Class 1: The Power Of Salvation | Salvation Made Simple

If you have just given your life to Jesus, congratulations. If you're rededicating your life to Christ, congratulations. And if you have been saved for your whole life, congratulations. This means you are ready to grow deeper in your faith with God. Hi, I'm Michael. And today we're talking about the power of salvation. In this digital discipleship course that we are calling Salvation Made Simple. Salvation is not just behavior modification. It's spiritual transformation. It could be called spiritual formation. It's going from life to death. And salvation is the acknowledgement of what Jesus has done that we could not do for ourselves. I think about me and my wife, Natalie, when we had our first of four children, Isabella. When we brought her home from the hospital, number one, we had no idea what we were doing. But the thing that I remember the most is that our beautiful child that was made from love couldn't do anything for herself. We did everything for her because we loved her. We made sure she was fed. We made sure she was nurtured. We made sure when she made a mess, we cleaned her up. We even didn't get much sleep in that season, but made sure she was sleeping as sound as she could. Why?

Because she could not do it for herself. And if it's difficult to connect to the gravity of what our Savior has done for us, I want to introduce you to a story, or maybe better yet, a picture, of a father and son duo named Team Hoyt, who participated in over 1,000 races. Now, this may not seem like a lot to you, but the son, Rick, has cerebral palsy. He cannot walk, he cannot run on his own, and he definitely cannot race by himself. This is what our Savior has done for us. We are all the boy in the chair. God is pushing all of us to the finish line of our purpose. And that's why we must embrace salvation to be the greatest gift that God has ever given us. Second Corinthians 5.17 says it like this. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old has passed away. Behold, like new, habra kadabra, everything has begun. Today starts a new life for you. I want you to believe that. I want you to breathe that in. I want you to own that. Today starts a brand new life for you. And Second Corinthians goes on to say in verse 21, for God made Christ who never sinned, never did anything wrong, never cussed nobody out, never stole the thing.

He made him the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through what Christ Jesus has done. He did it for us. He did it for me. He did it for you. He did it so we could be free. And now you get a new title. You get a new identity. You are now the righteousness of Christ. Yeah, wear that. Feel that. Not liar, not cheater, not manipulator, not one who's been thrown away. I am the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2.8 and 9 says it like this. For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith. And this is not from ourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no man and no woman can boast. Did you hear clearly what this scripture said? Salvation is a gift. Now, I don't know about you, but I like gifts. I like when my wife wraps something up for me and I had no idea what was inside. But you know what kind of gift I like even more? Is a gift that had value and once was in somebody else's possession. And I said, man, I really like that jacket you have on, or I like that shoes, and I know what it is

because I saw it on them. And then they wrap it up and bring it to me in my size and I get that gift. That is what we call representing the gift of salvation. And at Transformation Church, we believe that is part of the mission, not just to represent God, but represent him. And that's what we get at salvation because this is a gift from God. It's not a reward for good behavior. See, the difference between Christianity and every other religion is that our work is not a prerequisite for a relationship with God. Every other religion tells you work, work, work, do something, and maybe our God. come and give you some great little gift. No, God says this is a free gift and there's nothing you could do to earn this. All you have to do is receive it. So when you come to Jesus, you don't have to clean yourself up to come to God. He meets you right where you are. I need somebody to hear me say this. You don't have to present yourself well. God doesn't bless who you pretend to be. He blesses who you really are. And you can find this truth in the parable of the prodigal son. But we'll talk about that more in the next class.

He's the only one, Jesus, that if you give him your heart, he'll help you change your habits. I don't care what you did. I don't care where you were. I don't care what you were even planning after this. When Jesus comes in, it's a divine interruption. The fact that you're watching this video is a divine interruption. There are family cycles and generational patterns that are being interrupted right now because God has a plan for your future that is good to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. And what does that mean? That your past does not disqualify you from God's future for you. Becoming a new creation means receiving a new identity. Let me explain to you the revelation that I'm so excited for you to be able to grasp. It's called the six steps to salvation made simple. Number one, recognize you're a sinner. I hate to break it to you, but you just like me. There is nobody else that's better than anybody that's living in this fallen world. According to the Bible in Romans 3.23, it says, for everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Today, if you just recognize that you're a sinner, what you do is say, I qualify for salvation.

Number two, you repent. And what does that word mean? Turn, you repent and turn to Jesus. I think about when I'm going the wrong way on the highway, there's some cities I go into and I don't know who made up their highway systems, but if you miss one wrong turn, you can go off track for a long time. But the thing that I found out is that there's little breaks in the highway that they allow you to make U-turns. And what those U-turns are there for is for people who recognize they're going the wrong way and they repent or they turn. And God is saying, don't turn to culture. Don't turn to numbing. Don't turn to frustration, turn to Jesus. Acts 3.19 says to all of us, repent then and turn to God. I mean, it's so simple y'all. So that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. How many of us need refreshing? How many of us need our sins to be wiped out? The prerequisite for that is to repent. Number three, receive Jesus and embrace grace. Romans 10.9 puts it so simple. It says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Not you might be saved,

not it's the first step to you getting saved. It literally is what God desired and designed for you to get. And I know it seems so easy. It's like, well, who do I gotta confess to? And what do I gotta do? And how many hoops that do I have to jump through? Religion makes relationship with God difficult. Jesus wants relationship with him easy. Now there's some requirements after you come into relationship with him to continue to change, but to get in, to start this thing, to be connected forever, all you have to do is believe and receive. Number four, reconnect to a real relationship with God. I thank God that because of Jesus, I don't have to have a mediator to talk to God. I don't need a prophet. I don't need a pastor. I don't need a middleman. The Bible tells us because I believe in Jesus that the veil or the wall or the distance between me and God is now broken down and I can come boldly to the throne of grace and ask him for anything I need at any time because he is here to help me. And I want you to know that this decision you made just opened up God to you in a whole new way. Romans 5, one says it like this. Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight

by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ, our Lord, has done for us. This is good news. This is the gospel. Number five, realize God has given you everything you need at salvation to live a godly life. Now, this is a big one because I know that you think that I need. to figure out some more stuff. No, you need to uncover what God has already placed right there. Have you ever lost your keys? Have you ever lost something valuable? Many times it's not that you need to go get a new one, you need to take off the stuff that's on top of it. So when I lose my keys, the first thing I do is go to the couch and I'll pull up every pillow, every blanket, all the clothes. Why? Because what I'm looking for has to be uncovered. Second Peter, chapter one, verse three. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. Church, we're down to the last point. If you wanna understand salvation made simple, this is the last thing you need to do. Remember, your eternity is secured.

When you give your life, your heart, your whole mind to Jesus, you're locked in. Your eternity is secured. It took somebody like me who was a liar, a manipulator, addicted to pornography. And God says, I'll throw your sins as far as the East is from the West. And I choose to remember him no more. And I'm writing your name in the Lamb's book of life because I believed in Jesus, the finished work. When he climbed up on that cross, he didn't say to be continued. He said, it is finished. Or in another way, you are secured. Paul tells us in Romans 8, 38, one of the greatest scriptures that you can ever meditate on if you ever feel like something is trying to rip you away from the security that you have in God. He says it like this, and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Remember that your eternity is secured. If you just made this decision for Jesus, I wanna be the first to welcome you to the family of God

and your brand new life. As you walk on this journey, there are some old chapters that you will have to undoubtedly close. Forgiveness is one of the key components to our faith. And what I wanna offer you is a resource to help you forgive. There's a series we did a few years back called Forgiveness University, or as we like to call it around here, FU. This title is the feeling that most of us have, but the requirement from God is for us to learn how to forgive. So some of us need to check back into class. This resource is available on YouTube and I believe it will be an asset to help you walk free from every bondage that has tried to hold you down. So let's take an action step together. Your action step after hearing how simple it is and making the decision for salvation is to just tell somebody. Tell somebody you got saved. Don't be shy about it. Actually, be loud about it. Be proud about it. Because the Bible tells us in Matthew 10, 32, that if we claim Jesus here on earth, he'll claim us in front of God in heaven. Thank you, God, for salvation. Acknowledge this new life that has begun in you. And if you've been saved a long time, I hope you still have vigor and excitement

around your salvation. I hope you get happy like Habakkuk 3.18 tells us. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. This is so exciting. I know what it is to go from death to life. I know what it is to go from hopeless to hopeful. I know what it is to go from trying to being transformed. And today, this is what has happened for you. And the reason really that I'm turning up is because according to Luke 15, 10, all of heaven is rejoicing right now over one person who repents and comes back to Jesus Christ. I am so proud of you. But more importantly, God is proud of you. This is your new life. Get ready to live a transformed life. Let's form life.