Jesus Christ for true salvation. But, as men of truth we must keep doing our work, feeding the sheep of God and preaching the gospel message to anyone we can in the entire world. It is still the single most important message in the world, and let us not ever treat it as anything less. Jesus said in John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” As Pastors this is the main thought we must keep in our minds, that without the belief of Jesus Christ in a sinner’s heart, they are already condemned. While we cannot saved them, they will not be saved without hearing the gospel message.  Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” That is a proclaimer who heralds or cries it to the top of our voice for all to hear. Shout it brethren, shout it from the pulpits, shout it from the housetops, shout it from the mountain tops, SHOUT IT! And please remember, it is the single most important message you will ever preach.  

We Are Nothing Outside Of Jesus Christ!

“We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.” 1 Corinthians 4:10 

As believers in Jesus Christ we quickly understand that He is our all and in all, we are nothing outside of Him. We see here that the Apostle Paul is speaking about himself and all the others with Him. People want to believe that they are someone wise, good, strong, and able, but this could not be farther from the biblical truth. God said he chose the foolish, weak, and unacceptable of the world for His own. But one might ask, was Saul of Tarshus those thing before salvation, and the answer would be absolutely not. Saul was a very intelligent as was Luke, Mark, and etc. etc. etc. as was also Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews. God never said He did not choose great and smart people, but all these great and smart people were ignorant of Jesus Christ and His salvation. See salvation is like Jesus Christ, both are rejected by mankind. People who do not trust Jesus Christ for their salvation are unsaved and ignorant of God’s salvation. You can be like Saul of Tarshus, Nicodemus, or have a collage education or even a PhD and it matters not scripturally. And on the other hand, you can be a nobody with little or no education and have a masters in biblical studies. See, it is not who or what you are in this world, it is what God has made you scripturally. Paul was a man who truly understood this, because as smart as he was as a Jew, he had to become a biblical fool to understand Jesus Christ and God’s word. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:18 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” People attempt to use their human logic and worldly education in a biblical work and they fail. If you do not become a fool, you will never learn the bible. Paul wrote in our text that “…but ye are wise in Christ…” and only is Christ. So, while some people may flash around their worldly education, and brag about their worldly knowledge, they are nothing but lost fools heading for the fires and flames of the eternal hell. It is not until you are “in Christ Jesus” that you can be smart. Worldly intelligence is of no value without faith in Jesus Christ. You can sit in the assemblies of masses and megachurch status for decades listening to the men with PhD’s for years, die and go to hell for you troubles. And on the other-hand, you can sit under a Master of the scriptures and be saved and spend eternity with Jesus Christ. Now, when I say, “master of the scriptures” I do not mean they are Theologians but rather well learned of the scriptures. The next thing we realize is “…we are weak, but ye are strong…” but only in Christ. As with our education in the scriptures we also learn that we are unable to do anything about salvation. People who are saved without the faith of Jesus Christ in their hearts are lost and heading for the flames of hell. In this flesh we are weak, fleshly we may believe we are strong, and that we can accomplish anything we set our minds too. However, in Christ we realize how weak and foolish we were in the flesh. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2 - 5 “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified…And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling…And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power…That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Only in Christ, and by the power of God through the work of the Holy Spirit can we ever accomplish anything spiritually. In Christ we realize that we are no longer foolish, weak, but rather smart, strong and honorable but to the world we are foolish, weak, and despised, as Paul put is in our text. As Christians we must never forget who we are and what we are in Christ. However, we must never forget who we are to the world, foolish and hated. Beloved, no matter what others think of you, always remember who you are in Christ, and remember you are a Christian because of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20 

Churches Are Warned.

“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:5

We live in an age where people and even Christians are laidback with their doctrine. We live in an age where, so many churches are laidback in their doctrine. This is unacceptable to the Lord Jesus Christ, whom is the Head of the Churches. Jesus speaks here of removing the candlestick and if He does then they are no longer a church. “…will remove thy candlestick out of his place…” As members we must remember that the churches belong to Jesus Christ and not to us. He builds them and sustains them, not us. It is Him that supports them in every way, and without Him, no matter what else, a church will fail and not be a true church. Paul wrote ...For in him we live, and move, and have our being..." Acts 17:28, personally and in Churches we are sustained. Pastors are also the Lords, He set them into place and sustains them just as He does everything else. With all this being said, Christians and churches are not allowed to do as they please in any area. Churches and their membership must be warned that Jesus Christ is the head of the churches and He is the very One who sets the candlesticks in them, and He has every right to pull them out. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist…And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:17-18 The word “consist” means - to set together or to constitute – meaning He “maintains in continuous stability and productiveness” of the churches being and the believers being. Therefore, it tells us that if a church fails to maintain doctrinal truth they will fail as a church because Jesus Christ will remove their candlestick making them a non-scriptural church. Consider it to be like unto expulsion, the Lord, the Head of the churches will personally exclude a church from the bride until “except thou repent.” Rev. 2:5 If the churches and their pastors fail to realize this, then in glory they will. We must all realize that Christ Jesus has a job and we have a job, we cannot do the Lord’s job in building and sustaining the churches. Our job as churches and pastors is to maintain the truth in doctrine, money, and in getting the gospel to a lost and dying world. So many have lost their sense of what we are to do, they have broken from their responsibility and have attempted to do the Lord’s job. They have tried to serve mammon and God, but we cannot serve two masters, saith the Lord because one will cause us to hate the other. Attendance and money are the two main reasons churches leave the truth to serve untruth. We must realize we live in the day of apostasy and both attendance and money are going to suffer. I believe we are living in the last days and because of this times will get harder and persecution will get much worse in the years to come. Now is the time for the churches to come together and not allow petty disagreements to separate us. I believe if time last it will get so hard for churches and truth to stand that only the most spiritual will survive. Let’s face it folks, the church age is coming quickly to an end. This is our warning, we either stand as a church, walk as a church, and worship as a church, or get excluded as a church by Jesus Christ her head. Growth and prosperity is not for the churches of truth in this day, not in the day of apostasy. All we will accomplish by pushing these things is failure. We may grow and be prosperous in this world, but not in the Lord, spiritual, and in truth. The Lord warned the church at Ephesus to “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works” or else He will remove the candlestick, that church does not exist today. Churches only fail when the Lord Jesus Christ no longer sustains them, or they have reached their predestinated end. May God bless us all as we strive to maintain our work and worth fulness to our Head Jesus Christ.