How to become a Christian

First understand that God has provided a way for us to know Him, that is why he gave us His word known as the Holy Bible or the Holy Scriptures.  The entire Bible has a sole purpose and that is to reveal God's plan for us to first be reconciled to Him and second be molded into the person he desires us to be.

You may have heard the most popular verse in the Bible "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 3:16

This is the only way for you and me to have eternal life and be reconciled to God. 

But First:  Agree with God that you are a sinner

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Romans 3:23 This simply means that no one on this planet no matter how good they think they are, is going to be "good enough" for a perfect God to accept them into His heaven.  You may believe that "nobody is perfect", that  is true, and we are all sinners, we all do things we know are wrong, that is why we feel distanced from God, because God is holy and we are not!  Remember Adam and Eve in the garden?  That is where it all started, sin entered the world through Adam and has been passed down to us. 

Those who don’t have a personal relationship with God through His Son-Jesus Christ, are spiritually dead. Many people don’t realize there are three kinds of death—physical, eternal, and spiritual. Eternal death comes at the end of the age, when all those who have refused Jesus as Savior are cast away from God permanently.

Spiritual death occurred in the Garden of Eden. Disobedience severed Adam and Eve’s intimate connection to God and caused all of their descendants to be spiritually detached from Him.   "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"—(Romans 5:12) We’re born as “dead” people in need of new life.

Those who don’t have a personal relationship with God through His Son are also: living a life of sin. Our nature is to rebel against God. That’s called sin. Over and over, we choose what pleases us, not Him. Our efforts to free ourselves from the power of sin are in vain. "Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." (John 8:34) We are enslaved to sin, we need someone to rescue us.

Sin has a Penalty

"For the wages of sin is death."  Romans 6:23a

those who don’t have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ are: under divine wrath.  Because of our disobedience, we are under God’s judgment, awaiting punishment.  All efforts to earn His approval and escape our sentence are insufficient.  Sinful man has nothing acceptable to offer holy God.  Our only hope of escape is for someone else to take our penalty.

The GOOD NEWS!  

The Good news is referred to as the Gospel, and the reason it is good news is because Christ paid our penalty!  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for all our sins.  You may believe or have even been taught that you need to live a good life and do good deeds before God will love and accept you, but this is the farthest thing from the truth there is in all the world.  The Bible says Christ loved you enough to die for you while we were still rebelling against him!

Salvation is a free gift

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9

The word grace literally means (Undeserved favor), this means God is offering you something you could never provide for yourself-the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life!

This may be your one and only opportunity to make this decision.  People say things like "Another time, or I am not ready.", others believe "A loving God won't condemn me..." These are all false beliefs.  The Bible clearly says "Yet to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."  John 1:12  If you reject Christ know what the Bible says..."And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15

"because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, ^"Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.  For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:9-13

I'm not going to give you a script to pray, if God's spirit is tugging at you right now, cry out to him, ask him for forgiveness, ask him to be your savior, your Lord and you will be saved.

If you have made that decision, tell me about it, if you have questions come to class and or email me.  The very next step after making a decision for Christ is to become a follower of Christ, God made a way for this as well, it is called "the church".   "The Church" really is just people all over the world who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and have trusted him for salvation.  Locally-visit the church's website and meet Pastor Tim, call him, you will find that he will rejoice with your decision.

Read your Bible, if you don't have one let me know we can get you one.

Listen to Christian radio www.moodyradio.org you will find the teaching and music are really used by God to help you grow in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

My email is lostcoincafe@yahoo.com