Becoming a Christian

God Loves You! 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. (John 3:16)

Jesus Came To Give His Life For Yours! I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b)

Walking Down the “Romans Road” to Salvation . . . .

  • Because of our sin, we are separated from God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:23)
  • The Penalty for our sin is death. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
  • The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ! But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
  • If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins! For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13) …if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)
 
 

 The Scriptures present the Father as the source of creation, the giver of life, and God of all the universe. The Son is depicted as the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of his being and nature, and the Messiah-Redeemer. The Spirit is God in action, God reaching people—influencing them, regenerating them, infilling them, and guiding them. All three are a tri-unity, inhabiting one another and working together to accomplish the divine design in the universe.”

 
Here are some key verses expressing the concept of the Trinity:
 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …

(Matthew 28:19

[Jesus said,] “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

” (John 15:26

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

(2 Corinthians 13:14
 
The nature of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can be seen clearly at these two major events in

the Gospels

:
  • The Baptism of Jesus – Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized. As Jesus rose up out of the water, heaven opened, and the Spirit of God, like a dove, descended upon him. Witnesses to the baptism heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” The Father clearly announced Jesus’ identity, and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, empowering him to begin his ministry.
  • The Transfiguration of Jesus – Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain to pray, but the three disciples fell asleep. When they awoke, they were astonished to see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Jesus was transformed. His face shone like the sun, and his clothing dazzled. Then a voice from heaven said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” At the time, the disciples did not fully understand the event, but today readers of the Bible can clearly see God the Father directly and powerfully linked to Jesus in this account.

GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS US TO HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM

 

God loves us even if we haven’t loved him.

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” (1 John 4:10)

God wants us to know him.

The Bible says God is at work in everyone’s life. “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:27)

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD HAS BEEN BROKEN BY SIN

We have all made choices showing we are inclined to be: Passively indifferent to God

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

Or actively opposed to 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.” (John 3:19-20)

The result of our choices to resist or ignore God results in spiritual death (separation from God).

“We are dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1)
“And thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)
 
GOD HAD PROVIDED A SOLUTION FOR OUR LOST RELATIONSHIP

Jesus Christ came to do what we could not do for ourselves.

“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.” (John 3:16)

He came into the world to bring us to his Father.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ” (John 14:6)

He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin.

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18)

He rose from the dead to show that his claims were true.

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures