What is Salvation?

On March 18 2009 at 13:00 hours, CCN Citrus Chapter held a special meeting entitled "Who is Jesus? Liar, Legend, Lunatic, or Lord?" Students from the college were invited to watch the documentary film entitled "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel, and were also offered free pizza, cookies, and soft drinks. A few members from the Citrus College Sexploration club joined the meeting including the leader who sparked a thought provoking question: "What is Salvation?"

CCN leader Kevin Nunez replied, "Salvation comes from God, but I first have to give you the bad news..." Both leaders exchanged dialog as Kevin explained how she violated the Ten Commandments in which she will give an account of on the Day of Judgment. He further explained that if anyone is found guilty of breaking God's commandments on judgment day, then they will be sentenced to spend an eternity in the lake of fire.

"I've explained that we need a substitute and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died on the cross. Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me' " Kevin stated.

What is salvation? It's amazing how many modern churches have drifted away from the core of the Christian faith. It pulled the curtain on obtaining grace, mercy, and forgiveness of sins and placed the spotlight of self-satisfaction, life enhancement, and monetary success in which to many is the modern day salvation. Numerous church organizations declare that Jesus died so we are able to be saved from sin, hell, and to obtain peace with God, however the vast majority of sermons are focused to eat, drink, and be merry. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation..."( Hebrews 2:3)

Here are two words we perhaps haven't seen together: Secular Churches.

If one were to examine the definition of the word "secular" they would discover that it means

sec⋅u⋅lar

of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.

What is striking how one of the aspects of being secular is how it is temporal. The mere fact that the bible states that "neither is there salvation in any other" apart from Christ, then ideologies such as Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and other religions that rejects Christ as the only way to God should be deemed "secular" since those practices are temporal. We as Christians should not strive for vain things of the world but for God who is eternal "...for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18) Oh how we should be like the apostle Paul who said "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

CCN treasurer Austin Sefton commented,"Salvation is all through the work of Jesus Christ. It is not through the work of man and man cannot do anything to gain his way into heaven or to be saved. We are saved by grace through faith and it is not of ourselves. It is a gift of God by repenting and surrendering your whole life to Jesus Christ. That is salvation."

Evangelist and CCN member Rudy Betancourt had this to say, "Salvation is to be changed and saved from your sinful nature... to be freed from being controlled by your flesh, to have love in your life, to be freed from hate, bitterness, drugs, lying, stealing, and to know the living God."

"Who is Jesus?" It's interesting how it's stated "Who is Jesus" and not "Who was Jesus?" We could say "Who was Muhammad?" or "Who was Joseph Smith?" since they were temporal. We cannot however say "Who was Jesus" since He is eternal.

"I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen."- Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:18)

-STB

Spring Semester Kicked off with a Rush!!

We're back!!!

An exciting new school year has begun at Citrus College in which the Lord Jesus has granted the blessing for the CCN club to come together again for a brand new journey in the mission to Love God and make disciples. So far the Citrus chapter kicked off the spring semester with their first meeting reviewing the teaching of "Hell's Best Kept Secret" taught by club leader Kevin Nunez. The CCN team explored the confrontational issue of bringing back the use of God's Law in evangelism in which the modern church has forsaken for the past century. The meeting was a great turnout and the topic captivated the team to reach out to the lost, effectively, biblically, the way Jesus did it.

Furthermore, the Citrus College campus has witness the power of God in the last week of winter semester as well as the first week of the spring term when evangelists Steven Gutierrez (A.K.A. Steven the Berean) and Kevin Nunez preached the glorious the Gospel of Jesus in the open air! Students from all over the campus gathered around the concourse to listen as well as share their opinions regarding the future Judgment of God and the grace offered on the finish work of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Some student's became hostile towards the message by exclaiming their views that God is lenient towards everybody and by asking for forgiveness alone would still grant them access in the kingdom of heaven. One instance a student confronted Kevin and disputed the issue that the God of the bible is imperfect since He claims to be a "jealous" God and that jealousy is a human emotion that cannot be demonstrated by a perfect God. Other people who were present agreed to the student's claims. This particular topic is one that has led many away from the Lord such as celebrity talk show host Oprah Winfrey. However, using the context of God's Holy Law and how God has given life to every man, He was repaid not with gratitude but by rejection as man receives God's blessing and gives the credit to idols. Much like a husband encounters his wife with another man, the husband's jealously is a righteous emotion in which without it would prove that he never loved her. God's jealously for us is a righteous jealousy in which it proves His love for us.

As for week two of spring semester, the school clubs gathered together for the Citrus College "Club Rush" in which each club would promote their group and provided sign ups for students who are interested to join. The Citrus CCN group also attended the rush in which they provided candy, gospel tracts, and fliers for the club meetings and as an added bonus the flip chart made an encore appearance in which people tested their intelligence by taking the "Intelligence Test" as well as hearing how they are able to obtain forgiveness of sins by repenting and trusting the Savior. "...How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" Romans 10:15

Please pray for the CCN Citrus College chapter so that the Lord will continue to use them to reach out to the Lost by "pulling [them] out of the fire." Jude 1:23

-STB