wondering about God?
There are a lot of reasons a person might wonder about God.
Perhaps you have grown up in a religious family, but somehow God seems distant and hard to understand.
Perhaps you have no religious traditions and the whole thing seems... well... silly. You wonder why would all those people invest so much in this deal.
Perhaps you have been hurt by church people... and you ask, "How can God let this happen?"
Perhaps you have a thousand other questions about God and this thing called Christianity.
Guess What? God is not afraid of your questions! In fact, He really wants you to ask them! He can handle our doubts and fears and disputes and wondering.
We cannot promise you that we will answer all your questions. But we can promise you that we will not resort to trifling sentiments or cliched excuses. We believe in God and in Jesus Christ His Son, as the only way to rescue us. We believe this is not a blind leap into the dark and does not require suspending reason.
And... we believe that if you are looking for answers, we can point you in the right direction. In the end, however, you have to make faith your own personal decision.
Here are the essential things you need to know: *
1. God loves you and created you to know Him personally.
Read John 3:16
Read John 17:3
What is it that prevents us from knowing God personally?
2. Man is sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love for us.
Read Romans 3:23
Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his stubborn self-will, he chose to go his own way and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will is characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference and is what the Bible calls sin.
Read Romans 6:23 and 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9
Because God is holy and man is sinful. Our attempts to reach Him will always be a failure because we cannot be perfect. So, God has to be the one to reach out to us.
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Only through Jesus can we know God personally and experience His love.
Read Romans 5:8
Read Romans 6:23
Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-6
Read John 14:6
Jesus Christ is like the bridge that covers the span between God and Man. His sinless life made Him the ONLY possible hope to stand in our place as a substitute for the judgment we deserve.
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord in order to know God personally and experience His love for us.
Read John 1:12
Read Ephesians 2:8,9
Read Revelation 3:20
Read Romans 10:9-13
Receiving Jesus begins with belief that He truly is God’s Son, that He came as a man and suffered an unjust death as a substitute for our judgment. We must confess that He is our ONLY Lord and Savior. Our salvation is not dependent on us changing. It is totally dependent on Him changing us.
It is not enough to only have an emotional experience. This is a commitment we feel strongly enough about that we place all our hope in this one place. We do not trust our on “goodness,” church affiliation or family history. We only trust in Jesus.
As a way to express this belief, we typically pray. Simply defined, prayer is speaking to God. It can be done with your head bowed and eyes closed or it can be done with eyes open and head toward the sky. The important thing is, prayer recognizes that God is here and that we show Him reverence.
There are no formal words you must say when you pray. But, the ideas expressed above are important because they reveal what it means to truly believe for salvation.
So, a sample prayer to God might sound like this:
Dear God, I am so thankful You love me and sent Jesus, Your Son, as a substitute for my judgment. I am sorry for all the ways I have failed You and taken my own path. I know I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I believe that Jesus is Your Son, that He came as a man, but was without sin. I believe He died on a cross unjustly, but He did it because You love me and want to save me. I accept that I need Jesus and I confess that He is my Lord and Savior. I humbly ask You to receive me as Your own child and create a relationship with me. I thank You that this is what I have learned about You in the Bible and that you made this possible.
I pray this all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you have read these words and made a commitment to Jesus today, we ask you to contact us as soon as possible. We would love to speak with you personally and answer any questions you might have. Plus, we’d like to celebrate with you about your commitment and give you some ideas about how you can move forward from this point.
Contact the pastor: Click here for Pastor George's eMail
