"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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" - John 3:16
Accepting Jesus is the best decision you will ever make. You will receive the salvation of your soul and a relationship with the God of the universe, creator of all Heaven and Earth. And he will be your father, and you will be his child.
You will receive spiritual life and freedom from death and condemnation for your sins. Salvation is a gift Jesus brought for you, God's only son, and he is holding that gift out to you today, asking if you want to accept it. And if you're here today, you have likely been called by God to come into his family.
First of all, understand the good news. What is it? Well, here is an explanation of the Gospel and some things to do.
The Gospel
Each person is separated from God because of their own sin and sinful behaviour.
Romans 3:10 clearly says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” No one is innocent or ‘good enough ’for Heaven.
Have you ever lied, gossiped, been lazy, or been envious of someone else? These are all sinful actions. I've done all these things...The thing is, no human except Jesus is perfect, nor has been perfect...
Sin must be punished by separation from God, also known as hell.
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God is righteous, and because he is righteous, he must punish evil.
God is righteous, and because he is righteous, he can't just let evil go unpunished. And a fair punishment for sinning against an eternal God is eternal punishment.
People can do nothing to get right with God or to earn merit for salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith- and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God-not by works so no one can boast”
Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
People can't be righteous on their own; we are all unworthy of Heaven...However...someone else is
Recognising this, God had in place from creation a way for an individual to have a relationship with himself. The way was through the death of his perfect, sinless son, Jesus Christ.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8
“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.” -John 3:16
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” -Acts 4:12
Our Lord Jesus came down, lived a perfect life, though he was God, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, he adopted a body we sinners have and came from his place in Heaven. He lived a life of service, doing no wrong. Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, helping the poor, bringing justice and calling out evil. And he died a sinner's death, an innocent man flogged, humiliated, tortured and killed in a death made to be as painful and humiliating as possible. It is estimated that he spent 6 hours on that cross in agony, and when he died, he went to hell. This is what had to be done. Then he rose again 3 days later because death could not hold him. He has now ascended into Heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Each person must repent of his or her sin and personally believe (trust) in Jesus as the only way to receive God's forgiveness and gain entrance to Heaven.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—” John 1:12
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” John 3:36
To repent of sins means to turn from your sins and not willfully engage in sinning. I am not saying you won't ever slip up; you will, but now you have Jesus, who paid the price for your forgiveness. Salvation is a free gift, and Jesus brought it for you. When you slip up, you can get back up and approach God in prayer, knowing you have Jesus, whom God unleashed all his anger on for you to be declared righteous. He took your place.
Salvation granted, and you will be forgiven, accepted as God's child, and Heaven will be yours.
“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
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
You will be God's beloved child by accepting Jesus. He will be your brother, and you will be his younger sibling. The creator sees us as righteous when we accept Jesus, because he took our punishment, and we can have an eternal reward Salvation of our souls and dwelling in paradise.
"That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
What to do now?
You accept his Gift.
Confession of faith is foundational for salvation. Romans 10:9 states: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
You now may pray if you wish. Of course, you might be unaware of what to say, you could just pray something like "God, thank you for saving me. Please help me grow in my faith and have a relationship with you. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen"
Some advice I have is this: 1- Read the bible. A physical bible is recommended, of course, but it's not required. I recommend a physical bible because our phones can cause distractions with notifications; however, looking up what you don't understand is always a possibility. For new readers, I recommend a version like the ESV, NLT, NIV or an easy-read version if you have any reading impairments.
When you read the bible, it's not like a regular book that you read front to back (or back to front in some countries); the bible is thousands of years of texts, and it is actually better to start in the Gospels, or the first 4 books of the New Testament. When I first read the bible, I read some of Genesis, but I knew Jesus wouldn't come in until later. I found out that the Gospels are where to start, of course, you can start at Genesis, and I encourage it after the Gospels. Here is a PDF with all the bible books categorised. You can read it however you want, use a highlighter label, and have fun with it. Paul's letters are pretty good for beginners, also, but do read the gospels first.
My second bit of advice is fellowship, or some kind of community. The enemy/devil can target new believers if they are completely alone. I remember being targeted with ocd through "legalistic" videos. Stay away from videos that say, "signs God is mad at you", for example. If you don't attend church right away, Discord or other online platforms are a great place to meet Christians. I would be careful of Reddit, though, as a new Christian, go on the R/TrueChristian as opposed to the R/Christian or R/Christianity.
My third advice is to follow certain Christian content creators and beware of doomscrolling. I like Impact video ministries, for example and have found support with their advice. Plus, the art style is adorable, haha.
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