Saturday, March 2, 2007
Lectured and outlined by Melinda
What is a Christian?
Christians are those who believe Jesus' death has allowed God to offer forgiveness and eternal life as a gift. We have accepted that gift through faith and are seeking to live a life of obedient gratitude for what God has done for us.
Believing that Jesus died on the cross and resurrected on the third day is what we call being saved or born again.
How do we become a Christian? In John 3:1-21 Jesus speaks to a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus to explain the first step to being a Christian.
John 3:1-21
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.[a]"
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit [b] gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You [c] must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. [d] 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. [e]
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, [f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. [g] 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." [h]
Footnotes:
[a.] John 3:3 Or born from above; also in verse 7
[b] John 3:6 Or but spirit
[c] John 3:7 The Greek is plural.
[d] John 3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven
[e] John 3:15 Or believes may have eternal life in him
[f] John 3:16 Or his only begotten Son
[g] John 3:18 Or God's only begotten Son
[h] John 3:21 Some interpreters end the quotation after verse 15.
Being a Christian is more than being saved. It also means to be a follower of Christ. We need to follow Christ's example; not only did Jesus perform many miracles but he loved everyone.
Galatians 5:22 talks about the fruits of the spirit
Galatians 5:22
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Love is defined as a strong tender affection. Jesus showed much love to many different people. The way he showed his love the most was by dieing on the cross. This was done because he knew that without that sacrifice we would not have eternal life. He came as a man in the flesh and suffered a terrible death because he had so much love for us. We too should be able to love even when we are hurt by others.
John 13:34-35
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Romans 13:10
10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
I Corinthians 13:13
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Mathew 19:19
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
Joy- a lively emotion of happiness, delight and pleasure.
I Chronicles 16:27
27 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.
I Chronicles 16:32
32Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them
Job 8:21
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
