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Saved by the Word

9/5/2017

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
1 Peter 23-26

We are born again by the Word of God.
The Word of God is the seed that makes that new birth possible and gets people saved.
In the Parable of the sower found in three of the four Gospels, The seed is the Word of God.

The Bible is the Word of God, it was in the beginning with God and it was God.

Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh.

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 1.14

The words of God are spirit and they are life and they bring Salvation.

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Romans 10.17

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."
Ephesians 1.13

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."
Romans 1.16

You can't separate The Word of God with salvation, for the Word of God brings salvation.
You can not be saved without the Word of God.
You can not believe on Christ without hearing of Christ.

We are saved by Grace through Faith alone in The Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith grants access into Grace and Faith comes from hearing The Word of God.

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
Hebrews 4.12

If somebody tries to paraphrase the Gospel in their own words it has to be in tandem with
scripture, You can not be saved without the Word of God.

You could hear the Word of God and then later on someone could explain the Gospel to you in their own words, but the Word of God must have been heard at some point in order for salvation to take place as it is the seed of new life.

It doesn't have to be the whole Bible, it could just be one verse, but hearing the Word of God is the essential seed needed for salvation.

Here are some scriptures for you to meditate on:

"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3.15-18

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
John 3.36

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5.24

"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
John 6.40

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
John 6.47

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"
John 11.25

"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
Acts 10.43

"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
Acts 16.31

"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them" that believe: for there is no difference"
Romans 3.22

"To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
Romans 3.26

"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
Romans 3.28

"For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Romans 4.3

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Romans 10.4

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Romans 10.9

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Galatians 2.16

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9

"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."
John 15.3

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Christ paid it all

4/11/2017

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As I grow on my Christian journey I sometimes have to stop and realise just how far my life has changed in such a relatively short space of time since I came to The Lord.

From truth seeker to Born again Christian through to discipleship.
The changes have been remarkable and I thank The Lord Jesus Christ every day for this new direction.

In the unlikely setting of Melbourne's inner North, I am lucky enough to be in a position to sit down and talk with people on almost a daily basis. There, I have been able to present The Gospel to a considerable amount of people now.

Sometimes, people are not ready to hear a Gospel presentation, however I will still try and share my own Christian testimony, or read them a Bible verse or two and hopefully plant a seed in their mind, before continuing on my way.

Many people don't accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and as sad as that ultimately is (if they don't change) that is their decision and as a Christian worker or Disciple you have to respect their decision and move on, for God has given every person free will to make their own choices.

The Bible tells us there are two major choices available to us, either we elect to come to God
through the life and work on The Cross of His sinless and perfect Son or we choose to live in eternal separation from Him.

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
John 3.18

"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
Acts 16:30-31

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever belietheth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
John 3.16-17

Thankfully, I do meet many people on my travels who do accept Jesus as their Saviour and are saved
and it is always great listening to and sharing stories with fellow Christians, and I have learned a great deal from them.

Worryingly though, there are many who claim to be Christian but are so far wrong on doctrine they are not saved. This is an area of major concern with potentially eternal ramifications.

The Bible makes it clear that once you're born again and saved you're always saved,
yet one of the biggest obstacles I see is people who believe in a works based Salvation.
These people wrongly believe that it is faith plus their own good works which will take them to Heaven when they die.

There is no ambiguity when it comes to Christ's finished work on The Cross. Salvation is a free gift.
If you had to work for it it could not be considered free.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"
Romans 3:24

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
Romans 4:5

You can not work your way to heaven no matter how much good you think you do.
Time and time again in The Bible the question is asked "What must I do to be saved?" and over and over again the answer is simply to believe on The Lord Jesus Christ.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
John 6.47

"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God"
1 John 5-10

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
John 6:35

Another false teaching I sometimes encounter is a repent of your sins Gospel which proclaims that first of all we must stop sinning to qualify for salvation. This is commonly known as 'Lordship salvation' and again is works based, as it is declaring that it takes your own good works (stop sinning) plus Faith in Christ to be saved.

What this means is that the person is not putting ALL their Faith in Jesus and are adding works to get them to heaven.

Repentance is not ceasing from sinful bad habits, nor even being willing to turn from one's sins;
God himself repented many times in The Bible and He is, of course, without sin.

Repentance means to turn, to change.
Repentance in a Salvation context is to turn towards God. Accepting that you can't make it through on your own and turning to The Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.

Both John the baptist and Jesus Himself said 'repent and believe' They did not say repent of your sins and be saved.
Repent means to turn, to change. Once again, for the unsaved unbeliever it would mean to turn from not believing or from whatever they believed previously, to believing on The Lord Jesus Christ.

Not once is the term 'repent of your sins' written in the Bible.
To repent of our sins is something us Christians should do every day (during prayer) as it is impossible to be completely sinless while we are still in the flesh.

If you become backslidden and/or continue to live a life of major sin once you are saved, God will punish you in this physical life. He will discipline you like a parent would discipline their disobedient child, but this does not compromise your Salvation.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37

Many people have confused being a humble Christian with Discipleship.
Jesus commands that the disciple pick up their cross and follow Him. Putting the Christian life first before everything and everyone else. Not every Christian has this will or calling.

Others confuse Sanctification with Salvation.
Salvation begins the very moment we are saved in Christ, where as sanctification continues on and on as we grow in the spirit.

Many people claim to be Christian but don't truly know Jesus, they don't fully trust in him and so they don't truly know Him. If they don't change it will be too late some day.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Matthew 7:21-23

Salvation is a one-time event, it is only by the washing of the blood of Jesus that you are saved, once you are saved. You can not then do anything to lose your salvation. You are born again and have
The Holy Spirit living inside you.

All born again believers are permanently sealed unto the day of redemption by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration can't be undone.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:3

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
Ephesians 4:30

God is not the author of confusion. Once you've been saved you've been passed from death to life,
It is a supernatural event. You are born into The Family of God and it is permanent. The eternal security of the believer is real. God gives us this promise, this peace of mind.

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one."
John 10:28-30

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory." Ephesians 1:12

We simply have to Believe to be saved. You simply have to accept salvation as a free gift.
The Bible is clear, the only way to heaven and eternal life is through Jesus Christ.

"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day"
John 6:40

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39

"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
1 John 5:10

When we are saved we are given a new status, we are born again, we are right with God and forgiven.
We enter into a new Family, we are included into God's people and we are offered a new future,
we are transformed through Christ. We are liberated to love God and neighbour.

The Blood of Jesus Christ washes away our sins and frees us from an eternity of suffering and condemnation. Believers are saved because of Christ's finished work on The Cross. We can do nothing to earn Salvation. It is a free gift given to all who chose to except it regardless of race, age, maturity or merit.

Put all your Faith in Jesus, and let your good works become rewards in Heaven.

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A Clear Gospel Presentation

2/22/2017

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A Clear Gospel Presentation
The Bible way to Heaven

1.)Admit you are a sinner
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God"
Romans 3.23
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”
Romans 3:10
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
1 John 1:8

For no one is good enough to make it to Heaven on his or her merit.
No matter how much good we do we still come short

2.)Realize the penalty for sin
“For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6.23

Just as there are wages for good, there is punishment for wrong.
The penalty for our sin is eternal death in a place called Hell.

3.)Believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again for you.
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Romans 10.9
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
John 6.47

4.)Trust Christ alone as your saviour
"But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"
Romans 6.23
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"
Romans 10:13
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever belietheth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3.16

Eternal life is a gift purchased by the blood of Jesus and offered freely to those who call upon Him by faith. Anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved forever. Being saved is a one time event.

Jesus died, was buried and resurrected.

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
1st Corinthians 15:1-4

Here is a prayer, please understand it's not mere words that save,
but your faith in Jesus Christ.

Dear Jesus,
I know that I am a sinner and I deserve to go to Hell.
But I believe that you died on the cross for me.
Please save me and take me to Heaven when I die.
I'm only trusting in you Jesus.
Amen

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Revelation 3:20

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My Testimony

7/16/2016

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Over the past 18 months or so, I have grown stronger and stronger in Faith each day to the point that I now put the word Christian before any other title I have given myself.
For instance Christian Singer/Songwriter, Christian Poet, Christian Writer for my creative pursuits.
Christian soccer coach for my sporting aspirations, Christian salesperson for my occupation.
All of these things can of course be simply merged together under the term 'Disciple'
because above all else I consider myself a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In October 2015, I made the decision to drive across Australia from my home town of Perth to Melbourne and it has been an amazing experience so far.
Many people thought I was crazy to even contemplate such a journey in my 2006 Ford Falcon XT!

But I knew The Lord would look after me, right from finding my travel partner, to our choice of itinerary...via Margaret River, Albany and Esperance before heading up through the desert...
I felt I was being guided the whole time.

During that trip and earlier trips to The South West and The Great Southern in W.A
I was able to understand God on a new level.

Not only as our Father, our Saviour, The Creator of it all, The King of Kings, as Jesus Christ who was God manifest in the flesh, but also as a great artist, a brilliant architect, a master craftsman.

As I drove across the stunning beauty of this incredible country, visiting spectacular coastlines,
watching the wonder of sunlight glistening across the ocean with nights spent in awe of countless stars lighting up the vast open sky, I began to understand how God in his infinite genius had brought all this to fruition and that man in his foolish ways had destroyed much of it, usually in the name of 'progress', or in his thirst for power or greed. But, nethertheless, in it's intrinsic form, this planet is perfection.

I also learned that God's sense of timing is always perfect.
Somebody once told me that a year for God maybe 1000 years for us, and so when we ask for something and invariably get disappointed when it doesn't arrive straight away, well we shouldn't because God will usually give us what we need, not necessarily what we want.

Long term this always works out best for us Christians, I have witnessed this in my own life and I am so grateful now that when I was younger, a more foolish man seeking earthly rewards,
God withheld them from me, forcing me to grow. Some of these requests began to appear in my life later on in my journey, after I had grown and matured sufficiently to handle them.

I have began to understand how God may use a writer, pastor, politician, musician, engineer, teacher, scientist or any person for that matter, to create something new, be it intellectual or something more tangible, for the better good of humanity.

I also learned that the devil will attempt to use an unsaved person living in sin, to cause havoc in as many peoples lives as possible. I learned that the only way to avoid the devil and his minions is to strengthen my Faith and as The Scriptures say "Put on the full armour of God." Ephesians 6.10-18

Speaking of sin, when I grew up in Perth, W.A it was everywhere, it was unavoidable.
But the more I later became immersed in Jesus and the Bible, the more I was truly repulsed by the sins I committed earlier in life.

I have repented, and though of course I am in no ways sinless, far from it, no mortal man is,
I am trying my best everyday to be the best person as I can, to be as Christ like as possible.
I am vigilant as to what I watch, who I seek fellowship with, where I work...does it line up with God's plan for me? Does it line up with The Scriptures? I'm constantly asking the questions and of course The Holy Spirit guides me.

It has been a long journey to find Salvation, I grew up a lukewarm Christian, fell off the rails in my late teens/early to mid 20's, looked outside myself for happiness for so long, yet God knew all along I would come back to him.

I read the philosophies of man, studied the great worldly songwriters, listened to many different points of view on religion and spirituality... only to realise that it all means absolutely nothing compared to one drop of the precious blood that Jesus Christ shed for us on The Cross in Calvary.

I praise the Lord that he would give me this opportunity to serve him.
I hope to lead as many souls to Christ as I can and I promise I will never turn away from my commitment to him.

Yours sincerely
Phillip Ragan

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Prelude to my Testimony

7/16/2016

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Recently I was asked to write a Testimony of Faith for a Bible college application.
Before I share it with you I decided to write some notes.

For those who read any of my three earlier entries to this site or if you ever read my philosophical essay, Winter Sun, I was quoting a lot of worldly musicians, writers and philosophers. For a brief period there I was even calling myself a philosopher!

Anyway, I have decided to delete that earlier writing as I don't subscribe to that point of view anymore,
Rather my belief now is that all the truth and wisdom one needs can be found in The Holy Bible.

I always believed in God, but I didn't truly know Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Matthew 7:7
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"

I guess my story so far was of a person who was very tenacious in his search for the truth and thanks to the Grace of The Lord Jesus Christ, I found direction and received Salvation.

My advise to you, should you want it, is to get yourself a King James Bible and read it cover to cover over the course of a year, and pray to God that the Holy Spirit will guide you, helping it to make sense to you. The more you read it the more it becomes clearer to you. You can never stop learning from it as it is an infinite and supernatural book.

If you can't read it all right now, then start with the 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
They make up what some scholars refer to as The heart of The Bible. Then read Acts (which was also written by Luke) Romans and then 1st Corinthians where you will receive a clear instruction in Chapter 15.1-4 on what is required to receive and hear the Gospel yourself. (If you're already saved then God bless you!)

Let the power of God's Word move you! If you're unsaved, get saved!
It will change your life and destiny forever.

Best Regards
Phil

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Forward>>

Saved by the Word

Christ paid it all

A Clear Gospel Presentation

My Testimony

Prelude to my Testimony

March 26th, 2014

March 26th, 2014

May 20th, 2013

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