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FIRST STEPS
ON YOUR CHRISTIAN WALK 
 
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HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIANHOW TO BEGIN THE CHRISTIAN LIFEHOW TO BE SURE YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN
 
Pontus Pilate’s question to the crowd in
 Matthew 
27:22—“What shallI do then with Jesus which is called
Christ?” 
 —is the most importantquestion in all of life. Not only will your answer to this mostimportant question have the greatest bearing upon your life in thehere-and-now, but it will also determine the eternal destiny of your immortal soul in the here-after. Obviously, when it comes to your  personal decision about Jesus Christ you need to choose carefully,since both this life and the life to come will be determined by thechoice you make.
HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN
 
Committing yourself to the Lord
 
The first thing one must do to become a Christian is believe. When the Philippian jailer askedPaul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved,” the Apostle Paul answered, “Believe on the LordJesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31).Faith always involves commitment. For instance, no one who is unwilling to board an airplanereally believes in the safety of air travel. Only those willing to board a plane really believe that itis safe to fly.
 
You may confess to believe in a particular chair’s strength and sturdiness. Still, in spite of your confession of faith, you lack faith in the chair as long as you’re unwilling to sit down in it. Your faith is not faith until you sit down, or until you commit yourself to the chair. Likewise, youdon’t really believe in Jesus Christ until you have committed yourself, your life and your all toHim!
 
Many today profess to believe in Jesus Christ who neither do His will nor obey His Word. Byrefusing to submit to His will and to obey His Word these people belie their own profession.They may profess Christ, but they don’t possess Christ. They may have a synthetic faith, but theydon’t have a saving faith. They are like those that our Lord condemned for honoring Him withtheir lips while their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8).
 
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“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shaltbelieve in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thoushalt be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; andwith the mouth confession is made unto salvation…For whosoever shallcall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:9-10, 13)
 
There is more to believing in Jesus than just trusting Him to get you to Heaven. Believing inJesus also means entrusting Him with yourself, your life and your all. It is a matter of havingsuch confidence in Christ that you are willing to take Him at His Word and obey Him withoutquestion.
Confessing Jesus as your Lord
 Lord means boss. To become a Christian you must be willing to make Jesus the Lord (boss) of your life. You must surrender control of your life to Him. You must slide out from under thewheel of your life and let Christ in the driver’s seat. From here on out your life will no longer beabout what you want to be and what you want to do, but about what Christ wants you to be andwhat Christ wants you to do. No longer will you live your life the way you want to, but the wayChrist wants you to.
 
There are two words that are impossible to say: “No Lord.” The minute you say “No,” Jesusceases to be your Lord. You’ve usurped Christ’s Lordship over your life and put yourself back inthe driver’s seat. To be a Christian means having no more decisions to make, only commands toobey. You no longer plot your own path, but simply go in whatever direction the Lord points you.
Calling upon the name of the Lord
 
Why does the Bible instruct us to “call upon the name of the Lord” for salvation. Why are we notinstructed to just call upon the Lord?
 
The Lord’s name is Jesus—the “name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9-11).According to the Apostle Paul, the name Jesus will ultimately be universally bowed to andconfessed by “things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.” The onlyquestion is: “When will men bow to Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord?” They can freely doso now for salvation or wait till later when they are forced to do so in condemnation.
 
The name “Jesus” means “the salvation of Jehovah.” Jesus alone is mankind’s hope of salvation.Apart from Him “there is no [other] Savior” (Isaiah 43:11). As Acts 4:12 teaches, “Neither isthere salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, wherebywe must be saved.” No other name can save us. “Allah” won’t do, neither will “Mohammed,” “Buddha,” “Brahma,” or “Krishna.” Only Jesus cansave us from our sins!
 
To become a Christian you must trust Christ and Christ alone tosave you from your sin. You must give up any notion of beingsaved upon the basis of what you do for God and call upon theLord to save you on the basis of what Christ has done for you.
 
All true Christians believe that other religions are spiri
tual dead-ends, leading
only to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). No matter how
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