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How to Find Eternal Life with God
Our greatest desire is for people
to come to know God personally. The simple truth is that there is a God who
created you and loves you very much. (Genesis
1:1) He gave us life and deserves our gratitude and love.
We, however, have chosen to
disobey Him and sin against Him; all of us have done wrong and failed to do
what is right. (Romans
3:23) We may not be more sinful than our neighbor, or we may be far
worse than anyone we know, it does not matter. Either way, we are guilty
before God. (1
John 1:8) God is perfect, completely good,
always right and fair. He cannot tolerate sin. He cannot simply overlook the
fact that we have chosen to disobey Him. The Bible says "the wages of
sin is death." (Romans
6:23) This means that the fair payment for our rebellion against God is
death. It is the punishment that we deserve. Jesus, the one and only Son of
God, came to earth and lived a perfect sinless life. He was crucified even
though He was completely innocent. He received the punishment that we
deserved. He was the perfect sacrifice, He was put into our place and took
on Himself the sentence of death that should have been ours. (Romans
5:8) Jesus did not, however, remain
dead. After three days, He rose from the grave and later ascended into
heaven. He will return for all those who are trusting in Him as their
Savior. Jesus died for you. You can be
saved by asking Him for forgiveness from your sins. If you are willing to
repent of your sin, He is waiting to forgive you. It doesn't matter what you
have done in the past, if you cry out to Jesus for forgiveness, He will not
reject you. The word "repent" literally means "to turn away
from." You need to look at your life, admit that you are a sinner,
genuinely desire to turn your back on that sin, and ask Him to forgive you.
If you do this, He promises to forgive you. True Christianity is not about
attending a particular church, or how your parents raised you, or what
country you were born in. Being a Christian means that you have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, that He is your Savior. It's not good enough
that your priest, pastor, mother, or aunt knows Jesus, you must know Him for
yourself. They cannot believe in Him for you, you must believe for yourself.
They cannot repent for you, you must repent for yourself. Jesus is everywhere all the time.
He can hear you now if you ask Him for forgiveness. Please turn your life
over to Him now. Time slips by so quickly, don't miss this opportunity. If
you want to pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior, you can say a prayer
something like this: "Jesus, I
know that I have sinned against you. I know the truth is that I have sinned
by my own choice, and I am the one responsible for it. I know that I have
earned punishment from You, and that the fair punishment would be death.
Jesus, I believe that You died in my place. Forgive me for my sin. I cannot
cover or take my sin away, I am relying totally and only on You. You are the
only one who can save me. I reject my sin, I turn away from it, I repent.
Come into my life, take away my sin, and show me how to live my life in a
way that is right and pleasing to You." If you have prayed this, YOU ARE
SAVED! You are now completely forgiven, a new creation, innocent in the eyes
of God. Welcome to the family of God! It is important for you to start
to grow in your relationship with Jesus. Just like any relationship, you
need to spend time with someone if you want to know them well. The way to
know God is through the Bible. We have a few different Bible studies here
that will help you get going. It's also important to find a church you can
attend where they teach the Bible. This will allow you to talk with a pastor
who will help explain questions you might have, and it will give you a
chance to spend time with other Christians who can encourage you. You can start to study the Bible.
We recommend that you start with the Gospel of
John. You are welcome to come to
our local church, or you can look for a church in your area by checking our List
of Calvary Chapel Fellowships.
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