CONNECT

KNOWING GOD

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST?

God has made it clear in the Bible, His Word to us, how we can know Him. The following points will explain how you can begin a relationship with God, right now, through Jesus Christ…

1. God’s Perspective

God loves you and created you to know Him personally. He has a wonderful plan for your life.

GOD’S LOVE: “For God so loved the world that He agave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV)

GOD’S PLAN: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

What prevents us from knowing God personally?

2. Our Condition

People are sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love and plan.

PEOPLE ARE SINFUL: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

People were created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our stubborn self-will, we chose to go our own independent way and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

PEOPLE ARE SEPARATED: “For the wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23)

3. God’s Response

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through Him along we can know God personally and experience God’s love and plan.

HE DIED IN OUR PLACE: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD: “…Christ died for our sins…He was buried, He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred…” (I Corinthians 15:3-6)

HE IS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6)

4. Our Response

We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love and plan.

WE MUST RECEIVE CHRIST: “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

WE RECEIVE CHRIST THROUGH FAITH: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

When we receive Christ, we experience a new birth. (Read John 3:1-8)

[Christ speaking] “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.” (Revelation 3:20)

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to address intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer (Prayer is talking with God). God knows your heart and is not as concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins and giving my eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.