Where Are You in the Journey?

When Jesus calls us to himself, he invites us to begin an incredible journey of following him in his Kingdom building work.  The following is an outline of the major steps on the journey of following Jesus.  Where are you in the journey?  Will you continue to follow Jesus and take the next step today?

1.      GOD’S INITIATIVE: God loves us and he took the first step by reaching out to us by providing for the forgiveness of
      our sins and eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8-9).

2.      GOOD NEWS PROCLAIMED: We hear the Good News of God’s love which was shown to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus (John 3:16)

3.      REPENTANCE: We admit that we have sinned and in faith ask God to forgive us of our sins (Romans 3:23, 6:23; 1 John 1:9-10).

4.      CONFESS JESUS IS LORD: In doing this we turn from trying to be the masters of our own lives (the root of our sin problem) and we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and we surrender to following him (Rom. 10:9-10,13).

5.      BAPTISM: The next step in following Jesus is to be baptized.  Jesus began his ministry with baptism.  In the New Testament, new believers publicly began their life as a follower of Christ with baptism. Baptism was never an option (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:38, 8:36-38, 10:47-48, 16:33).

6.      ACTIVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Jesus Christ established the church to be the body through which he does his work on earth.  Jesus has not called us to follow him by ourselves, but to follow him in a relationship with other believers.  When believers were added to the church they joined together with other believers in a committed and accountable relationship to worship, study the Bible, pray, fellowship, minister and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others (Matthew 16:18, Acts 1:14; 2:41-47; Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:1-16; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:2-5).

Where are you in the journey?  Will you go forward with Jesus Christ today?  We invite you to talk with Bro. Bruce, Bro. Tony, one of our deacons or Sunday School teachers about taking the next step.  God will richly bless you and use you to make a difference for now and eternity as you follow Jesus together with his body.