The Message
There are many people who think that God is mad at them and that their mistakes and failures are keeping Him from loving them. However, God has delivered a message to the world that says the exact opposite. The Bible calls it “the message of reconciliation” in 2 Corinthians 5:19. It is a message revealing God’s love for us even while we were sinners. In our lowest and darkest condition, God chose to love us instead of abandoning us. The Bible teaches that all of us were born with a sinful condition and that none of our good works could save us. The harsh reality is that we were supposed to pay the penalty for our sins. Instead, God sent Jesus, who was totally innocent, to pay the penalty for us. After three days He arose from the dead in victory over death and is alive today. He did this to free us from our dark past and to give us a new life with a bright future. The Bible shows us that when we choose to believe in this message of God’s love for us, we accept as a personal gift complete forgiveness and total acceptance with God.
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The Decision
With one decision a man or a woman can exchange their sin, guilt, condemnation and shame for total forgiveness, righteousness, joy, and peace. The choice is ours. We can continue to live the life we have known, or we can choose to receive the gift of new life that God has offered us. This life changing decision is made when a person chooses to call Jesus their Lord and personal Savior while believing in their heart that He died on the cross for their sins and that God raised Him from the dead. Jesus said that at the moment a person believes in Him, they pass from death unto life. Salvation is a free gift that is offered by a loving God, paid for by Jesus Christ, and received by a person’s act of faith.
