Posts Tagged ‘hope’

Who Is Truth?

Posted: April 20, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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The Truth About Jesus

There is a 2,000 year old truth about Jesus that may still need to be discovered in your life. The Bible informs us that we tragically exchange the truth of God for all kinds of substitutes (Romans 1:25). And yet, marvelously, the truth can win us over. It’s the truth about why Jesus came and why he died.

Jesus’ Bold Claim and How He Proved It

Jesus made a bold claim during his days on earth. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV).

Did you get that? Jesus says that you can only know God the father through belief in him. That’s a pretty radical statement! But he backed it up by going to the cross, dying in our place, and rising again on the third day. The Bible says that we should have been punished for breaking God’s law, but he took the punishment in our place. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came to earth to reveal a marvelous message that our offenses can be forgiven and we may become reconciled to God, and have eternal life.

How You Can Know the Truth

Are you wandering, not sure about truth, lost in your search for identity? Do you know yourself to be guilty of unfaithfulness to God? Do you know you need to be saved from moral compromise? Well then, there’s very good news for you. Jesus appeals to you to come to him, to ask him to forgive you and make you a child of God.

For you see, anyone who receives him has the right to become a child of God (John 1:12). This is the message Jesus taught that Peter and Mary believed. Jesus calls you to know the truth so you can be set free (John 8:32).

How You Can Receive the Truth

If you’d like to know the God of truth, lift up the empty hands of faith and trust Him for your salvation. Come to Him on your knees and pray this prayer:

O Lord, I am lost without You. My life is empty without Your truth and your love. I commit my life to You. I turn away from my sinful behaviors and I turn toward You. Forgive me for all my offenses and give me the power to do good. Reconcile me with Yourself. Look at me only through the work of Jesus, and enable me to live for Him. Thank You that You care for someone like me. Thank You that You welcome me into heaven, because Your love knows no bounds. Help me to grow in grace and guide me in all my ways. In Christ’s name, Amen.

How You Can Continue in the Truth

Now that you have committed your life to the Lord, it is important that you identify yourself to a leader from a Bible-believing church in your area. You have begun an amazing journey. The church is there to ensure that you grow and enjoy the Lord in fellowship, and not alone. The church will help you understand more about all of these things, and will guide you into the life of worship and the celebration of the sacraments.

I can help you. Call 888.492.0285 or Send an email and I will pray with you and/or for you!

God bless you all!

S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N

Posted: April 13, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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Salvation is the grace gift of God to man, received by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16). No one ever earns or deserves anything from God. But in His infinite love and grace, God freely provides everything for us to have an eternal relationship with Him.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [salvation] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

God’s plan of “grace and truth is realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17), the uniquely born Son of God. Jesus Christ became true humanity to be our substitute and pay the penalty for our sins. When our Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross, He was judged for the sins of the world. Every sin that has ever been committed in the history of the human race was imputed to Him on the cross and judged.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross. (1 Peter 2:24a)

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf [as our substitute], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Because of the work of Jesus Christ, salvation is available to everyone.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [uniquely born] Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Jesus says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

And Peter said again, “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out…” Acts 3:19

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31a)

Believing in Christ means you receive as true the fact that He died as your personal substitute. In the moment you believe, God gives you eternal life and guarantees your salvation. Instantly, you are brought into an eternal relationship with God forever.

Your heart attitude toward Jesus Christ determines your eternal future. You can either believe in Christ for eternal life or reject Him for eternal condemnation.

Repent, believe, and be baptized. Turn from sin to God. Turn 180 degrees around to God. Trust in, rely upon, believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Savior, Who died on the Cross for your sins, Who is risen from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of the Father in glory. Follow the example of Jesus Christ, as an answer of a clear conscience toward God by the declaration of your faith, be baptized.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey [believe] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

God bless you all!

With God…Hope Makes Sense

Posted: March 13, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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hope-in-the-lord

As the deer pants after the channels of water, so my soul pants after You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and see the face of God?
My tears have been my food by day and by night, while they say to me all the day, Where is your God?
When I remember these things and I pour out my soul on me (for I passed over with the throng; I led them to the house of God with the voice of rejoicing and praise, a host keeping the feast).
O my soul, why are you cast down and moan within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet thank Him for the salvation of His presence.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me; on account of this I remember You from the land of Jordan, and from the Hermonites, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep through the voice of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows have passed over me. Jehovah will command His loving-kindness by day, and His song shall be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.
I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning when the enemy oppresses me?
Ones vexing me reproach me with crushing in my bones, when they say to me every day, Where is your God?
O my soul, why are you cast down? And why do you moan within me?
Hope in God, for I yet thank Him for the salvation of my face and my God.

~ Psalm 42:1-11

If you are yet unsaved…

Posted: March 13, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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“If you are yet unsaved, our heart yearns over you: and we would fain say a word which may be blessed to you. Open your Bible, and read the story of the lepers, and mark their position, which was much the same as yours. If you remain where you are you must perish; if you go to Jesus you can but die. “Nothing venture, nothing win,” is the old proverb, and in your case the venture is no great one. If you sit still in sullen despair, no one can pity you when your ruin comes; but if you die with mercy sought, if such a thing were possible, you would be the object of universal sympathy. None escape who refuse to look to Jesus; but you know that, at any rate, some are saved who believe in Him, for certain of your own acquaintances have received mercy: then why not you? The Ninevites said, “Who can tell?” Act upon the same hope, and try the Lord’s mercy. To perish is so awful, that if there were but a straw to catch at, the instinct of self-preservation should lead you to stretch out your hand. We have thus been talking to you on your own unbelieving ground, we would now assure you, as from the Lord, that if you seek Him He will be found of you. Jesus casts out none who come unto Him. You shall not perish if you trust Him; on the contrary, you shall find treasure far richer than the poor lepers gathered in Syria’s deserted camp. May the Holy Spirit embolden you to go at once, and you shall not believe in vain. When you are saved yourself, publish the good news to others. Hold not your peace; tell the King’s household first, and unite with them in fellowship; let the porter of the city, the minister, be informed of your discovery, and then proclaim the good news in every place. The Lord save thee ere the sun goes down this day.”  ~ C. H. Spurgeon

Convicted and Convinced

Posted: March 7, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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We are not saved by the law but we are convinced and convicted of our sin by the law. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

The law was sent “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19). “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

“The law is holy… and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful” (Romans 7:12-13).

Paul was saying, “I couldn’t really confess my sins until I knew they were sins. I couldn’t seek after the holiness of God until I saw how far from Him I was. The law hit home to me, destroying my nonchalance about sin. When I saw God’s holiness by His commandments, sin became utterly sinful to me.”

That is the conviction that drives you straight to the arms of Christ, crying, “Mercy, Lord! I can’t save myself, I can’t fulfill Your law. I’ve seen the sin of my heart!”

Faith has been defined as “the flight of a convicted, repentant sinner unto the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.” Only the person who has been convicted of his sins by the law of God will “flee to Christ” for refuge.

On the day of Pentecost Peter stood and offered the crowds the gospel of God’s grace. But first he put them under the blazing light of the law. He pointed his finger and said, “Ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain [Him]” (Acts 2:23). The people were pricked in their hearts, so utterly convicted by the Word of God they cried out, “What shall we do?” (verse 37).

Adam was given the gospel of grace-after his “eyes were opened” (see Genesis 3:7). It was only after he had seen his pitiful condition and the consequences of his sin that God brought to him the message of mercy and hope!

~ David Wilkerson

What If I’m Wrong?

Posted: February 26, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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doubtingGod

For those who question the existence of God, or scoff at Christianity, or faith in God.

The House That Grace Built

Posted: December 10, 2012 in catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Uncategorized, universal
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byGraceFaith

“Salvation is like a house built beside a broad and busy highway. Like everyone else, I was born on that highway and was spending my life following it to its destination. At first the trip had been exciting and almost effortless, the constant flow of the crowd carrying me along. However, the farther down the road I got, the more difficult things became; my original joy had dissipated and I noticed that my fellow travelers rarely laughed anymore and their occasional smiles seemed forced. The backpack I had been issued at the beginning of my journey had grown heavier every day, and I was now permanently stooped from its weight. Worst of all, I had been overtaken lately by an unexplainable fear of reaching the end of the highway’.

‘One day my attention was drawn suddenly to the side of the highway to a magnificently constructed house. Over its narrow front doors a sign silently announced in bold red letters: ‘Whosoever Will May Enter and Find Rest’. I do not know how I knew it, but I realized that if I could reach the inside of this beautiful house I would be saved from the highway and its destination. Pushing my way through the mass of indifferent travelers, I broke clear of the crowd and ran up the steps to the front door. But, it was locked. Perhaps it’s only stuck, I thought, and tried again. It refused to open. I was confused. Why would someone put up a sign inviting people in and then lock the door to keep them out? Not knowing what else to do (I refused to return to the highway), I pounded on the door, and shouted for someone on the inside to open it, and tried to pick the lock – but it was useless’.

‘Suddenly a voice spoke my name, and I spun around. It was the Builder of the House. He placed in my hand a key with one word carved on it: FAITH. Turning back to the door, I inserted the key in the lock, twisted it, and heard a reassuring click. The door swung open, and I stepped across the threshold. Immediately the backpack fell from off my shoulders, my back began to straighten like a wilting flower reaching for the sunlight, and from deep within me my soul breathed a sigh of relief as an extraordinary sense of peace and well-being wrapped itself around me. The Builder of the House welcomed me to my new home, explaining that everything in the house was now mine to enjoy. This was the house that grace had built, and faith was the key’.

‘Surveying my new surroundings, I saw that the House of Salvation was a house with many rooms and I was only in the foyer. Across the way was a door marked Answered Prayer. Next to it was another Daily Victory, and next to it, Every Need Supplied. The row of doors, each promising some spiritual blessing, stretched endlessly throughout the house. The discovery of these other rooms puzzled me, for I failed to mention that the foyer in which I stood was jammed with people. It seemed that everyone who entered the house stopped in the foyer, never advancing beyond it, as though the foyer were the entire building’ – remember that as well.

‘This was little better than the highway. Couldn’t they see that there was more to the House of Salvation than the foyer? Surely, the Builder intended every room to be occupied. Hadn’t he said that everything in the house was ours to enjoy? I, for one, had no desire to spend my life standing in a foyer. This was my Father’s house; I was his child, and all he possessed was mine. I went to the door marked Answered Prayer, grabbed the knob, and twisted. It was locked. I went to the next door, the next, and the next. All were locked. Nevertheless, this time I didn’t try to pick the lock or knock the door down. I remembered my encounter with the front door and knew I had a key for that. Although I had been in the house only a short time, I had somehow managed to accumulate a large number of other keys. Rummaging through my collection, I selected one tagged Doing Your Best, and tried it. It did not fit. Nor did the one tagged Religious Activity. The key of Sincerity proved useless. Next I tried the key of Tithing (I was getting desperate); but it was as powerless as the others. I was beginning to understand why the foyer was so crowded’.

‘And then I heard a familiar voice. It was the Builder of the House. ‘Child’, he said, ‘do you remember the key I gave you to enter my house?’. ‘Yes, I remember’. ‘What was it?’. ‘Why, it was the key of Faith’, I answered’. Now listen, the Builder said: ‘The key of Faith is the master key that unlocks every door in the house’. Faith is the master key of the Christian life. From start to finish, salvation is ‘by grace through faith’. Everything we get in the Christian life we get by grace through faith. Grace makes it available and faith accepts it. Grace is God’s hand giving; faith is man’s hand receiving. Faith possesses what grace provides. Grace is God’s part; faith is man’s part. It is our positive response to God’s gracious offer. Everything God demands of man can be summed up in one word: faith.”

~ by Ronald Dunn

Faith in the Valley

Posted: November 19, 2012 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental
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When I lived in an Arizona valley where Phoenix is lying, the surround vistas are awe inspiring.   The plants are so green, the cactus thrives, and you can see for miles (when there is no pollution alert).  In the spring, if you want to call it that, the air can be crisp and cold.  The evening dew bursts forth and slaps your face with the fresh scent of the moist ground.  Then, when the first 100 degree day hits, the green desert starts to turn yellow, and withers to brown.  Everything, including humans look for shade and relief from the heat of the sun.

When things get hot for us, when things start to wither around us and turn bad where do we go for relief?  For the Christian, we turn to God and have faith in Him.  Why is that?   The reason for that is because even if we have family, friends, or co-workers to share our problems with, we still must have faith in God.  If you think about it closely, we don’t have family, we don’t have friends, all we have is our faith, and all we have is our God.

Is there a lesson here? The lesson is that who we have a relationship with, what we have or don’t have has no bearing on our faith in God or in our relationship with Him. Life can beat us down hard, and we have to deal with it the best way we can. It will either make us stronger by faith in God and trusting in Him to care for us, or it will take us down into the pits of despair because we allow it to dominate and control us. Sometimes we try to be noble, and handle everything on our own.  We all have to deal with life in our own way, behind our own eyes, from which no one else can see or experience.  Growing strong out of these lessons is the only way to go. There is no other way to go, except down into the depths of weakness and self indulgence.  Faith in God will keep us out of the grim depths of despair.

The Word of God teaches that we should give thanks for everything.  I learned something this weekend about thanksgiving. We shouldn’t thank God for the bad situation happening to us, but we should thank God for Him being there with us through it all….giving us the strength and hope to carry on.  We must thank God for Who He Is and all of what He has done for us, mostly for sending His Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior! I do not believe God bestows upon us tragedies, disasters, or illness or calamity. But He is there when it happens and is there when it is over, and is there when we are healing from it. He is our source of strength, vitality and healing.

Andre Crouch wrote in his most famous and moving song about trusting God, “Through it all, through it all…..I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God.”

Through it all….He gives us faith, hope, and love. He bestows upon us His mercy, His compassion, His grace and His love.  He gives us salvation…His salvation…maybe in mystery but it is salvation none the less.

Raging Rivers, Treacherous Rock Faces

Posted: December 20, 2011 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental
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July 2008

I stayed awake last night after about 0130 AM, just thinking about my situation.  Here I am looking about my home from the cushions from my couch, as my wife lay next to me in a hospital bed furnished by Hospice of the Valley.  I hear the whooshing of the oxygen concentrator as it pumps fresh oxygen into my wife’s lungs at 4 liters per minute or second, whatever it is.  I look about in the semi darkness and hear her labored breathing.  I think about the bills I have to pay, the rent that is very past due, and everything else one thinks about when his wife tells him the hour is near.  We have until July 9th to come up with $2153.76.  We have exhausted various local resources for help.  They are either out of money or ask us to wait a few months.  We can’t wait.  I can’t wait, and my wife and child can’t wait either.  Yes, I was working a job, but when I told them about my wife’s Dream Foundation vacation they approved, they weren’t very happy with it, but approved it.  When I returned from the vacation and told them my wife’s condition has declined since leaving, and that I needed 5 more days to find someone to come into my home to watch her, they weren’t happy about that either.  Above all that, I had to drive 40 miles to work every day.  I loved that position, but it is realistically too far to travel because, a) don’t want to be that far away from my sick wife, b) at $4.30 a gallon I was paying almost $100 a week in gas!  The company wouldn’t compensate for any of the travel.  So now, I am without a job.  I will start looking Monday, for something very close.  I need to find something that will bring in some money.

It is sad, that the state of the financial situation of many people in our country is pretty bad.  For one reason or another, a lot of Americans are robbing peter to pay paul in their life to survive!  I was laid off last May of 2007.  I was on unemployment until the end of November.  I couldn’t get a job until like February.  Things started to fall behind.  I had to take out a couple of loans from Army Emergency Relief (thank God for them!) to catch up.  But, it was only temporary.  I have never really caught up.  Now my rent is due…..it’s July and very hot, and I am NOT going to leave this house!  God must supply ALL of my needs according to His riches in glory!  Why?  Because I believe He will, and I am praying very hard, with tears, as to why He is testing us so!!  With all that is going on, why must we have to go through so much more?  I am feeling like Job again.

What to do, what to do.  The clock ticks the minutes, and hours and the days go by, one by one getting closer to THE day ~ when the rent is due, and when the lights will be turned off, etc., etc.  Life is hard.  For the young out there, it is NOT a cakewalk.  You have no one except family to care ABOUT you, and not always care FOR you.  They have their own responsibilities and expenses.  It isn’t required in the complicated world we live in today.  Oh for the days when several generations would live in one big home, like the Walton’s (sorry for the reference)!!  When we could enjoy our brothers and sisters, and grandparents all under one roof!

Today I look at the icons of Jesus Christ and pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon my family.”  I am threatened of life on the street and no place to stay, and yet my wife says she isn’t going anywhere.  Does she know something I don’t?  I have relatives staying with me from North Carolina, a daughter and granddaughter.  I was so relieved to see them, to have family near and dear, which I have missed so much.  My family is spread all over the country,  Florida, Michigan, California, North Carolina, and Arizona.  Why do families and children want to be so far from each other?  What has society done to these precious relationships?

God wants me to build His church, but then His church starts with my family, then it grows from there.  As a married Orthodox priest, I see how family is related to the Church and the Church to family.  The Church has helped us, but is unable to help us completely.  Thank God for what they could do!

Is this a plea for help?  Or is this an observation of someone in need maybe too proud to ask or to afraid of rejection?  It is probably both.  Some of you are subscribed to my blog and others aren’t.  I wish all my friends were subscribed to my blog.  Not just for this piece I am writing now, but for the instruction and writing that I have done to teach you the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, I fell asleep last night thinking on all these things.  I dreamt weird dreams, about raging rivers, and ragged rock faces, treacherous roads, and strangers hindering me.  I feel as though I am facing doom, but I know my Savior is near me and loves me, and will not let me down…..it’s just the process that really sucks!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

My wife passed away July 29th 2008.

On Baptism

Posted: November 3, 2011 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Pentecostal, Reformed, Repentance, Sacramental
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1 Peter 3:20-21, “which aforetime were disobedient, when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

Baptism – the water of baptism, symbolizing the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, is the means of salvation to all those who receive the Holy Spirit in His quickening, cleansing efficacy. Now as the waters of the flood could not have saved Noah and his family, had they not made use of the ark; so the water of baptism saves no man, but as it is the means of his getting his heart purified by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, and illustrates to him that purification.

John 3:5, “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Jesus asserted the obligation of (baptism) the outward rite, He asserted likewise, as its necessary complement, the presence and creating and informing energy of the Spirit with which John had promised that the coming one should baptize (Matthew 3:11). That as John’s baptism had been unto repentance, for the remission of sins, so the new life must include the real no less than the symbolic cleansing of the old, sinful life, and the infusion by the Spirit of a new and divine principle of life. Thus Jesus’ words included a prophetic reference to the complete ideal of Christian baptism – “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit. 3:5; Eph. 5:26); according to which the two factors are inseparably blended (not the one swallowed up by the other), and the new life is inaugurated both symbolically in the baptism with water, and actually in the renewing by the Holy Spirit, yet so as that the rite, through its association with the Spirit’s energy, is more than a mere symbol: is a veritable vehicle of grace to the recipient, and acquires a substantial part in the inauguration of the new life. Baptism, considered merely as a rite, and apart from the operation of the Spirit, does not and cannot impart the new life. Without the Spirit it is a lie. It is a truthful sign only as the sign of an inward and spiritual grace. ~ M. R. Vincent

Titus 3:4-5, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…”

“The washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” literally means “the laver of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.” It does not mean the act of bathing, but the bath, the laver. The phrase laver of regeneration distinctly refers to baptism, in connection with which and through which as a medium regeneration is conceived as taking place. It is true that nothing is said of faith; but baptism implies faith on the part of its recipient. It has no regenerating effect apart from faith; and the renewing of the Holy Spirit is not bestowed if faith be wanting. ~ M. R. Vincent

Ephesians 5:26, “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…”

“To be connected with having cleansed it by the laver of water: with the word describes that which accompanies the sacrament and which is the peculiar element of baptismal purification. Compare John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” St. Augustine says: “Take away the word, and what is the water but water?” ~ M. R. Vincent

When someone desires baptism, they are asked whether or not they have repented of their sins and placed their faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ. This is the “inquiry” spoken of in 1 Peter 3:21, and the answer is given, “I do repent of my sins, and I have placed my faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ…I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord.”

Therefore, it is clarified of what St. Peter said in Acts 2:38-39, “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all those who are far away, as many as the Lord our God calls to himself.”

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