How can I start a relationship with Jesus Christ?

http://www.mbcloudoun.org/uploads/gospel_beginning_378x90.jpgIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it was all good (Genesis 1). He created the plants and animals to populate the earth, and finally created man to rule over His creation with pure motives and righteous leadership. The purpose of man’s creation was with the divine intention that he should glorify God (Isaiah 43:7; Revelation 4:11), enjoy God’s fellowship, and live his life in the will of God.

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God gave Adam and Eve the gift of life which was free from sin and the consequences thereof, which we see in the first two chapters of Genesis, yet the temptation to grasp what God withheld was too much for them to bear (Genesis 3:5-6). Not only are Adam and Eve infected with sin, but each one of us have sinned (Isaiah 64:6). Your sin is not someone else's problem; it is your own problem. It can be something we fail to do or a willful act against Him. We by nature are rebellious toward God (Ephesians 2:1-3).

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The consequence of your sin is eternal separation from God. The Bible tells us that the result of sin is death; spiritual and physical (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23). God is perfectly holy (Isaiah 6:3), man is not. Nothing we do can reconcile us to God. Romans 3:23 states, “for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” Nobody can escape the consequences of your sin (Romans 3:10-12) and man is incapable of changing his sinful condition (Jeremiah 13:23).

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God knows there is nothing man can do to rectify our sin problem so He sent Jesus Christ to suffer the consequences of death as our substitute (Romans 5:8). Jesus was the perfect substitute because he was free from sin (1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 4:15), was fully God (Colossians 2:9) and man (John 1:14). Sin’s curse demanded an infinite sacrifice; on account of the guilty, so Jesus did just that. He was beaten, nailed to a cross, buried, and rose again to complete His victory over sin for us. He took our sin upon himself, and became humble, to the point of death, so that we might be saved (Philippians 2:8-9).

2 Corinthians 5:21 sums up the whole of the Gospel message: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Christ was judged as guilty for your life, and hung as a perfect substitute on the cross so that you might be judged according to the life that He lived. What Jesus did was provide a way for us to be delivered from our sin and death and this is God’s plan known as salvation. The greatest news about God’s salvation for us is it’s a free gift to all who want it (Romans 1:16; 5:15; 6:23).

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How do we receive this free gift from God and start a relationship with Jesus? Romans 10:9 tells us exactly how to do this: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So you must ask God to forgive you of your sin, through the death of Jesus, and confess your need to be rescued by Him (Romans 10:13).

Now that you have a relationship with Jesus you need to commit your life to becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) because confessing Jesus as Lord means humbly submitting to His authority (Philippians 2:10-11). You must now make a conscious choice to turn from sin and pursue the holiness of God (Isaiah 55:7).

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Here are a few opportunities for you to begin acting out your faith in obedience to God.