Confession is necessary for salvation

 by David Long

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10). 

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Tim. 6:12).

What must be confessed? "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him" (Acts 8:35-38).

Baptism is necessary for salvation

 by David Long

"Then Peter said to them,"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

"And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3-4).

"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27).

"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:21).

Lying

 by David Long

The lying that is going on in our land is shameful and what's even worse is people wanting to hear lies. We need a dose of what the Bible teaches about lying.

1. God hates lying (Prov. 6:16-19; 12:22).

2. All liars go to hell (Rev. 21:8).

3. We need to stop lying (Eph. 4:25).

Who do you serve?

 by David Long

Do you serve God or Satan (Matt. 6:24)? Do you serve sin or righteousness (Rom. 6:16-23)? Do you serve the living God or dumb idols (1 Thess. 1:9)? Do you serve Christ or your own belly (Rom. 16:18)? We are all serving someone or some thing. If we want to go to heaven we must serve God. That begins by obeying the gospel (Rom. 6:3-4). We must stop serving sin and become servants of righteousness. We must stop serving our own selfish desires and start serving Christ. What He wants is what matters, not what we want! 

When things get worse

 by David Long

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:13-7). 

What do we do when things just get worse? We do what Paul told Timothy to do, "continue in the things we have learned and been assured of." We continue in the holy scriptures. Even if it means persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). 

Be careful what you love

 by David Long

"Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet" (2 Pet. 2:15-16). What was Balaam's problem? It was his love for the wages of unrighteousness. He was getting paid to curse God's people. The Bible says that the love of money is the root for all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). Be careful what you love.

Loving the world

 by David Long

We are told to not love the world (1 John 2:15-17). How can one tell they love the world and not God?

1. A materialistic approach to life (Lk. 12:15). Do you put the things of the world over the things of God?

2. Who one's close friends are (Psa. 119:63). Godly people want to be around other godly people not worldly people.

3. What one talks about and the words one uses (Eph. 4:29). 

4. What come first in one's life (Matt. 6:33). 

Are you in love with the world or God?