WMU Celebration and Salvation!

The NC WMU 125th anniversary celebration is Sunday, January 30th at 3pm. EVERYONE is invited. It is going to be so much fun! We have a silent auction planned and SNACKS! No weight watcher point counting that day for me! ha It is at the Pine Level Missionary Baptist Church. Let me know if you'd like to go so we can plan food.


Tim talked Wed night in his message about salvation. Specifically "Can a saved person be lost?" Can you lose your salvation once you have it? I know the answer is absolutely NOT...if you are truly saved then you can never ever lose it! (Re: John 10:28, John 3:16, Rom 1-2, the list goes on...)


But I admit...I have pondered that a lot in life. What defines being "saved"? You see, I walked down the alter aisle as a child in a church that was never actually mine during a revival of sorts with many other folks and over the years because of my dysfunctional childhood have blocked nearly every single memory out until I was in High School. As I have grown older I always wandered...was I really saved at that time? I have no recollection of the event...only what others tell me. So was it real? As I got older and more aware of the importance of FOREVER...I decided I needed to be concerned. And honestly now...many Bible Studies later...I don't think I was truly saved that day as a child. I was a good person for the most part, and did many good works but they were only good works and nothing more because they were done with faith in me instead of Jesus. In my name and glory instead of in Jesus' name and glory given to Him.


Truly, I did not get it...until Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby the Spring or Summer of 2003 at WMBC. You see....I had never experienced God and become new. I had the same old heart I always had...but I had walked down an aisle and repeated a prayer. I went through the outward motions but never experienced the inward cleansing. Personally, I think there has to be a heart change when you accept Jesus as Lord over your life. And I never experienced that until later in life. But for some many years, I would have called myself a Christian because I believed God existed and I was not a murderer. In my worldly way of thinking...that is all you needed to make you a Christian...to believe in God and not kill anyone. But James 1:27 says "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." I never truly understood that the "believing"in John 3:16 was in Jesus, God's only Son who came to earth and walked and lived and died on the cross for my sins, and on the third day arose in victory and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father! I don't think everyone realizes the significance of the difference in believing in God and believing in Jesus! The Pharisees and Sadducees believed in God, but not Jesus. And if I lived thinking this while attending church and trying to "be good"...how many others sitting in church pews across the world think the same thing? It makes my heart hurt to think about it.


Wed night Tim challenged us to decide if we had ANY DOUBT of our salvation...and through the grace of God currently I do not, Praise Jesus!


I extend his challenge to you...if you have ANY DOUBT. Read your Bible, Pray, Seek Counsel from your Pastoral Staff...remove all doubt...that is what satan thrives on...doubt! If he can make you doubt...he can keep you from experiencing the change of heart! He did this to me for many years...and he tries to do it now...DAILY...but I constantly rebuke him in the name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior who redeemed me!


DISCLOSURE: And of course I need to clarify...I am not a theologian. I am not schooled or certified or anything professional (in case that is not obvious!). So everything in this post (and every other post as a matter of fact) is my personal belief and opinion and experience and does not represent the beliefs or opinions or experiences of WMBC and especially not the staff! This blog is created for Women's Ministry at WMBC but to make it real for you two reading it I try to include personal examples from my own screwed up life as illustrations for you to laugh at, cry with, or shake your head at. Because women need other women...plain and simple. And we need to know that other women are not perfect either so we can stop beating ourselves up for not being like them...but that is another day's post.


So don't go telling Billie and Tim that I am completely crazy and misrepresenting the church's good name...I am certain they already know that I am crazy and with that disclosure I am not mirepresenting! haha


In Him,
Kristy =)