A Journey of Hope: New Believer's Guide to Discipleship

By Stan Simonik

When the Holy Spirit leads us to believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we embark on a journey of discipleship. Sharing from his own life's experience as a forgiven sinner, the author portrays the faith walk with Christ as an intentional, multifaceted endeavor.

*Worship

*Learning from God's Word

*Relationships (Fellowship)

*Prayer

*Giving

*Servanthood

*Outreach

Although this easy-to-read book is intended mainly for new believers, all Christians will benefit from it in their life of discipleship--a journey of hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887513638

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A Journey of Hope

New Believer's Guide to Discipleship

Stan Simonik

ISBN 979-8-88751-362-1 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88751-363-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Stan Simonik

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Other Bible versions used:

Scripture quotations from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Scripture quotation marked (CEV) is from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

Scripture quotation marked RSV is from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Spiritual Awakening

The First Steps

The Road Ahead

Intentional Discipleship—Worship

Intentional Discipleship—Learning from God's Word

Intentional Discipleship—Relationships (Fellowship)

Intentional Discipleship—Prayer

Intentional Discipleship—Giving

Intentional Discipleship—Servanthood

Intentional Discipleship—Outreach

Living the Journey

About the Author

Chapter 1

Spiritual Awakening

Is there life after death? Every generation has been asking this question. Is this life all there is, or is there something behind the curtain? Some answer, "Nah! Once you're dead, you're dead. The screen goes black, and that's it. Finito! You can only continue to live on in the memory of people whose lives you've touched."

Many others, however, believe there is a spiritual side of life that survives physical death, that our inner consciousness continues to exist apart from the expired body in a spiritual dimension, with two basic destinations—heaven or hell.

You don't have to be a religious person to acknowledge the reality of the afterlife. Testimonies have been shared by people who experienced physical death, had a peek behind the curtain, and were brought back to earthly life, sharing amazing accounts of something beyond death. Understandably, many have been met with skepticism—scorned, ridiculed, discounted as a fraud. Perhaps some have stretched the report of their experience a bit, maybe a few have even made it all up to attract attention, but I believe that most of the so-called out-of-body or near-death experiences are genuine. Why? Because I have experienced it myself.

Early morning of May 8, 1980, I woke up with a sharp, burning pain in the chest. The pulse was irregular, the color from my face seemed to have disappeared—unmistakable signs of heart trouble. A bit surprising for someone not even thirty-three years old. In the middle of the afternoon that day, in the ICU, I flatlined. My consciousness left the body, trying to get out of the door as the medical personnel rushed in—their ankles and feet going right through me. I could not see any part of my body. It was as if only my eyes were moving forward. Then came a blurry darkness of which I don't remember much. After that, a vision of two very vivid scenes.

The first one was a dark, ugly city street with rundown buildings, boarded-up windows, and trash strewn all over—a repulsive scene, complete with bad odor. My consciousness was barely hovering above a gutter—a hideous, creepy place.

The second scene was a beautiful mountain meadow lined with an evergreen forest in the upper part. The meadow was covered with tall, soft grass swaying in a gentle breeze and dotted with an array of wildflowers in the richness of bright, almost glowing, colors. This time, my consciousness was at about the eye level, and I was filled with a wonderful feeling of warmth, peace, love, all at once—a total sense of wellbeing I have never experienced before.

Then, after being gone for about five minutes, a 380-volt shock brought me back to life. Opening my eyes, I was met with smiles of relief from doctors and nurses surrounding the hospital bed. I mumbled, I was just dreaming, but it didn't take me long to figure out that something significant had just occurred. It didn't take me long to grasp the reality of life beyond physical death. The experience was much too powerful to ignore. Later, some skeptics attributed the experience to hallucinations and/or lack of oxygen supply to the brain, but considering the context of my life at that time, I became convinced, beyond the shadow of doubt, that this was for real.

It is amazing how the thought process in us suddenly switches gears to connect the dots. I quickly realized that life in the spiritual dimension cannot happen without the existence of God. If life after death is for real, then God is for real, and he was giving me a clear choice!

I was not a religious man before this happened, though I was not totally ignorant of God. I just didn't think faith in him made any difference. Baptized as a child, I attended church with my mom—or, more accurately, was made to attend church. As a rebellious teenager, I drifted away from the church, from faith, and from God. For nearly twenty years, I lived the life of an unbeliever, with all the usual baggage. As you can imagine, that kind of life did not produce memorable highlights. Sure, I respected the difference between right and wrong, but sometimes, the distinction became rather fuzzy, and I made wrong choices. I felt the occasional guilt and shame and wanted to seek something better in life but lacked the motivation for a radical change.

The experience in the ICU