Here’s something I drew up a few years ago. It actually came from some materials Randy Mayeux gave me years ago. It’s a simple explanation of how to talk to someone about becoming a Christian, based on Acts 2. Tell me what you think:
If someone were to come to you and ask how to become a Christian, what would you say? There are many ways to explain God’s plan of salvation. One of the easiest is to use the first sermon that Jesus’ followers preached after his ascension.
Let’s look at Acts, Chapter 2. The apostles were in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came upon them, just as Jesus had promised. When the crowd began to question what had happened, Peter stood up and preached the first Christian sermon (Acts 2:14ff). From examining that sermon, we can learn what we must do to be saved.
(1) We must accept certain facts about Jesus(2:14-35):
(a) He lived on earth and did wonders by the power of God.
(b) He was crucified.
(c) He died and was buried.
(d) He rose again.
(e) He went to sit at the right hand of God.
(2) We must recognize Jesus as Lord and Christ. (2:36)
(a) Lord—the owner of a slave; we must be fully obedient to everything that Jesus tells us.
(b) Christ—the anointed one; Jesus was the one chosen by God for our salvation. Salvation is through him and him alone.
(Other passages show that there should be a public confession of this belief)
(3) We must admit our need for salvation. (2:37)
(4) We must repent. (2:38)
Repent = completely change our lives to live under the rule of Christ
(5) We must be baptized (2:38)
(a) This baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. It is at this time that God washes away our sins.
(b) This baptism is to receive the Holy Spirit. We are baptized into Christ, and He will live in us.
(6) We must live in accordance with this change of life.(2:42-47)
(a) We dedicate ourselves to studying God’s word.
(b) We dedicate ourselves to prayer.
(c) We dedicate ourselves to fellowship.
(d) We dedicate ourselves to sharing food with our brothers (especially the Lord’s supper).
Well said Tim, If I had written it I would have changed ONE WORD.
“and He will live in us.” “And he will live through us” (Just as God lived through him).
OK you have us started, tell us how to continue.
Good job. I’ll use it.
Joe
When I read the Bible with non-Christians, I always try and read with them through one of the gospels. This is followed by reading through Acts. As a result, I have never needed to argumentively give someone X amount of points on why they should be baptized. Though I may need to explain what GOd is doing in baptism a little further (from say, Romand 6), they always seem to recognize that baptism (as well as repentance) is part of becoming a Christian.
Grace and peace,
Rex
I think it would be awesome to see much more of the DAILY life together that you see in Acts 2 and 3. Not programs/schedules of fellowship, but devotion to fellowship from the overflow of the Holy Spirit. I think our priorities get a little out of whack in our western culture, and we feel the need to SQUEEZE Christianity into our busy schedules of work and school and family rather than letting our priorities be governed by: SEEK FIRST the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and letting those other “areas” be an extension of who we are. Christianity at its birth was believers together every day. That environment REALLY helps a new believer and an old one. ;)
Thanks Joe. I hope it’s helpful. Let me know of any suggestions for improvements.
Rex,
I, too, like to start in the gospels. What I like about this study is it gives people a “one stop shop” for presenting the basic information. It can all be fleshed out from there.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
I’m becoming more convinced, Andy, of the need to present community as part of becoming a Christian. Salvation takes place in the body, not just on an individual basis.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Laymond, I appreciate the affirmation.
Figures I’ve got to be the only odd ball.
I’m not sure it is necessary to deliberately point out that the Holy Spirit of God forgot to explain (a) This baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. It is at this time that God washes away our sins.
Not the first part with that I agree.
But the second part “It is at this time that God washes away our sins.”
Why can’t we just trust the Holy Spirit and let the Spirit teach the receiver instead of feeling the need to “help God out?”
Clay,
I appreciate the clever use of “the Holy Spirit of God forgot to explain,” especially since I’ve been known to use such sarcasm, but I assure you that my intent is not to add something that was left out.
I’m comfortable with the wording in light of Acts 22:16. Or is there something I’m missing in your comment?
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Tim: Not being argumentative here, but I’ve pondered this a LOT over the years as a preacher and now as an ex-preacher. It has seemed odd to me that we present a “plan” or a step by step guide to salvation that is never presented in that way by Jesus or the apostles! I can’t find one incidence in the Bible where any step by step plan is presented. They taught Jesus crucified, resurrected, returning and the faith produced led people to respond. We seem to teach steps and hope they respond to a plan. When I’ve presented Jesus in that way, I’ve never had to walk people through steps hoping they end up in a baptistery. There were different responses based on different contexts. Jesus was asked what must one do to be saved and he said, “Believe.” That was it! And there was no record of any follow up because to believe was to be obedient. I’m not sure the “steps” always occurred in the systematic order we’ve come to teach. I think they left far more up to the Spirit than we’ve been willing to do.
Greg,
Thanks for the response. What I’ve found is that people often get to a “what do I do” moment. Being able to point them to one passage that shows how to respond is helpful.
I think you and Rex are right: this isn’t the place to start studying with someone. This is one way to answer the question, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
While I agree that becoming a Christian in the Bible is probably not as linear as we have made it out to be, I have no objections to answering the question “what must I do to be saved?” in somewhat of a linear (step by step) fashion provided that we are careful to win the individual to Jesus and not a set of doctrines. In our Restoation history, I fear that some who were taught “the gospel” were won more to a set of doctrines than to Jesus. That has had a profound effect on how we undertood the meaning of and practice of discipleship.
Grace and peace,
Rex
Tim:
Rex said in a sentence (“In our Restoation history, I fear that some who were taught “the gospel” were won more to a set of doctrines than to Jesus.”) what I was trying to say in my response.
I’ve not commented much lately, but I thoroughly enjoy your blog and I do stop by each day … comment or not. Thanks for your writings.
Greg,
I know what you mean. Hopefully my next post will clarify my thinking as well.
Thanks for reading. I follow yours via RSS (even if you don’t know how that’s done) :-)
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Thank you Tim. I have been looking for something like this.
Hello to all. It is not like reciting the same thing to everone we ecounter, to lead them to Christ. Most time the situation is different. With some, it is very different to get your message across. With others, it is very simple. Let look at the situation with Ethiopian. His was simple, because he was a devout man, [not saved] but looking for truth. As he found it, he accepted right away. with others, it takes time. So one has to know how to shift from the tact he using, in oder to generate more attention. So yes it is not one set way to win one for Christ. Philip preached Jesus from the old testament, culminating into the new testament. Some accept the word gladly and immediately, with others, patience and prayer. Jesus sent out His disciples two by two, and this is a great way of reaching out, instead of doing it single handedly. I’m saying that if one encounters someone to whom he would like to intorduce Jesus, that he/she should try to find another companion. but in the initial stage, we could start out that way. Hope that I have contributed in some small way. thank you all.
Charlie.
Charles, that’s precisely the point that came out in the comments and the following post. There is no cookie cutter presentation that works in every case. People need Jesus and a relationship with him. This presentation is merely one way of answering the question: “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Friend: Acts 2 is not the place to start. In this particular chapter, Peter’s
audience is Jewish, no gentiles. What does this matter you ask? Plenty, first of all I am a gentile and not a jew. Don’t forget the announcement of the kingdom by John the Baptist, who happened to be the last prophet to announce anything. What was his pronouncement? Repent, be baptized for the times of refreshing are at hand, generalized of course but you get the drift. Acts 2 was part of this announcement, also Peter quotes Joel. Why can’t we look at things intelligently? Prophets, apostles,
Kingdom, to Jews, from Jews, for Jews. No gentiles, remember if you
claim what Israel’s rights were, You have to take the curse with the blessings. Lets see, Temple destroyed, 200,000 slaves taken to Rome,
burning and sacking of your city and basically the destruction of the
Jewish society as we know it, that also included elimination of the Priesthood. Dispersion and land given back to the Arabs.
No, it’s not the place to start. That’s pointed out in the next post.
However, if you’ll allow me to match your bluntness, most of what you wrote is just plain wrong. Luke wasn’t a Jew. He wasn’t writing to Jews.
Note the references to “all flesh,” “those who are far off,” etc. Acts 2 makes it plain that this is NOT just for the Jews. Peter’s audience was Jewish. Luke’s wasn’t. That’s where you’re making your mistake.
Reading intelligently, we can see that the promises in this chapter are for all those that God should call, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Tim: You must agree that the book of Acts is a transitional book and that doctrine really shouldn’t be taken from this book. This book from beginning to end is the transition from the offering of the kingdom to the Jews and of course their ultimate fall with Peter being their leader in Jerusalem to Paul and the offering of salvation to the gentiles. The fact that Luke authors the book has no bearing on what he transcribed about the events that took place. Of course Luke was Greek and he was also a companion of Paul. C.I. Schofield NKJV attributes both books he wrote to around 60 A.D. I must ask you, do you see the difference between Jew and Gentile, in this transition? Do you see a difference between prophecy being Jewish and the (mystery) program being salvation coming to the Gentiles thru the ministry of Paul? A definite change takes place in the book of Acts and if you combine law and grace its a quagmire for those that fail to see the difference.
Romans 11:13 Col. 1:24-29 Acts 13:46 Chapter 15 the council at Jerusalem. I hope this differentiates my point from Acts 2 being the start of Christianity as we know it today.
What???
H.B., you seem to be making a common mistake: looking at the subject matter of a book rather than its purpose in writing. Luke didn’t just sit down and say, “Oh, here’s some interesting stuff. I’ll write it.” Who wrote it and who it was written to means TONS. The gospels describe things that happened during Jesus’ lifetime, but they were written to the church and for the church. The beginning of Acts describes the church in Jerusalem, but it’s as much our story as it is theirs. The church in Jerusalem did not fail; Christ did not establish a flawed church.
Admittedly, even Peter didn’t understand the universality of what happened in Acts 2, at least he didn’t understand until much later. But the truth of what he said remains: “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Those Christians in Jerusalem are part of my family; I have received the same promises that they did.
The mystery is that we Gentiles can share in the promises offered to the Jews. That’s a major message in the writings of Paul.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Since you don’t know my background I will briefly give it to you in this concise format. I am a graduate of Blluffton University 1972 Ohio (Mennonite)
I grew up Methodist and as an adult became Baptist. I have some background in Church of Christ in Christian Union and presently am in a dispensational non demoninational church. As you can see I have a broad experience and have studied intensely for many years. I have no agenda but to bring light to the truth we find in the bible, God’s word. I have a son and daughter and when they were very young I treated them in a particular way. As they grew, I changed in my approach as they became adults and increased their knowledge about life. It didn’t change my relationship with them as they are still my children. But what did change is my dealing with them as they grew.
I guess what brought me to discover that a change had taken place in my walk was trying to mesh what Paul said given to him from the risen Christ and Christ’s earthly ministry dealing only with Israel. There is a difference and when I discovered while a baptist dispensational truth, I could no longer stay in the baptist church. This truth firmly established to me that a change had occurred. I thoroughly enjoy shedding light on things that trouble people when trying to understand what God is doing in this age. I didn’t just stumble upon this approach to studying the bible. Many men from many different countries have written many things about this type of study. Of course the first being Martin Luther
500 years ago. Grace and grace alone………..Gary Gatzulis