The following is the way I like to share the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a non-believer. I explain that salvation in Jesus Christ is like a chocolate bar. If I hand them a chocolate bar as a free gift, the normal reaction is for them to unwrap the chocolate bar and to eat it and enjoy it. Of course, they can refuse it, they can throw it away, they can put it in their pocket and let it melt, they can give it to someone else, or they can read its ingredients and wonder if they should eat it or not. It is the same way with salvation. All that someone has to do to enjoy salvation is to simply accept and believe that Jesus loves them and died on the cross for their sins the same way as unwrapping a chocolate bar and simply enjoying it.
Thank God that the salvation message itself is very simple that even a child can respond to it and accept Jesus as their savior:
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV)
But a full understanding of salvation and what is behind it is not necessary to enjoy salvation. Besides that, a full understanding of it is beyond man’s comprehension:
“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.” (Ephesians 3:19 NLT)
“Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.” (1 Timothy 3:9 NKJV)
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV)
Calvinism and Arminianism are two systems of theology that attempt to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in the matter of salvation. So, in the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate, who is correct? It is interesting to note that in the diversity of the body of Christ, there are all sorts of mixtures of Calvinism and Arminianism. Both systems fail in that they attempt to explain the unexplainable. Human beings are incapable of fully grasping a concept such as this. Yes, God is absolutely sovereign and knows all. Yes, human beings are called to make a genuine decision to place faith in Christ unto salvation. These two facts seem contradictory to us, but in the mind of God they make perfect sense.
In the following example, there are three factors that brought a woman named Lydia to salvation. First Paul had to preach the Good News of the Gospel for her to hear. Second, the Holy Spirit opened her heart. Third, Lydia unwrapped the chocolate bar and ate it. And as you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed it and shared it with her family:
On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed. (Acts of the Apostles 16:13-15 NLT)
Annointing 