Meet Jesus.
Begin a New Life Today.
Discover how to have a real, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and make Him Lord of your life.
You didn’t land here by accident.
God is already working in your heart.He loves you. He knows you.
And He’s inviting you into a relationship that willchange your life.
If you prayed to receive Jesus,
we want to walk with you.
The ABC's of Salvation
A - Acknowledge, Admit, Accept
ACKNOWLEGE God’s presence. Sin desensitizes us, but God is there with you. He has never stopped loving you. He is inviting you into a relationship that will change your life.
Pray aloud: God, I know you are here, with me, and I thank you for always loving me.
ADMIT your sinfulness and your self-directed life, one in which you did not always make room for God. Admit you need of God, and your desire to know Him. I repent for a life of sin – of my failure to surrender to you. Turn my life around.
Pray aloud: God, I want you in my life. I am sorry for closing you out. For my independence from you.
ACCEPT God’s love.
“For God so loved YOU! (John 3:16).
He loves you. Christ came looking for you – and that cost him his life. Now, the Holy Spirit is looking for you. That still small voice is His voice. But you cannot merely know God loves you. You must RECEIVE his love – and love him back.
Pray aloud: God, I know that you love me, and I love you with all my heart, my soul and my life. Pray it until you believe it.
B - Believe
BELIEVE – that God loves you.
- That Jesus is the Son of God who came looking for you!
- That Christ came, not to condemn, but to give you life.
- That Christ rose from the dead – and that there is life beyond death in Christ.
The Bible says,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved! (Acts 16:31).
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18).
BELIEVE – that Christ did not come to condemn us! He came because sin had doomed us, and we had no way out, no way to God. He came because we had no choice, no pathway to change – but all that changed in Christ. He is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them (John 3:36).
BELIEVE – that God raised Christ from the dead. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him (1 Thess. 4:14).
BELIEVE – the record of scripture.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).
C - Confess
CONFESS – that you need God.
- that you can’t change yourself or fix your sin problem.
- that you believe a relationship with Jesus would change you.
- that you desire to changed, to let Christ live his life in you, with you.
- Jesus Christ as savior and as Lord!
CONFESS that you need God.
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psa. 63:1)
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psa. 46:1).
Pray: God, I need you. Be my refuge. Be my strength. Help me, I am in trouble!
CONFESS that you can’t change yourself.
The Bible uses terms like conversion or born again or regeneration – all are the work of the Spirit. Jeremiah the prophet asked, “Can a leopard change its spots,” or can we change our skin color? (Jer. 13:23), and then he said flatly – Jerusalem, the people, cannot change. Nor can we. But God can change us inside out. 2 Corinthians 5:17, promises that we can become a new person – “a new creation.” Romans 12:2 tell us how. We are “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” God help us think differently and see the world differently. Jeremiah 29:11 promises hope and a new future because God’s power works to make things new and create a better path for your life, empowering you to leave the old behind.
Pray: I can’t change myself. God, change me. I yield my life to you.
CONFESS that you believe Jesus can change your life. Invite him into your life and surrender control to him.
Pray: Lord Jesus. Come into my life – not for a quick fix, but for the rest of my life. Change me. Be Lord in my heart and over every decision.
In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me”.
Romans 10:9-10, says, “If you confess or declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
CONFESS Jesus, not only as Savior, but as the Lord of your life.
Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).
Would You Like Someone To
Pray With You?
Pray With a Leader Who Has Led Millions to Christ
Billy Graham
How Do I Become a Christian? It's Complex.
Above, we gave you a quick overview – now let’s go a bit deeper. Before we do, let’s go back to the simple. Becoming a Christian is being arrested, captivated, by the clear sense that God loves you and wants, not only to have a conversation with you, but a lifetime relationship.
As a result of sensing God’s love – you love him, not merely with human love, but with divine, His love returned. That love captures your heart, your mind, your habits, the whole of your life. It is deeper than a marriage where there is profound love, greater than the love we feel from or for our parents or children.
Because of this love – God begins to love others through us. He changes our attitudes. We forgive. We forget. We draw circles, not lines. The Love of God. Our love for God. And His love, through us, for others.
It’s simple!
Ah, but it is also complex. Let’s jump into the deep end of the pool.
Often, you will find a presentation with four steps to becoming a Christian, and on another site, five, six or seven steps. Why? There is no one way. Everyone who comes to Christ comes the same way, and yet, in a radically different way. God meets all of us somewhere on our individual journey. But, when we compare stories, there are similarities. What are they?
Deeper Teachings
Purpose
Here is how you respond.
- Act with humility before God – if possible, get on your knees.
- Be honest with God. About your sin, your independence, your need for him, your desire for a relationship with Him.
- Call on the Lord. Call out His name. Confess your sin. Then, confess Jesus as Lord. “Through his name, we receive the remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). The name of Jesus, the names of God are not merely sounds – they are a powerful means of supplication. They entreat, they appeal to heaven, they summons God’s intervention, by His invitation.
- Draw near to God. Be intentional. Surrender everything that might be an obstacle to knowing and following God. Repent. Renounce sin. Turn away from sin and self and toward God.
- Endure, by grace and faith. Jesus talks about the seed of the gospel that is stolen by the birds, a reference to Satan, who will attempt to convince you that nothing happened to you, that you can’t change, that you should go on with your life without God. Other seeds fell on hard and stony ground. Pray for a tender heart. Humility softens our hearts; pride hardens us. Then, some seed was choked out by weeds – this represents the world and our entanglement with unsaved friends, habits, desires. Ask God to give you a godly mentor and put you in good soil. The seeds in good soil produced 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold. (Mt. 13:1-23). Endurance is the act, the power to withstand hardship, to persevere, to survive the winter and the heat of the summer, floods and droughts, by deep roots in God’s grace. “He that endures to the end shall be saved” (Mt. 10:22). He that “endures hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2”3). We are in a war. “He that endures chastening” (Heb. 12:7) – the gracious corrections of God. “He that endures temptation,” (James 1:12), saying no to the world, the flesh and Satan, that person “will receive a crown of life.” Literally, they will be crowned with life itself!
- Forgive. Boldly, Openly. Freely. You have been forgiven all of your sins – and adopted by God. Forgiveness with God is not merely gift, it is a vocation. Forgiven, we forgive – we extend grace as it has been extended to us. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” (Mt. 6:12). This is how Jesus taught us to pray!
- Grace. We are saved by grace – this is God’s benevolent nature in action. It is an expression of His unconditional love. It is pure gift – God’s goodness toward us. Paul, in Titus 2:11, speaks of “the grace of God that brings salvation…”
- Have faith. The just, the righteous, live by faith! That faith is divinely inspired by God’s grace.
Here is what you cannot do. You cannot neglect your inner man. The experience of the new birth leads to a relationship. It puts you in a family – to be nurtured, to grow and develop into the godly person and purpose for which you have been placed on the earth.
The writer of Hebrews warns.
Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation” (Heb. 2:1-3).
Cherish your new relationship with God, through Christ, by the indwelling Spirit.
Pray: Lord, I humble myself before you! You know my sin, my shortcomings, my whole life is open before you. Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus. Save me. I confess my sinful condition, and I confess Christ, as my savior. I want to know you – to be close to you. I surrender my life. Give me grace to endure to the end – to endure temptations and trials, peer pressure and by faith, to overcome fear. Amen.
Promises
God has made promise to you – you should know them. There are 8,810 promises to we humans in the Bible.
You can have peace with God through Christ (Rom. 5:1).
You can know God’s love (John 3:16).
You can experience life – abundant life (John 10:10).
He will never leave you, even under the shadow of death (Psa. 23:4).
Why don’t you have this peace? This life? This love? This assurance?
Problem
The problem is sin – not primarily sins, though they matter, but it is sin – that’s a life lived apart from God. A life that has failed to acknowledge Him, pray, seek His face and His will. It is separation from God. It is a life that has made things, people, perhaps ourselves, more important than God.
But your iniquities…
(The idea is lawlessness, or a failure to live a life with an attitude of reverence for or obedience to God. We do as we please. That attitude, that disposition has caused a broken relationship)
… have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 52:2).
Still, even in sin,
God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:15). The words of the apostle Paul.
But,
We all have sinned! And fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
We were created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27) and crowned with glory! (Psa. 8:5; Heb. 2:7). Glory is the radiance of God, the fruit of His holiness (Isa. 6:3). What is holy in heaven is revealed as glorious to us on the earth. Sin, the opposite of holiness, eclipses God’s glory in our lives. Holiness is not merely moral righteousness. It is wholeness, integrity, health, life itself. Sin fractures. It diminishes us. It wounds and makes us less than whole, unhealthy. God is calling us to a journey of holiness – one that leads to wholeness, and the restoration of His glory on our lives.
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23).
Which path will you choose?
There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way to death (Prov. 14:12).
Jesus spoke of the broad road and the narrow road. Many are on the broad road, but few find the narrow way (Mt. 7:13-14). You have found it – now take the first steps to renew your relationship with God.
Pathway
Jesus came looking for me and you. The world, even religious leaders rejected him. The Roman government crucified him. Still, he loves us – from heaven. He rose from the dead, and now reigns in exile, planning to return to catch us away, to be with Him. It sounds like a fairy tale. But this is the truth in which all fairy tales are based. Even now, Jesus, in heaven, is praying for you.
There is one God, and there is on mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
Jesus Christ is the only way to God, the Father. Why one way? It is a cure for our independence, our rebellion, our self-will. It is a call to trust and obedience. Remember, it was a lack of trust and obedience that were at the root of the first sin (Gen. 3). You often hear today that all religions lead to heaven. Don’t believe it. Would you give your only son, as God did, Christ willingly suffering death on the cross, if there were other paths? No, Christ came because there was no other way to the Father. He is the only way to the true and living God.
Plan
Bible Terms
SOME BIBLE TERMS
When the Bible talks about salvation, it uses a number of terms that describe both the process and the experience.
- CONVICTION is a work of the Spirit that makes you aware that you have offended God by attitudes and actions that are not consistent with His nature, or how He made you. That demands that you hear God’s voice calling you home (Rom. 10:7; John 16:8-11)).
- CONFESSION. In any conviction, one must enter a plea. We confess that we are sinners – enemies to God’s very nature of holiness by the way we have lived. We confess both our sin, and we enter of plea of mercy for God’s grace to save us. (Rom. 10:9). But we must not only confess our sins, we must forsake our sins (Prov. 28:13).
- REPENTANCE is an act of responding to conviction. When we repent, we acknowledge that we have offended God, and we ask for forgiveness, with an intention to change our ways. (Acts 2:38). If we do not repent, we will perish. This is not an option (Lk. 13:3). There must be brokenness over sin.
- REDEMPTION. This is a purchase. It is an economic transaction. Here is a spiritual, and it is measured not by money, but by life itself. Christ gave his life for your life. He redeemed you. He owns you – twice! Pretty blunt, uh? You are his by creation; and you are his by redemption. But he redeemed you, to free you – from sin and death, and any bondage in your life. Now, redeemed, set free, without shackles, what will you do with that freedom?
- CONVERSION is the change that the Holy Spirit brings. He really can change us – into a new creation. (Mt. 18:3). Redeemed, we are now free to change!
- REGENERATION is a term synonymous with the popular term, born again. It means that God is implanted a spark of His life in us. He has empowered us, put life in us. We have born again – given a chance to begin again. (John 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:17; I Pet. 1:3; Titus 3:5). Paul, writing to the Ephesians declared, “Even when we were dead in sins, [God] has quickened us together with Christ; for by grace are you saved” (2:5). It is as if we are raised up, saved, born again, regenerated, when Christ walked out of the tomb. Now, we reach back into history and touch that timeless moment and experience with Christ, resurrection, regenerating power.
- PARDON is a judicial term. We have been convicted. We confessed. And God has granted us a pardon. We leave the courtroom guilt free. With a clean record. (Micah 7:18; Isa. 55:7; Mk. 2:10).
- JUSTIFICATION. This is a legal term having to do with your pardon. The court of heaven, based on the testimony of Christ in your behalf and the witness of the Holy Spirit, declares you innocent – justified. Your sins are transferred to the file of Jesus and marked paid. You are justified by faith.
- ADOPTION is a new legal status. We are not only forgiven, but we are also adopted into the family of God. His home, heaven, is our home. His estate is our inheritance. We are Christians, the children of God with full rights and responsibilities. Liberation would have been a noble grift, but instead of setting us free, we are sons and daughters. (Eph. 1:5; Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:23).
- BELIEVE. Faith is required. This cannot be a rote matter, but one that you embrace and believe down to your toes. It is matter of new thinking – your head, and new sensing – your heart. It is more than an intellectual thing. It is call to covenant, to a new relationship. You must believe, not only that God exists, but also, that He is a good God, who loves you. (Rom. 10:9, 17).
- RECEIVE. You must believe, and receive Christ, with open arms. He must be your ever constant companion. Receiving him is more than believing, it is active appropriation. It is laying hold of Christ, his promises and life, all he is. (John 1:12; 13:20; 1 Cor. 2:12).
- SANCTIFICATION. This is the process by which God makes you holy. He declares you holy – like someone taking a condemned sign off a house that is great need of repair. Second, he begins to make you holy. Amazingly, he moves into the dilapidated house. He changes you from the inside out. He has purchased you –
Remember, we are saved by grace – not works, not our righteousness, but because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us. He died at the hands of sinful men – without retaliating, loving them and forgiving them, as a substitute for us. And yet he lives.
By faith, which is quickened by the Holy Spirit, at the hearing of God’s word – we believe. We believe against unbelief. At times, we may cry out, “Lord, help my unbelief” (Mk. 9:24). And God grants grace, to enable faith. This is not a natural purely rational process, nor is it irrational. It is supernatural, a work of the Spirit, who opens our eyes and senses to the world on top of this world.
Welcome.
Now that you’ve met Jesus...What’s Next?
Read The Bible Daily
Read a psalm every day, a chapter in Proverbs, and one from the gospels. Read in a translation you can understand. Consider New King James, New American Standard, or paraphrase, a modern language Bible, The Living Bible, The Amplified Bible, The Passion Translation, or others. Read your Bible and mark it up. Memorize a passage daily.
Get Connected to Other Christians
When God saved Saul, who became Paul, the apostle, he immediately connected him to a mentor who helped him understand what was happening to him. Who shared Christ with you? Who do you know someone who is a strong Christian? Connect with them. Or, ask God to send someone to you as he sent Annanias to Saul of Tarsus (Paul, the apostle: Acts 9:1-19).
Confess Christ
You need to tell your friends – maybe a busload, about your decision. When you do that, you cross a line of commitment. You declare your new identity. You invite them to know Christ. We are a witness to them that Jesus is still alive.
Seek to Be Continually Filled With The Spirit
The disciples were filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4; 4:31). Paul, writing to the Ephesians, urges them to continually be filled with the Spirit (5:18). We are always desperately in need of the Holy Spirit’s fullness. It is the divine energy we need to do God’s will.
Pray Every Day
Do these things when you pray. Give God thanks! Worship. Then pray with a Bible passage in front of you. Read it. Identify the big ideas. Pray those back to God – have a conversation with God using the Bible. Then, listen – for God to speak to you. Then enter into the passage. Pray for others, especially those who do not know God, your friends. Then lay out ever need you have, every decision you need to make, and ask God for help. Finally, begin like you started, with thanksgiving. This is the RIPLE method.
Consecrate
You want to give yourself to God. The act by which you do that is called baptism. In baptism, you are buried in water, as if you had died, and then raised to live a new life in Christ. You publicly identify with Christ. You make a declaration. You cross a line. You switch sides. You surrender the rest of your life to God (Rom. 12:1-2). Find a pastor or a spiritual mentor and get baptized. Act out your consecration and then live a consecrated life. There is a great deal of controversy regarding baptism – infant verses adult, sprinkling verses submersion. Some groups teach baptismal regeneration, salvation by baptism, without which one is lost. Baptism is urged on us by Scripture (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:39; 22:16), as the outward expression of an inward work.
Find a Fellowship
You need a church that offers fellowship, which challenges you to grow, that holds you accountable and urges you to find your mission and purpose. It may be a traditional church, or an organic church, or a house church. Make sure the leaders are mature and committed to Christ.
Grow
You grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. You grow up, to be mature. Everyone started where you are now – even the great Christians of the world. There is no limit on what you might become in God if you are faithful, if you grow in Christ.Read a psalm every day, a chapter in Proverbs, and one from the gospels. Read in a translation you can understand. Consider New King James, New American Standard, or paraphrase, a modern language Bible, The Living Bible, The Amplified Bible, The Passion Translation, or others. Read your Bible and mark it up. Memorize a passage daily.