Dear friends,
For some time I have been thinking about how we do when we preach the gospel, the good news about our Lord and Savior in todays churches around the world. I am absolutely not saying that it is like this everywhere but in too many churches and on too many places around the world I have seen a new trend teaching about a Christianity based on our own actions and feelings. One of the most important things in the gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we could be saved and forgiven. Forgiveness is one of the most important part in the gospel since we have to realize that we ALL are sinners. We were born sinners into this world because of the very first sin in the beginning. Thats why we need forgiveness and the only one who can forgive our sins is Jesus Christ.
Another thing I seen is people that claim that they will go to heaven no matter what. They have lived a good life and never done anything bad or wrong. If we study the ten commandments it might look easy to start with but when we start to think about the first one about not having other Gods we are already in trouble. The Bible does not mean other Gods like our God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Another God can be you, yourself or if you put something before our God. The list can be made long but when we study the Bible and read in Matthew chapters 5-7 about Jesus sermon on the mount we can ALL many times seen that we have sinned and that we really are sinners. What did Jesus mean with all this when He preached on the mount. Yes, as The Holy Spirit was upon Him, The Holy Spirit convicted all the listeners as well as the disciples that we ALL are sinners and we can not get saved or forgiven without having faith in Him, The Son of God, Jesus Christ who came to save the world, not judge the world.
We really have to realize that we ALL are sinners and we need to repent and ask Jesus to forgive our sins. Without asking Him to forgive our sins I do not believe we are on the right track. Another thing that might be my biggest concern is all the teachings and sermons how we have to do to receive salvation, healing, the spiritual gifts and even our ticket to the Kingdom of God. IF we really study the word of God we can see that all this is given to us by God´s Amazing Grace and love. In our own strength we can do nothing to receive anything of these gifts from God as they are gifts. If you give your child a gift and just before giving it you say: - "you have to do this before I give you the gift". Then it is not longer a gift it becomes something you earn. This is not the way God works. You can definitely NOT earn any of these gifts but you can get them all for free only by faith, believing in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I hear so many people that I really would like to call false teachers but I won´t do it as I do not want to judge anyone. I hear them teach about things you have to do to receive the gifts from God. Some people even say you have to isolate yourself from the world, you can not watch TV, listen to secular music and you have to burn all things in your home that has nothing to do with Christianity. Be careful with those kind of teachers and teachings. As soon as you think just a little bitty taught about you doing something to earn anything from God you take a BIG step out from the grace and all of a sudden you are under the law and the law will slowly press you down and your life will be hard to live as under the law you have to follow each and every law. If you break one law you broke them all. The only one who managed to do this was Jesus Christ when He walked on earth being 100% man but, He was also 100% God and if we think we can do this our own flesh becomes another God and then you are there breaking the first commandment and you really are a sinner, even if you think you do everything you have to do to earn everything from God.
This is why the gospel is so simple and why we have to keep it simple. When we realize that we are sinners we also realize that we need forgiveness and then we will repent and we need to call upon Jesus and ask HIM to forgive us. When we do this, He will say: - Walk in faith, your faith has saved you and your sins are forgiven. Thats where the new life in Christ Jesu has started and thats when you really can shout Halleluja and praise the Lord for your one way ticket to eternal life in heaven. If we read in the Bible about the woman with the issue of blood we also see that she did not do ANYTHING to receive her healing. She had been bleeding for over 12 years and she pressed thru the crowd just to touch the edge of His cloak. She believed that if she did this she would get healed. So happened and to her Jesus said: - "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace". Here we also have to understand that forgiveness and healing walks hand in hand as Jesus Himself asked the disciples what would be easier to say: Your sins are forgiven or take up your bed and walk. This was after He healed a lame man when.
It is the same thing with healings and miracles. We do NOT have to do anything to receive them we just have to have faith and receive. All we have to do is believe. Don´t let anyone get you with false teachings about your own actions being your way to Salvation, healing, deliverance or anything else. Just ask Jesus to give you what you need, pray in faith and receive. Thats how we keep the gospel simple. We NEVER heard Jesus say, I forgive you if you run 40 times up and down the stairs or I will heal you if you promise to lay on your face for four hours a day and read the scriptures for another four hours. No, Jesus did not ask anyone to do anything in favor to what HE gave to all of us, His own life, so you and I could have eternal life in Him. Thats what it is about!
Enough teachings for today but I really felt that on my mind and while I have been writing her I have got so much out of it myself and I feel like I have been preaching to YOU and I am still feeling the presence of the Lord right here where I am right now at home this friday morning. Now it is only the weekend between the next adventure and I am excited about the coming two weeks.
Next week I will be on a missionary trip to Sweden together with my son Sebastian. We will visit some of the prisons in the Stockholm area as well as some rehabilitation homes for alcoholics. We have some great news to tell and I feel led to bring books with me to the prisons and give all the interns an own book to read and an own Bible. I feel that I should do the same in the rehabilitation homes as well as I know that the word of God has power and I know that many people have already been touched by the story of my life and about the mighty things Jesus have done in my life. By giving them one book and one Bible they will soon realize that what is written in the word of God is true and then it is over with their old life and they can receive the Apostle Pauls words in 2 Cor 5:17: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
IF you want to support the prison and rehab ministry we are doing through the Ambassadors For Jesus Christ motorcycle ministry you can buy books and bibles as a gift to an intern.
Your donation can be made to The Ambassadors For Jesus Christ EUROPE
by Bank Transfer to
AKTIA 497000-15427 IBAN-FI5849700010005427 BIC-CODE: HELSFIHH.
Mark the payment prison and rehab ministry. The price for one Bible and one book is 10 euros and that includes us getting there and back. So for 10 euros you can help an intern and for 20 euros you can help two. Please at least say a prayer for all those who will get a book and a Bible that God will speak straight to their heart and soul so they can get saved and set free and be new creatures in Christ Jesus.
Together with pastor Ulf Mannebäck from Church on Wheels we will also do two meetings together next weekend, one in Storvik and one in Sandviken. The following week we are visiting more rehabilitation homes and on wednesday night I will return to Finska Filadelfia (The Finnish Pentecostal Church in Stockholm) with the good news ever. The next four days we will be at the Stockholm Bike Show 2011 as Ambassadors For Jesus Christ together with other Christian Clubs and ministries under the roof of Church on Wheels Europe. Last time we were there 86.000 people visited the exhibition and we gave away thousands of Bibles and we spoke to thousands of people. We have already seen the fruit. If you want to sow into these Bibles and to the exhibition you can use the same banking details and mark your payment Stockholm Bike Show 2011. It is not cheap when we get out there as we have travels and other things as rental for our boot at the exhibition, Bibles and lots of other things to take care of so we can be there.
This was all for now and I will return with some news about what happened on the road when we get back. I am so glad that I can share much of what is taking place on the road these days. Before when I was living in the world being on the road we had a golden rule: "What happens on the road, stays on the road". Thank God for that those days are over and the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." I would like to end this update with the following scripture:
"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39)
Thank you for taking your time reading!
Love Ya´ll !!!
Pontus J. Back
evangelist - Frank Mangs Center
director - Ambassadors For Jesus Christ Europe
