United Pentecostal Church Mannheim Short Messages

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Message from the Monthly Flyer from January 2007

Theme: The necessity of being saved.
1. Jesus came into a lost world.
2. The world is the same today as it was at that time, but there is only one door of salvation:

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation!
(3000 souls obeyed the message of the apostles on that day! Verse 41)

Here we find an example, in which people saw the necessity of grabbing a hold of salvation. Just like it is in our present day, unfortunately, we also find people who did not realise that they had do something themselves about their own salvation. God wants to deliver them, He has a plan, but every individual had to agree and be obedient to it accordingly.

This particular problem of spiritual blindness is not something new, it was also prevalent at that time.

* Prophets had a difficult time in their day: >2. Kings 17:13-16; Matt. 21:32

*During Jesus’ time it was exactly the same:
His greatest enemies arose from the religious world – the Scribes and the Pharisees. Luke 3:8. It was this type of people – the ones who had religion. Religion was not sufficient at that time to meet the requirements, and neither is it sufficient today to meet the necessary requirements! They did not realise that without Jesus Christ they were lost. They justified themselves by saying, “We are Jews, children of Abraham.” (John 8:31-59)

> The Church in Laodicea, their justified themselves by saying, We have the truth, and yet they were spiritually blind, deaf, and naked, and were on their way to judgment, although they belonged to a “church”. God alone is the Judge, and no one else besides Him. (Rev. 3:15-17)

Also in our day and age, many people did not realise that they had do something themselves about their own salvation; because they are spiritually blind on account of their sin. At the moment they are satisfied with their lives. Others are religious and trust in their church, instead of studying and going through the Word of God themselves. It is no wonder that when talking about Christians, many Moslems say that the way they live is ungodly. These Christians will end up receiving a certain type of punishment; they may not believe it, but nevertheless, it is written in Luke 13:25-28 etc.

Living a life of ease and comfort, being carefree and not giving a thought for anything, even being religious, is deceiving and will eventually lead to death:
The rich man > I am Abraham’s child Luke 16:19
The rich man > built barns Luke 12:18
Pilate > John 18:38;
Herod > Matt. 2:13;
Jerusalem> Matt. 23:37;

The time of the apostles:
* The apostles during their time were aware of this problem.
* On the day of Pentecost, many said to them that they were crazy. However, several of
them believed regardless > Acts 2:13 and 41
* In Athens the people mocked, but several of them believed nonetheless > Acts 17:32-34
* In Philippi they were beaten, but some of them believed nevertheless: > Acts 16:23 + 34

Important!
It is necessary to ask the question: What did the apostles teach about what to do, in order to be saved?
In all of these verses, pay special attention to see what is to be found in the case of all the believers:

Obedience to repentance, baptism in water in Jesus’ name, baptism of the Holy Spirit. Look in your Bible: > Acts 2:37-39; 8:12-17; 9:17-19;10:44-48;19:3-6; (John 3:3-7) > There is no other way to receive salvation and no other gospel! > Galatians 1:6-9; God saves who he wants, and they are the ones who obey his gospel and do his will! > You are unable to save anyone, however, you can and you must make sure that you get saved yourself.
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