Sunday, June 1, 2008

What is a Christian?

A Christian is someone who:
  • Knows their sinfulness
  • Wants forgiveness
  • Wants what Jesus did to pay for what they did
  • Trusts God to change and make things right
  • A Christian is spiritually born again (John 3:3, 1:13, 14:17, Eze 36:26, Deut. 30:6, Rom 8:9-11, I Pet 1:23, Titus 3:5, Eph 2:22, 3:16-17, 4:24)
  • God puts his Holy Spirit in us and we are justified once and for all
  • We die unto self daily and are sanctified moment by moment (Luke 9:23)
A Christian wants to do God’s will because:
  • The Christian is grateful that God provides everything
  • It is the Spirit of God “who wills and does” (Phil 2:12) in the Christian so that Paul says he is "struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me." (Colossians 1:29)
  • We love ourselves within the context of greater love for God and others
  • We are no longer a “slave of sin” but free to live for God
What is the evidence of being a Christian?
  • A Christian loves God and others (Matt 22:37). To love God is to obey his commandments (I John 5:3)
  • We’ll know Christians by their love for each other and others (John 13:13, Gal 6:10, I Thess 3:12, John 17:21)
  • The fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22)
  • A growing recognition and distaste for sin in one’s life
  • A growing desire to do the will of God over our own
  • A growing desire to read and study the Bible
  • A growing desire to be in mutually accountable relationships with other Christians
  • Christians restrain themselves to only say and do in love. If not in love, we are wrong even if technically correct (my mother)

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