Christian: God is Love (2015)
Chapter 9: Where to begin in Christianity
Talking to God for the first time
The best place to start in Christianity is to start talking to God. A person can come to God because of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t die for all our sins then no one could approach Him in prayer. Sin would have kept us separated from God’s presence. Jesus’ death canceled our sin forever. We can now come into God’s presence because of Jesus. Here is a couple of bible verses about prayer:
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24
God is more than willing to listen to prayers even if it’s the first time the person has ever talked to God. He loves us so much; He wants us to pray to Him. Prayer is a two way conversation because we talk to God and He talks back to us. There should never be any fear in talking to God (Even the first time) He is so accessible to hear the prayers of Christians.
The first time this author prayed he was rolling in a car down a mountain. He said these simple words” God I am too young to die. I don’t want to die!” The author wasn’t a Christian yet but God heard his cry and saved his life literally! So a person can talk to God like they are talking to a friend. Anyone at any age can talk to God. He will hear them.
You can become a Christian
Now the key point of this whole e- book on Christianity comes. Anyone can become a Christian by simply coming to God or Jesus and ask either one to forgive that person of their sins. Romans says this:
“If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
God has laid out clearly in His Word how to be saved. Anyone who has an open heart and asks Jesus to come into His heart and forgive him of his sins Jesus will. Romans 10:9 says anyone who declares with his mouth and believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead he will be saved. Anyone who comes to Jesus and confesses their sins to Him He will forgive them their sins. Jesus died on the cross to set all men free from their sins. A person who wants to become a Christian simply must say a sinner’s prayer and Jesus will save Him from His sins and give him eternal life. Eternal life is available to anyone who wants to accept God’s gracious through Jesus.
Say a prayer like this for salvation: Lord Jesus, I come to you knowing I am separated from you and the heavenly Father because of my sins. I confess all my sins to you now and repent from them and I ask you to forgive from me from all my willful and sinful ways. I ask You now to come into my heart and be my Savior. I believe you died for my sins on Calvary and I thank you for coming into my life and making me a new creation in You. I believe in you now in faith. Thank you so much for saving me. Amen
Say this prayer from your heart and believe that Jesus has forgiven your sins. Jesus will come into your heart and cleanse you from all your sins. You are now a Christian! A child of God who will now live eternally and God has forgiven all your sins in Jesus Christ!
God wants you to become a Christian
Let’s start this section right off with a bible verse: “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 3:10 so it is known that before the foundation of the world God created us to walk in eternal life in Jesus. God so loved the world that He sent Jesus Christ (His Son) to the earth to die for all of mankind.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Think of it in these terms. Man sinned against God and severed his relationship with Him. Man could no longer fellowship with God because his sin separated man from being able to come into God’s presence. God already had a plan for this tragic separation. He would send Jesus Christ to earth to die for all mankind’s sin. He did and Jesus died for our sins. Now people can be reunited with God and walk in His presence again. But people must accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior to be friends with God again. God loved us so much that while we were in our sins He sent Jesus to us to die for us. Whether we would reject Jesus or not God still sent Him because of His undefinable love for us. This how much God wants us all to become Christians.
Conclusion
Christianity is not a system of rules and regulations or a legalistic code of moral absolutes. Christianity at its core is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Christianity is not man reaching to God but God reaching to man. God has always desired to have a family.
God created man in the beginning so He could walk and talk with him. He wanted a family He could love and pour is grace out on. God created man and met with him face to face in Genesis:” Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8-9
The man and woman sinned against God and hid from Him in the garden. They heard God walking in the Garden of Eden. So before man sinned against God he was able to walk and talk with Him. Sin separated man from God. God could no longer walk with man in the garden because sin broke their relationship. God knew long before creation this break-up would occur. He had a plan created to restore His family to Himself. He would/did send Jesus Christ His Son to the earth to die for man’s sin. Jesus became sin for us. God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after Jesus died on the cross. Jesus since that time has drawn whoever will come to Him into a relationship. A person asks Jesus to be His Lord and Savior and Jesus forgives his sin and restores the relationship between God and that person. God comes to live inside that person having intimate relationship with them again. This is the essence of Christianity and why every human being should embrace Christianity.