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Congratulations! You just got saved! But
what does that mean? What can you
expect? Where do you go from here? How
does this new life work? “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom:
and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Proverbs 4:7
“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and
to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
Proverbs 16:16
What does it mean to be saved?
You probably just responded to an altar call
(a plea by a minister to get right with God).
You may have responded to an altar call on
a television program and were told to call
and get this free literature. Maybe someone
led you to the Lord (prayed the prayer of
salvation with you). “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13
You have just entered into a completely new
life and there is a lot to learn. Just like
anyone who moves somewhere new, you will
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now need directions and understanding of
how “the saved” life works. It will be an
exciting journey!
Let’s start by understanding what “saved”
means. The word saved means “to rescue
from harm, danger, or loss.” It also means
to “set free from the consequences of sin.” It
means to “redeem.” Finally, it means to
“keep in a safe condition.” You have now
been rescued from the harm, danger, and loss that sin causes. You have also been set
free from its consequences. It is God’s
desire to see you kept in a safe condition
and have an abundant and enjoyable life.
”The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy: I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.” John
10:10
In the beginning God created man. He
created him for fellowship. God wanted a
relationship with man. He and Adam had a
wonderful relationship until he and Eve disobeyed. Their disobedience caused a
break in their relationship with God. As a
result the whole human race fell into a
sinful condition and became estranged
(separated from) God. Due to Adam’s choice
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spiritual death infected the whole human
race. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12
As a result, many consequences (penalties
for sin) came into men’s lives. We are still
seeing many of those penalties today. It is
the cause of much of life’s pain and
disorder. Men are not including God’s way
in the way that they choose to live their lives
and it is still causing problems.
God is very fair. He knew that everyone was
not going to like Adam’s choice for the
human race. He also knew that there would
be wise people like you who would choose to
come out of sin because you were born in it.
Jesus was then sent into the earth to
provide restoration (the replacement or
giving back of something lost or stolen) of
our relationship with God. He became a mediator (peacemaker) between man and
God.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5
Due to His nature, God cannot deal with or
tolerate sin.
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“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it
cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot
hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid his face
from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2
It took a peacemaker like Jesus to make a
way to bring man back to God. Man is lost
without God. In time, you will learn what
all of this means in more detail. For now,
you are a newborn believer, a brand new
Christian. Just like a newborn baby, you
will need care in order to grow properly. This
book will give you steps for growing strong
and healthy in your walk with the Lord. It is not enough to get saved, you must now
stay saved and grow. This book will tell you
how. Please read the entire booklet. It will
answer some of the many questions that
you probably have already. Relax, God is on
your side. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31
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Step 1: Begin Praying and Reading
Your Bible.
We are triune (three part) beings. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them.” Genesis
1:26-27
We are spirit beings (Read Genesis 1:26-27,) who have souls (minds,) and we live in
physical bodies. There are three parts to
you that have to be cared for in order for
you to be healthy and whole. Your mind
needs stimulation through reading and
intellectual development. Your body takes
in food and exercise in order to stay healthy,
strong, and keep growing. In the spiritual
arena, things work the same way, except the
spirit needs prayer (regular conversations
with God) and the Word of God (the Bible) in
order to grow strong and healthy. (Read
Luke 18:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Peter
2:2)
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What is prayer?
Prayer is the act of talking to and with God.
You talk to Him: You talk, He listens. You
talk with Him: He talks, you listen. Regular
prayer will help keep you in contact with
God. You will need His guidance and
direction in this life. He will help you by
giving you wisdom on how to handle things.
He will also try to keep you from making
hurtful choices, if you listen to Him (Read
Deuteronomy 28:1-2.) The more you talk
with Him, the better off you will be. Just be
honest with Him and talk to Him about the
things that are on your heart. That’s real
prayer. If you trust Him and listen to Him,
he will guide you. (Read Proverbs 3:5-7.)
The more you talk with Him and listen to
Him the better you will learn to hear his
voice. It will cause your life to be enjoyable.
(Read John 10:10.) The Bible is the Word of God. (Psalm 119:105) It is an inspired book
that is filled with the plan of God for man
and ways to have a wonderful life. Now that
you are saved, there is a lot to learn. You
will need to begin by reading the Gospel of
John (4th book in the New Testament.)
After reading the Gospel of John, go on to
read the book of Romans (6th book of the
New Testament.) When reading these two
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books, you begin gaining an understanding
of this new life you began today. Some
translations of the bible are harder to
understand than others. You may want to
begin by reading the New International
Version. It is be easier to understand for now. Another great suggestion for reading
God’s Word is the book of Proverbs in the
Old Testament. It is an ancient book that is
full of modern wisdom. You will be amazed
at the topics it covers and how up to date
these topics are. There are thirty one chapters in the book of Proverbs. You may
want to read one chapter each day for the
date of the month. For example, if the date
is January 5th, read Proverbs chapter five. If
the date is November 23rd, read Proverbs
chapter twenty three. If you do this each
month, you will increase in wisdom. You
will need to pray and read the Word of God
in order to begin growing strong.
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Step 2: Join a Bible believing
church.
Family is a wonderful thing. Family is
defined as “a group of persons sharing
common ancestry.” In the natural realm,
you are connected to a family by blood. You
were born into a family. In the spiritual
realm, you have now been born again into
the family of God. (Read John 3:3, Romans
8:29, and 1st Peter 1:23) You have a natural
family and you now have a spiritual family.
Your spiritual family consists of other
believers. Just as every child needs a home
and a family to grow, you will need a church
family to grow. Most times, it is best to join
the church where you got saved. If the
church where you got saved is in another
state or really far away, you will need to ask
the Lord to lead you to a Bible- believing church close to you. It is very important
that you have a church home and a church
family. There you will find the help that you
need to grow up strong and healthy. There
you will find people who will encourage you
and hold you accountable to keep your
promise to the Lord. When you get weak,
they will encourage you. When you are
doing well they will cheer you on. You will
find regular prayer, Bible study, and other
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activities there to assist you in the growing
process. You will need to do this soon. The
longer you wait, increases the chance, you
may not do it at all. The devil will try to keep
you busy and distracted so you do not focus
on the priority of pleasing God. (Read
Matthew 6:33.) We are commanded in the
Word of God not to avoid our time together
as a church family. (Read Hebrews 10:24-
25.) He does this because there is something that you can get in fellowship with other
believers that you will not get anywhere else.
In fact, do not be surprised if someone you
love dearly tries to talk you out of being
saved. When you first get saved, people will
react all kind of ways. Those who are not
ready to serve God yet will not necessarily
be happy that you have chosen to serve
God. (Read John 15:17-20.) They may
change in their behavior toward you. They
may act funny or avoid you altogether. Do
not let that discourage you. There will be
many new relationships in your church
family that you will come to love, appreciate,
and enjoy. Finding a good church is an
important step to growing strong in the
Lord. Ask the Lord to lead you to a Bible-
believing church home with a pastor who
really cares about people.
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Step 3: Surround yourself with
saved friends.
There is a saying that goes, “Birds of a
feather flock together.” That simply means
that people with things in common usually
spend time together. They actually draw to
one another. You will find that your desire
to be with people who are also saved will
now grow. This does not mean that you
throw all of your old friends away, but in
time things may change. The things that
you will want to talk about now may not be
of any interest to your old friends unless
they are saved or get saved, as well. The
Bible asks a great question in Amos 3:3
“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” It is difficult to be close to someone with whom you have nothing in
common. The Bible has this to say about
relationships in Proverbs 13:20, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a
companion of fools shall be destroyed.” You must now be selective with whom you spend
your time. If you want to become wise, hang
with wise people. If you want to become
strong, hang with strong people. Beware of
spending time with the foolish. They have a habit of making foolish (lacking or exhibiting
a lack of good sense or judgment) choices
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and will encourage you to do so as well.
They cannot help you if they cannot help
themselves yet. Surround yourself with
others who love God and know how to be
successful in their Christian walk. (Read
Hebrews 6:12) You will need some strong
saved friends with whom to spend time. If
you have any other questions please contact
us.
©Copyright 2013
Set the Captives Free Outreach Center
7111 Windsor Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21244
410-265-6800
www.stcfoc.com
www.ksbmin.com
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