Connect to God through Christ

According to the Bible... Two early Christians were in prison An earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, causing the doors to open and the chains to fall off Believing the prisoners to have fled – and terrified of consequences from the Roman authorities – the guard drew his sword A Christian shouted 𝐃𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦: 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 The guard fell down before the Christians, and asked 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝? They replied, 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 And that's what the guard did. He even took the Christians home, leading to the salvation of his entire household – 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗟𝗗 "𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗧𝗛" 𝗚𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗦𝗦𝗢𝗡 – According to history... Harald, king of Denmark and Norway: ...was born in 911 AD ...was known as "Bluetooth" – because of his dead tooth... which was blue! ...believed on Jesus and became a Christian Harald connected tribes together, uniting Denmark's tribes into a single kingdom Harald told many people about Jesus: introducing Christianity to Denmark and contributing to the growth of Christianity in Norway In 1997, Bluetooth technology was named after him This technology connects devices the same way Harald: ...connected the tribes of Denmark to each other, and ...connected his people to Jesus – 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗬 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗝𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗦 – The guard feared punishment at the hands of the Romans enough to draw his sword But he realised: ...that he feared punishment at the hands of God more ...that the prisoners were still there So he fell trembling before the Christian prisoners and asked 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝? The Christians connected the guard to Jesus They replied, 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 Both Christians had the same answer! They didn't say: ...do good works ...start turning your life around ...change your behaviour ...stop sinning ...do enough charity work and you'll deserve it ...do these things and maybe God will grant you everlasting life ...attend church ...pray ...read the Bible – 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗗𝗢 𝗪𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗝𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗗? – We need to 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 from the consequences of our 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 We need 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 The consequences of our 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 is that we will 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 The 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 due to us, from God, for our sin, is eternity in 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 But... Jesus 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 his 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝... 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 Jesus paid the price for our sins. In full Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He was buried. He rose again on the third day 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 ...𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 ...𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲 Trust in Jesus 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 Do it today! How do you believe on Jesus? How do you trust in Jesus? By relying on who Jesus is (the son of God, the sinless one) By relying on what Jesus has done (on the cross, he took the punishment due to you, from God, for your sins) There is no good work that we can do to be saved The Bible says: ...salvation is 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 ...salvation is 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬: 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 ...salvation is 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬, 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭 --- Once you believe on Jesus, you're connected to God Your connection to God can't be lost or severed. You're connected to God for all eternity How? ...you cannot be plucked out of Jesus' hands ...you become a child of God ...you are 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 by 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝... 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 You are 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 until the day that you go to be with Jesus (either when you die, or when the rapture happens and Jesus returns to the air – whichever comes first) Once you're saved, you can't lose your salvation Sadly, Christians still sin every day, in word, thought and deed But their sins are forgiven Christians are not to 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐧 A Christian who does will be chastened by God (like a child is chastened by a parent) Once you're saved, you can't lose your salvation. You're connected to God for eternity God 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥... 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 your 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬... 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 Our sins are recorded: ...I'm sure we wouldn't want that record read out! How embarassing and shameful! ...if we don't believe on Jesus, we'll be 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 by God according to what's written ...if we believe on Jesus, our sins are 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 – they are redacted! And our name is entered into the 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 When we believe on Jesus (who he is and what he has done, taking our place and our punishment)... ...Jesus' righteousness is applied to us. When God looks at us, he sees Jesus. Jesus who never sinned We can't save ourselves. Jesus alone can save us Nobody deserves salvation. Not you and not me! We depend upon God's mercy, God's unmerited favour... and Jesus' sacrifice God has provided a way of salvation – through Jesus There's a password, pin or similar, when you want to connect a device to your device using Bluetooth. Only someone with the password can connect that device to theirs It's the same with connecting to God: Only the person who goes through Jesus can do it. Only the person who believes on Jesus can do it ❤