2019 can be the best year of your life!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Dear friends, Happy New Year! How can 2019 be the best year of your life? I assure you it can be! So let me begin by asking you a very personal question…Perhaps the most important question of life. Your joy or your sorrow for all eternity depends on your answer. The question is:
ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE GOING TO HEAVEN?
Someday you will stand before God, and He will ask you, “Why should I let you into My Heaven?” What will your answer be? “I was baptized when I was a baby.” “I was confirmed as a child;” “I was a church member.” “I have tried to keep the Ten Commandments.” “I Always tried to be good to everyone.” “I never did anything real bad.” “I always tried to help people.” “I did many good deeds in my life.”
Listen to what God says to you! “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
I can tell you from personal experience that God loves you so much you can trust Him with your life! “For God so loved the world (You can put your name here) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (your name) believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
I suppose the best way to tell you how to get to heaven is to share what happened to me and millions of others just like me. It was on a Thursday in October, 1958 Pastor Jim Combs came to our home in Downey, California. He asked me a series of questions: First, “Are you a Christian?” My response, “I don’t even know if there is a God, and if there is, He doesn’t like me very much!” Second question, “Do you think you will go to heaven when you die?” I said, “I don’t know.” Third question, “Would you like to know?” ”Yes I would!” Then he asked, “Do you believe you are a sinner?” (The first question I knew I could answer easily!) “Yes!” Then he said, “The Bible says, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’” (Romans 3:23). Then he explained that Jesus Christ, God’s Son died just for me. He quoted, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world (he asked me to put my name here…(John Sparks), that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever (John Sparks) believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Then Dr. Combs said, “If you want to accept Christ, just take my hand.” I reached out and clasped his hand. Then he helped me to ask God for forgiveness, so I prayed:
“Dear God, I know I have sinned, and I know ‘The wages of sin is death.’ And I know I can’t save myself, so I ask You to forgive my sins and come into my life. I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, and was raised from the dead, He is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”
If you will just simply put all your trust in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, you WILL be saved, we have God’s Word on that! “Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it. It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help” (Romans 10:13, The Message). “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
