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THE
BLUEPRINT FOR SALVATION |
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Is Jesus still interested in us?
What does it mean to have a personal
relationship with Christ, and in what way
does
it impact our lives? And how does
someone go about making that kind of commitment?
Those are good questions, and typical of someone
who understands
the
significance of Jesus. Here is some information
to help answer these and other
questions you may have about Jesus.
Because of Jesus' resurrection, his followers do
not honor a dead Builder.
They
have a personal relationship with him. Jesus
Christ lives today and faithfully
enriches the lives of all those who trust and
obey him. Throughout the centuries
multitudes have acknowledged Christ. There is a
vacuum in the heart of every man
which only God can fill through his Son Jesus
Christ."
You can! Because of God's deep
love for you, he has already made all the
necessary
arrangements. Through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, you
can enjoy a
personal relationship. Jesus made it possible to
bridge the gap which
separates us
from God. The following four principles will
help you discover how to
know Jesus
personally and experience the abundant life he
promised.
God
LOVES you and created you to know Him personally
John
3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave
His one and only Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but
have eternal life."
John
17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may
know you, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
What
prevents us from knowing God personally?
Man is SINFUL
and SEPARATED from God, so we cannot know
Him
personally or experience His love
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God."
Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death"
[spiritual separation from God].
Romans 8:6-8 "The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the
Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to God's
law, nor
can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful
nature cannot please God."
A
great gap separates man from God. Man is
continually trying to reach God and
establish a personal relationship with Him
through human efforts, such as living a
good
life, philosophy, or religion. But he inevitably
fails.
The
third principle explains the only way to bridge
that gap.
Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's
sin. Through him
alone
we can know God personally and experience God's
love
Romans 5:8 "God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us."
1 Corinthians
15:3-6 "Christ died for our sins... he was
buried... he was raised on
the third day
according to the scriptures... he appeared to
Peter, then to the twelve.
After that
he appeared to more than five hundred..."
John 14:6
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and
the life. No one comes to
the
Father except through me.'"
God has
bridged the gap that separates us from Him by
sending His Son, Jesus
Christ, to
die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty
for our sins.
But
it is not enough just to know these truths.
We must
individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior;
then we can know God personally and
experience His
love
John 1:12 "As
many as received him, to them he gave the right
to become children
of God,
even to those who believe in his name."
Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace that you
have been saved, through faith. This
does not depend on anything you have achieved,
it is the free gift of God; and
because it
is not earned no one can boast about it."
Receiving Christ involves turning to God from
self (a spirit of repentance) and
trusting Christ to come into our lives to
forgive us of our sins and 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 our sins is not
enough. Nor is it enough to have an
emotional experience.
We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of
our will.
Jesus Christ is waiting for an invitation to
come in to your life. In fact, he says,
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if
anyone hears my voice and opens the
door,
I will come in" (Revelation 3:20).
Perhaps you can sense Christ
knocking at the door of your heart.
You can
invite him in by faith right now. God knows your
heart so it doesn't matter
exactly what
words you use. Here's a suggested prayer.
Jesus, I want to know you!
You died on the cross for me, a sinner.
Forgive
me
for the things that I've done, I'm sorry!
I open the door of my heart and
ask you to come into my life. Be my Lord and
my Savior! I choose to serve
you and live my life as a reflection of you.
Thanks for forgiving my sins and
giving me eternal life. Mould me and shape me
into the person you want me
to
be. AMEN
If this
prayer expresses the desire of your heart, pray
it right now and Jesus Christ
will come
into your life just as he has promised. Once you
invite Christ into your
life, he
promises to never leave you.
Hebrews 13:5 "God has said, 'Never will I leave
you; never will I forsake you.'"
To
know God personally is the greatest decision you
will ever make. If you've just
asked Jesus Christ into your life, tell us about
it. We would love to hear from you.
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