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.


Gambling — Don't Bet On It

Written by Hoyt W. Allen, Jr.


Continued from page 1

Some advocates of gambling cry out thatrepparttar stock market is a gamble. It is strange that mankind will always turn over every stone looking for a way to justify his sin. Investments in stock markets, and insurance is a far cry fromrepparttar 141375 roulette wheels, poker tables, race tracks and river floating casinos. Investments in stock markets and insurance companies produce many jobs for multitudes as this investment money is recycled repeatedly throughout our land and aroundrepparttar 141376 world.

Gambling is addictive. Several million people belong to "Gamblers Anonymous" today. It has caused people to lie, cheat, steal, rob, rape, sell their bodies, minds and souls to get money so that they can gamble "just one more time." Connected with it are many evils. Normally drink is associated with it. Organized crime goes fromrepparttar 141377 small neighborhood protection gangs torepparttar 141378 larger controlled Mafia groups. I Thessalonians 5:22 warns, "Avoid all kinds of evil." I Timothy 6:10 also warns "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." Proverbs 13:11 states that money won in gambling will quickly disappear. Can one be a good Christian witness and be a gambler? You must decide!

Some recent gambling info looks likerepparttar 141379 following:

1) In a 1989 survey of 2,700 high school students in four states, 50% ofrepparttar 141380 students admitted to gambling at least once a year. 2) There are twelve million obsessive gamblers in our land and 90% of them began gambling prior to age twenty-one. 3) One fifth ofrepparttar 141381 gamblers of our nation are youth and many do not understand how it is addictive and do not want to earn moneyrepparttar 141382 old fashioned way — work for it! Gambling produces parasites. 4) "Gamblers Anonymous" has over 700 chapters inrepparttar 141383 U.S.A. with over 12,000 members seeking help! 5) Between 20 and 40 percent of male and 58 percent of female compulsive gamblers have seen mental health professionals prior to enrolling with "Gamblers Anonymous." 6) A large number of compulsive gamblers end up with unhappy marriages, abusing their family (61% become violent toward their spouse), and too oftenrepparttar 141384 marriage ends. 7) Over $300 billion is spent annually inrepparttar 141385 U.S.A. on gambling. 8) It is estimated that 100 million Americans gamble inrepparttar 141386 U.S.A. inrepparttar 141387 country's 37 state lotteries. 9) Nearly ten years ago ('84) – gamblers inrepparttar 141388 U.S. in one year spent $177 billion. That was twicerepparttar 141389 amount spent on education, fifteen times that contributed to all religious groups combined in America. This exceeded that spent on medical care and one half of what was spent on food. 10) Illegal gambling in America is estimated to exceed our National Debt. 11) State lotteries give only 2-3% to public school education systems, butrepparttar 141390 extra police officers needed and welfare expenses far outweighrepparttar 141391 income. 12) 60-90% of those who playrepparttar 141392 lotteries are ofrepparttar 141393 lower income groups. 13) Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds Manager) made $600,000 per year and gambled $324,000 when he got caught. Due to gambling, he went fromrepparttar 141394 "Hall of Fame" torepparttar 141395 "Hall of Shame." 14) Of "Regular" gamblers – 1 in 10 become "Compulsive" gamblers. 15) One third of gamblers are female and 96% of "Compulsive" gamblers are hooked prior to age 14.

Source material:

1) "Gambling, A Bad Bet" by Dr. Norman Geisler; Pub. Fleming H. Revell; 1990 2) "Gambling In America" by Bertha Davis; Pub. Franklin Watts; 1992 3) "Gamblers Anonymous" 606-277-8236 4) "Gambling" Pub. Information Aids, Inc. 1992 5) "USA Today" Sept. 10, 1993, Page 3-A 6) "Gambling And The Bible" by Thomas F. Eaves; Pub. Star Publishing 7) "The Ohio Week" by Sue Gorisek; Page 7; Oct. 15, 1993 8) "Daily Times"; Portsmouth, Ohio Daily Times; Page A-3; Oct. 11, 1993 9) "Gambling, Trading Morals For Money" by Dr. Paul Meier & Dr. Norm Geisler; Focus onrepparttar 141396 Family (Tape #CS 742); 1992 10) "Holy Bible"



Brother Hoyt W. Allen Jr. is a Restoration author, preacher and director of the KYOWVA Evangelistic Association in Ironton, Ohio. You may visit his website at www.kyowva.com.

Brother Allen's article is courtesy of the The Home Bible Study Institute - www.james1-22.org.

Permission to use is granted if attributed to author, his website and the website of The Home Bible Study Institute.


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