HOW TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
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How To Have A Relationship With God
Part 1 - God created us for a purpose: for a relationship with Him and it was good.
When God created the world, it was good. There was Peace among creation; the animal kingdom; man and God.
“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”
-Genesis 1:31
We have reflective spender, we are image berrors of God. There is a glory and spender we are to reflect that is not merely our own that we are endowed and created with.
Our vocation as humans was to
Rule over and manage God’s creation (the environment, the animal kingdom and the systems of order such as politics) with the very wisdom and nature that we reflected from God. The Nature of God that we were supposed to rule from is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. We were to rule with love as the center of our decision making.
To commune with God as an object of his delight.
To Be fruitful and flourish- multiply the gifts he has given to us.
What does it mean to be human?
You have;
-Intrinsic worth. Your life is sacred.
-Reflective beauty and creativity
-Equality and reflective splendor
So what went wrong?
Love cannot exist without freedom of the will.
He gave us free choice of allegiance and we choose to violate our purpose.
In a system where real love is possible (instead of being robots) we could choose to love Him, but we could also choose to reject Him and thus, NOT to love Him.
Unfortunately, according to the scriptures, our pride and our egos got in the way and we didn't want to worship Him as God because we wanted to be in control of our own lives. We wanted to be our own decision makers and we wanted to be the God of our lives. So, we rejected Him and suppressed our own conscience.
The Bible Says that like sheep, we have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
- Romans 1:21
In the film clip below Edmond chooses selfishness over love. He trades the life of his brother for a promise of power not realizing making a deal with the devil will also cost him his own life.
Love cannot exist without freedom of the will.
He gave us free choice of allegiance and we choose to violate our purpose.
“None is righteous, no, not one
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
-Romans 3:10
Part 2: THE PROBLEM: Our rebellion and sin caused OUR SEPARATION FROM GOD.
The Bible says:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” -Romans 3:23
Our rebellion against him resulted in destruction of His system and decay of the world.
When man rebelled, the implications were not just the break in his relationship to God, but also a dysfunction in our relationship to each other and the environment. Man makes a mess of the world because we are now driven by selfishness and not the wisdom, love and direction of God.
But God still loved us!
God could have left us to our own devices. The story could end here but He refused to give up on us.
“How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”
-Matthew 23:37
In the film clip below the wicked witch tells the King of Narnia that according to the laws of justice all traitors belong to her. The boy Edmund must die. The King knows justice must occur but his love for the boy leads him to make the ultimate sacrifice. He tells the which to take him instead a bargain she gladly accepts. He gives his life to spare the life of the boy.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
-Romans 6:23
Part 3 - GOD’S BRIDGE: The Son Of God
He walked the earth.
God placed His essence and nature into human form. He became flesh and dwelt among us; living a perfect and sinless life. He felt the experience of being human so that He could be a perfect mediator…and a worthy sacrifice.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son[d] from the Father.” -John 1:14
He covers over our sins and blots them out … He died in our place.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. He paid the penalty we deserved for our treason and bridged the gap between us and God.
The Messiah came to conquer evil, sin, and death; not by violent overthrow, but by sacrificial love. He took our punishment and provided the way by which man can be restored in his relationship with God. Forgiveness of our sins is offered as a free gift. We don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it, we can only receive it.
The Bible says:
“Having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.…”
- Romans 5:6
“But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.”
- Isaiah 53:5
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
- 1 Timothy 2:5
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
- 1 Peter 3:18
“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
- Romans 5:1
He conquered death - He rose again - The kingdom has begun.
After three days He rose from the dead. He said this resurrection, restoration and new life that was in the king is just a microcosm of what He is going to do in the whole world.
“He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”
-1 Corinthians 15:4
In this film clip The Aslan, The King of Narnia brakes the power of the curse with his act of sacrificial love. Since death itself is a result of the curse when it is lifted he is raised back to life. News of this victory is spread and hope is returned to Narnia.
He loves us so much
that he keeps pursuing us every day like a shepherd seeks his lost sheep.
People don't really realize who and what it is that they're running from. If God is love and He is goodness, then why would we want to be separated from that?
God created us for a specific purpose, he holds our destiny in His hands. All He is trying to do is guide us into that destiny. We don’t realize it but what we are running from is our very purpose.
Sin is a violation of purpose. We can’t be the reflection of God to the world, bear his image or be his hands and feet if we aren’t in a relationship with Him.
Therefore, we feel this emptiness inside so we try to fill it apart from God. We try to find love from other people but it's not enough because people aren't perfect and they can't love us perfectly. Or we try to find our value and our purpose from what we do or in seeking validation from others. But that doesn't work either.
We've created these crutches to try to fill ourselves, yet we're still scared of turning back to God because we think He might ask us to give Him back the crutches, but He's really saying “I just want the crutches so I can teach you how to walk.” He wants to give us true fulfillment! When we put God first, He will fulfill all those areas of our lives.
“Love is that for which our heart longs for and the bible is clear that GOD SO LOVED…Our estranged faces have missed a many splendor thing” - .R.Z
Part 4: OUR RESPONSE: RECEIVE
The choice -
God has provided the only way back to Him. You must make a choice.
We must trust and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We receive the free gift of forgiveness and salvation not based on our own goodness, but based on the sacrifice He made on our behalf. We receive His undeserved kindness through faith.
The Bible says:
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." -Acts 4:12
“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” -John 1:12
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” -Romans 10:9
I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.
-John 14:6
How do I have a relationship with God?
The answer is that you invite Him back into His rightful place as God of your life. Where he leads, and you follow. You see, a lot of people have a BIG misconception.
They think that if they just try to do good things, then hopefully that will outweigh any mistakes or bad things that they've done but God is clear that there is no scale.
We have all broken the law and no one can earn their own salvation. “All have sinned and fall short” If you try to earn it apart from his substitution and apart from relationship with him then when you die God is just going to look at you and say “I never knew you.” God wants a relationship with us. Right here and right now.
The choice that matters is the choice of allegiance, do we choose to follow Jesus as the rightful king of the world and our lives? Or do we choose to stay in our rebellion living by our own made up standards.
If you say yes to Gods free gift there is no need for penance, God already took care of your problematic sins and mistakes. Your debt was paid.
That's why Jesus came and died on the cross. He loved us so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice and paid the penalty for us.
When he looks at us, we're already forgiven. When we come to Him, we don't have to come with shame and guilt because it has already been paid for. We could walk into His presence clean and guilt free and all He sees is Christ in us. He views us only as a father sees a child...through eyes full of love.
If we had to do good things in order to earn God's favor, then it wouldn't be grace because Grace, by its very definition, means undeserved kindness.
For by grace you have been saved through faith and it's not of yourself.
It is a gift of God so that no man can boast.
- Ephesians 2:8-9
But …God is not interested in co-ruling with you.
He wants His rightful place back as God of your life where He leads and you follow. That means you have to have enough faith in His character and enough trust in who He is to trust Him with your life. It takes faith to receive this new relationship. Not faith in some abstract sense… but faith in Him.
He is worthy of your faith and trust. If God loves you more than you love yourself and He knows everything, then He would do for your life exactly what you would choose to do for your life if you really loved yourself and you had all the information like He does.
Will it cost anything to have a relationship with God? Yes… It will cost you all that is life as you know it and everything that you have.
But He’s going to switch you for everything that is Life as he knows it. And everything that He has.
He will take your hand and lead you from exactly where you are all your flaws and all and will take you on the greatest adventure of your life! He said
“I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who hears my voice and lets me in, I will sit down and eat with him.” - Revelations 3:20
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35
“For by grace you have been saved” -Ephesians 2:8
Salvation it is a free gift that you must simply accept and receive.
“I have called you by name, you are mine.” -Isaiah 43:1
“He who has the son has life”. -1 John 5:12
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” -Romans 10;13
God will never stop loving you, “He will never leave you or forsake you” -Romans 8:38-39
“ If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9
In this film clip from “The Chosen” Jesus explains to Nicodemus that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven he must be born again. If he invited God into his life, God would give him a new heart and change him from the inside out.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue; you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my innermost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
-Psalm 139
You Must Be Born Again
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” - John 3:1
Are you ready to start a relationship with God and follow His will for your life?
Jesus says “follow me”
Salvation is not about saying some magic words and then going on with your life unchanged.
It is about a decision/a choice to enter into a relationship with God where He takes His rightful place as God in your life and you follow where He leads. It is also about a decision to accept His free gift of forgiveness in order to enter into this relationship.
We do not have any magic in our words but our words bear witness to our decision.
For analogy consider a wedding and marriage. A marriage is celebrated by a wedding ceremony, a moment in time when you make a commitment. In a marriage, you decide to no longer live as a single person, but to enter into a new relationship. The words “I do” is a confession of your mouth that you have made a decision in your heart to enter this new, sacred relationship.
This new relationship will change the way you live your life, not because someone has twisted your arm to follow a set of rules, but because you love your partner and know that showing that love, keeping them first in your life and being faithful to them, is how you remain in that relationship.
When you confess with your mouth Jesus is lord you are saying “I do” to God…I do wan’t you back in my life as my God. I will follow you, love you and be faithful to you all the days of my life.
In marriage, as in our relationship with God, we can never promise that we will be perfect or that we will never make mistakes, but we CAN make a commitment to remain in the relationship no matter what comes our way.
If you want to make this decision right now you can pray right now and tell God your decision towards him is YES! You can invite him into your life.
ready to TAKE THE NEXT STEP?
Want to learn more? Who is this God and why would I want to know him?
TESTIMONIES and Messages
Ravi Zacharias
“God’s unique image is on you in a general sense, and His unique gifting is in you in a particular sense.”
Time + matter + chance springs our lives into purposeful existence. We are not lost in a sea of humanity, but are endowed with intrinsic value that is both general and particular. God’s unique craftsmanship is displayed in every atom and DNA strand of human life. Do you realize the weight of your value in the name of Jesus?
Nick Vujicic
My name is Nick Vujicic. In 1982 I was born without arms or legs and given no medical reason for this condition. Faced with countless challenges and obstacles, God has given me the strength to surmount what others might call impossible.
My greatest joy in this life is to introduce Jesus to those I meet and tell them of His great desire to get to know them personally by allowing Him to become their Lord and Savior. That’s what Life Without Limbs is all about.
In Psalm 139:13-14, the Bible says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
todd white
Todd was a drug addict and atheist for 22 years—when in 2004—he was radically set free! Todd believes that redemption and righteousness are the foundational keys for living life as a new creation in Christ. Todd’s foremost desire is to see the Holy Spirit flowing through believers everywhere that they go–at work, school, grocery stores, malls, gas stations, and more. Todd’s true joy is being able to reproduce a 24/7 kingdom lifestyle in every believer. His heart is to activate people in the simplicity of who they really are and confront the barriers that hold them back from being who God created them to be. No one is excluded.
Billy Graham’s Message for the Hopeless
In this 1975 message from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Billy Graham spoke to those who've lost hope in our corrupt world.
Producer of the chosen
We’re in a confused holding pattern, so Dallas goes back to where The Chosen all began to share his heart with you.