People have many different belief structures.

Some may say that they believe In God, but not really Know God.
Many people go to church and call themselves Christians, but they really are not. Being a Christian means a whole lot more than simply attending a service of some kind or being religious. You can park your car in a garage but that does not mean that you are a car. You can go to McDonald's but that does not mean that you are a hamburger, so being a real Christian means having a personal relationship with God. It means having a life-changing experience after having met the life changer...

Others do not believe in the existence of God at all. How sad. They don't just miss out on eternity with Him, but a very interesting life in the here and now.

It is very interesting to find that many scoffers and those who deny any belief in eternity and a God of any kind will suddenly cry out to Him or even curse the name of Jesus when faced with serious situations, such as when facing death.

In this presentation, I ask one simple question. "Do you believe"?

The choice is yours...

About

Salvation is the central theme of the Gospels and apart from certain doctrinal issues, I’d say that it is the overall message of the whole New Testament.

The Old Testament refers to salvation 119 times and the New Testament is mentioned 169 times, so it must be important.
It is not a religious phrase, but is very relevant to the issues of life, both in the here and now in this present time and in the time to come.

People often say that they do not believe that there are such places like heaven and hell are real, but a split second after this present life is finished, every human being on earth will find out. Why take the risk? You can know for sure in a few moments from now if you believe and act on what I share.

There are various meanaings for the word salvation.

They include deliverance, health, help, welfare, safety, victory, savior, defend, avenge, rescue, preservation and of course...salvation.
Salvation refers to-

• Deliverance from danger (Exodus 14:13-14)
• Victory over enemies (1 Samuel 14:1-23)
• Healing of the body (Acts 3:6; 4:12)
• Forgiveness of sin (Luke 19:9; Romans 10:9-10; Psalm 38:18-22; Psalm 51:1-13; Psalm 79:9)
• Freedom from prison (Philippians 1:19)
• Deliverance from captivity (Psalm 14:1-7)
• Deliverance from wrath (John 3:36, 1 Thessalonians 5:9) and more...

It is simply a matter of making a change or of choosing the free gift of salvation that God offers us. Because it is a free gift, there is nothing we can do to earn it. In fact trying to do the good deeds and charitable acts associated with religion offends God. There are many scriptures that tell us this. Here is one taken from Ephesians 2:1-10:

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

You and I were born as descendants of Adam. When he and Eve ate that piece of fruit iun the garden of Eden, they did what the bible describes as "falling short of the mark". It is like aiming an arrow at a target miles awayfor you, only to have it land one inch away. Many scriptures like Romans 3:23 explain it. See also Romans 6:23.

We have a solution. It is seen in John 3:16

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.

This is basically what salvation is about.

What to do

Jesus came to earth, died on the cross and went to hell to pay the price for sin. Once that price was paid, Jesus was raised from the dead, triumphant over Satan fixing the sin problem forever.

When Jesus paid the sin price for you, He was your substitute, but that doesn’t mean you will automatically go to heaven. Even though God sent Jesus to pay for your sin—even though He holds nothing against you—you can still go straight to hell because salvation is not automatic. It also involved what is called repentance. This means that you change your whole attitude. It is like "apologizing" to God for your way of life and a deliberate choice to go in the opposite direction. Once we were sinners, but chose to live the way God wants and stop living the way we once were and start living God's way. This is a very complex topic in itself, but this sums up the process.  

Salvation comes by accepting what Jesus did for you. You have a free will and you have the right to choose your own destiny. God will not force you to receive salvation. The choice is yours. You can go straight to hell and God will not lift a finger to stop you. He did all He is going to do when He sent Jesus into the world.

Your choice is yours.

If you do choose to make Jesus your Lord, God will receive you as His very own child. You will become a part of God’s family. He will be your Father and you will be His child.

This is what we call getting saved or becoming born again.

When you become a Christian (or become born again)—you take on the nature of God, your heavenly Father. The nature of sin and Satan is death; the nature of God is life.

You are a threefold being: You are a spirit, you have a soul (mind, will, emotions), and you live in a body.

When Jesus was having a conversation with a religious leader by the name of Nicodemus He told him that he had to be born again.
You must be born again.

Nicodemus thought this meant returning to his mother’s womb, thinking in the natural, but Jesus was talking about his spirit (see John 3:1-16).

Being born again is a spiritual rebirth and we are born of the Spirit of God. It is like the change that happens when a grub goes into a cocoon and emerges as a beautiful butterfly.

This is what Paul explained this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, saying that when you accept Jesus as your Lord, you become a new creature, or new creation. Life seems new and different. We might still have certain things to deal with in life, but now, we have entered into a covenant relationship with God. That changes everything.

There are some specific steps to take for all this to happen.

The bible states that there is only one way and this way is Jesus. He said-

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. John 14:6-7.

The apostle Peter affirmed this in Acts 4 when he said-
There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12.

Clearly, no church or denomination, no person or prophet, no lifestyle or belief can achieve this. Preachers like me cannot do anything other than to help you make your own intelligent decision based on scriptural facts, some of which I have shared with you).

The Bible gives some specific instructions that you are to follow in order to become a Christian, or in order to be born again. I’d like you to read the following passage carefully.

Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is, that they may get salvation.
For I give witness of them that they have a strong desire for God, but not with knowledge.
Because, not having knowledge of God's righteousness, and desiring to give effect to their righteousness, they have not put themselves under the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who has faith. For Moses says that the man who does the righteousness which is of the law will get life by it.
But the righteousness which is of faith says these words, Say not in your heart, Who will go up to heaven? (that is, to make Christ come down:) Or, Who will go down into the deep? (that is, to make Christ come again from the dead:) But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart: that is, the word of faith of which we are the preachers: Because, if you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and have faith in your heart that God has made him come back from the dead, you will have salvation: For with the heart man has faith to get righteousness, and with the mouth he says that Jesus is Lord to get salvation. Because it is said in the holy Writings, Whoever has faith in him will not be shamed. Romans 10:1-11.

I have shared this word of faith with you.
Your part is to believe, to tell God that you do and to receive Jesus as Saviour. It has nothing to do with feelings or emotions, but an act of believing and receiving.

When I married my wife Marjorie, I had emotions and sentiments towards her, but we were not married until the minister asked a pertinent question, “Robert. Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?” My response was, “I do.” There was a little more to it than that of course, but minister then proclaimed us to be husband and wife.

This is an illustration of what I mean. We receive Jesus as Lord and saviour by saying we believe Him and want to receive His free gift of salvation.

He will never turn you away, no matter what you may or may not have done in life. Jesus promised-
Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37.

This is God’s promise to you concerning salvation. You might not feel saved! There could be many questions or doubts coming your way, so rely on what God has said in His word, including the few scriptures I have already shared and there are many more.

Are you ready to take this important step yet?
If you do not know what to do or how to pray, please let me help you. What you say in prayer is to God, not to me or any other man. Make a conscious effort to speak these words from the very depths of your being. When you finish this prayer, you will be born again.

Heavenly Father, I come to you now in the Name of Jesus.

I pray and ask Jesus to be Lord over my life. I believe it in my heart, so I say it with my mouth: “Jesus has been raised from the dead.” This moment, I make Him the Lord over my life. I am sorry for my sin and ask you to forgive me.

Jesus, come into my heart and make me a son of God. Give me a new start. I believe this moment that I am saved, I say it now: “I am reborn. I am a Christian. I am a child of Almighty God.”

That’s it!

When such a pryer or confession comes from the heart, or in other words, you mean it, you have just been made a partaker of an inheritance from God. You have just inherited the kingdom of God! You are a son or daughter of God.

This is the first step, but that really is it. That's all you have to do...

Welcome to the family

I hope that you reached out to God in your own way and prayed as I recommended, God has heard you.

God sees what is in our hearts and if you reached out in some way to him and asked Him to become a part of your life as I suggested, it is accomplished. It is like making a totally new fresh start to life. We call it getting saved or being born again.

You are still the same person as before, but now things are different. Think of a grub going through a transformation process to go into a cocoon and eventually emerging as a beautiful butterfly. That's the journey you have now embarked upon.

I did that myself way back in September 1968 and can assure you that, even if life has its ups and downs, it is worth it.

I encourage you to learn more about this. Get a good bible if you do not have one. I recommend an easy to read one to start with. This is your handbook or operator's manual that will show you what to do along the way.

Find someone of like mind to talk things over. If you cannot do that, please feel free to send me an email and ask questions. Yo do not have to join me or for that matter start going to church. Sometimes this is not possible, or you might go somewhere that would not be able to understand or help. 

Above all.. see yourself as a new person who has a wonderful future.

Blessings

Robert