How do I begin a Relationship With God
BAPTIZING A DRUNK
A man was stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he came upon a preacher baptizing people in the river. He proceeded to walk into the water and bumped into the preacher. The preacher turned around and, though almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, asked the drunk,
"Are you ready to find Jesus?" The Drunk answered, "Yes, I am." So the preacher grabbed the drunk and dunked him in the water. Then he pulled him up and asked him, "Brother have you found Jesus?"
The drunk replied, "No, I haven’t found Jesus." The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunked him into the water again, for a little longer. Then again, he pulled him out and asked, "Have you found
Jesus my brother?" The drunk again answered, "No, I haven’t found Jesus." By this time the preacher was at his wits end so he submerged the
drunk once more, and held him down for about 30 seconds until he began kicking his arms and legs, whereupon he pulled him up.
The preacher again asked the drunk, "For the love of God have you found Jesus?"
The drunk wiped his eyes and caught his breath and finally said to the preacher,
"Are you sure this is where he fell in?"
There is a better way to find Jesus that I want to tell you about today.
I God Initiates
A. God enlightens every soul (Romans 1)
19For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.
-makes us aware of our sin (conviction) Conscience & Holy Spirit
B. God draws you to him (No one comes to me except the Father draws him)
For people can’t come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them from the dead. John 6:44
1. Gives us a hunger for him
2. Gives us a desire to find him.
C. God is searching for you (Lost Sheep)
And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost."
Luke 19:10
D. God made the relationship possible
1. A Holy God and a Sinful man can’t be in relationship
2. The Cross is God’s way back into a relationship
(While we were still sinners Christ died for us)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 5:8
E. God sends out the search party - US (Dad in search party for Bob Glass sister)
13For "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 14But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:13
And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Mark 15:16
1. How shall they hear without a preacher,
2. We are on a search and rescue mission (like the TV series "Alias" where they went into other countries to find and rescue Sidney Bristow’s mother buried alive underground)
II WE RESPOND
a. By Faith
A. Believe What God’s Word says about us (We are a sinner, law breaker, hopeless)
For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23
B. Believe What God’s Word says we are headed (Hell without him)
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Romans 6:23
C. Believe What God’s Word says about How God feels about us.
(God So LOVED.) John 3:16
D. Believe What God’s Word says about Jesus -
1 He is Divine
2. He left heaven for us
3. He lived a sinless life
4. He was crucified for our sins
5. He was buried and rose again
6. He is praying for us in heaven now
Gypsy Smith
Rodney “Gypsy” Smith trusted Christ in November, 1876. Reaffirmed his decision a few days later in a Methodist chapel. An old man asked if he had trusted Jesus and nothing else. The lad replied, “I cannot trust myself, for I am nothing. I cannot trust what I have, for I have nothing. I cannot trust what I know, for I know nothing.”
Family Journal, May, 1985
E. Believe What God’s Word says about Receiving Jesus into our lives
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:12
Faith ‘unto’ Salvation
This “faith unto salvation” has been illustrated in many ways. If I stand on the twenty-seventh floor of a tall building and press the button for an elevator, I am confident (I have faith) that the elevator will arrive. Indeed, it does, and the door opens. I am now presented with a vehicle that, I am confident (I have faith), will take me to the ground floor, or to the top of that building, provided I step into it. When I do, my faith in that elevator takes the form of personal trust. It has become not only objective confidence but a personal reality to me. In the same way, the faith of the gospel—the truth of Christianity—becomes the path to my personal salvation when I exercise faith. This is accomplished by accepting Christ’s death as my way to right standing before God.
David Breese, Living For Eternity, Moody Press, 1988, p. 36
Atlantic Crossing
Imagine a ship filled with people crossing the Atlantic. In the middle of the ocean there is an explosion. The ship is severely damaged and slowly sinking. Most are dead, and the rest are rushing for the lifeboats. Now suppose one man doesn’t know about the lifeboat, so he does not get aboard. He doesn’t have knowledge, so he is not saved. Suppose another man knows about the lifeboat and believes it will save his life, but he is grief-stricken over seeing his wife killed, so he chooses not to get aboard and dies with his wife. He has knowledge and mental assent, but he is not saved. Others believe the lifeboat will save them, and they get into the boat. They are saved by faith, that is they have knowledge, mental assent, and trust. However, it is not their faith that saves them—no matter how much they have. It is the boat. Saving faith trusts Christ, and Christ saves.
Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, M. Cocoris, Moody, 1984, p. 77.
b. By Repentance
and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:15
17:30
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, (Acts
1. True sorrow about your sins (not just sorry for consequences)
2. Sincere desire to change
3. Change directions
1. Repentance Is More Than Reformation
To reform is to "improve one’s character or conduct; to become better; to behave better; to give up misconduct; to make better by removing faults or defects." One who genuinely reforms will, from that moment on, live a better life. And certainly this is to be desired.
However, reformation falls short in at least one vital particular - it does nothing about the past. It leaves upon the pages of God’s record all the sins that a person has committed. Consequently, it leaves the sinner still under the sentence of death.
Suppose that a criminal who has been guilty of many and various offenses against the law decides to reform. From that moment on, he determines to be a law-abiding citizen. This would be commendable, but it would not absolve him from the guilt of his past crimes. If he is apprehended, or if he surrenders himself, he will still be called upon to pay for his past crimes, unless he is given a pardon. The same is true of the sinner in relation to this past sins.
2. Repentance is More Than Remorse (Judas)
Remorse =Worldly sorrow 2 Cor. 7:10
Not like the person who sent a note and a check to the IRS which read: "Dear sirs, my conscience is bothering me so here is $175 I owe in back taxes." At the bottom of the letter was a P.S. which said: "If my conscience continues to bother me I will send in the rest."
-One criminal kept saying over and over again, "I’m sorry, I’m sorry." The attorney asked, "You are sorry that you committed the crime?" "No, I’m sorry I got caught."
Lillian Pearsall of Moravia, N.Y. tells this story of when she was a telephone operator. A customer talked overtime on a long-distance call from a pay telephone booth. Even with my friendly reminders, he refused to deposit his overtime coins. Instead he slammed down the phone, irate and verbally abusive.
A few seconds later, he was back on my line--somewhat calmer.
"Operator, please let me out of the phone booth--I’ll pay, I’ll pay, just let me out!"
The customer mistakenly thought I had control of the phone booth’s doors and had locked him in!
He gladly paid the overtime charge and with my advice gave the booth door a hefty kick to free himself.
-- Lillian Pearsall, Moravia, N.Y. "Lite Fare," Christian Reader. (Copied from Bible Illustrator)
3, What Is Repentance?
Repentance is, first of all, a turning away from all sin. And, so far as this first aspect is concerned, it closely resembles reformation.
But repentance further involves turning to God, in believing prayer, for forgiveness and cleansing from all sin. Such prayer is not necessarily vocal, but it usually is. The repentant person confesses to God that he is a sinner and asks for forgiveness. If he obeys the gospel, he can rest assured that God will forgive, for His Word promises, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9).
4. The Right Motivation of Repentance
How is genuine repentance brought about? Paul explained, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10). Before a person can repent, he must feel sorrow for his sins. And this must be godly sorrow. For someone to be sorry merely because they have brought trouble upon him, is not enough. He must be sorry because he has broken the commandments of God, spurned His gospel, and thereby grieved Him days without number.
Such godly sorrow is the only motivating force for real repentance.
To repent means to change. Repentance is a change of thinking which results in a change of life.
Repentance involves a change of mind -- waking up to reality, seeing things as they really are, and recognizing the error of your ways -- resulting in a change of action.
Repentance includes forsaking old patterns, habits, priorities, and all things that have controlled you (gods). Repentance means accepting Jesus as Lord!
To repent is to forsake all other gods -- and embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and God. (Jesus allows no other gods before Him.)
The parable of the prodigal son is an outstanding illustration of repentance. (Luke 15:10-21)
Unless God reveals truth to you there is no foundation for repentance. To have a change of mind we must first see the error of our ways
So, repentance has to do mostly with your thinking and therefore your actions -- not your feelings. You can feel bad (have remorse) but not repent.
5. The Evidence of Repentance -FRUIT OF REPENTANCE
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee God’s coming judgment? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. Matthew 3
Charles Colson told the following story in an address at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi:
I love the illustration about a man named Jack Eckerd. A few years ago I was on the Bill Buckley television program, talking about restitution (one of my favorite subjects) and criminal justice. Bill Buckley agreed with me. A few days later I got a call from Jack Eckerd, a businessman from Florida, the founder of the Eckerd Drug chain, the second largest drug chain in America. He saw me on television and asked me to come to Florida. He agreed Florida had a criminal justice crisis, would I come down and do something about it? And we did. We got the attorney general of the state, the president of the senate; we got on Jack Eckerd’s Lear jet; we went around the State of Florida advocating criminal justice reforms, and everywhere we would go Jack Eckerd would introduce me to the crowds and say, "This is Chuck Colson, my friend; I met him on Bill Buckley’s television program. He’s born again, I’m not. I wish I were." And then he’d sit down. We’d get on the airplane and I’d tell him about Jesus. We’d get off at the next stop, he’d repeat it, we’d do the same thing again, and I’d talk to him about Jesus. When we left I gave him some of R. C. Sproul’s books and I gave him C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, which had such an impact on me. I sent him my books. About a year went by and I kept pestering Jack Eckerd. And eventually one day he read some things including the story of Watergate and the Resurrection out of my book, Loving God, and decided that Jesus was, in fact, resurrected from the dead. He called me up to tell me he believed that, and I asked him some other things. When he got through telling me what he believed I said, "You’re born again!" He said, "No, I’m not, I haven’t felt anything." I said, "Yes, you are! Pray with me right now." After we prayed he said, "I am? Marvelous!" The first thing he did was to walk into one of his drugstores and walked down through the book shelves and he saw Playboy and Penthouse. And he’d seen it there many times before, but it never bothered him before. Now he saw them with new eyes. He’d become a Christian.
He went back to his office. He called in his president. He said, "Take Playboy and Penthouse out of my stores. The president said, "You can’t mean that, Mr. Eckerd. We make three million dollars a year on those books." He said, "Take ’em out of my stores." And in 1,700 stores across America, by one man’s decision, those magazines and smut were removed from the shelves because a man had given his life to Christ. I called Jack Eckerd up. I said, "I want to use that story. Did you do that because of your commitment to Christ?" He said, "Why else would I give away three million dollars? The Lord wouldn’t let me off the hook."
Isn’t that marvelous? God wouldn’t let me off the hook. I don’t know any theologian who’s better defined the Lordship of Christ than that. And what happened after that is a wonderful sequel and a wonderful demonstration of what happens in our culture today.
We are caught up with this idea that we’ve got to have big political institutions and big structures and big movements and big organizations in order to change things in our society. And that’s an illusion and a fraud. Jack Eckerd wrote a letter to all the other drugstore operators, all the other chains, and he said, "I’ve taken it out of my store. Why don’t you take it out of yours?" Not a one answered him. Of course not--he’d put them under conviction. So he wrote them some more letters. But then Eckerd’s Drugs began to get floods of people coming in to buy things at Eckerd’s because they’d taken Playboy and Penthouse out. And so People’s removed the magazines from their shelves and then Dart Drug removed them from their shelves and then Revco removed them from their shelves. And over the period of twelve months while the pornography commission in Washington was debating over what to do about pornography, and while they’re trying to come up with some recommendations for the president about what to do which will result in laws which if Congress ever passes them will be sued by the ACLU and will be tied up in the courts for 10 years--meanwhile, across America, one by one, stores are removing them. And the 7-11 chairman, who sits on Jack Eckerd’s board, finally gave in two weeks ago and 5,000 7-11 stores removed it. And in a period of twelve months, 11,000 retail outlets in America removed Playboy and Penthouse, not because somebody passed a law, but because God wouldn’t let one of his men off the hook. That’s what brings change.
--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 46-48. (Copied from Bible Illustrator)
Godly Sorrow -Repentance
Confessed to a Bank Robbery
Not too many years ago newspapers carried the story of Al Johnson, a Kansas man who came to faith in Jesus Christ. What made his story remarkable was not his conversion, but the fact that as a result of his newfound faith in Christ, he confessed to a bank robbery he had participated in when he was nineteen years old. Because the statute of limitations on the case had run out, Johnson could not be prosecuted for the offense. Still, he believed his relationship with Christ demanded a confession. And he even voluntarily repaid his share of the stolen money!
Today in the Word, April, 1989, p. 13
Repentance =Restitution when possible
Returned Watch
When I was in South Africa, a fine, handsome Dutchman came into my service, and God laid His hand on him and convicted him of sin.
The next morning he went to the beautiful home of another Dutchman and said to him, “Do you recognize that old watch?”
“Why, yes,” answered the other. “Those are my initials; that is my watch. I lost it eight years ago. How did you get it, and how long have you had it?”
“I stole it,” was the reply.
“What made you bring it back now?”
“I was converted last night,” was the answer, “and I have brought it back first thing this morning. If you had been up, I would have brought it last night.”
Gipsy Smith, The Bible Friend
Conclusion: You must now decide to receive Jesus into your life. That Decision will be followed by a lifetime of following him. The decision is only the beginning of an exciting journey of Faith. When you do your part God will give the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16) that he has made you his child. Then you will begin your new life by reading your bible, and praying every day, and attending church to grow in your new faith.
notes
How to Begin a Relationship with God
Luke 19:1-10
I God Initiates the Relationship
A. God enlightens every soul (Romans 1:19-20)
B. God Draws us to Himself (John 6:44)
C. God Pursues you (Luke 19:10)
D. God makes the relationship possible (Romans 5:8)
E. God sends out the search party (Mark 15:16
II We Respond to God Mark 1:15
"At last the time has come!" he announced.
"The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins
(repent) and believe this Good News!
A. BY FAITH
“They replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will
be saved,....” Acts 16:31
Faith is to trust in Jesus alone for your salvation.
B. By Repentance
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked,
but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
(Acts 17:30)
Repent means to turn from your sin, and turn to God.
Conclusion: It is time for a decision. Will you decide
to follow Jesus or Reject his call to come follow him?
