I always wondered in my life if God accepted other religions, especially the Jews who were labeled his "chosen people."Is there multiple ways to get into Heaven? The answer from this week's sermon was no. God is the only way to eternal life and peace with him. Every individual being has a special relationship with God if they know it or not. Jesus Christ is the only god who came down to Earth to give his live to cover all of mankind's sins. Everybody has barriers to God, some big, or some small. For example, the perfect young ruler came to Jesus with no sins, but would not voluntary sell all of his riches to follow God. It does not matter if your barrier deals with your culture idolizing a non-Christian religion , or the attachment to materialsim, because God works in everybody's life to give them the option of choosing eternal life. Our glory and life is because of his sufferings.
In Ephesians 3: 12-13 Paul declares, "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory (NIV).
If you are a Christian stop making those barriers to get others into the Kingdom of God. Just like the Jews who made a physical wall to stop the Gentiles from coming into the pure part of the temple, we should not make it be hard for others to learn of God's love.
Do we choose God, or does God choose us? This has
been a question of the Church for years. My church, Calvary Chapel of Delaware
County, explained the answer to this desired question by exploring the letter
of Paul to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 1:5 Paul declares, "having
predestined us to adoption a sons by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the
good pleasure of His will,"while in Ephesians 1:12 Paul says, "that
who should first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his
glory"(KJV). Paul just contradicted himself by saying that God chooses us
before we were born, or we should be praised because we choosed God to be our
Savior.
God working in our lives through his presentation and our free-will
Answer: God's mind has a greater infidelity than ours. We
can not understand His ways. God is more involved in our lives than we think.
When we choose God's Salvation in free-will the Holy Spirit is right behind us
leading us to the choice. My pastor described God's ways like a big dixie cup.
The cup can be viewed like a cone, circle, or triangle. There no easy
human understanding of God. Only the divine knowledge of God knows the answer. The
good news is God did not elect anyone for Hell. The Bible making these two
contractions in the same chapter shows the Holy Spirt wrote those verses. Man
would have perfected the contraction. We can not tend the Bible to our needs,
but read it as it is. In the end, God's ways will be always higher than our
ways.
Verse of Encouragement!
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your
paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV).
Calvary Chapel of Delaware County, Chadds Ford, Pa
Speech Link: http://www.ccdelco.com/message-library/
