Understanding Salvation:

OUR NATURE
The Bible tells us that God created man in His image and his likeness. We understand this to mean God’s character likeness and nature. But what is God’s nature? The Bible describes Him as being all loving, merciful, faithful, honest, holy, slow to anger, generous, forgiving, patient, gentle, kind, and so on. God is the embodiment of these qualities, and He made man to be a perfect reflection of Himself, in the beginning.

REBELLION
When we look into the world, we see quite the opposite. Man’s nature leans more towards vengeful, unfaithful, angry, inpatient, selfish, cruel, forceful, dishonest and so on.
The Bible tells us that shortly after man was created, i.e. Adam and Eve, they rebelled against God, and their eyes were open to disobedience & sin.
One small act of disobedience opened the door to all other forms of rebellion. Rebellion meaning anything that contradicts Gods nature. For example: God’s nature is honesty. To lie is a contradiction of Gods nature.

CONSEQUENCES
Since the original sin in the Garden of Eden, we, man, have been plagued with rebellious tendencies, from our birth. This rebellion isn’t without punishment. Like all acts of lawlessness there is a consequence for it. God has said that the cost of sin is death. Not a mere bodily death, but an eternal spiritual death, in a place described to burn with fire and brimstone.

SALVATION
Thankfully, God’s nature did not change when mans did. God remains all loving and merciful. In His great and perfect love, He made a way for all man to be forgiven and cleansed of all sin permanently, and re-made in the image of God.

The Bible tells us that God sent His perfect Son Jesus to bare all of our sins, on the cross, where they would permanently die and be erased. As a result we could be reconciled to God.
However not all of mankind is immediately reconciled. You have an individual choice to make. You can accept Jesus’s work on the cross, or reject it. You can choose to reject Christ’s work of salvation and not be reconciled to God, and thus be subject to judgement, or you can choose to accept it and subsequently be saved from eternal punishment!

RECEIVING SALVATION
The Bible says that God looks at the heart. This is true in all matters of life, including repentance.
If you are to accept Gods plan of salvation and be saved, the choice to accept Jesus Christ is a choice made in your heart. We can fool ourselves, and people, with outward imitation, but God looks at our hearts for the truth.

To be saved and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, say this prayer, and mean it with your heart:
• God of Heaven, forgive me of all of my sins.
• Be Lord of my life.
• I Receive Jesus Christ as my Savior.
• Cleanse me and make me new. Amen.
We believe that when you make this choice, you are saved! Romans 10:13