Wednesday, October 02, 2013
What is a Christian?
The term Christian turns up just 3 times in the Bible; Acts 11, Acts 26 and 1Peter 4. Acts 11 says the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
A Christian is Someone Saved By Christ.
They were proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.
They would have proclaimed the really important stuff about the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15: 1 Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. 2 You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed to no purpose. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day...A Christian is Someone who has HEARD BELIEVED, and TURNED to the Lord.
A Christian is Someone Standing For Christ.
Acts 11:22 Then the report about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with a firm resolve of the heart.... and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
A Christian is a Disciple..... it takes
Decision
Have you decided to follow Jesus?
Direction Are you following Him in a daily discipleship relationship, fellowshipping with Him daily by reading His Word and praying?
Devotion When we know how much He has loved us by giving Himself for us, we say as all Christians have said in all ages, “All this You did for me, what can I do for Thee?”
Denial It takes discipline to be a disciple. When the Lord Jesus called Levi, this si what happened. Luke 5: 27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” 28 So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him.
Death For some this can mean physical death. Jesus called us to take up the cross and follow Him. At the least it means putting to death our selfish desires to do whatever He wants with our lives. Have you surrendered all to Jesus?
