Congratulations on taking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, and welcome to the family. With most families, there are guidelines to follow and responsibilities to take care of. That’s how it is with God’s family and this book explains some of those guidelines and responsibilities. Below are the chapter titles, Bible verses and a little content, associated with each title.
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH, AND OUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS,
GOD AND JESUS
Love God and Jesus
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30, NIV
Jesus told us this was the most important commandment. We must also love Jesus in the same manner...
Put God and Jesus First
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:30, NIV
Our God is a jealous god; He wants to be first...
Prayer
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6, NLT
Don’t worry about anything; instead...
Study Your Bible
All Scripture is given by God and is useful for teaching, for showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults, and for teaching how to live right. 2 Timothy 3:16, NCV
...until recently I never really studied the Bible. Wow! There’s a lot of good stuff...
Repentance and Forgiveness
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10, NIV
It seems that repentance isn’t preached in our churches very much...
Give Them Praise
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be revered above all gods.
Psalms 96:4, NRS
From the moment we awake and until our last thought before we go to sleep, we should strive to have an attitude of praise...
Give Them Thanks
Let your roots grow down deep into Him and draw nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done. Colossians 2:7, NLT
What a beautiful thought, to let our lives overflow with thanksgiving...
Faith
“And Jesus answered saying to them, have faith in God.” Mark 11:22, NAS
One of the hardest things God asks us to do is have faith in Him...
Obedience
But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to Him is much better than offering the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22, NLT
Fortunately for us, we don’t often have to choose between obedience to God and...
Find a Church That’s Right for You, and Go!
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV
One of the most important things you can do in your Christian walk is attend church services...
Respect for God and His House
You call him Father, when you pray to God, who judges all people by the standard, according to what each one has done; so then, spend the rest of your lives here on earth in reverence for him. 1 Peter 1:17, GNT
The church building each one of us attends on Sunday is God’s house...
Volunteering and Service
There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.
1 Corinthians 12: 5-6, GNT
Studies have shown that the volunteer work in the churches is done by about twenty percent of the people who attend...
Tithes and Offerings
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10, NIV
So why don’t more people do it...
OUR PERSONAL LIVES AND OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS
Love, Relationships, and the Golden Rule
If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. 1 John 4:20, GNT
In Matthew 22:39 Jesus said the second greatest commandment was to love our neighbor as ourselves...
Forgiveness
Then Peter came to Him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22 NIV
There are two kinds of forgiveness: forgiving others when they have hurt us and asking for forgiveness when we have hurt others...
Witnessing
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation.”
Mark 16:15, NIV
For some reason, telling other people about Jesus is one of the hardest things for a Christian to do...
Ministry to Others
All they asked was that we remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Galatians 2:10, NIV
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses. Proverbs 28:27, NIV
There are millions of people on this planet who are poor and don’t have food, clothing, or shelter...
Live Honestly
You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Exodus 20: 15-16, NIV
Live honestly. Do not lie, steal, or cheat. Period.
Your Body is a Temple
Do not be drunk with wine, which will ruin you, but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18, NCV
Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves. 1 Corinthians 6:19, GNT
Our bodies are temples...we shouldn’t do anything that tears down and destroys our bodies...
Sexual Immorality, Adultery and Abortion
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Hebrews 13:4, NIV
You shall not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14, NIV
Thou shalt not kill. Exodus 20:13, KJV
First of all, let’s define it...
Divorce
Now I give this command for the married people. (This command is not from me; it is from the Lord.) A wife should not leave her husband. But if she does leave, she must not marry again, or she should make up with her husband. Also, the husband should not divorce his wife. For all others I say this. (I am saying this, not the Lord.) If a Christian man has a wife who is not a believer, and she is happy to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a Christian woman has a husband who is not a believer, and he is happy to live with her, she must not divorce him.
1 Corinthians 7:10-13, NCV
Good news! The divorce rate...is not as high as we’ve been led to believe...
Living our lives in the ways shown here is a natural outflow of wanting to please God, do his will and live for Him. We should do all these things with a willing heart because of our love for God and for Jesus. God is our creator and heavenly Father; Jesus is our Lord and Savior. They deserve nothing less than all we are and all we have, all the time.
Your Life, God's Way
God's Handbook for New Christians
(and maybe for some not so new ones too)
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