Last TERC fellowship was a fun and spiritually enlightening session about salvation and all it entails. We had a full house (11 participants…. Yeah!) And our brothers in Christ came on strong to represent. Following is a transcript of our discussion and relevant bible verses from the New Living translation. Enjoy!

SALVATION
Q: Our first question was about the necessity of salvation. In this world, people believe that as long as we are “good” people and do harm to no one, we will eventually end up in heaven. So is it safe to say that good morals are equivalent to salvation and being born again?
A: To answer this, the bible was used in reference; specifically

Matthew 7:21: "Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ` Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.

Salvation is more than being morally right; even though most laws go with the word of God, salvation is a personal walk with God. It begins with openly confessing that we are sinners and that Christ died Jesus died for our sins. The difference between being morally right and being a saved Christian is quite strong. As babies we are born into iniquity; just from being born we have already taken on the sins of the world and absolutely nothing can take it away except the blood of Jesus.

Q: Another deep question raised was the notion that “Once saved always saved?”
A: It was unanimously agreed upon that this philosophy was a false one. The second a person leaves the path of God, salvation is lost. There are instances where people who were once saved and manifesting different gifts of the spirit (i.e. speaking in tongues) find themselves without the gift because they are no longer in communion with God. Salvation is a thing you have to work out daily with fear and trembling.

BAPTISM
Q: Scripture says we need to be baptized of water and spirit. This brings up the question of Do we need to be baptized? Some churches preach full immersion while some just the sprinkling of water. Who decides?
A: This was a very touchy topic to tackle because of the eclectic background we all share. While there was a period of intense disagreement, we had to go back to the truth, the word, for an answer.

John 3 vs 5 say “Jesus replied, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.”

Even with this as a guideline, the topic couldn’t be fully settled but the general conclusion was that although our salvation was the priority, when it comes to baptism we need to follow Christ wholly. We are Christians which means “Christ- like” and with this in mind, we should do all Christ did without question. Before Christ began his ministry, he went to be baptized by John the Baptist and although, we may not necessarily agree on why he did it, we must all agree upon the fact that he saw it important to do. We as Christians do not have the right to pick and choose the acts of Christ we should follow. This is enough reason to do it. Salvation can be seen as having a inward and outward part. The inward is us showing the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5 vs 22) while the outward part can be likened to water baptism. With this said, the topic was left for individual ministration from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3: 13 -17
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The last bit for the session was about works and salvation. This was the question raised

Q: Does being active in church assure your place in heaven even if you are not saved?
A: The house was again under unity in answering that works without faith is dead. Regardless of how much you do, unless you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, salvation is not guaranteed.


Well Praise God, for a wonderful session, we look forward to having God in the house again next week and we also look forward to having all of you …

Keep God first and he’ll do the same….

Recap done by Toyin. (Thanks, gal u're a life saver :)