So I’m a Christian, now what? – Acts various verses

11 08 2008

 Adoption

  • Gal. 4:4-5 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

  • Caney made national news when Golden Retriever adopted and cares for tiger cubs at the Safari Zoological Park.

  • The tiger cubs look nothing like the golden retriever, but she brings them in and cares for them. We don’t look like we belong to God’s family, but he adopts us in at a deepest cost. The longer we are in the family the more we start to look like we belong. We learn to love what the Father loves and hate what the father hates. Once we are a part of the family what’s next. I’m a Christian now what do I do??

1. Be baptized- 2:38-41

  • Baptism needs to occur after you believe.

  • Baptism does not happen at the exact same time as belief.

  • Acts 10:47-48 Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

  • Baptism is not the same thing as believing. They are not synonyms.

  • If baptism and belief were the same thing you could use them like synonyms. And you would not need to use both of them at the same time.

  • Acts 18:8b And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. Aslo Acts 8:13;

  • Two different things one before the other.

  • If they are synonyms then this verse is very weird. It would be like me saying, “I got dressed and put my clothes on.” “I washed and cleaned my hands.” “We had supper and ate food.”

  • Baptism shows you are willing to obey the Lord.

  • We don’t include a person into the membership of the church until they get baptized because it they don’t want to get baptized there is a problem.

2. Read your Bible

  • You cannot defend what you don’t personally know.

  • You cannot grow spiritually without the word.

  • I hated reading until I was about 16 when I started consuming the Bible like I wasn’t going to have it tomorrow. I learned there is some good stuff in here. After I started reading it I began to grow. It was less than a year later that God called me to preach it. Just preach it.

  • When you read it he will give and maintain His purpose for you. Knowing the Bible will give you wisdom for marriage, how to handle conflict, and lead to many blessing that don’t come any other way, but by knowing his word.

  • Don’t just read it, study it.

3. Pray

  • Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves tot he apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and and the prayers.

  • Talk to God

  • pray when you read your Bible

  • Pray for your friends

  • Pray and just be thankful some times

  • Write down your prayers. Find what works for you and do it.

4. Remember you are the church so go be together.

Acts 16:5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

Be together to learn. (strengthened in the faith)

  • You don’t have to learn something new every time you come.

Be together to worship God.

  • You can and should worship God by yourself everyday, but you should also be part of the group worship. There is a dynamic about being there that cannot be replaced.

  • I sometimes listen to sermons on CD or online, because a friend recommended it. He was on fire about it. Then I listen to it and it’s not the same. I was not there so it didn’t impact me as much.

Be together to serve each other.

  • Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers…

Be apart of God’s work in every way you can.

  • Matt. 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

  • People are the church. The church is everyone who believes.

  • When you believe and then show your belief by getting baptized you are a member of this church. It is my responsibility to help you grow and love, more so than any other church. It is the rest of the churches responsibility to help. If someone stumbles in the faith we should make every effort to help you get back on the right track more so than any other churches responsibility.

  • People are going to get their understanding of what a Christian is by watching you.

  • People are going to get their understanding of what this church is all about by watching and listening to us.

5. Tell others what God as done for you – evangelism

  • The whole book of acts is about saved people telling others how to be saved.

  • Saved people have a desire for others to be saved too.

  • Several people have told me I’m glad so and so got saved at your church I’ve been praying for them for years. It was there prayers that lead to the moment I was able to talk to them.

  • You pass people everyday that somebody has been praying for, for years.

 

Be on guard against people and things that will lead you away from being baptized, praying, the Bible, church, and desiring others to be saved.


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Which Church Should I Join?

22 10 2007

These are six truths to consider when joining a church.  Of course, these are not the only things to consider, but they are some important truths.  Though it is not true, someone reading this might think I am pointing them out or picking on them.   It is not just one person but many people say these same things am addressing.  I see people sacrifice the truth of the Bible on the alter of practicallity.  Therefore I lovingly offer these thoughts to help guide my churches thinking and any others who might read this post.

1. Join a church that is Biblical.

  • I will be the first to say that I believe what baptist believe is biblical. If I didn’t think I was right, I would not be a baptist. Yes, then that means I think other churches are wrong about some things. That does not mean that I don’t like them. Who would want to go to a church were the pastor did not believe he was correct in what he was saying? How could he speak with passion at all? If he did this he would be a politician not a pastor. Who would want to go to a church where the pastor thought all churches were right? A church must have a high view of Scripture. This means letting Scripture guide the church not society. Scripture is the infallible word of God and must be the only authority for guiding the life of a church.

2. Join a church where you believe what is being taught.

  • Don’t join a church that you believe is biblically in error, especially salvation. Those who do this are saying that there are other things in a church more important than what God says. Going to a church which you disagree, but hope to change a few people is like marrying a lost person hoping they will get saved (something the Bible forbids). The leaders in the church will always have more sway than you. Going to biblical church will make more of an impression than going to the one you disagree with in order to influence them.

3. Join a church that cares more about making God happy than making people happy.

  • This does not mean that you have to go around making people mad all the time. The Bible teaches us that “as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18).  Join a church where you get challenged and your toes get stepped on. I don’t know about you, but I need the conviction of the Holy Spirit that comes through the preaching of the Word of God.

  • Some preachers today will openly admit to not preaching against sin or even saying the word sin. Some do not preach on Hell. To do this is to be more worried about making people happy than God happy.  I believe that God’s plan is to use His church to declare his glory, but how can that happen when the Bible takes a back seat to people.

4. Join a church that cares about the lost being saved.

  • The Bible tells us that one of the churches purposes is to evangelize or do missions. It is not right to be apart of a church that does not care about lost. A church that does not care about the lost is an unbiblical church. The reason we ought to care about the lost is that we care about the glory of God. If we truly want God to be glorified, we will want more people to glorify God. The glory of God is the motivation for missions.

5. Join a church that helps you and your family grow spiritually.

  • If a church cares about being biblical, then the members will be concerned about helping each other grow spiritually. The church should care about the spiritual development of all ages. If you join a church like this then, you should also care for the spiritual growth of others by at least praying for them.

6. Join a church where you can serve God by serving others.

  • Don’t join a church that just benefits you. Join a church where you can be a blessing to others by serving.

 Josh Eaton


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Sermon Summary 9-16-07

17 09 2007

The Bible and Man

I. The Bible was written by men. V. 21

  • Men wrote the Bible.

    • 40+ different men.

    • From multiple backgrounds, shepherds, kings, farmers, tax collectors, murderers, fishermen ect.

    • over 1600 years apart.

    • Three different languages

    • three separate continents, Asia, Africa, Europe

    • one single theme

    • Over five thousand Greek manuscripts contain all or part of the New Testament. The earliest copies we currently have can be dated as early as the first half of the second century, earlier than the year A.D. 150.” P. 137 “For example, Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars stands virtually unchallenged in regard to its authenticity and historicity, in spite of the fact that we have only approximately ten manuscripts of these writings, the earliest of which is dated approximately nine hundred years after Caesar’s death.” Voddie Bauchum The Ever-Loving Truth, 138

  • Why should I believe the Bible, it was written by men.?

    • Man wrote everything. Why don’t we say that about any other book?

II. God used men to write the Bible

  • God through the Holy Spirit impressed upon the minds of men what He wanted to be said.

III. Man cannot interpret the Bible any way he wants. V. 20

  • There are three possible ways to look at this verse.

  1. Not just any man can interpret the Bible.  In other words, as only certain men have the can interpret the Bible properly.  This view is held by Roman Catholics, but if this were the right interpretation surely Peter would have made clear to us who did have the right to interpret it.

  2. No scripture came from the prophets private interpretation.  This understanding says that the prophets who wrote the Bible did not interpret the events of their day privately.

  3. We can not interpret Scripture any way we want to.   This understanding says that man is should not interpret the Bible any way he wants.   There is only one right interpretation.  Even on this passage only one of these three understandings is correct.   

    • God surely wants us to read and understand what he has given us.  And everbody knows that even scolars disagree.  So some of them are wrong.  So it is not just the educated who have the correct understanding.  Therefore this passage must mean that every man can read and understand the Bible, but we do not have the right to interpret it any way that makes us happy.


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