Q: [My mentor] hates how I am so insecure and doesn't like reasurring me of her friendship,and etc. I truly do want to change and am sick of struggling with this same issue over and over again,but cannot seem to get over it. Its a real problem for me and I just want to be free from how I am, and delivered from it. I'm just not sure how and if I can be, you know? Will you all keep me in prayer?
A: Most insecurity stems from believing that we are not doing what it is we think is necessary to maintain a relationship. I am not certain what you believe your "mentor" requires of you or you require of them to keep the relationship going. I can only give you advice based on our relationship with the Lord. Our relationship is secure with Him because of His faithfulness not to leave us or foresake us despite our unfaithfulness. Our relationships with others are only various forms of conditional love. If we are getting along with others it is because we have found ways in which to not violate one another. Husbands and wives often mistake their ability to coexist in a marriage as unconditionally loving each other. When in fact, they just haven't violated those laws that would sever their relationship. Perhaps, you can apply that to your situation and discover why you are living in the fear you are living under. After all, anxiety is just a form of fear. Fear of loss. Fear of punishment. Fear of not being accepted. And so on. I know my comments are very general, but I hope they help.
Q: Does a person have to ask in order to receive salvation? I know someone who is a very good Christian but feels uncomfortable asking for anything that personal.
A: No, not necessarily. At the risk of getting lost in the semantics of it all, salvation is a free gift that we receive. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 When we accept the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have received the very life of God restored to us. And in that life whe have an eternal inheritance. Part of that inheritance is forgiveness of sins, sanctification, justification, holiness and much more. We, therefore, spend the rest of our natural lives discovering what it is we already have in Christ. As for your friend, if they have not "asked" for or "received" salvation, they are not a Christian.
Q: What did Jesus mean when he said this in Luke 13: "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able"?
A: Jesus is the door. He is simply stating that He is the only way to the Father in Heaven. Many people will try, have tried, to enter Heaven based on their own efforts or by believing in false religions and leaders. But, Jesus is the "way, the truth, and the life" as He says in John 14:6. The main thing to realize is that the reason Jesus is the only way to the Father is because He is the only person who had a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. When Adam sinned in the Garden, God removed His life from Adam, and he died spiritually. Before God could restore His life to mankind He had to take away the sin that caused His life to be removed. Jesus, being God in the flesh, is the only man born spiritually alive. Therefore, He was the only man who had a life to give, for all mankind, that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. Now, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God can offer His life, as a free gift, to all who believe. And because of the Jesus' death on the cross there is now no sin that can cause that life to leave. That is why it is called an eternal life. A life that will carry you through this life and on into eternity, even after you physically die.
Q: During a small group bible study, I was surprised to hear how many ladies in my group had been baptised several times. Maybe once in a catholic church as a baby, then maybe again when they married in their husband's church and, then again at the church we are currently attending. Another lady stated that she was baptised a second time after a divorce. I understand wanting to make a new start with Christ, wanting to be clean of the past and the power of being the new creation He intented after a hard time...but, something about this didn't seem right. Another said she really didn't "get it" when she was baptised the first time so she wanted to do it again. I was in my teens when I was baptised. I believed but wasn't ready to walk in His ways. Now that I try to do His will, I feel alive and in tune with the spirit and no need to be baptised again...
A: "one Lord, one faith, one baptism.." Ephesians 4:5
There is only one baptism that matters. That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit into the family of God at the time of salvation. It is the life of God, lost in Adam, restored to every believer. Water baptism is just a symbolic representation of this one time act. It is not required once, much less multiple times. Water baptism was originally started by the Jews when a Gentile was converted to Judaism. It was carried over into the early church do the misunderstanding by the first Christians, most of whom were Jewish converts, who believed an individual first had to become a Jew before they could be saved. And the practice has stood the test of time since the first century. Most likely, the multiple baptisms you are explaining are individuals who, one, don't have a full understanding of what salvation is. And, two, they are just following the prescribed formula in which to gain membership into a particular denomination. There is nothing wrong with being water baptised. It can be a great experience for those involved. But regardless of how many times one is baptised, the water only represents the identification we have already received through faith in Christ. If that doesn't help, ask yourself one question. There is the baptism of John and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Which one would you like?
Q: What ingredients of [the Church] are absolutely necessary, and what aspects of it are 'just because they can be there'.
A: The Church is an organism not an organization. It is made up of individual born again believers all over the world. That is why Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father." John 14:12 Jesus does "greater works" now because He indwells believers all over the world. Through us, He is able to reach more people than He could when He walked the earth prior to His death, burial and resurrection. The Church is not were we congregate. The Church is who we are, the Body of Christ.
I have noticed that the Gospel presentation of some believers is simply inviting people to Church. In the spirit of the Great Commission, the Church, the Body of Christ, is to go to the people. It is great to have unbelievers enter into a fellowship, but the true reason for fellowship is to equip believers for the work of ministry. In many ways, it is not for unbelievers. I, for one, don't want to hear a Gospel message every week. Nobody grows in that environment. If a believer meets a non-believer out in the world, and the opportunity should present itself, that is when you share the Gospel message with them. Personally, many fellowships have grown to enormous sizes in regards to numbers, but I question how many within those fellowships are growing in their maturity. Too many people become dependent on, and put their faith in, the organization rather than in Christ. That is not a recipe for healthy fellowship or evangelism.
Q: What is the Baptism by the Holy Spirit? Do we need to have it? If yes, Why? What are the advantages of this kind of Baptism? In what way will it make us better Christians. If we're unable to get it, will lack of it make us lousy or inadequate Christians?
A: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the restoration of the life of God to all who accept Christ by faith. Yes, you need to have it. If you don't have it, you are not saved, are not a Christian and do not have the right to call yourself a child of God. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is having the life of God indwelling you. It is why Christians are called the Body of Christ. The spirit of God, made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, now indwells every Christian. It is how God lives His life in and through us. The only way not to get it is not to accept Christ as your Savior. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "you must be born again." All of us are born once physically. We are born again, spiritually, when the life of God indwells us at the time of our salvation. What is birth? It is life. That is why you must be born again. You need the life of God, lost in Adam, restored to you, in Christ.
Ephesians 4:5 says there is only "one Lord, one faith, one baptism.." That "one" baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the only baptism that saves. The entire Gospel rests on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
When Adam was created in the Garden of Eden, God breath His life into Adam and he became a living being (Genesis 2:7). God warned Adam that on the day he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). Adam disobeyed God and ate from the tree, thus he died spiritually. The life of God that was breathed into Him was removed. Adam was dead spiritually, but alive physically. All of mankind is born into this world spiritually dead to God, without His life indwelling them, in the image of Adam (not God). God, desiring to once again indwell His creation had to first deal with the sin that caused that life to leave mankind. Since no man had a life worthy enough to satisfy God, God sent His Son, Jesus, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Adam was the only man created alive spiritually. Jesus was the only man born alive spiritually. That is why Jesus was the only one capable of taking the penalty for our sins. Through His death on the cross, it was now possbile for God to offer His life again, as a free gift, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to all who accept it by faith.
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are, as Paul said, "still in our sins" and to be "pitied more than all men." The reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that He rose from the dead so He could live His life in and through you. Amen!
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