How do I become a Christian?

The desire to become a Christian is a heartfelt desire to be made Christlike. A Christian is someone who is in a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father - God (The Eternal Creator) and actively seeks to be just like Jesus.

To become a Christian is to partake in the actual event of receiving - God the Holy Spirit - within your own human spirit, thereby creating a new Spiritual life inside of you. It is this "received" Spiritual life that renews us and makes us a child of our Heavenly Father.

In other words Christianity is not a Good Idea, nor a Philosophy, nor Behaviour Modification. Christianity is an event, specifically the event of God giving us each personally a new Spiritual Birth. This new Birth is also called being "Born Again" or "Born from Above". We cannot manufacture it, but must receive it as a free gift from Jesus.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be Born Again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

2^nd Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

The Bible tells us what the basic series of events are that make Christianity real - and not just human ideas or vain philosophies about life.

1. God created mankind to live forever - so that we can get to know God intimately. (Adam - the first human being))

2. Mankind (Adam & Eve) disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, and lost their innocence because they had now entered into a relationship with sin. And now tainted by sin (disobedience to God's will) came death (Separation from Intimacy with God). Death affects each area of man - Body, Soul, and Spirit.

3. Mankind is now separated from Intimacy with God, and if nothing is done - then sin will eternally separate Man from God. BUT God - as Jesus - then came to mankind by taking on the form and appearance of a human. God became a human to interact with us on our human level, and to show us how we can once again regain intimcay with God.

4. God's entrance into the physical world as the physical person Jesus was accomplished via the Virgin Birth by Mary (by that we mean- Jesus didn't have a human father, but was born as a result of the miraculous overshadowing of Mary by God the Holy Spirit to conceive a child.

5. Jesus grew up as a human being, and ultimately offered up his life by dying on a cross for us. For Sin to be satisfied it requires the shedding of blood of an innocent and sinless sacrifice; then and only then can sin be completely removed. To die is the end - BUT fortunately for us - the death of Jesus on the cross is the end of sin as it is His death that we acknowledge was for us. Sin is dead and never to be resurrected again.

6. Three days later Jesus was resurrected from death to Life providing the opportunity for ALL WHO BELIEVE a fresh start in life by believing and accepting the power of Resurrection Life found in Jesus. This Resurrected Jesus was seen by at least 500 people. This proved once and for all that Jesus has the ultimate power over Sin, Sickness, Death, Hell, and the Grave.

1^st Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures:

Gospel means Good News. Eternal Life is accomplished by believing in Jesus Christ and declaring that He is your Saviour and King! This fact of Jesus' triumph over sin is the Good News of Christianity.

Since Jesus died for us there is only one thing for us to do and that is to Accept what Jesus did for us. This is called Faith and Trust. We have faith that Jesus is Alive even after He suffered and died. We have faith that the same Resurrection Life that Jesus now lives we too also live.

Faith is a wonderful thing! Faith is trust, we trust Jesus. Faith excludes works. It would seem natural to have to do something in order to gain the attention of God however we don't. We already have God's attention. What God desires is for us to have a personal relationship with Him. We can only have a relationship when we acknowledge the existence of the other person, in this case God.

If we could earn our salvation by good deeds, then the Pharisees had it made - BUT Jesus told Nicodemus a prominent Pharisee that he needed to be "Born Again". we Need God's grace to save us. We need to rely upon God's Grace and mercy to save us - and that is hard work for us because our default mechanism is to try and do something.

When should we acknowledge God and become a Christian?

The Bible tells us that we are created to get to know God and that every moment in life is an opportunity to know Him. God wants very much for each and every person to acknowledge and to accept Him.

2^nd Corinthians 6:1-2 We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored (helped/aided) thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

In the Bible when people became Christians they took action, They accepted the Good news and believed it wholeheartedly, then they got Baptised in water, and Bap[tised in The holy Spirit, plus they continually fellowshipped with other Christians, prayed and read the Bible and served and proclaimed Jesus to others. They also took the very important step of destroying in fire the elements of their past life that are unpleasing to God. It is important to rid our lives of the old unpleasing ways and that means destroying whatever does not glorify God. Sometimes it's tangible things drugs, pornography, music, movies, books, or clothing; sometimes it is stopping intangible things like gossipping, lying, overeating, stealing, or laziness. Whatever it is, Stop it or Destroy it, in acknowledgment that it has been devastating your soul and your relationship with God.

To become a Christian is to acknowledge that Jesus is God and to acknowledge that Jesus is Alive and with us at every moment. To acknowledge God is to talk to God, this is called prayer.

You can start and talk to God in a prayer like this.

"Lord Jesus Christ - I need you - I acknowledge that I cannot do life on my own! I now know that You Love me and that I have offended You by how I have been living. Thank You for Your amazing love for me by giving me a fresh start in life. I love you and I now want to live my life in an intimate relationship with you. I believe that You died for my sins; that you rose from the dead and that you are alive today. I ask You to become my Saviour and King, to rule and reign in my life from this day forward. I now desire to walk in faith day by day and moment by moment in the grace and power of the resurrected Jesus. To the glory of God - I now confess that Jesus is my God, my Lord, my Saviour, my helper, and my Friend. Thank you Jesus, Amen.

1^st John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

May God Richly Bless you,
Ps Allan W Pearson

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