Friday, February 4, 2011

Tips to Help You Grow as a Christian

1. When we surrender to Jesus Christ, He gives us eternal life.
Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned: he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24)

2. Did you surrender to Jesus Christ in prayer be faith? If you did, where are you now according to the Lord's promise? (in eternal life)

3. On what do you base your confidence? (In God's promise in the Bible)

4. Would God deceive you? Can God lie to you? (of course not)
"This is the testimony: God has give us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:11-13)

5. Give thanks to God because you have now eternal life.

6. What happened when you surrendered to Christ Jesus? At the moment you surrendered to Christ Jesus by faith, big things happened to you:
a. You went from death to life. (John 5:24)
b. Your sins were forgiven. (Colossians 1:14)
c. You were made a child of God. (John 1:12)
d. You are free from fear. (John 8:36)
e. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

7. Can you imagine anything more glorious than this happening to you?
Give thanks to God now for what He has done for you through Christ.

8. Read the Bible everyday.
"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)

9. Pray to God always.
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

10. Confess to God every sin.

"If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

11. Tell others of your experience.
Jesus said, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." (Luke 8:39)

12. Meet with other believers.
"Let us not give up meeting together... but let us encourage one another." (Hebrews 10:25)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Jesus Prophesied in the Old Testament

Psalm 22:1-7 NIV Psalm 22:1 For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. 4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 8 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." 9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. 10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God. 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. 21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

Matthew 27
Matthew 27:39-44 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" 44 In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From John
John 19:23-24 23 ¶ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.