I thought that this topic would be appropriate because it fits with this current series and is usually misunderstood. The person who has truly repented and has come to recognize Jesus as their Lord is going to be a different person. You will not need us to coax them to come to church or join a Bible study. They will have a hunger to know about their new Lord. You see Jesus has given them a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). We do not have to work to keep them in the faith. Jesus is able to keep them to present them and us before the throne of glory with great joy (Jude 1:24). The other thing that is often a concern is that they will fall away because some one will entice them away from the faith. This cannot happen because no man is able to take them out of His (Jesus) hand (John 10:27-30). I hear people talking about the person who has become a carnal christian (I think this is an oxymoron). They express concern that someone has backslidden and stopped coming to church. There is one answer to both of these situations and we fail to address the people who are in this as we should because we excuse them. John clearly says in 1 John 2:19 that they went out from us because they were not of us. If we really love people as we claim we do we will pursue them as people who have never heard the gospel.
What is it that we should do with the new believer. We should see to it that they are baptized and we should seek to disciple them. Discipleship is a Biblical concept that involves relational commitment. It is about training a person how to grow in Christ. Follow-up could be that but it often falls far short of that. The goal of discipleship should be to help someone understand how to bring everything in their lives into subjection to their Lord Jesus. In this we are helping them to live a God focused life.
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