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After the Earth was created man sinned
and had lost his ability to sit in the garden and just "talk" to
God. He (God) had a way that He could again have man be close to
Him because God could not stand to be around Sin. He had a
plan...
There was a virgin named Mary, who bore a Son. She never had sex
with any man but became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. This way He
could truly be called THE Son of God. She named him Jesus. As He
was growing up He KNEW as He walked past the shadow of a Roman
cross that one day He too... would give His body over to
death...
When Jesus was 30 years old He was baptized in the Jordan River
by a man who ate locusts and honey, named John. In the bible it
says: "Jesus also was baptized and while He prayed, the heaven
was opened. The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove
upon Him and a voice came from heaven which said, 'You are my
beloved Son; in You I am well pleased'".
After Jesus was baptized, he was lead into the desert by the
Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan. Satan said things like, if
Jesus would bow down and worship Satan, he would give Jesus
dominion over all the earth; or that Jesus should turn rocks
into bread; or jump off a high place, telling Him that God
promised that all Jesus had to do was ask the Father and He
would be protected. Well, Jesus didn't fall for any of that
stuff. He knew that if He just spoke the word of God He would
put Satan to shame. (Which by the way He did, He just used
scripture against all of Satan's attempts and this is what
caused Satan to loose this battle.) Satan then left Jesus for a
while, and Jesus was ministered to by angels.
Jesus knew that someday He would offer the world (us) another
chance. His time of testing was to help Him become more
dependent on the Father and to show us that we must be dependent
on the Father for our strength. He knew that He had a very
important job ahead of him. While he was in the desert, he did a
lot of praying; you see, Jesus had only 31/2 years to get as
much "training" into His disciples as He could.
After His time in the desert, Jesus had to get back to the city
so he could start finding some very close friends whom He could
trust, teach, and show what He was here for. They one day would
be the beginning of what we now call the Christian Church.
"Christian" means followers of Christ. He chose 12 men to be His
disciples.
Jesus would go to the mountains early in the mornings to pray to
the Father and gather strength and wisdom for the day.
Ever since the creation of time God has been in control of
everything-- even down to the last blade of grass in the field,
or hair on your head, and every little thing that has been going
on... even after Adam and Eve blew it in the garden. You see,
God knew that they would and He had a perfect way for us to
reunite ourselves with Him since we were separated from Him
because of the original sin of Adam and Eve.
He would provide an offering, a blameless Lamb (in the old
testament it was blood that was required to pay for our sins--
the Jews sacrificed animals once a year for atonement of sins)
to be killed once and for all for our sins. God requires blood
to forgive sin, but ours is not good enough, and animals were
only good for a short while. God Himself came down out of heaven
and took human form, as a baby named Jesus.
This is how He would provide you, and all of us, a way back to
Him... You have no doubt heard the story many times, but it is a
fact. Jesus Christ died on the Cross as a final sin offering for
you and me. The only "religion", or belief system, in the world
that has this fact is Christianity.
He suffered a death we could never imagine... the whipping of
his back, shoulders, and legs with a whip with iron balls in the
ends so that they would rip the skin and muscle until it was
nothing but shreds of flesh, the placing of a crown of thorns,
with LONG needles on them, smashed onto His head, then while all
the wounds were still fresh, He was forced to carry the heavy
wooden cross until He could go no more... taken to Golgotha,
slammed down onto that rough, hard wooden cross. A long spike
was hammered through each of His wrists, to hold His arms
across, then through His Feet. He was then hoisted up, with the
weight of His body pulling His arms against the iron spikes,
having to push against the nail through his feet so that He
could breathe... this lasted for three hours. When He finally
died, they thrust a spear into his side between his ribs; water
and blood came out-- a positive sign of death (the water is
serum, something that is only present when something isn't alive
anymore).
But that is NOT the end of the story! Guess what? He was placed
in a tomb, and 3 days later He was not there!! He came out of
the tomb alive!, and He is coming back!... once to gather up His
Church (those who have accepted Him as a Savior and have a
personal relationship with Him), and once for JUDGMENT on earth
for those who have not accepted Him as Savior.
He is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF L0RDS, no matter what you or
anyone else thinks or tells you. He loves you and wants to have
a personal relationship with you... no matter what you've done
in your life-- nothing is bad enough for Christ to reject you.
He loves you unconditionally. His mercy and grace, although we
don't deserve them, are given freely to you and me. "For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works,
that no one should boast. (Eph 2:8-9)
Well now it's up to you; there is a choice to be made.
Will you come to Him today and start your life with a fresh,
clean slate? This is all that is required of us...
1. Admit your a sinner
(Romans 3:10)
2. Realize that Jesus Christ's atoning death on the cross
for your sins is a FREE gift to you from God. (Romans 6:23)
3. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and take control of
your life, and that you want a personal relationship with Him.
(Revelations 3:20)
4. Then tell (confess with your mouth) another person that
you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. ( Romans
10:9-19)
Find yourself a well balanced church and join in the fun of
being a child of a King!! He promises us that "He who believes
in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water." When you have truly accepted and
believed in Him, there is a change within you that some notice
right away, and you will know in your heart if you truly
believe.. .there will be a change.