Getting ready for Jesus starts with faith

Jesus is coming! Be ready!


It's easy to enough for me to sit here and say that - but, how, exactly, are we supposed to get ready? Well, the first thing needed is faith - rock solid, living, saving faith. Do you have that kind of faith? How do you get that kind of faith?

Well, remember that faith comes from hearing and believing the Gospel:

Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 

We don't do it - it is something God does IN us:


Ephesians 2:8  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

But, what IS the Gospel? It is spelled out most clearly here:

1 Corinthians 15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

This is the Gospel that saves us. If you believe this, you are saved. You are IN Christ Jesus. This is what saves you, simply believing that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. That's it! Please note what's not in there - nothing about angels, the age of the earth, what Christians can and cannot do, and on and on. In other words, there are plenty of things people can be confused about and still be saved.

Yet, there are things that are absolutely essential. Jesus could not have died for our sins if He wasn't God (and not "a" God, but truly GOD). He didn't just die, but died for our sins. He couldn't have DIED if He wasn't human. Those are all absolutely non-negotiable. Another absolute is that Christ was raised from the dead. To deny any of those is to deny true Christianity. What makes a cult a cult is that they call themselves Christian, yet deny some part of this gospel.


Understanding this Gospel is so important, that I actually wrote four Bible studies on it:

The Gospel, Part 1:  What is the Gospel? The three ways the Gospel saves us. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.

The Gospel, Part 2: Christ DIED. Jesus is fully man.

The Gospel, Part 3: Christ died FOR OUR SINS. Jesus is fully God.

The Gospel, Part 4: Jesus was buried and rose again. When we are resurrected, we will be like Him!


So, that's enough homework for one day, huh? See you tomorrow!

As always, I'd love to hear from you. You don't have to agree with me! If not here, then e-mail me!