WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOD?
Gospel mean “good news,” and the good news is that God wants to be personally involved in your life. God loves us and wants us to have a personal relationship with Him. Being all-knowing, all-powerful and loving God has the knowledge, the power, and the willingness to radically change your life for the better. Now that is good news.
God loves us even when we haven’t loved Him. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4.10)
God wants us to know Him. The Bible says God is at work in everyone’s life.“that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” (Acts 17.27)
SO, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Our relationship with God has been broken by sin.
We have all made choices that show we are inclined to be:
Passively indifferent to God. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa. 53.6)
Or actively opposed to God. “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because) their works were evil .For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light ,lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3.19-20)
The result of our spiritual choices to ignore or resist God results in spiritual death (separation from God). “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2.1) and “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5.12)
WHAT DID GOD DO FOR US?
God has provided a solution for our broken relationship with him.
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- Jesus Christ came to do what we could not do for ourselves. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16)
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- He came into the world to bring us to His Father. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6)
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- He died in our place to pay the penalty for sin. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…” (1 Peter 3.18)
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- He rose from the dead to show that His claims were true. “3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sin in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” (1 Cor. 15.3-6)
WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?
We must each personally trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Our own efforts to earn God’s acceptance are inadequate. “5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…” (Titus 3.5)
We must admit our need for forgiveness. “23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom. 3.23) and “13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18.13)
We must receive Christ and His offer of salvation as a gift. “12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1.12) and “8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2.8-9)
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
Your personal relationship with God can begin today. You can begin your relationship with God agreeing with God that you have made choices that are offensive to God. God calls you to trust Jesus Christ (by faith) to be the Savior and Leader (Lord) of your life. God also calls you to commit yourself to growing to be more and more like Jesus. That means you must separate yourself from ungodly thinking and living. You may find it helpful to express your heart faith in words similar to these:
Dear God, I know that my sin has separated me from you. Thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place as my payment for my sin debt to you. I now trust Jesus to forgive my sins so that I can live in close connection with you God. I now commit my life to Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. Thank you for receiving me into your eternal family. Amen. [The words are not a special formula. It is the condition of your heart that matters. These or other words could be used. Your own heartfelt words are best. God will hear a sincere heart calling out to Him.]
WHAT NEXT?
Your trust in Jesus Christ begins an everlasting personal relationship with God. It is very important that you tell a Christian about your new commitment. You need to be involved in a Bible-teaching church and have a Christian friend to help you find answers to your questions. If you have read this page and have questions, please contact Pastor Marc (pr.mday at yahoo.com), we would like to help.
