SAVED THROUGH FAITH
Tuesday – November 1, 2016
Greetings and welcome to The Three Minute Word, a publication of Eastern Gate Ministries International. We are one week away from the final votes being cast not only for President of the United States but thousands of other elected positions across America. It is important that each of us have prayed and looked at the platforms of the two major parties and see which one most closely reflects a Biblical position. The following links may help. https://www.gop.com/the-2016-republican-party-platform/ or https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf Just a few items to consider is that the Democratic Platform promotes abortion at every level of development and it’s called a women’s healthcare choice. The Republican Platform respects all life especially in the womb. The Democratic Platform promotes many sexual perversions whereas the Republican Platform promotes that marriage is between one man and one woman. The Democratic Platform wants to open the floodgates of immigration from Muslim nations. The Republican Platform seeks to look at our immigration mechanisms so that we know we are admitting people who want to be Americans, which embrace our Judeo-Christian foundation. The Democratic Platform wants to further infringe our God given right of self-defense by weakening the Second Amendment. The Republican Platform seeks to strengthen and protect the right to keep and bear arms which is the function of government. Our rights are from God and the purpose of government is to maintain an orderly structure that enshrines (preserves, protects, treasures, cherishes, hallows) those rights.
Not voting, not voting for the top of the ticket, casting third party votes, and write-in votes are not the answer in this election cycle, but an abdication of our responsibility before God. Ignore your emotions and do not be a part of further entrenching wickedness via the Democratic machine in our government. Furthermore when a person votes for a person who is standing on a platform that embraces abortion, same sex marriage and so on like the Democratic Platform the Scripture tells us we are guilty before God of those abominations.
2 John 1:10-11 (KJV)
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Now let us return to our study of Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:7-10 (KJV)
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Salvation is certainly a wonderful gift beyond any kind of comparison. When we hear the “good news” and exercise the faith that was built up by hearing the anointed Word of God we are saved. We cannot quicken our dead soul, we cannot translate ourselves into the Kingdom of God, we cannot put ourselves in right standing with the Heavenly Father, we cannot fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit, we cannot impart to ourselves spiritual gifts, we cannot give ourselves an incorruptible body at the catching away, we cannot give ourselves this Heavenly wealth and health plan, these are all part of the gift of salvation that comes with saying yes, Jesus be my Lord.
Notice at the end of verse eight the phrase “the gift of God”. This is THE gift of God. Within this singular gift are a multitude of gifts. The gift of salvation comes simply with confession but access to the other gifts comes with the exercise of faith in love led of the Spirit of God. In order to exercise faith and love concerning something you have to know about it and that you are entitled to that thing.
2 Peter 1:2-3 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
At salvation we have entered the front door and we are standing just inside the door. Entrance into the Kingdom of God is a free gift once we receive the One who paid the price of our admission. Everything inside that door is for us to use as sons of God in our assignments to build the family name, the Kingdom of God, and carry out the seven mandates of God given from the beginning. As we grow in knowledge and the proper exercise of that knowledge we grow in responsibility and the evidence of the Kingdom of God in our physical realm is increasingly evident. I will pick up with Ephesians 2:9 tomorrow and reconcile it with James 2:26.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
James 2:26 (KJV)
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
