God created you and loves you! God’s plan for all of us is to live in peace, joy, hope, and love; this has always been God’s plan for all people. Of course today our lives experience many things opposite of peace, joy, hope, and love. We experience suffering, brokenness, troubles, sorrow, heartache, disappointment, hate, failure, betrayal, etc. All our lives are unique. We experience life differently, but none of our lives are perfect. Why? Because of sin. Sin consists of the imperfect actions in our lives. When we lie, steal, disobey our parents, or anything else wrong according to God’s perfect standard, we sin. All of us—every person—has sinned. The result of sin is the brokenness of life. The Bible teaches that sin breaks our relationship with God, harms us, leads to death, and condemns the sinner to hell forever. The Bible tells us the penalty for sin is death. Sin is bad news, and unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it.
We cannot undo our sin. No amount of good living, giving, self-denial, self-punishment, or spiritual renewal will ever undo our sin. That is terrible news. But there is good news, great news, the most wonderful news! God loves us so much that He made a plan to save us from our sin problem! God sent Jesus, His Son, to die for you and me. Jesus lived a perfect life on earth without any sin. Jesus was able to do this because Jesus is God. Jesus chose to sacrifice His life by dying for you and me on the cross. While on the cross, Jesus took on the burden of every person’s sins and died to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus did this because He loves us, and He wanted to make a way for our sin penalty to be paid. Jesus’ death was the substitution for our death.
With the resurrection, Jesus conquered death and sin. Amazingly, three days after Jesus was buried, He arose from the dead and was alive! The resurrection proves Jesus is God and that all Jesus taught and offers is true! Jesus taught that anyone who believes the truth about Jesus as Savior and Lord could have their sins forgiven and experience life after death in Heaven rather than hell! Believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord means you admit you are a sinner, ask God to forgive your sins, and commit to live your life under God’s lordship. You no longer live for yourself, but instead for God. If you genuinely make the choice to give your life to God by faith, then you can experience the good news!
But the good news does not end there. The Bible teaches God will change you as His Holy Spirit works in your life to help you have victory over your sins, to have peace and strength in the Lord when you experience the troubles of life, to have a new purpose in living for God, and to experience the hope, joy, and love God wants for you!
Decide TODAY to give your life to God and receive His forgiveness. You don’t need to fix anything first or even go to a church first. You can decide now and pray to God. Pray the following to God—tell God that you are a sinner, that you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from death, and ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. If you sincerely prayed this, the Bible teaches you are forgiven! We want to encourage you to share this news with someone and seek out a community of believers in a local church to support and encourage you in this new life. We would love to hear that news from you! God loves you and wants to be your Savior and Lord – it is wonderful news!
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