ORIENTATION FOR NEW CHRISTIANS

A list, similar to the following can be found in Archives: September, 2018, in the post, Christian Study Helps (but that post contains several videos that explain faith, justification, and sanctification).

I am reposting part of that post because it doesn’t get a lot of hits and I am certain that there are new believers out there looking for direction. The checklist below is what I learned in the first several years of my Christian walk. Perhaps, you can follow it and find your bearings more quickly than I did?

The following should be resolutions for the new believer.

  • Read through the Bible and establish a daily habit of reading it. In the beatitudes, Matthew 5,  Jesus said that we are to hunger and thirst for His words. The Bible states that Christ’s Spirit works through His word; He illumines it to a seeker’s mind and provides understanding, direction, comfort…. That is, if you profess to be a Christian and do not read His precious word, then your faith has no basis except in your own opinions which God calls vain in many parts of the Bible. That would be the same as building on sand as Jesus condemns in Matthew 7
  • Plan to read through your Bible yearly
  • Establish a daily prayer time
  • Join a Bible-study group or a prayer group for fellowship and knowledge  Note that this step follows the first 3 and is not as foundational as those steps. Yes, you could join a group before you completed your read through the Bible, but keeping with the first three steps will increase the likelihood that your faith is founded upon the rock of obedience to God’s word (you must know it to obey it, see Matthew 7)
  • After reading through the Bible, choose some passage to study in depth such as psalm 51; the beatitudes; Romans…but continue to read through your Bible yearly, at least — those passages emphasize the necessity to know how to identify, own and confess one’s sin in a biblical manner, that knowledge is essential for any growth: see, Categories, Beatitude Life posts; or True Kingdom Citizen posts, each treat the beatitudes; one in narrative form and one via sermon videos
  • Explore Sermon Audio for sermons of topics in the Bible that you are trying to understand better; this is also a good place to find answers to questions about Christianity      sermonaudio.com     Furthermore, they have a “church finder” for those looking for a biblical church in their area of the world
  • Download and learn to use free Bible software at E-sword.net: it offers a dozen or so versions of the Bible; and a half-dozen free commentaries and Bible dictionaries in addition to free ebooks historically significant to the church; via e-sword one can explore sermons on Sermon Audio about the verse of scripture he is studying (in the tools drop menu, select sermonaudio and you will be taken to a page full or more of sermons about the verse you have been studying); furthermore, strongs concordance is free with E-sword, with it, one can easily know the Greek and Hebrew definitions of most scripture words, an invaluable tool for in depth Bible study (available at the app store for iphone, for $2.99, I don’t think is is available for android; and don’t use google to go to e-sword, use another search engine, bing….)
  • Find a Christian confidant with whom you can share personal struggles with sin, victories over sin….
  • Buy a confession of faith such as the Westminster Confession of Faith for study classes by G.I. Williamson; the Westminster shorter catechism; the Heidelberg Catechism…. These organize and clarify Bible doctrines: you will be shown, e.g., the doctrine of justification as it is described or declared in the various parts of the Bible. All the doctrines of the Bible are identified and explained
  • Know important Biblical terms that all Christians should understand so that you might learn how blessed you are and what God the Holy Spirit will be working in you as you go forward. The videos in the post, Christian Study Helps, explain four doctrines of Christianity: faith; repentance; justification; and sanctification.  See, Archives, 2 September, 2018   
  • The posts in this blog are intended to expose false Christian teachers and preachers. As your understanding of scripture grows, you will develop discernment and will become more adept at identifying UNBIBLICAL preachers and teachers; Jesus commands us to do that in numerous places, particularly in Matthew 7