"For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." (John 17:8 KJV)
"Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you - unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place." (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 NLT)
The title of this post was taken from the meaning of the word, "Surely," which, like the world, "Truly," is an adverb, which is to show certainty in the statement, as if there is no doubt. Having doubt is not a deal-killer, but it is something that needs to be settled and eliminated within our hearts and minds; we must not let it remain or dwell on it, but must take it down and destroy it: (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
As to the discussion yesterday about our role in salvation: if it was up to us, none of us would have been saved! Without God's hand in the matter, we would have remained lost! He is the one that calls us to His Son, the Son knocks upon our hearts, while the Holy Spirit convicts us, making our hearts soft enough to overcome the flesh, if but just for a moment; a critical moment, at that! In that moment, we believe, seeing the Truth, understanding our need, and opening our hearts to receive God's free gift of Salvation!
What is your doing, is already done for you, you just need to grab hold of what God has given you; the rest is something new and exciting, that should cause a change in your life. The Holy Spirit now lives in you, so you are now a child of God! If any of that does not agree with you, then it might be time for you to go look back and examine what it was you actually believed, and if it might be something that was not the Truth.
That is my take on the matter, other than that, I still believe that everyone is responsible for their own salvation, as to whether or not it is real and what you believe is true. Being part of a non-denominational church, I have learned that there are hundreds of different doctrines and beliefs within the church body; the bigger the body, the more beliefs you will encounter.
The higher you get in leadership, the more you will be trained in the doctrines pertaining to that particular body. Back in the day, there were things called Bulletins, that were handed out at the door. Inside of each Bulletin was a brief overview of what the church believed. Other than that, you had to ask, or request a visit with the Pastor to understand where that church stood.
Now, we go to the church wed site and look for: "What We Believe," reading for yourself the list of things that they base their belief upon. Usually, it is 10 or 12 bullet points, that don't go into much detail, but enough to show that what they believe is in line with who they are affiliated with.
Anywho, that was kind of weird and boring! However, this should not be boring; this is something exciting and hard to resist! If you believe, like I do, that we are living in the last days, hold on tight and enjoy the ride...
"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first." (1 John 4:
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