Salvation

Lead Pastor Cory

SALVATION: deliverance from the power and effects of sin, the agent or means that effects salvation, liberation from ignorance or illusion, preservation from destruction or failure, deliverance from danger or difficulty

NLT | ‎Eph 2:8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ‎9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

The purpose for this blog is so anyone can comprehend the opportunity God gives to every person to be forgiven of their sins, adopted into His family and be eternally secure in their relationship with Christ Jesus.

The words “saved” and “born again” are Christian terms used to describe what happens to a person when they first believe in their heart the Gospel message and, as a result of believing personally, asks Jesus to come into their life and take over as Lord. Forgiveness is free to everyone, no matter his or her state, because of the grace of God. Being a church member, being baptized as an infant, or living a good life, does not qualify anyone for heaven. You must be born again! 

GRACE: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification, a virtue coming from God, a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace, special favor: PRIVILEGE

The normal understanding of grace is, “the unmerited favor of God.” God’s love is unconditional, eternal, and undeserved by any human standards. Grace is an attribute of God, which allows Him to purpose and provide both love and reward for mankind, even when they reject Him. 

The Message | ‎Ro 5:8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

FORGIVENESS: allowing room for error or weakness

It is grace that enables God to forgive mankind. “...Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”

The Message | ‎Heb 9:22 Moses said to the people,“This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

By grace as full and final payment for all of the sins of mankind. Only His blood can cleanse away the stain of sin. Although the grace of God makes forgiveness available for everyone, each person must individually apply through prayer to God to have his or her sins covered by Christ’s blood.

NLT | ‎1 Jn 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

SALVATION: A blanket of forgiveness for all sins past, and a promise for the future that no sin shall separate you from God and His love comes automatically to every person when they are saved.

The Message | ‎Ro 8:35 Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: ‎36 They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. ‎37 None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. ‎38 I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, ‎39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us

The Message | ‎Ro 10:13 “Everyone who calls,‘Help, God!’ gets help.”

NLT | ‎Ro 10:9If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ‎10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

WORKS: something produced or accomplished by effort, exertion, or exercise of skill

The Message | ‎Ga 2:21 I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

The Message | ‎Ac 4:12 Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.”

Some extremists teach and live a “greasy grace” or“sloppy agape” approach to salvation, completely discounting the works message of James. Other extremists teach salvation by works, constantly putting the keeping power of the blood of Christ, and thus the New Testament message of salvation by grace alone, in doubt

SALVATION

• What does being born again mean to you?
• What qualifies a person to spend eternity in heaven?
• What, in your understanding, does it take to be saved?

 Email me @ cory@nechurch.org with your answers.

Milk & Meat

NLT | ‎Heb 5:11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.  ‎12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.  ‎13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.  ‎14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

The Message | ‎Heb 6:1 So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God;  ‎2 baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment.

We see in these verses that the people Paul was talking to lack an understanding of the milk issues of the faith.  An this lack was affecting them in two ways:

• They were not able to grow into maturity.

• They were held back from operating in their calling to teach.

So the milk of the word is comprised of the foundational teachings of the Christian faith. Until that foundation is laid, it’s useless trying to build the rest of the structure! Another way to look at the “milk” teachings is to consider what milk is to an infant

A baby must first nurse on the milk of the mother in order to grow the teeth necessary to eat meat. The baby is not required to do anything in order to receive the milk. The mother has done it all. She has eaten the food necessary to prepare the milk. The baby must only nurse. So the milk of the Word is learning those things Christ has done for us.

Based on this, some of the “milk truths” are:

• He died for me.

• He delivered me from the power of sin.

• He seated me in heavenly places in Christ

• He provided me with the presence of the SHoly Spirit dwelling within me.

Like the child’s milk that is prepared by the mother, requiring nothing of the baby, so these are the things Jesus did for us, requiring nothing from us. We must “nurse” on these truths when we are saved.

The milk of the word is called “sincere” milk. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word…”, This means it is received with a pure heart and without hypocrisy.

NLT | ‎1 Pe 2:2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,

The milk of the word is the precursor to becoming “skilled” in the scriptures. That means skilled in how to live righteously, in conformity with God’s will. So the writer of Hebrews says those who are still nursing on milk and have not yet laid the foundations of their faith.

The Message | ‎Heb 5:13 Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways;  ‎14 solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Those nursing on milk have still not learned the ins and outs of Christian living. They are easily taken advantage of and easily tripped up. Paul described the spiritually immature as

The Message | ‎Eph 4:14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.

You will choke on the meat of the Word until you understand the milk of the Word.

NLT | ‎Is 28:10 He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!”

One truth leads to another, one stone is placed on another. We will never understand Algebra until we understand simple math. Likewise, spiritual truth begins with foundations that must be grasped before moving on to meatier truths. Before receiving the meat, you need enough knowledge of the milk of the Word so the meat will become digestible.

Jesus knew full well whether His hearers could handle meat or only milk. He told the disciples,

The Message | ‎Jn 16:13 But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.  ‎14 He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you.

There are things God wants us to know that we simply cannot handle until we have fed on the milk of the word in sincerity and had the spiritual foundation of Christ laid in our souls. Though the Corinthian church was loaded with the gifts of the Spirit, they were very immature. This frustrated Paul’s desire to feed them the meat of the Word. Listen to his exasperation as He writes to them in

NLT | ‎1 Co 3:1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.  ‎2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,  ‎3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?  ‎4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?  ‎5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.  ‎6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  ‎7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.  ‎8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.  ‎9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

Next, Paul uses an illustration to help us understand milk and meat, and why the foundation must be properly laid.

NLT | ‎1 Co 3:10 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.  ‎11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

Why is the foundation that comes from the milk of the word so important? And why must we be certain what we build on top of that foundation?

The Message | ‎1 Co 3:12 Take particular care in picking out your building materials.  ‎13 Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing.  ‎14 If your work passes inspection, fine;  ‎15 if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.

If you lay a bad foundation, or you build improperly on top of your foundation, it will not last through testing. It will crumble under the trials of life.

The Message | ‎Pr 24:10 If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

The foundation is laid by learning the about the milk, the building atop the foundation is built by growing into maturity through learning the meat of the word and walking in it.

The Message | ‎1 Pe 2:5 Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.

NLT | ‎Eph 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

The Message | ‎Eph 2:20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone  ‎21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God,

The Message | ‎Eph 4:13 until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.  ‎14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.  ‎15 God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.  ‎16 He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love

SUMMARY:

The milk of the word is comprised of the elementary teachings of the Christian faith as found in Hebrews 6:1-2.

• The milk of the word is received with a cleansed heart, without hypocrisy.

• Those yet nursing on the milk of the word are “unskilled” in Christian living.

• Until we understand milk doctrines, we will choke on meat doctrines.

225 mph Part 3

(left to right)

Fusion Kidz Pastors, Lead Pastors Cory & Richelle Smithee

& CORE517 Student Youth Pastors

(see more @ nechruchtx.com)

As we move into the last days before Christmas life has begun it's yearly ramping up. We're not talking about experiencing life at 225 mph but at a rate twice that. This would be a great time and opportunity to get to know my personal friend the Holy Spirit as he really is.... as a real person.

I think a lot of people have a difficult time with the Holy Spirit being a person. Why? I think it's easier to refer to God as Father and Jesus as Son, but for some reason so many just can't get the Holy Spirit connected into that language. However, the Holy Spirit is a person nonetheless.

Maybe it would be better if the Holy Spirit had a name like Mike or Chuck, maybe even Henry. Lets see how that works- Father, Son & Chuck. I would bet you the formal churches would call him Charles. It's vitally important that we see him as a person.  If you don't you will never develop a personal relationship with Him.

Let me unpack something about life we all experience. A person wants to either use you or help you in most cases but in the end they want to influence you.  The Holy Spirit does not want to use us, he wants to help us. He wants to help us so we are useful in making a difference in our families and the culture around us. 

Let me unpack something else.The Holy Spirit wants to influence us, matter of fact, He wants to influence us to act & think like Jesus.  He wants us to feel what God feels. He wants us to want what God wants. He wants to influence us to change our minds, emotions & our will toward God's ways. He will help us if we will let Him.  He will help you have the wherewithal to accomplish this change... moving in God's ways.

Bottom line is this, The Holy Spirit, the Person wants to help us-To want what God wants-To feel what God feels-To think what God thinks.

Next time we will look deeper into the Holy Spirit the Person.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

225 mph Part 2

MY FRIEND THE HOLY SPIRIT

My best human friend is my wife Richelle. Here is a very important fact, I do not refer to her as an "it", I refer to her as my best friend of all friends the one I love.  Let me start this written conversation off right with this statement, “The Holy Spirit is not an "it", He is my friend whom I cherish in my life.”  The Bible never refers to Him as an "it."

We will explore what the Bible says about Him and what I have learned from Him. The most important information you can have about the Holy Spirit is that He is my friend and he wants to be yours too. Read this reality being expressing in the following verses of scripture.

John 14:16-17 16 I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. 17 This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

John 14: 25-26 25“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. 26 The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you.

John 15:26  “When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me.

John 16:7  So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.

John 16: 12-13 12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. 13 But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.

I have found two major reasons people think the Holy Spirit is weird and spooky.  First, because of what they have seen people do and Second, what they have been told.  He is my personal friend... listen, he is not spooky or weird.  He is a person, that’s right a person who you should not fear.  I hear people say I am afraid of the Holy Spirit... Why? Let me tell you why, because they have met weird people who do weird things.  There has been too much contributed to the weird being the Holy Spirit.  Just because insecure people do some weird things to draw attention to themselves, is not an indictment against the Holy Spirit.

My friend the Holy Spirit is full of everything I need to help me!  He is not on a mission to make me do weird things.  We need to befriend the Holy Spirit because; He is kind, compassionate, gentle, sensitive & wonderful.  Satan wants to make Him out as weird and something to be afraid of.  The Holy Spirit is the only one who can help us change the world around us.  Satan knows this so he tries to make people afraid.  A lot of people do weird things and then blame it on the Holy Spirit.  I want you to know the truth, the Holy Spirit is not rude, inconsiderate or harsh.  He is my friend & I know Him and he wants you to know Him too.  I’m tired of people giving Him a bad rap! The Holy Spirit will not make you Look Weird, Act, Dress, or even Talk weird. The truth is satan wants to make you scared of Him so you will never befriend Him!

Next time I will talk about the “Person” the Holy Spirit.

225 mph

Lead Pastor Cory Smithee

Let’s see, it’s been since August 31st since I have blogged.  If my memory serves me right, I was going to do something like a 4 part series on "Growth Requires."  Well that never happened, did it!  You know life comes at you real fast sometimes, so fast that you lose contact with where you were going and even why you were going there.  Does anyone out there relate?

The speed of life is unique to our time because growing up as a teen in the 70's & a young adult in the 80's it was much different.  Now it wasn't just different because I was younger, it was a slower pace of life.  Life had its times where it came at you fast, maybe at 100 mph but not like today where life can ramp up to 225 mph and just keep coming at you.

During this past month and half where my life ramped up to 225 and just kept coming at me, God reminded me again through a series I am doing at NEC, that I have some very special help.  God reminded me to stop and look beside me at a good friend that we all can almost forget about (if you even knew Him to start with).  A friend that will give us insight to what is happening and how to get out of the gulf stream of the 225 mph engagement of life.  A friend who can slow everything down and cause us to take a breath and rest a little and not be engulfed in this 225 mph here we come at you all day every day.

Let me share with you some really cool stuff about my friend the Holy Spirit.  Some of you reading this blog are already, at the mention of these words "Holy Spirit," asking this one question, "Who Is He?" Well over the next month or so I plan to answer that question from a personal point of view based on my relationship and friendship with the Holy Spirit.

I am going to answer  some simple stuff like, Is He a Person? Is He here Now? Where did He come from? How did You meet Him? How do you have a Friendship with something you can't See?  Lots of good questions that I will tackle along the way on our new journey called "The Holy Spirit," "Who Is He?"

Keep checking back as we encounter this Person and how He so wants to be your friend in this 225 mph life in which we live.

Pastor Cory is the Founder and Lead Pastor of North Elevation Church in Mansfield, TX. Please go to www.nechurchtx.com to learn more about this Life Giving Community!

Part I Growth Requires Listening, Action & Stopping...

Founder/Lead Pastor Cory

Let me start by saying, this 3 Part blog is really to all of you who have committed your life to Jesus Christ in the past few hours or the past 50 years.  One the most basic, so necessary & indispensable truths is, you must continue to grow in your Relationship with God every day of every year.  In Ephesians 4:14 (The Message) tells us this most basic, necessary and indispensable truth.

¹⁴ No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.

I know this may be hard to believe for those of you who have been a Christian for many years, that it could be possible that you would ever become a babe lost in the woods or yet a child who can become an easy mark for impostors of truth.  However, it happens every day of every year.  Well, Cory how can that happen?  I am so glad you have asked.

People have stopped the process of Spiritually Growing.  Lets camp out here for a few moments and take a good look at these two very important words, "Spiritual" & "Growth."  Spiritual no longer holds the same level of definition it once did. Most Americans interviewed say they are Spiritual.  With that said, let me clear up what spiritual should mean to you the Christian. Spiritual should mean, "I am Very Concerned about Biblical Truths."  Growth on the other hand should resonate as "I am progressively developing in those concerned biblical truths."

The First point of growth is to Listen.  That starts right here with all of us listening to the sounds of the words that I have put down in this blog and the ones to come on this subject.  Second, we must put action to our Christianity. Let me speak a moment on the Law of Disuse.  Here is a good example of what I am talking about.  Take a good pocket knife for instance that you may have used in the garage for projects.  If you do not use the blade regularly it will begin to capture the moisture and begin to rust. Then one day you go to use it and it's hard to open or you can not open it at all.  Also, it does not cut as it once did.

Romans 15:2 (The Message) explains it to us in a manner that makes it very clear that we need to act on what we hear so we do not become rusted and hard to open or become dull and can not help on a level that will make a real difference.  What you are about to read is huge in not becoming rusted and hard to open.  Lets look at verse 2...  ² Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”   Well, if you are going to help you must be a person who is consistently growing in this area.

We need to understand that putting people above ourselves is vital to our spiritual growth.  I have taught for over two decades now this very important truth. "You are never to big to do small stuff."  We need to make service a priority!  Service is truly defined as this: Service referred to as a task performed by lesser persons for those who control their existence.  Yep, that's why we become babes in the woods, we do not want to serve, instead we want to be served.  Service at best is Worship to God, not a person on this earth.

Here is a way to take action!  Stand up and say, "Here I am, Use Me! Make it personal and take the responsibility to serve someone else and grow - spiritual growth will begin again.

Psalm 119:125 (The Message)  ¹²⁵ I’m your servant—help me understand what that means, the inner meaning of your instructions.

Next week Part II, Growth Requires Listening, Action & Stopping... "The Law of Crowd Control"

Good Intentions



Pastors Cory & Richelle Smithee

Alexander, a U.S. aviator and engineer, was once visiting a fellow flyer in the hospital with the good intentions of cheering him up. The young man had just lost his leg; Alexander, who had an artificial leg too for some time said to the young man, "The loss of leg is not so great a calamity," "If you get hit on a wooden leg, it doesn't hurt a bit!" With that Alexander said "Go ahead hit my Leg!" The young man raised his walking stick and brought it down hard on Alexander's leg. "You see," he said cheerfully, "if you hit an ordinary man like that, he'd be in bed for a week!" With that he left and walked outside into the corridor and collapsed in excruciating pain.  It seems the young man struck the wrong leg.

Do you relate to this story? How many times have you had good intentions, only to have them crash and burn.  But the positive side is you tried.  However, in this blog I want to talk about the other side, Good Intentions that never happen.  This is one of the most frustrating issues in life... Good Intentions that never happen!

When I was in the corporate world there was a story that went something like this; Have you ever met Mr. Meant-To? Mr. Meant-To has a buddy, and his name is Didn't-Do. Have you ever had the chance to meet them? Did they ever call on you? These two fellows live together in the same house of Never-Win. I am told that it is haunted by the ghost of Might-Have-Been.

A person, company, church just cannot build a reputation of success on what it's going to do.  It takes action to see a dream or vision to end up somewhere on purpose. It takes action to turn good intentions into reality. Successful endeavors require action!  Here's some questions you need to ask yourself the next time you have a thought of a good intention; 1) What specific, measurable action will it take for me to complete this good intention. 2) How much time, effort, and money will it take?

Stop talking and start forming a vision of really doing it and completing it. One phrase has not changed, "Talk Is Cheap," "Action Cost Something."  No good intention has ever been achieved except by someone who dared to make the dream a reality.

 Habakkuk 2:2 says, "And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it."  If you are having issues with talk, talk, talk and no action, then let me give you a simple way to stop talking and start doing:

1. You will have to write it down, that is to declare it on paper
2. You have to make it plain and simple
3. You have to have the courage to make a copy for someone to hold you accountable

Unless we do it this way, it will only remain a "Good Intention," a "Fantasy," a "Talk To make Us look Good."  Regardless the cost, stop talking and start doing.... just saying!

Pastor Cory