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10
FIRST STEPS
FOR NEW BELIEVERS
by
FREDDIE COILE
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PREFACE
Dear
Friend,
Welcome to the Family of God!!
You have just made the wisest decision
that any person could possibly make.
I am thrilled for you as you enter
into your personal relationship with
Jesus Christ. This booklet is
prepared especially for you.
It is written to help you grow as a
Christian. The Lord has so many
things to show you! Grab your
Bible and pen as you go through your
first 10
steps. Let's get started!!
Because of Christ,
Lee
Stanford |
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BE
SURE!! |
Before we go any further in this
adventure of the Christian life, let's
make sure you have the absolute
assurance of eternal life. That
is our first step! Grab you
Bible and look at 1 John chapter 5
verses 11-13.(It's near the back.)
1. What has God given us? (v.
11)
__________________
2. Where is this life found? (v.
11)
__________________
3. Who has eternal life? (v. 12)
__________________
4. If you have believed on the
Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, what
can you know that you have? (v. 13)
_____________________________________________________
Friend, are you sure that you have
believed in Jesus Christ as the one
who died to pay for your sin? Do
you understand that His payment was
the only payment that God would accept
for your sin? Are you trusting
in Jesus Christ completely as your way
into Heaven?
If so, the Bible says you have eternal
life. Now, if you have eternal
life, what more do you need to do to
get it? That's right, absolutely
nothing. You have an enemy who
will try to make you doubt your
salvation. If Satan does this to
you, just have a Bible study with him!
Remind him that you belong to God
because you have believed in Jesus
Christ, just like the Bible say.
For more study: John 1:12, John
3:16-18, John 6:47, John 14:6 |
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MEET
YOUR FATHER! |
Let me show you a tremendous promise!
Crack your Bible open to the Gospel of
John. Let's look at chapter 1,
verse 12.
What is the promise for everyone
who receives Jesus
Christ?__________________
It is no small thing to be a child of
God. This is amazing! If
you are God's child, that makes Him
your Father. Your second step is
to begin applying this truth to your
life.
What we have here is not a plastic
religion. The Scripture tells us
that this is a real relationship.
Let that sink in for a moment.
God is our Father. Let's
look at some more Scripture.
If the loving God is our Father, we
can expect Him to help us in times of
trouble. We can expect Him to
provide for us. We can look to
Him when we need answers. When
we are lonely He will be there.
Pray often to God. Call Him
Father. This Father will never
fail His children. His love will
never leave you. Study Romans
8:37-39.
If
the holy God is our Father, we can
expect Him to discipline us if we sin.
Since sin's consequences are bad for
us, our Father spanks us sometimes.
Yet even in discipline, our Father is
motivated by His perfect love.
He does it for our benefit. Study
Hebrews 12:4-11.
Finally,
we can know that if Father God has
called us His children, He will never
cast us out. He may spank us,
take away blessings, or deal with us
in many other ways - but He will never
stop being our Father. He will
not cast out those who have believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Study
John 6:36-40; 10:28 |
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ESTABLISH
A QUIET TIME! |
How many times have you started a
project, gotten confused, and then
finally reached for the instructions?
Well, this adventure of the Christian
life comes with an instruction manual.
The Bible has all the information that
you will need to know. I even
have a friend who say that says that BIBLE
stands for Basic Instructions
Before Leaving Earth!
This third step involves taking the
step of establishing a time everyday
that you will allow God to speak to
you through the Bible, Get yourself a
special place also. Establish
it. Tell the Lord your plan -
that you will plan to meet Him daily
at ______________(time) at
____________(place).
When you meet with the Lord at your
special time and place (we'll call it
Quiet Time), begin by praying.
Be sure to ask the Lord to help you
understand what He wants you to know.
Then open your Bible.
I
suggest you begin by reading the
Gospel of John. Read one chapter
a day. Ask yourself questions
like:
1. Who is speaking?
2. Who is being spoken to?
3. If I had been there I
would have ...
4. What is the Lord
telling me?
You are in no hurry. Take your
time and enjoy those one-on-one times
with God. After you finish John,
I suggest you do the same things with
Galations, Ephesians, Philippians, and
Colossians. Oh, one more thing,
I'm proud of you, child of God!
For more study: 2 Timothy 3:16; Psalm
1 |
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SIGNED,
SEALED, AND
DELIVERED!
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Remember that when you trusted Christ
as your Savior, you became a child of
God? Well, at the same time,
another important thing happened.
For this promise, turn to Ephesians
chapter 1, verses 13-14.
The apostle Paul tells these believers
that when they trusted Christ,
something happened to them. What
was it?
___________________________________________
Believers are sealed with God's
Spirit! This means that He
indwells, or lives inside of us.
Let that sink in for a moment.
God lives in me.
Now, if God wanted to make you a
powerful Christian, wouldn't it be
wise for Him to live in you?
Exactly! That's why He's there.
He will lead, equip, empower, convict,
give wisdom, and mark you as His
child!
One more thing about the seal of the
Spirit. How long does it last?
Until the day of redemption.
(When the Lord takes you to Heaven).
This seal cannot be broken! You
are God's residence.
Your fourth step is to thank the Lord
for living inside you. Then obey
Him as He teaches you principles of
Scripture. Obedience to the
Spirit is called "walking in the
Spirit" or "filled with the
Spirit."
For more study: John 14:16-17;
Ephesians 4:22-32; Ephesians 5:16-18;
Romans
8:8-9 |
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YOUR
PLACE IN THE
LOCAL CHURCH!!
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Your are not alone! When you
believed in Christ, you became a part
of a big family. The Bible calls
this family the Body of Christ.
We all work together to impact our
world for Jesus Christ. All of
us are important.
The fifth step is for you to find a
home church. This will be a
local assembly of believers which you
can become a part. I want to
suggest a few things to look for in a
local church.
1. Make sure the Pastor
believes and teaches the whole Bible
as God's Word.
2. Make sure the Pastor
gives a clear, simple explanation of
salvation through faith in
Christ alone.
3. Make sure that you pray
much about this important step.
God will lead you.
4. If you visit a church
and something seems strange, find a
different church. Good churches
do things decently and in order.
Your
relationship with a local church is
important. They can teach you
more about the Lord. You can
speak with the Pastor about being
baptized as soon as possible.
You can become involved in serving the
Lord through your local church.
You can find fellowship with brothers
and sisters there.
God loves the Church. It is not
perfect, because it is made up of
imperfect people. It is good
because God established it. He
has given it to help us learn, grow,
and serve. Take advantage of it.
Keep growing!!
For more study: Hebrews 10:23-25 |
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TELL
SOMEONE! |
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I never have been good at winning
those contests. You know, the
ones where they give away a million
dollars, new cars, and trips to
Hawaii. You can be sure though,
that if I ever received a gift like
that, I would tell someone about it!
Wouldn't you?
I
like the way you're thinking!
Since you just received the free gift
of eternal life, based on what Jesus
did for you, I'm sure you will want to
share that good news with someone.
Or several people. As a matter
of fact, wouldn't it be great if what
you said helped someone else to
believe in Jesus? ABSOLUTELY!!
Our world is full of people (so are
many churches) who have never heard a
simple, clear explanation of God's
good news of salvation. God's
plan is for us to tell them.
Worried about what to say? Just
tell them what happened to you.
Oh, and use your Bible to make sure
that they understand that what
happened to you is in God's Word.
Happy Fishing!
"And Jesus said unto them, come
ye after me and I will make you to
become fishers of men."
Mark 1:17
For more study: II Corinthians 5:20-21
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THE
PRIVILEGE OF
PRAYER
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What would you think of a young man
who had a girlfriend, but he wouldn't
talk to her? That relationship
wouldn't be very strong, would it?
In order to get the most out of our
relationships, we must communicate.
The same is true with your
relationship with the Lord.
When you believed in Jesus Christ as
your Savior, you became God's child!!
"But as many as received Him,
to
them He gave the power to become
the sons of God."
John 1:12
Your father wants to hear from you!
You can pray straight to him, through
Jesus Christ. He's never too busy for
you! The privilege of prayer is
tremendous! You have a direct
toll-free line to the One who holds
the universe together!
In your prayers, sometimes you will
want to simply tell the Lord how great
you think He is. Tell Him what you
appreciate Him for. Those are prayers
of thanksgiving.
When you have sinned, the Bible says,
"If we confess our sins, He is
faithful
and just to forgive our sins, and to
cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9
Don't
walk around guilty, child of God! If
you have sinned, confess
it to God. Then thank Him for
forgiveness and cleansing, based on
what Jesus did for you.
You can also pray and ask
the Lord to do something for you, or
someone else. He will hear the prayers
of His children. He will answer every
one of them. If His answer is
"no", or "not
yet", just remember , He's a
great Father. He always knows what is
best.
Okay, child of God, pray way! Building
a prayer habit is your seventh step!
Remember:
1. Pray
to the Father, through Jesus Christ,
the Son.
2. Don't
let sin keep you from praying! That's
when we need to pray the most. Confess
it, and go on.
3. Pray any
time.
4. Pray with
honor and respect, but don't be afraid
to pray! God gave you the privilege!
For more study: Philippians
4:6,7;1 Thessalonians 5:17; James 4:3
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ENGRAFTING
GOD'S
WORD
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How is your Quiet Time going, Child of
God? I ask this question now
because it is extremely important that
you build a Quiet Time into your daily
schedule.
In agriculture, a branch of one tree
is sometimes grafted into another
tree. The engrafted branch then
becomes a living part of the tree.
With that picture in mind, crack your
Bible open, and meet me at Colossians,
chapter 3, verse 16.
Q: What are you going to let
the word of Christ
do?____________________________
The
word "dwell" literally means
to "inhabit." The Word
of God is to inhabit you, or become a
living part of you, just like the
engrafted branch.
Q: How is the Word to dwell in
you?_______________________________________
I
hope you said "richly."
Child of God, don't be a poor person.
Open up the treasure chest of God's
Word. It's yours.
Q: If the Word of God lives in
you richly, what is the
result?______________________
Not only will the engrafted Word give
you wisdom, but it will light your
paths, and keep your way pure from
sin.
In closing this step, let me give you
five ways in engrafting God's Word.
Grow strong young child!!
1. Hear it. (Romans
10:17)
2. Read it. (Acts 17:11)
3. Study it. (II Timothy
2:15)
4. Memorize it. (Psalm
119:11)
5. Meditate on it. (Joshua
1:8) |
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OVERCOMING
THE
ENEMY
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When you believed in Christ, the devil
lost his grip on your eternal soul,
but he is still your enemy. You can
expect him to offer temptations to
you. He can take your joy
and fellowship away. He can give
you a bad case of guilt that will
leave you feeling like dirt. You
can overcome him through God's
power.
Open up your Bible to I Corinthians
chapter 10, verse 13.
Q: Does any temptation ever
come to a Christian that is to strong
for us to overcome?________________
Q: If God allows the devil to
send a temptation to you, what will
God Himself
provide?___________________
When Jesus was on earth, the devil
tempted Him too. Do you know how
He handled temptation? He beat
the devil over the head with
Scripture! (Read Luke 4:1-13).
the devil can't stand to hear
Scripture quoted.
If Jesus used Scripture to overcome
the enemy, wouldn't that be a smart
way for you to handle him too?
Sure! By now, hopefully you have
already begun to memorize some verses.
Well, when the devil tempts you, put
some Scripture on his ugly head!
Don't hang around temptation.
There's no value in seeing what it
looks like. Avoid it like the
plague. Get out!! God has
promised an escape route.
Some helpful verses to memorize:
I John 4:4
Ephesians 4:29
Romans 6: 1-2
Ephesians 6:12
II Corinthians 10:4-5
Colossians 3:1-3 |
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FINISHING
THE RACE |
Today, I finally will share with you
the most motivating piece of
Scriptures I've ever studied!
Start this tenth step by turning in
your Bible to Hebrews chapter 12,
verses 1 and 2.
Get the picture in your mind.
You are running a race. All the
children of God who have finished
their course are surrounding you.
In order to finish strong, you must
put away sins and distractions which
will only weigh you down or tangle you
up. The race is not a sprint,
it's a marathon. Oh, but don't
fear. you can do it! Jesus
has already gone before you.
Just keep your eyes on Him!
Now we know that this race is not to
gain salvation. Heaven is
settled when we believe. We are
saved by grace through faith alone.
Our good works are to bring glory to
Jesus. Now, God's children are
being showcased to the world as they
run the race for Jesus.
Friend, the tenth step is the
challenge and the adventure of running
the race. You haven't arrived.
You've started though. This
adventure with Jesus is incredible!
I'm excited for you because God has
marked out your course. Fix your
eyes on Jesus. Never look back.
Press on Runner!
For
more study: Philippians 3:13-14; I
Corinthians 9:24-27 |
There are some things that every
Christian should always remember.
We must be careful to not let the
enemy confuse us away from these
simple Bible truths.
1) Eternal life is a free gift from
God. It is not earned.
God's gift is given freely to all who
believe. Good works and
experiences do not save either before
or after believing. (Rom. 6:23;
Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 5:1)
2) Eternal life is forever.
There is nothing that a true child of
god can do that will cause him to be
cast out of God's family. God
disciplines His children, but never
stops being their Father. (John
6:37-40; Heb. 12:6-11)
3) The Spirit of God lives in every
believer. He baptizes a person
into God's family as soon as the
person believes. One person does
not give God's spirit to another
person. God promised the Spirit,
and He delivers every time. Once
He comes in, the Holy Spirit never
leaves. (John 14:16-17; I Cor. 12:13;
Eph. 1:12-14; Eph. 4:30)
4) Believers are able to understand
the scriptures and are commanded to
study them in order to learn and grow.
Believers should search the scriptures
daily to make sure of what the Bible
says. (I Peter 2:2; II Tim. 2:15; Acts
17:11)
If
you have made a decision to accept
Christ as your Savior, and have gone
through these first ten steps, please contact
me to let me
know.
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