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Jesus Christ is either a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord. Jesus claimed to be God. If Jesus is a lunatic, He was insane and was not God's Son. If Jesus is a liar, He has deceived millions of people for no gain of His own. He was crucified on a cross! If Jesus is Lord, He is God's Messiah and Savior for this world. Since we have faith in Him, we have eternal life. However, everyone confronted with the gospel must make a decision. On earth, we will have a choice, but there will come a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
1) What you have: Sin. Just as every person you know breathes air, eats food and needs to sleep, every person has sin in his or her life. Sin is not a white, brown or black thing. It is not a male or female thing. It's a human thing.
Romans 3:23 "Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious ideal."
1 John 1:10 "If we claim we have not sinned, we are lying and calling God a liar, for He says we have sinned."
2) What you have coming: Eternal Death and Separation from God in Hell. Because of your sin and because of God's perfection (His holiness), it was impossible for you to have a relationship with God.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
3) What you need: Payment for your Sin. Sin is expensive. God requires that sin must be paid for. Not with money, of course, but with death. When you sinned, you were sentenced to receive the death penalty! But wait! What if someone who had no sin of his own died in your place? Only one person is capable of doing that. His name is Jesus Christ. He had no sin of His own, but He went to the cross to die for your sins. He paid the price, so that you could live! He rose from the dead and this gives you the chance to have eternal life!
Romans 5:8 "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us."
Romans 5:21 "Before, sin ruled over all men and brought them to death, but now God's kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 10:9, 10 "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Ephesians 2:8, 9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
4) What you need to do: Repent of your Sins. To repent means to change direction or to turn around. It means a willingness to turn away from sin and to begin living under the influence of God rather than under the influence of Satan. True repentance involves a 180 degree turn from sinning and participating in activities that glorify God.
Acts 3:19 "Now change your mind and attitude to God and turn to Him so He can cleanse away your sins and send you wonderful times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord."
2 Corinthians 7:10 "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
5) What you are: Completely Forgiven. In order for you to receive God's complete forgiveness, you must confess or agree that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness. Once God forgives you, your sins are gone. Forever! He will never bring up the subject of your past sins again.
1 John 1:9 "But if we confess our sins to Him, He can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."
Psalm 103:12 "He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west."
6) What you will become: More like Jesus. The word Christian means "follower of Christ" and the whole purpose of giving your life to Jesus is to become more like Him and to honor Him by living according to His example and His teachings. If this sounds hard, remember that you don't have to do this on your own. God gives you the power of His Holy Spirit to encourage you and to work in you to live a successful Christian life.
Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in His grace until His task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns."
7) What you now have: A Relationship with God. When you became a Christian, you entered into a relationship. Christianity is a relationship with God, not a religion. There are many religions, but there is only one way to have a relationship with God and that is through Jesus Christ.
John 10:10 "My purpose is to give life in all its fullness."
John 15:14-15 "And you are my friends if you obey me. I no longer call you slaves, for a master doesn't confide in his slaves; now you are my friends, proven by the fact that I have told you everything the Father told me."
8) What your relationship with God is based on: The Unconditional Love of God. God loves you because you are His beloved child. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son for you. He doesn't love you because you are talented, good looking, nice, popular or have important friends. He won't stop loving you if you become discouraged, angry or disobedient. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more or any less than He does right now.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
1 John 4:10 "In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God, but His love for us when He sent His Son to satisfy God's anger against our sins."
9) What you do in return: Love God. Above all the good things you could ever do as a Christian, loving God is at the top of the list. How do you love God? Here are just a few ways: by obeying Him, by being with His people (Christians), by spending time with Him in prayer, by reading the Bible, loving other people and glorifying God with your words and actions.
Matthew 22:37-38 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
1 John 5:3 "Loving God means doing what He tells us to do, and really, that isn't hard at all."
10) What will keep you going: Faith. Remember, God did not give you eternal life because you said the right words, went to the right meeting, gave the right amount of money or did the right thing. He forgave you because you put your faith in Jesus Christ. With this same faith you must walk with Him every day of your life. When things are going well, have faith. When things are going badly, have faith. Keep trusting Him and believing Him by faith!
2 Corinthians 5:7 "We know these things are true by believing, not by seeing."
Maybe you are saying "I don't know what to say, I don't know the words." All you need to do is pray a simple prayer to God and tell Him that you believe, trust and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You also need to confess your sins and repent from them.
Here is an example of a prayer one would pray when they believe, trust and accept Jesus Christ and want forgiveness and eternal life.
"Dear God, I am a sinner. I know that the price of my sin is death and eternal separation from your presence. I don't want to be doomed forever. I want that gift your Word speaks of. I want eternal life. I know that nobody is worthy and nothing I could ever do could earn me a place in Heaven, so I ask you now that you forgive me of my sins. Reveal my sins to me and help me repent from them.
I accept and trust your son, Jesus Christ, as my personal Lord and Savior. I believe in my heart that only through Him can I be saved. I believe Jesus died on the cross, for my sins, and rose from the dead.
Thank you God for hearing my prayer and answering it. In Jesus name I ask all these things, with faith and thankfulness. Amen."
If you have decided to trust, believe and accept Jesus Christ and you just prayed that prayer (or one like it) and truly meant it, then you are saved! Please email me!
Your salvation rests in the promises of God. It would be a great idea to get a Bible and find a solid church, so you can grow spiritually. You should also get baptized, now, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
John 10:28-30 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
John 8:11 "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Romans 8:1-6 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."
- If you just decided to believe, trust and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, please email me. I'd love to congratulate and encourage you! God bless you!
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