Walk the Walk
Whether you are a new believer, a long-time believer or a pre-believer this podcast is for you! Walk the Walk will help answer some questions you may have. I will talk about the Bible...and what it means to me. Not only will I share, but guests will be invited to share their own stories on how God is moving in their lives. You will be encouraged, uplifted and hopefully you will want to seek God to be a part of your life. You are welcome here.
Walk the Walk
Guidance and Support for New Believers..the introduction
Imagine the joy and excitement of accepting Christ and embarking on a new spiritual journey. That's exactly where we start in this episode, as we provide practical guidance to new believers and those helping others in their faith. Join us as we discuss crucial steps such as reconnecting with the person who introduced you to Christ, finding a welcoming, Bible-believing church, and establishing a daily prayer routine. We also highlight the significance of community support and share personal stories about finding a nurturing church community that can make all the difference. Prepare to be inspired and equipped with the tools you need to grow in your newfound faith.
As we continue, we explore the profound peace that comes with being part of God's family. This isn't just about spiritual growth; it's about experiencing the deep joy and tranquility that accompany your walk with Christ. We'll give you a sneak peek into future topics that will further enrich your faith journey. Whether you're just starting out or guiding someone else, this episode is packed with insights and personal anecdotes to encourage and support you. Embrace this journey with us and remember—you are never alone. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories and practical advice in our upcoming episodes.
Hello and welcome. This is a new podcast that's going to be for those who are either new believers or those who are trying to go out and talk to others about who Jesus Christ is. So welcome to Now. I'm a Believer. Now what? Now? I know that this may not apply to you, because you may have been a believer for 90% of your life and you're like, hey, I know all there is about what it's like and what I should do to be a Christian, but do you know how to talk to others, about those who want to become a Christian or those who just decided that they were going to follow Jesus Christ? Now what? Well, first of all, congratulations and welcome to God's family.
Speaker 1:You have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior and you feel, or have felt, that euphoric, high in excitement. You're excited about the change that is about to take place in your life, but unfortunately, after that excitement dies down, everyone goes home, the lights are turned off. You are left to figure out now what? What does this all mean? Now? This happens so many times to new believers. I've seen it happen many, many times to people who have accepted Christ in a night and then, within the next couple of days, they've gone back to the person they were before they accepted. It can be very overwhelming and it can be a letdown, and even for those who have done that, or who have accepted Christ, have said that was just too much hard work or they left me. Nobody helped me and nobody taught me about what I should do. Well, I'll tell you what. You're in the right place.
Speaker 1:This podcast will help you to understand what it's like to be a Christian, or this will also help you to help those who want to become Christian. It is not the only thing you're going to need. This podcast is part of what you need to understand Christianity, but it will help direct you. So let's move on with the steps you need to take as a new Christian. Here, first of all, are some very important things that you need to do. First of all, contact the person who led you to Christ. Ask them to walk with you on your new journey. I will tell you when you ask them that they'll understand what you mean.
Speaker 1:If you have led somebody onto a journey with Jesus Christ, get back with that person. Don't leave them high and dry. They don't know what the next steps are. Find a Bible-believing church. Ask them if they are a Bible-believing church? That's a very important question and I'm going to tell you if they say no, then you need to run, because that's not what you want. You want a church who opens that Bible, that pastor opens that Bible right from the pulpit and preaches the word of God. Here is probably the most important question that you need to ask who do they say Jesus is, if they don't say he is part of the Trinity, that he walked on this earth, he was crucified, resurrected on the third day and now he sits at the right hand of God? If they don't say that, run as fast as you possibly can. Don't even give him a chance to explain anything differently to you.
Speaker 1:Continue on your search. You know there are many people who have gone to 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 churches before they found a place where they felt comfortable. I even know of people who have moved from one part of the city to another. I have known people who have moved into a state because they have found a church they felt so comfortable with. I know that when Pastor Jeff and I both left the ministry and to move to Tennessee, we did the same thing. I had no idea how hard it was to find a new church. You know we were appointed churches to lead and guide, and so we never picked or had to choose the church we were going to, and they were wonderful churches. So then, when we were out of the ministry and I don't want to say we're out of the ministry, but we were no longer serving a church, it was really. I just did not realize how difficult it was.
Speaker 1:You need to pray daily. Pray as often as you possibly can, talk to Jesus. You know, prayer does not have to look anything formal. You don't have to drop to your knees and, oh, your hands have to be clasped a certain way. It does not have to look like that. It can, and if it does, fine, but if it doesn't, that's fine too. How do you pray to Jesus? I so happen to be a talker. I talk to Jesus all day and all night. You know I consider that to be prayer. My time with Jesus is my prayer time, and there's a lot of times where I'm talking to him, just like I'm talking to you right now. So pray or talk to Jesus as often as you can, because that's going to be your time with God, and ask God to be with you every minute of the day, to walk with you, sleep with you, talk with you, guide you every single day with you. Guide you every single day Now that you're a Christian, get yourself a Bible, a Bible that you can understand.
Speaker 1:You know, I know a lot of places will hand you a Bible, and that's all fine and good, but if that's not something you can understand, it's pretty worthless to you. It has to be something that you understand. If you are unable to read and that does not mean just that you can't read because you never learned. In our situation, pastor Jeff had a stroke and that's one thing that he isn't able to recover as of yet is that ability to read, and so that's when you listen to a Bible on tape or listen to the Bible, I don't know. You can go to Amazon. There are many Bibles, and there's many Bibles that are read for people who are blind or whatever. There's all kinds of ways. There's no excuse for you not getting that word.
Speaker 1:Go to the library and ask them for their Christian or spiritual section, and they may even say religious section, which I'm not big on that religious word. But you know, if you're wondering, why am I not big on religion. Religion is very what's that word we want to say? Religion is a very rigid thing. We aren't looking for rigidity, we're looking for spiritualness, having that feeling of God being with you all the time and not having that feeling, well, I've got to do this, I've got to do this, I've got to do this. I'm a Christian. Now I have to. No, no, no, no. That's not what we want. We want you to have a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Take your time, go in, find a scripture, maybe get three or four different Bibles out of the library. You don't even need to take them home. Sit there in the library, have a pencil and pad with you, look at all four or five different ways that they write that particular scripture, Pick the one that you understand and, if you're not sure if that's the right one, show your Bible to your Christian friends or a pastor, somebody that you respect, that you know knows the word, and ask them is this true, is this factual, the way they have written it? They haven't changed it. They haven't changed all the information to meet the needs of people today, because, remember, the word of God is the same as yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Now, after you find yourself a church that believes in the Bible and they say who Jesus Christ really is. Find out when their Bible study is. Now you're thinking, oh no, yes, find yourself a Bible study. It may be before church starts on Sunday, it may be during the week, whenever it is. Find out when it is and go Now. Here's the reason why a lot of people don't go to a Bible study, because they feel like, oh my gosh, everybody else in here knows more about the Bible than I do and you know what they might. But that's the whole point of going to a Bible study. You go in there, you meet other Christians and you find out. You know they're going to help you. They should want to help you. If you go to a Bible study and they aren't helping you, find another Bible study, because the whole purpose of it is for you to study together.
Speaker 1:I know there are many people who have said I knew nothing. I went in knowing not one thing, and then eventually they become the teachers. So don't hesitate to ask. Take notes, write them down, don't be ashamed of not knowing the word. After all, we are all learning. There is nobody that can say I have totally arrived. I know everything you know. Don't buy into that. Give yourself time and when I mean time, I don't mean give yourself one or two weeks, or one or two months. I'm talking about it could possibly take you years before you're totally comfortable with even stepping foot into a church by yourself.
Speaker 1:For the longest time I was too nervous to go to church alone. I didn't want to walk in. I felt like everybody would be like where's her husband or where's her this and why is she by herself and what is she wearing? You know, if you're being judged by anybody at a church that you have chosen again, you might want to find a new church. You should be able to walk in as comfortably as you can Find yourself a seat, no matter where you sit. You are part of that church. People should welcome you and I do know sometimes there are churches that are apprehensive about approaching a new person just because they don't want them to feel like they're kind of bombarding them, so kind of kind of.
Speaker 1:You know. Give yourself a couple of times before you go, before you decide that's not the church you want to go to. Now, if you go into a church and they're preaching something other than the word of God, don't give yourself two or three times, get out of there. But I'm talking about if the church is preaching the word of God and they say who Jesus is and you feel like, oh, this is, this is a good place, and they uh, but you're just not quite comfortable, don't. Don't be quick to run. Give yourself a little bit of time. Try to get to know a couple of people in the church. It is nerve-wracking, it can be, but eventually you will feel comfortable, never be satisfied and never stop learning. We are always learning and we're always studying.
Speaker 1:You and I are a work in progress until the day that you die and you find your place, your heavenly home. So this is not about oh, let me read that book and I'll be done and I'm good, and yeah, no, that's not how this works. And remember this, pay it forward. You know, somebody's probably going to invest a lot of time in you and there's going to be a day where you're going to be expected to invest time into another person. It's always good to have somebody who knows where you are, who's been where you've been, who can say I've been there, I know what you're going through and I'm going to help you through on this walk and the more help you get, the more support you get from somebody.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, the faster and it's not a fast race, but the faster you'll get to learn more and the more you'll want to learn. So I welcome you to the family of God. This is just the introduction to this podcast. Tomorrow, or the next time, when we do our next podcast, here's what the topic will be. When I accepted Christ, I felt peace come over me. What was that? Stay tuned for my next podcast and I'll answer that question for you. Have a blessed day.