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a story-

There was a girl one day who was outside watching a sheep eating the grass in a field. She marveled at how white the sheep was against the deep green background of grass. She stood there for a while simply appreciating the radiance of the sheeps white wool. Then it started to snow, and soon, the entire field was covered in a blanket of snow. Then the girl looked back at the sheep and couldn't believe her eyes. Now the sheep's wool appeared dark and dingy compared to the pure white background of the snow. Same sheep, different background...

The above story is a perfect example of how mankind views itself today. Many people, including myself at times, compare themselves to other people to make themselves look good. If we try hard enough, we can always find someone who is worse than we are. This way, when we judge ourselves, we look clean, free of guilt. But this is simply an illusion based on the background which we put ourselves in front of. If we put ourselves against the background of Jesus' Holy Purity, we then realize how dark and dingy our lives really are, some down right black with sin.

Romans 3:10-11 says "'As it is written: There is none righteous; no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.'"

There is a definate emphasis in the above scripture: NONE. There is NONE righteous. There is NONE who understands... This means that none of us are good enough for Jesus. Yet people respond by saying something to the effect of "But I believe in God, I"m a good person. I can make it on my own."

Scripture responds in James 2:19 by saying: "You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder." Simply believing in God, or A god, isn't good enough, as this passage from James shows.

Again, people respond by saying, "but I'm a good person!". And again we go back to Romans 3:10-11 "...There is none righteous..."

People try one more time by saying, "I can make it on my own!" Look at what Romans 3:22-23 says: "This righteousness from God comes through faith in AJesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We see here that everyone has sinned, and just that ONE sin separates us from God. Is there anyone that is reading this that can say that he or she has never sinned? Take the Ten Commandments, or rather, just one of them, which boils down to saying "Do not Lie". Who has NEVER lied here? anyone? I know I have before. And that ONE lie separated me from God, even if that was the only sin I had ever commited, it was still enough to put a barrier between myself and God.

What does this mean? It means that because of our sins, we have spiritual death because of our separation from God. If we are separated from God when we die, we will forever be separated from Him in a place called Hell. The characteristics of Hell have been debated, whether it is terribly hot with much physical agony, or dark, cold, and tremendously depressing, it doesn't matter. What does matter, and what is indisputable, is that whatever Hell may be like, we will be separated from God for all eternity. This alone is the worst punishment our immortal souls could ever be dealt.

BUT! There is the Good News of Jesus Christ! Knowing that man had sinned and would continue sinning, God provided a way for us to breach the barrier between Him and us. Romans 5:6 says, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."

Romans 6:23- "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The wages of sin.... What does that mean? What is a wage? A wage is something we earn, is it not? We have earned death by sinning. But God offers us a gift, a gift of eternal life. This gift is something that not only did we NOT earn it, we do not even deserve it.

Luke 12:3,5- "I tell you , no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

We, as sinners, need to repent of our sins to receive God glorious gift of salvation. What does it mean to repent? To repent means to admit that we have sinned, and to ask God's forgiveness for those sins. Then we need to hand our lives over to Him and ask Him to help us not to do that sin anymore.

Lets recap-

Problem- Man is separated from God by sin. Nothing man does in and of himself will ever breach this gap between man and God.

Solution- God sent Jesus to die for our sins. With this perfect sacrifice of Jesus' perfect, sinless body, He paid the price, the wage, of all our sins. Christ died a horrible death, suffering for us on the Cross of Calvary. Then, on the third day after His death, He rose again from the grave, defeating the spiritual death that is a result from sin. Now, all we have to do is repent to God and ask Him to send His Holy Spirit into our lives to transform us into His children, and we shall be saved from that spiritual death.

John 3:16- "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 5:24- [Jesus speaking] "I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."

a prayer-

The words of this prayer are not magical. They alone will not save you from spiritual death. If and only if you sincerely mean what you say if you pray this prayer will you be saved. The words don't do it, but the attitude, the motive, the reason behind the words does save you. Please, do not pray this prayer if you don't mean what you pray:

"God, I realize now that I have sinned and I am a sinner. I believe in your Son, God, that He went to the cross and died for my sins. Please forgive me, God, for my sins. Send your Holy Spirit into my heart and life to change me into something worthy of You, Lord. Take control of my life, Lord, and grant me the strength to follow you. Thank you for loving me enough to offer me a second chance. Thank you. Amen."

If you prayed the above words, and if you meant them, then you are saved and you are God's Son or Daughter! Please, if you prayed the above prayer, please send me an email so that I might pray for you in your new walk with the Lord. God is Good! Amen!