Post-Christmas Growth
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 12 months ago
I hope you had a great Christmas and celebrated the advent of our Lord with your Family. I also hope that you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ in the coming year.
For one special reader out there – you know who you are and I won’t mention your name because you wouldn’t like it – I am left completely speechless and dumbfounded by the gift. I am certainly undeserving of it, but that’s what grace is all about. Being undeserving, having done absolutely nothing to earn it. That is perfectly exemplary of Christmas and redemption.
Thank you.
I cannot say enough about the value of you and your wife’s friendship with my wife and me.
On December 26, 2021 at 12:30 pm, Fred said:
Sorry for the length but this is essential Christian instruction to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. And there is a way to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it doesn’t happen by accident. Though prescriptive in the text below this is experiential knowledge. This isn’t merely an intellectual exercise and neither is Christianity. Don’t be deceived, we are to be doers of the word and not hearers only!
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22
Jesus did essentially two things. He trained disciples and preached the kingdom to the lost! Being a Christian isn’t complicated but it can be good hard work. Hey, you’re losing your civilization. The bible teaches you exactly how to have a Christian nation. It’s hard, not complicated, but it must be done.
**You must learn to communicate with God.
Communication with God happens in two parts. We communicate to God through prayer. God communicates to us primarily through His word. Prayer is simply talking to Holy God. Don’t forget that He is Holy, but you can and should talk to Him about everything.
Every Christian runs the risk of becoming a permanent infant (in Christ), therefore always needing the bible explained to them either through preaching or extra-biblical writings and commentaries or both. Coming under sound Bible teaching and preaching is important, and while reading books about the bible may be interesting neither of these is the same as reading and understanding the Holy Scriptures through prayer and study.
The so-called Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15) is simply a model given by our Lord. If you want to know how to pray also read John 17.
The word of God exercises the believer’s mind which will give you a deep understanding of good and evil and the ability to discern both the spirit of the truth of God and the spirit of evil and error.
“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:13-14
This spiritual discernment comes by serious daily prayer with bible reading asking Holy God to teach you what the bible says. Without the word of God, you WILL be led astray into error and into following after evil without even knowing it. Depending on a third party to show you God’s word is a serious problem in America. They will tell you anything you want to hear, but more often they will tell you the error they wish for you to follow.
If something doesn’t align with what Holy God says in His word then it’s NOT of God and not His will for you!!! And how can you know except that you search the Scriptures daily? Don’t take any man’s word for what the bible says. Search the Scriptures daily for yourself!
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11
2 Peter 3:18 is Herschel’s point. Here is 17 with it.
“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:17-18
Pray like you mean it. After about five or so minutes of prayer, all the fluff is gone, you are left with the serious stuff that God really wants to hear from you about.
As to reading; read the entire New Testament first. The OT will make much more sense having seen its fulfillment in the NT. Those ‘read the bible in a year programs’ are mostly unfruitful. Read for comprehension. Take your time. Pray and read asking Holy God to reveal His word to you. Doing this will cause the Holy Spirit to come alive in you. He is your teacher. If you’re serious about this He will show you in real-time as you read phrase by phrase. The Holy Spirit will teach you and guide you into all truth. (John 14:26, and John 16:13)
What is the truth? The word of God! You must read the Scriptures daily. Read the whole bible (YES, even the tedious parts!!!) in addition to any other topical or book-based studies that you do. Never stop reading it. You have the rest of your life to learn it and you will never finish so you better get started.
**Assemble with a group of Bible believers.
A local church is a body of believers. All followers of Jesus are His church, sometimes referred to in Scripture as the body of Christ. The church of Jesus Christ is not a Church building. Being saved by Jesus is not the end; it is the beginning, the beginning of a new life of service for our Lord in the Kingdom of God.
Time with other bible believers studying the truth of God’s word and learning about the Christian life is essential for growth in Christ. As problematic as finding a group of real believers in an assembly can be, you MUST do it!
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
Christian consumerism is a serious crisis in the American Churches. God did not call you and choose you to help Him with gravity by holding a pew down with your backside! How to serve within a body of believers is all through the NT epistles. You are to encourage each other. You are to care about and for each other. You are to help each other even sacrificially. What’s coming upon America will demand of you the type of church that was persecuted in the early days. As a growing and maturing Christian, you need to already be used to serving and helping each other the way they did.
“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:16 See also Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12
Seek out where you might fit, by serving, within the body of Christ. Ask God how He wants you to serve AND try a bunch of different ways to serve to prove His will for you. (Romans 12:2) When God saves a soul to do the works that He has foreordained for them to walk in, and they won’t do those works, the body of Christ fails to function as God desires and becomes dysfunctional. This is the problem within your Churches.
This is very important! The Churches of America have taken to preaching the Gospel to each other and ministering to the lost. This is the exact opposite of what Holy and Almighty God calls Christians to do in service of Him as commanded by Him in His word.
The first work of believers, if done according to the Holy Bible, is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lost sinners outside the body, that they might be converted to the kingdom of God to be brought into the body of Christ, and secondly to care one for another as a group of believers. The church is for believers. It is not a mixed multitude. (I go to preaching assemblies. I even seek them out and travel to them. I like good Gospel preaching and solid teaching from the pulpit. It’s a good thing and the man of God is a real person who has given his life in service and so are those that do it as an avocation because they must also work. But, hoping a lost soul walks through the door and gets saved is NOT what the new testament teaches.) The Great Commission is clear; we are to (1) preach the Gospel to every creature and (2), teach believers to follow the commands of Christ who is God the Son!
We are to baptize new converts not just with water but fully immerse them in the things of God. A good way to do this is on purpose, as silly as that sounds. Mature believers should be taking 1 or 2 or 3 infants and training them up! This takes time and maybe money. It’s a sacrifice. That’s the life of Christ.
Some have been very gracious to do this for me. It was so effective that I have sought out other men who might also teach me. Realizing that somebody coming to you and offering is very unlikely, as a new or infant believer you have to seek out a mentor and teacher.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 1:3
Believers contend for the faith. This is done by following the commandments in the New Testament (not intellectually but actually) and telling people about Jesus. In these two things is the fullness of the Great Commission: to serve God on earth in the name of Jesus Christ by following His commandments, learning and ministering, and teaching among a group of believers, and secondly by spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost.
**Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with lost sinners.
A person gets saved by the grace of God the moment they put their faith in Jesus Christ through His finished work on the cross, plus and minus nothing.
The lost sinner needs to know WHY Jesus died on the cross. Why do all people need Jesus and His atoning death? What is the PROBLEM that the cross solves? What are the consequences both with and without Jesus as their personal Saviour?
Knowing how to relate the Gospel to people is something that every Christian should know how to do. What the Gospel has to do with all people is something every Christian should know, and be able to express to lost sinners.
All Christians need to be able to relate why the Gospel is important. We are all witnesses for Jesus Christ.
The word Gospel means; good news. The Saviour lived among men, God in flesh. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection according to the Scriptures. But WHY did Christ do this?
Here are some essential concepts to relate to lost souls along with supporting verses. Sharing your own salvation testimony is a good thing. It is also STRONGLY recommended that you open your bible and share scripture with a lost person. There is real power in opening the Holy Bible and showing someone how to be saved. The word of God brings faith in the heart of the lost. (Romans 10:17)
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You will spend eternity in one of two places. You will either enter into eternal life in (the kingdom of) heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord or you will enter into hell and the lake of fire.
Eternal life:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Eternal damnation:
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:14-15
But Holy God doesn’t want you to perish (die) and go to hell. He wants you to repent and believe the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” Titus 1:2
The problem is that you, like everyone else, are a sinner:
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” Romans 3:10
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
Because of your sin, without Jesus, you are condemned to hell:
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:18-19
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
But God loves you even though you are a sinner. God gave His only begotten Son to pay your sin penalty. Jesus paid your sin debt in His blood:
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Romans 5:8-9
Jesus died for your sins. Jesus took all of the punishment for sin that you deserve so that you might be found not guilty before the throne of God Almighty. Jesus was crucified on the cross for you, and He was buried. But, He didn’t stay dead. Jesus rose again from the grave the third day just as the Scriptures said He would. When Jesus rose from the dead in power and glory He proved that in Him are the command of life and death, and the power to save your soul from judgment and hell by giving you the gift of eternal life in heaven.
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17
Salvation is only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord:
“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:15
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
Salvation is not by works but by the grace and mercy of God if you put your faith in Jesus Christ:
“That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:7
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Jesus is the only way to be saved:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Jesus is the only way to get to God, the only way to get to heaven, and the only way to enter into life eternal. Salvation is in Jesus Christ alone.
If you repent of your unbelief and call upon Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, He is faithful to save you from your sin and eternal damnation:
Turn to the living God for salvation and eternal life.
“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Ezekiel 18:32
“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13
If you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ you are no longer condemned but have entered into eternal life:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24
Just a few of the blessings of eternal life can be found in these example verses:
Psalm 16:11, Revelation 3:21, Revelation 21:4, Revelation 22:1-5
**In conclusion; real believers prove and examine themselves with fear and trembling to become better Christians.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12
“He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.” Proverbs 10:17
Do these four essential things and you are sure to grow. 1) Pray like you mean it. 2) Search the Scriptures daily for the truth of God. 3) Minister among a group of believers. 4) Seek the lost regularly and with purpose carrying your bible with you, that they might be converted. Do all four simultaneously.