Know God

About How to Know God

From the day you were born, you have been on a quest. You have been searching for something more, because deep down inside, you have a sense that life must have some kind of meaning and purpose beyond mere existence. Maybe you've even wondered if you're the only person who feels this way. You aren't. Deep down inside, we are all searching. Whether you are young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick, male or female—you were designed to know God in a deep and personal way. You were made to have a relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

How do you start a relationship with God?

1. Realize that you are a sinner.
   No matter how good a life we try to live, we still fall miserably short of being a good person. That is because we are all sinners. We all fall short of God's desire for us to be holy. The Bible says, "No one is good—not even one" (Romans 3:10 NLT). This is because we can not become who we are supposed to be without Jesus Christ.
2. Recognize that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you.
   The Bible tells us, "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while were still sinners" (Romans 5:8 NLT). This is the Good News, that God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die in our place when we least deserved it.
3. Repent of your sin.
   The Bible tells us, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away" (Acts 3:19 NLT). The word repent means to change our direction in life. Instead of running from God, we can run toward Him.
4. Receive Jesus Christ into your life.
   Becoming a Christian is not merely believing some creed or going to church on Sunday. It is having Christ Himself take residence in your life and heart. Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door [of your life] and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in. . ." (Revelation 3:20 NKJV).

If you would like to have a relationship with Christ, simply pray this prayer and mean it in your heart.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, Jesus Christ has now taken residence in your heart! Your decision to follow Christ means God has forgiven you and that you will spend eternity in heaven. The Bible tells us, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 NKJV).

http://harvest.org

Cheap Thrills

It has been said that the best cure for hedonism is an attempt to practice it.

If you chase after pleasure, you will eventually come to the same conclusion as King Solomon: "I said to myself, 'Come now, be merry; enjoy yourself to the full.' But I found that this, too, was futile. For it is silly to be laughing all the time; what good does it do?" (Ecclesiastes 2:1–2 TLB).

The Bible tells us that if the driving desire of our lives is to please ourselves, that very quest will be the source of endless problems and heartaches. "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it" (James 4:1–2 NLT).

The people who chase after pleasure never really experience it. It comes down to this: If you live for yourself and your own happiness and pleasure, then you will be a miserable person. It's ironic that the people who live for happiness never find it, while the people who live for God find happiness as a byproduct. The people who chase after pleasure never really experience it. They may find little bits here and there, but nothing to speak of—certainly nothing enduring. Yet the people who live for God experience the ultimate pleasure: a joy that bubbles up from deep down in the inmost being.

Pleasure isn't, in itself, a bad thing, although you might get that impression from some Christians. I think the Christian life is the most pleasurable life around. Why? Because God is the Creator of light and laughter and joy. . .beginning here and now, and stretching on into eternity. The Bible teaches, "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand" (Psalm 16:11 NIV).

Cheap thrills are a dime a dozen. True and lasting happiness comes from the hand of God.


Greg Laurie  http://harvest.org

Do You Know Jesus?

The Son Question

	"For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, 'The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved."

— Acts 4:11–12

The conventional wisdom about what happens when you die is that you will stand before God, and if you did enough good works that outweighed your bad works, then you get into heaven, because heaven is for good people. And good people go to heaven.

Then the other belief is that if you have done enough bad things that outweigh your good works, then you will go to hell, because hell is for bad people. Heaven is for good people who get in by good works, while hell is for bad people who do bad things.

But that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that hell is prepared for the devil and his angels (see Matthew 25:41); it isn't prepared for bad people at all.

Heaven is the dwelling place of God, and the way you get into heaven is on the basis of what you did with Jesus. What God will want to know is did you believe in Jesus Christ?

Even if you have lived a wicked life and sinned throughout all of it, if on your deathbed you were to call out to the Lord Jesus Christ in genuine repentance, you would go to heaven. But if you lived a good life and have been a relatively moral person and have done good deeds, but you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ, then you would not go to heaven. And by the way, your good works never would outweigh your bad works. So be thankful that is not what you will be judged for.

The assurance that we will go to heaven is not as our culture often sees it, but this is as the Bible teaches it. It is the Son question—not the sin question. 


Greg Laurie http://harvest.org

Who is Jesus?

Psychologists have long known that every person has two great longings and inward needs. The first is to be loved, and the second is to love. But when pressures and heartaches come into our lives, many give up any hope of ever finding love.

The tragedy is that we often look in the wrong places to fill this deep, deep need and longing. Some substitute lust for love. Others pursue material things or superficial relationships - all in the futile attempt to fill a God-shaped vacuum in the human heart.

But there is good news! There is a love worth finding and a love worth sharing. The Bible says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). On the cross of Christ, God's mighty love was revealed and offered unconditionally to all who would be saved.

Do you long to know this mighty love? Then I need to ask you the most important question you'll ever be asked: Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves you, that your sins are forgiven, and that you are saved and on your way to heaven?

The great news is, you can know! Let me share with you how to discover the greatest love worth finding.

Admit Your Sin

First, you must admit that you are a sinner. The Bible says, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

It is our sin that separates us from God and from fulfilling our deepest needs and longings. Sin is an offense against God that carries a serious penalty. According to Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death [eternal separation from the love and mercy of God]."

Abandon Your Efforts

Second, you must abandon any efforts to save yourself. If we could save ourselves, Jesus' death would have been unnecessary!

Even "getting religion" cannot get you to heaven. The Bible says it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His [God's] mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5). Salvation is by God's grace, "not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Acknowledge Christ's Payment

What you cannot do for yourself, Jesus Christ has done for you! "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He died on the cross for you and then rose from the dead to prove that His payment was acceptable to God. But you must acknowledge and believe this fact. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

Accept Christ as Your Savior

Salvation is God's gift to you. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). When someone offers you a priceless gift, the wisest thing you can do is accept it! This very moment, you can receive Christ's gift of salvation by sincerely praying this simple prayer from your heart:

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that You love me and want to save me. Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God, who died on the cross to pay for my sins. I believe God raised You from the dead. I now turn from my sin and, by faith, receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Come into my heart, forgive my sins, and save me, Lord Jesus. In Your name I pray, Amen.

Love Worth Finding  http://lwf.org

A Reason for Hope

	Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

—Romans 5:5

Sometimes God is glorified through the removal of an affliction. When we have a problem, people pray with us about it, and it is resolved, we praise God for that. If a physician performs surgery, and that loved one is cancer-free, we thank God. We thank the doctor, too, but we realize God is the one who is ultimately in control.

But then there are times when the surgery doesn't go as well as we had hoped. There are times when the illness is not removed. The problem is not taken away. It is then that God can be glorified through the enduring of the affliction. And it is through hardship that we will develop hope.

You would think the best way to find hope is to have a trouble-free life. No, the best way to find hope is through the crises of life. In Romans 5:3–5 we read, "But we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Hope is going to come through hardship. So when a Christian suffers and still glorifies God, it reassures the rest of us there never will be a valley so deep that God will not get us through it.

It also reminds us that death is not the end. Physical death is not the end of existence; it is just a change in the state of existence. The tomb is not the entrance to death, but the entrance to life. Heaven is the earthly life of the believer, glorified and perfected. When a believer dies, he or she goes into God's presence. That is the ultimate hope.


Greg Laurie
harvest.org

Kari Jobe Revelation Song w Lyrics

Kari Jobe - Revelation Song