God's Free Gift
KNOWING GOD PERSONALLY
Most aspects of life on earth seem to cost us something, be it relationships, our labor, finances, and for some of us possibly, our
very lives. In order to accomplish something that has merit, all require some type of measurable "effort" or sacrifice if you will. Life on this planet is a very emotionally draining experience. Fortunately, I believe the most
important thing is free, a relationship with God. In order to understand life, and enjoy it, I believe it is vital for us to know who created us, and the reason for our existence. I believe we were created to establish and enjoy
relationships. The most important one is with our Creator, our source of life and love. Drawing from His power source is what enables us to understand and enjoy our lives, rather then strive through them.
TRUE FREEDOM
Because I also believe that God truly loves us unconditionally, he knew the only way he could experience the reward of our love toward him, was if it were voluntary. Otherwise, we would all just be slaves, robots, or
automatons reacting to his commands, living with no concept of what true freedom or love is. Hence, God created the human race with a free will to make choices. Although many believe that the freedom we have as a race, presents too
great a danger to society, (9/11 would be an example of that), I believe instead, it is one of God's greatest gifts. With this freedom, comes opportunities to learn to share true love and respect with each other. Without the
ability to choose, we would have no freedom. Without this kind of freedom, we would not be able to experience true relationships filled with genuine love between each of us, or with our Creator.
THE NECESSARY RISK
God knew when he created the human race with a free will to make choices, we might rebel from a life of faith in him, and attempt to selfishly control our own destiny. (Sounds like many typical parent/child relationships we
may know, right?) The first broken relationship was between God and Man. The Bible explains this self-centered choice on our part as the greatest of all sins, "unbelief", faith in ourselves, instead of our, seemingly, invisible
creator. (John 16:9, Hebrews 3:19).
THE PENALTY It sounds harsh to our finite minds, but so that we would recognize the value of created life and what a great privilege it is, it seems that God had to impose the ultimate penalty for our choosing of a selfish
lifestyle apart from Him, the penalty was death...spiritual death, separation from a relationship with Him, our source of life, and love. Without the induction of a penalty, we would not know we had a problem, (Romans 3:20). As
created beings, we are not qualified to be "the BOSS". Our creator's concept of love and justice far exceeds ours, which should be evident to us after all these centuries. Hence, after spiritual death came physical death, both of
which spread through the entire human race, including this multi-dimentional realm we refer to as our universe, necessitating our need for a savior. (Romans 6:23, 8:19-22).
SALVATION Each of us must ultimately consider our spiritual condition, and realize our genuine need to be redeemed by our creator, to be made "alive" by Him. We are all born dead, spiritually, we must all experience two
births, our initial physical birth, then at some point in our lives, we must be born again, spiritually by Christ. Upon becoming aware of our fallen condition, salvation should be the most important thing for every human being.
(Deuteronomy 30:19, John 3:3-18, 3:36, 6:40, 10:10, 17:2-3, Romans 10:9-11).
WHY WE BELIEVE JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY By what basis do those of
us who follow Jesus, claim that he is the Messiah, the only person, through whom we are able to establish a relationship with the creator of the universe, and receive eternal salvation from spiritual death after physical life,
simply by placing all of our trust in Him, (instead of ourselves), and believing His words are truth for life instead of our own? First, I believe that every human being, (including professing atheists, and agnostics), know, in
their hearts, that we have a creator, (Romans 1:19-20). So every human being knows that he or she is responsible for their actions, and their professions, their behavior, and their spoken words towards others. And therefor, most if
not all of us, have a perception about the "character" of God, don't you agree? We often say: "God is love", but how many of us really know what the true love of God really is? Second, if the Bible as we know it, (the Holy Bible
as it is named), is to be accepted as the true Word of God that testifies to fallen humanity and the reality of the life of Jesus Christ, the incarnate God man, and creator of this universe, how can we know that it can be trusted
to be just that, without signing up for a lengthy course at a local seminary? I believe the answers are evident, (but they do require each person to read and understand them for themselves). It must not be discounted without
personal consideration. (Don't go by what you have heard from someone else, check it out for yourself! I suggest the question can be answered by asking ourselves, what kind of character do we truly wish to associate with our
creator and godhead of mankind? What is our true perception of a loving god, deep within each of our own hearts and minds? Isn't it a matter of each one of us considering what we perceive to be the true character of God,
understanding what Christ the Messiah stands for, and what he has done for us, (Acts 2:22-24, 4:27, Briefly then, if the Agape love of God is truly
unconditional in nature, the character of God can be seen, first in the Law of Moses, (which reflects the true character of God, not humanity), then by looking at John 3:16-17, and further in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, and in many other
passages. The reason the Bible presents us with the fact that we live in a fallen world, is so we will recognize our condition, compared to His perfection, and turn to Him for His provision, which is Jesus Christ, the incarnate,
(tangibly demonstrated), representitive of the true character of all mighty God, the creator of humanity and this universe we inhabit, In view of the overwhelming evidence we have acquired over the centuries, demonstrating that
the person of Jesus Christ is the Messiah, Son of God, it then stands to reason, that he truly was the only person in history that was to lay down His life for humanity. Therefor, I believe it is appropriate, and necessary for us
all, to address the following question as life's most important one; "What will we do with Jesus"? God loved us so much, He laid down His earthly life for us. Now it is a matter of either acceptance or rejection on our part. (1
Timothy 2:5-6, John 14:6). This is why we teach (and preach) that every person who comes into this world is given a choice to restore this broken relationship with God through Jesus Christ and be "born again", a spiritual rebirth
by our creator God. The penalty for our sins was paid at the cross 2000 years ago, the verdict was guilty, the penalty was death, and Jesus took it! God himself paid the ultimate price for us, through His son. (1 Peter 3:18,
Colossians 2:13-14, Romans 5:8).
THE ULTIMATE FREE GIFT
Therefore, God offers salvation to all of humanity as a free gift! He offers it through Jesus Christ because He came to earth and lived a sinless life, fulfilled all 613 commandments of the Law of Moses, (which we
cannot), took the penalty for all of our sins upon Himself, conquered death by rising from the grave, and, as if all that wasn't enough, offers His resurrected life to us, free, for eternity. This act has to be the greatest
demonstration of unconditional love for all of time and history! Salvation is a genuine relationship with our creator, God restoring in us, that which we lost in Adam, the Spirit of God living in us, to live through us, towards
others. "Jesus died for you, so He could give His life to you, so He could live His life through you". We do not loose our
personality, quite the opposite, we find our true selves with the help of our Creator, by His Spirit living in us, graciously and lovingly guiding us through life. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:18).
OUR PRIDE CAN FOOL US!
Don't be deceived into thinking you can "work" your way to Heaven. God's requirement for entrance into His kingdom and that all important eternal relationship with Him, is to fulfill His law of perfect-love. This love is
unconditional, and everlasting, to all and for all. It is easy to see, for example, by looking into the Law of Moses, that this is impossible for us to accomplish in our own strength. The purpose of the Law of Moses is to show us
right from wrong, in order to reveal our fallen condition, so we will turn "to" Him for His provision. It is to show us we have a problem, it is not intended to make us run from Him in fear, guilt, and shame! (Romans 3:19-20, 2
Corinthians 3:5-8). Since He created us, and loves us more then we can imagine, He made a way for each of us to enter back into a personal relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ, yet thereby, maintaining our free agency.
He does not require us to work to attain this eternal bond, its free, its a gift of His mercy, again protecting our freedom of choice. We need simply to accept it by faith
in Him who has paid the penalty for our sins and our rebellious unbelief! (Romans 3:23, 6:23, John 3:16-18).
YOU MAY RECEIVE HIM NOW
All that is necessary to enter into a relationship with God and receive His peace and joy, is to believe
in Jesus Christ and what He has provided for you. "Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God". (John 1:12).
THE DIVINE CHECK LIST
1. Admit your need for a savior. We all need one, we were created as dependent 2. Be willing to repent (change your mind from trusting in yourself to trusting in Him).
3. Simply accept that Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross, and rose from the dead 4. Pray, invite Him to come in and fill your life. You are not saved by prayer, but it is a
Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying for the forgiveness of my sins and for
YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!
If you prayed that prayer to trust God as your Lord and Savior, your source of life and love, you can know for sure that you are saved and have eternal life. You must understand that it is a fact, not based on how you
feel. You no longer need live by your feelings, they constantly change with our circumstances. Just take God at His Word and believe His promises, they are to YOU. That is one of the main reasons for reading the Bible, God will
show you how much He loves you, and assure you personally, that you have eternal life! "He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 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 5:12-13).
YOU HAVE A NEW FAMILY - WHAT NOW? First, it
is very important that you acquire and begin to read the Word of God, the Bible. I like to suggest that new believers begin in the book of John, (John is known as the apostle of love, and he presents us with immutable evidence of
the deity of Christ). Read through the New Testament, then start at the book of Matthew and read it again! Become familiar with the "New Covenant", the Old Testament is history, "a shadow of what was to come in Christ" (Hebrews
10:1-18). It is difficult to understand the Old Covenant and it's relationship to us, without understanding the New. It all ties together when we understand the distinctions between the two very important aspects of Scripture, Law
& Grace. Why is reading the Bible so important to us? When you make a new friend, what do you do? You listen
to him or her in order to get to know them, if you do not listen to them, or if you do all the talking, you will never get to know them personally, right? Its the same way when getting to know God. By reading His Word, His Holy Spirit will help you get to know His character and how much He loves you. This is vital to your new relationship, it will build you up and He
will reveal Himself to you. Second, it is equally important that you make contact with fellow believers in Christ the Messiah, and profess your new faith to them. We hope you will contact us at this ministry and let us
know you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. We want to help you grow in your new relationship and send you some additional information that will help you find a healthy, well-balanced church to attend so you can meet other
believers and establish new relationships that will help you grow in your faith. God is
a good God, the Bible promises you will not be disappointed with Him or your new faith. Give Him a chance to show you how much He loves you and how He can give you a new life, a life that is not fragile, like the one we had patterned after this world, before knowing Him.
God bless you and we look forward to hearing from you.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)? His love is unlike the emotional and self-serving love we all grow up with in
society. God's love is truly unconditional in nature, and therefor, cannot be "won over" by our works, our efforts to save ourselves so to speak, by being, what we perceive to be, "good people", (Ephesians 2:8-9). So then, if we
can accept that the Bible is true, and this love is true love, one can make a judgment as to the validity of Christ's earthly life, death, resurrection, and His offer of salvation.
creatures, not independent, (as modern philosophies would have you believe).
We are all sinners, in need of the Savior. (Romans 3:23-24).
Choose a new Lord. This is not a time to be worried about whether God will accept or
reject you based on your behavior or lifestyle. Our behavior is based on what we are
believing. God loves us unconditionally
, no matter what we are doing. Our ultimate
behavior will reflect our nature as we get to know Him and how great His love is for us.
He will never reject you, you are His child for eternity. (Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 8:35-
-39, Ephesians 1:6).
to give you everlasting life. Accept Him as your savior and Lord.
(Psalms 103:12, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
genuine way of expressing your faith in Him. Below is a suggested prayer you can pray
from the heart right now, to receive Christ into your life:
offering me your righteousness and resurrected life. I now accept, by faith, your free gift
of salvation. Through your Word (the Bible) and your Holy Spirit, teach me about your
love and grace, and about the new life you have given me. Begin the work of making me
into the person you want me to be. Amen.
God's Free Gift
Copyright 1999-2006 by Ralph Chambers
P.O. Box 8763
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. 33310-8763