April 12th Devotional Thought
Revelation 3:7-8, “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
According to Jesus’ letter to the church in Philadelphia, God has opened a door for the message of the gospel. In my message last night, I referenced the Roman Road. This is a series of verses in the book of Romans that lays out a series of thoughts on what it means to recognize our need for a savior and how to respond by believing in Jesus as the Son of God and receiving his forgiveness in our lives.
Although salvation is so much MORE than a prayer, I want you to have some idea of HOW to walk people through these verses to help them understand YOUR journey of conversion and what they can do to begin the same spiritual journey. Here is what I would do. Memorize the location of Romans 3:23. Then in the margin of your bible, write the next verse (Example: write Romans 6:23 in the margin next to Romans 3:23) so you can walk them through all the verses without feeling like you have to memorize it all.
Here is the list:
- Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
- Romans 6:23a “…The wages of sin is death…”
- Romans 6:23b “…But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!”
- Romans 10:13 “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!”
- Romans 10:9,10 “…If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
“I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” With the 65 students we had last night, there were 12 countries and 14 different states listed. May God use the open doors for us to engage people each and every day with the power of the gospel message!
