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You can be sure that God’s heart is towards you! Even before you were born, He knew all about you. We believe there is a God-shaped hole in every person’s life that only He can fill.
If you could know God personally, would you be interested?
We sometimes do questionnaires with people on the street, which finish with this question. Many people answer with yes! Are you also one of them?
The Bible tells us that every person – that includes you – was created in the image of God. That means we all have aspects of His personality, emotions, desires, intelligence, a sense of justice. As human beings, we were created to know God and have a relationship with Him. God wants a deep, personal relationship with us and that is why we too have that longing, deep inside.
So, what’s stopping us having a personal relationship with God?
God is holy, which means He is absolutely good, with no failings or evil in Him. Human beings, on the other hand, are not naturally holy. Did you ever tell a lie, or feel terribly jealous? All these things the Bible calls “sin”, and sin is what separates from a holy God. You can imagine it like this God is on one side of a valley, with us on the other side, and in between is a wide chasm, a separation, due to our sinfulness.
Sin is serious stuff… so serious in fact that it requires the death penalty. The Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). In Old Testament times animals were sacrificed in order for people to be able to come near a holy and just God. The Bible tells us that “The wages of sin is death” – a spiritual separation from God (Romans 6:23).
Because God wants that relationship with you, He came up with a way to overcome this dilemma.
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)
Justice occurs when the right penalty is administered for the fault. If God simply let us keep on going and overlooked everything we did, this would not be justice – it would be like the referee in a football game allowing goals we had only achieved by breaking every rule in the book! But we could never reach perfection ourselves – all our own efforts are at best good works and religiosity.
Instead, God came to us Himself and allowed the punishment for all sins to be inflicted on Him in our place. Jesus, the Bible says, is “Immanuel” – which means God with us. He died in our place … His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sin. He did not come to burden us with rules and to criticise us – the Jesus in the Bible is shown healing, comforting, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, releasing people… The Bible tells us that ‘God is love’ and that is why He sent His Son Jesus to die on our behalf, because of His love for you and me.
Receive and believe!
God has already done everything needed for us to enter into a relationship with Him – but if we do not personally take steps to accept this, it’s like getting a wonderful gift but leaving it wrapped under the Christmas tree forever. So, how do we accept Him?
A – Acknowledge to God that we are sinners, and that we want to turn away from a life of sin (called “repentance” in the Bible).
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
B – Believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that God sent Him to pay the penalty for sin.
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)
C – Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as your saviour and invite Him to be the Lord of your life.
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. (Romans 10:9)
If you would like to enter into a relationship with God, then please pray the words of this prayer:
God, I thank you that you hear me and that you love me.
I confess before you that I am a sinner, deserving your judgment. I thank you that you sent Jesus in my place to die on the cross for my sin, and you raised him from the dead.
Lord Jesus, please forgive me of my sin, I ask you to come into my life and be the Lord of my life from this day forward. Amen.
If you prayed this with your heart, you have just become a Christian and have entered into a living relationship with your Lord and Saviour! This is a completely new beginning for you – God has forgiven you your sin and you have now become His child.
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor 5:17 NLT)
If you prayed the prayer, or have any questions about it, please get in touch.
If you have already committed your life to Jesus but not yet been baptised as a believer, we would love to help you take this important step.
Baptism is a fundamental aspect of the Christian faith, and a commandment of Jesus which He detailed in Matthew 28:19.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
Water baptism cuts off our past life (with its sinfulness and habits) and rebirths us into the new life that God intends for us.
Something ‘supernatural’ takes place!
The immersing, submersion and emerging at baptism shows our identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (see Romans 6:3-5).
When we come up out of the waters of baptism, we now live our new ‘resurrected’ life in Him.
The prerequisites for water baptism are that repentance and faith in Christ must be in operation first. The only water baptism the Bible teaches is believers’ baptism (notice, not adult but anyone old enough to believe).
In Acts 2:38, the apostle Peter said “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
So if you have repented of your sins and committed your life to Jesus, you absolutely can, and should, get baptised!
At Hope Church, we usually baptise people outdoors in local expanses of water – in lakes or the river Isar.
For all our searching – it’s rare to find time to think, and talk, about the big questions of life; about faith and reason and God and meaning. The Alpha Course is an 11-week film series which creates a space for people to come together and do exactly this!
The film series is run both online and physically (with food!). If you are interested, please get in touch.
We’d love to connect with you! Signup for our weekly newsletter updates, follow us on social media, or get in touch directly.
Every Sunday at 4pm
Ingolstädter Str. 43, 80807 Munich (Rooms of the Evangeliumszentrum)
& Online
We are so excited that you’re taking the step to invite Jesus into your life! Please provide us with some details so we can support you and pray for you as you start your new journey together with God. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible!
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