@joshua-paul
<p>Have you ever found yourself asking this question? Have you ever wondered why these Christians make such a big deal about Jesus? Ever wondered why some Christians can be so extreme in their beliefs to the point that they would even die for their faith? Maybe you wonder why the Bible is supposed to matter or why even bother with religion at all. Or the ultimate base question might be how does is it possible for God to exist. My hopes are that you reach some new enlightenment to these questions by what is written here.</p> <p>Before I begin let me say that I don’t write this as a theological know it all. In fact I’m almost certain that I won’t be able to answer every question you have about faith and the Christian walk. But what I can offer you is at least the opportunity to have a good general overview from my own personal experiences and what God has shown me about Him through His Word (The Bible), His Counsel from the Holy Spirit and His one on one personal relationship that we have. I also use the testimonies of others to confirm my own interactions with God which help strengthen my faith. I hope this will help strengthen yours.</p> <p>In the beginning God created the first human beings Adam and Eve to live in perfect harmony with God. They had free reign to do whatever they wanted but God gave them one rule of not eating from a particular tree. Eve was tempted by the serpent (Satan) to eat from the tree and she and Adam both ate from the tree. When they did they were ashamed and hid from God. Thus sin entered into the world and changed the very nature of what God had in mind for His creation. But God promised them that from their seed there would be someone to redeem the world from the sin they began.</p> <p>Throughout the entire Old Testament we see where God continuously makes covenants with His people. He is very plain and makes it very clear how He wanted things done from the Ten Commandments all the way down to the highly detailed law of Moses. God’s covenants are always clear in their intentions if you choose Him and His commandments then you are choosing life. If you don’t choose Him and His commandments then you are choosing death. However, all men fell short of keeping these rules even though the rules of the game were clear. It was clear that the rules did not stop man from living out his sinful nature. But God still made many promises throughout the Old Testament that He would bring a savior or Messiah into the world to make things right with God and man.</p> <p>As the New Testament begins we see that a child is born into the world with an unusual birth. This child was born of a virgin mother. Many have tried to argue this away but doesn’t it seem fitting that God would do something unusual to truly get mankind’s attention? Jesus was born and from His birth He was being hunted down by the ruler of His time that wanted Him dead because all the prophecies from the Old Testament spoke of His unusual birth, the location, and what it meant for the rest of the world. Jesus was born of a virgin so that He could not be born from sin nor, although He was tempted, He never gave into sin. Jesus then grew up knowing all of the Jewish laws and customs from the law of Moses and did not begin His ministry until He was 30 years old.</p> <p>For the next three years Jesus was in ministry. He taught the truth of God in the synagogues, He healed the sick, He raised the dead, and He preached the Good News of God to the poor and He did it all out of love. Jesus spoke out against the religious leaders, the Pharisees, because they claimed to be “the” representatives of God but did not live the lives that God required them to live. They forced the religious rules and laws on people and did not follow them for themselves. This made God angry and Jesus communicated God’s anger to them which caused them to be offended.</p> <p>The Pharisees then conspired to have Jesus killed by crucifixion, the most humiliating way to be killed in public. One of Jesus own disciples gave up His location to the Pharisees so that they could arrest Him. When this happened all of His closest disciples ran away. Jesus was given an unfair trial and was beaten by the guards. They drove nails through each of His hands and one through His feet. After they hung Him up on the cross they pierced Him in His side with a spear. When He finally hung his head and died there was an earthquake and even dead bodies in nearby tombs were opened and the dead walked out resurrected. (No not zombies. J)</p> <p>After He was dead for three days some of His followers went to His tomb and found that the stone covering His tomb had rolled away and His body was gone. After some time Jesus appeared to His disciples not just as a spirit but as a physical body. One of His disciples STILL doubted Him and Jesus allowed him to feel the holes in His hands and feet and to feel the scar from the spear in His side. The disciple exclaimed “My Lord and My God!”</p> <p>There is a consequence for every choice that we make whether we choose to believe it or not. Sometimes human beings don’t see the death in our choices because we haven’t experienced the consequences…yet. Whether we choose to acknowledge God or not the covenant still remains. Choose Him, Choose Life. Choose Sin, Choose Death. Whether we’ve done something “small” like taking a candy bar or whether we’ve done something “big” like murdered someone God still sees it all sin, with no different levels of sin, and all sin separates us from God. With separation from God we deserve death and the wrath of God. It’s not just what you face here on earth but this separation lasts through eternity! Yes, Hell is real although God never intended for His creation to be there. Hell was meant for Satan and his demons to dwell but if you choose to live under the dominion of your sin, being satisfied with your separation from God because it feels good, then you are bound to spend eternity to burn forever.</p> <p>That sounds pretty bad doesn’t it? But there is Good News. God knew that we would set ourselves up for this and already had a plan to fix it through Jesus Christ. Instead of you and I having to suffer this wrath that is to come Jesus came so that through His persecution, His beating, and His death He would satisfy the wrath that God had in store for us! The Old Testament Law was about sacrifices and God used Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I did not have to die in our sin. Through His life, death and resurrection Jesus set us free from the power of sin and death in our lives. We don’t have to give into temptation, we don’t have to live defeated lives, and best of all He gave us life and life eternally by giving us access to Heaven.</p> <p>How do you get to Heaven? By accepting this gracious gift that God has given you. There’s not a list of works that you have to do, there’s no merit badges you have to earn and there’s no ranks that you have to climb. God gave us this gift out of sheer grace because He loves us so much. He loved us since He created us and didn’t want to see us go the way we did nor does He like some of things we do but like any good father He allowed us to have the power of choice. If He just made all of our choices for us then how would we learn? How would we grow? How would we ever mature? God stepped in and sent Jesus so that He could save us from ourselves because our own sinful human nature desires to go against God and choose death.</p> <p>The apostle Paul wrote…<br /> “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”</p> <p>It’s that simple. Confess with your mouth and believe it in your heart that Jesus did this all for you and you will be saved. Not only are you saved but God sees you as right with Him and you are connected with your creator! He even sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in you so that you can become a better person and learn how to remove what’s wrong in your thinking so that you can be a light in this dark world instead of being a part of the darkness.</p> <p>There’s no works that you have to do be saved but there are some habits you should incorporate into your life so that you may grow. The first is communicating with God in prayer. Talk to Him like you would a loving father or a best friend. He listens and if you listen He will respond. The second is to get yourself a Bible. It’s so important to read the words that God have given us to know Him and know ourselves. Start in John 1 and keep reading until the end. If you don’t have a physical bible, try <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/">www.biblegateway.com</a> for online resources. I suggest the NIV, NASB, MSG, or NLT versions of the Bible. Third find some fellow believers to fellowship with. A church is the best place to find some believers but make sure that the teaching is sound doctrine. This is why I suggest reading the Bible as step 2 because you need to be able to use the Bible as confirmation for what you heard on Sunday. Don’t take anyone’s (including my own) words as gospel without ever reading the Bible yourself to confirm what you’ve heard. The Bible warns us that some men are out there amongst us appearing to be of God but they are after the wrong things with bad motives.</p> <p>If you have any questions please email me at <a href="mailto:newlabelmuzik@gmail.com">newlabelmuzik@gmail.com</a>. If you need prayer or help finding a church or fellowship in your area I will do all the best I can to help. I have prayed that whoever reads this will truly seek a relationship with Jesus Christ and not a relationship with religion. Seek God and He will never let you down.<br /> Joshua Paul</p>
