What does it mean to be saved?
You may be tired of the way you live your life, you may be searching for something, wondering if there is anything out there worth living for. Maybe you’re tired of drinking and doing drugs. The things of the “world” may be devastating to your relationships with your spouse, kids and other loved ones.
Some of you may have been brought up in a home that went to a church that had a strict environment, turned you off from the real reason for going to church. The bottom line is that God loves you so much that He sent His Son to this world to be tempted, to experience all that we go thru, but remaining sinless and to die on the cross for all of humanity’s sin debt.
Q) What does it mean to be saved?
A) To make Jesus Christ Lord of your life and to repent of your sins. To give your life to Jesus. To believe Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead. Jesus paid your sin debt, past, present and future. Philippians 2:8 tells us: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!
Q) Repent?
A) This means to turn away from your old life and walk a godly life like Jesus. You must turn away from your old life and walk anew. Do a 180. Philippians 3:13 Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
Q) I have seen how some of you Christians act, why would I want to do that?
A) Yeah, Christians face the same temptations as you, we make mistakes and sometimes, bad choices. Even the apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.
Christians are not really any better or different than you, but the one thing that sets us apart is that we have a personal relationship with Jesus. God forgives for the wrong I do, but that doesn’t mean I can live my life as I did before. That also doesn’t mean I won’t face consequences for my actions, far from it.
Q) I am not sure this is for me, I mean, why should I give my life to Jesus?
A) There are only two ways to think about this, you either accept Jesus or reject him. To accept him is living a life worth something, now and forever. To reject him is too horrible for my thoughts. There is a heaven and there is a hell, your choice.
Q) I don’t want to change. What if I become something I don’t want to be?
A) God gave you your own personality, intelligence and will. You will still be you. He gave you these attributes for a reason; you are on this earth for a reason.
Q) Shouldn’t I clean up my act first?
A) There is no way that you could ever clean yourself up enough to be reconciled to God, it is by God’s grace that you are cleansed and born again, grace is free. God loves you that much. We can’t earn it, never, ever, ever.
Q) What will people think of me?
A) Some of the questions come about from our own ego.
Some questions may be:
What will my family think? Your family will probably be overjoyed.
What will the people at work think? The folks at work probably will think you are in a real good mood all the time! As you grow in Christ, they will notice change.
Will I become one of those Bible thumping holy rollers? I seriously doubt it, mostly it will be your new actions and attitude that people will notice.
What will my friends think? Dude….IF they are really your friends, they will accept you always. If they go away, they weren’t your friends in the first place.
Q) Ok, I understand, but how do I become saved?
A) Pray something like this to God. He WILL hear you:
Lord Jesus, I need you. I am a sinner and in need of a Savior. I repent of my sins and ask you to come into my life and become Lord over my life. I accept you into my life and believe that you died on the cross for my sins. I believe that you died on the cross for me, rose from the dead and sit at the right hand of the Father for me. Lord Jesus, I need you
In Jesus name I pray, amen
If you prayed this prayer or something like it that asks Jesus into your
life, you receive Jesus as your Savior and the gift of the Holy Spirit to
help you. You will begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ now and
you will enter the kingdom of heaven after this life.
But, just saying words without a change of heart and repentance is
meaningless. If you live your life as before, the words are just words,
useless. Remember, there isn't one prayer or certain words that you pray to
God, for you it may be something as simple as: "Jesus, I need you"
The Bible tells us that the Lord searches every heart and understands every
motive behind the thoughts. HE KNOWS!! Romans 10:9-10 says: That if you
confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess
and are saved.
It is so easy!! Seek the Lord and you will find Him. Search for Him with all
your heart and all your soul.
That was the easy part; the hard part is to live a Christian life.
Plug into a church, search for one that you feel comfortable with. Start to go on rides with us and get to know us. Begin reading the Bible, it will start to make sense to you. Go to our links page, there is a lot of good Christian links to browse to get information.
Life as a Christian is very hard sometimes. All of mankind falls short of the glory of God, we are incapable of doing it right. God is the only one. The right choices in life are usually a lot harder to make than the wrong ones. It's always easier to get into trouble than to stay out of trouble. People that knew you before may reject you, but who cares! Some may make fun of you because they don’t understand you, they knew the old you.
I had some of those same concerns about what the “world” thought of me if I became a Christian, but to tell you the truth, I could give a rip what ANYONE thinks of me because I am a Christian or if they give me a hard time because of my love of my Lord Jesus. I have the Lord and that’s all that matters. When I leave this world, there is not a doubt in my mind where I am going. And no matter what happens to me on this earth, I have God. He is always there, even in my darkest moments, His light leads me.
Some of my brothers and I that ride, have been thru the garbage that you may be going thru, but we made the choice to stop living that way. Remember, it is a choice. Accept Him or reject Him. Some of us still look the same on the outside, we love to ride. But more important is that we have the Lord Jesus in our lives and we will never look back.
If you hang around real men who love the Lord, it will be easier for you. You have seen the bumper sticker that says “REAL MEN LOVE JESUS” haven’t you? Strong Christian men hold each other up and accountable.
If you are a woman, there are women here at New Hope who understand the trials of living without Jesus, don’t take my word for it, talk to some of them.
Maybe you need to talk to someone, e-mail me or call the church to get a hold of me, I have been on the side that you may be on right now. And I know that it wasn’t fun. You might have prayed to the Lord and accepted Him, you will have a lot of questions.
In Christ,
Ben Randall
New Hope Christian Fellowship
707-446-4051
730 East Main Street • Vacaville, CA 95688 • Tel (707)
446-4051 • Fax (707) 446-4098
Services are held Saturdays at 6:00 pm and Sundays at 8:00 am and 10:00 am