I hope the past five days were profound to you as they were for me. We tried looking at the story of humans, sin and grace, the Holyspirit, a believer’s life and the hope to come at a very simplistic way. But what we saw are just the tip of the ice berg, there’s so much more to know, to learn and to uncover.
Special thanks to my blessed friends Milikias and Salem who have helped me in producing these contents for the past 5 days! God Bless Them!
And so because we can’t cover every nuance of God and Christianity I now pass the torch to you. It is now your journey and adventure to purposefully read the scriptures, cross examine them and study them. It is now your personal journey to connect and build your relationship with God.
Your path into knowing God and His ways is far more superior than any PHD or Career Path you’ll ever take. It is far more vast and filled with love than any other journey. It is quite literally the most incredible journey of your life. No mountain climbing, no off-road tracking, no remote camping, no profession pursuit, no complicated project will ever come near to what this journey is.
So as your brother, and as a person who’s been saved from darkness and evil, I remind you all to fully invest in this journey. To spend your entire life trying to know the God that created you and to follow the path He has set. No life is ever wasted if it’s spent on God. No time ever lost if spent on Him. This is your true “I love you forever!” the love that actually lasts for eternity.
Forming a Relationship with God / Christianity is such a simple thing that farmers in 200 AD and fishermen in the 50 AD were able to do it. Christianity is such an amazing thing in that it doesn’t need any preliminary teaching to understand it, IT in on it self is education. Apart from being spiritual, anyone in a true relationship with God is far more wiser and smarter, that’s just what the Bible and God’s presence does to you, sharpens your mind.
The five solas are a set of Latin phrases summarizing key theological principles of Christianity. They emphasize God's grace and the centrality of Scripture in Christian faith and practice. Here's a breakdown of each sola:
These will keep you from going around from changing religions and churches and will serve us the basis for your own journey into Christianity. Though church attending is a great thing, personal bible studies far exceed it. Though fellowships with our christian friends are a beautiful thing, fellowship with God alone far exceeds it. What I’m trying to tell you is that without private worship, public worship is just performance.
The world is filled with false teachings and deceptive spirits. There is one true gospel, that salvation only comes by believing in Christ and no other way. Anyone teaching you any other gospel is condemned by God so do not follow it. So be very active in discerning. Pray that God keep and protect your heart safe from this. Of-course you can’t tell if a teaching is good or bad if you can’t compare it to another preset teaching. So first step is understanding Christianity from the basics then you will have a framework to examine all other teachings.
Remember you are saved by what Christ did for you, He kept all the laws you couldn’t so that he could give you that perfection in the face of God He had, He also was tortured and killed on a cross instead of you, so that you can escape hell. So in believing this you are made right with God. It has stopped being all about law keeping, it not longer is that sin you did today that will keep you from heaven but your faith in God. So if you were to die right now, you are entering heaven.. there are no if’s and but’s cause salvation isn’t about your actions now.
So what about the law? What about our actions? Now the law is still here to guide us but most importantly to show us what God likes and hates. So in this relationship you have with God you could put a smile on Him and show Him how much you love Him for saving you by doing the things He likes and avoiding the things He hates. So in essence, we do not lie because of the law, we do not lie because we love God. We try to learn and keep the law not to be saved but because we are!
“The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe. They will obey spirits that tell lies. And they will follow the teachings of demons. Those teachings come through people who tell lies and trick others. These evil people cannot see what is right and what is wrong. It is like their conscience has been destroyed with a hot iron. People tell silly stories that don’t agree with God’s truth. Don’t follow what these stories teach. But teach yourself to be devoted to God. Training your body helps you in some ways. But devotion to God helps you in every way. It brings you blessings in this life and in the life to come. You are young, but don’t let anyone treat you as if you are not important. Be an example to show the believers how they should live. Show them by what you say, by the way you live, by your love, by your faith, and by your pure life. Continue to read the Scriptures to the people, encourage them, and teach them. Be careful in your life and in your teaching. Continue to live and teach rightly. Then you will save yourself and those who listen to your teaching.” — 1 Timothy Chapter 4
The Bible says "Like the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.” (Jeremiah 18:6) Like the potter spins, wets and shapes the clay into the item he wants to shape, we are in God’s hand, God will shape us into looking like His Son Jesus. In the process of being, there is un-being. in the process of looking like Christ there is also not looking looking like Christ. The clay doesn’t instantly turn into the item it’s being made into at the instant it’s in the potter’s hand, and just like that We do not instantly act, feel and think like Christ the moment we are saved. So Christianity then become a journey of looking like Christ.
I want you to notice something here. When a potter is shaping the clay, he doesn’t throw out the clay half way through the journey because it doesn’t look like the pot he’s making it into. Nor does the potter go around expecting the clay to shape itself and form into the pot it’s being made into. Nor is the clay responsible for not looking like the pot. Even when the potter finishes making the pot and it still doesn’t look like what he wants it, he doesn’t throw the clay out, he simply wets it all and starts over on it. We are the clay, we only submit and God shapes us. He’s the designer of our life and the smoother of our edges. And so by believing we are put into God’s hand and by obedience we are shaped into Christ.
In ancient Jerusalem if a person broke the law or killed someone, they were to be killed. This culture of revenge prevailed. And so during God’s architecture of the cities of Israel, He guided the nation on how to form their cities. So among all the cities, God commanded them to build 6 very different cities called Cities of Refuge. The 6 cities were to be placed at half a day’s journey length from the nearest city. So If you were to travel from any one of the cities of Israel in less than half a day you’d encounter one of the 6 cities of refuge. In fact, the roads that lead to these cities was to be mad so comfortable to run on, clear and guided paths.
Now, God told them that if anyone was to break the law or if anyone killed someone and if they run into one of these 6 cities, they were to be set free of punishment as long as they reached that city before the people that wanted to kill them and as long as he stays in that city. So the killers that were to avenge the damages can not enter these cities and couldn’t kill the law breaker and murderer. The person then would go about living his life in that city as if he’s a brand new person.
In the old testament city of refuge was an actual place, but in the new testament Jesus is our city of refuge. Meaning, when we sin, Satan and the world now have access to come and try to kill us, and all the time they do. They drown us in guilt and depression, self hate and unholy anger. But if we run towards our refuge Jesus, we are set free. We are out of their reach.
In John 8, we can see the story of a women caught in bed with another man that’s not her husband. The Pharisees caught this woman and brought her onto Jesus, asking Him to stone her to death because she had broken the law. Little did they know that they dragged the person they wanted to kill to the city of refuge, out of reach from them. And ti’s exactly that what happens. No one could harm her, in-fact her sins were also forgiven. This is our God, our city of refuge.
When we stumble and sin, we are to run as fast as we can back to God before the killer gets to us. Because it is there with God that we receive the mercy for our sin, the healing for our brokenness and the protection from all harm. It is far better to Sin while God is in your life than to Sin without Him. Remember, if “that” sin leads you to God, Satan will stop using it!
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." — 1 Peter 4:8
“I have carried you since you left your mother’s womb. I carried you when you were born, 4and I will still be carrying you when you are old. Your hair will turn gray, and I will still carry you. I made you, and I will carry you to safety.” — Isaiah 46:3
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." — Proverbs 4:23
“For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory." — Deuteronomy 20:4
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9
“This message is from the Lord: “I know the plans I have for you. I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will let you find me.” — Jeremiah 29:11-14
“May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord smile down on you and show you his kindness. May the Lord answer your prayers and give you peace.” — Numbers 6:24-26