Have you ever felt alone? Maybe a little lost or confused? Do you ever have the feeling that life just doesn't make sense? Have you worried what the fall of 2007 holds for you or what the holidays or winter months will bring?
All of this is the result of being born into a corrupted world that is separated from the source of life.
Friend, we are here to tell you about something so powerful it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
It's not a fancy idea, a substance, a gimmick, or a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, it was not invented by man or any other creature on this planet. It's simply called love. What is love? Love is what spoke this universe into existence. Love is what breathed life into man. God is love.
The problem with this world today is the result of something called sin. When God created the world, he never intended for man to be alone. Because of man’s hunger for pride, the first man attempted to declare independence from his Creator. Because he let his pride blind him, the first man disobeyed a simple command. This one act caused all of his descendants, that is, all of mankind, to be born with a sinful nature, which coincidentally separated man from God. This sinful nature is what stands in the way of the most longed for, absolute purpose of this life, our relationship with God.
It is our sin that separates us from God.
You see, within every person, there is a yawning, aching void. This void is God-shaped. It's there simply because God isn't. No other material thing, person, dream, or substance is big enough to fill in the space. Only God can do that.
Romans 8:38-39 states, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." In other words, although our sin separates us from God, there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God.
Christianity is not about mere religion, but simply about
relationship. It’s about following
Christ! Long ago, God established that
the wages of sin would be death (Genesis
After Jesus died, he rose again three days later. It is this resurrection that sealed the victory over death. It is this resurrection that ensures our hope for an eternal future with God.
Now don't misunderstand, there is absolutely nothing we could have done or can do to deserve or earn this love. God has always loved us, even before he created us. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, God has promised us that all our sins, faults, and imperfections have been forgiven and that we can have full life here and now. (Psalm 103:11-12)
Ephesians 2:3-10 says, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -– it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
This is the good news that everyone needs to hear! What this passage is saying is that God wants man to have an unshakable hope. God’s ultimate desire for each of us is to be transformed into living testimonies of his grace that will remain alive to generations after us even after we have lived our lives and are gone.
Please understand, God is the one who transforms our lives. God is the one who offers his grace to us. We cannot save ourselves. Christianity is in no way about our own performance, or trying cause God to take notice of us. The word “Christian” simply means “a follower of Christ.” Being a follower of Christ is about allowing Christ to transform our lives so we can live the life Jesus lived, and be a light to the world. The world needs to see Christ shining through us, so they too can be changed by God’s grace.
The truth that we have hope through Christ is great, but how do we become followers of Christ? What must we do to be saved from our sins? Again, please understand that everything that needed to be done to ensure our salvation has already been done by Christ’s death and resurrection. God is not sitting on a distant cloud somewhere, entertained by all our feeble attempts to get his attention. We must take the focus off of ourselves and our performance.
Although you cannot attain your salvation by your own efforts, every person is called to accept the gift that God has offered:
After you are born again, it is vital to live for God by striving to imitate Christ's ultimate example of the Christian life. Romans 6:1-4 says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Salvation isn’t some far off future hope… it begins here and now with a new and whole life!
The message of these verses is clear. If our lives have been transformed by the grace of God, how can we purposely entertain the thoughts and desires of our sinful nature? As the scripture says, once we make the decision to pledge our life to Christ, we die to sin. Christ and sin cannot both rule in the same life. As was stated earlier, once we take the focus off ourselves, and have the ambition to pursue the ways of Christ, God’s Spirit will inhabit our lives and use us to be a light to the world according to Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
If you want to sum up everything that has been said into
something simple, you could say that we are to love God wholeheartedly because
he first loved us. If we truly love
someone, they will be a strong priority in our lives, and there is no one greater
for us to love than God. Jesus himself
said that if we love him, we will obey him (John
Someday Jesus will return to this earth to claim his own and reconcile all things unto himself. Matthew 24:30 states, "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." This is good news for those who belong to him. It's bad news for those who reject him. When Christ comes, everyone who has lived and died on this earth will be judged according to their deeds. Those who have their sins covered by the blood of Christ will enter into God's eternal kingdom and experience the everlasting relationship with their Creator. Those who remain in rebellion will be eternally separated from God forever and ever. (Revelation 20:11-21:4)
This is serious stuff! There is no time to delay. Jesus could come back at any time, but don't despair. Revelation 3:20 states, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Jesus stands ready to give you life. All you have to do is let him in.
This is a big decision, the biggest you will ever make. There are many people here at TurnAgain who care about you and want to support you as you seek to follow Jesus. Feel free to email us if you have any questions or need assistance.