“Christian Unity Through God’s Starter Kit By Jesus” is an unique, Bible based book and is designed for individual Christian growth and stability and the growth and stability of Christianity. It is designed to fulfill Philippians 2:2, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” and First Corinthians 1:10, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” and Ephesians 4:11-16, “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

Acts 11:26, “And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” This word Christian simply means “follower of Christ.” The present day followers of Christ, Christians, are scattered and no two denominations of Christianity believe the same. Wikipedia says that there are reported to be 38,000 Christian denominations.

Try to imagine when the armed forces of any country go into battle what would happen if their naval, air and ground forces all went in to battle with a different plan totally separate from each other as Christians are doing today. One denomination will witness to someone to become a Christian and tell them one thing and then another denomination comes along and tells them another and then another denomination another, on and on and on. When people see no unity in Christianity they get discouraged and seek many varied and diverse answers to their spiritual needs, but God never intended for Christians to be divided.

Philippians 2:2, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” and First Corinthians 1:10, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

One of the reasons we have so many different Christian denominations are the unbelievable amount of versions of the Bible that are available today. I don’t see how we are to all speak the same thing, but as you will discover, I use the King James with Living Bible in parallel for clarification with selected scriptures, mainly Hebrews, to my readers. I recommend that people purchase a parallel Bible of their favorite version with the King James. I use the King James exclusively and it is the only version that I read, but I have been reading it for twenty-five years and am used to the King James. I have a friend from Venezuela that said he got confused when he read the King James so I bought him a King James in English with a parallel of Spanish and he said that was much better. Whatever works, but the King James is a literary masterpiece and if God could get a donkey to deliver a message in Numbers 22:21-35, He could certainly get King James and his 46 scholars to write His version of the Bible so that His children can be prepared for every good work.

Second Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

AN INVISIBLE, IMMORTAL SPIRIT IN A BODY OF FLESH

In Genesis 1:26 & 27, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;,,,,So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” What is the real image of God, the God that gave His only begotten Son so that we could be set free from our sins? John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” Colossians 1:15 says, that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and as long as we are in this realm He is an invisible God. Deuteronomy 33:27 and many other scriptures tell us that God is eternal or immortal, “The eternal God is thy refuge.” God is an invisible, immortal Spirit and since God created us in His image we are invisible, immortal spirits also. First Timothy 1:17, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” John 4:23-24, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

When we combine Genesis 1:26 & 27 with Genesis 2:7 it completes the picture. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Until that day man was a spirit creature. We were created invisible, immortal spirits in the image of God, who is also an invisible, immortal Spirit, and then placed into a body of flesh so we could become a living human being with a body and a unique personality that sets us apart from each other not only physically, but spiritually. First Corinthians 15:44 says, “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

ONE IN CHRIST JESUS

Before we can come together in the unity of the faith we must realize that we are all one in Christ Jesus, Galatians 3:26-28, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” When we were born again each and everyone of us were delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God’s Son as Colossians 1:13 tells us and received “A Starter Kit” of truth, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, justification, glorification, holiness, remission, redemption, mercy, grace and peace with God, so we can take that “Starter Kit” and become wise, righteous, sanctified, just, trustworthy, holy, washed in His Word, redeemed, merciful, compassionate peacemakers. Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Regardless of what sex or race you are or where you live, if you are baptized into Jesus Christ and are a child of the most high God, the creator of the universe, everything in the Bible, all the promises of God, are yours too.

GOD'S PLAN AND PURPOSE

Jeremiah 1:4-5 says, “Then the word of the LORD came unto me [Jeremiah], saying, Before I [God] formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” If God knew Jeremiah from the womb He knows each and everyone of us. God has a plan and a purpose for every person that has ever been born anywhere on the earth as Romans 8:28 and others tell us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” And those plans are for good and not evil, Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” And we can expect to fulfill God’s plan for our lives in the end. Psalm 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us,”

We need inspiration, but our inspiration must come from fully understanding God's Word, because the correct information can be a tremendous inspiration. God’s Starter Kit by Jesus is designed to take a child of God step by step through the process of understanding God's plan of salvation in its true sense that sets us free from the power of sin to serve our Jesus to the fullest. Born Again, overcome and salvation are three different words with different definitions and we must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven to understand how to overcome and get the victory and learn how to defend ourselves against the wiles of the devil as spoken of in Ephesians 6:10-13 and obtain salvation.

Too many Christians are not reaching their full potential because of the power of the past and the fear of the future, which are inspired by the “fiery darts of the wicked” and they don’t even know that sometimes their thoughts are “fiery darts of the wicked.” First Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” The book explains that a “fiery dart” is a thought that is put into our mind by the wicked that we must bring into the obedience of the Word of God to overcome our fears and doubts. God has provided our deliverance from the fear of the past and given us a certain future in His Kingdom through the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as found in Matthew 16:18 and Acts 2:38. The book explains how we take God’s Starter Kit by Jesus and put on the Armor of God as found in Ephesians 6:10-18 and then we will be able to take the Shield of Faith and quench the “fiery darts of the wicked” and take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and develop a prayer life based on the Word of God and change this world.

Our ultimate goal as Christians is to help others by putting on the Helmet of Salvation in any area of our lives by knowing the truth of God’s Word pertaining to whatever we are seeking God for through His Word. We need to know that we are the righteousness of God and have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. We can then take the Shield of Faith and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and put on the Helmet of Salvation in whatever area of our life we need salvation in; such as being born again, righteousness, peace with God, faith, forgiveness through the cleansing Blood of Jesus and realizing that all scripture was written by the inspiration of God and we can take that Word and defeat the enemy just like Jesus did over and over again in the areas of  healing, finances, our marriages, being or not being married, the fiery darts of the wicked and how to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit versus a fiery dart or whatever so that we can complete God’s plan and purpose for our lives that God created in us before we came into this World and that they are plans for good and not evil and our battle with satan and his demons has already been won on the Cross and that we have authority over him and can win every battle.

ABOUT ME

My qualifications are based on being a born again child of God that must be inspired by the Holy Spirit to be able to write this message. Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” Any born again child of God through the Holy Spirit and the Bible can be with Jesus. Acts 1:2, talking about Jesus, “Until the day He was taken up, after that, He through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen.”

God has taught me a lot in the last 23 years through books and tapes, preaching and its amazing what you learn when you look up a word in a Bible concordance and learn the definition from the Greek dictionary and then you know the definition and see how God teaches it in the Bible and it really isn’t that difficult. God never had me go to Bible College or become closely affiliated with any one denomination or church for a reason, because He wanted to teach me what He wanted me to know out of the Bible and not a doctrine of some church. Most church doctrine is birthed when a church divides itself from another church and this book is all about bringing the churches together so that we can all become Christians by being followers of the Word of God as found in Revelation 19:13 and Christ as found in Acts 11:26 where the term Christians was first used. It explains that Jesus, the Christ, the Word of God; the Son of God is our Lord.

I have been told that book publishers usually get an established writer to write a book like this book, but most established writers know what they believe and if you have already heard them speak or read their books you know what the book says before you read it and the reason we buy the book is generally to confirm what we already believe. God had to use me to write this book because God needed my testimony and I didn’t know an apostle from an epistle when I came to Him on October 18, 1983 and became His child. It was difficult not being part of a church or denomination, but you will find as you read this book that it is different from any other book that you have ever read on spiritual growth. I have made a lot of Christian friends along the way and love to attend “lively” churches with good praise and worship and a positive message and God has blessed me by allowing me to attend Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas since July 17, 2005 and serving in the capacity of a Stephen Minister since June of 2006. The ministry of Joel and Victoria Osteen and the encouragement of the music of Israel Houghton, Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, Steve Crawford and his sister DaAndra Greathouse helped me understand how much God does love me and that He does have a plan and a purpose for my life. It is written from the perspective of a layman that wasn’t getting much help from what he was hearing from the pulpit until I arrived at Lakewood and I had no other choice but to turn to God and put my trust in Him for the salvation of my soul.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to My Heavenly Father, His Son-Jesus, and the Spirit of God-The Holy Spirit. I have learned as I have spent the last 20 plus years writing that He never gives up although I have wanted to give up many times, but I always was drawn back to what He wanted me to do. This publication would have been impossible without God. Luke 18:27, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Thank you Father.

This book is also dedicated to the countless number of people that have gone to a church to be set free from the power of the devil and the power of their past and the fear of their future and haven’t understood or been taught correctly God’s plan, His Starter Kit By Jesus, thus rendering them ineffective in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is our dream that they can now be set free from the power of the past and the fear of the future and fulfill Romans 8:37, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” The Living Bible version, “Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us.”

CAUTION

This message is separated into chapters and is designed to be read chapter to chapter. It is not designed to teach a certain subject before you have read what was written to lead up to that subject, because if you haven't been taught the preceding pages you might not understand what the Lord is trying to say.

Someone told me that they didn't bother to read the scriptures, only the testimony. If you are going to do that, please give this to somebody else who is interested in the truth as seen through the Word of God. Whenever a comment is bracketed with [ ] that is my comment. Whenever a comment is bracketed with ( ) that is a comment that is part of the verse or scripture being quoted. The Bible verses are not generally in Italics for a reason, as they are just simply to be read as part of the message and it wouldn't make sense without God's Word. It is also designed to reach conclusions based on the Word of God and the Word of God only and it is not an accident that some of the scriptures are repeated several times, because we need to hear the Word over and over to get it into our spirit and sometimes the same scripture will apply to more than one subject. This was written to help Christian’s be prepared to be used of the Master as quickly as possible and hopefully keep people from having to go through what I did. My testimony is to be used as a reference point and it will be linked to the Word of God throughout this message which is designed so that you also can teach others the truth of the Word of God.