To New Brothers

This article was written on 2/20/2017 to a several friends, some of whom were recently baptized and others were attending our worship. This morning I miss them. I put this writing on this blog so that any one who may read this be encouraged. God wants all to be saved and He gave His only begotten Son.  

It is a great morning. As I think of you guys I am so glad that I met you and was able to tell you about the gospel. What is the more I am rejoicing than that is that you received or are receiving the gospel as the word of God. All of us, the church family, who are praying for you not only here but also many other places, are so honored and privileged to serve you as new born brothers and sisters or ones who are coming closer to conversion. This morning my heart is boiling over for joy and honor for you but with prayers that you may overcome temptations and difficulties that the Satan may be shooting against you.   

To be a true Christian is to live following after Jesus unto death. One is not a Christian who just believes in Jesus but not lives like him. One is not either who just goes to church on a few days a week but not gives out Christ’s fragrance in his or her everyday life. Being a Christian means being and living like him in his or her own situation. What this means is that, the spirit, mind, and attitude have to be like Jesus’ even though the body and the situation are his or her own. In this sense, Galatians 2:20 says, “Since I have been crucified with Jesus, the life that lives in me is not mine but the one who died for me.” If one is baptized in Christ, he or she has died to sin and the world so that he or she might live according to the mind and spirit of Jesus. This spirit and mind that Jesus lived by is the Holy Spirit. So true Christians are those who died to their own spirits and minds but were made alive in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they live not by their own spirit and mind but by the Holy Spirit, that is, the spirit and mind of Jesus Christ, who loved us and sacrificed himself for us even on the cruel cross.

Brothers and sisters, please let’s remember that we are born again by the Holy Spirit through the death of Jesus Christ, our Savior. He purchased us by his blood. Now as we are not ours but his, we should not live for our desires but for the glory he leads us to, that is, the glory and honor of the Father in heaven. Watch your mind and heart that nothing impure may get in. Watch your mouth that nothing ungodly may proceed out of it. Watch your eyes, hands, and feet that they may not see or do anything unclean. God is pleased with those whose will is to please him. Jesus was the perfect one who did that and now he is seated at the right hand of God. As he pleased God he died to accomplish God’s will. We as true Christians have to do the same; we have to struggle against sin even to bleeding (Hebrews 12:4).

Therefore, do not love the world; do not love the things in the world; do not love money. Rather if you seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, he will supply what you need for your life (Matthew 6:33). Please, remember nobody ever can serve two maters, God and the world; one can serve either only God or only the world. Please do not be ones who serve the world whose end is eternal destruction.

But God loves the humble. So humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you in his time (1 Peter 5:6). He is almighty and he knows your heart and your struggling. He listens to your prayers and supplications. Do not worry about what you are praying for; but watch yourself not to sin and not to go astray from his will at any rate. Then he will give you protection, peace, and provision, abundantly by grace. All of the Christians, who know you, are asking God for this blessing on behalf of you as brothers and sisters in Christ, who love you and are here to help you. May God be with you through this week!