Full view||Back to messagesAmerica II’s First Sail of the Season – Newport to NYC Delivery Experience?

Six steps to become a true Christian

Step 1: Be Sure

If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can be sure you are a Christian. You are not a Christian because you go to church, or because you do good things. The Bible says “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Christ came to die for our sins, so that “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ).

Transferable Concept 1
Be Sure you are a Christian
You can be sure you are a Christian if you have truly accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Bible says “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). You have been saved for all of eternity because of your faith in Jesus Christ by the grace of God.
Your feelings will not always echo your salvation. There will be days when you don’t “feel” saved. But your feelings don’t determine your salvation; your faith in Jesus does. “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ).
Key verses
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
John 3:16, 17

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
Transferable Concept 2
How You Can Experience God’s Love and Forgiveness
If you have asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, you have been completely forgiven of all your sins. The Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Jesus’ death on the cross took away your sins. He died so that you could be free from the guilt and shame of your sin and experience God’s total love and forgiveness.
Now God sees you as if you had never sinned. We are told in the Bible “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). You are now one of those who are in Christ Jesus, free from condemnation! God has also made a way for you to be forgiven if you sin in the future. As Christians, we are promised “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). Go now and thank God that you can experience life as one completely forgiven!
Key verses
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name” (I John 2:12).
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

Step 2: The Holy Spirit
God has given the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. When Jesus left this earth, He said that God His Father would send the Holy Spirit to be in His disciples. If you are a Christian, you can ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit each and every day.

Transferable Concept 3
How You Can Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
You can live an abundant life as a Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has not left you to live your life as a Christian out of your own efforts, alone and frustrated. Jesus has given you the gift of the Holy Spirit! He told His disciples, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you” (Luke 24:49). When you first accepted Christ as your Savior by faith, the Holy Spirit was given to you by God to assure you of your salvation. But He has more for you! God wants you to be filled (directed and controlled) with the Holy Spirit so that you can live an abundant and fruitful life, one of fulfillment and powerful witness of Jesus Christ to those around you.
You can be filled with the Holy Spirit the same way you became a Christian—by asking God to fill you with the Holy Spirit by faith. Here is the promise Jesus gave to all believers: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It is as if you had a million dollars in the bank; you just have to go in and ask for it. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is worth far more than a million dollars—it will give you a life of powerful witness and great fulfillment—and the gift is already in your spiritual bank account. If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit today, ask God to fill you, and then thank Him in faith for doing so. You will begin to experience a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Key verses
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Luke 24:49
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

Transferable Concept 4
How You Can Walk in the Spirit
If you have asked God in faith to fill you with His Holy Spirit, you can be confident that He has filled you according to His promise. Now you are able to live everyday walking in the fullness of the Spirit He has given you. The Bible compares people to trees; the way to know a good tree is by its fruit, or by the actions of the person: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). God wants every Christian to produce good fruit and has given you the Holy Spirit so that you can live a life like Jesus Christ, one of love and of power.
As a Christian, you must make a continual choice between walking according to the desires of your old self and walking according to the desires of the Holy Spirit. We are told in Galatians 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” You can learn to walk in the Holy Spirit as you read and obey God’s Word, give thanks to Him in all things, and continually confess yours sins to God and ask for forgiveness. If you want to live your life walking in the Spirit, tell God now that you want Him to teach you. Because it is what He wants for you, you can know that He will do it.
Key verses
“For if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).
“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:8).
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8:13,14).
Step 3: Bible
God has not left us without help in leading the Christian life. He inspired holy writers over the centuries to write the Bible – 66 books organized into the New Testament and Old Testament. You can learn about Jesus; learn how to live a Christian life; and study the lives of godly men and women of old by reading the Bible. God has given you “His instruction book” to help us live a victorious Christian life.
Step 4: Church
You are not alone in living the Christian life. All the true Christians in the world are now your spiritual brothers and sisters. We encourage you to seek out other Christians near you who can help you grow in your Christian life. You can learn about God; spend time with other believers; worship God; and help and serve others in your local church.
Step 5: Prayer
God has given us the privilege of talking with Him. Talking with God is called prayer. We can pray to God at any time; Christ said He would be with us always. God as our heavenly Father loves to spend time with us. We can pray to Him and tell Him we love Him; we can ask Him for His help; we can pray for others. You can pray to God throughout the day, but it is also good to set aside some time each day when you can spend concentrated time in prayer to God.

Transferable Concept 9
How You Can Pray with Confidence
As a Christian, you are now God’s child. In the same way that a parent longs to talk and spend time with his child, so God wants to talk and spend time with you. God says in the Bible, “Call to Me and I will answer you.” (Jeremiah 33:3). This interaction is called prayer, and because Jesus became the bridge to the God for you, you can pray anytime you want. When you pray, you are talking to the most powerful Person in the entire universe—the One who created you and everything you see. And as one of His dear children, this most powerful God loves you and cares about what you tell Him.
Jesus told His disciples, “My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name” (John 16:23). You can pray with confidence in this promise when you come to God in faith and with a pure heart. This means that you can ask God for forgiveness when you sin and in turn forgive others when they wrong you. Believe that He hears you and will answer your prayers according to His will because of your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Another wonderful part of prayer is telling God how great He is and how thankful you are to Him. If you have never experienced the joy of talking to God, you can begin today, knowing that He is listening and loves to hear from you!

Key verses
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.”
1 John 5:14-15
“The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.”
Psalm 145:18-19
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11:24
Step 6: Share Your Faith
When Jesus left His disciples, He told them that they would be His witnesses – that they were to tell others about Him. As Christians, we have the privilege of telling other people the good news that Christ died for them. There are many ways of doing this; you can talk to people, you can send them an e-mail, you can give them a Christian book. You can also ask God to have His love shine through you. It is important also to pray for people you know who need to come to know Christ.
Transferable Concept 5
How You Can Be a Fruitful Witness
What is the most important moment of your life? If you are a Christian, it is the moment you accepted Jesus Christ into your life to be your Lord and Savior. Because of your faith in Him, you now have life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10). What then is the greatest thing you can do for another person? It is to give them an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and experience the abundant life you now have. God has you given you both the command and the ability to tell others about Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to His disciples (us), “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19,20). We can make disciples of others by witnessing to them—by telling them about who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. In order to be an effective witness, you should be confident of your own salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Always confess any sin you have committed to God and ask for His forgiveness, and be prepared to share your faith in Jesus. Then ask God for opportunities to witness, and talk to those whom you know and those you meet about Jesus Christ. God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), so you can go in the power of the Holy Spirit and tell others about the salvation available through belief in Jesus Christ!
Key verses
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8)
“And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).
“And He commanded us to preach to the people, to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).
“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2)
Transferable Concept 6
How You Can Introduce Others to Christ
One of the greatest things you can do for another person is to tell him or her about Jesus Christ and the way He has saved you from your sins through your belief in Him. You don’t have to be a pastor or perfect speaker to introduce others to Jesus; if you are a Christian and filled with the Holy Spirit by faith, you can introduce others to Jesus Christ and see many people saved through your witness. Jesus told His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).
The Bible tells us that God wants every person to believe in His Son that they may be saved (John 3:16), but “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). As Christians, we are the ones to tell those who do not know about Jesus. There are many good ways to share your faith. One such way is by sharing The Four Spiritual Laws with someone who doesn’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is a booklet that explains the message of the gospel in an easy-to-understand manner. If you would like this tool to help you share the gospel or would like to receive more training, please contact us at http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com. As a Christian, the Holy Spirit has been given to you to be your Helper, and He will empower you to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ.
Key verses
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark 16:15
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witness to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
“For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.”
Acts 22:15
Transferable Concept 7
How You Can Help Fulfill the Great Commission
Now that you are a Christian, you know of and have the great gift of salvation from Jesus Christ. Because you were presented with the gospel and believed, you have been freed from sin and death and have been given an abundant, eternal life. But millions of people in the world today have not heard the good news about Jesus Christ and so do not have the chance to believe and experience an abundant, eternal life.
In the same way that God desired you to hear the gospel so that you might believe in His Son Jesus and be saved, He also “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). This is why Jesus gave us the command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Bringing the good news of Jesus to the world is called the Great Commission, and this privilege has been given to us as Christians. You can help fulfill the Great Commission by telling those you know about Jesus, by praying for those who do not yet know Him, or by giving your time or money to help allow the gospel to be preached throughout the world. You can ask God about the specific way you can help fulfill the Great Commission.
Key verses
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 28:19
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
Romans 10:15
Transferable Concept 8
How You Can Love by Faith
Often the love we experience in the world today is based on our performance or another’s personal preference. This kind of love can change easily and does not fulfill. The love with which God loves you is not this way. The Bible tells us that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This means that even when you had your back turned toward God, He loved you so much that He sent His only Son to earth to die in your place, that you might receive eternal life.
The love that God has shown us is the kind of love we as Christians are to show everyone we know—the kind of love that treats another person as we ourselves would like to be treated, the kind of love that would die for another person, even for our enemies. When someone treats you badly and you treat them well in return, you have loved them the way God loves. You cannot love this way out of your own strength; you will only end up frustrated. Instead, you can love others by faith. When you understand that God loved you completely when you were a sinner, and that you have been saved by this love because of your faith in Jesus Christ, you can love others by this same faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. You can ask God in faith to fill you with His love for others and He will be faithful to do it, for it is His desire that you love others as He has loved you.
Key verses
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:10,11
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
1 John 4:21

One thought on “Full view||Back to messagesAmerica II’s First Sail of the Season – Newport to NYC Delivery Experience?”

Karwang Yohzen

February 4, 2011 at 1:02 am

Six steps to become a true Christian

Step 1: Be Sure

If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can be sure you are a Christian. You are not a Christian because you go to church, or because you do good things. The Bible says “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Christ came to die for our sins, so that “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ).

Transferable Concept 1
Be Sure you are a Christian
You can be sure you are a Christian if you have truly accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Bible says “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). You have been saved for all of eternity because of your faith in Jesus Christ by the grace of God.
Your feelings will not always echo your salvation. There will be days when you don’t “feel” saved. But your feelings don’t determine your salvation; your faith in Jesus does. “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ).
Key verses
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
John 3:16, 17

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
Transferable Concept 2
How You Can Experience God’s Love and Forgiveness
If you have asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, you have been completely forgiven of all your sins. The Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Jesus’ death on the cross took away your sins. He died so that you could be free from the guilt and shame of your sin and experience God’s total love and forgiveness.
Now God sees you as if you had never sinned. We are told in the Bible “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). You are now one of those who are in Christ Jesus, free from condemnation! God has also made a way for you to be forgiven if you sin in the future. As Christians, we are promised “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). Go now and thank God that you can experience life as one completely forgiven!
Key verses
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name” (I John 2:12).
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

Step 2: The Holy Spirit
God has given the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. When Jesus left this earth, He said that God His Father would send the Holy Spirit to be in His disciples. If you are a Christian, you can ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit each and every day.

Transferable Concept 3
How You Can Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
You can live an abundant life as a Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has not left you to live your life as a Christian out of your own efforts, alone and frustrated. Jesus has given you the gift of the Holy Spirit! He told His disciples, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you” (Luke 24:49). When you first accepted Christ as your Savior by faith, the Holy Spirit was given to you by God to assure you of your salvation. But He has more for you! God wants you to be filled (directed and controlled) with the Holy Spirit so that you can live an abundant and fruitful life, one of fulfillment and powerful witness of Jesus Christ to those around you.
You can be filled with the Holy Spirit the same way you became a Christian—by asking God to fill you with the Holy Spirit by faith. Here is the promise Jesus gave to all believers: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It is as if you had a million dollars in the bank; you just have to go in and ask for it. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is worth far more than a million dollars—it will give you a life of powerful witness and great fulfillment—and the gift is already in your spiritual bank account. If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit today, ask God to fill you, and then thank Him in faith for doing so. You will begin to experience a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Key verses
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Luke 24:49
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

Transferable Concept 4
How You Can Walk in the Spirit
If you have asked God in faith to fill you with His Holy Spirit, you can be confident that He has filled you according to His promise. Now you are able to live everyday walking in the fullness of the Spirit He has given you. The Bible compares people to trees; the way to know a good tree is by its fruit, or by the actions of the person: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). God wants every Christian to produce good fruit and has given you the Holy Spirit so that you can live a life like Jesus Christ, one of love and of power.
As a Christian, you must make a continual choice between walking according to the desires of your old self and walking according to the desires of the Holy Spirit. We are told in Galatians 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” You can learn to walk in the Holy Spirit as you read and obey God’s Word, give thanks to Him in all things, and continually confess yours sins to God and ask for forgiveness. If you want to live your life walking in the Spirit, tell God now that you want Him to teach you. Because it is what He wants for you, you can know that He will do it.
Key verses
“For if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).
“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:8).
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8:13,14).
Step 3: Bible
God has not left us without help in leading the Christian life. He inspired holy writers over the centuries to write the Bible – 66 books organized into the New Testament and Old Testament. You can learn about Jesus; learn how to live a Christian life; and study the lives of godly men and women of old by reading the Bible. God has given you “His instruction book” to help us live a victorious Christian life.
Step 4: Church
You are not alone in living the Christian life. All the true Christians in the world are now your spiritual brothers and sisters. We encourage you to seek out other Christians near you who can help you grow in your Christian life. You can learn about God; spend time with other believers; worship God; and help and serve others in your local church.
Step 5: Prayer
God has given us the privilege of talking with Him. Talking with God is called prayer. We can pray to God at any time; Christ said He would be with us always. God as our heavenly Father loves to spend time with us. We can pray to Him and tell Him we love Him; we can ask Him for His help; we can pray for others. You can pray to God throughout the day, but it is also good to set aside some time each day when you can spend concentrated time in prayer to God.

Transferable Concept 9
How You Can Pray with Confidence
As a Christian, you are now God’s child. In the same way that a parent longs to talk and spend time with his child, so God wants to talk and spend time with you. God says in the Bible, “Call to Me and I will answer you.” (Jeremiah 33:3). This interaction is called prayer, and because Jesus became the bridge to the God for you, you can pray anytime you want. When you pray, you are talking to the most powerful Person in the entire universe—the One who created you and everything you see. And as one of His dear children, this most powerful God loves you and cares about what you tell Him.
Jesus told His disciples, “My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name” (John 16:23). You can pray with confidence in this promise when you come to God in faith and with a pure heart. This means that you can ask God for forgiveness when you sin and in turn forgive others when they wrong you. Believe that He hears you and will answer your prayers according to His will because of your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Another wonderful part of prayer is telling God how great He is and how thankful you are to Him. If you have never experienced the joy of talking to God, you can begin today, knowing that He is listening and loves to hear from you!

Key verses
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.”
1 John 5:14-15
“The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.”
Psalm 145:18-19
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11:24
Step 6: Share Your Faith
When Jesus left His disciples, He told them that they would be His witnesses – that they were to tell others about Him. As Christians, we have the privilege of telling other people the good news that Christ died for them. There are many ways of doing this; you can talk to people, you can send them an e-mail, you can give them a Christian book. You can also ask God to have His love shine through you. It is important also to pray for people you know who need to come to know Christ.
Transferable Concept 5
How You Can Be a Fruitful Witness
What is the most important moment of your life? If you are a Christian, it is the moment you accepted Jesus Christ into your life to be your Lord and Savior. Because of your faith in Him, you now have life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10). What then is the greatest thing you can do for another person? It is to give them an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and experience the abundant life you now have. God has you given you both the command and the ability to tell others about Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to His disciples (us), “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19,20). We can make disciples of others by witnessing to them—by telling them about who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. In order to be an effective witness, you should be confident of your own salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Always confess any sin you have committed to God and ask for His forgiveness, and be prepared to share your faith in Jesus. Then ask God for opportunities to witness, and talk to those whom you know and those you meet about Jesus Christ. God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), so you can go in the power of the Holy Spirit and tell others about the salvation available through belief in Jesus Christ!
Key verses
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8)
“And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).
“And He commanded us to preach to the people, to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).
“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2)
Transferable Concept 6
How You Can Introduce Others to Christ
One of the greatest things you can do for another person is to tell him or her about Jesus Christ and the way He has saved you from your sins through your belief in Him. You don’t have to be a pastor or perfect speaker to introduce others to Jesus; if you are a Christian and filled with the Holy Spirit by faith, you can introduce others to Jesus Christ and see many people saved through your witness. Jesus told His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).
The Bible tells us that God wants every person to believe in His Son that they may be saved (John 3:16), but “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). As Christians, we are the ones to tell those who do not know about Jesus. There are many good ways to share your faith. One such way is by sharing The Four Spiritual Laws with someone who doesn’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is a booklet that explains the message of the gospel in an easy-to-understand manner. If you would like this tool to help you share the gospel or would like to receive more training, please contact us at http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com. As a Christian, the Holy Spirit has been given to you to be your Helper, and He will empower you to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ.
Key verses
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark 16:15
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witness to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
“For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.”
Acts 22:15
Transferable Concept 7
How You Can Help Fulfill the Great Commission
Now that you are a Christian, you know of and have the great gift of salvation from Jesus Christ. Because you were presented with the gospel and believed, you have been freed from sin and death and have been given an abundant, eternal life. But millions of people in the world today have not heard the good news about Jesus Christ and so do not have the chance to believe and experience an abundant, eternal life.
In the same way that God desired you to hear the gospel so that you might believe in His Son Jesus and be saved, He also “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). This is why Jesus gave us the command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Bringing the good news of Jesus to the world is called the Great Commission, and this privilege has been given to us as Christians. You can help fulfill the Great Commission by telling those you know about Jesus, by praying for those who do not yet know Him, or by giving your time or money to help allow the gospel to be preached throughout the world. You can ask God about the specific way you can help fulfill the Great Commission.
Key verses
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 28:19
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
Romans 10:15
Transferable Concept 8
How You Can Love by Faith
Often the love we experience in the world today is based on our performance or another’s personal preference. This kind of love can change easily and does not fulfill. The love with which God loves you is not this way. The Bible tells us that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This means that even when you had your back turned toward God, He loved you so much that He sent His only Son to earth to die in your place, that you might receive eternal life.
The love that God has shown us is the kind of love we as Christians are to show everyone we know—the kind of love that treats another person as we ourselves would like to be treated, the kind of love that would die for another person, even for our enemies. When someone treats you badly and you treat them well in return, you have loved them the way God loves. You cannot love this way out of your own strength; you will only end up frustrated. Instead, you can love others by faith. When you understand that God loved you completely when you were a sinner, and that you have been saved by this love because of your faith in Jesus Christ, you can love others by this same faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. You can ask God in faith to fill you with His love for others and He will be faithful to do it, for it is His desire that you love others as He has loved you.
Key verses
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:10,11
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
1 John 4:21