Do The Saved Need To Be Saved?: A Guide to Understanding Christianity

By Stephen J.S. Murray

Our God really wants to bless us with the best life he canpossibly

give us, but he can only do so if we allow Him too.

The enemy can’t steal what was rightfully meant for you

and he knows that, but if you do not open up your life to

God, so he can work with you, through your growth process

which prepares you t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640883048

Book preview

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Do the Saved Need to be Saved?

A guide to understanding christianity

Stephen J. S. Murray

Trilogy Christian Publishers

Tustin, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Does the Saved Need to be Saved? A Guide to Understanding Christianity

Copyright © 2019 Stephen J. S. Murray

Scripture quotations marked nlt are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked nkjv are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked kjv were taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Scripture quotations marked nasb are taken from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked esv are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked niv are taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version® NIV ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations market bsb are taken from The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible, copyright © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Trilogy Christian Publishing Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-64088-303-1

ISBN 978-1-64088-304-8 (e-book)

Contents

Foreword vii

Introduction ix

Chapter 1. Am I Saved? 1

Chapter 2. Am I Mature 7

Chapter 3. Am I Worshiping Idols? 15

Chapter 4. Am I A Servant? 19

Chapter 5. Am I Pleasing God? 25

Chapter 6. Am I an Example? 29

Chapter 7. Am I a Christian or a Church-goer? 33

Chapter 8. Am I Walking in God’s Will? 37

Chapter 9. Am I Religious? 41

Chapter 10. Am I Obedient? 49

Chapter 11. Am I Forgiving? 57

Chapter 12. Am I Waiting on God? 61

Chapter 13. Am I Humble? 66

Chapter 14. Am I Taking God’s Place? 71

Chapter 15. Am I Able to be Rebuked? 75

Chapter 16. Am I Worthy of Being Called

a Christian? 79

Chapter 17. Christianity is Not Mystical 85

Chapter 18. Purging Feelings and Emotions 95

Chapter 19. The Ultimate Members Club 97

Chapter 20. Training and Testing 105

Chapter 21. My Testimony 111

Chapter 22. The Christian Factory 117

Chapter 23. Understanding Authority 123

Chapter 24. Kingdom Perspective 127

Chapter 25. Christian Mentality 131

Chapter 26. The Power of Choice 135

Chapter 27. Faith 139

Chapter 28. Loyalty 143

Chapter 29. God Disappoints on Purpose 149

Chapter 30. Identifying Sin 155

Chapter 31. God Is Not Fair 159

Chapter 32. Confession and Testimony 163

Chapter 33. Submission 167

Chapter 34. Justification 169

Chapter 35. Prosperity in Problems 171

Chapter 36. Prayer 175

Chapter 37. Learn to Stand 179

Chapter 38. Holiness 183

Chapter 39. The Truth 185

Chapter 40. What is Humility? 191

Chapter 41. Success 193

Chapter 42. God’s Will 197

Chapter 43. Attitude 201

Chapter 44. Freedom 203

Chapter 45. Rebellion 207

Chapter 46. What is Love? 211

Conclusion 215

Foreword

This book is dedicated to my mom, Rosalind Flores Murray, a woman who didn’t really understand life but loved God and was obedient to the letter. She tried her best to meet the needs of my brother, sister, and me the best she knew how. She really didn’t know how to be loving but made up for it with her heart to give. She is not with us anymore, but she will be missed. She showed me that I was on the wrong path, a path to destruction that a lot of believers are still walking on today. It’s a path of self-destruction that God wants to change, but he can’t unless you let him into your life.

God is concerned about his people missing out on what he has for them. It’s taught that Satan steals our blessings, but I say to you: We lose our blessings because of our unwillingness to change. Maybe it’s because of a lack of knowledge or selfishness. Who knows?

This book is meant to get you to your place of blessing and supernatural existence by helping you understand what it means to be a Christian, by gaining what is called kingdom perspective. I believe God has called me to help restore the respect and prominence that the name Christian earned so very long ago by making sense of what we read in our Bibles. Consider yourself lucky, because I endured a lot of pain for God to reveal this information, which I now pass on to you. I know this book will be a blessing to you as you walk with God and grow into your destiny.

Introduction

This book was written for the purpose of transporting believers to their promised land. Its intention is not to win souls to Christ but rather to educate believers as to what Christianity is really about and hopefully encourage them to seek out the position to which God has called them in his kingdom. Persons who have read the manuscript of this book have stated that they felt guilty while they were reading. This is not the intention of this book. It was solely written for the purpose of helping believers identify areas and beliefs in their life that may not line up with the Word of God.

I often wondered what Christianity was all about and believed that the name was used loosely by too many people. The way they behaved did not justify the belief they claimed to follow. Something was not right. The Lord revealed to me what Christianity was all about, and I have written what I have learned; so, this information can be passed onto you. I know it will be as beneficial to your life as it is to mine. This book has a lot of hard facts to accept, but I pray God opens your heart to receive his message. I know it will be a blessing to you.

Chapter 1

Am I Saved?

I remember when I wasn’t sure if I was saved, but I had already accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior for many years. I tried to live right but still felt unsure and convicted of the things that I was still doing, feeling, thinking, and saying, things that didn’t line up with what I thought was a Christian’s way of life. I adopted the perception that life would be a walk in the park because I believed in God and went to church regularly. I believed that I should prosper in everything I did with regards to my family, money, and material possessions as well, because I was on God’s side and he was going to fight for me and bless me, right?!

Well, soon enough (took a few years) I realized that I was following the wrong pathway: trying to walk in the blessings of God that everyone taught about in church without submitting myself to God. When I tried exercising my faith, things were not working out. Soon I realized I had none to start with! Yes, the Bible does say, God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3 KJV), but without experiencing God himself, you won’t understand faith or know how to exercise it in the first place — which seems as though you had none to begin with. You see, I left my job believing God would provide for me, and I started to work for myself. Things were going well, but over time my marriage fell apart and my two business ventures crashed, literally.

My wife and I had always had disagreements on our priorities. She believed in bonding time while we worked to achieve our life goals, and I believed in achieving them first and then having all the time to bond. The disagreement frustrated both of us to the point of separation. There was no compromise. I rented a place in which to start cooking and selling food (without really consulting God or my wife), and it only lasted about three months. I lost almost all the money I had from my workplace when I left my job. I also used my vehicle as a car for hire, which I did part time while I had my job and continued to do after I left the job. Well, that got wrecked three months after I cleared off the loan on it, and I was broke. I went from being confident in the transitional decisions I made to almost breaking down. Money became a problem, and everything fell apart. My mom had to take care of my bills. For someone like me, who had too much pride to ask for help, this felt like the end. I could not have understood how or why, but thank God, it was his plan to begin with. I also thank God for his faithful servant, my mom, who led me to the right path, although I was unwilling at the start.

So, you don’t believe God would allow bad things to happen to people? Read the Old Testament. It’s full of stories where God allowed bad things to happen to his chosen people so they could see the places in their lives that weren’t in line with his way of thinking. It’s called reaping the consequences of your actions. For example, when Israel turned their back on the ways of God and committed adultery with other false gods, God allowed them to be taken into captivity by Babylon. He allowed them to be ill-treated by the worshipers of these same false gods, so they could see for themselves how good their God had been to them and want to return to Him.

You see, when you know about God in the first place, you have no choice but to turn to him when things get really sticky. Only then can you be convicted of the errors in your way of thinking, and thus change can take place. It is God’s way of humbling his children, as stated in Hebrews 12:6 NIV: The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. Keep in mind, the Bible includes men and women when it says sons. Only by accepting the fact that you are wrong can you receive God’s love and grace. This is done by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. John 1:12 NIV says, Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.

Now the scripture verse above says to become the children of God, which tells me that a change has to take place, right? So, what now? Humans usually only change when there are challenges set before them, and God knows exactly what kind of situations are needed to get us