"In Your Heart?"

My little girl once asked, "how does jesus get into my heart?" That's a really popular thought in Christianity but it's simply not biblical. How about these, "have you prayed "the sinner's prayer?" "Have you read the "four spiritual laws?" Do any of these sound familiar? Can I share something with you? None of them are biblical. That's right. You will not find anywhere in the bible any of these concepts. Please take note, I'm not suggesting that they are bad or wrong. You won't find the trinity in the bible either but that is an accepted concept in orthodox Christianity.

So, just how did early Christians "get saved"? That concept is in the Bible so we do have a framework from which to begin. here are some concepts.

• We read that God loved the world so much that he gave his son so that whoever believes would have eternal life.
• Paul says that "by grace you have been saved, through faith and not from works..." and that 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."

Why am I bringing all this up? Because in doing "church" differently, I think we need to get back to the basics. Let's get away from all of the processes that we've created. The Bible says that to be saved we need to do two things, believe it and confess it. We've created such a "country club" like atmosphere with our christianese and secret phrases and handshakes (OK, maybe not the handshakes) that we alienate ourselves. Don't get me wrong, the message alone will alienate us but we don't need to make it any harder. Remember, the bible teaches that God loved the whole world that whoever believes that's pretty big, it's not exclusive of anyone, and confesses that belief, would be saved.