“He that puts his faith or trust in me and is submerged in water as a profession of their faith shall be saved from sickness and death. He that disobeys shall be judged and condemned!” Comment: I substituted faith and trust for belief because it is the same Greek word. Belief is a verb and requires a response or action! Baptism is an act of obedience based upon your faith in Christ! So the old proverbial question is does baptism by itself save you or is it Christ alone who saves you or it is both? Jesus was baptized yet the thief on the Cross who was saved was not baptized? Baptism is an identification with Christ! In the early church baptism was a public identification with Christ! Baptism was not done in a church building but along a stream, river, lake or sea shore for unbelievers to see! Today we could live behind the four walls of a church and unbelievers would never know you were saved! This is where much of the American church is today! To publicly profess Christ outside a church is foreign to much of the church today? If the unbelieving world does not know you are a Christian God probably does not know either? When you enter the cultural war with gays, lesbians, Muslims and abortionist you are a target! Worship has to be more than the Sunday only crowd! Your Pastor cannot save you! You want me to serve Jesus seven days a week, 24-7? I do not have time? Remember that old hymn, “Take Time to be Holy.” The word time means to honor! If you do not worship God in this life then where? Get some Gospel tracts and start there! Distribute them wherever you go! Give them to store clerks at Walmart, McDonald’s, Best Buy, Sears, Burger King, Waffle House, Post office, Government Federal State and County offices or wherever you go! Jesus does not have a denominational name stamped on His forehead! Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved! In the previous verse 15 Jesus said, “Go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to all the world.” The Greek word used for preach means to publically proclaim the Gospel! Although they do that professional ministers was not who Jesus was talking to! Jesus was talking to me and you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: tracts
Sticks and Stones ! Mark 16:14
The year was 1986. We were living in Yercaud India in our second year of mission work in India. It was a challenge living on this mountain top in South India. Electricity was only on for about 2 hours per day! Scorpions, rats and snakes lived with us in our house! However it was a beautiful place with coffee estates and tropical fruit everywhere! It was truly a village with no gas station and animals roaming the streets. Our house was located on Lady’s Seat Road next to a convent. The slums were all around us with people living in huts with manure dried floors and grass roofs. There are good slums and bad slums so the locals warned us not to go to one particular slum and if you did you may not come out! There was plenty of other work there so we stayed away. One day we took the long way around the village back to our house from the village shops. I do not even remember why? The road went along side this forbidden slum but I thought we were safe in our vehicle. Well a dog ran out in front of our vehicle and got one of his feet under a tire. A mob of people surrounded our car from this village. They picked up rocks and brought bamboo poles from their huts. They swarmed over our vehicle like ants so thick we could not see out any window glass! They were screaming they need to kill us because I drove over their dog and next it will be our children! We offered to pay for the dog and his injury but did not help! Even our daughter Sandra who was 4 years old then says she was so scared because the car was so dark inside with people covering the window glass! In the midst of all this chaos a man comes walking down the road and stops next to our vehicle. This man looked like an escaped criminal with knife scars on his face and arms. I thought it was surely over for us now! My wife Hamsa translated for me what he was telling the mob. In Tamil he told the crowd the following! He said, “You bunch of dogs! This man has a feeding program in your village and is feeding your children everyday! They have rented a building for a day care center and medical clinic! So is this how you return thanks to him? He did not have to come all the way from America to feed you dogs! If any of you touch this man or harm him me and my gang members will take care of you! The mob melted away back into their huts. As I was driving back to our house just over the hill drops of sweat were still dripping off my forehead! Then the most beautiful thought came to me! Now I have a free pass to go into this slum! So the next day at the crack of dawn I entered into this slum with pockets full of candy for the children and Gospel tracts for the adults! So the stones were rolled away and life entered death! I gained a lot of important lessons with my years in India. One important lesson is that you cannot really change a culture! If you do it is like trying to stop a tidal wave with your hands! Our Pastor Brady Boyd in his Sunday message at New Life Church here in Colorado Springs made a very important point! He said, ” Christianity historically is strongest when giving, loving and serving those who live in the margins of the culture!” Why the political and cultural battles rage sow seeds of love to the disenfranchised of our community! The widows, orphans, single moms and homeless! Roll that stone away and bring life to the hopeless! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com