Our greatest desire is for people
to come to know God personally. The simple truth is that there is a God
who created you and loves you very much. (Genesis 1:1)
In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth.
He gave us life and deserves our
gratitude and love.
We, however, have
chosen to disobey Him and sin against Him; all of us have done wrong and
failed to do what is right. (Romans
3:23)
for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We may not be more sinful than our neighbor, or we may be far worse
than anyone we know, it does not matter. Either way, we are guilty
before God. (1 John
1:8) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the
truth is not in us.
God is perfect, completely good, always right and fair. He cannot
tolerate sin. He cannot simply overlook the fact that we have chosen to
disobey Him. The Bible says "the wages of sin is death."
(Romans
6:23) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This means that the fair payment
for our rebellion against God is death. It is the punishment that we
deserve.
Jesus, the one and only Son of God, came to earth and lived a perfect
sinless life. He was crucified even though He was completely innocent.
He received the punishment that we deserved. He was the perfect
sacrifice. He was put into our place and took on Himself the sentence
of death that should have been ours.
(Romans
5:8) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus did not, however, remain
dead. After three days, He rose from the grave and later ascended into
heaven. He will return for all those who are trusting in Him as their
Savior.
Jesus died for you. You can be
saved by asking Him for forgiveness from your sins. If you are willing
to repent of your sin, He is waiting to forgive you. It doesn't matter
what you have done in the past, if you cry out to Jesus for forgiveness,
He will not reject you. The word "repent" literally means "to turn away
from." You need to look at your life, admit that you are a sinner,
genuinely desire to turn your back on that sin, and ask Him to forgive
you. If you do this, He promises to forgive you.
True Christianity is not
about attending a particular church, or how your parents raised you, or
what country you were born in. Being a Christian means that you
have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that He is your
Savior. It's not good enough that your priest, pastor, mother, or aunt
knows Jesus; you must know Him for yourself. They cannot believe in Him
for you, you must believe for yourself. They cannot repent for you, you
must repent for yourself.
Jesus is everywhere all the time.
He can hear you now if you ask Him for forgiveness. Please turn your
life over to Him now. Time slips by so quickly, don't miss this
opportunity. If you want to pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior, you
can say a prayer something like this:
"Jesus, I know that I have sinned against you. I know the truth is
that I have sinned by my own choice, and I am the one responsible for
it. I know that I have earned punishment from You, and that the fair
punishment would be death. Jesus, I believe that You died in my place.
Forgive me for my sin. I cannot cover or take my sin away, I am
relying totally and only on You. You are the only one who can save me.
I reject my sin, I turn away from it, I repent. Come into my life,
take away my sin, and show me how to live my life in a way that is right
and pleasing to You."
If you have prayed this, YOU ARE
SAVED! You are now completely forgiven, a new creation, innocent in the
eyes of God. Welcome to the family of God!
It is important for you to start to
grow in your relationship with Jesus. Just like any relationship, you
need to spend time with someone if you want to know them well. The way
to know God is through the Bible.
***We
have a Bible study we would like to send you along
with a New Testament Bible to help get you started in the right
direction.***
It's also important
to find a church you can attend where they teach the Bible. This will
allow you to talk with a pastor who will help explain questions you
might have, and it will give you a chance to spend time with other
Christians who can encourage you.
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