I. CREATED FOR CONNECTION TO GOD
God created the universe, but the supreme object of His creation was/is US (humankind). WHY? God created us as an act of love and, therefore, to love us.
God is love. (1 John 4:8)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
(Genesis 1:1)
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds
of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the
creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26)
We were created “in God’s image” to live forever in an uninterrupted spiritual connection with God –that is, to truly worship God, to honor God above all else of our own free will.
This spiritual connection with God is the Source of our true (inner) Life –i.e. inner completion, peace, joy, confidence, and freedom.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them. God blessed
them and said to them… (Genesis 1:27-28a)
II. DISCONNECTED BY SIN
Humanity’s spiritual connection with God was interrupted by Adam and Eve’s violation against God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).
As representatives of the entire human race (basically, God knew that all of us would have copied Adam and Eve’s sin), the result is that all of humanity is spiritually disconnected from God and marred by an attitude/bent/complex of resistance towards God called SIN.
Since sin is any form of resistance towards God, and since our nature is now naturally resistant towards God, sin is more than a singular act but a defining feature of our nature. We do not merely commit sins; we are, by nature, sinful.)
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, and each of us has
turned to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6)
All have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious ideal.
(Romans 3:23)
This spiritual disconnection and marring does not mean there is a complete absence of spirituality or goodness in humanity (as “God’s image” or God-like-ness is still present), but it separates us from the full, spiritual blessing of God and sabotages our inner life, making living to our truest potential impossible. Inwardly, instead of completion, there is emptiness; instead of peace and freedom, there is turmoil and guilt; and instead of joy and confidence, there is fear and doubt.
There are ways that SEEM right to man, but they only end in
death. (Proverbs 16:25)
Within ourselves, we can do nothing to expunge our sin or negate its effects (i.e. self-improvement or good works) and become reconnected to God.
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our
righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and
like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
In terms of “Heaven” and “Hell,” “Heaven” is a place of eternal existence with God, and the only way to get there is to be PERFECT, and we simply cannot do it.
III. RE-CONNECTED BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
Knowing that we were unable to reconnect spiritually with Him on our own because of sin, God, again as an act of Love, sent Jesus Christ to die a sacrificial death and as our substitute. (He planned this before He actually created us.)
For 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. (John 3:16)
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have
been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before
the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for
your sake. (1 Peter 1:20)
God raised Jesus from the dead after three days to validate His sacrifice, also demonstrating Love’s power over sin and death.
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
By personal faith in Jesus Christ, we are reconnected spiritually to God as a gift on the basis of God’s grace.
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the
Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to
shame." (Romans 10:9-11)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no
one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
As a result of heart-felt faith:
1. Christ Himself comes to live within us spiritually through the Holy
Spirit.
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
home with him. (John 14:23)
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in
Christ. He… set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in
our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
(2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
2. God makes us spiritually perfect, or “righteous” (granting Heaven).
When we commit our lives to Christ, God applies Christ’s payment
for sin to our lives. The price has been paid.
Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to
all who believe. (Romans 3:22)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
3. God gives us supernatural insight and power to help us. While God
does make us spiritually perfect, He does not make us morally
perfect because we are free moral agents, we have a free human
will. But He recreates us on the inside, and we can begin to
change as we willfully cooperate with Him. We can sense inner
completion, peace, joy, confidence, and freedom as we learn to
consciously follow Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old
has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing…
will. (Romans 12:2)
Therefore, the object of the new life must never be the pursuit of
moral perfection for its own sake but the pursuit of Christ, of
knowing and following Christ. It is a life of freedom, both entered
into and lived by grace. As such, the Christian life should flow out
of love for and devotion to Jesus Christ rather than guilt or doing all
the right “Christian things” (a form of living by law).
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I
have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain
Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in
Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
(Philippians 3:8-9)
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)
The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking
[i.e.”rules”], but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit (Romans 14:17)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
(Galatians 2:20)
IV. HOW TO RECONNECT TO GOD
You reconnect to God by turning to God in faith in Jesus Christ. It is a conscious decision of your mind, an act of your free will, to make Christ the supreme pursuit of your life, then to pursue Him.
This reconnection is initiated by a simple prayer of faith and commitment.
Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Romans 10:13)
Pray:
“Dear Jesus, thank you for making me and loving me, even when
I’ve ignored you and gone my own way. I realize I need you in my
life and I’m sorry for my sins. I ask you to forgive me. Thank you
for dying on the cross for me. Please help me to understand it
more. As much as I know how, I want to follow you from now on.
Please come into my life and make me a new person inside. I
accept your gift of salvation. Please help me to grow in my faith in
You. Amen.”
If you made this commitment and prayed this prayer, please contact Pastor Joel Harris or one of our ministers, and we would love to celebrate with you and guide you in the next steps on your journey.