STARTING UP your | E+ : BOF | I-EeCONSOLIDATION TOPICS CONTENTS 1. Salvation 5 2. Repentance 7 3. Lordship 70 4, Forgiveness 12 .5. Lifestyle - The 4 Greatest Meetings 15 6. Devotional Life 17 7. Your Active Life of Prayer 19 8. Witnessing - Sharing Your New Life with Others 22 9. Life Of Obedience (Surrender To God’s will) 24 10. Life In The Church (Belongingness in The Church) 26 STARTING UP your LIFEe INTRODUCTION Starting Up Your NEW LIFE WITH JESUS CONGRATULATIONS! You have just started a fresh relationship with Jesus. A friend saw your need and connected you to the Solution - God. You accepted the gift of eternal life by faith in Christ. This series of lessons will help you understand more of who Jesus is, and the spiritual riches and wonderful life He has in store for you. “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! 1For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” Romans 5:8-10 ”...my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:27-29) Jesus’ blood gives us NEW LIFE. This newness of life and fresh beginnings isn't anything we can muster up on our own. Christ is our only hope of new life! And He sacrificed His very life for us to have that... STARTING UP your LIFE> CONSOLIDATION TOPIC 1 SALVATION The gospel is the Good News, the message of salvation! It is the greatest manifestation of God's love to humanity. It is the saving act of grace by God that brought freedom to man through the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus on the cross Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We all receive wages on how we live our lives, because we get what we deserve. Everyone falls short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); no one is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). For this reason, we all deserve death ~ not just physical death but separation from God. But because God loves us, He gave us a gift. This gift is ‘something we do not deserve but is given out of His unconditional love for us. We did not and cannot eam it. This gift is eternal fife, which means experiencing life with God forever. It can start now, when you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. All human beings need a Saviour, because fife does not work without God. We need to go back to the Saviour who truly loves us. Sin destroys man; Jesus is the Solution ohn 14:6). Jesus is our salvation. He paid in full the penalty for our sins on the cross. His work on the cross brought redemption, renewal, and restoration to our lives (Acts 4:12) Salvation was made possible through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. He saved us from the etemal death brought by our sins. He destroyed the curses and works of darkness in our lives. We also received a new life in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and the restoration of our lives to its original glory and design (Genesis 1:28). By the power of the blood of Jesus, we are restored. Spiritually, our relationship with God is restored. Personally, our broken relationships with people are restored, as well as our finances. STARTING UP your NEW LIFE °Discovering Truths about Your New Relationship with Christ The truths in the Bible will help you build @ strong foundation for your relationship with Christ. These truths are: Christ forgave your sin (Colossians 1:13-14). He made you a child of God John 1:12). When you received Christ, you became a child of God. Christ came into your life and will never leave you (Hebrews 13:5b). No matter what situation you may find yourself in or what trial you may be going through, the Lord is always by your side to help you. Christ began a new life in you. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17), Your old nature is gone as He forms you into the person He intended you to become. Lastly, He gave you eternal life. “And this is 6 the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. | write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:11-13) PERSONAL APPLICATION If you were to answer the question, “Why should you enter heaven?” what would you say? PRAYER Lord, | accept your gift of salvation. | acknowledge that | am a sinner and | need a Saviour. | believe that Jesus is the only way and His blood cleanses me and gave me freedom from sins, curses, and works of darkness. | confess my sins and tum away from my wicked ways. | ask for Your forgiveness. Take full control of my life today until forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen. CONSOLIDATION TOPIC 2: REPENTANCE Repentance implies a change in direction, “turning away from sin” toward “changing one’s mind” to live for God. It begins with a decision to turn from sin and surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And it's vitally necessary for anyone desiring to draw near to the Lord and walk with Him every day. Repentance is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoing. It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about us, and about the world. it includes tuming away from sin and tuming to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments Our sin, however, is not the end of the story. In fact, God works through everything that happens in our lives, including our sin, to draw us to Jesus Wohn 6:44, 45; 14:6; Romans 8:28, 29) No matter what you have done, God has made @ way home — through His Son, Jesus Christ. His death on the cross and triumphant resurrection secures for you all the blessings of God, including forgiveness. All you have to do is repent and tum your life over to Jesus (Acts 3:19) This is what the Bible calls being “born again" of the Spirit of God Yohn 3:3,5). We enter into the born-again experience by repenting of our sin, yielding our lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord, and trusting in faith that He will forgive and cleanse us from all sin (Romans 3:23; 10:13; 1 John 1:8,9; John 1:12). Find Faith to Repent! If you have been struggling with a sin that entangles, repentance may seem like a difficult thing. But cohsider that the Bible says “the kindness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Another verse lets us know that God is patiently waiting for us to repent (2 Peter 3:9). Your heavenly Father is not looking for ways to punish you. Yes, God is just, but He is also a loving Father searching for the lost coin or the one lost STARTING UP your NFEWIIFF 7sheep -- willing to leave 99 in the safe pasture to find the one that has gone astray. One of the most powerful portraits of God's love can be seen in the parable of the prodigal son. After the son changed his mind and headed home, the Bible says, ‘while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). This is God's heart toward you when you come to Him in repentance. As You Pray, God is patiently waiting with open arms for His sons and daughters to come home. All it takes is humility on our part and faith to believe that a loving Father will hear our honest pleas and cleanse us of our sin é Take a moment right now to repent -- to change your mind and turn from whatever is separating you from God and those around you. "Father, | believe You love me. Your Word says that it is your patience and kindness that lead me to repentance. So | come to You humbly and confess my sins. | thank you for forgiving and cleansing my body, soul and spirit. By the blood of Jesus, teach me how to walk honestly and with righteousness before You every day. in Jesus’ name. Amen We must trust Jesus Christ to forgive our sins and determine to obey Him for the rest of our lives. That way we can know God and find peace again. The Bible says, "So you will be saved, if you honestly say, Jesus is Lord, and if you believe with all your heart that God raised Him from death. God will accept you and save you, if you truly believe this.” (Romans 10:9-10) PERSONAL APPLICATION Identify your hidden sins that control your life and distance you from God. Repent and ask the Lord for His forgiveness so that you can have a new beginning. It doesn’t matter if we failed in the past; we can start all over again at any time. What commitments is God calling you to make with Him today? Think of anything; thoughts, situations, or actions that can become hindrances in your relationship with God Through prayer, confess that Jesus Christ is the only way to God and commit to live for Him for the rest of your life. Renounce sin and break every curse in the name of Jesus Christ. PRAYER Lord, we believe that You are right and we are wrong. | repent from the things that | have done. By Your grace and love, | repent and change my ways and life. | will ive out the truth that comes from Your word, the Bible. In Jesus’ name, STARTING UP your NEWIIFF °%