Congratulations, on the free gift of eternal salvation which you received when you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior!
I want to share with you truths that are fundamental to the Christian faith; truths upon which you can build a strong and vibrant life in Jesus Christ. Study this material diligently and it will yield for you an eternal harvest!
I pray that God will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened to realize how great is the hope to which He has called you; and that you will know all that is freely given to you in Christ, Amen (Eph. 1:17-19)
The information in on this page will help you start off your new life in Christ Jesus. As you study it, look into your Bible and study the scriptures yourself.
This truth in the Bible will change your life and help you to shape your future according to the principles of God’s word. God bless you richly!
Living For His Cause -
Pastor Alfred & Jovita D’Souza
The Truth About You
This inner man is the one the Bible refers to in 1 Peter 3:4:” Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quite spirit...”
When a man’s body dies, his spirit lives on. He is still as much the human person he was before he died; he hasn’t lost anything except that he has lost the ability to function in the physical world. His body may be dead but the real person, the spirit man still has all the consciousness he had before he died.
In Luke Chapter 16 we read the story told by Jesus Christ bout two men who died. One was a beggar name Lazarus. The point is not that he was a beggar, but though he was a poor, he had a righteous heart. When he died he was taken to Abraham’s Bosom. The second man also died. That man had been rich in the world, but he had not lived a righteous life.
Note that when he died, his body was buried on earth, but Jesus said that in hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and he recognised Lazarus. This means that he could still see. Then he called out to Abraham and said, “Please help me!” you see he could still talk. Abraham spoke back to him and he heard Abraham’s voice, implying that he could still hear.
The rich man also said he was thirsty, and not only was he thirsty, he was in agony. So he begged, “Please let the Lazarus come and give me a drop of water to cool my thirst.” There’s yet another point to note here –he could still feel.
All of his senses were still intact. In fact, he could even remember things because he said, “please, send somebody among the dead to go preach to my brothers.” He had five brothers on earth, so he thought, ‘Maybe if someone from among the dead goes to them they’ll believe him.’ He remembered his brothers!
This let you know that man’s spirit lives on. And when man is born again, it is his human spirit that is born again!2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”
Jesus explains what is being 'born again' to Nicodemus (John 3: 1-8)
Who Are You?
Now that you’ve given your life to Jesus Christ and have made Him the Lord of your life, you‘re no longer what you used to be! You may still look the same outwardly, but inwardly, you‘re a new person altogether. That’s what the Bible says! You’re not ‘like a new creation, ‘but a new creation’ a new species, of being that never existed before (2 Corinthian 5:17).
You’re not reformed, refurbished or renovated; you’re a new creation –a new person altogether. However, the fact that you’re a new creation inside doesn’t mean that outwardly, you’ll look different. If you had a low hair cut before you were born again, the style would remain same. You’ll have the same Job, family and neighbors.
The point however, is that, now your values have changed. You have a new set of values because you’re a new person on the inside.
Being born again, God has given you the power to become His child (John1:12). The nature of God has been imparted to your human spirit. You now have a new life; the life of God that Jesus Christ makes available to everyone who believes in Him. What a privilege!
You’re therefore a partaker of God’s nature (2 Peter 1:3-4) God is now your father! How? Nature is reproduced by birth; that is way a cat will always gives birth to kitten and John 1:12-13 says “But as many as received him, to them gave the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
God has parental instincts towards you. You’re a member of His Household, and therefore a citizen of Heaven where he dwells.
God is responsible for you. He will supply all your needs according to his inexhaustible riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). He has a good plan for your life, which was set in a motion the moment you were born again. You are love child of love God, and you have been born into a love family. This is very important. He gave you this new life to become a member of His kingdom.
The Bible declares that God has given you eternal life. This is the life that is inside God, which makes it possible for Him to be who He is. This is the God- kind of life. This life made it impossible for the grave to hold Jesus Christ. This is resurrection life, and this life is now in you. “And the witness is this that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life. These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, [even] unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:11-13)
It is only the one who has the Son that has this life, because this life is actually contained in the Son of God. When you receive him you receive this life.
This life makes it impossible for you to be defeated by any situation. It always puts you above. Just think about it! It’s impossible for God to be destroyed or defeated. Now you have his life: you cannot be destroyed or defeated, because that same spirit that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you! (Romans 8:11).
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
Imagine God performing what you may call a ‘nature-transplant.’ He made Jesus to be sin (that is, the sin –offering) for us, so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him.
This is what made it possible for Jesus to die a sinner’s death in your place. The result is that you can now stand before God without any sense of guilt, fear or sense of inferiority (Hebrew 10:19, Romans 5:1)
What does it mean to be justified?
It means to declared ‘not guilty.’ As far as God is concerned, you’re not guilty of any offence. “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Romans 5:1) you have been justified!
Jesus took punishment for your sins when He died on the cross, though He was not guilty of any sin (1 Peter 2:22). That’s way God is no longer holding your sins against you. The Bible says, “to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
Let’s imagine for one moment that you fell into a ditch, you got very dirty and someone came along and rescued you – that is, “got you out of the ditch.” The next thing you’d have do is to get yourself all cleaned up! In other words, “Get the ditch out of you,” and that takes time and effort. But how?
Well, sanctification is in two phases. First, God gets you out of ditch, that means you are born again and immediately, the Bible declare you sanctified; set apart from the world unto God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”
Second, you must get the ditch out of you by subjecting your mind to a cleansing (renewal) process through the word of God (Romans 12:2). The renewal of your mind is a continuous process. Your mind was trained to think in one way: to things physically before believing. Now, by renewing your mind, you allow your mind to see things God’s way. You re-train your mind to see things from God’s perspective. Then you speak God’s words, God’s ways and get the results that He gets from His Word!
“Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: “ (Colossians 1: 12-13)
From the moment you gave life to the Lord Jesus Christ, you became a member of God’s kingdom. No demon hatched in hell can harm you now. You’re free from any covenant you ever entered into, knowingly or unknowingly. You’re free from every habit, sin, sickness or disease that ever held you bound. Why? Because you’ve been delivered from the power of darkness!
The Bible says that God has delivered you from the control and dominion of darkness and has translated you into His kingdom. You never have to be afraid again. God is your shepherd and His eyes of protection will always be upon you (Psalm 23:1).
The Bible says: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) God has delivered you into his kingdom. That’s where you are now; that’s where you belong. You have already been delivered from the power of darkness. Note that this is in past tense- you have already been delivered from the power of darkness!
Another great part of this new life is that the spirit of God comes to dwell in you. When the spirit of God takes up His abode in you, He enlightens you in the word of God and gives you new understanding of the Word. So now when you study the Bible, you have a new understanding in your own spirit; it becomes applicable to your life!
Another thing the Holy Spirit does is to remind you of God’s word (John 14:26). In addition, He gives you the power to be an effective witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“But you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Act 1:8)
What Do You Do When...
Wrong thoughts come to your mind?
These thoughts come to you as an outside force, a form of temptation from the devil. You don’t manufacture them in your mind, especially now that you’re born again. The Bible says we (born-again believers) have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) you must remember who you are now, a new creation! God always wants us to remember that we are new creations, and that He has given us the new life. This new life is what you have to believe in.
Let us suppose that the thought of a bad habit comes to you. The pressure is so much on you to do that wrong thing; you might even go as far as the beginning stages of the wrong deed. But right there when you remember that you’re born again; a new person, you suddenly have the courage and boldness to shrug it off.
You see, being born again does not mean that wrong thoughts do not come to you but the point is you should not allow them to take a hold of you. Refuse them! Don’t let them gain dominion or mastery over you by thinking on the right things instead (Philippians 4:8)
You acted the wrong way before you were born again, but now you have a new life. That’s the way you should stop a bad habit. Say to you,” Look, I’m born again. That’s my real nature!” No matter the habit: when you remember (and you will remember), STOP! Say to you, “I’m born again! Stop right there!”
Don’t let the cycle of sin go on, and don’t be ashamed to tell anyone involved in it with you, “Oh, I’m sorry I can’t do this because I’m born again”. Get rid of bad habits by replacing them with good ones. Do this deliberately. Find out godly character traits from the Word of God and train yourself in them through practice.
God doesn’t want us to be hearers only but doers of the Word: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror: for he observes himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was” (James 1:22-24). You become a doer of the word when you remember the Word and act accordingly and that is one of the things the Holy Spirit does in us! Jesus said “But the Comforter, which the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26).
Thank God the Holy Spirit is right here; He helps us remember the Word! Now, when you remember the Word, you must act on it. Don’t be troubled about remembering; the Holy Spirit will bring it to your remembrance. But you must always ready to obey him when he brings these truths to your mind.
You must remember one thing: wrong thoughts don’t have the power to gain the mastery over you unless you allow them, “For sin shall not have dominion over you…” (Romans 6:14).
Sin shall not gain lordship over you. It will not have the upper hand, because you’re not under Law but under Grace. That’s what the Bible says about you. God has delivered you from the powers of sin and of darkness, and delivered you into His kingdom: ”Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love” (Colossians 1:12-13). That’s where you are, now that you are born again. And that’s why the power of darkness can’t have dominion over you; they’re in the realm of sin but you’re in the realm of God’s life, which supersedes sin.
In Colossians 1:14 it says, “In whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins”. In Christ Jesus we have redemption. This is our present-hour possession (Ephesians 2:5-6).We’re not trying to have it, we have it now! We must retain this consciousness of the Word of God and rejoice in it.
Old Friends Try To Discourage You?
Now that you’re born again you belong to a new family! You don’t belong to your old family anymore. This doesn’t mean you completely abandon those old friends and acquaintances or reject them. You have to be a light to them. They’re still in the dark, because they don’t have Christ Jesus in their hearts. You must remember that you’ve become the light of God to them. Share the gospel with them so they too can follow Jesus.
What are you supposed to do when they try to discourage you? The bible says that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of and laugh at the truth (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Scoffers are those who try to discourage you and take you back to the old life, but you must refuse to be moved by them. Refuse to allow their attitude stand in the way of your fellowship with Christ. Refuse to be ‘unequally yoked’ with them. Don’t accept their counsel. Instead, maintain your stand for God and His Word.
In the early days of mechanized farming, a farmer would yoke two animals, for example, two donkeys or two oxen, and attach them to a plough. The two animals would plough the ground as they moved together. Because they were yoked together, the two animals had to move in the same direction, wherever the first one went, the second went too. The farmer directed them and they had to go in the same direction, as long as they were under the same yoke.
Now if both of them were donkeys, it was called an ‘equal yoke’, but if one was donkey and the other was an ox, it was called an ‘unequal yoke’ (because they were not of the same kind). If we are to be yoked together with anyone, it must be an ‘equal yoking’, that is, a Christian and a Christian walking together in companionship.
But if a Christian and a non-Christian are in companionship together, they’re unequally yoked. And God is saying,” Don’t be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16). So you see, if you and a non-believer are in companionship, living the same life then, you’re in unequal yoke, and this is wrong. God doesn’t want you in an unequal yoke, but to be equally yoked with other Christians, doing the same things.
Non-believers cannot be your best friend. No matter how moral a person is, as long as he’s not born again, he cannot be your best friend. It is impossible and unacceptable before God, because it is an unequal yoking. Your assessment of an individual can never measure up to God’s assessment.
Once, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as King of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13). When Samuel saw the first son of Jesse, Eliab, Samuel said, “Surely this must the Lord anointed before Him,” because he is huge, tall and handsome. But God spoke to the prophet and said, “Don’t anoint him, because I have rejected him.” Then He said, “For man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart, the inward man.” So your assessment of an individual is at the most, based on the outward appearance – what he says, how he looks, the way he walks….you can form all kind of opinions about him based on these, but you see, God looks at the inward appearance.
One who is not born again doesn’t have the right spirit with God. The only way by which one can be right with God is to be born again. This is the only time the person qualifies to be your best friend. Until he is born again he cannot be your best friend; he doesn’t qualify by God Standard to be such. Now that you’re born again, you desire should be to please God, so you must not use your own standards. This is very important. Keep your heart on God’s own and He’ll see you through (1Corinthians 10:13).
Persecutions And Afflictions Come?
In Mark 4:1-9, Jesus told us about the parable of the sower. The man went to sow his seeds and some fell on the stony ground, some on hard ground, some among thorns and other on good ground. In verses 16 & 17, the Bible says, “And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”
He ‘s is talking about those who have no root in themselves, so endure affliction only for a time. He says although such people eagerly accept the word, when afflictions or persecutions arise for the word’s sake they’re offended. This has happened to several people. What Jesus is saying here is that there are many people who really don’t have deep love for him. They are excited about the word of God because of the promises of eternal life, happiness and answered prayers, but they don’t really have a deep love for God. So when persecution comes they give up. This is sad!
When persecution and afflictions come, what you ought to do is follow the word: