I want to share with you who the God of the Bible really is, who Jesus is, who I am and everyone else is as a sinner, and why you (and most definitely myself) need a Savior and the Gospel. Again, I ask you to please read this with an open mind and heart. [[Or you can watch the video here: www.sharetheumbrella.com/ ]]
So let's start. Who is the God of the Bible?
God is our Creator. The first verse of the Bible says. 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'(Genesis 1:1). The Bible teaches that God created everything that is, including you and me. The implications of this truth are huge. If God made us, then He is ultimately in charge! He owns us and we are responsible to Him. He retains full rights over us as the Designer and Creator of human life. The Bible tells us that people were created in God's image to enjoy a perfect relationship with Him and with each other. God intended and designed the ultimate in quality and quantity of life for the people He had made. Part of this ultimate relationship between God and His people included His desire to have men and women choose to love and serve Him for who He is willingly and freely.
God is Holy. First Peter 1:16 tells us that God is holy. That means that God is perfect. That verse also tells us that God requires that people be holy too. Unfortunately, from the very beginning the people that God made chose to use their freedom to please themselves instead of obeying God and being holy. The Bible calls this sin. Because people chose to sin they forfeited their priviledged position and their ultimate relationship with God ended. The Bible teaches that everybody born since Adam and Eve were born into a state of separation from God. Sin created a barrier that ruined what should have been a prefect relationship.
God is Just. The Bible also tells us that God is just. Because He is perfectly just He cannot overlook sin. Accoring to passages like 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 God promises to punish sin severely. Though his kindness prevails for now, the Bible is clear that there will come a time when each person will stand before God and payment for sins will be required. That's what hell is all about. It is the place away from God's kindness where people will pay for the sins they have committed.
God is loving. Thankfully, the Bible also tells us that God is loving (1 John 4:8). In His love for sinful and separated people God has provided a solution - a way out for people who otherwise would have no hope! This is the "good news". Much like an umbrella God has provided Jesus, His own Son - God in human form - who has endured the punishment that we deserve so that we won't have to. As God, Jesus lived the perfect life for us as well as incurring the wrath of God for us while dying on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because the umbrella is rained on (because God is just) there is a place beneath it that isn't - so it is with Christ! After living teh life we needed and dying the death we deserved (because we are sinful), Jesus rose from the dead to prove to the world that sin and the penalty for sin had been adequately dealt with.
Repentance and Faith. What Jesus has done is definitely good news, but it does not do us any good until we respond to it the way that God requires. Though many believe that amassing a lifetime of good deeds will somehow earn God's favor and forgiveness, to the contrary, the Bible says that we can acquire God's favor and forgiveness right this moment by repenting of our sins and placing our trust in Christ (Acts 20:21). If today you would choose to turn from your sins (1 Thessalonians 1:9), and trust completely in what Jesus has done for you (Philippians 3:9), then God's Spirit will place you "in Christ"' guaranteed to never incur the punishment your sins deserve. Are you ready to that right now? If so, express to God your desire to be "in Christ," tell Him you right now turn from your sin and you are placing your trust in what Jesus has done to save you from God's wrath.
And so I leave you with this: Jesus Christ is the Father's one and only Son. He humbled Himself and took on the form of man to live a perfect life we could not live in order to be a perfect sacrifice to God, in order that our sin would be paid for so we can have a relationship with God the Father and enter into His kingdom when He calls us home.
He has a plan far bigger than we can see; because God is sovereign, what we see as bad is often a part of His good & perfect plan - even though we cannot see it immediately.
Please, if you have any questions about this leave me a message, and know that I am praying for you!.
http://www.sharetheumbrella.com/
Please.
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