Tag: Romans 10:17

Unbelief

Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.”

I heard something this week while I was listening to old sermons on my way to and from work and I have a burden on my heart to share it with you.  I had never heard it put quite this way before and for some reason it really made sense to me. To summarize it said you will not go to hell because of your sins. You will go to hell because of your unbelief. What do I mean by unbelief? Well to put is simply, if you do not believe that Jesus is the son of God who died on the cross and rose again to cleanse you from your sins then you will go to hell. No matter how “good” of a person you are. You must believe.

Salvation is that easy. Just believe. You do not need to DO anything because we have been saved by GRACE alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

You see sin separates us from God. In order to remove that separation, God sent his son Jesus to DO what was necessary to fix that. He died on the cross and rose again to make you righteous before God. So now all you have to do is believe and you will be saved. To believe, you have to have faith and Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Your faith is increased by hearing God’s word. So, if you are a Christian, a believer, a follower of Jesus, you need to be IN THE WORD. Take time every day to read the Bible or listen to the Bible or watch video sermons about the Bible. Talk to God. Tell him about your thoughts, ideas, worries and accomplishments. Make him a part of your everyday life. Then tell others. Their faith will increase by hearing the Word of God too.

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to save me from my sins. Give me faith to believe, courage to share, and grace to be saved. Amen.

Technology and The Bible

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. (NLT)

Technology.  I don’t understand how an image that is 100, 500, or even 1,000 miles away can reappear on my computer screen in my bedroom.  I don’t understand how it works, but it brings me so much joy.  I am comforted by it.  I can see and hear my Mom and Day and know that they are safe.  I can sing Happy Birthday to my sister and see her excitement. 

I can share technology with other people and they can experience the same range of emotions too.  In that way, technology is like the Word of God.  When I read the Bible, I am comforted by the words I read.  I can share God’s word and I see it bring joy to other people too.  Simple words that individually are just words put together brings happiness and comfort to me every day.  I honestly don’t understand how it happens.  But I still want to share it.  I want other people to feel the same way, have the same experience. 

My soul is filled up.  Don’t you want to feel that way too?  Don’t you want that empty feeling to go away?  The only way to do that is through the Word of God.  Everything else is temporary. The Word of God will fill the empty space permanently.  It will bring you peace, and forgiveness, and a joy that you will want to share with other people too.  Jesus did all the hard work while he was here on earth.  When he left, he left the Holy Spirit here to help us.  Open your heart to hear God’s Word and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

Don’t have a Bible?  No problem. I’m sure you have a smart phone.  All you have to do is download the YouVersion Bible App (which is FREE) and click on Plans.  Then search for “Gateway”.  In the search results you will see “Fresh Start Bible One-Year Reading Plan”.  Click on that and then click “Start Plan”.  You can read the Bible by yourself or you can read it with friends.  The best thing about the YouVersion Bible App is that you can click a button (it’s at the top of the screen on my phone) that looks like a little speaker with sound coming out of it.  If you click on it, it will read the Bible verses to you.  SA-WEET!

Dear Lord, thank you for the people that created the technology we use everyday to stay connected to our loved ones.  Encourage me daily to use the same technology to dive into your word.  Amen.