Have you thought about the conversations you will have today? I believe you will find that most people will allow you to bring up the topic of God and to a certain point be happy to discuss it. It is an entirely different scenario when you bring up the Son of God – Jesus Christ. Most will try to avert the subject or attempt to bring Jesus down to a mere man. They will try to undo His deity. Salvation and freedom from sin comes through the name of Jesus – none other!

Jesus is God. The record of His earthly ministry contains many declarations of this. Though men may say that He nowhere claimed to be God manifest in the flesh, today’s text clearly contradicts such foolishness.

Jesus’ ministry was characterized by physical healings. The people throughout Judea had come to expect Him to deliver them from blindness, demonic possession, leprosy, as well as many other afflictions. On this occasion in Capernaum, there was another large crowd gathered to receive healing and to hear the Word of God preached (vv. 1-2). As usual, a man afflicted in his body was brought to the Lord (v. 3-4).

Unlike the other instances recorded in God’s Word, the Lord did not initially heal this man. Instead He, with all authority, made this pronouncement: “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (v. 5). There can be no clearer testimony of the person of Jesus, for we read that the religious in attendance perceived Christ’s presentation of Himself as God (vv. 6-7). Who can forgive sins? The scribes were correct, God only. And what had our Lord just done? “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Jesus had just done what only God could do.

What follows is an unequivocal statement of Christ’s deity. Jesus perceived that these scribes were accusing Him of blasphemy – in their hearts. Then He posed this question: “Is it easier to tell a palsied man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Your body is restored”? By what standard could these acts be compared to determine relative “ease”? Neither is easy. It requires the omnipotence of God to realize either spiritual healing or physical healing. Perhaps these religious leaders thought it was “easier” to perform healings. They did not seem too ruffled at Christ’s work in healing, as long as it wasn’t on the Sabbath.

Gathered was this crowd of seekers and skeptics and one sick of the palsy. So that all present would know that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, with “power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (vv. 10-11). He immediately arose, before them all, and went out in perfect health (v. 12).

This is the Christ of the Bible. Not a social activist, angel, or secondary god. He is Eternal, the Lord Who alone has power to forgive sins. Without this Jesus, we cannot be saved and without this Jesus we cannot be made free. Talk to someone about Jesus today!

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In today’s post I would like to cover the Helmet of Salvation. Ephesians 6:17 says, …take the helmet of salvation. The helmet was the part of the armor that protected the head, because while a soldier could sustain many injuries and still live, a head wound was usually a fatal blow. In the Spiritual realm I believe that the Helmet of Salvation is illustrative of the protection of the mind.
Satan consistently attacks the mind on two fronts first of all through attacking our assurance of Salvation, and through impure thoughts.

Assurance- If Satan can get you to doubt your salvation you may have many pieces of the armor, but you won’t get far in battle without being overtaken by fears, and doubts. Fear, and doubt are powerful enemies that are hard to overcome. So the best thing to do is settle the issue of your assurance before you venture out for one more day of battle. Let’s cover some ways to have assurance of salvation.

Realize God is the Prime Mover in Salvation- What this means simply put is that you didn’t have a thing to do with getting salvation so how can you lose it. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:4, “he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” You are not an afterthought God has been planning on saving you, and securing you before the world even existed. Furthermore before you were saved you weren’t even looking for God Romans 3:11 says, “there is none that seeketh after God.” God is the one who seeks us out when we are running after destruction with all our hearts. John 6:44 Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” God draws sinful man through seeking after them, loving them, sending them messengers, and man never reciprocates till God initiates.

So you see God planned our salvation, sought us out to save us, drew us through love, and the Bible, and messengers. So how can you lose something you had nothing to do with? The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” You see salvation is a gift of unmerited favor (grace) from God you didn’t earn, you can’t lose it.

God doesn’t change His mind- Romans 11:29 says, “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” That means basically God is not an Indian giver, it was His desire to give you salvation, and He’s not going to change his mind.

The Bible is written for us to be sure- The Bible says in 1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” The Bible was written so that you might know that you have eternal life. Not wonder, not doubt, not fear, not think, but absolutely know 100% sure that you are His.

Jesus promised to keep us secure- John 10:28-29 says, “…I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” You are absolutely secure in the hands of Jesus for all eternity if you have accepted His free gift of salvation.

The Holy Spirit lets us know were secure- Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesus was a city of much commerce especially for lumber transactions. So whenever a load of lumber was purchased it was sealed with a signet (a unique identifier of the owner) so that everyone could see who it belonged to.

The Holy Spirit dwelling within us is a sign to ourselves and everybody else that we are God’s children. Romans 8:16 tell us, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. The Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to our spirit, and assuring us we belong to God. Furthermore the Bible calls the Holy Spirit His earnest payment for our salvation. An earnest, or down payment is used to show the seriousness (earnestness) of a buyer to complete a transaction. God has put a massive down payment on us, and He fully intends to finalize the transaction. So when Satan attacks our salvation we can look to the word of God, the character of God, and the Spirit of God for assurance.

Renewing of the mind- Another function of the Helmet of Salvation is the renewing of your mind. God is not merely content to save us from the penalty of sin, He wants to save us from the power of sin. This process is called sanctification, and one of the most powerful aspects of this growing to be more like the Lord is changing our thinking. I don’t know about you after years of meth addiction, and living in the World I had some pretty “stinking thinking”! The problem with that is that “as a man thinketh so is he.” So if I continue to repeat the same destructive thought patterns I will continue to reap destructive actions. Fortunately the Lord has provided three methods for thinking right.

Renewing- Romans 12:1-2 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The first step to right thinking is really two steps present yourself to God, as a living sacrifice, and two stop letting the thinking of this age cloud your mind. In presenting ourselves as a sacrifice, and literally dying to self we are then yield to the Holy Spirit who can clean, and change our minds.

The second verse could literally be translated, “stop letting yourself be molded to this age” you see Satan wants you to think like him, and he uses the media, books, etc. to shape your thinking. Stop it! You have a choice, and the only place you should be getting your thought from is the Word of God let it renew you mind.

Rejecting- Just because you get saved doesn’t mean all of your destructive thought patterns, and satanic lies you have believed disappear. Sanctification is a process, and God does the work, but we do have responsibilities. These responsibilities involve our will because everything you believe you have chosen (the will) to believe. In that same vein God has said that we are to cast down every thought pattern that does not conform to the Word of God. Paul says, to only think on things that are lovely, just, pure, virtuous, praise worthy, and of good report. In other words if its ugly, unjust, impure, evil, criticism, or bad news reject it outright it will only perpetuate your destructive thought patterns. As we willfully reject bad thoughts, and accept good thoughts God changes are thinking patterns

Receiving- One of the best ways to think correctly is to just receive, or yield to what is already true of you. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “…we have the mind of Christ” not we are getting the mind of Christ, not “Lord, please give us the
mind of Christ” we have it right this very moment we just need to yield to what is already true. Galatians 2:20 tells us that Jesus Christ wants to live His life through you, and that includes His mind. The wisest, and smartest man to ever live wasn’t Solomon it was Jesus Christ, and His mind is available to you if you will just yield to what the Bible says by faith. I know that Will Fowler’s best thinking led me to become a 112 pound meth addict, living in a truck, running from the police, and a restraining order from my family. God’s thinking on the other hand has led me to Bible college, career, ministry, a beautiful family, etc.

So let’s put on the helmet of salvation today, and let the Lord give us assurance of our salvation, and new non destructive thought patterns.

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This book was written by Pastor Cary Schmidt, of Lancaster Baptist Church fame. Would make a great witnessing tool.

“What Most Religions Don’t Tell You About the Bible”

This 100 page paperback minibook answers life’s biggest question—how can I know about eternity? More than twenty-thousand copies have been downloaded, and another twenty thousand printed. It’s been a joy to hear from people around the country who have trusted Christ after reading this little book. Download a free complete copy at the following link:

http://www.lancasterbaptist.org/done.pdf

Purchase a hard copy or a quantity of “done.”

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