Jesus

The understanding of Jesus Christ is hugely important. Most importantly because it relates to our decision that we have made to be in a relationship with Christ.

But who is He? What sort of man is this?

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:1) I can imagine local people everywhere when Jesus showed up talking, speculating, arguing, idealizing… Did you hear… It is said of him that… Did you know…? Especially the religious people of the day, the teachers of the law. Wherever He was, if he opened His mouth or did something, He was the talk of the town.

When Jesus calms the storm in Matthew 8:27 the disciples said “what sort of man is this, which even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Jesus was incomparable. We always try to compare public figures with similar people in history because we like to categorize in order to have a reference point.

Examples: a leader like Winston Churchill; a visionary like John F. Kennedy; a carer like Mother Theresa; a wise man like Ghandi….

When the questions above are personalized, it becomes the most important question you and I will ever be asked or have to answer. Who is Jesus? Or more importantly who is Jesus to YOU?

THE DESIRE

You see, everyone wants a good life. We want to be comfortable. We want to have our basic needs met. We want to laugh, fellowship, and experience joy. We want to love and be loved.

God made us this way. He made us in the beginning to have perfect fellowship with Him. John 10:10 tells us that God intends for us to have a perfect life, a life to the fullest.

THE PROBLEM

In a word: sin. Sin is disobedience, purposefully doing something to break God's heart. Sin is imperfection, and God is perfect. And just like light and dark cannot occupy the same space, God cannot be in the same space as sin, because he is holy. And that's the problem. Romans 3:23 tells us that everyone, every single person ever, has sinned, and there is no exception to this. And Romans 6:23 also tells us the consequences of that sin: death. We deserve death because of our sin. And so, we are separated from God, who gives us life to the fullest.

THE ANSWER

Romans 6:23 also gives us the answer to the problem. The gift of God. God gave us the gift of his one and only son, Jesus. John 3:16, the most recognized verse in the Bible, tells us why God gave us such an amazing gift: so that we can live forever and avoid the punishment of sin. And according to Romans 5:8, he did all this before we ever knew who Christ was, while we were still sinners. His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection fulfilled the punishment required because of our sin.

THE RESPONSE

It's as simple as ABC. Admit, Believe, Confess. Romans 10:9-10 tells us that if we admit that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts, we will be saved. We must use both our heart and our mouth. With our heart we believe, and with our mouth, we take a step in that belief. And 1 John 1:9 goes on to tell us what to say with our mouth, which is that we are sinners, and that God will forgive us from our sins. And that's it. Jesus did his part on the Cross when he gave his life for us. Our part is to admit, believe, confess, and we are forgiven. This is what we called being saved, spared from the punishment of death.

THE SINNER'S PRAYER

There is no exact, word-for-word prayer in the Bible to repeat and be saved. But the formula from the Scriptures above give us what we need to say. To be saved, you simply need to say this prayer and believe it:

Dear God,

I’m praying this prayer because I know that I have done wrong. Please forgive me of all the things I have done wrong in the past.

Help me to put you as Lord of my life and keep me focused on the plans you have for me. I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and now He is Lord over my life.

Thank you for saving me. Thank you that I am now a Christian.

Amen

It doesn't have to be this prayer word-for-word, but this is the basic formula. If you said this prayer and meant it, you are saved!

Getting saved means coming into a relationship with Jesus. He is alive, and desires a relationship with us. So when we are saved, we say he comes to live in our hearts, meaning that we now have a close relationship with Jesus and are walking in his ways. And the only way to know HIS ways are to read about them in his Word, the Bible. If you don't have one, there are many versions you can find online. One that we recommend is the Youversion Bible, found at Bible.com.

NOW WHAT?

Congratulations! We are so excited for you! If you said the above prayer, you have made the best decision of your life, because it reaches beyond life into the after-life, into eternity! You are now saved and a Christian!

This is a moment to celebrate, and our team at EC would love to celebrate with you! We would love to connect with you and help you take your next steps and to answer any questions you may have.

CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO CONNECT WITH US AND LET US HELP YOU TAKE YOUR NEXT STEP IN YOUR NEW LIFE WITH JESUS.

**Clicking the button has nothing to do with getting saved, and we aren't going to use this information to bother you, only to contact you to answer your questions, and to encourage you along the way.