Club Soteria

by Creflo A. Dollar | Uncategorized

We have to be careful in using the word “salvation” because it has been confused in some religious circles with the term “born again,” even though these two terms are not synonymous. They are related ideas, but they do not mean exactly the same thing.

Becoming born again is what happens to your spirit after you repent, confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. To be born again means to move from darkness into light. So, being born again involves a transition, or translation, from one point to another point, from one position to another position, based on a decision that you make.

However, salvation is what is available to you when you get born again. And it is not just something that’s stored up in heaven for you in the “sweet by and by.” It’s not something you have to leave the earth in the Rapture to get.

No. Salvation is what you have available to you right here and now as a born-again person. The word salvation in the New Testament comes from the Greek word soteria, which means healing, safety, deliverance, protection, soundness and includes with it the ministry of angels.

Therefore, God is saying that angels have been sent to serve the heirs of soteria. They have the responsibility of serving you if you’re a born-again person. The angels are to serve you in the areas of healing, deliverance, safety, protection and soundness. And they are to minister to you in any other areas where you have need.

Join the Club
Let me use an analogy to make clear what I mean by the difference between salvation and being born again. Getting born again and becoming an heir of salvation are like joining a club. When you make a decision to join a club and have gone through the procedure of becoming a member, you are then entitled to use the club’s facilities and enjoy all the available benefits of membership.

If, for instance, you make a decision to get in shape and join a fitness club, you then have available to you all the exercise equipment that particular club has to offer. You can work out on the circuit machines, swim in the pool, play handball in the handball courts, join an aerobics class. In other words, you can use whatever the club has available to help you get in shape.

The same thing is true when you get born again and join “Club Soteria.” As a member of Club Soteria, you have available to you the “Stairmaster of healing,” the “bench press of protection,” the “barbell of deliverance,” the “treadmill of safety.” You have available to you the “leg press of soundness.”

When you got born again, you joined Club Soteria, and you now have available to you everything that’s in the club. Deliverance is in the club. Safety is in the club. Healing and protection and soundness are in the club. Getting born again is the requirement for membership. But as soon as you become a member, you have a right to use everything that’s in the club.

As an heir of salvation, I have a right to benefit from everything salvation has to offer. And another one of those benefits is the ministry of angels. To continue the fitness club analogy, angels have been sent to act as personal trainers to the members of Club Soteria. Angels are employed at the club to assist you with those benefits of membership that have been made available to you.

Don’t Neglect Your Soteria
Now, therefore, since we’ve become heirs of salvation, of soteria, and have the ministry of angels and all these other benefits of salvation available to us, the Bible says:

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed, to the things which we have heard (from God’s Word), lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…?
(Heb. 2:1-3)

How shall we escape trouble if we neglect our soteria? How shall we escape the report that we have cancer and are going to die next month? How shall we escape unemployment? How shall we escape depression? How shall we escape sin? How shall we escape poverty and lack? How shall we escape breakdown in our marriages?

In short, how can we escape all the adverse circumstances we’re faced with if we neglect such great healing, deliverance, safety, soundness, protection, and the ministry of angels? How can we escape trouble if we don’t take advantage of what was made available to us when we got born again?

Well, the answer is obvious, isn’t it? I cannot escape if I neglect my soteria. But, praise the Lord, if I don’t neglect my soteria, then soteria becomes my way of escape. My healing, my safety, my deliverance, my protection, my soundness, and the ministry of angels – all that becomes my way of escape.

If I’m going to benefit from my membership in Club Soteria, I have to pay attention to and use what has been made available to me as a member. Otherwise, I won’t be able to escape from the trouble I was in before I got born again. If I neglect my salvation, I won’t be able to overcome trouble. I’ll continue to live in defeat.

Source: How to Trouble Your Trouble by Creflo A. Dollar, Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers

Creflo Dollar is the founder and senior pastor of World Changers Church International (WCCI). He is a highly sought-after speaker ministering the Gospel at conferences worldwide. His works, in the form of books, CDs, and DVDs are available in many countries around the world. Known for his prolific insights and charismatic style, he helps thousands improve their lives by teaching the Gospel of Grace that empowers change in their day-to-day experiences.

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