How Can I Know God?

You were created with value and worth.  God wants your life to count. Did you know…

  • God loves you and created you to have a personal relationship with Him.

    • God Created You:  Psalm 139:13-14 “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
    • God Loves You:  John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
    • God Wants You To Know Him:  John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Why is it that many people do not have a personal relationship with God?

  • Our sin keeps us from having a personal relationship with God.
    • What Is Sin?   God is holy and perfect . . . and we are not. Sin not only means doing wrong or failing to do all that God wants. Sin is also our attitude of ignoring or rejecting God. Because God is holy, He cannot accept our sin.  James 4:17 “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
    • Who has sinned?  Romans 3:23  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
    • What Happens When We Sin?  Sin causes a gap between God and us. Death, which in these verses means eternal separation from God, is the penalty for our sin.  Isaiah 59:2  “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Romans 6:23  “For the wages of sin is death.”

What is the solution to our separation from God?

  • Only through Jesus Christ can you have a personal relationship with God.
    • Why Jesus Christ? It is only through Jesus Christ that we can have a relationship with God.  John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
    • Why Did Jesus Christ Have To Die?  Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, so we might be forgiven.  1 Peter 3:18  “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”
    • Why Did Jesus Christ Rise From The Dead?  Jesus Christ rose from the dead to prove He could give us eternal life.  1 Corinthians 15: 3-6  “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures . . . He was buried . . . He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . . He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time . . .”

How can you begin your personal relationship with God?

  • You must personally respond by trusting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

    • You Respond With Trust In Christ.  Ephesians 2:8-9  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
    • You Respond By Turning To God From Sin:  Acts 3:19  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out . . .”
    • You Respond By Receiving Christ:  John 1:12  “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God . . . “

Receiving Christ Means:

  • Turning to God from your own way of living (repentance).
  • Inviting Christ to come into your life and trusting Him to forgive your sin.
  • Allowing God to direct your life. Receiving Jesus Christ is not just an emotional experience; nor is it just agreeing in your mind that Jesus is the Son of God. It means total trust.

You can begin your personal relationship with God by receiving Jesus Christ as Savior.

You Can Express Your Faith (Trust) Through Prayer:Prayer is simply talking to God. He knows what you mean, even when you find it difficult to express yourself. You may use the following words or your own. Dear God, I know that my sin has separated me from You. Thank You that Jesus Christ died in my place. I ask Jesus to forgive my sin and to come into my life. Please begin to direct my life. Thank You for giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ name, Amen. If you say this to God and mean it Jesus will forgive your sin and come into your life, as He promised.

What Next?

Your trust in Jesus Christ begins a lifelong relationship.   God Commits Himself To You

  • God assures you that Jesus Christ has come into your life. In John 14:20, Jesus says, “. . . I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
  • God will never leave you. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).
  • God completely forgives your sin. “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us . . .” (Colossians 2:13-14 NIV).
  • God assures you that you have eternal life. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13 NIV).

God gives you His Holy Spirit to enable you to live the Christian life. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 NIV).  Wouldn’t you like to stop and thank God that Christ is in your life and will never leave you?   Keep growing in your relationship with God:   G–Go to God daily in prayer (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV). R–Read the Bible every day (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NIV). O–Obey God moment by moment (Luke 6:46-48 NIV). W–Worship regularly in a local church (Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV). T –Tell others about Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV). H –Holy Spirit–let Him direct your life (John 14:26 NIV).   Now you can share your most important relationship. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, please contact us.  We’d love to celebrate your decision with you and come along side you as you begin your new life in Christ.