Wings of Faith

What Should I do Now That I'm A Christian?

Intro.: A country preacher decided to skip services one Sunday and head to the hills to do some bear hunting. As he rounded the corner on a perilous twist in the trail, he and a bear collided, sending him and his rifle tumbling down the mountainside. Before he knew it, his rifle went one way and he went the other, landing on a rock and breaking both legs.

That was the good news.

The bad news was the ferocious bear charging at him from a distance, and he couldn’t move. "Oh, Lord," the preacher prayed, "I’m so sorry for skipping services today to come out here and hunt. Please forgive me and grant me just one wish … please make a Christian out of that bear that’s coming at me. Please, Lord!"

That very instant, the bear skidded to a halt, fell to its knees, clasped its paws together and began to pray aloud right at the preacher’s feet. "Dear God, bless this food I am about to receive …" He may have said "Now what should I do?

---which shows you should be careful what you ask for--------which brings us to today and what we have asked for from God!

Acts 2:37 ³⁷Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"

1. How should we become a Christian

1. Somehow or another we felt a need and heard that Jesus could help us and one way or another // asked Him to come into our lives. (my need at Southern Baptist church in Md) heard a sermon felt a need
2. Come as you are, realize you’re a sinner, we all are, just redeemed
3. Gospel is Christ died for us, He died as Us, [the cross] He lives in us and Lives thru us

1. Jesus became our savior

1. because of His work on the cross, our sins are washed clean by His blood / He endured and took the wrath of God for sins

   God accepts us because of His Son and nothing we did on our own, good works Isaiah 43:25 ²⁵I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

   God now chooses not to remember our sins, past present and future /// repentance important / conditional on our forgiveness of others

1. 1. We became a child of God

1. have 2 natures old, born with and Holy Spirit born again with

   started as a baby // need to grow up

   natural birth look like parents born again, should look like Jesus

1. What should we do as Christians

1. Christ lives in us 1Jn 5:11-12 God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son He that hath the Son hath life. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us!
2. Having it is not enough, have to feed it or it starves just like a baby // if you feed it it grows, if not it dies / simple
3. What does it need as food:

1. the bible: life’s direction book have a question, look it up
2. prayer: having talks with God, not elequont style
3. witnessing: telling someone about what God has done for you
4. fellowship: with other believers the one anothers
5. obedience: hearing Gods voice, that still small voice

1. How should we do these things

1. 1. Use the Bible

1. read it, every day, all day if you can ,read it thru, have a plan to read it, see us we have a 1 year plan

   not only read it but hear it, hear it at church, take notes, then just do it

   study it, this takes more time, need study aids,

1. 1. use Prayer you will never find time for prayer, MUST make time for it

1. what to pray for-use a prayer wheel Monday=missionaries Tuesday=tasks for God Wednesday=workers, pastors etc Thursday=thanksgiving for answered prayer Friday=families loved ones Saturday=saints fellow believers Sunday=sinners

1. Use your Witness=tell somone what God has done for you today

   Use Fellowship=with other believers, gives you strength

   Use Obedience=do the will of God servant first, then friend of Jesus

1. Why should we do these things

1. They are pleasing to God make Him smile, I like that!
2. They teach us holiness: be Holy as God is Holy not holier than thou!
3. Help us mature and grow up spiritually in Jesus
4. They teach about being a disciple help us in our walk with God

What should these things do ?

1. 1. Obey the commands of Jesus all 147 of them
   2. Take up your own cross, self denial for others benefit.
   3. Discipleship being a follower of Jesus, not just a Sunday Morning fan

1. How should we be disciples

1. 1. is our lives transformed into that of Jesus or not
   2. do we do as He says or only listen to what He says

when we come out of church, do we just feel better and our conscience cleaned or do we act on what we hear?

1. Conclusion

1. we need to lead by serving others, show your faith, others may ask you and then you got the chance to share Jesus with them

   1, don’t just be part of a program, do it cause God tells you

   need to be judged by scripture rather than being the judge of it

   need to be more concerned with being a disciple of Jesus rather than just a follower or fan-------which are you?

   As we said in the start, there are the crowds and then the disciples, which are we

Here we’ll list 5 important terms on Biblical discipleship. They will help you if you get armed with them.

1. Faithfulness. Only faithful people suit for discipleship.

2. Love for Jesus and giving Him the supremacy. That means to live according to His will, that is in obedience.

3. Readiness to give away yourself, to sacrifice. Your growing into spiritual maturity requires sacrifices in time, strength, and sometimes even in relationships. God has a personal teaching program for everyone. He wishes we trusted our life with this program thus we could transform into the likeness and image of His son Jesus (Philippians 2:13; 2 nd Corinthians 9:8; 1 st Thessalonians 5:23-24).

4. Spiritual thirst. It means a real desire to grow spiritually and to be used by God.

5. Desire to learn. It means we are ready to submit to the authority of God’s Word and of spiritual mentors set by God.

This will lead to evangelism as a natural fruit of this life.

A true fruit of the Spirit.

The world will know James 2

Invitation: prayer want a deeper relationship, maybe all this sounds appealing but you need to just start and give your life to Jesus, come let us prayer for you