The Basics of the Christian Life – Salvation

Salvation

Salvation comes by faith through grace. Today a person is saved by believing that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4¹. God is offering salvation by grace, not works2. Grace is God’s attitude whereby He gives a benefit without the consideration of merit. In other words, you cannot earn salvation because God is not offering salvation based upon works, who you are, or even who you will become – no merit is considered3. What God requires for salvation is that you take Him at His Word. Faith is the undergirding4 of that which is hoped for, the evidence of accomplished deeds5 not seen and is always based upon a promise6. Direct faith at Christ through the facts of the good news by which we are saved (believing that He died for your […]

The Basics of the Christian Life – SalvationLuther Walker2016-10-12T06:02:30-07:00

Feeling at Ease with Who You are In Christ

John 15:1, 2, 4 I am the true vine and the Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me not bearing fruit He lifts up and every branch bearing fruit He cleanses in order that it may bear more fruit…. Abide in me and I in you. Just as the branch does not have the natural ability to bear fruit from itself except it abides in the vine, thus neither can you, except you abide in me.

When we believed the Gospel for Salvation (Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures) we were placed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. This body is a new creation by God in which Christ is the head and we are the body. In this new creation, old thing have passed away. We are no longer in Adam and therefore no longer condemned. Behold, all things have become new. We are in Christ, were we are now counted to be righteous before God, our spirits are connected to God, we are no longer a slave to the sin nature, we have a quality of the mind of Christ, and share in a quality of the Divine Nature. The change that happens at salvation is not a visible change because it begins in our spiritual part, and ends with our full redemption at the rapture with a resurrected body and a saved soul. Nonetheless, this change is very real. We are now able to receive the things of the Spirit and live a life that manifests the character of the resurrected Christ.

How comfortable are you with who you are in Christ? When Jesus first revealed the […]

Feeling at Ease with Who You are In ChristLuther Walker2023-11-23T10:32:24-08:00

Faith

Scripture defines faith (πίστις) as the substance of that which is hoped for, the conviction of accomplished deeds not seen in Hebrews 11:1. It is therefore not an attitude or belief that is dictated by probability, that is wishful thinking based upon a desire, want, or need; rather, it is a conviction based upon a promise.

Substance is referring to the underlying essence by which something exists. Christ is the exact image of God in the flesh. Through His life the fundamental nature of God was made visible to humans, Hebrews 1:3.

Conviction is the act of presenting evidence to persuade a person’s mind to believe in the truth. This evidence is established upon accomplished deeds that are not seen. We see this demonstrated in the actions of God when He determined to show the heirs of promise the immutability of His determination by giving two immutable facts, it is impossible for God to lie and making an oath based upon His word, Hebrews 6:13-18. The conviction of faith is therefore based upon the facts related to accomplished deeds that God has done.

Therefore, faith is the essence of that which is hoped for, and by the conviction based upon the facts of the promise that hope is based upon, the individual expressing belief will act according to their confidence in the person making the promise.

Many times in Scripture Jesus called out the faith of those around Him, especially of those who would not normally have faith. When a Centurion, a Gentile, asked Jesus to heal his servant, he expressed faith in the fact that Christ is the Messiah promised to the Jews by only asking that Jesus speaks the words, for one who is of authority only […]

FaithLuther Walker2023-12-14T08:12:55-08:00

Training Our Senses to Know Good and Evil

As Christians we are not under law; therefore, the law does not govern our actions (Romans 6:14). This can be confusing to some because if the Ten Commandments are not the standard, what is? As part of our salvation, we are placed as sons (Ephesians 1:5 having marked off our bounds to the placement of sons). This means we are no longer under law (Galatians 4:1-5). A son is one who is mature and expected to act appropriately, not like a child. Now being in a position before God where we can mature, we are expected to train our senses to know the difference between what is wrong and what is proper.

But the solid food is for the mature, the ones through practice having trained the senses towards discerning proper and wrong (lacking in character). Hebrews 5:14.

The purpose of the gift of Pastor even teacher (Ephesians 4:11) given to the church is to bring us all to a oneness of faith (Ephesians 4:13) so that we are no longer inarticulate babblers. And inarticulate babbler is one who needs milk (Hebrews 5:13) for they cannot handle the meat of the Word of God and are tossed around by every wind of teaching by the trickery of men who seek to deceive the saints (Ephesians 4:14).

Today, let’s grow a little in our understanding. Let’s put off any law we may be trying to apply to ourselves and start to use the freedom we have in Christ to live righteously. That is, stop with the “Do Not” and start being who we are in Christ. God has given us a new mind by which we can discern His Will for our lives (Romans 12:2).

Christ told the disciples in […]

Training Our Senses to Know Good and EvilLuther Walker2023-11-25T08:07:01-08:00

Experiencing the Holy Spirit – The Ones Trying to Mimic

For indeed if one comes proclaiming a different Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel that you have not accepted – 2 Corinthians 11:4

Experiencing the Holy Spirit is a logical response from us as we identify and seek to fulfill the desires He gives us to live out who we are in Christ. This type of relationship is new, that is, it did not exist between God and humans prior to the creation of the Church. It requires us to pay attention to our desires and understand where they come from and their outcomes so we can discern what is God’s way, and stop being manipulated by our flesh and Satan.

The Spirit of the Truth Who the world does not have the ability to receive because it cannot watch Him, nor experientially know Him, but you experientially know Him because He abides alongside you and will be in you – John 14:17

Unfortunately, there are many today that teach contrary to this, trying to make our relationship with the Holy Spirit an emotional experience that is not based upon the truth. Remember, truth is not relative. There is only one truth, and it is not based upon how we feel or is changed because we don’t like it. As we read through Scripture, we see God interacting with people in ways that sometimes we would like to experience. He spoke with them, showed them signs, performed incredible miracles, raised the dead, healed the sick, and so many other direct, visible manifestations of who He is. However, this is not the type of relationship we have with God today, ours is […]

Experiencing the Holy Spirit – The Ones Trying to MimicLuther Walker2023-12-14T08:38:41-08:00

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