Believe It or Not

“So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
(Galatians 3:9)

What actually saves us? The first step to true salvation, is understanding what true salvation is.
In Galatians 3 Paul gives us an accurate explanation of what truly saves. He uses Abraham as his example.

Back in Genesis 15, God informs Abram that He was going to make a great nation out of him. He took Abram outside & said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them’ And He said to him, ‘so shall your descendants be."
The next verse is the key, “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” God “reckoned” him or believed him to be righteous or justified before God. In other words, he was okay with God…God gave him a stamp of approval. But why does it say that God called him righteous? It says, because he “believed in the LORD.” His belief in what God told him was what saved him. Hebrews 11:1-2 says “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval”. Paul tells us that God saves us the same way.

In Galatians 3:8 it says, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." God knew that this promise to Abram would be the way that Gentiles & Jews, would be saved. God made a promise to all of us, just as He did to Abram, & like Abram…we are found righteous when we believe.

Wait! That’s too simple…that’s dangerously too simple…what if people think that all they have to do to be saved is…believe? Well, true salvation will make you free…free from the law & if someone teaches anything other than salvation through faith alone…they are not teaching true salvation. But with that said, I guess Calvin said it best, “Faith alone saves…but saving faith is never alone”. This is what James was speaking of when he said, “Faith without works is dead”. Now isn’t that in conflict with what Paul is talking about here? Not at all, Paul is speaking about the root of salvation…James is speaking about the fruit of salvation. Paul is speaking on how to be saved…James is speaking on the evidence of true salvation.

When a person truly believes that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, realizing that they are sinners & repent, turning to God for salvation is the only way to be saved…then that person is indwelled with the Holy Spirit & that person’s life will be changed. If there is no evidence of salvation…there is no salvation. We worry so much about whether someone truly accepted Christ, so much so that we try to put restrictions on them accepting Christ in the first place. We sometimes turn it into a works process; you have to do these certain things to be saved. But we need to remember that to truly be saved we need to purely believe, believe the promise that God gave us in His Son Jesus Christ, that He is our only hope & salvation, there is no other way.

I use to love this show called “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” They would show all kinds of bizarre things & most were very hard to believe…at the end of each clip & Jack Palance was the best at this, in his tough, raspy voice, he would look into the camera & say “Believe it or not”. God made us a promise…one that seems a little bizzare…one that seems too good to be true…one that is very hard to believe…that He would give His one & only Son to pay the debt for those who contually turn from Him & mock His name…for those He knows will outright reject His more than generouse offer. But still He holds out His gift to you & me & says…“Believe it or not”.


Vern

Street Reach

“Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.”
(Isaiah 58:12-Street Reach mission verse)

Last week I was able to return to Tennessee with our church youth group for our annual mission trip. We work with a small church in the middle of some of the worst streets in Memphis. This church, Brinkley Heights, has been one that started with a church building that was, for the most part falling in. The small congregation some of whom were homeless themselves, wanted nothing more than to reach out to their community by feeding & clothing those in need...but they didn’t have any money themselves…how would they help? They did have one thing…their strong, childlike faith in God. This church had crack houses around it that have now been shut down & they were able to purchase them, repair them & use them to serve the community with the love of God.

Our youth have been serving with this ministry for the last four years; I have been with them for the last three. The first year that I went with them, the thing that stuck in my mind the most was that when they decided to build a new church building, they didn’t build a church…they built a community center…& as strange as it sounds…they built it for the surrounding community to use daily. When you walk up to this modest building, you don’t see a gaudy, overpriced facility, with stained glass & a huge sanctuary with a “family life center” & gym…no, you see, as I said before, a small community center. Inside there is a gym, nothing fancy, but the people in the community love to be there & it doubles as there sanctuary. Down the halls they have a few classrooms where they have a few classes, mostly elementary if I’m right. Everything they do is to show the love of God & to serve & better educate their community.

Last year they started on a new school on their lot that will run from kindergarten through 12th grade. When we were there last year the “Carpenters for Christ” crew was there building it. They are waiting on financing now so that they can finish it. Another cool thing is that they aren’t going into debt to pay for this stuff, they wait until they have the money & then they build…weird concept huh?

The program that they us to reach the community & children, is called “Street Reach”, during the mornings our youth would work sites where they conducted Backyard Bible clubs & in the evening they would either visit a nursing home, clean up streets, cut grass or go to a local community center & play with the children…some even helped with a block party for another church. It was really cool how all those churches in that area worked together to reach Memphis.

During some of the backyard Bible clubs there were many children saved, by hearing & accepting the gospel that was brought to them by some of our very own youth. Something else I enjoyed was seeing how much love the youth showed those children. The majority of these kids…sorry Mrs. Villia…I meant children, Mrs. Villia was a black lady from the nursing home that while I was speaking with her quickly corrected me when I asked her if she have any “kids”…she looked dead at me through her 80 plus year old eyes & said, “No…but I do have several children…I ain’t no goat.” So let me rephrase that before I get in trouble…the majority of those children, come from homes where love is by no means readily shown, if at all. But when they received it from the youth, they soaked it up like a “Sham wow”…they just couldn’t get enough. Our whole trip was basically built on showing the children & the community, true unconditional love. We wanted the people of that community to associate love with the name of Jesus. Those children at least on our site, looked daily across the street at closed businesses & a liquor store, which seemed to be the hub of that area. There were all kinds of adults sitting around all day long most drunk, yelling across the street to each other, drug deals here & there, people bumming a few bucks for more alcohol.
This little park area in front of this run down trailer park, smack dab in the middle of a run down neighborhood, that seemed as though the hope had been just sucked out of it… this small park…will be a place where Jesus will be throughout the summer, showing true Agape, unconditional love. The children can look around them & see what the world has to offer, then look at the “Street Reach” team & see the love & hope that only Jesus can provide.

I walked over one morning to where some of the men sat everyday under & drank in the shade of a large oak tree. I sat down on one of their milk crates before they arrived, kicked some of the beer cans & liquor bottles out of my way & just imagined what they were feeling & think while looking out into that community…my heart sank. It was depressing, hopeless & it seemed there was no way out. But then I heard a child's laughter, I turned & watched as the children of Leahy’s Trailer Park arrived with smiles on there faces, looking for another big dose of the love of Jesus & I saw hope, I saw a way out…through the hearts & minds of those children…not “kids”, but children. This is the vision of “Street Reach” & a little church called Brinkley Heights…keep them in your prayers.

Vern