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Restoration Ministry

Marc Swearingen

Restoration 2009: Expect It

Love With a Risk

Running From Duty

The Pearl of Great Price

A Universal Cross

The Voice of Conscience

God’s First Promise

Iron Mixed With Clay

Christ Our Righteousness

By Faith or By Sight?

Questions and Answers with Marc Swearingen

A Knowledge of Evil

Our First Love


Okay, question number 1. Somebody asked, what are some practical things I could do as a new Christian to grow spiritually? So just asking how, what can be done when you're starting the Christian walk or rededicated life in your walk just to grow closer to Christ, grow spiritually? Well, I think that, you know, I think there's some very basic things that 1 can do to grow spiritually. I think the first thing that we can do is study the Bible.

Develop consistent daily Bible study habits to where we're studying God's word and learning and growing and learning to take what we learn in the word and incorporate it into our lives. I would also encourage people that are coming to the faith to develop consistent prayer habits because I believe that prayer is essential to Christian growth. And we need that quiet time every day to pray, to gain strength on our knees, and just to reflect upon our lives so that we can grow. I think another important thing too is to be consistently witnessing for your faith. Because you know, when you give to others, you grow yourself.

And so we need to share our faith as well as pray and study because it doesn't do any good to hoard things. And there's also 1 other thing too that quite often people don't think about when it comes to growing spiritually and that is lifestyle practices, health. I think it's good to have good health practices because health and spirituality are interrelated. And so if we can look at our lifestyle and make sure that we're on a good diet and we're eating or we're drinking plenty of water and exercising and doing these types of things, I think it will help us spiritually to grow because the physical and the spiritual are interrelated. So, you know, if we develop good Bible study habits and we learn consistent prayer habits and witnessing and also look at our lifestyle.

I think that's a good foundation to start growing spiritually. For our second question here, And this is probably some question many of us can relate to. When, if ever, is it appropriate to ask God for a sign? Okay. Well, you've heard my messages and you've heard that I've asked God that myself.

I think we need to be careful. I think there's some things that we need to understand. There are times in the Bible when the people of God would ask for a sign. Gideon comes to mind, right? Then of course, the children of Israel in the Exodus, they saw all the signs that God sent with the plagues on Egypt and they saw the manna and the Red Sea part and all that.

And so there were visible signs in that respect. I do believe though that what we need to remember is that when we ask God for a sign, we need to realize that as we consider doing that, we need to ask ourselves if duty has already been revealed to us, because I don't believe that God would give us a sign if he's revealed to us what he expects from us. I think that would be presumption. And remember, God has given us his word too. If we know our duty based on what he's revealed from inspiration, I don't believe God would give us a sign.

Okay, So if the path of duty has been clearly laid out and we know what God is asking us to do but yet we still seek after a sign, I think it's a good possibility that God would not do that. But there are times when God does give us little tokens that He's guiding us and we're on the right track. Now I will say that the Bible also talks about in the last days, you know, there's going to be signs and lying wonders. So that we need to be very careful that we're not learning to base our experience on this type of thing because as Satan gets more and more control of this earth, you know, we're going to see things of a supernatural character that are going to deceive a lot of people. And so I guess what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't base our religious experience on these types of things.

Alright? Even though there will be times when I think God will give us tokens. We should learn to walk by faith. Faith in God's word and seek God's word as the ultimate path of duty. Okay.

This 1 asks, I've heard of the unpardonable sin. How do I know that I haven't committed it? Okay, How do I know if I've committed the unpardonable sin or not? You know, I've actually had a few people ask me that this week. And they've said to me, well Mark, you know, I feel like I've gone beyond savable boundaries.

And then I can remember saying something like, well, why are you at these meetings then? And they say, well, I want to find God. And I tell them, look, you know, if you have gone beyond savable boundaries, you wouldn't even have a desire for spiritual things. Because if our hearts have been completely hardened, and we've gone beyond the point of no return, we would have no desire to even want to follow after God, in my study of the Bible as I understand it. And so just by the very fact that someone is seeking after God in some way shows me that the door is still open.

And that they can still find salvation. But we have to remember too that the unpardonable sin can happen subtly over time. And quite often, I use the illustration that Satan very rarely ever knocks us out with an uppercut. He'll jab us. And he'll wear us down with the jab over time subtly.

And so we have to be very, very aware that we don't make subtle compromises to whittle away our experience. But if we still have a desire for spiritual things, I believe, in my study of the Bible, I believe that there's still hope for us and we have not committed the unpardonable sin. This person asks, I find myself asking for forgiveness of a sin I've asked forgiveness for and stopped committing. How do I know I've been forgiven? Okay, so I guess this question says, I've asked forgiveness for a sin and I've stopped doing that sin, but then I find myself still asking for forgiveness for it.

You know, I've been through that experience where There have been times when I, in times past, when I might be practicing something and I'll surrender that, and yet later on, I'll still feel guilty and still ask God over and over, God, could you please forgive me for that? I think what we need to realize is That's where faith comes in. Because you know, there are going to be times when we don't feel forgiven. Even though we might have confessed and repented of something and stopped that activity in our lives. We've actually put that away.

But what we need to do is we need to not go on feelings. We need to trust that God has forgiven us. And just let that go in the hands of God. Because God promises that if we truly and sincerely repent and put away our sins, He promises to remove them as far as the east is to the west. And so we don't need to go, as the adage says, resurrecting things that have already been addressed and dealt with.

So if you're in this category, I would encourage you just to take it by faith. Don't go on feeling, don't let Satan cripple you with guilt. I think you need to entertain healthy conviction when God brings it, but don't let the guilt paralyze you to the point where you're recounting your past constantly and just rehearsing that guilt again. Trust that God has forgiven you. Take God at His word like the centurion And say, Lord, look, I have confessed that sin, I put that away, and I'm going to trust that your Bible promises that you will forgive me and cleanse me because I've confessed my sin as you've required.

So just trust in faith. And our last question that we have here, growing up in the church, how can I experience true conversion? Okay, well Probably a good number of us have grown up in the faith. Some of us also like myself have had marked conversions and have come into the faith that way. You know, I think personally, even though I have described to you this past week my conversion experience in many ways.

Thank you. You're going to leave me hanging up here? Okay. I think conversion happens in different ways with different people based on their experience. Some people have marked conversions where the proverbial lightning bolt strikes and, you know, they're just, they have this massive change and radical alteration of their life at a particular moment in time.

Whereas others, it almost appears as though they, I'll use the phrase, kind of grow into conversion. It's a subtle thing where there's really no marked signs, but it's almost like they settle into a conversion experience. And I think that's the case with a lot of people that have especially been raised in the church. Even though I have heard of accounts where people who have been raised in the church actually basically go to church because that's what they've always done, but then at some point it clicks and they have that conversion experience. So I guess the long and short is that conversion happens in different ways.

And just because you've been raised in the church does not mean that you might not necessarily be converted. It's just conversion happens in different ways. And keep in mind, whether we've had an emotional conversion experience or not, if we have made a commitment to surrender our lives to Christ and receive Him as personal Savior, and have grown tired of a sinful lifestyle, and have come to the point where we want to just give our sins to Jesus. Whether we've had this massive emotional experience or not, we can trust based on what God says in His Word that we are entering into a born again relationship with Christ. So whether you've been raised in the church or whether you've come into the church later on through a conversion experience, you just need to make sure that you've surrendered your life, you've received Jesus as your Savior, and that you're striving to walk with Him each and every day by surrendering your sins.

I believe then you have complied with the conditions of salvation and that you can experience the joy of salvation as you are surrendered to Christ. I hope that answered the question. I know that some of these things, you know, I think conversion is also something that is known by experience. You know, I'm reminded in Revelation, I believe it's either chapter 2 or 3, when it talks about how Jesus gives certain believers a stone, a new stone with a name written that's known only by that person that receives it. You know I believe conversion is something that can only be known by experience.

I mean you can try to describe it to some degree, but it really has to be experienced on an individual basis. But it happens in different ways. And so I would just encourage you as you look at your life, if you're wondering whether or not you're really converted or not, just examine your heart and ask yourself, have I really surrendered my life to Christ? And if you can say that, I believe that you can say that you're converted even though you may not have a marked conversion experience like myself or someone else who may have come in later on in life. Okay, does that make sense?

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Series

Restoration 2009: Expect It

Questions and Answers with Marc Swearingen

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Love With a Risk

Running From Duty

The Pearl of Great Price

A Universal Cross

The Voice of Conscience

God’s First Promise

Iron Mixed With Clay

Christ Our Righteousness

By Faith or By Sight?

Questions and Answers with Marc Swearingen

A Knowledge of Evil

Our First Love

Sound Doctrine