Isn’t it interesting that two people can see the same thing and come away with two different conclusions? The same thing can be said concerning what we hear or what we read.<\/p>\n
When the twelve spies were sent to explore the Promised Land in Numbers 13 and 14, they all saw the very same lush green fertile areas and the fruits borne there. Yet ten were intimidated by the size and number of the hostile people who lived there. They said it would be foolish to invade and it couldn’t be done. But, the other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, insisted that with the Lord on their side they could take the territory. By faith, they saw God and His promises beyond the obstacles.<\/p>\n
There are countless examples of the gospel message being preached. Some believed and were baptized, others ignored it and scoffed at it. The same message was preached and heard by multitudes of people, but people reacted differently to it.<\/p>\n
Today, people can read the same passages, hear the same gospel preached to them, and yet react differently toward it: “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved: but he who has not believed shall be condemned<\/em>” (Mark 16:16). “No, Jesus couldn’t have meant that,” some will say. Others will determine that it’s the “believing part” that’s really important in the matter and that the “has been baptized” part is optional and can be or not be followed. Still, some will actually believe that Jesus meant all that He said and that it applies to us today. How about you? Do you believe that Jesus meant all<\/strong>\u00a0that He said on that occasion or just\u00a0part<\/strong>\u00a0of it?<\/p>\n On the Day of Pentecost, just fifty days after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, we find Peter, one of the inspired apostles, making this statement: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission\u00a0<\/em>(forgiveness)\u00a0of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (Acts 2:38). Some will say concerning this: “See you do have to believe and repent and then you are saved. Then you can be baptized later to show that you are already saved.” Then some will say: “How did you come to that conclusion? When Peter said: “Repent and be baptized,” what is so hard to understand that those two requirements go together and are not to be separated?”<\/p>\n There are not two different truths being taught in the passages mentioned above. There is only one right answer. What was taught by Peter in the first century is the same thing that is taught today from the New Testament. As some believed and others did not believe when it was taught by Peter on the Day of Pentecost over two thousand years ago, so it is today that some will believe and others will not believe when the same gospel is taught. Things are not so different now as they were back then. Some will desire to see the truth that is taught and others will refuse. Which side will we find ourselves on: On the side of belief and obedience or on the side of unbelief and disobedience? It is left us to us. God has made the offer of salvation to us through His written Word. We will either accept and obey it, or we will not believe and obey it. Make your choice today.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Shane Williams via The Lilbourn light, Vol. 9, No. 11, March 2009. Isn’t it interesting that two people can see the same thing and come away with two different conclusions? The same thing can be said concerning what we hear or what we read. When the twelve spies were sent to explore the Promised…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[441,761],"class_list":["post-55858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-truth","tag-understanding"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8022,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/whose-idea-what-it-to-send-spies-into-canaan\/","url_meta":{"origin":55858,"position":0},"title":"Whose idea what it to send spies into Canaan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One of our members came to me following our class\u00a0last evening disagreeing with the answer I gave to the question, \"Whose idea was it to send spies into the land of Canaan?\"\u00a0 She believes it was the people's idea not God's. I have studied it more and come up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54173,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-give-a-bribe-in-a-country-where-bribery-is-prevalent-and-demanded\/","url_meta":{"origin":55858,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to give a bribe in a country where bribery is prevalent and demanded?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, is paying a bribe to someone who demands it before justice is practiced a sin? The public sector and almost every institution in my country are choked with extortioners and people expecting bribes. Employment in the public sector is found by paying something to politicians and \"middlemen\" before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-who-but-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":55858,"position":2},"title":"Not Who But What","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Albert Gardner \"It is not who is right-but what is right, that counts.\" The crowd does not make a thing right or wrong. If something is wrong, it remains wrong even if everybody does it. If it is right, it is still right even if nobody does it. Moses\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/following-the-lord-fully\/","url_meta":{"origin":55858,"position":3},"title":"Following the Lord Fully","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Joshua 14:6-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God describes for us the character of various men by referring to them by certain phrases \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Abraham was called a friend of God - James 2:23 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because that is how God referred to him - II Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25094,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-men-with-saul-hear-and-not-hear-the-voice\/","url_meta":{"origin":55858,"position":4},"title":"How could the men with Saul hear and not hear the voice?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you explain the seeming contradiction in these verses from Acts? Acts 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man Acts 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46777,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-the-resurrection-accounts-so-different\/","url_meta":{"origin":55858,"position":5},"title":"Why are the Resurrection Accounts so Different?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier If skeptics jump on anything about the gospel records of Jesus Christ, it is the differences between the four authors' accounts of the resurrection events and appearances. For example, Matthew mentions an angel who met the women at the tomb sitting on the rolled-away stone (Matthew 28:2).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}