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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) 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)
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)
 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) 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)
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 few different Bible studies
here that will help you get
going. 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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