Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

When I thought about writing a blog, my hope was to organize my brain and leave something for my girls to refer back to if they need help when I am gone.  After more planning, I realized it might be an opportunity to encourage fellow believers and point people to the only source of truth, the Bible.  Written by God, perfect, complete, and without error.  Since we will hopefully be spending some time together each week, I thought I would share the gospel.  I have nothing useful to say on my own.  It is foundational for everything I say.  There is no other truth.

What is the Gospel?

God created us and we are accountable to Him.  Genesis 1:1 (LSB) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” John 1:3 (LSB) “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”  God is holy and we have all sinned against Him.  Romans 3:23 (LSB) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”.  He is also just and demands a sacrifice for our sin! Because of His great love for us (Eph 2:4 LSB), He sent Jesus, His Son, to die on a cross in order to pay for the punishment that we deserve.  Jesus rose from the dead and is alive in heaven, waiting until the right time to return again.  Ephesians 2:8-9 (LSB) “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not of works, so that no one may boast.”  The offer is simple.  Repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus. Trust in His sacrifice for you and depend on Him for your salvation from eternal punishment in hell.  

Result of Salvation

When we are saved, He gives us a new heart.  He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness.  Now we live for Him, desire what He desires, and obey His commands.  We start with the Gospel but now that we are saved, we can’t stay there.  We don’t want to be hearers only, but doers also.  He reveals a new plan for us that is absolutely amazing and that is where my blog comes in.  My desire is to share encouragement in the “doing” of the Word.  I want to sharpen and spur on.  I love the body of Christ.  Ephesians is full of wisdom to this end.  Eph. 2:10 (LSB) “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” He does not leave us to our own devices, He gave us a book to teach us and His Holy Spirit to conform us to His image, and placed us in a body of fellow believers.  Eph. 4:11-16 (LSB) “And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors, and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”  To condense this set of verses, we see that our salvation resulted in a new purpose.  Equipping the saints for the work of service so that we all grow together into mature believers; firm in our faith, becoming like Christ.  Each of us are needed for the building up to happen.  God does not save us to sit around waiting for Him to come back.  He saves us with purpose and direction.  We grow together and become more like Christ because of our obedience.  

I tease my sister by telling her she is “the tear duct of the body of Christ’.  Even though it is meant to be a joke, the truth remains that we each have a role to play in the body.  Each part vital and required.  We are not all ears, but we all have our job and gifts from the Spirit.  My sister is so kind and can sympathize with those who are hurting.  She has the gift of mercy and knows how to weep with those who weep.  God uses us to minister to each other and it is so beautiful to see it lived out in real people, real circumstances, real troubles. My prayer is for this to be a time of serving my fellow sisters in Christ, while leaving a resource for my girls as they grow up.  May God be glorified.