How Do I Become A Christian

HOW DO I BECOME A CHRISTIAN

As most of you know, today is my first day as a minister here at Pine Hill Church of Christ. And it is this beginning that has brought several questions to mind. First of all I would like to thank everyone for this opportunity for me to preach God’s word. The faith that you have placed in me truly is inspiring for me to do the best job that I can. And with that I started to wonder. What do I talk about? What topic is worthy of starting a preaching career? Then it hit me. What is required to be a Christian?

If you watch some of the televangelists they will tell you that all that is required is to have faith in Jesus Christ and to state the sinners prayer. The sinner’s prayer is prayed to God when a person understands they are a sinner and in need of a Savior. Not wrong, just not complete.

The first aspect of a sinner’s prayer is understanding that we are all sinners.

Romans 3:10

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one."

The Bible makes it clear that we have all sinned. We are all sinners in need of mercy and forgiveness from God

Titus 3:5-7

Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly though Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal live.

The second aspect of a sinner’s prayer is knowing what God has done to remedy our lost and sinful condition. God took on flesh and became a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Though him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that thought him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was the world, and through the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus taught us the truth about God and lived a perfectly righteous and sinless life

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus then died on the cross in our place, taking the punishment that we deserve

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinner, Christ died for us.

Jesus rose from the dead to prove His victory over sin, death, and hell

1 Corinthians 15:3,4

For what I received I passed on to you as of the first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Because of all of this, we can have our sins forgiven and be promised an eternal home in Heaven, if we will just place our faith in Jesus Christ. All we have to do is believe that He died in our place and rose from the dead

Romans 10:9,10

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.

We can be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

Ephesians 2:8

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

Saying the sinner’s prayer is simply a way of declaring to God that you are relying on Jesus Christ as your Savior. There are no "magical" words that result in salvation. It is only faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection that can save us. If you understand that you are a sinner and in need of salvation through Jesus Christ, here is a sinner’s prayer you can pray to God: