What is a Christian?

Accepting Christ

In order to accept Christ (to be a Christian) and follow his teachings, one must know his teachings and desire to obey and profess them.

Notably, the four Gospels and especially the Sermon on the Mount are good places to become acquainted with Jesus and his teachings.

Greatest Commandment & Teaching

When they asked Jesus was what the greatest commandment was, he answered, “‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” Mark 12:28-30

Above all, Jesus’ definition of the gospel was the gospel of the kingdom.   Matthew 4:23; 9:35; Luke 16:16

Receive the Message & Accept Christ

Acts 2:37 says that “when they heard, they were pierced to the heart…”  (They understood the message of the kingdom, but now they realized that God made Jesus to be Lord and that he was the promised Messiah.  Therefore, they wanted to know what they must do to receive this or show their acceptance of it.) Essentially, they wanted to know what they must to do to become a Christian.

Repent from Unbelief

For this reason, they asked what they must do.  The answer was simple…turn (repent) from your unbelief and your sins and be baptized.  In doing so, we receive the gift of holy spirit – God’s personal presence and power, in our lives.

• Baptism represents dying to your old self and having a new life
• Your old self is crucified
• Your body of sin is done away with
• No longer a slave to sin
• Freed from sin
• Death is no longer your master (you don’t have to be afraid of death or worry about dying)
• Jesus was resurrected and you also will be resurrected (when he returns to the earth)
• You died to sin
• Live for God
• You don’t let sin reign in your life
• Don’t obey sin’s lusts
• You don’t use your body to commit sin
• You present yourself to God (alive from the dead, no longer a slave to sin)
• Use your body for righteousness
• Know that sin cannot master you anymore
• No longer under the Law
• You are under grace
• You are a slave for obedience (and obedience results in righteousness)
• Must be obedient from your heart (because you want to be)
• You are ashamed of sin
• You are sanctified (set apart, declared holy, dedicated to God)
• As a result of walking in the newness of this life that Jesus died to give you, your outcome is to have life in the age to come (eternal life)
• Life in the age to come is a free gift from God in Jesus
• Jesus is your Lord

• It is your spiritual act of worship to present your body as a living and holy sacrifice
• Must no longer conform to the world
• Transformed life (you practice living the transformed life and are able to do this by renewing your mind)
• Must renew your mind (this will help you know and prove what God’s will is and know what is good, acceptable and perfect)
• You are given gifts because of God’s grace
• You are in one body, but the members have different functions
• Exercise the gifts that are given to you
  • Prophesying
  • Serving
  • Teaching
  • Exhorting
  • Giving freely
  • Leading with diligence
  • Showing mercy cheerfully
• Love without hypocrisy
• Hate what is evil
• Cling to what is good
• Be devoted to the brethren
• Honor the brethren
• Don’t lag behind in diligence
• Be fervent in spirit
• Serve the Lord
• Rejoice in hope
• Persevere in tribulation
• Be devoted to prayer
• Give to the needs of the saints
• Practice hospitality
• Bless those who persecute you
• Do not curse those who persecute you
• Rejoice with those who rejoice
• Weep with those who weep
• You are not haughty (prideful)
• Associate with the lowly
• You don’t think yourself too wise
• NEVER pay back evil for evil to ANYONE
• Respect what is right (what God says is right)
• As far as depends on you, you try to be at peace with all men
• You never take revenge (you leave room for God’s wrath; He will repay)
• If your enemy is hungry, you feed him
• If your enemy is thirsty, you give him something to drink
• Do not be overcome by evil

• Be of the same mind as Messiah Jesus
• Maintain the same love as Christ
• Be united in spirit with Messiah (Christ)
• You are intent on one purpose (same purpose as Christ – Luke 4:43
• Do nothing out of selfish ambition
• Act with humility (have a humble mind)
• Regard other brethren as more important than yourself
• Don’t just look out for your own interests, you look out for the interests of others
• Have the same attitude that Jesus had
  • Empty yourself (be humble)
  • Be God’s servant
• Obey God and Messiah Jesus (obedience is how we work out our salvation with fear and trembling)
• Allow God to work in you
• Do all things without grumbling or disputing
• Prove yourself to be blameless and innocent, children of God, and above reproach
• Hold fast to the word of life
• Rejoice when you are poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith
• You share your joy

Training in Evangelism begins with training in biblical truth.

If we are to be a Christian, and therefore, an evangelist for Jesus, we must know what he taught and be able to teach it to others.

Jesus spent three years preaching and teaching about the coming kingdom of God, God’s future government that will reign over all the earth.  He also spent 40 days after his resurrection, before going to the Father, preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God.  Jesus also told us what he thought the greatest commandment was – to know that God is one and to love God.

2 Beliefs before Baptism

In Acts we see that the two required points of understanding before baptism are:  belief in what Jesus taught about God’s coming kingdom, and, belief in the things concerning Jesus (who he was, God’s anointed one, His chosen Messiah).

Sharing your Faith

In order to pass on these key teachings of Scripture, we first must be grounded in them ourselves.  We must not only cognitively understand them, but we must know them so well that we can share them with others at any given time.  To get to this point, we study, and then we constantly talk about them with the brethren.  This helps us to be able to talk about them without having to think about every word, and we will speak with confidence.

Evangelism

Christians have a much greater opportunity today for God’s people to be able to practice evangelism.  We can, and should, share with those around us.  We also now have the internet, the new Roman Road, to take the gospel to the world.

Whether in person or online, QUESTIONS are key

• Do you go to Church?
• Are you familiar with a biblical end-time timeline?
• Have you ever wondered what happens when you die?
• Have you ever heard a sermon on the kingdom of God?
• What is the gospel?
• Why would you want to go to heaven if Jesus won’t be there?