Every day pray that everyone you know will either become a Christian or influence others to become a Christian, and please share this online book with others - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEENmENsLrw&list=RDkIEEz9yaukA&index=13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhnAblF-f6s&list=RDkIEEz9yaukA&index=32
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30sY4Mhvhr8&list=RDkIEEz9yaukA&index=27
For Wednesday evening services, the Lord has lead me to do a Bible study for practical Bible verses in Luke. Please come back to these Bible lessons in order to review them and learn them. Whenever we have learned the meaning of Bible verses and think about them throughout each day, we will be in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Not only that, but when we are in a situation in our daily lives and are tempted to sin, we can think back to what we have learned from the Bible and say to ourselves, "The Bible says to not do what I am tempted to say, think, do, and/or desire right now, so I am going to refuse to give in to this temptation." This is what Romans 12:2 means, and it says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." This is also the pattern that Jesus used when the devil tempted Him to sin in Matthew 4:1-11.
Chapter 5
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE
Luke 5:27-32
27And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
Of all of those who became Jesus' close disciples, Levi (Matthew) gave up more than any of them when he decided to begin following (imitating and obeying) Jesus from that moment on. Matthew was a tax collector, and they had a reputation of over charging people and keeping the money they over charged for themselves. The tax collectors were paid very well, but the extra money they stole from others made them very wealthy. Matthew gave up this lifestyle (repented) and began to follow Jesus. However, being willing to follow (imitate and obey) Jesus doesn’t always mean being willing to become homeless and go town to town in order to preach and teach (See paragraph 16 of Chapter 5 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com beginning with this sentence, “In many churches today, discipleship is not encouraged.”).
29And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. (After Matthew received Jesus as his Savior, he had desires for other tax collectors to become Christians as well, so he invited them to a banquet dinner so they could meet Jesus, who forgave his sins, changed his life, and gave him a joy like never before. Bringing people together so they can hear how to become Christians is an excellent way to witness. (For other examples of how to lead others to become Christians, see chapters 26-33 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com) All Christians should have desires for people to become Christians.) 30But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. (Jesus spent time with those who weren't Christians so He could lead them to Himself.) 32I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (You may not believe Luke 5:32 has anything to do with discipleship and being willing to follow Jesus, but if you have read chapter 1 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com you will see that being willing to follow Jesus and being willing to repent basically mean the same thing. Jesus didn't come to earth to minister to those who were already righteous. So whenever He “had called the people unto him with his disciples also” (Mark 8:34), there definitely were plenty of lost people in the crowd. If these lost people were never willing to begin following Jesus “from that moment on and for the rest of their lives” (or repent – Luke 5:32), they didn’t receive salvation at that time. For an example of how to repent, see chapter 39 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com
For information on repentance and it's relationship to accepting Jesus as your Savior, see chapters 1, 5, and others of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com)
If you have prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, but you haven't been living a repentant lifestyle (For an example of what this looks like, see chapter 39 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com), please follow chapter 10 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com
If you have not prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, please follow chapter 41 of this book - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com
If you have prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, but you are not sure you are really a Christian (Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 21:18-22, 1 John 5:14, and Hebrews 11:1), please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven