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We are so happy that you accepted Jesus into your life as your Savior and Lord. The Bible says that when one sinner repents, there is a special joy in heaven. In spite of His majesty and holiness and universal power and greatness, God astonishingly cares for individual human beings one at a time.
Just as a baby doesn’t understand what has happened to it when it is born, so we really don’t understand fully what has happened to us when we are “born again” into God’s family through faith in Jesus. All we know is that something new has started!
This new life brings you into a new relationship with God. God is now your heavenly Father— a Father who is perfect and is everything you would want a father to be. He will always be there for you and promises to never leave you. He will provide for all your needs as you seek to put Him first in your life.
All of your sins are forgiven, you stand clean and now find total acceptance before God. When you begin this relationship, Jesus promises to be with you through all the ups and downs and in the joys and difficulties of this life. He loves you with an everlasting, unchanging love. And not only has He promised eternal life, but He came so that you could also experience purpose, fulfillment, and freedom in this life.
It’s important that you start living for God. Not only are we to recognize that we were living a life dominated by sin, but we must change that behavior as well. Jesus is your Lord now, and you’re no longer a slave to sin. The Bible says, “Consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live.”
You have become part of His story and the more you grow in your relationship with God, the more of His story you will begin to see & understand in your life.
As part of inviting Jesus into your life, you should have heard the Gospel. This is the Good News message of the Bible. In its simplest form, God made the world and created humanity. Man was in relationship with God for the glory of God and to experience God’s love. Loving God was at the core of all things and it was good and moral.
However, that all changed when man used the free will God had so graciously provided to disobey God. That moment of disobedience, or the fall, is when sin came into the world. Sin broke man’s perfect fellowship with God and brought evil, disease, and death into the world. These sins separate us from a perfect and holy God.
Our sin is the problem that corrupts the world and everything in it and we are powerless to overcome our sin apart from Jesus Christ. Our attempts to control the situation only increase the chaos around us and within us. That is why we need healing. That healing is only by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That is the Good News – that Jesus loves us so much He offers us forgiveness of our sins and His spirit to help us change how we live.
Now that you have invited Jesus into your heart you are a child of God. It means that you are a new creation. You are God’s son or daughter and He has given your life a purpose. It means that the eternal promises of God are yours and you have been set free from sin and death by the blood of Jesus Christ! However, this does not mean life will be perfect or all your problems will disappear.
That happens in heaven. Until then, nothing can separate you from God’s love. Read the Bible to know God, learn how to fully trust God and have a real relationship with Him so He guides your path and draws you even closer.
Becoming a Christian is the most incredible event that will ever take place in your life. If you have obeyed the gospel by trusting in Jesus Christ, then you have made peace with your Creator. You have found everlasting life! Be assured, God will never leave you nor forsake you. He has brought you this far and He will complete the wonderful work He has begun in you. God knows your every thought, your every care, and your deepest concerns.
Let’s look at some of those possible concerns. First, and of primary concern, do you have “assurance” of your salvation? The Bible says to “make your calling and election sure”, so let’s go through a short checklist to make sure that you are truly saved:
Click here to read the full article.
The decision to follow Jesus is just the beginning of our spiritual journey. It is not just a moment in time but the start of a change in our lives. We must learn how to understand what God desires, how to communicate with Him, and how to start living a life centered around our commitment to follow Him.
Many new believers wonder how they can know what God wants them to do. God reveals Himself to us through His Word, the Holy Bible. He also shapes our hearts and lives through His Word. Learn to rest in it and find the truth. Spending time in the Bible is transforming and it slowly brings you closer to God.
It is actually pretty awesome to think that we have a direct line to the Creator of the universe. We often make a relationship with God more complicated than it needs to be. If you look at your best relationships, it is usually because you care about one another, you spend time together, and you value what the other has to say. The same things hold true for a relationship with God.
Prayer is simply talking with God. It is being honest with Him but also recognizing His ways are beyond what we can appreciate or understand. One person once said that if you knew what God knows, you would answer every prayer just as He does. This means we have to accept that we won’t always understand why God responds as He does or why we don’t get everything we seek.
In fact, we should simply seek His will and the strength to accept it rather than what our own hearts may desire. He wants what is best for us and has a perfect eternal perspective. Find time each day to pray and talk with God. This will help you to start learning how to trust Him with everything in your life.
There is no formula you have to use for prayer, but many have found a simple model that works well. It is based on the acronym ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Adoration is expressing to God how great He is and how you love Him for it. Confession is admitting your sins and being accountable for disobeying Him so you can be cleansed.
Thanksgiving is thanking God for His grace and forgiveness in our lives and expressing your appreciation for everything He has done for you. Supplication is asking God for help with the things in your life that need change as well as praying for others. Find time each day to pray and talk with God. This will help you to start learning how to trust Him with everything in your life.
Everyone that has ever prayed to God has wanted a clear answer to some request or question. Often those answers are not what we expect or when we expect them. The key to finding and understanding those answers is making time to listen to God. We have to be very intentional when we listen so we actually hear what God is saying. The Bible talks about how Jesus found time away from everyone else to just be with God.
Spiritual quiet time often is mixed in with prayer and reading the Bible. That means finding a quiet place where you can settle your heart. It means turning off all the things that compete for your attention. When we focus solely on connecting with God and hearing what He wants to share is when we receive direction, hope and answers.
There is no set time or formula for doing this or for guaranteeing results. It is about determining where you can best hear God and connect with His spirit. But also realize that God can answer you and reveal himself through many different ways including other believers, worship and your circumstances.
Once you are in the habit of listening and find what works best, you should take note of three things: (1) The time of day it is best for you to do this. (2) The place you are most productive meeting God. (3) The activities such as prayer, Bible reading, music and other things that get you most focused on God. As you learn what works best in these three areas, you need to commit to doing this in a way that is most likely to be honored by God.
When we think of church, we usually think it’s a building or a place where priests serve. But according to the Bible, a church is a community of believers who are followers of Christ. People are “the church”. So when few people gather and meet even at a house to pray, worship and study the scriptures, that’s church happening. You don’t need a special building.
God did not design you to live alone. We are all created for community. We are stronger when we are living with others and not trying to do life alone. This is especially true as a new believer. You need other believers around you to encourage, teach, pray and worship with you. Your decision to follow Jesus is an awesome event in your life. Think about who you know that is a follower of Jesus and share this with them. Ask if you could talk with them more about their faith journey.
The Bible’s original Greek word for church is translated as gathering or assembly. The idea being that followers of Jesus would gather to live in fellowship with one another. They would be united by Jesus, study God’s word, love one another, encourage each other through difficult times, help each other grow closer to Jesus and live as a Christian family.
Another aspect to community is the concept of serving the “body of Christ.” The idea is that each follower of Jesus is part of the universal body and we each serve a different purpose that together makes us whole. We are called to care for one another and recognize that if one suffers we are all hurting.
We should think about how to use our time, our talents and our treasure to serve God. You have a role on this community of believers and you need to spend time thinking what it may be. This coming together and serving the greater good is how we flourish and serve God well.
By now you know that God the Father, sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth to live as a human and die for our sins. Jesus then rose from the dead on the third day.
Jesus then ascended to Heaven and is now with God. He will come back in the future to judge the earth. The whole world will witness His second coming.
After Jesus’ ascension, God sends His Holy Spirit to the earth to live inside those who repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.
The world cannot see the Holy Spirit. He is invisible and only true believers can feel Him and really know Him.
Holy Spirit is called the Helper. He is also called the Comforter. He teaches and guides believers into all the truth that brings freedom in their lives, provided, they listen to His voice. We experience God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit here on this earth.
So now you must be wondering if there are three Gods? Is Jesus fully God? Is Holy Spirit fully God?
There is one living and true God who is the Creator of heaven and earth; who is eternal, almighty, unchangeable, infinitely powerful, wise, just and holy.
This one God eternally exists in three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, co-equal and co-eternal, having precisely the same nature and attributes, and worthy of precisely the same worship, confidence, and obedience.
So God is:
One in Essence
Three distinct Persons
Each Person is fully God
Equal and Eternal
Worthy of equal praise and worship
Distinct yet acting in unity
Constituting the one true God of the Bible
Click here to watch a video explanation of the Trinity.
Click here to read an in-depth article on the Trinity.
The decision to follow Jesus is just the beginning of our spiritual journey. It is not just a moment in time but the start of a change in our lives.
As a new believer in Christ, you must learn how to understand what God desires, how to communicate with Him, and how to start living a life centered around our commitment to follow Him.
One of the signs that you have received God’s Holy Spirit is that you will feel uncomfortable with sin. From now onwards, you will not treat sin as something casual.
When we get saved by trusting in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and creates in us a new heart with new desires. We longer love the sin that we loved. Now we are fighting against it. That struggle is good. Earlier we never felt that way, right? But now there is a conviction about sin that comes from the Holy Spirit.
If you don’t feel this conviction at all and no remorse when you sin, then you need to check whether you really understood the Gospel and responded correctly to it.
Every true believer whether new or old has a battle with the world, the flesh (old nature), and the devil. And sometimes we fall into sin, but that’s the point: we fall into sin, not dive into sin.
A true believer sins against his or her will. If you’ve ever got up and said, “It’s Monday, today I’ll sin,” then you aren’t truly saved yet.
As a new believer, when you do sin, God’s Holy Spirit will gently convict you, prompting your heart saying that what you are doing is wrong and you need to do something about it. That’s because Holy Spirit is helping you to live a holy life that is pleasing to God and beneficial to you.
God is not a sadist. When God says “No” to something, He is saying “Yes” to something better. Sin may seem to be okay but it will always cause damage and God knows that.
As a new believer, you are growing in your new faith. Your old way of living no longer fits. You need to replace natural impulses and old patterns of behavior with new attitudes and desires.
God gave you His Holy Spirit to help you live and grow in that new spiritual nature. As you begin to live what you learn, change will come.
When you mess up, say sorry and ask Jesus to forgive you. He will cleanse you. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God will not stop loving you because you mess up. Remember, Jesus died for your sins. God gave His best for you.
God wants you to experience true freedom where we are no longer enslaved by sin whether it is hatred, lust, lies, unforgiveness etc. For some, the journey to that freedom may take a bit of time because of certain deep-rooted issues or a particular mindset that needs to be dealt with.
Now understand, this isn’t a spiritual “self-improvement” program. When we try to live a Godly life in our own strength, we fail miserably. God wants us to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome our old, sinful nature.
Click here for resources to understand the battle against sin.
Read Chapter 6 called “Growing Pains” in “Start to follow” pdf. Click here to download it.
Like any new relationship, your relationship with God now needs to be developed. That requires spending time together, talking and listening. The talking is done through prayer.
Prayer is simply a conversation with God. Unlike in other religions, Christian prayer needs no special words, rituals, places, or times. Simply talk to God as you would to your best friend— and be honest with him? Share everything with him— your gratitude, concerns, needs, and mistakes— and don’t give up if your prayer isn’t answered immediately!
The listening is best achieved by reading the Bible, God’s word to us (though you will often hear God in your heart, too, as you listen while praying). If you get into the habit of reading a portion of the Bible daily in a systematic way, you will be amazed at how just the right passage comes up at just the moment you need it.
Becoming a Christian isn’t always easy. Not everyone will appreciate your decision; some may think you have betrayed your family or former faith and may at best mock you or at worst oppose or persecute you. Behind all this lies your new enemy, the devil, who, as the Bible says, “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour”. These words are not meant to frighten us but to cause us to be alert.
Thankfully, we are not left alone. Jesus sends us His Holy Spirit, just as He promised who helps us both to develop our relationship with the Father and to resist the devil. The Holy Spirit is the One who brings God’s presence and power, who guides and restrains us, who urges us on when we are timid, who helps us to witness to Jesus, and who gives us His gifts to be used in God’s service. With him, our new life in Christ is an exciting adventure!
We recommend the following books:
Breaking Ground: A 6-week Foundational Study for New Believers
Click here to buy
The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
Click here to buy
Start Here: Beginning a Relationship with Jesus
Click here to buy
Apart from reading the Bible, we recommend that you listen to Christian teaching. God has gifted some people to teach truths from the Bible so that we grow in our faith and increase our knowledge of God and His ways to do this life.
You can also listen to the following preachers/teachers on YouTube:
1. John Bevere:
2. Joseph Prince:
3. Kevin Zadai
4. Jentezen Franklin:
5. Andrew Wommack:
6. Mike Bickle
John Piper, Francis Chan, Paul Washer
The Bible is more than a book. All scriptures in the Bible is inspired by God. God is the architect of the Bible. He used people to write it but decided exactly what it would say.
The Bible is sometimes referred to as The Word, God’s Word, The Word of God, and/or The Scriptures. What is written in the Bible is God’s self-revealing letter to all people. Once spoken by a real God to real people, it was then recorded and passed down. The Holy Spirit oversaw this entire process in order to assure that the text is without error (inerrant) and a perfectly accurate description of God as well as all matters of faith.
In a nutshell, the Bible tells us what is real. The Holy Spirit inspired each word. And that’s why when you read some Bible verses, you will feel that it’s speaking to you and your situation.
Click here to watch an animated video that explains what the Bible is.
Through the Bible, we see the personality and character of God. The Bible’s like a big flashlight guiding us through life. It talks about things we deal with every day: friends, money, work, sex, pain, and joy, just to name a few.
The Bible leads us to a relationship with God. Reading the Bible is not just about learning facts about God; it invites us to encounter God.
God loves you. You are His child now. His Spirit lives in you to help and guide you. You can talk and pray to God like a friend talks to a friend. But it’s your responsibility to re-educate your mind based on God’s truth from the Bible.
Just like the way you nourish your physical body, your spirit which communes with God needs nourishment. It needs spiritual food. And the word of God, that is the Bible provides that nourishment. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are Spirit and life.”
We live in a world filled with confusion, blurred morality, doubt, fear, anxiety, and no clarity. The more you ground yourself in God’s word in the Bible, you will walk with clarity and supernatural peace. What we don’t know can hurt us. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
It is essential that you develop a habit of reading and studying the Bible to know the truths that will bring freedom and peace to your life. If you are unaware of God and His perspective on various issues of life, you will continue living from the old mindset. The mind is the battlefield and if you want to win the battles, you need to renew your mind and your perspective as per God’s truth.
Reading the Bible nurtures our faith by bringing the very life of God to us through his Spirit so we can live in relationship with God as he wants us to. Through the Bible, God helps us to grow stronger, to come to know him better, and to become more like Jesus. It answers many of the questions we face in life— questions such as, how should we behave at work, at home, with our families, and in society?
Though you can download and install the Bible app by YouVersion on your mobile, we highly recommend that you buy the “New Believer’s Bible NLT“. You can either buy a Kindle version or the paperback one.
The New Believer’s Bible NLT is uniquely designed to help new believers read, study, and understand the Bible. It includes features that will help you to develop and deepen your faith while providing a foundation for your new life in Christ.
Click here to buy it.
The Bible is composed of 66 books. It is divided into two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. In short, the Old Testament is the story of a nation, and the New Testament is the story of a Man. The nation was God’s way of bringing the Man—Jesus Christ—into the world.
Where should you start as a new believer?
We recommend starting with the “Gospel of John” in the New Testament and then move to:
James
I John
II John
III John
Ephesians
Galatians
I Corinthians
II Corinthians
Romans
While reading the New Testament, you can also start reading portions from the following books of the Old Testament:
Psalms
Proverbs
We recommend that you watch short animated videos from the Bible Project that gives a summary of all the New and Old Testament books. Before starting a book, maybe watch a video clip to get an overview.
Click here to watch the overview of the New Testament books.
Click here to watch the overview of the Old Testament books.
And as you read the scriptures from the Bible, slow down, pause and wonder about what you are reading. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and give understanding and revelation as you read God’s word.
As we read slowly, we should be gleaning new knowledge — not mere academic knowledge, but true knowledge of God that may start with academic study. Truth enters our minds as a doorway to our hearts to stir our affections and capture our will for God’s glory.
Often, life-giving insights may come on fairly normal days of prayer and Bible study, where the Holy Spirit shows up in a unique way and preaches to you. The Holy Spirit doesn’t give these insights every day, but we should be alert when He does — all the more reason to take our time crawling through the Bible in the hope of meeting God in a fresh way. Pray earnestly that He will draw near daily!
A quick snapshot with Bible verses for your study.
The Bible
The Bible is God’s Word. It teaches the history of mankind’s creation and fall, and the promise of salvation through Christ.
Psalm 119:105
2 Timothy 3:16, 17
Isaiah 40:8
2 Peter 1:19-21
God
God is eternal, infinite, unchanging, holy, sovereign, loving, just, all-knowing, all-powerful, and present everywhere.
Deuteronomy 6:4
Revelation 4:8-11
Colossians 1:16, 17
1 John 4:7-12
1 Timothy 1:17
Jesus Christ
Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the Son of God and fully God. He was born of a virgin, He died in our place, He arose from the dead, He ascended to heaven where He is praying for us, and He will come back to the earth again.
John 10:30; 14:6
1 John 4:10
Romans 8:1-4, 34
Hebrews 13:8
1 Corinthians 15:3, 4
Galatians 4:4, 5
The Holy Spirit
When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, came to live within you, as He does every believer. Also, He helps believers lead a holy life.
John 14:15-17, 25-26
Romans 8:11, 14, 26, 27
Angels and Satan
Angels, who were created by God, worship Him, and they serve Him and believers. Demons are angels who sinned, and they serve Satan in trying to harm people. Satan is a real person, the chief enemy of God, but one day he will be destroyed by Jesus Christ.
Psalm 103:20
Revelation 20:7-10
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
1 John 3:8, 10
1 Peter 3:22; 5:8
2 Peter 2:4
The Human Race
When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they led the entire human race into sin. As a result, every person needs salvation through Christ.
John 3:16
Romans 6:6-14
Romans 5:12, 17
James 2:10
Church
Each believer should join a local church that glorifies God, teaches the Bible, helps Christians grow in Christ, and shares the good news of salvation.
Galatians 6:10
Hebrews 10:24, 25
Ephesians 4:11-14
The Future
Someday Jesus Christ will return to earth where He will reign for one thousand years. Then He will destroy the present heaven and earth, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth.
Luke 18:8
Revelation 16:13-16; 19:11-21; 20:1-6; 21:1-4
Heaven and Hell
When a Christian dies, he or she goes immediately into God’s presence in heaven, to be with the Lord forever. Those who die without Christ will suffer eternal punishment in hell.
John 14:1-3; 10:27, 28
2 Corinthians 5:8
2 Thessalonians 1:4-9
Revelation 20:15
The Ten Commandments:
1. You shall have no other gods before Me
2. You shall not make yourself a graven image
3. You shall not take God’s name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not lie
10. You shall not covet
God considers hatred in the heart as murder and sexual thoughts towards another human being apart from your spouse as adultery.
Basically, the Ten Commandments shows us that we are all sinners and we need God to save us. God knows that we cannot keep the Ten Commandments. And it takes humility on our part to accept this.
The ideals of God’s law cannot be achieved without God’s divine intervention. The Ten Commandments expose our sinful motives and behavior for what they are.
The Ten Commandments do not have the power to transform us or liberate us from the power of sin. So, the law is like a teacher who shows us God’s holiness, our sinfulness, and our need for salvation. And the needed divine intervention ultimately comes through Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the Gospel.
Jesus summarized the heart of the Ten Commandments into two:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
The first four of the Ten Commandments have to do with our relationship to God, while Commandments six through ten addresses our relationship to one another.
Before we say we have obeyed the Commandments, this is what someone would be like if he kept the Law—he would always love God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all his mind, and love his neighbor as much as he has loved himself. He has never made a god to suit himself (either with his hands or in his mind).
He has always given God’s name reverence, kept the Sabbath holy, honored his parents implicitly, and never once has he been “angry with his brother without a cause.” He has never hated anyone, had lust in his heart, or had illicit sex. He has never stolen even a paper clip or ballpoint pen, or told as much as a “white” lie, and not once desired anything that belongs to someone else. He is, and always has been “pure in heart,” perfect in thought, word, and deed.
The truth is, we are not like that. We have all “sinned” many times, and therefore we have stored up God’s wrath, which will be revealed on Judgment Day. The proof that we have sinned will be our death, and after death we must face God in judgment.
Think of it—if He has seen our every thought, word, and deed, and if He is going to bring all of our sins out as evidence of our guilt on the Day of Judgment, we will all be found to be guilty. Our conscience has shown us right from wrong; we will be without excuse. God will give us justice, and Hell will be the place of our eternal punishment. “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.”
That’s why we need to be saved and God in His love made the way for us through His Son Jesus.
No matter what your circumstance or current situation is, you can find encouragement and peace through reading the Word of God. This topical index can be used for Biblical guidance and insight for personal growth and understanding or for studies on specific topics.
You can refer to the links below to find Bible verses for encouragement as per your situation.
1. https://dailyverses.net/topics
2. https://www.christianity.com/bible/bible-topics.php
Ten of God’s precious promises from the Bible for new believers:
1. You have passed from death into life (John. 5:24).
2. God will supply all of your needs according to His riches (Philippians. 4:19).
3. Jesus will be with you in trials, promising never to leave nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).
4. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth, and give you the power to live a holy life (John. 16:13).
5. You are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ—God has removed your sins as far as the East is from the West (Psalms 103:12).
6. As you abide in Christ, you will see the “fruit” of His Spirit begin to manifest in your life (Galatians 5:22-25).
7. As you read the Bible daily, it will come alive to you and cause you to grow in your faith (1 Peter 2:1-3).
8. When you pray, God will hear you and answer your prayers (1 John. 5:15).
9. The cross will be continual evidence of God’s love for you (Romans 5:8).
10. God “is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24).
We highly recommend you read Psalm 139 from the Bible. It reveals God’s intimate knowledge of us. Here is what pastor and teacher Warren Wiersbe comments on Psalm 139:
What we think about God and our relationship to Him determines what we think about everything else that makes up our busy world–other people, the universe, God’s Word, God’s will, sin, faith, and obedience. Wrong ideas about God will ultimately lead to wrong ideas about who we are and what we should do, and this leads to a wrong life on the wrong path toward the wrong destiny. In other words, theology–the right knowledge of God–is essential to a fulfilled life in this world. David contemplated God and wrote for us a psalm whose message can only encourage us to be in a right relationship with Him.
1. God Knows Us Intimately – We Cannot Deceive Him
Our friends and family see the outside, but God see what is inside, and He digs deep inside us.
2. God Is With Us Constantly – We Cannot Escape Him
Not only does God know us intimately to our very soul, He never departs from us. Even when we may feel He is far away, He is still with us. We cannot escape Him. Psalm 139:7-12 tells us that God is with us constantly.
Sometimes we may try to hide from God, but we cannot. Adam and Eve tried it in Genesis. God is in heaven, God is here on earth, and David says that even if he should make his bed in Hell, God is still there. So if your strategy for doing things in secret from God (I’m putting my hand over my own eyes), then it’s not working.
3. God Made Us Wonderfully – We Cannot Ignore Him
And God is not only there where we go, but He is with us always. He has been here before we were born and He will be here when we die. It’s not like God looks around one day and says, “Oh! Where did you come from?” Psalm 139:13-18 tells us God is present at our conception and our birth, and we are reminded that each one of is made in the very image of God with a purpose only we can fulfill.
4. You are not an accident
The Bible tells us that we are not an accident.
We were created with a purpose.
The Bible tells us that we are not meaningless.
We were created to be useful.
The Bible tells us we are not worthless.
The Bible tells us that God fashioned us with His own hands in love.
God knit us together, embroidered us, planned and numbered our days and given us tasks we were each created uniquely to perform.
God loves us while we were still yet His enemy. God loves us with an intimacy we cannot even fathom in its depth.
Is it not sensible, then, to try to get to know our God better since He had made such a great effort to know us?
If you are a new believer, the challenge is where to find a good church community near your place. You can try to find one through google search, for example, if you live in Mumbai, you can search google with these keywords “born-again church Mumbai”.
If you are not sure if a particular church community is where you want to go, try a few others.
If you would like help in finding a church, feel free to email us at hello@superdifferent.com and we will try our best to point you in the right direction.
About Church Community
When we think of church, we usually think it’s a building or a place where priests serve. But according to the Bible, a church is a community of believers who are followers of Christ. People are “the church”. So when few people gather and meet even at a house to pray, worship and study the scriptures, that’s church happening. You don’t need a special building.
Sadly, a lot of churches are dead. Many focus on traditions and rituals and are far from what God intended a church community to be. Far too many people are namesake followers of Christ. Many take advantage of others in the name of Christ. Their motives are impure. But let it not discourage you from pursuing a deeper friendship with God. There are big and small church communities all over the world where you will find people who are hungry for God and are passionate worshippers of God. And where leaders lead with integrity, pure motives and are servant-hearted.
In a church community, there are leaders who are called pastors or elders who teach and preach biblical truths that will help you grow in your understanding of God and His perspective on various issues of life.
In a church community, you will also find other spiritually mature believers to hang out with. They will encourage you, pray for you, you can ask questions, learn from their experience and their walk with God. You can develop new friendships with people who are followers of Christ and learn, grow and share your life together with them.
A good mature church community is a great blessing. Don’t miss out on that. No church community is perfect but that’s okay as long as they don’t deviate from the truths in the Bible.
It’s important that you do not depend on church leaders for your spiritual nourishment. There are plenty of books, bible studies, articles on the internet, preachings, and teachings on YouTube that you can feed on rather than waiting once a week for a Sunday sermon.
Water Baptism
When you find a church community, ask the leader or fellow believers to explain water baptism to you.
Simply explained, water baptism is a symbol. It’s meant to show the world that you love, trust, and have put your hope in Christ. It’s like a wedding ring. It’s an act of faith and obedience to the commands of Christ.
Baptism declares that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. It is a public confession of your faith in, and commitment to, Jesus Christ. It is the next step after salvation through repentance and faith and is an important foundation for the Christian life.
Tithes & Offering
You are not required to give any financial offerings or tithes (10% of your income) to the church or the pastor. It’s a voluntary choice. God does not need your money. You will not be cursed if you don’t give. But if you want to contribute to the needs of the church community or for a certain cause, you can make a voluntary decision to give whatever you want.
Our giving must be motivated by love, not by fear, guilt or greed. Don’t give in to the pressure to give. So beware of leaders, pastors or others who may manipulate you to give.
Links:
1. Click here to read articles on basic foundations of Christianity.
2. Are you really saved or was it fake? Click here to save yourself some pain.
PDF Downloads:
1. Start: Gospel of John: The Gospel of John is one of the books in the Bible. It’s a great place to start reading the Bible as a New Believer.
2. Start to follow: Some basic steps as a new believer.
3. Christian stuff: 6 short topics to help you start exploring what this Christian Stuff is all about.
4. Why Jesus: He is the only one who can satisfy our deepest hunger because He is the one who makes it possible for our relationship with God to be restored. Download this pdf and know more.
5. Who is God: The more we know about the nature and character of God, the better handle we will have on morality and principle, and the more we will love, worship, and obey Him. Download this pdf and know more.
As someone new to Christian faith, you may have questions or may need help in understanding few things. If yes, feel free to email us at hello@superdifferent.com.
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