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PLAN OF SALVATION
Relationship
God created us in His image so that we could live in close relationship with Him and constantly experience His presence. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, were created perfectly in spirit, soul and body. They had an intimate relationship with God and were able to experience the full joy of His presence.
However, they chose to disobey God and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6). Until then, all they had ever known was good but at the moment of disobedience, evil became part of them also. Like a mutant gene, that same evil, also known as unrighteousness, has been passed on to every person in each succeeding generation. The Bible says, There is no one righteous, not even one…(Romans 3:10).
Righteous God cannot live in relationship with unrighteous man. Our unrighteousness separates us from holy God and prevents us from experiencing the joy of His presence. God’s justice demands that unrighteousness must be punished and eliminated in order for Him to live in relationship with us. However, there is nothing we could ever do on our own to make ourselves righteous before God.
So, in an unprecedented act of unconditional love, God came to earth in human form through Jesus Christ and took the punishment for our unrighteousness. On the cross, all of the evil that separated us from God was placed on Him and He bore it in our place. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus gave His own blood to pay the price that the penalty of our sin required. His atoning death is a gift given freely to all who will receive it. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
God desires to live in relationship with us so much that He will share His righteousness with us. He will change us to be like Him if we choose to let Him. … put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24).
How does this change occur? It happens when we are born again (John 3:7). Just as we were born physically on a certain date, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5) we must also be born spiritually. It is a supernatural miracle initiated and completed by God Himself. When we respond by faith to what God has done on the cross of Calvary, we are born again.
If you have never entered into relationship with God through spiritual birth, please do not delay any longer. . . . now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation (I Corinthians 6:2).
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
§ Believe that Jesus’ death on the cross makes you righteous before God.
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…( Romans 3:22).
§ Confess that you accept God’s gift of salvation and dedicate your life to Him.
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).
§ Depend upon the Holy Spirit to guide your decisions.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).
Fellowship
Fellowship with God is another term for our closeness to Him. Once we have been born again, we are in relationship with Him. However, our fellowship with Him depends upon choices we make.
It is much like a marriage. Once a man and woman marry, they are in the relationship of marriage. However, their closeness to each other depends upon the level of their expression of love for each other.
Once we have entered into relationship with God through His atoning death on the cross, our purpose in life is to develop our fellowship with Him. As in a marriage, our fellowship is dependent upon the level of our expression of love for God. Obedience is the way we express our love for God. When we choose to obey Him by rejecting evil and developing characteristics that are like Him our fellowship is one of joy.
Paul admonishes us that we should flee from evil and …pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith…
(I Timothy 6:11-12). How can we do this?
© Be baptized.
…Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38).
© Become active in a local congregation.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:20).
© Pray. Prayer includes worship, praise, sharing needs, listening for answers.
Be joyful always; pray continually (I Thessalonians 5:17).
© Study the Bible, God’s holy Word, and meditate on it.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psalm 1119:11).
©Go to those who do not know Christ and share the good news with them.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…(Matthew 28:19).
© Obey God and help others.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27).
God provided the way we can live in relationship with Him. We make choices that develop our fellowship. My prayer is that each of you will enter into a personal and meaningful relationship with God and experience the joy of fellowship with Him!
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