Becoming a Christian is more than saying a prayer or walking an aisle. It’s not about where you were born or what your parents have done. Becoming a Christian is about giving Christ complete control of your life. Matthew 16:24 says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” In other words, Jesus wants a complete commitment.   Why should we give him that complete commitment?   The answer to that question is found in the gospel (i.e. good news) message of the Bible. 

 

1.       God wants us to have eternal life. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

2.        The problem is that we are all sinners. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This means that every human is a sinner. Sin means that we have broken God’s law. 1 John 3:4 says, “sin is lawlessness.” To break God’s law means we deserve punishment. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.”

3.       The solution to our sin problem is found in Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8 says, “that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 Peter 3:18 says, “for Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

4.       Our response is to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We do that through repentance and faith. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.” Ephesians 2:9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” To repent means to make a U-turn from your life of sin and turn to God. We can do this by admitting our sin and asking God to forgive us of it. To have faith in God means that we trust him like we would trust a chair to sit in. We don’t show faith by just agreeing in our mind that the chair can hold us. We actually show our trust by sitting in the chair. True faith means that we actually take a step of commitment by asking God to be Lord and Savior of our lives. By asking him to be Lord, we are surrendering control of our lives to him. By asking him to be Savior, we are putting our trust in him as the one who can forgive us of our sin.

 

If you have made this commitment today, we want you to know some important steps that should follow this decision. First, start reading your Bible each day. The book of John is a good place to begin. Then, pray to God each day. This is simply talking with God. Next, you need to find a church to attend that teaches the Bible, and let them know about your decision. Finally, you will need to be baptized in obedience to Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19-20.