Saved, Lost, Not Sure?
Pastor Jerry Wilhite,
author
The following is an overview of growth in God starting from a call from the Lord to us personally to be saved all the way to the end of our life here on earth. It is best to read all of the following even if you are 100% sure about your salvation. Start with the first section, "Lost", because there are elements in all areas that will come together and if you have not read it all it may not make sense.
Lost (not saved, do not know Jesus)
Lost does not mean you are lost in the world; it means spiritually you are lost to God.
Being saved (salvation) and born again are not one in the same in all ways. "Salvation" or being saved is the first step. "Born again" is part of that but requires more than just being saved.
John 14
6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Lost - Salvation
Salvation is when we hear the voice of God call us to a personal relationship with Him through His Son Jesus. We either ignore the call or accept it. So many confuse the call from God to be saved as a call to be part of a ministry (usually to be a pastor). This is why so many churches fail because the person was never called to pastor but to have a personal relationship one on one with God.
When some accept they get an overnight change. Most do not notice a big change; at first it is much slower. Those who usually get the over night change started the furthest away from the Lord. Those who do not change immediately did not need as big of a change outwardly as they did inwardly. Consider someone doing drugs, a Hell’s angel type. They will show the change more at first because if they are delivered from drugs all at once, as some are, you notice their change much faster. It is not about just being delivered from addictions as much as it is about an inward change.
Salvation is the event, born again is part of the process we go through. Imagine it like this you are in the womb and when it is time to be born you enter the birth canal this is the start of your birth. Salvation is the same way when you are saved you are in the first part of the birth canal and as you travel through it to the end the actual birth you being delivered and then born again. Some take minutes, others days, and some much longer. Why some take longer is because they are struggling with their birth like the baby in the womb that does not want to leave the familiar environment. They feel and hear the changes and fight them.
When we are saved we are of Jesus. Salvation is of Jesus due to the blood He shed at the cross, not our being dunked in water. We are saved from death and Hell, eternal torment. We are saved for this life and the next, to live life eternally with God on the new earth.
Does Salvation mean I can not have Fun any more? What do I lose due to Salvation?
Most people are confused about salvation. They see others who live a very strict and rigid life and think that is what will happen to them. That is not necessarily true. Jesus was perfect and He did not sin, but He laughed, He drank wine, and He enjoyed life. What you lose, in time, are addictions, the desire to hurt others, normally foul language will go away, and in general your desire for unhealthy activities will diminish and eventually disappear. In time you lose the things that you do not really need, that either hurt you, or will kill you such as promiscuity, drug addiction, alcoholism, etc.
What do I gain from being Saved?
In addition to eternal life and being saved from death and Hell you gain faith, peace, joy, and even contentment while still striving for a better life. You gain insight and knowledge and realize all you gave up was that which was killing or hurting you.
Born Again
Being born again is of the spirit not of the flesh, but for those who do not stop the birth of the spirit and allow it are truly saved. Those who do not allow it are never truly saved.
John 3
3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Accept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Accept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Many do not believe one has to be born again, but Jesus said it so it is true. Plus the only way for anyone to be truly saved is to be of God, and God is a Spirit. You can not even worship God unless you are of the Spirit.
John 4
Over the centuries those ones who did not agree with a religion's doctrine left and formed their own. That is how we have so many denominations, and non-denominations now. Many of those who disagreed left to seek the truth but never got it for one reason only. They never learned to look in the spirit; they always looked only in the physical. The Bible is written with two sides to it a physical one (us) and a spiritual (God and then us after we are born again). True understanding only comes from the Spirit not the flesh.
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
When we are born again of the Spirit we start growing in the Spirit. We actually talk to and hear from God on a regular basis and in time constantly. Many believe we can hear from God but do not realize that each time we hear it has to be verified to avoid being manipulated by Satan. This is done by asking "Did Jesus come in the flesh" and all who answer "no" are of Satan (I John 4:103). No one alive is strong enough in the kingdom to know for sure whether they are hearing from God or Satan without verifying it first. Remember Satan can imitate light and will do what ever he can to deceive us.
Church
Remember I said there are two sides to the word, a physical and a spiritual side. The church is the same way. The church of this world is not the true church of the Lord. Two areas of scripture (due to the Latin Vulgate) have confused people and mislead them.
Matthew 16
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The word for "Peter" in the Greek (original language of the New Testament) was "Petros" which means a "piece of the rock". The proper name for Petros is Peter, but Jesus did not use the proper name here for two reasons. One is when you read the verse with "piece of the rock" instead of "Peter" it makes sense because that is what He said. The second is because Jesus did not name Simon Barjona as Peter here. If He had, then in verse 16 Simon Barjona would not have been called Peter.
Matthew 16
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art a piece of the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The Catholic Church needed proof to validate the Pope as the head of the church, so instead of using what Jesus said they changed it in the Latin Vulgate to Peter.
What makes one a piece of the rock or church is what Jesus said in verse 17.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Peter did not know Jesus was the Christ because of anyone here (flesh and blood) but because God (Spirit) revealed it to him. So when a person hears from God and God tells them who Jesus is as the son of God and the Christ then they are a piece of the rock (church). It is not by attending a physical church in a building with a steeple and pews because they are the church.
Matthew 16
15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art piece of the rock (Peter), and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
What you have read so far is the spiritual side of the church. The physical side is when we come together in the flesh as the members of the true church. If you read Revelation Chapters 1-3 you will find that out of the seven churches only one is correct; the others are not. Also notice there are seven continents on the earth. Only six have people living permanently on them and one does not. So physically the church is not right with God; those of the Spirit (who understand to test the spirits) are of the true church.
What you need to be of the church:
All three are done through the spirit. Read John 14:26 and I John 2:20-27.
Christ
Christ is a form of "Christos", a Greek word for "anointing, Anointed One" and "Messiah". Christ is the Spirit of God in a person, on a person, and all the way through a person. Like a sponge when it is saturated with water is anointed in water, when we are of Christ we are anointed (saturated) with the Spirit of God.
Luke 4
18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Jesus is the Christ. So if you are of Christ or a Christian you are of the Spirit of God, in you, on you and all the way through you. You are then living a life sin free, oh yes sin free. Read in the New Testament how many times Jesus healed someone and then told him or her to go and sin no more. This was before grace and salvation. He never would have told them to do something if it were not possible, so how much easier should it be for us who are of grace than for those who were pre-grace?
Many believe once you are saved you are of the church and of Christ, but that is just not so. Each requires growth and hearing from God.
Growth - Faith
Growth does not come just by prayer, attending church, and reading the Bible. It comes mostly from hearing from God. Just as faith comes by hearing, so does growth. It is growth of God not of a man.
Romans 10
17. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by Jesus, of God.
John 1
14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus said the only way we could be taught was by hearing from the Holy Spirit:
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The Holy Ghost (Spirit) shall teach us all things, not just those of God, all things, everywhere.
=the US is going down hill so fast is because God is being removed from every element of the US.
First it was prayer and Bible study from the schools, then any reference to God from public places, and then an assault on all that is of Christ. And of course more and more pastors and reverends are into politics of the US and dealing in politics.
What I remember when Jesus was asked about the government of the time He walked the earth was "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's".
As more and more grow up in the US without any contact with God or Christ the further and further the US gets from God.
Since the separation of Church and State started in the early 60's the US has had deficits in it's government budget to the point of debt. And that debt has grown and grown, to the point now it would take more than $20,000 per every breathing person in the US to pay it off. That means if you are a family of 4 your part of the debt is $80,000.
Faith is believing without doubt.
Hebrews 11
1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is now, not later, and it is the solid element of whatever expected (word hope in the Bible is to expect) and the proof of what is not yet seen.
Hebrews 11
6. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
It is impossible to please God without faith. Many teach faith ended in the first century. Some sites teach this and even list this ministry there on their black list for teaching faith.
But without faith we can not please God or even be saved:
Ephesians 2
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
We have to have faith, but also we have to have faith in God.
Mark 11
22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Satan knows full well that if we have faith, true faith, we will never fall to him, so he had to cut us off from faith.
Romans 12
3. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Satan uses people who try faith once and if they don’t see it work within a day, week, or however long they expect they do not question themselves or their faith. They just state that faith does not work. Faith requires time and patience and it never fails; we do.
James 1
3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Growth – Failures
The failure of some people’s to grow is due to many different things:
Lack of Knowledge
Hosea 4
6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Revelation 1
6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Knowledge only comes from one source:
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The Holy Ghost (Spirit) shall teach us all things, not just those of God, but all things anywhere.
Spiritual Lack
Again Satan knows that if we learn about the Spirit and the truth he is already conquered by us. So, as with faith, people try it and nothing happens immediately. They then give up and the claim the spirit stopped working in the first century church.
We are not taught to listen to God. Most denominations do not teach how to, why we should, and that it is not just something we should do, but something that is mandatory.
How you hear from God:
Hearing from God is for all and necessary to grow.
Growth - Division
Did you know Paul had to deal with division within one generation of Jesus’ death on the cross?
1 Corinthians 1
11. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
In verse 12 above replace Paul with the name of your church. What is sad is that most people who belong to a church will not accept that their church may not be correct about some things or anything. The word "denomination" basically means division or to divide.
History of the Church of this world
In 312 AD Constantine, the ruler of Rome, met the Lord and was excited and zealous for the Lord. So out of good intentions he made a law that stated basically that for a person to hold positions of power or own land they had to be of Christ. Like with most good intentions he caused more problems than benefits. Within a hundred years the church of Rome and the world at that time was being ruled by as many non-believers as it was believers and what followed shows it:
Matthew 23
13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
In the 16th century after Martin Luther had read Hebrews and Romans (two books banned by the Pope) and translated them, he sent a letter to the Pope calling him the antichrist. The Pope excommunicated Luther and those who followed Luther later would form their own denomination. That divided over minor things and from there other beliefs and ministries formed.
By the late 16th century those who believed baptism was to be immersed were themselves being immersed to death over the idea of sprinkling Vs dunking. The ones who believed in sprinkling would take those who believed in dunking and put them on a see saw and dunk them over and over until they changed to accept sprinkling or eventually drowned. For the next 400+ years more and more splintered off due to minor differences. What is sad the part about dunking VS sprinkling was over water baptism and water baptism is not even require for salvation. Only Jesus saves.
Matthew 3
11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
People write me and ask if water baptism is not the true baptism or if it does not save why it was still done in Acts. I respond with the following:
Of course there is so much more, but we are saved by grace through faith:
Ephesians 2
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
It is a free gift not something we can do or earn.
Mankind has always had a problem with something free. They have always needed something to do to prove their worthiness. That is why in the Old Testament God did not rule and a man did, because they could see the man and understand him. There were many different forms of sacrifice for different sins. Think about this; God only needed one woman to agree with Him to bring Jesus into the world. But first He had to sow His word into mankind for many generations to get one with this level of faith:
Luke 1
38. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
After thousands of years of sowing His word He finally got one to agree with Him. If you read the Old Testament you will realize that God only found one here and one there who had any form of faith at all. Even after all the miracles of the plagues against Egypt, drowning the Egyptians and their horses, leading them by fire at night and a cloud by day they still were willing to make an idol and wanted to return to Egypt. (By the way if you are one of those who believe that Moses and Israel crossed the Red Sea because it was only 6 inches deep then it was a bigger miracle for God to drown all He did in six inches of water).
Up until the 1980's any Catholic who did certain things such as eat meat on Friday went to Hell or limbo. Since that is no longer the case, where did all those before go? Did they finally make it to the next life? Every church in the past has had its differences with every other church out there. Jesus did not bring division. He came to unite us with each other and with God.
Did you know there is coming a time when there will be a falling away from God?
2 Thessalonians 2
3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, accept there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Some teach this is the rapture, but it is not. This is a falling away from faith and some believe it has already started.
Choice – Review
It is your choice to believe or not, but if you do not believe what I have stated here or in the site, learn to hear from God and ask Him. If you do hear and have verified it is God and He says I am wrong, email me what He said and what it is about, then run away from this site and me because if anyone else or I am wrong you do not need that association. Pray for them, listen to God and grow. You do not need anyone else or me, only God as far as the kingdom is concerned.
If you follow the above seven steps you will find life will be better, more fulfilling, and full of peace.
What this Site has to Offer!
godsgifttoyou.com is the location but the ministry is His Outreach Ministry and Evangelism.
We here to help people with 3 areas of their life:
We offer
There are about 20 other areas with hundreds of pages in them ranging from games to information.
You can read the Bible on line, read studies, learn how to grow and be blessed, healed, exercise faith, and achieve spiritual growth. All are at your disposal.
"Sinner's Prayer:" Jesus, I am a sinner. There is nothing I can do in my own strength to change that fact. You made a way for me to be clean forever. You died on the cross for my sins. For this I owe you everything. So I give you all of me for all of You. Today I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I turn from my sinful ways and I accept your mercy and great forgiveness. Lord, I now ask you for the strength to stay in your will. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to live like you want me to live. Lord, deliver me from habitual sin and give me a new start. Change my attitudes and make me more like you. Thank you Jesus for suffering on the cross so that I could be saved. Amen.
Rededication Prayer:" Lord Jesus I have run from you and found that no matter where I run, there you are. I am not running from you any longer. Forgive me for my disobedience. Bring me back under your covering. Lord I have been the prodigal son. I was wrong to leave your side. I was wrong to cut communication with you. I have only managed to mess things up. You created me God. You know what I am created for. Use me as a vessel of honor, God. Restore me to a place from which I can be used by you. From this day forward I will serve you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, Lord that I may have the inner strength to resist the desires of the flesh. Allow your Power to flow through me, to others.