The best gift I have ever received is salvation from Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for my sin. He paid the price for it and by putting my faith and trust in Him I receive forgiveness, salvation and new life.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT that “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. [9] Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. [10] For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
These verses give us several major truths about salvation in Christ.
1. It is by grace we are saved through faith
2. Salvation is a gift from God
3. It is not a rewards for our good works
4. We are new masterpieces in Christ
5. We are saved to go and do good works
The greatest gift we can have is salvation from Jesus. When we put our faith and trust in Him, He gives us the gift of salvation. Then we walk in new life in Him and do good works He planned long ago.
Would you like to find salvation and peace with God? Please visit our finding salvation page here.
Matthew 16:24-27 NLT – Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [25] If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. [26] And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? [27] For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.”
When Jesus called His first followers He simply said, “Come, follow Me” (Mark 1:17-18). It was a few simple words, but a big call to leave everything behind to commit to a new way of life. History tells us that those fishermen did answer the call and left everything behind.
In the above passage Jesus offers the same call to His followers today. But He adds to be a true follower we have to give up our own way and take on His way and His direction. To be a true follower of Jesus we give up our worldly hopes, dreams, plans and wisdom and take on His goals, plans and dreams for us. We need to take up our cross and follow Him.
I believe this is about changing kingdoms – from the worldly kingdom and it’s ways to God’s Kingdom and His eternal ways. It also means not being king or ruler of our own lives and handing complete and total control to Jesus. We need to accept His Lordship.
I know from my own experience it is easier to accept Jesus as our Saviour, than our Lord. To accept that He died on the cross for our sins and to accept Him as the only way to salvation happens when we understand who He is and what He has done. But Lordship is another matter. Giving up control of our lives is much harder.
The passage above tells us that if we do give up our lives for Jesus and service in His Kingdom, we actually find true life. We find true life because this is how it is meant to be. God made us all for His purpose. We all have a divine call, purpose and destiny. When we come in to line with this, we find our true place in this world and in God’s Kingdom.
How about you? Have you accepted Jesus as your saviour? Have you handed your life over to Him to be Your Lord? It is my hope and prayer that you have done both.
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, I thank You that You died on the cross for my sin. Right now I confess all the wrong things I have done in my life and ask for Your forgiveness. I accept You as my Saviour. Jesus, I also want to accept You as my Lord. I want You to be the ruler of my life. I lay down my life to You. Please use me in the way You created me to be. Please use me for Your Kingdom purposes. Help me to take up my cross each day and truly follow You. I ask this in Your name, Amen.
This is one of the best explanations of the Good News of Jesus I have heard in a long time. I love what he said and how he related to the man. As someone who loves leading people to Jesus, this brought me to tears.
This morning when I was doing my devotions the words, “Imagine if Jesus came to our town” popped into my mind.
Imagine if Jesus came to our small town. Wow that would be awesome! But then I started to think about the things He would do?
As my mind wandered I imagined Jesus starting His day on the Peak. It is a solitary place overlooking town where He could pray to His Father.
When He came down where would He go? I suspect to where the people were. My first thought was the main street where all of the shops are. I could see Him interacting with people. Preaching, teaching and healing like He did in the Bible.
Then I could see Him crossing over the railway line and going to Hospital and the Nursing Home. Praying for and encouraging people who were sick. Some would be miraculously healed and many would be set free.
After that I could see Him going to the western end of main Street where the bakery is found. I could see Him encouraging the people in the street and then sitting across from the bakery waiting for the lunchtime crowd.
As people came and went I could imagine Him talking about the Bread of Life and having spiritual food that never runs out. People would forget their physical hunger and crave the spiritual food He would give.
From there I could see Jesus going to the primary school and shooting hoops and kicking the footy with the kids. When He was tired I could see Him sitting with all of the pre-school kids on His lap and even more gathered around. He would be sharing the Parables.
As day turned to night I could see Him looking for a place to sleep. I could imagine that rather than staying in the best hotel in town, I could see Him curled up in a doorway with one of the homeless people who sleep rough every night.
The next day He would wake and do it all again in… or move on to some other town that His Father in heaven showed Him.
If Jesus came to town… I suspect it would be about people. It would be about blessing, encouraging, healing, loving and saving people – all people. It would be about showing God’s love and God’s Kingdom to everyone.
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