May 15 2011

Knowing God Personally

By colin and has no comments yet.

 

God is a personal God as revealed in the Bible. He is more than a powerful cosmic force, universal spirit or nature. The God of the Bible has feelings, emotions and is totally good and just. According to Jesus we can relate to this personal God as father.
According to the Bible accounts, and the experience of many people over the centuries from the earliest times, the way to Father God is through his son Jesus.
Some steps to help understand how to know God the Father:
1) God loves you and created you to have a relationship with him. In the beginning God created the world and people had a perfect relationship with God.
2) We are separated from God because of a breakdown in relationship. People rebelled against God’s ways and ignored his advice/plan for their lives and went their own way. This is what the Bible calls sin and human beings have been rebelling and following their own path in each generation since. According to a religious sceptic I heard on the radio today, the church needs to get back to this original teaching of sin. As it explains why human beings are flawed and seem incapable of building a perfect society on earth. Our selfishness and greed stop all real progress in working fully for the better good of all.
3)God had a plan to restore our relationship with him. God did not want to leave us in this state but looked for a way to save us. Many people call out for a saviour to help them and God provided Jesus. He willingly died on the cross, taking the rap for our sins and guilt, so that you and I can be forgiven and have a relationship with Father God again
4) We need to do something to get back to God! It is not enough to know these things we need to receive Jesus into out lives. Put him in the driving seat of our lives and trust our future to him, to admit that running our lives our way has not worked. Trust God and his plan for our lives.
It is difficult to understand this idea that God loves me and wants to have a relationship with me. Many of us struggle with the letting go and trusting God and that we are not accepted by God just by our good deeds but by his forgiveness that we receive because of what Jesus did on the cross. I know others who struggle because of the suffering in the world and the things that have happened to them in life. In my life I have had a lot of hurt and pain but I do not blame God for that, I believe he is trying to reach out to me and help me in the difficult times. After all, the Bible explains that God became the man Jesus to suffer as we suffer so he can understand and empathise with the pain we experience in our lives. I found that when I sincerely prayed to ask God if he would help me, he answered and my life changed (this happened over a period of time. My problems did not all go away but I now had an inner strength I did not have before and God with me).

 

Categories: Dummies Guide to Living Jesus' Way
May 15 2011

Step-by-step walk through of a typical Church

By colin and has no comments yet.

Every church is different but there are some similarities, especially in evangelical Bible based churches. I’ll concentrate on this type of church.

  1. Many churches are informal and do not expect you to dress up for the occasion
  2. Most churches will have services in the morning starting at 10.30 or 11 AM.
  3. The services will include a time of singing hymns or modern Christian songs, this may be broken up with some prayers, notices and a children’s slot. After 30 minutes or so there will then be a talk and this may last 20-40 minutes. The service will usually finish with a song or hymn.
  4. During the service there will be a collection but most churches will not expect visitors to contribute. The collection is for those who attend regularly
  5. Often there is tea and coffee after the service and this is a great opportunity to meet people and make friends
  6. A lot of churches are very friendly and accepting. They usually have a strong sense of community and are very good at supporting each other.
  7. During the week most churches have mid week meetings in people’s homes. These are open to anyone to attend. Just ask when you go on the Sunday morning.
Categories: Dummies Guide to Living Jesus' Way
May 15 2011

10 things to help your self image

By colin and has no comments yet.

10 Truths to Tell Yourself

Most of us struggle with how we see ourselves. What we need is to know that God is on our side.
Consider these following points from the Bible: 

1. I know God loves me and he has a great plan for my life

2. Yes, I’ve faults but God is working on me, changing me day by day-
while he does I can still enjoy my life

3.I realise I’ll always have issues to deal with, so I wont be
discouraged when God convicts me of areas that still need improvement

4.Everyone has weaknesses, so I’m not a failure because I am not perfect.

5. I want people to like me but my sense of worth is not dependent on
them. No, Jesus has already proven my worth by dying for me.

6. I refuse to be controlled or manipulated by others. Even if they
reject me I’ll survice, for Jesus has promised never to leave me or
forsake me.

7.No matter how often I fail I won’t give up, because God is with me
to strengthen and sustain me

8.I like myself. I dont like everything I do and I want to change, but
I refuse to reject myself because God loves me and accepts me as I am.

9.In myself I may be nothing but in Christ I’m everything I need to be.
10. I matter to God. My life makes a difference. Regardless of the
challenge,’I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’
(Phil 4:13)

 

Categories: Dummies Guide to Living Jesus' Way
Mar 15 2011

Some say all religions worship the same God – Do they really?

By colin and has no comments yet.

Is Christianity’s claim of uniqueness and exclusivity misleading and baseless? Or is it necessarily true?

Even a cursory examination of comparative belief charts and data* quickly reveals that different religions make very different truth claims on a number of even basic issues. And they do so in a definitive manner. In other words, as any knowledgeable student of comparative religions will tell you, every religion—not just Christianity—claims exclusivity. 

Here are a few examples:
Nature of God

* Christianity

— Monotheistic, personal

* Buddhism

— Monistic, impersonal

* Hinduism

— Monistic, polytheistic
Identity of Jesus Christ

* Orthodox Christian

— Deity incarnate

* Orthodox Jewish

— human only

Dr. Michael Green is an internationally respected author, speaker and scholar. He is currently Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, England. He recently authored the text “But Don’t All Religions Lead to God?,” Navigating the Multi-Faith Maze (Baker Book House, 2002). In this book, Dr. Green writes:

“Jesus is unique among religious leaders in claiming to bring God to our world in His own person and making good that claim by such powerful evidences.”

Green says that no other spiritual leader or teacher but Jesus Christ…

1. ever claimed to bring God to man
2. dealt radically with our wickedness
3. broke the final barrier of death
4. offers to “live inside” His followers

For further on this see http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/religionssame.html

Categories: Dummies Guide to Living Jesus' Way