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| Michael Jackson, Princess Diana, Walter Cronkite, Steve McNair, Heath Ledger, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon - each of us will die someday. GOD'S LOVE FOR MANKIND Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV) "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 created Man because He longed for a loving, personal relationship with us. He could have made a being that did not have free will or the ability to sin, but God did not want a mindless robot. He wanted mankind to want to have a relationship with Him because they wanted to be in His presence.
When God created Adam and Eve, He (God) put them in a perfect setting and He would actually come to them and spend time with His creation - His children. In the garden He put two trees. One was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The second was the Tree of Life. He gave them one commandment. He told them they could eat from any tree or plant in the garden, but they were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now, here comes Satan. Satan is a being created by God. He was the most beautiful, highest being God created. He came to believe he was greater than God and he set out to take God's place as the supreme being/god. Because of his disobedience, God cast him out of heaven and put him on earth. So, Satan enters a serpent and approaches Eve and convinces her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She then convinces Adam to eat the fruit too. When they do, they commit the 1st sin. They realized they are naked and things are not as they were before. When God comes to visit with them next, they hide from Him because they're naked and they are ashamed (emotions they have never felt or experienced before brought on by the sin they committed by eating of the tree). God knows what they did, but He asks why they are hiding and they say because we are naked. By disobeying God and eating the fruit, they sinned against God and allowed death, sin, and corruption to enter their world and bodies. Today, the world we live in is the result of that decision.
So, in order to clothe Adam and his wife, God made them coats out of animal skins. This was the 1st blood sacrifice. Since they sinned, God cursed them to the sorrows listed in Genesis 3 and said that they would now die. And to keep them from eating of the Tree of Life He banished them from the garden.
Now flash forward in time to Moses, the 10 Commandments and the Law directed to Moses, by God. The Law was set forth for a myriad of reasons including civil obedience, clean living and eating habits, etc... But the main reason God set forth the law given to Moses (including the 10 Commandments) was to require the blood sacrifices to cover His people for their sins. This is because Adam and Eve sinned and had to be "covered" with the blood sacrifice and so man's sins must also be covered by a blood sacrifice. You see God loves us so much and wants us to be in His presence, but He cannot allow or condone sin in His presence. So a living sacrifice must be made for a person's sin in order to "cover" them in the blood and make them clean and sin-free to enter into God's presence.
All this time God knows He's got the ultimate plan for covering our sins. Okay, flash forward more time and God implements His ultimate plan. He sends Jesus, His Son (the Lamb of God), to earth to be the living, perfect sacrifice for our sins. The only reason God does this (and the whole reason behind the Bible - His Word) is because of His perfect love for us. He wants us to know Him and yearn for His love. Jesus comes to earth in the flesh of a man and offers Himself as that living, perfect sacrifice for our sins. Once He does that, and He arises from the dead on the third day, Satan is defeated for all time by Jesus' blood. Now, instead of having to sacrifice an animal for our sins all we have to do is believe and ask for forgiveness, and accept Jesus as our Savior. Jesus truly paid the ultimate sacrifice for mankind - His life, and more importantly, He took the sins of mankind into His being and bore them for us. That is why He suffered so terribly during His last while before being crucified. When He was on the Cross and said, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" It was because for that period in His life, while he hung there on the cross, He was separated from God's love and was "alone" in the sins of mankind. While He bore those sins God could not allow His own Son in His presence.
That's how much our Loving Father wants to have a relationship with us. Does that mean He promises our lives will be easy and carefree without pain and suffering? No, in the Bible it says that it rains on the just and the unjust. But, God does promise us that if we accept Jesus as our Savior He will ease our pain, give us peace, and comfort us. Please remember that we are only alive for a mere "blink of an eye." We are not guaranteed our next breath. Eternity is FOREVER. Our conscious decision to acceptance or reject Jesus will have FOREVER consequences. We WILL spend eternity living with that decision. If you died right now, do you know where you would spend eternity? The worst thing that can ever happen to a person is being sentenced to hell for all eternity. That is our sentence "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23. Hell is REAL and eternity is forever. People in hell will suffer unbearable pain and torment, but worst of all is not knowing God's love. Because of our sin we are separated from God. However, because of Jesus' sacrifice, we can ask for forgiveness for our sins and be saved. When a person dies they will either go to heaven or hell. One you're with God always, and the other you’re completely cut off from His love FOREVER! OUR CHOICE.
Click on this link and then look on the right side of the page for Hell's Best Kept Secret. It helps us understand that no one is "Good Enough" to stand in God's presence without being cleansed by His perfect sacrifice - Jesus. However, the Good News is that JESUS LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE!!! You CANNOT be too hard-hearted, bad, mean, hateful, heartless, or too lazy, jaded, uncaring, apathetic, unpleasant, or sin too much in your life for God not to forgive you, and Jesus not to love you! There is nothing you have done in your life that will keep you from entering into God's presence as a child of God, if you will just believe in Him. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The one distinct difference between Christianity and all other religions, is the gift of God's forgiveness, through the death and resurrection of His one and only Son, Jesus. All of us are born sinful by nature and separated from God. God's forgiveness is available to all, putting to death the old sinful nature and becoming a new creature in Christ. However, we are then directed to turn away from the sin of the old life. God extends His perfect love to everyone, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and past history. With God's Redemption Plan to change each of us into the person He has created us to be, not who we think we are, we can become "Reborn." Spiritual transformation includes our sinful nature: pride, envy, homosexuality, lust, greed, hatred, adultery, gluttony, jealousy, murder, etc... Sin IS Sin and God, while loving the sinner (us) so much that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him should have everlasting life (John 3:16), still hates the sin and we are directed to turn away from it. Reverend Billy Graham said, "The sin of pride particularly has caused the downfall of Lucifer in heaven; most certainly it can bring mortal man down too." He sums it up by saying, "He (Satan) forever tries to discredit the truthfulness of the Word of God; he coaxes men to deny the authority of God, and persuades the world to wallow in the deluding comfort of sin." Don’t wait until tomorrow! Tomorrow may not come for you. Swallow your pride. Admit that you are a sinner, repent of your sins, ask God to forgive you for your sins and invite the Christ of Calvary into your heart. Will you say yes to Jesus today? In order to become a child of God, and Joint-Heir with Jesus, we are directed to confess our sins to God, and ask God to forgive us of our sins (please see the "Salvation Prayer" below). We are to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the 3rd day - DEFEATING Satan for ALL eternity. Here's a link to a video of Bill Wiese. He's not a preacher or pastor, but his message is powerful. Please reserve your judgment until you've watched the whole video. You will not regret it. 23 minutes In Hell Here's a very good link that puts our lives in perspective: whatstandard.com/
I can picture God in heaven looking down at you and saying, "Come on Jim (that's my name, but feel free to insert yours here) I just want to love you. I sent my Son, Jesus, to die in your place so you wouldn't have to suffer in hell and be separated from me for all eternity. PLEASE accept Him into your life and let me send my Comforter (the Holy Spirit) to you." SALVATION PRAYER If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, simply pray the following prayer in faith, and Jesus will be your Lord!  "Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" and "If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:9) You said my salvation would be the result of Your Holy Spirit giving me new birth by coming to live in me (John 3:5-6, 15-16; Romans 8:9-11) and that if I would ask, You would fill me with Your Spirit. (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:4) I take You at Your Word. I confess that Jesus is Lord. I ask that you to forgive me of all my sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness. I believe in my heart that You have raised Jesus from the dead and I am a "New Man" (or Woman) in Christ. Thank You for coming to live in my heart, for giving me Your Holy Spirit as You have promised, and for being Lord over my life. Amen."
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Many of us see Heaven as a drab place filled with white robes and hymns. Yet Luke makes it very clear that there is a party every time a sinner comes to Christ. You can almost imagine the angels leaning over the balcony of Heaven watching in anticipation as our lives unfold. At each miraculous work of God in our lives, at each moment of our obedience to Him, at the point when every sinner falls to their knees, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a round of high-fives pass through the throng of angels peering down at Earth. Why not keep Heaven’s Balcony as a visible reminder that hosts of Heaven rejoice with us in triumph! In Christ, you have a new life and a new spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:17) "The Holy Spirit, who indwells you the moment you place your trust in Jesus, enables you to choose obedience over rebellion." Dr. Charles Stanley, How to Triumph Over Temptation Paul Tournier, the Swiss psychiatrist, said: "Life is an adventure directed by God." Once you accept Jesus as your Savior your true adventure can begin. :)
Please visit our Partner site @ http://www.jesuslovesyoutoo.org
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