NOW THAT YOU ARE SAVED/1.3

PLEASE READ THE SCRIPTURES SO YOU MAY UNDERSTAND THAT THE FOLLOWING ARE REQUIREMENTS FROM THE WORD OF GOD, NOT MAN MADE RULES

1. The word says that we need to repent if we want to be reconciled with God. Acts 3:19, Acts 2:38 What is repentance according to the word of God and why do you need to repent?

• Repentance is not:

– A good feeling or an awareness of God’s presence.
– Following the law or Ten Commandments of Moses. (The law cannot justify a person Gal 5:4, Rom 3:20)
– When you have knowledge of the word of God. John 5:39
– To belong to a church or to be baptized in water.
– Following your customs or traditions, going to church, reading your bible, praying or doing good deeds. Jer 10:3, Matt 15:1-9, Isaiah 64:6, Eph 2:8-10, 1 Sam 15:22 Good people go to hell!! The goodness of man and the goodness of God are two different things. Prov 14:12 God’s requirements must be met and not what you feel or believe is right. There is no scripture that says if you do these things you shall be saved.
– It is not only to feel bad about your sins. Joel 2:12-13
– It is not when you try to change your own life. Some people think they must first leave all their sins by their own power before they can come to Jesus. If this is true then we do not need a saviour. Zech 4:6

• Repentance is:

– When you make a decision to confess (to God in the name of Jesus because Jesus is the only way to be reconciled with the Father) and to turn away from all sin (that you know is sin) with remorse. (To be sorry enough to quit all sin and not just to feel bad about your sins) Deut 30:19, 1 John 1:9, John 16:23, John 14:6, 1 Tim 2:5, Prov 28:13, 2 Tim 2:19, Ps 97:10, Prov 8:13
– To deny yourself or to die in yourself Rom 6:7. (To step down as king of your life and to give the kingship to Jesus. My will, plans, future and possessions are now under His control. Not to give everything away but to put everything on the altar! Luke 14:33 To deny who you are, to deny your race, culture with your traditions. If you are not prepared to surrender all, you are not prepared to repent.) Ps 51:17, Isaiah 66:2, Matt 16:24-26
– To make Jesus your first love and to love your neighbour as you love yourself. (To love Him more than anything else in your life. To love Him more than yourself, your spouse, children, friends, family, work or possessions.) Luke 14:25-27, Matt 22:34-40 If you say you love Jesus, you will obey Him in everything! John 14:21
• If you made this decision with all your heart, the good or right works will automatically follow because of the Holy Spirit and not because of your own efforts! (The Holy Spirit in you will produce the right or good works that will please the Lord and He will set you free from all your evil desires to change and transform you. 2 Cor 3:18, Gal 5:22-23, Gal 5:16 The Holy Spirit (and not the law of Moses Gal 5:18, Rom 7:6) will give you the new commandments of God, what you need to keep and what you need to repent of. John 16:13, Hebr 8:7-13. The Holy Spirit can only come into your life after your sins have been washed away through repentance. Light and darkness cannot be in one place. Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:5 Do not try to leave sin before you come to Jesus. YOU WILL FAIL!! Zech 4:6 Come to Him with all your sin, but with a decision in your heart that you are finished with it (with remorse) and then He will give you the Holy Spirit to leave all sin. Matt 3:11 If you are not prepared to leave all sin, you are not prepared to repent or believe!! It can happen that you fall in sin after you repented. That does not mean you are not a child of God. If your relationship with Him is built on love, you will not stay in sin but you will repent of it and move on. Children of God can make mistakes, but we do not stay in it!!!) This is to have faith according to God’s requirements and not your own. John 3:16, Rom 10:9, James 2:14-20 This is the new covenant (contract) between man and God, the covenant of faith and love which replaced the covenant of the law. Hebr 8:7-13, Gal 3:11 and 26 Even though Jesus died for us all, not all will be saved. You can find soap anywhere in this world but not everyone is clean. For a person to be clean (holy) you need to use the soap and wash yourself with it. Jesus knocks but you need to open the door through repentance. It is the same with the blood of Jesus. If you want it to take away your sins, you need to be washed in it through repentance. It does not automatically come upon you. To believe (to have faith in Jesus) is to repent! Acts 3:19, Rev 3:20, 1 John 1:7 If you say you have faith, you will obey these scriptures about repentance. Hebr 11:8

2. What happened to you when you made a decision to repent and to follow Jesus?

• Your sins are forgiven. You are no more a sinner but a saint and a child of God. Hebr 8:12, 1 John 1:9, 2 Cor 6:17-18, Gal 4:7, Eph 2:19, 1 Cor 1:2, 1 Cor 6:9-11
• You were separated from God because of your sins. No blessings, no eternal life, no help! You were on your way to hell! It all changed when you made a decision to repent. All the promises and blessings (protection, healing, prosperity, spiritual power, eternal life etc.) come upon your life because of your faith in Jesus. Isaiah 59:1-2, 1 Cor 6:9-10, Rev 21:7-8, Matt 13:36-43, Gal 3:13-14, Ps 24:1-6.
• You are now a new creation, reborn and you belong to the family of God where there is no African, European, Asian etc. In this family we are all changed into the image of Christ through the Holy Spirit. In this family you will adopt the race, culture and traditions of Jesus. We are no longer led by the principals of this world but by the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor 5:16-17, John 3:1-8, John 1:12-13, Eph 2:19-22, Gal 3:26-29, Matt 12:46-50, Jer 10:3, Col 2:8, 2 Thess 2:15/3:6, Matt 15:1-9, 2 Cor 3:18, Rom 8:14.

3. You must be baptized in water. (totally immersed)

• You may only be baptized in water after you have made a decision to repent from your sins and to follow Jesus. No one can make this decision for you but you. Traditional baptism like the baptism of babies or any other baptism before repentance is illegitimate and unacceptable. The baptism (by itself) does not save you (does not take the sin away) but your decision to repent (to believe) brings forth salvation (takes away the sin). The baptism is only a part of the salvation process. If you refuse to be baptized, you have no salvation for it is a commandment from God to be baptized as soon as possible after repentance. It is like a contract, you need a contract and a signature for the contract to be completed. (repentance and baptism with water) If you have any questions about the water baptism or if you want to be baptized, feel free to contact one of the pastors. Mark 16:16, Acts 8:36-39 (in some bibles verse 37 is left out because it goes against their doctrine), 1 Petr 3:21, Gal 3:26, Luke 6:46.

4. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

• After repentance you must receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a cloud or an electric current but a person with a personality. He is God and part of the Trinity. He is the one who connects us with Jesus and the Father. He is the one who empowers us to do the will of God and to face and overcome each and every challenge in our walk with God. Without the Holy Spirit you are like a train without tracks, like a car without petrol. Some people receive the Holy Spirit on the day they get saved and others when a child of God pray or lay hands on them. It depends on God. People who have the Holy Spirit are aware of His presence and they feel the love, joy and peace of God being poured out into their hearts through Him. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you there will be different manifestations of gifts like speaking in tongues and prophecy though it may differ from person to person according to the will of God. Some people call it the infilling, the anointing, baptism with Holy Spirit etc. It is all one thing, when the Spirit moves into His new temple which is you. You can ask God yourself to fill you with His Spirit or you can ask one of the pastors to pray for you. Remember, you can only receive the Holy Spirit when you are washed in the blood of Jesus. A dove does not build its nest on a rubbish dump; the Holy Spirit will never come into a heart filled with sin!
Acts 2:37-39, Acts 7:55, 2 Cor 3:17, John 16:5-8, Ephs 2:18, Ezek 36:26-27, Acts 1:8, Acts 8:14-17, Acts 10: 44-48, Rom 5:5/14:17, Acts 2:1-4, Joel 2:28, 1 Cor 12:28-30, 1 Cor 12:4-11, Luke 11:13.

5. You must submit to a church and to spiritual leaders.

• Before you can be a father, you must learn to be a son. The disciples became apostles because they were prepared to follow. Elisha received double the power because he was prepared to follow and submit to Elijah. Samuel learned how to recognize the voice of God because he was submitted to the house of Eli. Jesus said that if you want to be great, you must become a servant. (It is not about the man or leaders you need to submit to, it is about God in them. If you reject or resist God’s leadership, you reject and resist God. Exodus 16:8, Numbers 16:1-40) When you submit to a church it is not about your name being written on a piece of paper or joining an organization, it is to take your place and to fulfil your purpose in the body of Christ. The church (all the people who are saved) is the body of Christ. You need to know that we are all part of the body of Christ when we get saved and just as you need a pastor and the church, the pastor and the church needs you! Just as God used people in the bible to lead, teach and comfort His people, He is still doing the same today. You are now part of the household of God and you belong to a family. You cannot say that you will follow Jesus but you are not prepared to join a church. You are like a man who says that he is married, but he is still staying alone. No member of a body can live without a body. To reject the church is to reject Christ. Think of it like this. Candles stand in candlesticks, light bulbs go into light sockets, and trees grow in soil. Without candlesticks, candles would fall over. Without being plugged in, light bulbs would never shine. And without soil, trees would simply die. For Christians, the church is a candlestick, a power source, and somewhere to put down roots – so that you can stand, shine and grow. You cannot just join any church, but you must join a church where you receive the peace and approval from the Holy Spirit and not because of the comfortable chairs and the nice sermons. The word says that if we are in Jesus, we will walk as He walked and do as He did. It was the custom of Jesus to go to church! In our church we have a discipleship course for all the new members. In this course you will learn how to become a true disciple and about the way we do things in our church so that there may be unity. It is also to see if you are truly committed and called for this church. Not everyone is called for our church and maybe God want to use you somewhere else. Some people only want a church to marry and bury them! WE ARE NOT THAT CHURCH. The discipleship course is compulsory and at least 50% of the classes must be attended before membership will be accepted. If you cannot attend the course because of some reason but you want to be a member, speak to one of the pastors.1 Kings 19:19-21, 2 Kings 2:1-18, 1 Sam 3, Matt 20:26, 1 Cor 12:12-28, 1 Cor 3:16-17, Eph 2:19, 1 Cor 14:26, Hebr 13:17, Hebr 10:24-27, Prov 18:1, 1 John 2:6, Luke 4:16, Deut 12:5-14.

6. Pray, read your bible and attend the church services.

• You are in a relationship with God now and for it to last you will have to spend time with Him through prayer, bible study and attending the church services. Without it your relationship with Him will die and you will go back to sin which will open the door for Satan again. To be saved and to be delivered from demons is only the first step in your relationship with Jesus. Jesus sets us free but it is our responsibility to stay free. When we spend time in bible study, prayer and going to church we will keep our relationship alive and continue to stay free. Many people get delivered and saved but at the end they fall back in sin because they did not give attention to their relationship with God. This will bring all those demons and diseases back into your life and your life will become worse than before. 1 Thess 5:17, Hebr 10:25, 2 Tim 3:16-17, 1 Petr 2:1-3, 2 Tim 4:10, Eph 2:2, Matt 12:43-45, John 5:14, Phil 2:12

Sinners prayer…

Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Forgive me my sins and wash me in the blood of Jesus. As from today, I turn away from all sin, to love you, obey you and to follow you with all my heart. No more my will, my plans and my life, but your will be done. I surrender all.
I forgive those who sinned against me, as you forgave me my sins. Fill me with your Spirit and your power, set me free. In Jesus name, Amen.