WHAT IS A CHRISTAIN?

WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?

A Christian is a person who has personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior.

The New Testament uses the word Christian only three times: “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” (Acts 11:26) After hearing Paul witness to him about Christ, king Agrippa said to the apostle, “You have almost persuaded me to become a Christian.” (Acts 26:28) And Peter said in his first epistle, “If any man suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.” (1 Peter 4:16)

The term ‘Christian’ is clearly a Gentile designation for believers who recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, which no unbelieving Jew was prepared to do.

Becoming a Christian is a definite act of using one’s positive volition toward the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, and it has very significant results. The salvation of a soul occurs the very moment a person expresses personal faith in Christ, adding nothing to faith … IT IS FAITH ALONE by which an individual is saved.

At the point of salvation, at least 40 divine undertakings take place, instantly and simultaneously. The individual’s guilt of sin is removed, and he is taken out of the sphere of the condemnation of being born “in Adam” and placed “in Christ”, which is the sphere of righteousness and justification. God the Holy Spirit baptizes the newly born Christian into Christ, identifying him with Christ. (the word baptism is a Koine Greek word that was transliterated, not translated, into our English text, and it ALWAYS refers to identification). “Don’t you know that as many of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were identified with His death?” (Romans 6:3)

Contrary to what most people consider a Christian to be, he is NOT one who DOES certain things to please God or who conforms to a particular way of life, but he IS one who has received Eternal Life … he is a new creation for whom God has done and desires to do ALL the work in order to conform him to the image of Jesus Christ.

Every Christian is a new creation with a brand new destiny. He has been reconciled to God, who has assigned to him the ministry of reconciliation … which means he is to tell others that sin is no longer an issue between them and God, because Jesus paid the penalty for all the sins of the world when He died spiritually on the cross.
(2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
All Christians have been given the assignment of being ambassadors for Christ, and they are to represent the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. His credentials are the very words given to mankind by God. “All scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may become mature and equipped to perform works pleasing to God.”
(2 Timothy 3:16,17)

1 Corinthians 2:16 says that the Bible is the mind of Christ, so to be like Him, a Christian must learn to think as He does about everything and every situation he encounters in this life. Therefore, he must “Study to show himself approved by God; a workman that need not be ashamed, but rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Writen by Lois Delnay
01/14/07
Fallbrook Ranch Productions
loisdelnay@hotmail.com

Books for sale by L. Delnay on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Schoolhouse-Studies-Children-Teens/dp/1438212003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212694777&sr=8-1


Links to Lois Delnay Children Bible Study Sites
http://gettoknowyourbible.org/
http://loisdelnay.bravehost.com/index.html

link to Lois Delnay's Writings on Helium