A Call to Unity of the Church

Written by Joyce C. Lock


Continued from page 1

Q. Who can find a virtuous woman? Proverbs 31:10 A. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. And he said, Blessed be thou ofrepparttar Lord, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness inrepparttar 141492 latter end than atrepparttar 141493 beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for allrepparttar 141494 city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. Ruth 3:9-11

Q. Considerrepparttar 141495 work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? Eccles. 7:13 A. Lift uprepparttar 141496 hands which hang down, andrepparttar 141497 feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out ofrepparttar 141498 way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall seerepparttar 141499 Lord. Hebrews 12:12-14

Q. For ifrepparttar 141500 trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself torepparttar 141501 battle? 1 Cor. 14:8

A. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than Johnrepparttar 141502 Baptist: but he that is least inrepparttar 141503 kingdom of God is greater than he. Luke 7:26-28

Q. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obeyrepparttar 141504 truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? Galatians 3:1

A. ...repparttar 141505 house of David, and ...repparttar 141506 inhabitants of Jerusalem ... they shall look upon me whom they have pierced ... Zech. 12:10

Q. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? James 4:12

A. If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed inrepparttar 141507 church. 1 Cor. 6:4

Q. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus isrepparttar 141508 Christ? 1 John 2:22a A. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. 1 John 4:20 He is antichrist, that deniethrepparttar 141509 Father andrepparttar 141510 Son. 1 John 2:22b

Q. Forrepparttar 141511 great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Rev. 6:17

A. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and torepparttar 141512 word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Acts 20:32

Q. And they worshippedrepparttar 141513 dragon which gave power untorepparttar 141514 beast: and they worshippedrepparttar 141515 beast, saying, Who is like untorepparttar 141516 beast? who is able to make war with him? Rev. 13:4 A. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Luke 14:31

Q. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. Rev. 15:4 A. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, evenrepparttar 141517 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:6

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Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeyingrepparttar 141518 truth throughrepparttar 141519 Spirit unto unfeigned love ofrepparttar 141520 brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, byrepparttar 141521 word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and allrepparttar 141522 glory of man asrepparttar 141523 flower of grass. The grass withereth, andrepparttar 141524 flower thereof falleth away: Butrepparttar 141525 word ofrepparttar 141526 Lord endureth for ever. And this isrepparttar 141527 word which byrepparttar 141528 gospel is preached unto you. 1 Peter 1:22-25

But he that shall endure untorepparttar 141529 end,repparttar 141530 same shall be saved. And this gospel ofrepparttar 141531 kingdom shall be preached in allrepparttar 141532 world for a witness unto all nations; and then shallrepparttar 141533 end come. When ye therefore shall seerepparttar 141534 abomination of desolation, spoken of by Danielrepparttar 141535 prophet, stand inrepparttar 141536 holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Matthew 24:13-15

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desirerepparttar 141537 sincere milk ofrepparttar 141538 word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted thatrepparttar 141539 Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained inrepparttar 141540 scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient,repparttar 141541 stone whichrepparttar 141542 builders disallowed,repparttar 141543 same is maderepparttar 141544 head ofrepparttar 141545 corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble atrepparttar 141546 word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forthrepparttar 141547 praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are nowrepparttar 141548 people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 1:22-2:10

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do notrepparttar 141549 truth.

1 John 1:6

© 2005 by Joyce C. Lock http://our.homewithgod.com/heavenlyinspirations/ This collection of KJV scripture may be used in its entirety, with credits in tact, for non-profit ministering purposes.

Joyce C. Lock is a published author, poet, and columnist. In addition, she founded and maintains the email ministries "Heavenly Inspirations" http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeavenlyInspirations/ and "Share a Smile" http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smilesharing/. Joyce's writings encourage us in our relationship with God and each other.


What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Written by Stephen Kingery


Continued from page 1

Onrepparttar other hand, ifrepparttar 141376 child realizes that his disobedience has caused his parents to grieve (as God does for our disobedience), and he decides that he is going to do his very best to not break his parents' rules again, we would say that he has shown repentance.

It isrepparttar 141377 same with us when we become Christians. We need to be repentant for our shortcomings toward God, and strive to not repeat our errors inrepparttar 141378 future.

Repentance then, is a change of heart and mind. Unless we changerepparttar 141379 way we live, we have not repented. Unless there is a re-orientation ofrepparttar 141380 ethics and values in our lives, there has been no repentance.

Repentance is a command inrepparttar 141381 Bible: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judgerepparttar 141382 world in righteousness byrepparttar 141383 Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him fromrepparttar 141384 dead." (Acts 17:30,31) It is also a warning. Jesus said, "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)

The gospel message produces repentance. When Peter was preaching torepparttar 141385 people onrepparttar 141386 day of Pentecost he said, "Repent and let every one of you be baptized inrepparttar 141387 name of Jesus Christ forrepparttar 141388 remission of sins; and you shall receiverepparttar 141389 gift ofrepparttar 141390 Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) We read in this same account that thousands were added torepparttar 141391 church that day.

God's love for us also produces repentance in our hearts and lives. You don't need to studyrepparttar 141392 Bible very much to realize just how much God really loves us. God's love for His creation, man, is all throughrepparttar 141393 Bible. Romans 2:4 brings this into focus: "Or do you despiserepparttar 141394 riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing thatrepparttar 141395 goodness of God leads you to repentance?"

Confession

A person shows that he is not ashamed of Christ, or to be know as a Christian, when he confesses Him before men. We see inrepparttar 141396 book of Romans thatrepparttar 141397 confession should be made withrepparttar 141398 mouth: "that if you confess with your mouthrepparttar 141399 Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him fromrepparttar 141400 dead, you will be saved. For withrepparttar 141401 heart one believes to righteousness, and withrepparttar 141402 mouth confession is made to salvation." (Romans 10:9,10)

We also see thatrepparttar 141403 confession should be of Christ, or that we believe that Jesus isrepparttar 141404 Christ. In Matthew, Jesus was asking His disciples whorepparttar 141405 people said that He was. Then we read, "He (Jesus) said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' And Simon Peter answered and said, 'You arerepparttar 141406 Christ,repparttar 141407 Son ofrepparttar 141408 living God.'" (Matthew 16:15,16) It should be before witnesses. "Fightrepparttar 141409 good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessedrepparttar 141410 good confession inrepparttar 141411 presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:12)

And finally, confession should precede baptism. Inrepparttar 141412 account of Philip preaching torepparttar 141413 Ethiopian eunuch we find thatrepparttar 141414 Ethiopian made his confession prior to Philip baptizing him. This account is in Acts 8:35-38.

Baptism

You must come into contact with Christ's death. This is done through baptism. Baptism depicts a death to sin or a coming alive in Christ. It also is a picture ofrepparttar 141415 death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

Baptism is commanded by Christ as we see in Mark 16:16: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." It was also practiced byrepparttar 141416 apostles. Inrepparttar 141417 book of Acts (which could also be referred to asrepparttar 141418 book of conversions), there are eight accounts of people being saved. In each account, baptism was part ofrepparttar 141419 person or persons being saved. For example, in Acts 2:41 we read this passage, "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them."

Read each ofrepparttar 141420 eight accounts:

Jews on Pentacost .......... Acts 2:36-38

The Samaritans ............... Acts 8:12-13

The Ethiopian Eusuch ...... Acts 8:35-39

Cornelius (1st Gentile) ..... Acts 10:34-48

Lydia .............................. Acts 16:14-15

The Jailor ........................ Acts 16:25-34

The Corinthians ............... Acts 18:6-8

The Ephesians ................. Acts 19:1-5

Paul ................................ Acts 22:16

Baptism brings remission of sins: "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling onrepparttar 141421 name ofrepparttar 141422 Lord." (Acts 22:16) And also, baptism saves us: "There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (notrepparttar 141423 removal ofrepparttar 141424 filth ofrepparttar 141425 flesh, butrepparttar 141426 answer of a good conscience toward God), throughrepparttar 141427 resurrection of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 3:21)

Faithful Living

Through faith, repentance, confession and baptism we receiverepparttar 141428 salvation promised by God through His son Jesus Christ. But this is not whererepparttar 141429 process stops. In some respects, it is justrepparttar 141430 beginning.

We must continue to live faithfully. Faithful living means continuing steadfastly inrepparttar 141431 apostles doctrine and fellowship, in observing communion, and in prayer. (See Acts 2:42) We should study our Bible. A daily walk through God's word is important to spiritual growth. We should grow inrepparttar 141432 fruit ofrepparttar 141433 Spirit. (See Galatians 5:22,23) We should be a soul winner, sharing our faith in Christ with others. We should have Christian virtues. (See 2 Peter 1:5- 8) And we should worship regularly with God's people. (See Hebrews 10:25)

So, what must you do to be saved? The answer, as given inrepparttar 141434 New Testament, is faith (or belief), repentance, confession, baptism, and life-long faithful living. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please consider carefully what You have read here. Being a Christian is a wonderful life.

All scriptures quoted are fromrepparttar 141435 New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.



Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

Permission to use is granted if attributed to author and his website.


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