Three Essentials Of The Christian Life

These things we cannot survive without in this physical world, they are:

• Air to breathe

• Water

• Food

• Sleep

• Shelter

• Income

These things are essential to life here on earth.

Also, when it comes to our spiritual life there are somethings that are essential to live the Christian life.

In a few minutes I will be sharing with you some of the things that are essential to our spiritual life.

However, if you listen to some religious groups they will state there are many other things beside these three essential things that I will be sharing with you that the Bible talks about that are essential for salvation, such as:

(1) Water Baptism – Water baptism is something that a Christian do after they are saved. The thief on the cross never had the opportunity to be baptized but the Lord said to him THIS DAY THY SHALL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.

(2) Church membership – Is something every Christian should do after they are saved is unite with a group of believers. But there are denominations that teach people they must join their church because they are THE CHURCH. Church membership has nothing to do acquiring salvation.

(3) Tithing –No one can buy their way into the kingdom of God.

(4) Works – Good works are our rewards in heaven, not our salvation.

These people who add to what the Bible tells us a person must do to be saved or known as LEGALIST.

WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE TRULY ESSENTIAL TO OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE?

It is essential that we have…

I. FAITH

To be saved you must believe in God.

Faith is probably preached about more than any subject of the Bible, yet it seems to be something that most Christians know very little about.

But there are some who live by faith every day!!

Illus: An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout "PRAISE THE LORD!"

Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, "There ain't no God!!"

Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for GOD to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted "PRAISE THE LORD. GOD I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!"

The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"

The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Aha! I told you there was no God. I bought those groceries, God didn't."

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, "PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!"

We cannot read about a single individual in the Bible, and not see:

• How his/her faith affected him/her in a positive way.

• How the lack of faith affected him/her in a negative way.

Something we all should be seeking God to do for us, is to strengthen our faith.

I have never seen so many worried people as we have today. They live their life as if God is dead.

• That is understandable when it comes to those who do not know the Lord Jesus conducting themselves like this. They cannot cry out for the devil to help them!

• But you will find as many christians as there are sinners who live a life of worry as sinners.

Illus: Our attitude should be like that of the father who came to the Lord, who said, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

This is one of the great needs of the hour, in every church and in every home.

But when you have…

1) People who do not bother to pray each day.

2) People who do not take time to read God’s Word each day.

3) People who do not attend a Bible-teaching church each week.

What you have is a society people of people worrying about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING EACH DAY!!!

Many folks do not know this, but there are two kinds of atheists.

A. THE SPOKEN ATHEIST

Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

It is not a rare thing any more to hear a man say, "I do not believe there is such a thing as God."

Illus: I remember the first time I met a man who stated he was an atheist. I looked at him and I thought how could a person live in a world that surround his life with God’s Creation and not believe in God.