by Rev. Joda Collins
Most of us who have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior had a caring individual who shared with us the good news that Jesus died for our sins and made it possible by faith in his shed blood to be forgiven of all sins -- past, present and future, thus qualified to enter the family of God by faith. There are a lot of ways to express those realities, but the sentence above is the bottom line/summary of what it means to be "saved".
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace..." Ephesians 1:7.
Salvation is both a destination and a spiritual walk. The destination is eternal life in the presence of God that follows the end of this physical life. The spiritual walk is getting to know Jesus as best we can en route to that final destination and helping others along the way, especially helping them find the saving experience in Christ.
Like all progress and and all growth, this is a process of consistently doing the next thing. The next thing after salvation is water baptism. We see this in Acts 8:25-38. The focus of that section is Acts 8:35-38 which reads:
"Then Philip...preached unto him Jesus. The eunich said...here is water; what...hinder(s) me to be baptized? Philip said, If you beleivest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered...'I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down both into the water...and he (Philip) baptized him."'
Do you see how that immediately after salvation comes baptism?
Acts 16:13-15 has another miracle of salvation. It reads, "...Lydia...heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, (and) she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized...."
Notice that Lydia heard the preaching of the Apostle Paul as Paul spoke of Jesus. Lydia's heart was open to the things Paul said about salvation, therefore she attended (gave attention) to those things Paul preached and taught about Jesus. That led to Lydia's salvation experience. Immediately following her salvation experience she was baptized because the next step in our spiritual journey after salvation is water baptism.
Another example: A man inquired of the Apostle Paul and his friends, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved....' And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he (the Apostle Paul) took them the same hour of the night...and...baptized he and and all his (family), straightway." See Acts 16:22-34.
What immediately (straightway) followed the salvation experiences of this man and his family; even the same night? The answer is water baptism.
Times have changed since the first century days of evangelism. In the early days of Christian evangelism few actual church buildings existed. It was common for people to get saved and then immediately get baptized. Now, we tend to think in terms of a church building and the church assembled to see and celebrate the baptism. Today, finding a church and/or pastor to do the baptism on the church calendar time is the norm for the next step after salvation. While the form (timing) of evangelism style water baptism remains valid and there are situations in which one might find him or herself saved and the opportunity for immediate baptism is rightly practiced, usually, the person who led you to the salvation experience is part of a church body and will invite you to be baptized there. Whatever your circumstances, if you are a new member of the family of God, your next step is baptism.
A Bible-based church is a church that adheres to the following:
1. The Lord Jesus Christ is both the Son of God and God. (No one has ever fully comprehended that reality and no one can explain that reality well. However, it is a biblical fact nonetheless.) See https://biblereasons.com/jesus-is-god/ .
2. Salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as a free gift based on believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-salvation-really-a-free-gift/ .
3. Salvation from the penalty of Hell is a once in a lifetime experience thus never needs repeating. Once we become a child of God we will always be a child of God. Like all children, we can be a good or bad child, but we will always be God's child. In biblical short hand, we call this the Doctrine of Eternal Security. https://gbible.org/doctrines-post/doctrine-eternal-security/ . This article is technical, but very good. Glean what you can from it now and read it every year or so. It is easier to read and the gems of it better understood the older and more experienced a person is in the Lord.
4. The Bible is the Word of God. Nothing is to be added to it and nothing taken from it. https://christiananswers.net/q-eden/sola-scriptura-bible.html .
Disclaimer: Noting the references above is not an automatic endorsement of everything the author of said references in other places says, writes or does nor an automatic endorsement of every action or doctrine of the agency, agencies or organizations represented by said authors.
All quotes are from the King James Version. All parenthesis within Bible verse quotes are mine (Joda Collins).
Rev. Joda Collins
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/jodacollins
I make no claim that anyone else agrees with me.
I make no claim that anyone else agrees with me.
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