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Books and Articles

 

 

Cindy Heaster: The Principles of Christ


The Principles of Christ: Guidance For The Newly Baptized

 

After your baptism

You’re forgiven! Since you turned your back to sin and were baptized, God has looked at you as his own dear child. Going under the water of baptism means that your old sinful way of life has been buried forever. By identifying with Christ through baptism, you’re now a new person. You came up out of the water freed from sin. Instead of living with sin as your master, you’re now free to serve the immortal God, your loving  father in Heaven.

 

Col 2:6-7

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

 

 

Rm 6:1-7  1 Pet 1:22-23 Acts 2:38 Acts 3:19-20

 

 

What should we say then? Should we continue to sin so that God's kindness will increase?

Rom 6:2  That's unthinkable! As far as sin is concerned, we have died. So how can we still live under sin's influence?

Rom 6:3  Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Rom 6:4  When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life.

Rom 6:5  If we've become united with him in a death like his, certainly we will also be united with him when we come back to life as he did.

Rom 6:6  We know that the person we used to be was crucified with him to put an end to sin in our bodies. Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin.

Rom 6:7  The person who has died has been freed from sin.

 

 

 1 Pet 1:22-23

Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.

1Pe 1:23  For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal.

 

 

Col 2:6-7

Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.

Col 2:7  Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.

 

 

-baptism=repentance Acts 2:38

Peter said to them, "Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit.

 

Acts 3:19

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that he will forgive your sins. If you do,

Act 3:20  times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you.

 

 

God is judging our hearts, our belief in Him

(it all starts in our heart and mind) Mtt 9:13 Mtt 15:8-9 Rm 2:29 Rm6:17 Rm 10:10 Rm 11:19-24. Acts 24:16(conscience) 1 Thess 2:4

 

God loves you with all His heart, and so wants you to give Him all of yours. God isn’t interested in your outward shows of righteousness. It’s what’s in your heart that matters to God. He wants you to obey His teachings willingly. If you feel something is wrong, don’t do it, living with a clean conscience is a liberating experience and pleases our maker. God knows you intimately and wholly, live to please Him; not the people around you. Be genuine. Turn your back on your old way of life, repent and take the wonderful new life in Christ instead.

 

Rm 2: 28-29

  For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that outwardly in flesh;  but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart; in spirit and not in letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

 

Mtt 9:13 But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

 

Mtt 15:8-9

"This people draws near to Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.

Mat 15:9  But in vain they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

(don’t even bother to worship me if its not from your heart)

 

 

Rm6:17

But thanks be to our God that you were the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

 

Rm 10:10

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.

 

Rm 11:19-24

You will say then, The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.

Rom 11:20  Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear.

Rom 11:21  For if God did not spare the natural branches, fear lest He also may not spare you either!

Rom 11:22  Behold then the kindness, and the severity of God; on those having fallen, severity; but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Rom 11:23  And those also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again.

Rom 11:24  For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive-tree?

 

Acts 24:16

And in this I exercise myself, always to have a blameless conscience toward God and men.

 

1 Thess 2:4

but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tries our hearts.

 

 

 

Hypocrisy is bad

 Rm 2:17-23 Rm 12:9 1Pet2:1-3

 

Open your eyes to your own sinfulness so that you can see the enemy you’re up against. Pretending that everything is OK when it isn’t makes growth in Christ impossible. Don’t parade about in a false righteousness, but in humility remember how gracious God has been in forgiving you. Be the wonderful person God is calling you to be. You don’t need to pretend you’re someone you’re not.

 

 

Rm 12:9

Let love be without hypocrisy, shrinking from evil, cleaving to good;

 

Rm 2:17-23

Behold, you are called a Jew, and rest in the Law, and boast in God;

Rom 2:18  and know His will and approve the things excelling, being instructed out of the Law;

Rom 2:19  and persuading yourselves to be a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness;

Rom 2:20  an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, who have the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law.

Rom 2:21  Therefore the one teaching another, do you not teach yourself? The one preaching not to steal, do you steal?

Rom 2:22  The one saying not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? The one detesting idols, do you rob temples?

Rom 2:23  You who boast in Law, do you dishonor God through breaking the Law?

 

 

1Pet2:1

Therefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings, and all evil speakings,

1Pe 2:2  desire the sincere milk of the Word, as newborn babes, so that you may grow by it;

1Pe 2:3  if truly you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

 

Our actions are expressions of love and thankfulness to him.

We express our thankfulness to God by acts of love, caring for each other. God has given us everything. Living holy lives is a basic response to His abundant generosity toward us.

 

Rm 12;1

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

 

2Cor 9:12

2Co 9:12  For the ministry of this service not only supplies the things lacking of the saints, but also multiplying through many thanksgivings to God,

 

 

We have no righteousness of our own, God counts us as righteous because of our faith in Christ

 

Because you are justified by faith you can find peace in knowing you are placed safely in God’s hands. Because Christ came and fulfilled the law, you are righteous because of your belief in Him. Your faith is what matters to God, deeds in themselves mean nothing. True faith will inevitably become obvious in how you live.  It is by faith, not works that we will stand on the day of judgement. God has been wonderfully merciful to you in putting faith in your heart. There is no way you can know why He chose you, but we can be joyful that He has!

 

ABRAHAM: Is held up for us as an example of faith. He was told by God to leave his prosperous city life and got to become a nomad in a foreign country. Because he believed in God, he went. He was later told to sacrifice his son, which he was willing to do. Moments before Abraham killed his son, God stopped him. It wasn’t the sacrifice God was interested in, but Abraham’s faith in being willing to do it.

Gal 3:8

 

Rm 5:1

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Rm 9:16

Rom 9:15  For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.

 

Rm 10:3-4

Rom 10:3  For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

Rom 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.

 

Heb 3:2

Heb 3:2  who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house.

 

1Cor 1:28-31

1Co 1:28  and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;

1Co 1:29  so that no flesh should glory in His presence.

1Co 1:30  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

1Co 1:31  so that, according as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

 

2 Cor 1:24

2Co 1:24  Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy; for by faith you stand.

 

Gal 2:16

Gal 2:16  knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law. For all flesh will not be justified by works of law.

 

Gal 3:8

Gal 3:8  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all nations be blessed."

 

 

(it is by grace we are saved-Eph 2:8-9

Eph 2:8  For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,

Eph 2:9  not of works, lest anyone should boast.

 

Tit 2:11-12

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  teaching us that having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live discreetly, righteously and godly, in this present world,

 

Heb 2:9).

Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for all.

 

Acts 15:9

Act 15:9  And He put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

 

Phil 3:9

Phi 3:8  But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ

Phi 3:9  and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,

 

1Ti 1:12  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry--

1Ti 1:13  the one who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent. But I obtained mercy, because being ignorant, I did it in unbelief.

1Ti 1:14  And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

 

Tit 3:5-7

Tit 3:4  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

Tit 3:5  not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Tit 3:6  whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Tit 3:7  that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

In God’s presence we must be humbled,

Rm 5:1

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:2  Through Him we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice on the hope of the glory of God.

 

Rm 9:16

So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.

 

Rm 10:3-4

For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

Rom 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.

 

Heb 3:1-2

Therefore, holy brothers, called to be partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,

Heb 3:2  who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house.

 

1Cor 1:28-31

and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;

1Co 1:29  so that no flesh should glory in His presence.

1Co 1:30  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

1Co 1:31  so that, according as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

 

 

2 Cor 1:24

Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy; for by faith you stand.

 

Gal 2:16

knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law. For all flesh will not be justified by works of law.

 

Gal 3:8

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all nations be blessed."

 

Eph 2:8-9

For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,

Eph 2:9  not of works, lest anyone should boast.

 

Tit 2:11-12

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  teaching us that having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live discreetly, righteously and godly, in this present world,

 

 

Heb 2:9

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for all.

 

Acts 15:9

And He put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

 

Phil 3:8

But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ

Phi 3:9  and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,

 

1 Tim 1:4

nor to give heed to fables and endless genealogies (which provide doubts rather than the nurture of God in faith).

 

Tit 3:5-7

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Tit 3:6  whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Tit 3:7  that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

 

 

God wants us to be obedient

God isn’t interested in what you know intellectually, he wants you to live out what you have learnt of Him. You must be obedient to God, and not to your own desires. If you obey God, you follow Jesus into everlasting life, but if you obey yourself, you follow the path to death. It is the one who lives in obedience to the word of God in whom God’s love is perfected. Love is walking according to God’s commands. We show our love for Christ by loving one another.

 

Rm2:13

Rom 2:13  For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.

 

 

Rom 6:16

Rom 6:16  Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to him whom you obey; whether it is of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness.

 

 1Cor 7:19

1Co 7:19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

 

1 Pet 1:14

1Pe 1:14  as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance,

 

 1Jn 2:5

1Jo 2:5  But whoever keeps His Word, truly in this one the love of God is perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.

 

2Jn6

2Jo 1:6  And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

 

Jn 14:21-24

Joh 14:21  He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.

Joh 14:22  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?