I get many questions about my faith so I thought that it might be helpful to do an A-Z post about some of the most important concepts of Christianity.
A is for the Ascension. Jesus Christ rose to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God when his work was finished here on earth and because of Jesus, we have the opportunity to sit at God’s right hand as well for eternity in Heaven.
B is for Baptism, the public declaration of your faith. In baptism, you are trading your past for His path for you.
C is for Crucifixion. Crucifixion was one of the most painful and humiliating ways to die and Jesus Christ endured that painful death for hours to cover our sin, to make us pure and holy.
D is for Discipleship. Jesus had 12 men that he poured into; he taught them, he guided them, and he encouraged them to do that for others. The Great Commission, as detailed in Matthew 28:16-20, tells us to go and make disciples of every nation. That is what we are doing with discipleship; we are helping to fulfill the Great Commission. Also, this is something really neat to think about: whoever is discipling you, once had their own discipler who had been discipled by another person and if you keep going back, your great- great- times a bajillion great-grand-discipler was one of the original disciples who had been taught by Jesus himself.
E is for Eternal life which is what we will have with God in Heaven.
F is for Forgiveness. Forgiveness of every sin of every person EVER was washed away by Jesus’ sacrifice on that cross. Another component of forgiveness is grace; unmerited favor, when we are blessed with something that we did not earn; a gift. God’s grace is what saved us. Ephesians 2:8-9 “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
G is for the Gospel. The gospel is the simple explanation of an extremely important act. The bridge illustration explains the gospel. Because of sin, we were separated from God and no matter how may good deeds we did or how closely we followed the commandments, we would always fall short of His glory but because of His love, He gave His only Son to connect us with Him again as long as we believe.
H is for the Holy Trinity. The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit in one.
I is for Immanuel which means “God with us”.
J is for God’s only son, Jesus Christ, the one that died on a cross to make us pure in God’s sight.
K is for King of ings. A king rules over nations but the King of kings rules of both the kings and the nations that the kings were put in charge of. So the King of kings is Supreme Ruler aka God, obvi.
L is for Lucifer, the once angel who desired to be like God and not to serve Him. Lucifer’s pride caused God to cast him out of Heaven forever.
M is for Mercy. Mercy is a character trait of our wonderful God. Mercy is when one deserves to be punished but is not.
N is for New Testament, or New Covenant, the promises that God made to the world AFTER Jesus’ resurrection.
O is for Old Testament or Old Covenant, the promises that God had made to the world BEFORE Jesus’ resurrection.
P is for Prayer, the gift of being able to talk to God anytime and anywhere we want or need. Because all have sinned, we were separated from God and we could only talk to Him through the priests and prophets but after Jesus gave his life for us, we no longer need a middle man. We can go to God with anything and everything, whenever we need to.
Q is for Quiet times, a time to get in tune with God. This is usually time devoted in the Word in the morning to reflect on His Love.
R is for Resurrection, coming back from the dead. When Jesus was resurrected, everything changed. In the resurrection, God’s immense power is shown so clearly.
S is for Sin which is something that goes against God’s will and separates us from Him. As Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is also what was washed clean from us in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
T is for Ten Commandments which were given to us, not to guarantee salvation, but to guide us to Christ. By following these commandments, we are being led closer to our Creator, the God of the universe.
U is for Unconditional love. Unconditional love is what God has for us. Romans 5:8 says it best “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God knows all of our faults and our sins and He loves us anyway. He loves us even when we don’t love Him.
V is for the Virgin Mary who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Son of God. She was a virgin and was engaged to be married so when she ended up pregnant, there was a lot of bad talk surrounding her but her fiance stayed with her because of his faith in God and they were Jesus Christ’s earthly parents.
W is for welcoming, a character trait of Jesus’ that we should all be striving to have. Jesus accepted everyone, as should we.
X is for eXclusivity, a misconception that is commonly associated with Christianity. In reality, Christianity is the exact opposite, it is strictly inclusive. Anyone can become a Christian at anytime as long as they believe in the Father and they believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
Y is for Yahweh aka God which means “He is” or “He causes to be” which I think is pretty fitting for the Creator of the universe.
Z is for Zion, the city of God. Zion means “fortification” which is just a fancy word for strength. More commonly, Zion is used as the name of God’s spiritual kingdom.
Christianity can be confusing for those who are new to it or who just don’t have much knowledge of the religion, but it is simple once you understand the gospel and the basic concepts. Jesus died for me so I am going to live for him.
-Saundra,
a daughter of the King of kings.
A is for the Ascension. Jesus Christ rose to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God when his work was finished here on earth and because of Jesus, we have the opportunity to sit at God’s right hand as well for eternity in Heaven.
B is for Baptism, the public declaration of your faith. In baptism, you are trading your past for His path for you.
C is for Crucifixion. Crucifixion was one of the most painful and humiliating ways to die and Jesus Christ endured that painful death for hours to cover our sin, to make us pure and holy.
D is for Discipleship. Jesus had 12 men that he poured into; he taught them, he guided them, and he encouraged them to do that for others. The Great Commission, as detailed in Matthew 28:16-20, tells us to go and make disciples of every nation. That is what we are doing with discipleship; we are helping to fulfill the Great Commission. Also, this is something really neat to think about: whoever is discipling you, once had their own discipler who had been discipled by another person and if you keep going back, your great- great- times a bajillion great-grand-discipler was one of the original disciples who had been taught by Jesus himself.
E is for Eternal life which is what we will have with God in Heaven.
F is for Forgiveness. Forgiveness of every sin of every person EVER was washed away by Jesus’ sacrifice on that cross. Another component of forgiveness is grace; unmerited favor, when we are blessed with something that we did not earn; a gift. God’s grace is what saved us. Ephesians 2:8-9 “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
G is for the Gospel. The gospel is the simple explanation of an extremely important act. The bridge illustration explains the gospel. Because of sin, we were separated from God and no matter how may good deeds we did or how closely we followed the commandments, we would always fall short of His glory but because of His love, He gave His only Son to connect us with Him again as long as we believe.
H is for the Holy Trinity. The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit in one.
I is for Immanuel which means “God with us”.
J is for God’s only son, Jesus Christ, the one that died on a cross to make us pure in God’s sight.
K is for King of ings. A king rules over nations but the King of kings rules of both the kings and the nations that the kings were put in charge of. So the King of kings is Supreme Ruler aka God, obvi.
L is for Lucifer, the once angel who desired to be like God and not to serve Him. Lucifer’s pride caused God to cast him out of Heaven forever.
M is for Mercy. Mercy is a character trait of our wonderful God. Mercy is when one deserves to be punished but is not.
N is for New Testament, or New Covenant, the promises that God made to the world AFTER Jesus’ resurrection.
O is for Old Testament or Old Covenant, the promises that God had made to the world BEFORE Jesus’ resurrection.
P is for Prayer, the gift of being able to talk to God anytime and anywhere we want or need. Because all have sinned, we were separated from God and we could only talk to Him through the priests and prophets but after Jesus gave his life for us, we no longer need a middle man. We can go to God with anything and everything, whenever we need to.
Q is for Quiet times, a time to get in tune with God. This is usually time devoted in the Word in the morning to reflect on His Love.
R is for Resurrection, coming back from the dead. When Jesus was resurrected, everything changed. In the resurrection, God’s immense power is shown so clearly.
S is for Sin which is something that goes against God’s will and separates us from Him. As Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is also what was washed clean from us in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
T is for Ten Commandments which were given to us, not to guarantee salvation, but to guide us to Christ. By following these commandments, we are being led closer to our Creator, the God of the universe.
U is for Unconditional love. Unconditional love is what God has for us. Romans 5:8 says it best “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God knows all of our faults and our sins and He loves us anyway. He loves us even when we don’t love Him.
V is for the Virgin Mary who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Son of God. She was a virgin and was engaged to be married so when she ended up pregnant, there was a lot of bad talk surrounding her but her fiance stayed with her because of his faith in God and they were Jesus Christ’s earthly parents.
W is for welcoming, a character trait of Jesus’ that we should all be striving to have. Jesus accepted everyone, as should we.
X is for eXclusivity, a misconception that is commonly associated with Christianity. In reality, Christianity is the exact opposite, it is strictly inclusive. Anyone can become a Christian at anytime as long as they believe in the Father and they believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
Y is for Yahweh aka God which means “He is” or “He causes to be” which I think is pretty fitting for the Creator of the universe.
Z is for Zion, the city of God. Zion means “fortification” which is just a fancy word for strength. More commonly, Zion is used as the name of God’s spiritual kingdom.
Christianity can be confusing for those who are new to it or who just don’t have much knowledge of the religion, but it is simple once you understand the gospel and the basic concepts. Jesus died for me so I am going to live for him.
-Saundra,
a daughter of the King of kings.