What To Do After You Have Accepted Jesus Christ

This is the fifth in a seven-part series.

So far, we have learned Who God is, Why We Need Salvation, Who Jesus Is, and Who We Are After Salvation. Now we learn what to do after you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. We will discuss many growth steps and signs of growth in Core Principle Number Six. But first, the basics.

Remember, the Bible says there is only one way to Heaven. Jesus Himself, tells us in John 14:6,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father, but by me.”

Nobody else can save you. Trust Jesus Today!

So, What Is Next? Here is a general guideline. As you grow and your faith deepens and actually grows into certitude, you will spend more and more time in each of these activities daily and weekly.

1.) Be Baptized

The story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:36-39 (KJV) tells us that all we need to be baptized is a.) water and b.) to believe. If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, one of your first steps is to be baptized. Any baptized believer may baptize another, and you can be baptized in just about any body of water large or small.

2.) Read and Study the Bible Daily

It can be very easy to make excuses in our busy world not to do this, but it is essential that you make the time. There are three levels of getting into the Word. One is listening to it. This will give you an overview of Scripture. The next one would be reading it. This will give you a better understanding of what is in it. And finally, the next one is studying God’s Word either by yourself or in groups. Find the time to do all three and your love for God’s Word will grow more than you can imagine.

3.) Fellowship with other believers

There are many ways to do this. The more traditional way would be to attend a Bible believing church on Sunday morning and to get involved with ministries, volunteering and fellowship within that church. After COVID and in much of the rest of the non-Western world House Churches have become common. This is where the Body of Christ meets in smaller groups in someone’s home or other location and study the Bible, break bread, build relationships, and can go much deeper than traditional Western Churches. It is the only church model mentioned in the Bible. Fellowshipping with other believers can also include prayer meetings, men’s and women’s groups, one-on-one discipleship and much more.

4.) Pray Daily

This will become how you communicate with God. Imagine trying to build a relationship with someone without talking to them. You can’t. Same goes for God. He wants to hear from us. Imagine having children and having them go days without talking to you. We need to make the time to talk to God every day and not make excuses. Pray with your spouse and children. Pray with your friends. Pray with the waitress at the restaurant. Pray with your Home Church group. Pray by yourself. Pray and then pray some more. Here are some guidelines on how Jesus taught us to pray:

A.) We are to exalt the Father.

B.) Thy Kingdom come refers to His second coming to set up His millennial reign.

C.) Ask for your daily necessities.

D.) Ask for forgiveness

E.) Forgive others

F.) Pray for protection from the devil and not to be overcome by temptation.

G.) Give the Lord Glory, Power, and Honor.

H.) Praise Him.

I.) Make your requests known to Him.

J.) End your prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

This is just a general guideline. Open your heart up to the Lord.

Things that may hinder prayer:

a.) Unbelief

b.) Unforgiveness

c.) Practice of sin

d.) Selfish motives.

You will learn as your prayer life grows that, as with everything in Scripture, Isaiah 59:2 will come to life for you. The more you “abide” in Jesus, the more readily He will answer your prayers and the less you do, the less He will.

5.) Serve Jesus

The Body of Christ is made up of many parts, and all of them are necessary for it to function properly. In other words, there are many ways to serve Jesus. The list of options is too exhaustive to discuss here. The best thing to do is try a few. See what God puts on your heart. You will be most effective where God wants you. You will be least effective where you want (unless it also matches with what God wants). Many times, something you have struggled with or gone through in your life is where God will put you to help others through the same thing. Remember, you will be serving a big God, so you will be able to big things for God, with His help. How Big will you go for God?

6.) Make Disciples

This sound like a difficult task, but it can be as simple as teaching a Sunday School class for kids, leading a small group, teaching a class on something you specialize in or are interested in that will help others grow, or having regular coffee meetings with a believer that is not as mature as you. You could even hand someone you know (or don’t know) a book such as Mark Cahill’s “One Heartbeat Away” (or other faith building book) that will help them grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.

7 & 8.) Tell Others About Jesus and Grow

The last two items in our seven-part series, Telling Others About Jesus and Growth are too involved to discuss briefly and we will discuss those at a later time.

​The “What’s Next” phase of your journey, those items listed here, will never end. As we noted, over time, you will find yourself (hopefully) spending more and more time on every item listed here. As you will find out, your relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior will take you on a journey beyond anything you could have ever imagined. How far you go will be up to you?