SALVATION
Would you like to be right with God, truly saved and know that if you died today, that you would be heaven bound?
We cannot tell you here, to just say a little prayer and “thou shalt be saved.”
True salvation is a conversion that happens in a person's “inner-man” - also called heart or spirit. A person does not “believe on the Lord” with “their head” and become “saved” - a person “believes on the Lord” in “their heart” and becomes “saved.” It is a heart-changing experience. A person's spirit then goes from darkness into the Light.
True conversion comes when a person is "genuinely repentant" and "completely willing" to give over to the Lordship of God and accept the gift of salvation through the only way possible, through Jesus Christ and the redemption plan He fulfilled on the Cross and after He rose from the grave 3 days later and ascended to the Father. After which, He sent the Holy Spirit, so that all who are born again, “have God living inside” as the “living church”and are literally the “living temples” of the Spirit of God.
True conversion means realizing one is “a sinner in need of a Savior.” It means realizing that God made and owns the earth and all there is and the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ and respecting the Lord and His laws and ways.
Read theses verses from the Gospel of John. The words in red indicate the words of Jesus.
John 3:1-21 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
Are you ready to give up the ways of the darkness and truly live in the Light? This is not anything to be taken lightly. God knows when we are serious or not.
If you acknowledge who God is and who His Son is and accept the offer of salvation, then just tell the Lord from your heart. In your own way, repent and cry out to God and trust that He hears you. He will give you a spiritual heart transplant and the things that seemed one way before, will completely change. A holy conscience comes into being and you won't want to do the bad things any more!
Afterwards, a person truly needs to find a good church to grow and serve with. If you are a Christian now, that means figuratively you are a sheep and Jesus is your Shepherd. Sheep run with the flock! A new Christian needs a Bible to learn about who God really is for themselves and get away from all misconceptions and to learn the ways of being a true believer. A new Christian also needs to confess their conversion to others to be complete. As situations come up that a person can no longer partake of such as sexual sin or worldly drinking and partying... it is important to let people know the reason. This cements one's faith. We need to claim Jesus before people and He will claim us before the Father and His angels. If we deny Him, He says, He will deny us. Also, be baptized as a confession of your faith.
Learn to pray and learn to listen for the direction of the Lord. Just be honest and keep sharing your heart with the Lord; that is what prayer is. Learn to listen to the voice inside of you that helps you want to do right for that is where the Lord will guide you from. Condemnation does not come from God. The devil will try to get you to think you are a failure and not be able to make heaven. But he is a liar. Trust God and never give up! All eternity counts on what you do in the “here and now”. Others will see you make better choices and even in your mistakes as you let God help you through them, your life will point them to Christ.
We cannot tell you here, to just say a little prayer and “thou shalt be saved.”
True salvation is a conversion that happens in a person's “inner-man” - also called heart or spirit. A person does not “believe on the Lord” with “their head” and become “saved” - a person “believes on the Lord” in “their heart” and becomes “saved.” It is a heart-changing experience. A person's spirit then goes from darkness into the Light.
True conversion comes when a person is "genuinely repentant" and "completely willing" to give over to the Lordship of God and accept the gift of salvation through the only way possible, through Jesus Christ and the redemption plan He fulfilled on the Cross and after He rose from the grave 3 days later and ascended to the Father. After which, He sent the Holy Spirit, so that all who are born again, “have God living inside” as the “living church”and are literally the “living temples” of the Spirit of God.
True conversion means realizing one is “a sinner in need of a Savior.” It means realizing that God made and owns the earth and all there is and the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ and respecting the Lord and His laws and ways.
Read theses verses from the Gospel of John. The words in red indicate the words of Jesus.
John 3:1-21 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
Are you ready to give up the ways of the darkness and truly live in the Light? This is not anything to be taken lightly. God knows when we are serious or not.
If you acknowledge who God is and who His Son is and accept the offer of salvation, then just tell the Lord from your heart. In your own way, repent and cry out to God and trust that He hears you. He will give you a spiritual heart transplant and the things that seemed one way before, will completely change. A holy conscience comes into being and you won't want to do the bad things any more!
Afterwards, a person truly needs to find a good church to grow and serve with. If you are a Christian now, that means figuratively you are a sheep and Jesus is your Shepherd. Sheep run with the flock! A new Christian needs a Bible to learn about who God really is for themselves and get away from all misconceptions and to learn the ways of being a true believer. A new Christian also needs to confess their conversion to others to be complete. As situations come up that a person can no longer partake of such as sexual sin or worldly drinking and partying... it is important to let people know the reason. This cements one's faith. We need to claim Jesus before people and He will claim us before the Father and His angels. If we deny Him, He says, He will deny us. Also, be baptized as a confession of your faith.
Learn to pray and learn to listen for the direction of the Lord. Just be honest and keep sharing your heart with the Lord; that is what prayer is. Learn to listen to the voice inside of you that helps you want to do right for that is where the Lord will guide you from. Condemnation does not come from God. The devil will try to get you to think you are a failure and not be able to make heaven. But he is a liar. Trust God and never give up! All eternity counts on what you do in the “here and now”. Others will see you make better choices and even in your mistakes as you let God help you through them, your life will point them to Christ.
If you have truly chosen God, believe upon Jesus Christ, cried out to Him in repentance and given Him your all, then you are now born-again and heaven bound. Welcome to the family of God!
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Copyright 2014 E. Cockrell May be used for personal study or instruction but shall not be copied and/or distributed in whole or part without permission or for financial profit.