God
is alive in our lives. He isn't trapped in an old
book or out there in the galaxy somewhere playing
chess with us as the pawns. God isn't a good luck
charm that we rub in a time of trouble, he is our
Master and our way of life. That's why we made this
page! The
Bible says in Romans 3:23 that we are all
sinners and fall short of His glory . What does this
mean? Everyone, EVERYONE sins. No matter how much
good we do in our lives we all also do wrong. One
wrong is one too many for God. Because
God is just, he must punish all sin. How does He
punish sin? Romans 6:23 says that the wages of
sin is death. By sinning we earn death. Not
physical death, for we all must go through that, the
Bible is talking of spiritual death. The second half
of this verse is the good news!! God gives us the
gift of eternal life in Jesus!!!! So
if sin earns death, how can we earn life? How do we
stand clean before God when we have all sinned? Good
question! First,
someone has to pay our debt. God explains in John
3:16-18a as Jesus himself says " For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish (die)
but have eternal life. For God did not send his son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through Him. Whoever believes in him is not
condemned..."(NIV) InActs
16:30 & 31 a jailer asked this same question
of the apostles, Paul and Silas, who were in his jail
at this time. They answered "believe in the Lord
Jesus and you will be saved-you and your
household.(NIV)" It just takes faith. Now
this is where I usually loose some people. They say
"How can you have faith in something that you
haven't seen with your own eyes?". Good point.
Have you ever seen gravity? Of course not, and yet, I
could not convince you to step off a 10 story
building because although you haven't seen gravity
you have faith in it's principals! The same applies
to my faith in God. Although I haven't seen Him face
to face, I have seen his principals worked out in my
life daily! So how do I know that I have been saved
from death? Here
is how the Bible puts it.............Romans5:1-2&6-11says...
"Therefore,since
we have been justified {made sinless(Mike's
emphasis)} through faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
gained access by faith into this grace in which we
now stand.... You see, at just the right time, when
we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man someone might possibly dare to
die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. Since we have now been justified by his blood,
how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
through him! for if, when we were God's enemies, we
were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be
saved through his life!Not only this so, but we also
rejoice in god through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have now recieved reconciliation."(NIV) Ok.
If you're sitting there scratching your head like I
was the first time I heard this, let me put it in
simple terms! God doesn't sin. We all
do. Sin will earn us death. Jesus, Gods son,
became a man (100% God & 100% man) and didn't
ever sin. This sinless man died to pay the price of OUR
sin. Good works arent enough to pay off our sin
debt. Only Jesus death can. All you need is faith in
that fact and you can be forgiven by God who then
forgets all of our sins and applies Jesus payment to
our debt. AND THE COOL PART IS THAT GOD LOVED US
ENOUGH TO PAY THE PRICE EVEN BEFORE WE KNEW WHO HE
WAS!!!!!! Now, I don't know about you, but I can
love a God like that! If
you realize that you need a god like my God...please
pray this prayer with me; God,
I realize that I have sinned. I understand that I
have earned death with that sin. I know that no good
works that I can ever do will repay that debt. I also
understand that Jesus paid my debt for me. I accept
that. Please forgive me for my sin because Jesus
already died for it. Come into my life and take over.
Thank you, God for loving me enough to send Jesus. In
His Name I pray,AMEN.
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