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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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Man is SINFUL
and SEPARATED from God, so we cannot know Him
personally or experience His love.
Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death."
[Spiritual separation from God]
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of 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.
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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.
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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 said,
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if
anyone hears
my voice and opens the
door,
I will come in!" (Revelation 3:20)
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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, but 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,
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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