Simple Salvation

By Debbie Gregory Johnson

Are you feeling as if your world is falling apart? Are you stewing in sour air? Do you think you have lost control? Our homes have become our workplaces, our daycares, and the hub of our social activity. We are working from quarantined homes with limits set on holiday dinners. We feel we have lost our grip on circumstances in our lives. Massive changes bring stress and anxiety, yet they can provide a reality check on our priorities. We need peace and serenity in our lives; we need to find Jesus again.

In Simple Salvation, author Debbie Gregory Johnson focuses on gaining internal peace from the gospels, specifically the salvation of your soul, the simple salvation that is available to all who ask. Through scriptural examples, personal stories, and testimonies of others who have found peace and salvation, she helps you discover the steps to Jesus and the different paths to salvation with resulting peace.

Simple Salvation offers a simple approach to the complex question of how Christ can heal you. Johnson shares that you must ensure you have personal knowledge of the Savior. Check your heart and soul. Do you know for sure where you stand? Are you ready if Jesus returns tomorrow to gather his saints?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664234192

Debbie Gregory Johnson

Debbie Johnson’s first book is Simple Salvation. She grew up in Tennessee and lived in Gallatin, TN (voted the Nicest City in America by Reader’s Digest in 2017). After retirement in 2020, her family moved to a 120-acre family farm in rural Tennessee. She is married to Chris Johnson and has two sons, Greg and Sam and two dogs, Katie Marie (a boxer/boston terrier mix) and Johnny Blue “Cash” (a boston terrier). She graduated from Western Kentucky University and Volunteer State Community College. She has over 30 years in senior human resources management. She is a member of Victory Missionary Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where Jesus Christ is the main attraction. Debbie loves the beach, walks on the farm, reading, cooking and listening to music. Sometimes in life you know it’s a God-thing, and that’s the way Debbie’s work on this book was guided from 2009 to current day 2021. God provided the title, the script and message. Be still, open your heart and listen to Him, the Prince of Peace, to find your simple salvation.

Book preview

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DEBBIE GREGORY JOHNSON

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Copyright © 2021 Debbie Gregory Johnson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3418-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3420-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3419-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021909594

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/28/2021

Psalms 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Want to Live Forever?

2 Material Things vs. Eternal Things

3 An Empty Church

4 Nehemiah: When He Prayed, God Showed Up

5 Scriptures and Testimonies on Salvation

6 Importance of Songs in Worship

7 Jesus Died on the Cross and Arose: His Purpose for Us

8 Pricked Heart: Conviction

9 Simple Steps to Jesus and a Simple Question: How Could a Loving God Send Someone to Hell?

10 The Lord Is My Shepherd

11 Different Ways to Be Saved

12 Personal One-to-One Relationships with Christ

13 Faith Is Knowing God Is Within You, Simply Stated

Endnotes

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

This book is for all ages who have longing hearts and troubled insides, stewing in sour air. Something is missing in their daily lives, but what? Are they missing the love of Jesus? Our nation needs peace, not worldly things, and it all starts with individual peace, simple salvation. John 16:33 reads, These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And 1 John 4:7–8 says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Each of us has to choose to accept or reject the gospel. No one can become part of God’s kingdom on the basis of heritage or whom one knows. We need to pray like Nehemiah and revive and restore the people of God. I want to help you discover the simple steps to Jesus and the different paths to salvation with resulting peace. Christianity is not for people who think they are already living well but for those people who acknowledge their failures, need to do better, and, most importantly, need Jesus.

Testimonies of those who have found peace and the scriptures found in the gospels for salvation will help you find answers. Different religious leaders have various approaches to salvation. You need to find your personal peace of mind and, more importantly, a personal peace of the heart. You can speak directly to Him, not through a counselor or priest, and find your peace today.

Matthew 6:34 says, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Do you ever exercise? Miranda Esmonde-White exercises your body every morning with stretching and strengthening workouts, pulling your connective tissues. The body is the temple. Take care of yourself; both mind and body need exercise and rest. The best place to rest is in the Word. Pull out your Bible or buy a Bible with study notes and make it your daily routine. You will notice an improvement in your concentration and focus.

Just like Esmonde-White, who strengthens your core, God will provide strength to your mind, and you will have mental alertness as you walk with Him. You can even read the maps and walk with Him through Galilee. I love to do this and imagine I am on the steps He took while on earth.

The final step in finding peace is knowing that He is within you. Jesus’s death on the cross was His purpose for living and our answer to eternal life for the soul. He is our shepherd caring for us. We are His flock and are lost sheep without him. Matthew 11:28–30 reads, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Signs of the times are warning us to take charge of our personal lives and put them in order. There’s no time to waste. Begin your walk with Him now. Pray for salvation, humankind’s first and greatest need. The nation needs to be saved. Seek and save that which has been lost. It is the very reason He came. Spend time in fervent, earnest prayer. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees, said William Cowper.²⁰

What God can do, prayer can do. The power of prayer is not in the one who prays but in the One who answers. The Holy Spirit will help you in your weakness. It comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness. The Lord has compassion and mercy. It may not be an instant cure as we desire or want, but He has a plan for us in His time.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:12–13)

The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life, Of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

God’s Spirit is right alongside, helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to say in prayer, it really doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our silent sighs, our aching groans. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26).

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1–3)

Troubles humble us and drive us back to Him and away from the world. Can we all agree that our nation needs peace now more than ever? We also need to know where we stand. Are we standing with God or against Him? God’s warfare must be carried on with calmness and true faith. Hope on Him alone. God needs to bless America, and He can and will. Following is a definition of the word peace from Webster’s dictionary:

1: a state of tranquility or quiet: such as a: freedom from civil disturbance. Peace and order were finally restored in the town. b: a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom a breach of the peace 2: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions I have been in perfect peace and contentment—J. H. Newman 3: harmony in personal relations The sisters are at peace with each other. 4a: a state or period of mutual concord between governments. 5—used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell at peace: in a state of concord or tranquility. The problem was settled and his mind was at peace.

Has our nation changed from one generation to the next? Most definitely it has. For example, I found a copy of Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible for Young and Old Readers, which belonged to Mama Johnson, my husband’s paternal grandmother. The foreword tells of the author’s earliest recollections sitting with a group of other children with his father in the center and a huge Bible on the table in front of the group. From Creation to the Judgment, it was the greatest picture book any child could ask for. His father would tell the children Bible stories. The old Bible was completely worn out before the storytelling period ended, lasting over two generations of children. Hurlbut’s Story was the result of his effort to share the gospel. The early account was translated into many languages.

God can bring down nations. He can smash them like clay jars (a symbol used). He has the power to reshape a nation to conform to His will. We need to listen and repent. Then you will know I am the Lord appears more than fifty times in the book of Ezekiel. God reigns supreme. Always remember that punishment will come to all who put other things as priorities.

Do you think this is happening in today’s world? Are our children brought up to fear the Lord? Do you fear the Lord?¹ Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness And has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD And rely upon his God (Isaiah 50:10).

In the book of Amos, brothers and sisters had drifted from God. Even though they had abandoned their faith in God, they pretended to be religious. Amos, a fiery, fearless shepherd, warned them of their sins and God’s punishments to come. Eventually God will restore His people and make them great again. Have we grown complacent? Don’t become so involved in the big religions that you miss the simple words of Christ.

Pictures can make a story come to life. As a little girl looking at the family Bible, I would see the pictures in color of Jesus on the cross, His blood dripping down to the ground, Jesus’s lifeless body taken down from the cross, the stones rolled away to reveal an empty tomb, and His ascension to heaven.

The Bible is speaking to all of us now. Open His Word and you will find your individual peace, simple salvation. Prepare to see Jesus in action. The words will jump off the page for you. Feel His tugging at you to join Him. You can rest while the world struggles. Experience His faithfulness!

Today’s world is disturbing. Humble before the Master, the Mighty One, and ask for forgiveness. Only He can heal our land. Peace, be still. God will give you peace. In the middle of the night, get on your knees. When a man really sees himself as Jesus sees him, sometimes the sin is not as ugly as the pride of his own heart against Christ. In the light of Him, the horror of human pride is so disturbing.

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:16–17)

Every believer in Christ has received the seal of God’s anointing in his or her heart when anointed with the Holy Spirit. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

Behave Like a Christian. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. (Romans 12:9–13)

God calls on all of us to work against injustices. We should have generous souls, especially in aiding those less fortunate. Check to see if you are self- or God-centered. There are many ways that unsaved people think they are saved:

1. They think they are good people. I have lived a good life.

2. They have been blessed with prosperity.

3. They have recited a sinner’s prayer and accepted Jesus.

4. They have performed good deeds.

5. They have followed a certain denomination or religion of their forefathers, who were good, saved people.

You must make sure that you have personal knowledge of our Savior. A simple salvation, a personal matter between just you and the Savior. Check your heart and soul. Do you know for sure where you stand? Are you ready if Jesus returns tomorrow to gather His saints?

1

WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?

Eternity: What Does It Mean to You?

A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.

—Proverbs 16:9

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

—1 John 1:7

This book focuses on internal peace from the gospels, specifically salvation of your soul, the simple salvation that is available to all who ask. Have you asked?

Much has happened since I started work again on this book after my retirement in January 2020. We have experienced uneasiness in the country with the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, marching in the streets for civil unrest, face masks, the opioid crisis, and sex trafficking, and don’t forget the killer hornets.

During this trying time in our country, my personal life also became front and center. My husband had a heart attack in the parking lot after attending church. I drove him to the emergency room. He had open-heart surgery. God blessed us with His healing hands, and my husband is back at work.

I have started writing again this afternoon with a full heart and knowing that valleys make you stronger if you have found the Lord. So now this book’s message is more important than ever before.

Everyone faces death, and we all know that. But dealing with death doesn’t come easy. I am sharing some of my stories with you and hope that you will see that all can be overcome with Jesus at your side. We do not know the time or day of our death. It can come at any moment so you need to be prepared to meet your maker. If you don’t know Jesus, make it a priority today to read this book and find the Savior. He is waiting for you! Surrender your precious life to Him.

Please remember you cannot get all the knowledge and then be saved. Wisdom comes after salvation. The Holy Ghost covers the blood now. We were lost; now we are found.