hi my name is tom, please take some time to read =]
He claimed to be the ONLY way to GodNot one of several ways, but the one and only way. Not to teach the way, but to be the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."Matthew 11:27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."Note: No other world religious leader, such as Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed ever made this claim
Heaven is almost indescribable. It is very hard to imagine having no pain, no fear, no worry, no financial strain, no jealousy, no temptation, or no war. In the moment when the believer is transformed from physical life to eternal life, all of life’s burden will melt away. Heaven is uncontainable joy, unending peace, love, beauty, worship, and safety. Furthermore, I cannot imagine the reunion that we will experience as we are rejoined with those who have gone before us. But, the biggest prize is that the presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will be with us for all eternity. The alternative to Heaven is exactly opposite to all that is described above. The anguish of eternal suffering and to be eternally out of the presence of God is terrifying.I still cannot understand why people don’t get their lives right with God before it is too late. Sure, there are those who truly don’t believe, and I pity them. But, there are also those who ride the fence, knowing that someday they will have to choose. They believe that the Bible is true, but they choose to hold on to the world just a little longer. Friends, don’t wait too long. Remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001? I can’t help but wonder how many people among those who lost their lives had counted on having one more day.
Hell is a place of eternal damnation for those who rejected the Gospel of Christ. It is described in the Bible as a horrifying place. Matthew 18:8-9 describes the eternal fire of Hell. Matthew 3:12 speaks of unquenchable fire. And Revelation 20 poignantly describes the lake of burning sulfur and place of perpetual torment.Hell is a place of constant agony and is set aside for Satan and all of those who reject Jesus Christ. No person on earth would willingly walk into hell. But, unfortunately, so many people are doing just that. In the face of truth and warnings, they continue to live in denial and are walking straight into Hell.If this is you, please consider heeding the warnings of Scripture and answering the call of the Holy Spirit by accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. 1 John 1:9 promises, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We have two of them...Heaven or Hell. It's that simple and it is "forever" because God is forever. He doesn't send anyone there; we choose our final home. Hell has to be forever because Heaven is forever. What would be the reason for anyone to choose Heaven if we knew we would eventually "get out" of Hell? Hell is a natural consequence of a choice we make.
Do I lose my salvation every time I sin?If that were the case, then you would essentially be earning your salvation by your good works. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains it this way, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." If you could be good enough to deserve salvation, then you would boast in yourself, not in Christ. Furthermore, if you could live without sin, Jesus would not have had to die.If you have truly repented of your sinful nature, and asked Jesus to be Lord in your life, then you have begun a lifelong journey in which you will constantly be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that you aren't saved; it means that the Holy Spirit is calling you into righteous living through conviction of sin. This process will continue until the day you stand before Jesus. Philippians 1:6 says, "...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
He claimed to be able to give everlasting lifeHe didn't just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.John 6:40 "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."John 6:47 "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."John 10:28-30 "I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."John 11:25 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die...'"img src="http://www.heart-cry.com/love/Jesus_ws.jpg"
If you are new to praying, heres a nice list to start you off (:Getting to know God better means spending time talking with Him just as we would get to know a friend. Prayer is simply talking with Him and enjoying Him.God loves to have intimate and honest conversation with us anytime of the day or night--about anything.Prayer is especially good when we are spending time each day reading the Bible and contemplating the things on God's heart.Psalm 55:17 says "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray." This is not a formula for timing our prayers. God wants to hear from us at anytime. However, if we haven't been in the habit of praying then remembering to pray at these times might be a good place to start. We can tell God how much we love him, talk about the circumstances of our day, thank him for His nearness and His help and confess our failures to Him.Prayers don't need to be eloquent or long--we are talking to a friend who loves us deeply. He knows us and wants our honest thoughtsThe great news about prayer is that we aren't on our own with it--Jesus and the Holy Spirit have promised to help us with the whole thing.Romans 8:26 says that even when we don't know what to pray the Spirit prays for us.When we've failed, Jesus is there helping us by asking God to forgive us because of His sacrifice (1 John 2:1)..We can bring anything to God in prayer and know that He will hear us and answer in the way that is best for us. Prayer is not a "shopping list" of things we want changed; it is a conversation with someone we know we can trust. He may even leave us in the difficult circumstances we ask to be rid of so that we can grow. Whatever He does in answer to our prayers, we can trust Him to make it work in our lives to make us more like Jesus. ....Even though our prayer life is so much more than God simply acting on the things we have requested, out of 667 prayers recorded in the Bible there are an amazing 454 answers also recorded. What an encouragement! God is truly listening to us and responding in love to his children.
The idea of knowing the God of the universe in a personal way is unfathomable to the human mind. He is God, this ethereal, elusive, untouchable being that has more important things to do than be with you. Right?The truth is that there is nothing that will complete your life more, or be more satisfying to you, than having a personal relationship with God. Believe it or not, there is nothing more satisfying to Him, as well. 2 Timothy 2:19a says, “The Lord knows those who are his.†And Exodus 33:13 says, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.†And Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. “ From those verses, we begin to see that this relationship with God is reciprocal. He knows us; we know Him.We are not talking about knowledge of God. Satan knows a lot about God and the Bible, but there is no intimacy. Many people think that they know God, when in reality, they know a lot about Him, but have yet to forge an intimate bond with their loving Creator. Jesus warns about this misunderstanding in Matthew 7:22-23, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!†He was talking about people who worked so hard that they thought they were earning God’s favor. They never took the time to sit at His feet, to really know Him.How do you do that? In the Exodus verse above, it shows that one way to know God is to understand His ways. We can do that by studying His word and paying attention to the way He works in our lives. The verse found in Philippians asserts that we know God by sharing in His work and His suffering. That basically means sharing His heart for the lost. Daily time spent with God, however, is the most crucial way to assure your intimacy with the Lord. This needs to be time spent alone, in prayer, seeking God’s presence in your life. 1 Chronicles 28:9b promises, “If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.â€
The bible =)
How do I become saved?The Roman jailer who held Paul and Silas were thrown in jail at Philippi, the chief city of that part of Macedonia, for freeing a woman from a familiar spirit. The act caused the men who were using her as a fortuneteller to lose their income, so they accused the two men of doing unlawful things. In jail, Paul and Silas prayed, sang to the Lord, and witnessed to those around them. A great earthquake shook the jail apart, and the prisoners were freed.Paul called for no one to leave, and the jailer, who would have been executed if he had lost any prisoners, was completely stunned at such an act.Paul writes of the occurrence: “Then [the jailer] called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought [Paul and Silas] out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house†(Acts 16:29-32).The jailer was saved simply by believing in Jesus. What, then, is this sort of belief that saves the soul?Paul the apostle tells us: “…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved†(Rom. 10: 9).Simply believe God’s Word that Jesus is the Savior of your soul, and trust in Him alone to keep you saved for eternity.When you do this, the Bible tells us through the Apostle Paul: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord†(Rom. 8:38-39).