BS9F - ENTERING A NEW WORLD
Once we enter God’s kingdom by surrendering to the King—Jesus --- a whole new world opens before us. It comes upon us in different ways. It can come as a wave of relief. Something has been hanging over you for years and now it’s gone! Mary Magdalene was just such a person:
Mark 16:9 / Luke 8:1-2
Jesus has dealt with that “thing” in your life -- it’s now part of your past.
For some there is a joy that springs up from inside --- a sense that you are accepted by God and all is well. I think this is what the tax collector Matthew must have felt after years of being despised by his people for working for the Romans.
Matthew 9:9-12
Jesus saw past the young man who had made a poor life choice, and had been an outcast ever since – not part of the Jews and not a Roman either.
Others begin to feel the companionship of Jesus after being alone in their sin and guilt for most or all of their lives.
Matthew 11:28-30
Some feel an initial encouragement mixed with hope. They have been heavily into smoking or overeating or foul language and suddenly these things don’t seem so good anymore. I think Zacchaeus the tax collector might have felt this way. He had long been into getting rich and having power over people. It had made him a social outcast – alone with his wealth and power. One day Jesus changed all that.
Luke 19:1-10
Prayer – which is talking with God --- begins to be a reality all throughout the day.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
At all kinds of odd times in the day you find you are asking Jesus about something or thanking him for something he showed you.
James 5:13
Other Christians begin to be the kind of people that you want to be around. You’re part of the family and they are all new brothers and sisters to you.
Acts 2:42-47
Sometimes a person entering God’s kingdom won’t feel anything. God hasn’t promised you all kinds of feelings but he has promised to accept you. He deals with us as individuals and not as a group.
Ephesians 1:4-6
Ephesians 1:6 in the King James Version of the Bible says it like this:
“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
Once you have given yourself over to Jesus, He’ll sneak up on you and begin to reveal to you that He’s real and not just a dream. You have indeed met Him and He’s accepted your decision to follow Him. For Jesus is alive and once you put yourself into His hands, you’ll begin to discover the truth of that. Real Christianity is a friendship with Jesus and not an argued case for His life, death and teachings. These things are important, but people are seldom argued into becoming followers of Jesus.
John 15:15
No, instead they fall in love with the risen Savior and that’s where the relationship starts and keeps on growing right into eternity.
Every relationship with Jesus is different and the fact that he loves each of us as individuals shows just how important we are to Him. That’s why entering a relationship with Jesus is like entering a whole new world. Everyday there will be something to discover about Him and in time you will not even be able to fathom life without Jesus.
Colossians 2:6-7
Next Study: BS9G-Will I Have to Be Part of the Church?