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Dear Christian Believers,
Greetings and God bless you in the powerful name of Jesus
Christ.
Unless you want “Christianity to be just
a passing fad In your life, a phase you once went through,
or only a feel good memory you once had - then YOU need
to remember when you first believed, when you first accepted
Jesus as Lord of your life and believed that GOD raised
him from the dead. YOU must make the decision to stay
involved, and be involved in Christ within living. We
need to take a look at what the first Christians did and
how the gospel of Christ lived and moved within them.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, and GOD’S gift
of holy spirit and the new birth had been poured out to
believers, Peter stood up with eleven in Acts
2:14-40 and confronted those who had rejected
Jesus Christ and crucified him. About 3000 of them were
convicted in their hearts and desired to make things right
between them and GOD.
Acts 2:37-38
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles,
WHAT SHALL WE DO?
38 Then Peter said unto
them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of Holy Ghost
Peter gave them the
Word of GOD they needed to hear and the people were left
to respond.
Acts 2:41
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:
and the same day there were added unto them about 3000
souls.
How many do you suppose
heard the sermon of Peter? We don’t know. Nevertheless,
we do know that about 3000 souls responded positively
to the Word of GOD that Peter spoke. They wanted to get
RIGHT with GOD, and GOD honored their hearts to believe
and receive HIS promise. They were made Whole
- they were made Righteous - Sanctified - Justified
- Redeemed - they were made Heirs of GOD and Joint-heirs
with Christ, and they were at Peace with GOD.
Once they said YES to GOD and the Lord Jesus Christ, they
would have another choice to make. WHAT SHALL
WE DO NOW that we have become Christians? When
they received Jesus Christ as Lord they received a NEW
IDENTITY because they had been crucified with him, died
with him, was buried with him, raised with him, and ascended
into heaven with him. “WHAT SHALL I DO?” is a constant;
because every day we must choose whether we are going
to live in our new identity with Christ or are we going
to try to somehow resurrect the old man, crawl back into
that lifeless body, and try to make it live. People, the
old man is dead. The Christian believer only has three
choices:
- Choose to continue to follow
after their old man nature and fulfill the lust of the
flesh whose end is death.
- Choose to renew their mind
to the scriptures and follow after their new identity
of Christ in them the hope of glory - learn to walk
by the Spirit of GOD, and become all you can be in Christ
Jesus whose end is life.
- Choose to try and walk some
imaginary GRAY LINE somewhere between choices one and
two.
The Gray Line is
not a good place to be, but sad to say, too many Christians
endeavor to do category 3. Try standing in the middle
of a busy highway and see how long you last, not long.
The new life of Christianity wasn’t a passing fad or phase
in the lives of the believers in the Book of Acts and
it should not be for us either. Christians need to become
decisive and live thankfully to GOD by choosing the way
of Christ. Let’s be a lifetime Christian that knows the
Word and will of GOD, who is not lukewarm but rather red
hot in the Christ within. Let the Christ, “shine on the
outside”. Let’s show our genuine thankfulness to GOD,
and live the life HE gave us. “HAPPY THANKSGIVING!”
Love John
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