What is the Gospel and Christianity All About?

At Grace Covenant Church, we believe that accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior is the most important decision that any person can make. It is our prayer that after reading the following page you will ask Christ into your heart as your Savior or that you will renew your committment to live your life for Christ. Should you have any furthur questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you and God's blessings - The Staff of Grace Covenant Church

How you can have a Personal Relationship with Jesus:

God is the loving ruler of the world. He made the world. He made us rulers of the world under him.

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. - Revelation 4:11

The first point of the Christian message is that God is in charge of the world. He is the ruler, the supreme president, the king. Unlike human rulers, however, God always does what is best for his subjects. He is the kind of king you?d like to be ruled by.

God rules the world because he made the world. Like a potter with his clay, God fashioned the world into just the shape he wished, with all its amazing details. He made it, and he owns it.

He also made us. God created people who were something like himself, and put them in charge of the world?to rule it, to care for it, to be responsible for it, and to enjoy all its beauty and goodness. He appointed humanity to supervise and look after the world, but always under his own authority, honoring him and obeying his directions.

You can see this represented in the illustration above: God is the ruler (the crown) and humanity is created to live in and rule God?s world under God's loving authority.
It all sounds rather ideal: God in heaven, people ruling the world according to his directions, and everything right with the world. But everything is very obviously not right?with us or the world.

But is that the way it is now?

We all reject the ruler, God, by trying to run life our own way without him. But we fail to rule ourselves or society or the world.

There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God. All have turned away. - Romans 3:10-12

The sad truth is that, from the very beginning, men and women everywhere have rejected God by doing things their own way. We all do this. We don?t like someone telling us what to do or how to live?least of all God?and so we rebel against him in lots of different ways. We ignore him and just get on with our own lives; or we disobey his instructions for living in his world; or we shake our puny fists in his face and tell him to get lost.

How ever we do it, we are all rebels, because we don?t live God?s way. We prefer to follow our own desires, and to run things our own way, without God. This rebellious, self-sufficient attitude is what the Bible calls "sin".

The trouble is, in rejecting God we make a mess not only of our own lives, but of our society and the world. The whole world is full of people bent on doing what suits them, and not following God's ways. We all act like little gods, with our own crowns, competing with one another. The result is misery. The suffering and injustice that we see around us all go back to our basic rebellion against God.

By rebelling against God, we've made a terrible mess of things. The question is: what will God do about it?

What will God do about this rebellion?

God won't let us rebel forever. God's punishment for rebellion is death and judgment.

Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. - Hebrews 9:27

God cares enough about humanity to take our rebellion seriously. He calls us to account for our actions, because it matters to him that we treat him, and other people, so poorly. In other words, he won?t let the rebellion go on forever.

The sentence God passes against us is entirely just, because he gives us exactly what we ask for. In rebelling against God, we are saying to him, "Go away. I don't want you telling me what to do. Leave me alone." And this is precisely what God does. His judgment on rebels is to withdraw from them, to cut them off from himself?permanently. But since God is the source of life and all good things, being cut off from him means death and hell. God?s judgment against rebels is an everlasting, God-less death.

This is a terrible thing, to fall under the sentence of God's judgment. It is a prospect we all face, since we are all guilty of rebelling against God.
Is that it then? Are we all destined for death and everlasting ruin? If not for God's own miraculous intervention, we would be.

God's justice sounds hard. But...

Because of his love, God sent his Son into the world: the man Jesus Christ. Jesus always lived under God's rule. Yet by dying in our place he took our punishment and brought forgiveness.

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. - 1 Peter 3:18

Because of his great love and generosity, God did not leave us to suffer the consequences of our foolish rebellion. He did something to save us. He sent his own divine son into our world to become a man: Jesus of Nazareth.

Unlike us, Jesus didn't rebel against God. He always lived under God's rule. He always did what God said, and so did not deserve death or punishment. Yet Jesus did die. Although he had the power of God to heal the sick, walk on water and even raise the dead, Jesus allowed himself to be executed on a cross. Why?

The Bible rings with the incredible news that Jesus died as a substitute for rebels like us. The debt that we owed God, Jesus paid by dying in our place. He took the full force of God's justice on himself, so that forgiveness and pardon might be available to us.

All this is quite undeserved by us. It is a generous gift, from start to finish.

But that's not all...

God raised Jesus to life again as the ruler of the world. Jesus has conquered death, now gives new life, and will return to judge.

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. - 1 Peter 1:3

God accepted Jesus' death as payment in full for our sins, and raised him from the dead. The risen Jesus is now what humanity was always meant to be: God's ruler of the world.

As God's ruler, Jesus has also been appointed God's judge of the world. The Bible promises that one day, he will return to call all of us to account for our actions.

In the meantime, Jesus offers us new life, both now and eternally. Now, our sins can be forgiven through Jesus' death, and we can make a fresh start with God, no longer as rebels but as friends. In this new life, God himself comes to live within us by his Spirit. We can experience the joy of a new relationship with God.

What?s more, when we are pardoned through Jesus' death, we can be quite sure that when Jesus does return to judge, we will be acceptable to him. The risen Jesus will give us eternal life, not because we have earned it, but because he has died in our place.

Well, where does that leave us?

The two ways to live:

We can continue in our rebellion against God, and try to run our lives our own way without him. Sadly, this is the option that many people persist in.

The end result is that God gives us what we ask for and deserve. He condemns us for our rejection of his rightful rule over our lives. We not only have to put up with the messy consequences of rejecting God here and now, but we face the dreadful prospect of an eternity of separation from him, without life or love or relationship.

For those of us who have realised that our situation is hopeless, there is a lifeline. If we turn back to God and appeal for mercy, trusting in Jesus' death and resurrection, then everything changes.

For a start, God wipes our slate clean. He accepts Jesus' death as payment for our sins, and freely and completely forgives us. He pours his own Spirit into our hearts and grants us a new life that stretches past death and into forever. We are no longer rebels, but part of God?s own family as his adopted sons and daughters. We now live with Jesus as our ruler.

The two ways to live could not be more different, and they present you, the reader, with some choices.

Which of these represents the way you want to live?

The following explains how you can receive Christ:

You Can Receive Christ Right Now by Faith Through Prayer: (Prayer is talking with God)

God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, I invite you to pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Did you just say that prayer to God? If so, you are now a New Believer - a true Christian! If so, Please e-mail us so we can rejoice with you.

How to Know That Christ Is in Your Life:
Did you receive Christ into your life? According to His promise in Revelation 3:20, where is Christ right now in relation to you? Christ said that He would come into your life. Would He mislead you? On what authority do you know that God has answered your prayer? (The trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word)

The Bible Promises Eternal Life to All Who Receive Christ
"The witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:11-13).

Thank God often that Christ is in your life and that He will never leave you (Hebrews 13:5). You can know on the basis of His promise that Christ lives in you and that you have eternal life from the very moment you invite Him in. He will not deceive you.

An important reminder . . .

Do Not Depend on Feelings
The promise of God's Word, the Bible - not our feelings - is our authority. The Christian lives by faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. This train diagram illustrates the relationship among fact (God and His Word, faith (our trust in God and His Word) and feeling (the result of our faith and obedience). Read John 14:21)

The train will run with or without the caboose. However, it would be useless to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, as Christians we do not depend on feelings or emotions, but we place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word.

Now That You Have Received Christ
The moment you received Christ by faith, as an act of the will, many things happened, including the following:

Christ came into your life (Revelation 3:20; Colosians 1:27)
Your sins were forgiven (Colossians 1:14)
You became a child of God (John 1:12)
You received eternal life (John 5:24)
You began the great adventure for which God created you
................(John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Can you think of anything more wonderful that could happen to you than receiving Christ? Would you like to thank God in prayer right now for what He has done for you? By thanking God, you demonstrate your faith.

To enjoy your new life to the fullest . . .

Suggestions for Christian Growth
Spiritual growtwheh results from trusting Jesus Christ. "The righteous man shall life by faith" (Galations 3:11). A life of faith will enable you to trust God increasingly with every detail of your life, and to practice the following:

G ...Go to God in prayer daily (John 15:7).
R ...Read God's Word daily (Acts 17:11); begin with the Gospel ofJohn.
O ...Obey God moment by moment (John 14:21).
W...Witness for Christ by your life and words (Matthew 4:19; John 15:8).
T ...Trust God God for every detail of your life (1 Peter 5:7).
H ...Holy Spirit - allow Him to control and empower your daily life and witness (Galations 5:16,17; Acts 1:8).

Fellowship In A Good Church
God's Word instructs us not to forsake "the assembling of ourselvestogether" (Hebrews 10:25), Several logs burn brightly together, but put one aside on the cold hearth and the fire goes out. So it is with your relationship with other Christians.

If you do not belong to a church, do not wait to be invited. Take the initiative; call the pastor of a nearby church where Christ is honored and His Word is preached. Start this week, and make plans to attend regularly.

Click here to learn more about the Two Ways to Live© resource.