The Gospel
Do you want to know Christ?
Too many people think church is just a “thing” people do. No one is ever “just curious” about who God or Jesus is; “Hey, I’ve tried everything so why not Jesus?” Scripture clearly tells us we are spiritually dead until God buys us back—redeems us—from death and Satan’s kingdom (the current owner of those who do not know Christ). Yet the Bible explains to us clearly if we desire to know God it is because God is drawing us to Him!
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,
and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:44
Yet the Bible also tells us God exists. He loves us and has created this world and all there is. He has designed the government, the laws of nature, science and He has a plan for this world and us in it.
Yet even making this statement causes problems since it is obvious to everyone the world is not “right.”
Our problem is evident in the wrong which exists; we reject the One who created everything (God) and have gone our own way making our own decisions. Our problem is our failure.
Being human, it’s easy to realize everyone has an opinion as far as what to do. The government offers its help, yet nothing seems to get better. We may even try to “pay it forward.” When good happens to us we try to be good to others—yet even this fails because of inconsistency; and we have not changed who we are and we are not “perfect” because of what we have done.
The one consistency in every answer proffered by schools, governments and people is they all overlook what God’s Word tells us:
“As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have
become worthless; no one does good.’”
Romans 3:10-12
Because of who God is, He will not allow us to rebel forever; He will punish us—and the punishment for rebellion is judgment and death.
It is precisely because God loves us which brings about our judgment and punishment. A parent who loves their child disciplines them.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once,
and after that comes judgment.”
Hebrews 9:27
While some may think God is unfair and unjust, He is not. When man rejects God (and everyone does this as proven by their actions), God allows them their desire, their will. God will never force us to love Him or obey Him. Yet because He loves us, He offers us a gift.
Because God loves the entire world, He sent His Son: the man Jesus Christ. Jesus always followed His Father’s rules. Because He was obedient, He was undeserving of the punishment He suffered which we actually deserved ourselves—His Father’s punishment. Yet Jesus Christ chose to die in our place and He bought our forgiveness.
Face it, seeing who we are, we really do not have much to offer God, yet He loves us anyway! He sent His Son to live as a man. Jesus faced all of the temptations, the hungers and the difficulty every man, woman and child on this earth does—yet He did not sin or rebel or disappoint His Father in any way.
Since Jesus knew He had accomplished everything in His life His Father had sent Him to do, when the time came, He willingly did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. . . He died for us!
“For Christ also suffered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God.”
1 Peter 3:18a
Because Jesus lived a life of perfection and chose to die a death He did not deserve and because of His obedience, He conquered death and came back from the dead and live now forever! He now gives new life and He will return to judge this world in the future.
Since God has arranged everything according to His plan, He now offers salvation to everyone who will accept it! We can actually know we are saved—that we have a relationship with God through what Jesus Christ did for us—as we live our lives repenting for our sin, submitting to His Word and by living outwardly a life which gives evidence we really know Him!
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
1 Peter 1:3-4
Jesus Christ offers eternal life to those who ask by repenting (rejecting and turning from) their sin. Even when we ask God to save us (and He always answers this request) we will still sin. Yet there will exist within the true believer a desire to “sin less” because of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in their life!
If you have asked God to save you, allow us the opportunity to pray for you and give you the tools you need to be successful in your new life with Christ! Contact the church through either a phone call or email Pastor Jim, jimgrieme@gmail.com, about your new relationship with God and your desire to please Him!