...And After That

This article follows Now You're a Christian: The Next Step

After you have prayed the prayer of salvation and possibly joined the church, or at least started attending, the next thing is…Baptism.

What is baptism?

Baptize-
to make clean

Spiritual Baptism-
Jesus was baptized by death and resurrection. Resurrection is also called “rebirth.” When you become a Christian your soul (nature) dies. When you are spiritually baptized, or saved, by Christ’s sacrifice, you are given a new Spirit, God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t make you perfect but when God sees you, He doesn’t see your wrongdoing and you are protected from His judgment. Also, the Spirit guides, prompts, and encourages you.

Physical Baptism-
This baptism is symbolic of the spiritual baptism. It is done…
~as a witness, a testimony to others
~as a symbol to demonstrate death of old ways and a new life, for yourself
~as a sign of obedience to God.

Now You're a Christian: The Next Step

Presumably, you've already read How Do I Become a Christian?

Read the Bible

If you do not own a Bible, there are resources on the web. One very good resource is at Crosswalk.com --> Bible Study Tools (don't sign up for every email newsletter or devotion). You can do word studies, also. It may be frustrating to consider diving into the Bible, but the New Testament (from Matthew to Jude) is probably the easiest and best place to begin. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, contain a lot of good information regarding Jesus' ministry and life concepts.

It's very easy to get overwhelmed, but I think just reading the Bible and maybe a renowned commentary is a good start. It's a little arcane, but the commentary by J. Vernon McGee was decent. If you're out of your twenties, you probably have your own developed notions about life, that may color your perception of his notes, but right now, you're not looking for exactly what you think of the Bible, but to get an overview of it. This doesn't overlook that you must ultimately think for yourself. It's a process that will take a while, and you don't want to get totally caught up in hashing out all your ideas and losing site of the goal.

The first goal is to get to know the Bible. After that, you can start to draw conclusions. The reason for this is that the Bible is a large work, sometimes written to specific peoples for specific purposes. As a result, it must be taken together, compared to itself and reasoned out over time.

For this reason, I'd like to ask you to give yourself time to do this, then draw your own conclusions, and only then, branch out into apologetics (for or against), if you're so inclined.

If you're one of those souls who have reached this page but haven't made up your mind about Christianity, the advice is very different. By all means, study and take your journey where ever it will go. I hope that where ever you end up, you will be blessed for your efforts.

An alternative to Crosswalk.com or reading the Bible with some commentary is to attend churches. Yes, I think probably attending a few churches isn't a bad idea. Find the denomination that fits you, that fits where you believe God is leading you.

Each time you attend church, read the passages offered, along with surrounding passages for context. Make sure that there is harmony between all the passages and the message the pastor gives. The more harmony there is suggests that this is a Bible-believing church and probably worth exploring further.

Go to Church

Some people have trouble with organized religion. “Why can’t I stay home, where I can keep my checkbook full, and worship God in my heart, and where there aren’t hypocrites?” I’m sure there are many other well-thought reasons people give, but this is one I’ve heard most commonly.

You most certainly can stay home. But there are hypocrites everywhere. And there are proactive reasons to attend church, not to hear the gossip and watch the mini-dramas unfold, but so you can give and receive.

Just WHAT exactly will I be expected to give?
Well, in Biblically correct churches, nothing but what you feel like God is leading you to give. But I don’t want to focus on that, right now because I really want you to focus on being given to, a lot, at first. What you eventually give may or may not be money, nursery duty or aiding a Sunday School teacher with a pair of fighting third-grade boys. You’ll find your place to serve, be it counseling, playing in the band, coaching the kids’ basketball team, etc. When you’re ready, you will do it out of a heart of worship.

What will I GET by going to church?
Support. It may take time to find a church in which you feel comfortable or seem to fit with what you believe or find true in the Bible. Large churches can be difficult to fit into. But with time and prayer and a tiny bit of openness, you will begin to find your place.

How do I look for a church?
Start with prayer. Then, you might do an overview of the beliefs of churches in your area. Many give some sort of creed or doctrine (basic beliefs). Start there, and maybe research scripture if you can (a concordance, or Bible with a concordance can help). The doctrine should list supporting scripture. You can get a more general idea of the different beliefs by performing a search of the denomination (Baptist, Pentacostal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, etc.).

What if there is corruption in the church I go to? There are some guidelines in the Bible for dealing with corruption or personal sin. Start with prayer and searching the Bible.

Click here to read ...And After That

How Do I Become a Christian?

You don't need much religious background to be a Christian. That's good news, huh? This is long, so I want to encourage you to take your time, if you need to, to read and understand. Alternatively, if you just wanted a resource for becoming a Christian because you already decided you want to, just read the headers and the summary of verses below.

None of this is written to scare you. If you accept it, you do; if you don't, you don't. I would rather you be genuine in your belief than be scared into it, but I can't change what is written in the Bible. There are two places we can go when we die: Heaven, where God is and will forever reside, and Hell, where God isn't and everything is torment. A girl I knew said that living on earth is very much hell. I agree to an extent, but God hasn't completely forsaken the world, and we still have a choice about where we will spend eternity. We each are sentenced to hell in the afterlife. Unless...

If we believe in God and Jesus Christ and confess our sins (see What is Sin?) and accept Jesus' sacrifice, His death, in our place, then we can have eternal life in Heaven in God's presence.

First, you've got to believe. Believe in God and Jesus Christ. Do you believe in them?

Jesus is "God's Son." He is also God-in-the-flesh. This can be confusing. But God's words can separate spirit and body and soul [Hebrews 4:12]. Everyone has those three things. So, Jesus is God's body, is one way to look at it to help understanding, though I don't know of anyone who TRULY comprehends it. It's important to know this because some people say we worship 3 Gods, but we really worship One, and because knowing who Jesus is helps us to know who we are and what we need.

So, when Jesus came to earth, He was God in person. Jesus was perfect because He was God. Do you believe these things? Believing isn't enough, though [James 2:19], so...

We must confess our wrongdoing. This is difficult for some people. They think that if you don't murder, you're a good person. But even the slightest infraction can make you "bad."

The Ten Commandments [Exodus 20:3-17] are God's law. If we break any of these (called "sin"), we will be punished. The Bible says everyone is guilty of sinning [Romans 3:23]. The punishment for breaking the Commandments is death [Romans 6:23]; physical and spiritual. We already die physically (goes back to Adam and Eve [Genesis 3]).

But there is a spiritual death that can come too: hell, which is eternal separation from God.

So, to recap:

1. Believe in God. This leads us to realize our separation from Him.
2. Believe in Jesus. This reveals our shortcomings because He was perfect.
3. Confess our sins. This shows we realize our shortcomings and why we are separated from God. It also gives us an opportunity to apologize for hurting God, ourselves and others with our wrongdoings, as we would with a family member to make things right.
4. Realize our danger of eternal separation from God after death. (See note above about being scared into believing.)

Next, we must accept Jesus' payment for our sins in order to be called by His name (Christian) and use it as passage into God's eternal presence upon our death [Romans 6:23].

When Jesus came to earth, it wasn't just to hobnob with us. He died to pay the price for our sins. Remember that when we sin, we cannot approach God. We are rejected by Him, and the punishment for sin is death, just as Adam and Eve died in the body. We die in the body, but we can die in the spirit too.

When we die in the spirit, we are separated from God's goodness forever, and are subject to torment and agony forever.

When Jesus died, He died in the body and went down to the gates of Hell and conquered it. Then, He rose again from the dead, having defeated death. Only He could do it. He was innocent and died as if He was guilty, because He took all our wrongdoings and every hurt we ever committed and paid the price for it. He made it right again.

Here's an example that may help clarify:

If you had a debt of money, and I came along and paid it, I would have done something like what Jesus did. I was rich in money and devoid of debt to offer it, just as Jesus was rich in goodness and devoid of sin. But, if you don't want that then you can try to pay the debt, or goodness, yourself. But, it's already been paid, so the choice is yours.
However, keep in mind that like debt of money, debts of wrongdoing are overwhelming, seem to continue to mount, and are extremely discouraging. Unlike debt of money, debts of wrongdoing DO continue to increase and no amount of our goodness can ever overcome them.

When we hurt someone else, there is a permanent scar. When we hurt ourselves, there is also a permanent scar. When we hurt God, He will only accept perfection, a perfect sacrifice. Because of our scars, we can never be that sacrifice. Only Jesus is able. Only Jesus is that perfect sacrifice.

Only He can pay the debt in full without incurring more debts.

I urge you to accept His payment instead of trying to pay your own way. This is why I am not about scaring you into belief. It's so easy to accept that someone will pay your debt that has been burdening you and driving you into the ground. Life is easier to accept than death in nearly every case and the choice seems simple. There is no reason to fear. Another reason is that, if you believe in God, it's a short step to recognizing the evils that humans inflict on each other, and to see that we need some way to overcome them. Choosing God is one such way, and the easiest I can think of--though, I admit, not many Christians genuinely pursue this, and sometimes use it as cover for their own harmful actions.

What do you say? If you are saying, "Yes, I want to accept Jesus' payment for my debt of sin!" you may also be saying, "But, how do I do that?"

You accept His payment for sin by praying a prayer similar to this one:

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I believe You are real and that You are the Son of God. I believe You are sinless and perfect. Compared to You, I am imperfect and unable to save myself. I have sinned against You, hurt You, myself and others by my wrongdoing. I am sorry I have done that. Please forgive me. I know that punishment for my sin is death. I already know I will die physically, but I know that without You, I will die spiritually. I don't want that to happen. I want to be with You in God's presence forever. I know that you died on the cross to be punished for my sin. I know that only Your sacrifice is enough and I could never pay the price in full. Thank You. I accept Your payment for my sin, and ask that You make things right that I have done wrong.
In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen.

That's it. If you prayed, you are now a Christian, which means 'little Christ.'

Verses:
· Romans 3:23
· Romans 6:23
· Romans 5:8
· Romans 10:9-10
· John 3:16

Click here to read The Next Step.