I\u2019ve heard from some that if you don\u2019t know the theological answers to these questions, to simply tell your story. Tell them how Jesus has impacted your life and why you are different because of what He\u2019s done. While I love this concept and think it is a start, it is just that. A start. A good start. But I believe we must be able to get into Scripture to tell others about Jesus.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We read in Scripture, \u201cBut make sure in your hearts that Christ is Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have. Be ready to give the reason for it. But do it gently and with respect.\u201d<\/em> (1 Peter 3:15- NIRV) So here\u2019s my version of the salvation plan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must believe<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a lot that we simply must have faith in. We must believe that God\u2019s Word is living and active and that God breathed life into each verse (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must believe that Jesus is God\u2019s Son, sent to be the Messiah, the Savior of mankind (John 3:15-16; 1 John 5:1; 5:5; Romans 3:22).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must believe that Jesus was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and rose to life to prove victory over death (Luke 24:46-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:14).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must repent<\/strong><\/p>\n Repentance means to turn completely around. To go the opposite direction of our original path. So for a believer, we must put to death the sinful nature in order for the spiritual nature to be visible (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must confess<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019ve heard it before, Peter\u2019s great confession of our Lord. \u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u201d <\/em>(Matthew 16:16 \u2013 NIV) Yes, we must proclaim it as well (Matthew 16:16; 2 Timothy 2:19).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must be baptized<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus teaches that baptism is part of the salvation plan and was himself baptized. Peter preached it on the day of Pentecost. Paul also was baptized and preached baptism (Matthew 3:13; 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 9:18; Galatians 3:27).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must live<\/strong><\/p>\n Live lives that bring honor, glory and praise to God who has freely lavished grace upon us. There are plenty of passages that lead us in this direction, but I\u2019m listing two here (Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 2:10).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must tell<\/strong><\/p>\n If in fact we have the greatest news mankind has ever heard, why do we keep silent? Why isn\u2019t His message on the tip of our tongues constantly? I don\u2019t know the answer to that question, but I know that Scriptures tells me to share the Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 24:47).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is just a start\u2026but at least you\u2019ll be able to begin with what is here. But here\u2019s the thing. You must make it your own. I do like the story part. Write your story. Practice telling it. Add Scripture to it and then you\u2019ll be set and ready for the next person that asks you that hard question. You can do it. I know you can with God\u2019s Spirit within you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Believe it. Confess it. Live it. Tell it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve heard from some that if you don\u2019t know the theological answers to these questions, to simply tell your story. Tell them how Jesus has impacted your life and why you are different because of what He\u2019s done. While I love this concept and think it is a start, it is just that. A start. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4495","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4496,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4495\/revisions\/4496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}