Sunday, November 12, 2006

TO NEW CONVERTS

Jesus Christ helps Simon Peter


In so modern times, with many things happening in our daily life, a new convert can have difficulty of direction. How can we discern the saint from the profane among so many voices and teachings? Each one of them seeming to be truer than the other?

In our spiritual life, any care is little and our sincerity on God counts very much to find the right way and to remain within it.

What we see and hear always must be judged and weighed with great care, because there are ways that seem to be right to our eyes, but a great deal of them is dangerous and can lead us to a spiritual death.

Do not let deceive yourself: faith is a seed of God dropped in our heart. The plan of devil, our adversary, is to do the possible and the impossible things to rob it, to pull it out and destroyed it. When we hear the preaching of the Gospel ( God spell ), the good news of the God's Word, that seed can fall in four types of grounds, depending on the fondness and zeal we receive it. Then let us see a study at the Gospel of Christ, second Lucas on chapter 8.

1. In the wayside.
The seed on the wayside means to give a superficial and despicable attention to the Gospel of Christ. The devil comes, in the person of friends or relatives or teachers or colleagues or boyfriends, and makes fun of our interest by Gospel. He points us to all the disadvantages and dangers what we are going to face if we insist to be believers in Christ. Then, without analysing the other side, i.e. the blessings of prosperity what the salvation brings to all our life, we are taken to understand falsely that to be a sincere Christian is a hindrance to our life. Then in wayside the seed of the Gospel is trodden or devoured by the birds and it does not even get to be born.

Which is the certain attitude to hear the preaching of Gospel? God has not interest what we are pulled or punched at the strean of any wind of teachings, religions and philosophies. His wish is that we shall investigate and analyse everything. A sincere and investigating
heart is everything we need to be found by God. When somebody come and say that the Gospel are words to humble and poorest people, preached by unscrupulous preachers, he is not saying the truth.

The first president of the biggest private Brazilian Bank - The Bradesco Bank - was a believer of Presbyterian Church. Owners of many oversea Companies in many countries al over the world are believers in Christ. If it be investigated well closer it is going to discover that the acceptance of the Gospel was never a hindrance. On the contrary, it already took away, take away and it will take away many people out of the misery. To have Jesus as the Lord of our lives is our biggest wealth.

2. The stony ground.
The seed in the stony land is born with the first rain. It flows cheerfully and radiant. If it could speak it would say this: " Oh! How marvellous to have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord of my life. I am very, very happy! The Church where I am is a blessing, they all love me. I was never so a beloved in my life. God, you Lord is cool!

However, the time of pleasant climate goes by and the drought reaches with strength tha little tree. Under a strong sun, without having roots, because the stone is very hard, she withers, for lack of moisture, then it dries and dies.

The meaning of the seed born on the stone is: The biggest blessings on the life of a loyal believer in Christ reachs later, from a certain time. In the beginning of the run, the blessings are marvellous, but they are not to compare with those that will be received after proving his loyalty to the Lord.

The stone may be the ignorance of the God's will, and about the examples of biblical personages whose lifes are there registered like traffic signals for our orientation. Like a plant born in the stony land, a new convert without deep roots in the God's word, before the first struggle, he is going to forget all that initial joy and to turn away. Jesus is not like the genious of the lamp who atends all our wishes and gives everything that we beg.

For some new converts, the difficulties can get even worse momentarily. The devil now is trying from all forms to make it lose heart to steal his salvation. While standing firm with Jesus, more days, less days, the victory always arrives.

Like cultivator of tomatoes that we were, we know that the seedlings of the tomato plant, up to going to the definite land, must be pulled out and replanted in a bigger spacing, just to develop his roots. Likewise on going deeper into the reading of the God's Word the new convert is breaking the rock and deepening his roots. This is the biblical knowledge that brings understanding to face the daily trials, no matter bigger they are.

3 - the ground of thornbushes.
Analysing this land, we can say for sure that a great part of Christians today are fruitless because they are satisfied feel comfortables amid bushes of thorns. A weed full of thorns grew together with it and killed his fruits. Sterility.

A sad reality the is hapening with the new Christians today. They pass their whole life without purposes, without wish of be wrapping by the labor of the Lord. They come Sunday by Sunday to assist a service. On the other side, many leaders of Churches, today, have not patience to support the ecstasies and the confusions of new converts in action, preferring that they only assist to the sevices of worship and contribute financially. Then Church, at the principle keeps in peace, but then this peace (absence of action) could be turned into the peace of the cemeteries... What is wrong? Omission in the incentive and in the development of leadership. Our Lord has a project of life for evbery convert. The leadership of the Church cannot boycott for complacency that the converts find his place in the God's labor.

We shall not only attend the services, but we have to give cult to God all the time with our life. Our service is not only those two hours that we sing, pray, contribute and we hear the sermon. We shall give cult to God 24 hours per day, seven days per week. This is the standard. Praying, where we can pray, watching where we must watch and giving good testimony of Christian for the most part of the time.

The meaning of the thorns is well clearly in the Gospel: he is a Christian who attributed new priorities to his life and left the work of the Lord aside . His current dreams are the search of wealth, the ingression (of pastors) in the politic life, the omissive ones that prefer a way plain instead to face the competition within Churches, the "clubers" and believers dancers that go to the nightclubs til dawn. People rolled til the neck by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is the loss of the first love. In the beginning, it was everything for Jesus. Now, it depends…

4 - In good ground.
The seed born in good ground is the only one that beared fruit. For you a New converted comes to be a blessing at the hands of the Lord, that is, to be fruitful in Christ - we go to list some practical orientations.

*
Abandon that old and bad companies. It has no future with God aside old and corrupted friendships. They are who the devil goes to use to make you give up and to ashame of Christ. Breach with them and pass to walk with sincere Christians . There shall be not half term.

*All you hear and learn about Bible do not go accepting as te absolute truth. You have to examine, to confer and to search carefuly where there is the context in the Bible. Register in the Sunday School of your Church. It was in a Sunday School that I learnt how to see the difference between the certain and the wrong spirituals things.

*Do not make yourself a “missionary” before the time. The word of God says that we must grow in the grace and the knowledge of God - with balance. Wait first to understand the Christian truths for teaching them
later. You must have something first to give it after. Do not be follower of fanatic groups. They adore to enlist new converts without the approval of the Pastor of the Church. When some group invites you to go to somewhere to pray or to preach, be cautious: ask your Pastor first to inform about it. The fanaticism is not the way for Christians. The only fanaticism accepted for God is the radical abandonment of the sin. About the other things we shall be moderated.

*One Life of prayer. We compare a prayer like a rain you can get when you separate a special time to talk with God. To pray is not to repeat "Our fathers", hail maries, creeds and save the queens. To pray is like to court. A intimate talks between two people that love thenselves. Between you and God, our Father.

*Do not scandalize yourself when you find out bad testimony among Christian of your Church. As well as there was a Judas amid rhw 12 disciples chosen by Jesus Christ, there are all kind of believers within a Church. On accepting Jesus, converted do not become saints from night to the Day. The sanctification happens for two processes. In the first one, we were lost and when accepting Jesus, we were carried from the kingdom of the darknesses to the Kingdom of the Light or the Kingdom of God. A new position in a saint place . The owner of the Kingdom of Heaven is Jesus.

On the second process, in the Kingdom of Christ, we are gradualy perfected by the action of the Word of God. When somebody converts, depending on where he is, his distance til the perfection that is Christ can take more or less time.

Then, considering that all of us are in a process of sanctification when hearing constantly the word of God, we can understand that can there be competitions, fights, preconceptions, among christians in all Church. More than this, there is also the scandals - small and great - that unhappyly are also foreseen in the Holy Bible.

*Do not be moving from the Church to Church to search where is the perfect one. Here in this Earth It does not exist yet. The true church exists in the spiritual plain and it is composed by faithful
christians that congregate at different places and Churches. Stay where you find Christ, and only move in the safe direction of the Lord.

*Finally we will conclude approaching how to guide and to hear the voice of God. To hear His voice being already a christian, first we must ask Him for the guidance through prayers. I would like to advise you to do not run behind prophets to the searching of orientation from God. This is dangerous. There was a time that I made these experiences that never decided my problems. Even though they were increased with my anxiety. Prayers and Psalm 40 is the best medicine.

The best form of guidance for believers is to hear the voice of the Lord personally in our hearts. To God speak with us, we must abandon all the practical of sin. Without repentance and sincere abandonment of sins, we cannot discern the voice from God among dozen of voices we can hear. If our problem will be very serious, together with our prayers we must learn how to fast

God speaks with us by many ways: by the advice of our christian parents, for a firm peace and calm at the moment of a decision. If our heart is in doubts, certainly we are in a wrong way or in the wrong time. About spirituals
things, even we deslike, to wait with patience to act at the certain moment is basic.

*Sentimental life. An entire life can be ruined by a wrong choice. What I learned I can teach you. While my Lord did not show to me my "rebeca", I do not run behind girls. And when he showed her an told in my heart that she will be my future wife, I did not still believe immediately. It was one voice in my heart, I could be been deceptive. Then, I made a proof with Him. If that happened exactly what I asked Him for, then I would know that the voice was from my Lord. He confirmed that proof. In one year begin to court, we engage and we get married.


to be continued and it is lacking the final review




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