The gift of God to man is God’s ability to redeem mankind. To redeem means to “buy back from” sinfulness. In order to access this gift, I must first understand what is being offered. Listening to God’s offer and understanding all the terms is crucial to choosing correctly. Many people have only heard that God has a plan, never trying to learn about the details of the plan of God. I must understand God’s plan.
If I have heard and understood God’s plan, I now stand at a crossroads. Do I obey God’s plan or do I follow my own plan? Following God’s plan means I must change my thoughts to match God’s view of life and Eternity. Such is called repentance. When I follow Him, I will change my mindset to mirror His mindset.
After a complete understanding and a different mindset, I then must declare the Redeemer. It is called the confession of the deity of Christ. In this confession, man will confess Jesus as Christ. That Ethiopian Eunuch made this particular confession, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”( Acts 8:37) In confession of Jesus as Christ, I then acknowledge I am not Christ- I am not the authority!
Baptism is the culmination of the plan of God for the saving of the soul of man. Combined with hearing, believing, repentance, confession of Christ, baptism completes God’s plan. This plan is what allows mankind to be adopted into God’s family, saving our souls from a certain and painful second death.
The odd thing about God’s plan is this: While salvation is free, it ain’t cheap! This plan will cost the man of God everything here, but God will give him everything there. Do you want your reward to be templar or eternal? You will have to choose.
-Billy Hayes
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