I spend a lot of time talking to people who have an interest in becoming a Christian. Over the years, I have realized that there are about three basic questions they want answered.

1. What do I have to know? The apostle Paul explains it in I Corinthians 15.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

If you want to follow Jesus and be saved, that is what you have to know.

2. What do I have to do? Paul explains it in  Romans 6.

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If you want to become a Christian, you participate in the most important thing you have learned. You die with Jesus, you are buried with him, and you are raised to new life. It is called baptism, but it is when you are crucified with Christ.

3. Then what? Again in the words of Paul in I Corinthians 10.

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Jesus died. He was buried. He was raised. Us too.
After you become a Christian, you meet with other Christians to participate together in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We exist together in a community of believers, reminding ourselves of our shared decision and commitment.

I would be honored to talk with you more about these three important questions. Write me at steve@hopeforlife.org or join the blog discussion at www.hopeforlife.org.

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About the Author

Steve Ridgell is the author of Can I Tell You a Story and leads a seminar by the same name on behalf of Hope For Life, a Herald of Truth ministry. He is also the Director of Ministry for Hope for Life (Visit the Author's Website)

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