[continued from previous message]   
      
   Holiness groups that have stood their ground for holy living, for   
   spiritual vitality, for the necessity of a living and vibrant faith.   
   I'm no Seventh Day believer, but I do thank God for the influence on   
   the whole church of those who have argued for the witness of the Law,   
   so long as they also understand that we are saved by faith alone.   
   After all, as James argued in Scripture, real faith will show itself   
   in godly works of righteousness.   
      
   And to be honest, one cannot say that the Pentecostals have a corner   
   on spirituality in the church, or that the Baptists alone have stood   
   for Scriptural truth, or that Seventh Day groups have been alone in   
   arguing for the righteousness that is represented by the laws of God.   
   The church has gone through many generations, and has been around   
   almost two thousand years.  And many testings, concerns, questions and   
   debates have arisen and troubled and helped to shape the church during   
   that time.   
      
   But the core of the Christian faith has never changed.  All true   
   believers hold certain convictions in common.  I've spent time with   
   Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Methodists,   
   and lots more than I could even name here and now.  Real believers are   
   scattered all over, it seems.   
      
   We all believe in one God.  We believe in Jesus Christ as God's only   
   begotten and eternal Son.  We believe that the Spirit of God is God   
   Himself, moving and working in many ways here on earth, from the   
   beginning of creation to this very day.  We believe that Jesus lived a   
   sinless life, that He died willingly for the sins of the whole world,   
   that He arose again from the dead, that He is now at the Father's   
   right hand, and that He is coming again.  We believe that the Bible is   
   the inspired Word of God, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the   
   very power of God to salvation for all who believe.   
      
   The church has many faces.  Some of those faces are Chinese or   
   Japanese.  Some are African, Jewish, Native American, European,   
   Polynesian, and many others.  It also has many different traditions,   
   some shaped by culture as much as by Scripture or commandment.  And in   
   any given community there may be several, or dozens or even hundreds   
   of churches, each congregation functioning as a body or family of   
   Christians.  But ultimately there is only one church, one Body of   
   Christ, one family of born-again believers who have become children of   
   God by faith in Jesus Christ.   
      
   Whoever has been transformed by God's Spirit into a true believer is a   
   member of one world-wide church family, the one Body of Christ.  Many   
   believers draw back from this picture a little (or maybe a lot)   
   because they don't want to be associated with people who claim faith   
   but who do not really follow Jesus Christ.  But no matter how we see   
   each other, we are truly and eternally related -- by the Holy Spirit   
   -- in the family of God, to every other born-again saint of God.   
   Whoever knows Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is part of that holy   
   family.   
      
   So why do Christians argue and accuse each other so much?  Well, why   
   do brothers and sisters in any family often argue and fight over silly   
   things?   
      
   Mostly we fight because we are sinners, because we are fleshly,   
   because we are often stupid.  Being a Christian does not make us fully   
   mature and wise, it just saves us and places us in God's kingdom.   
      
   The good news is that as we walk with God and grow up into Christ (see   
   Ephesians, chapter 4), we have the opportunity each day to become more   
   like Jesus Christ and less like the people we used to be.  Some days   
   we may not make much progress.  But every day is a new opportunity to   
   grow in God's grace.   
      
   Our church affiliation means nothing at all to God.  Only the   
   affiliation we have with Jesus Himself really matters.  If we know and   
   love Jesus, if we trust only in Him for eternal life and for the   
   forgiveness of sin, then we are on the right path.  But if we trust   
   too much in our religion (no matter what religion that may be) we may   
   still be very lost.   
      
   As one Baptist preacher put it years ago, "Lots of really good   
   Baptists and Catholics and other good religious people are going to   
   die and go straight to hell."  Why?  Because religion alone can't save   
   you.   
      
   Only Jesus can rescue a life from sin, death and hell.  Only Jesus can   
   save a human soul.  Only He can give anyone eternal life.   
      
   The Bible says it this way:   
   "He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who   
   does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed   
   the testimony that God has given of His Son.  And this is the   
   testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His   
   Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God   
   does not have life.  These things I have written to you who believe in   
   the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal   
   life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of   
   God.  (1 John 5:10-13)   
      
   May the Lord Jesus Christ save and bless all who desire to be made   
   right and clean and holy in the sight of God.  Amen.   
      
   Jim   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)