Hope.

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(( 5 Minute Read ))
The questions we like to ask about God are endless: “Is God real?” “Is what we know about Him really true?” and “what does He have to do with my life?” just to list a few.

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The Bible does not answer every question about God and will often lead us to ask more, but one of the areas in which the Bible is quite definite, is the answer to the question: who is Jesus? C.S Lewis, a well-known Christian author and former atheist wrote of Jesus:

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“Either this man was, and is, the Son of God,
or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut him up for a fool,
you can spit at him and kill him as a demon
or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God,
but let us not come with any patronizing
nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to.”

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Jesus commends the Apostle Peter’s confession of Him as “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16), because Jesus knew that who He is – and could be to us – has the power to change our lives. Jesus is unique because two worlds collide in Him: Heaven and Earth — the Divine and the human.

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Yes, His Name is the name above all names, and his star-breathing, storm-calming, miracle-working power is second to none. Yet, He is also the human Jesus, the personal friend who knows what we are going through and cares about us. That’s why the Bible also calls Him Immanuel, meaning God with us.

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This is how much God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have life for eternity.

From the Bible: John 3:16

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JESUS cares for us.

So does Jesus care about you? Yes, He does.
 

How do we know this?

Often we disqualify ourselves from God’s love because of our history, our failures and shortcomings. Sin has separated us from God and we can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. So how can we accept what we have not earned? 

 

The Bible says that nothing in all creation can separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 

And to accept God’s love is to trust His patient, forgiving and gracious stance towards us. Read that again. We need to accept His love by trusting Him. 

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Only He has the power to free us from guilt, shame and condemnation to give us a life of wholeness. You see, this religious sounding word “sin,” is both an amazingly immoral act (even Webster defines it this way): 

sin /sin/ noun

1. an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

 

But ‘sin’ is also something that clouds us, or covers or marks us, sin separates us from a “holy” God (holy is another very religious sounding word that seems far away for the average person).

 

You see, we simply cannot exist in the presence of God without a special commuting of our sin-state. We cannot exist there because we have not yet been made 'holy.' 

Be

Keep reading:
 

Whether we have a microscopic sin or a virtual Mountain of Sin…

...to God it’s all the same.

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So for those people in our lives who seem to live perfect lives – that is what is needed to be able to exist again with God — perfection. 

 

And there was only One human who was perfect in this life, and that was and is Christ Jesus. He was subjected to every temptation that we have been, yet He did not sin. Powerful.

 

Only He gives us true Hope that goes beyond the scoffers in our lives, the doubters, even our own doubt. 

 

And to receive this amazing new ‘state’ all we have to do is turn to Him.

 

A New Beginning

To be made whole, or to be saved is to submit to God and His plan and purpose for our lives. 

 

It is a turning from our old ways and turning to JESUS, to trust Him for forgiveness from our sins and to give us New Life in Him.

 

Salvation is God’s free gift to us. He changes our ‘state’ of being to one where we are no longer alone, rather we are wrapped up or clothed with Him. The Bible details the very first Message given to the Israelites and their response: 
 

Peter, a follower of Jesus, addresses the crowd.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

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“ ‘In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
 

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

David said about him:

“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest in hope,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

you will not let your holy one see decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.

 

Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 

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God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

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“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand

35 until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet.” ’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

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When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other original disciples of Jesus called, ‘apostles,’

“Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent (meaning to turn from your ways to follow after God’s ways) and be baptized (from the Greek baptizo, meaning to plunge or immerse in water), every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

The promise is for you
and your children
and for all who are far off —
for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

from the Bible: The Acts, 2:14-41

 

Salvation is God’s free gift to us.

We just have to accept the gift.

 

Here’s another description of this New Beginning: 

 

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

for all of you who were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free,

nor is there male and female,

for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ,

then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
from the Bible: Galatians 3:26-29 

 

When we ‘die to our self’ and someone raises us up physically out of the waters of baptism, we are raised as a New Creation spiritually by God. We have acceptance into the Family of God and we are empowered to live life wholly and fully with the purpose of reflecting God to the rest of His creation.

 

If you are not sure whether you are right with God or you know in fact that you need Jesus in your life, you can choose to follow Him right now by surrendering your will, your life, to Jesus. This is called repentance. 

 

And according to the Bible, once we have repented, we are to be baptized ‘into Him’ in order to receive forgiveness of sins. And He also promises us the ‘gift of the Holy Spirit.’ 

 

We’ll learn more about this and more as our study continues. So, if you’re ready to surrender your heart to Jesus, then you’re at the beginning of the most important Venture you will ever embark on: the Venture to follow Jesus. 

 

This is only the Beginning. 

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The only thing that matters now
is everything You think of me
In You I find my worth,
in You I find my identity...
from Lauren Daigle's You Say

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