Know God?

You may know of God, but do you really know God?
Yes, He loves you, but is there a relationship between you and God?

God tells us in His Word, the Bible, that He created the heavens and the earth. He made the plants and animals. He also made the first people, Adam and Eve. God wanted people to love and obey Him not out of complusion but out of a choice. But Adam and Eve disobeyed a command from their Creator. This disobedience is called sin.

The first man, Adam, rebelled against God's command and brought death, suffering, and separation from God into this world. We see the results all around us. All of us are Adam's descendants and we have been born with sin and have entered into this rebellion and sin. You were created by God and for God, but your sin separates you from God.

The Bible says "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God. The Bible says "The wages of sin is death." but also that "God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."

God does love you, and he demonstrated His love for you by sending His Son Jesus who died on the cross (the sinless Man) who paid the penalty of sin for everyone who trusts in Him. The Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life". And He offers you a relationship with God because of what He did.

Christ died for our sins, was buried, and He rose again the third day from the dead. He was seen by the twelve apostles, and after that He was seen by over five hundred people at once. After that He was seen by his step-brother James, and He was seen by Paul also who formally persecuted the followers of Jesus. Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives in heaven with God His Father.

God reaches out in love and freely offers forgiveness of sin, a relationship, and the gift of eternal life if we receive Him as our Savior and Lord. Because Jesus is the Creator and the way to Heaven we can look forward to eternity with Him and be free from death, pain, sickness, and suffering one day. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me."

Do it today, ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Savior and Lord. The Bible says "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name."

-Repent: Turn from sin and turn to Jesus (Acts 3:19)
-Believe: Trust in the finished work of Jesus (John 3:16-17)
-Receive: Invite Jesus to come into your life (John 1:12-13)

If you want a personal relationship with God and have your sins forgiven, here is a suggested prayer...

Lord, You have promised that if I will confess my sins, You will be faithful to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I want to turn from my sins, and live in a way that will please You. I thank you that Jesus Christ died on the cross, paying the price for my sins, and then rose from the dead. I accept Him now as my Savior, my Lord, and my friend. Thank you for giving me a new life in Christ. I surrender myself to you and thank you for loving me, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Remember the words are not important but the attitude of your heart as you repent and trust in Jesus.

Have you trusted in Christ because of what you read here?
If so, please send us an email, we would love to be praying for you. Send us an E-Mail.

Now visit our "Getting Started" page for some key steps in the right direction.

GO! "As you are going?" (Sent, Witness, Preach, Disciple)

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Matthew 28:19-20

Stay? No. “Go therefore”: Because Jesus in charge and is all powerful, we are therefore commanded to go. It is His authority that sends us, His authority that guides us, and His authority that empowers us.

I’m no Greek scholar but Go is a command and it’s present tense which can be implied saying ‘as you go’ “Make disciples of all the nations”. "As you are going". It’s a lifestyle of living for Jesus, and more than being just a Sunday Christian. This is as we are going, so not just crusades, events, our outreaches but daily leading people to Jesus.

The command is to make disciples, not merely converts or supporters of a cause. The idea behind the word disciple is of a scholar, a learner, a student, a follower. “Of all the nations” (ethnos=ethnic, people groups, languages): There is no place on earth where the gospel of Jesus should not be preached, and were disciples should not be made.

“Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you”: Disciples are made through teaching. This teaching is not with words only, but by the power of the God changing hearts and transforming lives. The content of the teaching must be all things that I have commanded you. The followers of Jesus are responsible to present the whole counsel of God, the whole Bible to make sound disciples.

“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”: Do you see that Jesus sent His disciples with a mission to fulfill, but He did not send them alone? The promise of His constant presence was more than enough to strengthen and guide the disciples as they obeyed Jesus in making disciples of all the nations.

Our response: Either you become saved or not. You must be ‘born-again’ in order to even be a disciple of Jesus. When we become born again our old life is dead and buried, our new life is raised in Jesus. Then we follow Him.

Our role: We are to make a disciples. Not of ourselves but of Jesus. To teach, and instruct the people in the ways of God. We need the Word of God to be the people of God - by simply teaching the Bible simply.

GO! Who Is Called To Evangelize?

GO! Popping The Question

GO! Share Your Story

GO! Disciple Others

4 Great Co-missions for Believer's:

1) Sending Role

John 20:21 “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”

This is the continuity of Christ and His church, and we should support missionaries and be one.

2) Witnessing Role

Luke 24:46-49 & Acts 1:7-8 “Be my witnesses... in Jerusalem and Judea and to the ends of the earth”

This is progression and strategy, and we should testify what God has done in our life. Start at home work your way out from there.

3) Preaching Role

Mark 16:15-16 “Preach the gospel to all creation”

This is a universal scope to share the good news (1 Corth 15) with everyone. We should invite people to church and to have a relationship with Jesus.

4) Discipling Role

Matthew 28:18-20 “Go and make disciples of all nations”

Remember that this is of every ethnic group. We should invest time in others and teach them the Bible. I would encourage you to start a family Bible study and also to spend time with new believers.

Well, what has Jesus called you to do? Make disciples of Jesus. Charles Spurgeon said “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor”. Your mission field is in-front of you at all times.

"Go!"

Seek and save that which is lost and press on in Love,
Tim Molter, bondservant of Jesus

GO! A "word from God?" (God's Will for You)

"Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." - Mark 16:15

What are you doing for the Kingdom of God? Have you taken the Great Commission to heart? Have you gone into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature? Or are you waiting for a "word from God?" Then here it is - "Go."

That's the first word of the Great Commission given to the Church (Mark 16:15). So, what are you waiting for? There's your word from God. Go somewhere; do something; say something to somebody somewhere, somehow.

Someday you will be dead, and then it will be too late. While you can ... think, speak, move your hands and feet, do something for God. Are you content to sit in the barracks while the battle rages? You are in a battle for the lost.

Form a platoon. Give out ice breakers (gospel tracts are for people not places) everywhere, leave them with someone, speak for your God. Don't be afraid of failure. Be afraid of silence.

GO! We Must Care About Lost People If We Are To Share The Gospel With Them


GO! Witnessing Is A Conversation Not A Presentation


GO! Tact Is Speaking The Truth In Love

"Go."

Seek and save that which is lost and press on in Love,
Tim Molter, bondservant of Jesus

What We Need...

This is a powerful message the Church needs to hear. We as believers need to warn people that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus as their Lord and Savior, to repent with asking for forgiveness and trust in Jesus or the will be eternally separated from God.

Church Entertainment...Please Read...

Ok, so this is a bit off topic of the Gospel for Chico, but it does have application.

When my wife and I were in Mexico and helping out with the distribution of the Operation Christmas Child we got to hand out shoe boxes with a Gospel message along with each box. However there was also a huge song and dance that went on before each distribution, and a puppet show Gospel presentation. Maybe I'm wrong because there is a huge culture difference?

Here are just a few of the pictures...

The reason we the church exists here on earth is to be a witness to the whole world. Whatever happened to telling Bible stories, and singing Gospel songs?

So why does the church use Entertainment?

What's filling the pews and keeps people coming back for more? Meaty preaching, biblical teaching, or . . . entertainment?

A.W.Tozer said "For there are millions who cannot live without amusement; life without some form of entertainment for them is simply intolerable; they look forward to the blessed relief afforded by professional entertainers and other forms of psychological narcotics as a dope addict looks to his daily shot of heroin. Without them they could not summon courage to face existence."

You see there is a deadly disease and it's spreading into the church, and it may already have infected your entire congregation. The church as a whole has forgotten that we are to use the Gospel to convert the lost (Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:19, and 2 Timothy 4:2).

G. Campbell Morgan said "When amusement is necessary to get people to listen to the gospel there will be failure.  This is not the method of Christ.  To form an organization and provide all kinds of entertainment for young people, in order that they may come to the Bible classes, is to be foredoomed to failure."

When people desire to have an entertainment driven church instead of a Christ driven church they are creating a idol to follow. Christ is the head of the church and we need to submit to Him alone.

A.W.Tozer put it this way "Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God."

The church mission is not to provide entertainment but to persuade and plead with every man to come to Christ, and turn from their sins once and for all. We are not sugar candy but the salt of the earth, drawing men to Christ, to thirst after Him, not the things of this world.

C. H. Spurgeon said "The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them."

With the entertainment business in the church it clearly shows that some do not believe in the the power of the Gospel, and therefore they cause themselves to rely upon the power of men.

I find the words of C. H. Spurgeon to be a fitting way to conclude...

"Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular but, because of the searching nature of His teaching, many turned away. I do not hear Him say, "Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow." Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them."

If your going to use entertainment, please don't use it as a replacement for the Gospel. When you use entertainment to draw people and then share the Gospel, don't be surprised when they want more entertainment.

Let me know your thoughts, please post a comment.

For more please read "The Great God Entertainment"  by A.W.Tozer, and "Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?"  By  C. H. Spurgeon

For more on how to share the Gospel with children check out: Child Evangelism - A God-Centered Approach for Genuine Conversion By Massimo Lorenzini