Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
We’re often told a person will be saved if they pray the sinners prayer. But that’s not true. Reciting a short prayer won’t save anybody. We’re often told if we raise our hands to receive Jesus we’ll be saved. But that’s not true either. And a lot of people have been misled into thinking they’ve done what it takes. The problem is that reciting a prayer or raising my hand can be done without really understanding what God requires of me. When I pray, I may not understand what I’m saying because words mean different things to different people. I can tell God I’m a sinner without knowing what a sinner is. Or tell Him I repent without a clue of what I just said I would do. And this type of shallow, uninformed invitation to follow Christ may be one reason so many people who say they’re Christians don’t act like it. Some hearts don’t seem to have changed. A person can become religious, but not more loving, self-controlled, forgiving, honest or pure than they were before. The only difference is, now they assume they’ll go to heaven.
Something is wrong with this picture. Something must be missing. As we look back at the early church we see people who became amazingly different. When they got saved their hearts changed. They lived lives that were a great witness. They were respected and admired, even by people who didn’t agree with them. Not that they became perfect, but they did become much more Christ–like. I believe a large part of the reason that their lives changed so dramatically was because they understood the cost of following Jesus before they were saved, and I believe water baptism played a big part in this. When they were baptized there was no mistaking what they were saying to God.
70 - Walk With Me
69 - Paul's Offering
68 - Dangerous Times
67 - Distracted
66 - The Real World
65 - Ministering God's Power
64 - Teaching the Word
63 - Seeking God's Face
62 - Overcoming Fear
61 - Releasing Ministry
60 - Alone and Afraid
59 - Athens and Jerusalem
58 - Lifelong Learners
57 - Leading Someone To Christ
56 - Resourcing Others
55 - The Philippian Church
54 - Preparing for an Earthquake
53 - Lydia’s Heart
52 - Walking By Faith
51 - God-Given People
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