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That's a bold statement! But I declare
it to you today with my whole heart! I believe it. I
absolutely KNOW it to be true. And I am going to tell you
why. But before we get to the how of obtaining
this dynamic relationship, we should take a look at the
who. Just who is this God you can come to
know? Genesis
1:1 (NLT) In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.
Psalms 89:11 (NLT) The heavens are
Yours, and the earth is Yours; everything in the world is
Yours—You created it all.
God is our creator. He made the
entire galaxy and this little blue planet we live on. It all
belongs to Him. He has always existed, even before there was
anything, and then at some point in the distant past He
decided to create the universe and the earth. He put plants
and animals on it and then He made the first two humans so
He could have relationship with them. Everything he made was
for the enjoyment and use of the humans. As you read the
first three chapters of Genesis you see how He put them in a
perfect environment, gave them everything they needed, and
would come and visit them in person.
Now I know a lot of people have
problems with what I have written so far. Their education
has twisted their thinking. Their minds can't grasp any of
it. They don't believe it is scientifically valid so they
reject it as a myth and move on with their life. The reason
they don't get it is because they don't have the
dynamic relationship with the God who made
everything! When you have the personal connection, the
truth becomes obvious, the scientific theories
are revealed to be just what they truly are: theories, not
facts. The truth is, there's no way to prove or disprove any
of their concepts of creation! You can't prove the
Christian view of creation either. But this I do
know, when you come into relationship with Him, you will
find out that what He wrote in the Bible is true. A connection with the
creator beats a belief in a theory every single time it is
made! It's the relationship that opens the mind to receive
and understand truth. If you want proof that God' exists,
just look around you. It is the creation that
proves His existence. Speaking of those who
suppress truth the Apostle Paul wrote:
Romans 1:19-22, 25 (NLT)
(19) They know the truth about God because He has made it
obvious to them. (20) For ever since the world was created,
people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God
made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His
eternal power and divine nature. So they have no
excuse for not knowing God. (21) Yes, they knew God,
but they wouldn't worship Him as God or even give Him
thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God
was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
(22) Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter
fools......(25) They traded the
truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the
things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is
worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
So God has made His existence
evident. There is no excuse for not knowing God! But most
humans would rather live apart from God and live their own
life doing their own thing. When people live this way, Paul
says the mind becomes dark and confused. They start thinking
they are so smart, so wise, and so educated, but they have
actually become fools. Why? Because in spite of all the evidence,
they claim there is no God.
So God is real and someday you will
meet Him. If you don't meet Him now, before you die, you
will meet Him in in the future in a heavenly
courtroom where He will judge your life.
Ecclesiastes 3:17 (NLT) ....."In due
season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all
their deeds."
Ecclesiastes 12:14 (NLT) God will
judge us for everything we do, including
every secret thing, whether good or bad.
Are you thinking that you'll do
pretty good standing before God as a judge? Are you thinking
you've lived a pretty good life so meeting Him in His court
won't be so bad? Well, let me ask you this, have you
ever sinned? You know, done something that was
wrong? Even just one time? Well check out this verse from
the Bible:
Romans 6:23 (NLT) For the wages of
sin is death.......
So the consequence of sin, even
one, the wage that you earn for doing it, is death! Now your
body is going to die, but your soul (mind, will and
emotions) and spirit are eternal.
At the resurrection of the dead you will get a new body. So
you are an eternal being. You will never cease to
exist. If you read what the Bible teaches about death, you'll find
out that true death is being forever separated from God.
There is a name for this place you
will go to be separated from God. It's called hell. Hell is
a place where God doesn't live or visit. You'll never see
Him again. After
you appear before God as judge, if you have ever sinned, you
will be sent there for all eternity. You
will have a conscious existence, but you will be very dead
spiritually.
Why would God send good people to
hell. He doesn't! According to the Bible, you are not
a good person, no matter how hard you have tried to be.
Romans 3:12 (NLT) All have turned
away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a
single one."
Romans 3:23 (NLT) For everyone has
sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.
Isaiah 59:2
It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of
your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.
Not only does sin cause you to fall
short of God's standard of life and morality, but it cuts
you off from Him, too. Because of sin you cannot have a
relationship with Him. There is a big gap between you and
God.
So is that it? Are we all doomed to
hell since we have all sinned? Well, the Bible is
true, the wages of sin is death, but read
Romans 6:23 again, but this time in it's entirety.
Romans 6:23 (NLT) For the wages of
sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
through Christ Jesus our Lord.
God's Son, Jesus Christ, has made it
possible to have eternal life. Jesus is the key to salvation
(avoiding spiritual death so you don't end up in hell).
You have to come to Him to
get "saved" from the punishment (wages) that is due to you. Eternal life is a free gift from God to you. You
can't earn it. You have to receive it. He doesn't want to
send you to hell. He wants to gift eternal life to you!
How does it work? You believe
in God's Son, Jesus.
John 3:36 (NLT) And anyone who
believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't
obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains
under God's angry judgment."
Faith opens the door to eternal
life. You accept (believe in, have faith in) the truth that
is recorded in God's Word, the Bible. They you obey the Son of God and come to Him as
your Savior from sin and you will experience eternal life
(salvation from sin). If you disobey the Son and don't
believe, you will never experience eternal
life. You will remain under God's judgment forever.
Invest your faith in Jesus. Don't try to earn
anything from God. Eternal life is not a reward for
something you do, but a gift
for believers.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)
God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't
take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (9)
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done,
so none of us can boast about it.
God saves by grace.
Grace is getting something you don't deserve because you
didn't earn it. Sure, you have to believe, so that involves
some effort on your part, but being saved from hell is
something Jesus earned for you. God allowed Him to be
punished brutally and die on a cross to pay the price for
your sins. As the blood ran down his tortured body and
dripped upon the ground your sin was dealt with in God's
sight once and for
all. You don't have to receive the wages due for your sin, which is
death. Instead you get the free gift of eternal life.
Just remember, you must believe it to receive it.
Not only do you get
life, you also get relationship with God!! No matter how far
away you are from Him now or have been in the past, you can come close to God because
Jesus shed his blood to pay for your sin. God can only be
approached by a believer. Why? Because the sin that separates you
from Him has been dealt with by Jesus and makes it possible
for you to come before a Holy God.
Ephesians 2:13 NLT But now you have
been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from
God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the
blood of Christ.
Everyone who believes gets united
not only with God but with His Son, Jesus. Even those who
were far away from Him have been brought near through His
shed blood. Remember this, it was His blood that made
everything possible for you spiritually.
This is the message that Jesus
preached when He walked the earth. Right now His physical
presence is in heaven with the Father and He is preparing an
awesome new life for us there, but we are able to have
fellowship and relationship with God now until
we get there. Here is what the Apostle John said about this:
1 John 1:5-10 NLT
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to
you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.
(6) So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God
but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not
practicing the truth. (7) But if we are living in the light,
as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each
other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin. (8) If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling
ourselves and not living in the truth. (9) But if we confess
our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (10)
If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar
and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.
So look at all the powerful truth
that is contained in these few verses! There is no darkness
in God. That's why we can't approach Him until our sin is
paid for by Jesus. Do you want to know how to test yourself
to see if you are a true believer or not? Look at verse 6
again. We are lying if we say we have fellowship
(relationship) with God but are living in spiritual
darkness. If your lifestyle is one of darkness, where you
are not walking in the light of God's truth, you are not
genuine in your faith. You may be religious and attend a
church service, but you are not walking in the light. You're
kidding yourself to think you are legitimate.
If you claim to be a good person and
not a sinner (verse 8) you are also not living
in the truth. You are also calling God a liar (because His
Word says you are a sinner). This is proof
that His word has no place in your heart. But, and
here is the key, if you confess your sins to God (agree with
Him that you are a sinner), He is faithful and just (fair
and impartial) to forgive you and cleanse you from all
wickedness. How much wickedness?? All of it.
So you can walk away from your faith encounter with God
a complete, whole, and clean person. And that process begins
your very own, personal, dynamic relationship with God.
Look at what Jesus prayed to the
Father in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest,
torture and execution:
John 17:3 NLT And
this is the way to have eternal life—to know You, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, the One You sent to earth.
So eternal life is not what
you do but who you know! Jesus said we
need to know the Father as the only true God and
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He also said that He was sent
to the earth by the Father. Why did He come? The short
answer is to (1) teach us the truth, (2) to be our example
of how to live, (3) to suffer and die to pay for our sin,
(4) and to be resurrected from the dead to prove
He is the true Son of God and to show us there will be a
resurrection for us, too! God doesn't leave anybody dead!
There will be a resurrection. Believers shall be with Him in
eternity. Unbelievers shall be forever separated from Him in
hell. Relationship with God and Jesus is the key that will
unlock the awesome reality of eternity for you!
Open up your heart to God today.
Come to Jesus and accept His shed blood as payment for your
sins. Get cleaned up by confessing your sins to God. Step
into the new dynamic relationship He wants to have with you
and enjoy eternal life, which begins for you the moment you
believe. |
