Do You Believe?
One of my all-favorite Christian movies is Do You Believe? It is an excellent movie. But it's very emotional. I cry through the whole thing. (Have tissues ready!)
The whole movie is great. But when I first watched it, one part stood out to me more than the others. A lost, hurting, confused man
was in a hotel room when he found a Bible. And I thought about how sad it
is that, nowadays in America, people are trying to get Bibles out of hotel rooms
and to erase all references to God in public areas.
What about the hurting person who needs help? The lost person who needs
to be found? The hopeless person who needs the Truth, Love, and Healing
that only God can give? How will they find the answers they are looking
for (even if they don’t know they are looking for them) if we eradicate God
from our society? (Another reason I love this movie is that it shows that no one is beyond the grace of God. Everyone has a chance for salvation because Jesus loves and died for everyone!)
More than ever, the responsibility to spread the Gospel lies with us
believers. A grassroots movement. (Which is what it’s always
been!) Society is trying to erase God; we need to be the ones that share
Him. And so I put together this compilation of verses that neatly sum up
the message of the Bible, the greatest message we will ever share! Of
course, you can boil it down even more. But I like the fullness of these
verses.
[And in my sadness and frustration with our society's efforts
to erase God, to turn their backs on Him, I like to wear a simple cross necklace. I don't like jewelry, but I want to
wear this necklace to put a little more God back into the
world. To take a stand for Him. I want to wear one because we
can. We still have the right to, in our country. And I want to
exercise that right before we lose it, before God is erased completely from America. Take a stand for Jesus in some way.
Wear the cross. Share the truth. Love your neighbor. Copy
these verses and pass them out. Scripture can touch hearts deeper than
anything else. And you never know who desperately needs to hear it!
Without it, we would all be completely, hopelessly lost!]
Do
You Believe?
“Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17, NIV
Bible, in all these verses, the emphasis is added)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord . . .” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by
works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe stands condemned already . . .” (John 3:16-18)
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)
“if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with
your mouth that you confess and are saved. . . . ‘Everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Romans 10:9-10, 13)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar
and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:9-10)
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who
are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
“since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his
eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20)
“The heavens declare the glory of God . . .” (Psalm 19:1)
“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)
“He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15)
(click on them)
(FYI, you don't have to believe in Jesus if you don't want to. You can reject Him if you prefer. But if He is who He said He is, then you will have to pay the price for your unbelief - because He doesn't cease being God or being real just because you don't believe in Him. Seriously ... what if?)
(updated/reposted)
