Globe For Christ Ministries

Globe For Christ Ministries We are a non denominational mission oriented Ministry, with a desire to reach both the reached and the unreached communities with the uncompromised Gospel

08/06/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 12.

3. The doctrine of salvation

Acts 2:41
[41]Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Those whose hearts responded to the word of God were baptized. No more information is given about this baptism but then we are sure it was not water baptism that happened. By the time Peter began to speak, it was the third hour as according to Acts 2:15. The message was shared and there is no record of the people leaving the place. They were pierced to heart and they asked what to do. It was told them that they needed to repent and be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Acts 2:38
[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.

Now the word baptize here comes from the Greek word transliterated to BAPTIZO. BAPTIZO means to make whelmed of or to make fully wet or to fully immerse. There is an interesting analogy to this. When you make someone or something fully wet, it gets the characteristics of the water that makes it wet. If it is dirty water, the person or item will be wet and still show that the water was dirty. If the liquid was red, the characteristics of the red liquid will show.

For our case, the believer is immersed into the Name of Jesus Christ. The characteristics of Jesus are expected to be seen on those baptized into His name. Just like those baptized in water are wet with water and it is seen, so those baptized in the Name of Jesus must of essence have the characteristic traits of Jesus. Therefore those who believed were immersed into the Name of Jesus Christ. They ceased to exist and only Christ found expression through them. As such, they lived to show the traits of Christ. When the disciples were baptized in the upper room, we saw the once timid Peter address people boldly even when his life was on the line.

BAPTIZO also means to make whelmed of. This is almost similar to saying to make overwhelmed of. That the of Christ, the character of Christ and the person of Christ overwhelmed anything else.

When you are baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, the only way we will confirm this as true is by us seeing the traits of Christ in you. The next question we will want to ask ourselves and answer will be this. Now that the characteristics of Christ are to be seen in me, does that mean that I am qualified as a son in the kingdom by my works?
Let's look at this on Monday as we transition to the fourth doctrine which is that of Righteousness.

Have a blessed weekend.

06/06/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 11

3. The doctrine of salvation
Rom.10.9 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom.10.10 - For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

The profile pathway for Soteria (salvation) is as simple as indicated in the verses above. Verse 9 gives us the contents of the process then verse 10 gives us the order of the contents.

Proverbs 4:23
[23]Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

The first fundamental part of man in the process of salvation is the heart. You need to know that when the scripture talks of the heart, it is not referring to the part in man that pumps blood. It is referring to the part in man that receives, holds information and knowledge and releases it when reached out to. This is why we are instructed to guard our hearts with all diligence. This means to sieve out what we allow into our hearts. Close out what is poisonous and only admit what is effective and helpful.

Coming back to our process of salvation, it is with the heart that man believes and is justified. This means that it begins from the information that is allowed into our conscious, subconscious and unconscious faculties. This information determines the belief we have. This belief will in turn determine our actions. Therefore for a man to obtain the salvation of God, he/she needs to have been exposed to teachings of truth. Teachings that bring out the truth about salvation. As he/she obtains this information more and more, it begins to form given images and realities in the man. These realities and images are what makes it possible for man to believe. At the stage of believing, it means nothing else matters apart from the knowledge obtained. The placing of ultimate value on the knowledge of salvation that has been obtained causes justification.

Once justification has taken place, this person can make a confession and by this he/she shall be saved. It is important to believe first because then when the person is making confession, it is a confession coming from the heart not just the mind or mouth. It is a conscious confession that is being made.

Now the confession is not just that Jesus is Lord. It is that the life of the person is surrendered to God and that Christ who is Lord is given preeminence to rule, guide and give direction on what has to be done. The phrase Jesus is Lord means that He has legal permission to rule.

Many of the conversions that end up never living effectively for Christ either did not make the confession from the depth of knowledge in the heart. It was a lip service which will not lead to anything or even in the limited knowledge that was available as the confession was made nobody bothered to follow up and avail this knowledge. Therefore knowledge is very important. This is best illustrated in Acts 2 when the new testament church was born.

In verse 14 Peter began to share truth by verse 37, the hearts responded to the knowledge and verse 41, those who received the knowledge gladly were baptized. This is the equivalent of salvation.
Tomorrow we look at what these people baptized into.
I hope you are gaining some knowledge.

Have a blessed Friday.

05/06/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 10.

3. The doctrine of salvation.
Genesis 1:26-27
[26]And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[27]So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

When God made man, He had a vision of the man He wanted them to create. This man was to be in the image and likeness of the God head. Now the God is Spirit John 4:24. Therefore the first aspect that God was to consider in making man was to make a spirit man.

The second important truth is that God lives eternally. Therefore when He made the spirit man, this spirit man was supposed to and truly lives forever. Spirits don't go through a physical death. This is why when someone dies we talk of the spirit either going to heaven or hell although rarely do we talk of spirits going to hell but of truth, some will go there. Therefore man having been made in the image and likeness of God, the spirit man lives forever. This is why I said that this eternal life we read in scripture is not a very accurate representation of Zoe that we obtain from SOTERIA. Most translations made do loose meanings mostly because of lack of equivalent words in the different languages. Therefore SOTERIA (salvation) gives us Zoe (the life of God) not life like that of God. It is the exact life that God has that we receive in our spirit man.

The spirit of righteous men will go to heaven where they will join in the joy of the master. They will be there forever. The spirits of men who disregarded God and went for the evil ways will also live eternally but in the place of damnation/lake of fire (Revelations 20:13-15). So there is eternal life in God's presence for the saints and there is eternal punishment in hell for the sinners. Both have an eternity aspect. So when man obtains SOTERIA, he draws within himself the God life. Life that is joyous, fulfilling, complete, peaceable and indestructible. It is not just life without an end. It is life without an end and in the goodness of the Lord. The sinners will spend their eternity in hell or the lake of fire going through torment.

Acts 4:12
[12]Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Therefore salvation which comes from the Greek word Soteria gives us the God kind of life. It makes us acceptable among the beloved . This is why when one gets born again, we say that he/she has the life of God. That which was with Adam and Eve before they sinned against God. A life without an end yet profiled along a given pathway. So what is this pathway that the lives of saints are profiles on? Let's visit this tomorrow.

Blessed day.

05/06/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 9

3. The doctrine of salvation.
Acts 4:12
[12]Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Salvation is not given to man in any other name apart from the Name of Jesus Christ. Yesterday we settled it that salvation is the only way for man to escape the third and final death man can ever go through. The word salvation as used in the above passage comes from the Greek word that is transliterated to SOTERIA.

SOTERIA means to rescue or safety that is both physical as wells morally. It also means to deliver or save. My attention is majorly drawn to the meaning of soteria as to deliver. We know that man can only be delivered from what has bound him/her. This tells us that all men are born bound. Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, you were born bound. Our salvation means that we are delivered or freed. One who is freed lives a free life. No bondages, no limitations, no impossibilities etc. It is living a life of fulfilment. This can only be the God kind of life. Therefore salvation gives us the God kind of life. The critical question I must ask myself is this " IF I HAVE THE GOD KIND OF LIFE, AM I EXPERIENCING IT?

The reason why God had to make arrangements for our salvation was because man had sinned and this was punishable by death. The danger man faced and some still face right now is eternal damnation. God therefore chose to save man from this danger. He chose to have man be safe from physical and moral decadence. He therefore sent one who would bear our sins so as to set us free. The provision of salvation teaches us that the sacrifice that was given by Christ was well received and accepted. Therefore man can live again free.

Are you free where you are?
Having eternal life is not just about not dying the way we know it. There is more than meets the eye. Let's look on this tomorrow.

Blessed Wednesday to you.

03/06/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 8.

Ps.68.19 - Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah
Ps.68.20 - Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

It has been placed in the hands of man to determine whether he goes through the third death or he lives forever. Although God will Judge and make a verdict, this verdict is purely dependent on what man does with his/her life here on earth. It is like when a parent takes a child to school. Although the parent and teachers may do all they can to have the child succeed academically, if the child does not take interest and pursue academic excellence, there is no way the child will obtain this academic excellence. So although eternal life has been provided, personal interest and choosing to act will make this life present in anyone.

The above scripture especially verse 20 teaches us that for anyone to escape death, only God can help. It is only in the sovereign Lord that ways of escape from death come. Any other way proposed that is not of God is just heresy. Both people of the old testament and those of the new testament can only get their salvation through Christ Jesus. The people of old who died hoping and waiting for the saviour, those who anchored their faith in the coming Messiah the way Abraham did will not die the third death. The new testament believer who trusts in the Messiah who came and has put his/her trust in God shall be saved.

Acts 4:12
[12]Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

There is no other name given to mankind for salvation. It is only the name of Jesus Christ. Salvation here is about how each one will beat the system and submit to God. How one will overcome death and live eternally. This has everything to do with rejecting full independence. It is about living a life in full dependency on God. Submitting self to God and allowing Him to reign in your life.

John 12:25
[25]He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Hating life here means not holding onto your personal interests dearly. It means allowing the will and purposes of God to take supremacy. Determining not to be let by self interests rather choosing to be guided by the interests of God.

Tomorrow we will look at the number three doctrine of salvation. To know eternal life. Just to define what it is and also look at what those without eternal life will have.

Blessed day

03/06/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 7

2. The doctrine of sin.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
[16]For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
[17]Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
[18]Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

From our last two posts, we have settled on the truth that sin ends up in death. Now as we talk about death, there are three forms of death. They occur at different levels and have different reasons why each occurs.

The first death is that which Adam and Eve experienced after they sinned in the garden of Eden. They were separated from the presence of God. If you can remember they were sent away from the garden which meant the presence of God. An angel with a flaming sword was put there to guard the garden so that they do not get back into it. This was for a reason. So anyone who is born of a woman is born into sin. He is a sinner at birth and so separated from God. Man does not need to do anything to have this death. It is natural and inevitable for all men. Therefore all men are born with this death already at work in them. This is why no sane parent teaches his/her child to do evil yet the child does evil. This is because sin is already in the child by virtue of the nature of man.

The second death is that where man ceases to operate on earth. The spirit is separated from the body. This death is at work in the world for as long as God allows it to happen. Am saying so because on this death, only God can grant that a man does not go through it. In our reference scripture, Vs 17 teaches that some who are alive will not die this natural death. By the time Christ comes, there will be no time to have all men die before they get into the rapture. Scripture teaches that those who are dead will rise up. The "some" spoken about will be dead but in faith. Then those alive will be caught up with them in the clouds. They will not die. Enoch never tested this death. Elijah also did not test this death. This is God's determination as to whether or not man will experience it.

The third death that is very crucial and that has everlasting effects is the eternal separation from God. This is what comes as a result of sin. Interestingly the power to determine whether man is affected by it or not has been put in man's trust. This death does not occur naturally neither does God determine it for anyone. It is one that self invites. When one sins and refuses to trust in God, he /she condemns himself/herself. If one does not get born again which is the only way to avert this death, then the man shall surely be eternally separated from God. This death is purely allowed or disallowed by self action. On this death, not all will die. Those who have made Christ their Lord and saviour cannot and will not be affected by this. This third death that man determines whether to have or not has repercussions that are eternal.

THEREFORE NOT ALL MEN WILL DIE.
Note;
On the first death, it is already determined and no one has control over it. On the second death, God has full control over it and on the third death, man has full control of whether he/ she will die or live.
Tomorrow we look at the way to escape this third death that we have full responsibility over.

Blessed day and week ahead

31/05/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 6.
2. The doctrine of sin.

Genesis 2:16-17
[16]And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17]But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The impact of sin on humanity is clearly evidenced in scripture in both the Old and the New Testaments. Before we go into that in a deeper sense, may I say here that between the day God created man and the day man sinned was not a day apart. There was a time frame that lapsed between these two events. In Fact even between the day God asked man not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and the day man actually ate it, there was a time period that lapsed. So it was not a today and tomorrow thing. This is evidenced in chapter 2 where Adam had named the animals, he had slept and a rib taken from him to have Eve made then also he had had fellowship in the garden with God in the cool of the day and he was always present. When God came after he had sinned, Adam did not want to respond as usual. He went and hid. This helps us to understand that previously, Adam had fellowship with God and he never hid.

Now that we have known this, allow me to say that during the period between the instruction and the actual occurrence of sin, man had live righteously and had been holy all along. This means that it is possible to live right. Let us not fall to the deception of our age that it is not possible to live right. If you and I can make a decision and choose to lean on God's help, we can be able to live right.

On the note about sin, God spelt it clearly that the day man would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. The word surely here means that it was a settled thing. There is no appeal on the matter and so anyone who is a sinner is dead with respect to God. This matter of death is also confirmed in the new testament in
Romans 6:23
[23]For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore it is a settled matter, sin ends up in death. A sinner ends up in death. To avert death therefore, sin had to be and still must be dealt with otherwise, the end remains the same.

Romans 3:23
[23]For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

This clearly teaches us that all of humanity has sinned and death in awaiting each one of us. The question here then will be,
Shall all men die?
The answer is NO. We shall look at this and break it down on Monday. As of today, the important lesson to pick is that the impact of Sin on humanity is that it introduced death and that this death still remains for anyone who has not known how to escape or one who is not willing to escape.

Have a blessed weekend

30/05/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 5.

2. The doctrine of sin.

Genesis 2:16-17
[16]And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17]But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

For His love for man as a special creation, God made a special habitation for him. God worked by planting a garden East of Eden that would provide for man what He knew man needed. Remember it is God who designed and made man and so He knew what was best for man. He had every intention to fellowship with man on daily basis when he came to the garden in the cool of the day. So He planted several trees in the garden. The tree that everyone asks why God planted in the garden was that for the knowledge of good and evil. As in Did He (God) have to plant it there if He knew it would cause such an effect.

We do not have any Bible explanation for the same but perhaps because sin was already in the world and God already knew it, He had the tree reserved for Himself. It would probably be the fruit He would eat when He came to see Adam.

So He told Adam that He was free to eat fruit from any tree in the garden apart from the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He went ahead to say that the day Adam would eat the fruit of this tree, he would surely die. Am looking at this statement and one thing is clear. God did not saying if. He said when meaning, it was just a matter of time. As God said this, He was not cursing or condemning Adam to failure. God is omniscient and so He already knew what was going to happen.

God therefore already knew man would sin.
Revelation 13:8
[8]And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This is why He offered the lamb before the foundation of the world. So when the time came and man did the unthinkable, this brought a constraint between man and God. Sin entered into man and it has been in the world manifesting itself through people for long. Sin is ideally falling short of the standards of God. All of us have been there. So sin came into the human race from the day Adam determined to disobey. You and I have therefore been born sinners. Sin came into the world and more specifically to humanity when Adam disobeyed. Since then it has been here and we must learn how to conquer it.

Tomorrow we answer the next question, so what is the impact of sin on humanity.

Blessed day to you

29/05/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 4.

1. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Genesis 1:1-2
[1]In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2]And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Each of the persons in the Holy Trinity has His purpose and place of function. This is why they all work in complementation and there is perfect harmony among them. Like we said yesterday, there is perfect agreement among them.

So in the beginning Elohim (plural being of God), created. This means that the three of them participated in the creation story. God the Father co-ordinated and still does so for everything. God the Son does the actual creation. This we can pick from John 1:3 teaches us that the one who was in the beginning who was the word made everything. There is nothing that was made without Him therefore He was the one that did the making.

Then God the Holy Spirit understands our God and picks of what is God's and presents it to man just to help man. In the beginning, His presence was needed for the creation to take place. The Holy Spirit is there to reveal what is contained in the word. 1st Corinthians 2:10-11. He picks of what is in the heart of the Father regarding you then reveals it to you so that when God the Son does it, you are able to recognize and give glory to God. Romans 8:26.
Therefore, each of the persons are distinct, able and willing to work together. You will not hear one grumble against the other. They seamlessly attend to all matters.

Therefore God the Father co-ordinates all happenings. He reveals them to man-kind through God the Holy Spirit and then God the Son steps in to do the actual working.

Nobody can therefore say he/she has received something from only one of the three persons. All the three must have been involved. This is why receiving the Life of God means receiving the Spirit of God by faith through prayer to the son. This teaches us that knowing our place and assignment builds a harmony that brings oneness. Therefore the three are distinct, they are all working. Each focussing on His part and allowing the others do their part produces the divine results.

We must therefore believe in the Holy Trinity just as we have seen.
Tomorrow we look at doctrine number 2.

Blessed Thursday.

29/05/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE Part 3.

1. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Genesis 1:26
[26]And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

We looked at this yesterday and I felt the need to look at it again in a deeper sense. So the God head is in three persons. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. None of the three is superior to the other two. Looking at the above verse, when God the Father spoke to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit regarding making man, He defined the parameters that they were to use.

He said that they were to make man in their image and after their likeness. This helps us to understand that these three persons of the Holy trinity are essentially the same in every aspect. They are three persons but not differ in anyway. What is in God the Father is exactly the same in the Son and the Holy Spirit. When they made man, the man looked exactly like the Holy Spirit. He also looked exactly like God the Father and also God the Son. Sometimes we have trouble understanding this because of the fallen and corrupted nature we operate in but it is true. Our minds cannot comprehend this reality because it wants to understand things from the position of reason.

Because of the likeness and image being the same, they do not struggle to agree on anything. They actually function in congruence all the time. It is from this that God wanted marriage to pick from. That a man shall live his father and mother and shall Cling to his wife and the two shall be one. One here means agreeing on anything and everything. One in purpose and done in mind. This is what is expected to happen to a couple who choose to live and cling to.

From the couple, although we see a man walking on his two feet and his wife also functioning on her own, the agreement between the two makes them one. This is to the extent that if you went to either of them to ask for anything, the answer you expect either to give will be the same even if they are not together at that time. Two distinct persons but one in heart, mind, reason and purpose. This is the exact mathematical representation with the Godhead. Three persons yet one all the time. They cannot be separated and you cannot pledge allegiance to one or two and reject the other.

To be able to pick any other Biblical doctrine, this first one must be received, understood and upheld. So we do not have three Gods. We have one God in three persons. One cannot function without the input of the others. If anything, all the workings are effected by all the three.

Thanks.
Back to basics

27/05/2024

HOPE FOR TODAY.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE. Part 2.

1. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Genesis 1:1-2
[1]In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2]And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

As we said yesterday, a doctrine is a truth passed down from a superior kingdom to a less superior one to guide the living of the citizens. Therefore the first truth which stands as a doctrine that we encounter in scripture is the triune God. He is one God in three persons usually referred to as the God head. The first time we encounter this is in the first verse of the Bible. The Hebrew name transliterated to God is the word Elohim which talks of the plural God. Actually in Jewish communication, this word Elohim means Gods. The next thing we want to validate is, is the number of Gods unlimited in scripture?

In verse 2 we encounter God the Holy Spirit singled out. This means that we have now identified God the Spirit as one of the persons in the plural expression of God in verse 1.

John 1:1,14
[1]In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[14]And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

From these scriptures, we see that there is the Word that was in the beginning (in Genesis which means beginnings) which was with God and was actually God. This word became flesh and dwelt among us. Further we realize that this word that became flesh is identified as the only begotten of the Father. We know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father. John 1:18, 3:16 and 18 1st John 4:9, 5:1 qualify Christ as the begotten of the Father. You will note that the Word here appears in capital letters meaning it is not a mere combination of sounds that we are talking about. So we encounter God the Word who is later introduced as Jesus Christ or God the Son or the Son of God.

In the same scripture, there existed no other person at the beginning. It was only the God head. If God the Son was begotten of the Father, then there was God the Father existing also. Going through the entire scripture, there is no other person introduced as part of the God head. Therefore we are not left to have an unlimited number of Gods. We only have the three and this is the first truth we embrace as Christians and people of the kingdom of God. So when the Father said "Let us make man in our Image and likeness," He was talking to the other two person in the Holy Trinity.

Entertaining any other idea or having any god apart from the Triune God amounts to something else. Scriptures call it Idolatry. Therefore to be a believer in the Bible, this is the very first truth that is given to us and we must receive it, otherwise, we fall away from God. Anyone teaching Bible truth must therefore teach this. Any omission leads to a strange message that is not the message of the Bible. Be on the watch.

Blessed day.

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