I Walk With God

[ The following falls under the category of "springboards to the Gospel"]

 Hi Friends, my name is Keith and I'm a born-again Christian and I'd like to share the Gospel message with you.    Gospel is an old Bible word that means Good news.  It's the good news about how to be made right with God and go to heaven when you die.   This is not a "Pie in the sky and the sweet by-and-by" message, but it's a message of life lived abundantly in the here-and-now.   This is a life changing, life giving message that has eternal, everlasting consequences.

 

Now, I do want to preface what I'm about to say with this; I've heard accusations against Christians that we talk to our imaginary friend.   In other words, they say God is only imaginary.   In fact, there are even some who would call themselves Christians, who think of God as an imaginary friend.   For some air-quote "Christians", God is nothing more than a comforting thought or a guiding principle, but not a person they know.  Well, well, well now, isn't that special.   I'm going to make a bold assertion here, but everyone already knows God.   Even if you say you don't believe in God, the Bible says you "suppress the truth in unrighteousness".   So it isn't an intellectual argument you have against God.   It's a moral one.   If you deny God, it’s because you don't want to be accountable to God for your behaviors.   The Bible says, on judgement day, no one will have an excuse.   It says, God has imprinted eternity on all of our hearts.   God gave you a conscience which testifies to you about your moral responsibility to God.   All you have to do is look around.  Creation testifies to the axiomatic fact that God is.   Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork"

 

As a Christian, I know God, just like I know my wife.   I don't believe in my wife, I know her.   For the past 37 years she and I have walked through life together, and I've been walking with the LORD God for about the same length of time.  You might ask, How do you know that you know God?  I certainly haven't seen Him, visually.  The Bible says, God is invisible (Romans 1:20, Colossians 1:15-16, 1 Timothy 1:17)   But I've experienced God the same way I experience a burn when I touch a hot stove.   I've experienced God's mercy and grace and he changed my life.   I love things I used to hate and hate things I used to love.   God has changed me.   He’s converted me.   I’ve been transformed by God’s presence in my life.   I’ve been what’s called “born-again”; born from above; born by God’s Spirit.   That’s how I know that I know God.  But an even better question, you ought to ask is "How can I know God?"   Let me tell you...   But first, let me tell you what gets in the way of knowing God.  The Bible says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."   Matthew 18:3-4 says "Unless you are converted and become like a child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like a child will be like the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."   So if you want a straight-arm from God (to use a football analogy), try to come to God with pride or arrogance or self-righteousness.  We all must come to God humbly, acknowledging that He is high and lifted up.   He is holy and pure and righteous and we aren’t.   God alone is good.

 

Since it's not my job to humble you, and I'm not supposed to judge you, you can judge yourself.   The Bible says, "examine yourself and see if you be in the faith".   So let me ask you a few questions, and you answer for yourself.  You don't have to answer out loud, and you don't have to answer to me, but answer to yourself and listen to your conscience.   First question to get the ball rolling; Would you consider yourself to be a good person?   The bible says, most people will proclaim their own goodness, but a faithful person who can find.   So I want to ask you just four questions based on the Ten Commandments, and you can see whether or not you’re good, according to God’s standard. 

 

[ The Gospel goes here]

[ An explanation of repentance and faith goes here]

We’ve Got a Problem

[The following falls under the category of a "springboard to the Gospel"]

Hi friends, my name is Keith and I’m a born-again Christian and I want to share the Gospel with you.   Gospel is an old Bible term that means Good News.    I want to share the Good News with you, but before I do that I have a little bit of “bad news” I have to give you first.

You and I have a problem.    It’s bigger than any pandemic.   It’s worse than any financial trouble.   As horrible as those things are, and they are bad, you and I have a problem that’s worse.   It’s our mortality.   Yes, we will all die.   It’s a reality no one wants to talk about.   It’s as if, maybe, if we just don’t talk about it, death won’t come for us.   We always think, “oh it’s going to be someone else”; never us personally.   Or we think, “it’s so far off in the future”, we don’t have to worry about it right now.  That’s why it’s such a big deal when someone famous passes away, or when a close family member passes away.   It's like; “wow, that was close.   I dodged that bullet”, so-to-speak.

But each of us needs to face up to the fact that we will die, and after that comes the Judgement.   We will be made to give an account of our lives to our Maker.   If you’re saying to yourself, I don’t want to think about this right now.   It’s a waste of time and energy to think about something that happens to everyone, there’s nothing you can do about it.   If you say to yourself, I have life to live, I need to think about life and living, not death and dying.   I say to you, you need to prepare to meet your Maker, just like you prepare for so many things in life; you prepare for school; you prepare for your career; you prepare for your vacation; you prepare for retirement.   You prepare for everything and every day of your life.   If you don’t prepare for your death, you’re being foolish.

Everyday 150 thousand people on planet earth die.  They step out of time and into eternity.   That translates to about 2 people every second.   Some day one of those seconds is going to have your name on it.   Those who died yesterday probably didn’t plan on that being their day.   It probably wasn’t on their calendar.   But the jaws of death seized upon them.

So, here’s the BIG QUESTION, when that day comes for you, when the grim reaper shows up at your door, where will you spend eternity?

[The Gospel goes here]

[An explanation of repentance and faith goes here]