You are NOT here by accident. God loves YOU – yes, you!
He wants to have a PERSONAL relationship with you.
What does it take to begin a relationship with God?
There tends to be a false perception that in order to become worthy of God’s love in your life, you are required to perform certain acts of self-discipline. This includes such acts as devoting yourself to unselfish “religious” deeds, or becoming a “better” person so that God will accept you. In a nutshell the most people think you have to be “perfect” and need to try harder to do better.
While many people try to be perfect, it just makes them feel like a failure. God has made it very clear in the Bible exactly how we can come to know Him. In fact, the Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
In other words
Salvation is a Free Gift to You
Imagine you are driving a brand new car and you crash into another car and total both of them. Someone has to pay for the damage. You can’t just say “Sorry!” But, what if someone came along and said, “Don’t worry about it, I will pay for the damage, you don’t owe a thing.” You have two choices, accept his offer or dismiss it (i.e. believe that this cannot be true.)
Most people realise that there is a cost to salvation and that is why they try harder to do better. What they don’t realise is that someone paid for the cost of your salvation. That person is Jesus; God’s one and only son. The wages of sin is death and Jesus paid those wages on the cross. You either accept it, or dismiss it.
The Bible states that God loves the world and because of this He sent his only Son Jesus; that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
There are very few atheists in the world and atheism is a recent concept by modern society. We believe that most atheists are really agnostics. They believe that there probably is some sort of God but he is too busy to be worried about me. But God does love you and everyone else on the earth. He is interested in you, your family and your well being.
Jesus said "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly." He wants your life to be full and meaningful.
So how do I receive this salvation?
We were created to have a relationship with God. However, because of our ignorance and/or our own stubborn self-will, we choose to go our own independent way. Because of this, our fellowship with God becomes broken. Imagine a perfect parent, everything they ask their child to do is for the child’s benefit; not theirs. Every child is born with a “no” attitude and with a will that wants to do the opposite of what is best for them. If our perfect parent says, “Come home before 11pm,” there is something in us that wants to stay out till after 11pm, even if it is only 1 minute past 11pm.
This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin. To put it succinctly, sin is missing the mark. If you come home 1 minute late or 4 hours late, you missed the mark. We can never hit the mark right on just like a marksman can never hit the bull’s eye exactly in the middle every time. Whether we are close or far away, we miss it and don’t quit measure up.
The problem is that left to our own devices, we got ourselves pretty screwed up.
God never misses the mark and the fact that we do creates a barrier between us and God. It is like God drives his car perfectly and we somehow cut him off or even crash into his car. This separates us.
With Adam and Eve, God told them not to eat of the fruit of knowledge. After they did, they hid from God. This seems to be something built into our spirits. We have a conscience and when we do something wrong, then we want to hide from, ignore or deny the action.
God knew this from the beginning of time and that is why he made a way that we can be free. The answer Jesus.
Jesus Christ is God's provision for our sin.
Through him we can know and experience God's love and plan for our life.
He Died in Our Place. God demonstrated and still demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ died for our sins... He died and hung on a cross for us.... He was buried for us... and He was raised on the third day to defeat death and sin.
He Is the Only Way to God. Jesus himself said , "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." God sent Jesus to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. He took our place and became our connection to God.
We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.
How do we recieve Jesus Christ as our Saviour?
Through faith we recieve the grace of God. This is not good works of ourselves. It is a gift from God given to everyone.
When we recieve God's grace though faith we can be born again and experience this new abundant life that God has promised us. God is calling us towards him. Jesus said ""Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in him."
Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for your sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. You receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.
These two circles represent two kinds of lives:
Which circle best describes your life?
Which circle would you like to have represent your life?
You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer
Prayer is talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."
If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, then you can pray this prayer right now and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.