Peace Has Come

Next steps 

So you’ve prayed and received Jesus as your Savior, your Lord. You’ll never regret it!  A new, eternal life in Jesus has begun and lies ahead!   If you haven’t yet received Jesus please re-read above.  The following below is for those who have received Jesus.  If you’d like to know more about Jesus first then read about Him in the Bible, particularly the New Covenant.   

So what’s next?

(The order of things below as experienced in your life may vary.  Don’t worry.  Press onward.)   

Tell someone you have received Jesus

 It’s very important you share your decision with someone.  How much you value Jesus is wrapped up in taking this step.  Consider the following words.  

 Jesus: 

Matthew chapter 10, verses 28-33. "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your [heavenly] Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.  Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”  

The Apostle John: 

John chapter 12, verses 42-43.  “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him [Jesus], but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;  for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”       

Follow Jesus  

In the days when Jesus was fulfilling His time as Son of God on earth in the flesh, that is in the body that His heavenly Father had given Him, He would often say to people, “Follow Me.”  It was obvious what that meant to people who were physically near Him, that is to physically walk with Jesus as sheep following a shepherd.    

 As those of us who now have received Jesus as our Savior, our Lord, in our time we are also given the same invitation from Jesus to “Follow Me.”      

So how do we follow Jesus now that He has been resurrected and gone away to be with the Father?   

Jesus came to give us life, a new life, a spiritual birth.  Our new life with Jesus in following Him is a spiritual walk.  To be sure we continue to live in our bodies until the Father brings us home to be with Him, that is when we die according to his time line.  But when we sincerely receive Jesus our spirit dwelling in our body is made alive.  It is the beginning.  To experience spiritual growth we follow Jesus in the following ways.       

Fellowship with God

Prayer:   

Daily prayer is an amazing gift, a great opportunity in your relationship with God. Very much is written in the Bible about prayer.  God greatly desires this interaction.  His love for you is immeasurable.  And His power is unlimited.  Understand that God is never too busy to hear from you.  Prayer is simple communion with God about great matters or the smallest matters in your life.  Don’t formalize your prayer.  Speak to God as a Father, a Friend, and a Teacher.  You can pray silently or out loud, by yourself or with other people, anytime about anything.   

After mankind was separated from God due to sin, much about His nature was obscured.  In the Old Covenant portion of the Bible God promised many things.  Among the promises God spoke was that He would send a Savior to restore mankind back to life to Himself, One called Messiah, or Moshiach, or Christ, all terms of which mean 'Anointed.'  He also spoke that He would send His Holy Spirit on all mankind.   

  From these promises in the Old Covenant we can see the revealed fulfillment in the New Covenant of what is described as the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  God the Father.  The Anointed One Jesus, Son of God.  The Spirit of the Living God.   

Much is said about the Three in the Old Covenant and New Covenant.  Regarding prayer we are invited into prayer with the Father, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit.  Listen to what is promised.   

1 John chapter 1, verses 1-3.  “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life --  and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us --  what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.   

2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 14.  “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”     

Praise: 

Daily praise is another part of our fellowship with God. It is true that we give thanks and praise to other people for various reasons.  But ultimately God alone is worthy of all praise. There is an elevated place in praise that is reserved for God alone.   

Gratitude and thanks will begin to rise in your heart, your spirit, to God for all that He has done and will do.  As it does just praise Him when you’re alone or with other people, silently or aloud.  Praise God!   

Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15.  “Through Him [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”   

Revelation chapter 19, verse 5.  “And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great."     

Read God’s Word - The Bible

Daily reading the Word is an adventurous and essential part of your new life in God.  God communicated His heart to His servants by His Spirit over millennium. These individuals recorded His words.  This is what is called Scripture.     

2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16.  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”   

Scripture can be broken down into two main portions, the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  The Old Covenant covers the works and dealings of God from before creation and pointed the coming of the Anointed One, the Christ, the Moshiach, the Messiah Jesus.  The New Covenant covers the actual events surrounding the coming of Jesus, whose name in Aramaic is Yeshua, and also points to future events including the conclusion of the mystery of God and mankind.   

All Scripture is worth your attention, your time reading.  As you are beginning your new life with God ask Him where you should start reading.  Almost always you should start first by reading about the coming of the Savior Jesus in the New Covenant.  A good place to start within the New Covenant would be one of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  The book of the Acts of the Apostles is another book to read soon.     

Find a good translation or version of the Scripture.  Some good translations would be the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV), and the New King James Version (NKJV). Avoid translations produced by cults who say that you must use their own translation, or similarly, translations pushed by people who say there is only one true translation.    

It is recommended that you purchase a printed copy of Scripture.  A better connection is made with a printed copy versus an electronic copy.  Certainly an electronic copy can be read, as well.  But studies have shown, not just as it pertains to Scripture reading, that comprehension when reading a printed format is higher than when reading an electronic format.   

Finally regarding the Word don’t at all be discouraged because things don’t necessarily all connect at first.  Just keep reading daily.  The process could be compared to working a puzzle.  If you look at one piece of the puzzle you could say, “Well, this makes no sense.”  But as you add pieces of the puzzle together the picture becomes clearer and clearer.  So it is with Scripture, too.     

Fellowship with other believers

You are not the first person to follow Jesus.  There are many others who have preceded you dating back to Jesus’ earthly ministry. This group of people, now including you, is called the Church or the Body of Christ.  At its core the Church is a spiritual family of fellow followers of Jesus.     

The term Church literally means a “gathering,” or to “gather.”  The term Church is also used to mean a structure or area in which followers of Jesus gather.  One might say, “I’m going to church today.”  But it’s important to remember that the real Church is the gathering of followers of Jesus, alive or passed on, the people themselves.    

As we gather together we have fellowship, or interaction, with one another.  This fellowship is very important for your spiritual growth.  The world, that is those not saved and following Jesus will not encourage you.  Some may even try to hinder your relationship with Jesus.  But don’t quit.     

John chapter 15, verse 18.  “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”   

Spending time with one another will help to strengthen you.  There is a “go it alone” philosophy today among some people that is harmful which says, “Well, I can connect with God wherever I want. I don’t need to go to church.” This thinking is inaccurate and is harmful to the welfare of believers, of you.  Consider the following.    

Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24-25.  “let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”   

Find a Bible teaching church that believes in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit.  Ask your heavenly Father where He wants you to gather with other believers.  Seek Him.  And go to the church to where He leads you.     

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Your heavenly Father desires for you to receive the Holy Spirit, that is His Spirit.  Make no mistake.  Receiving the Holy Spirit is a gift.  The Spirit of God is not given to you as being earned.  When you received Jesus your spirit was washed clean by the blood of Jesus.  That forgiveness which washes your spirit was not earned.  And nor is receiving the Holy Spirit earned.  With that forgiveness the Holy Spirit can come and dwell within you.  If you have not yet received the Holy Spirit read the following which Jesus said,    

Luke chapter 11, verses 11-13. “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?  Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”         

Baptism in water

 If one takes a look at the state of mankind through honest eyes it won’t take long to see that there is a root problem in the nature of people.  Hatred toward God, His opinions, develops from a very early age.  Lying, stealing, hatred, harm, disrespect, ignoring God, among many other traits are easily found.  Why?     

This tendency is known as a “sin nature.” It doesn’t mean everyone is all bad.  But it does mean everyone isn’t all good.  When Jesus the Messiah [Christ] or Jesus the Anointed One came He conquered this threshold of imperfection living a perfect life.  He was born without a sin nature. He was born of the Father through the virgin womb of Mary. And He conquered death for all time, specifically for those take refuge in Him.   

The life offered to us by God now includes freedom from the sin nature through Jesus.  Part of the application of this freedom comes through water baptism.   

Romans chapter 6, verses 1-4. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  

 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17.  “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”   

Colossians chapter 2, verse 8-12.  “For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him [Jesus] you have been made complete, and He [Jesus] is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him [Jesus] you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.     

Through Jesus there is destruction of your slavery to the sin nature, or the body of the flesh, that is inherent within all mankind.  Water baptism is a part of that process.   

Regarding the specifics of water baptism there is a difference of opinion as to how water baptism should be performed, immersion or sprinkling. The Scriptures almost exclusively point to immersion as opposed to sprinkling as the method by which people were baptized.