Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Scratching the Surface
of
A Personal Relationship with God
I’m often asked what Christians mean by a personal relationship with God by grace through faith in Jesus.
Before talking about how to get it, let’s talk about what it means.
It feels something like this: “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known.”
It includes “strong calm sanity” and irrepressible joy, happiness, and overall well-being amid the meanness, madness, misery, and miscreance of life in the modern world.
Does that sound good to you?
If that’s something you’d like to have/experience/express, you can have/experience/express it/Him.
It’s yours by grace through faith in Jesus.
Specifically, here’s how to have/experience/express a personal relationship with God.
Confess or admit you’re messed up a little or a lot but definitely messed up and need Him as Savior.
Repent or pledge right now that you’re going to change the direction of your life from egocentric to Christocentric according to the book.
Believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior; trusting Him for this life and after life so you have/experience/express confident living in the assurance of eternal life in paradise/heaven immediately after you exhale your last breath.
Receive His love! That’s right! He loves you! Or as Eugene says, “The sooner we get the message, the better off we’ll be, for the message is good, incredibly good: God is here, and He’s on our side.”
Let’s pray:
Lord, I invite You for the first time…[or really this time or to renew/recharge my relationship with You]…into my heart as Lord and Savior. I am sorry for how I have hurt You and hurt others which is the same as hurting You. I need Your love, mercy, and forgiveness. I welcome You into my heart. I thank You for being in my heart now and forever. I ask You to help me to be Yours from now on in all things at all times in all places with all people for Christ’s sake; as I pray in His name. Amen!
Welcome home!
Blessings and Love!
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2 comments:
Confess, I am a sinner, I Repent to change, I Believe Jesus is the only Lord and Savior of my life, I Receive The Lord Jesus in my Heart Forever. I ask Jesus to Guide me in everyday living in me.
Thank you Jesus.
God Bless Pastor Kopp & our Family of Faith Church.
Amazing!!! Pastor Bob, I’m so grateful for your leadership in helping people to take hold of salvation!!! You know, I listen to your services when I can (I play hookie from church sometimes to catch up on rest, worship, some prayer time and such, and find myself turning to your services on bnns radio/uVlog when possible). Did I ever tell you… a few weeks ago when the young man in your congregation brought two young men from the football team (if I remember correctly) to the Sunday service, your message included direct challenges to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord. As you eloquently shared the Gospel and called people to salvation as you prepared the elements for communion, a well of joy bubbled up in my spirit… literally. I sensed God’s delight and had an impression (which seemed like a very clear impression at the time) that those two young men had accepted Christ for the first time! I’ve prayed since that if that was true, that God would help them to walk deeply with Him and be trained up in the ways of God.
I am thrilled to see salvation engaged. You know, I’m an evangelist at heart. And yet I was one who sat in the pews not having a clue of what relationship with God was, either. I remember being in my early 30’s sitting there in a large Methodist church when one of my pastors said something about “The Good News” and I thought… what IS the Good News, and what the heck does it have to do with me?” I didn’t have a clue even though I had grown up in the denominational church (Methodist and Presbyterian) my whole life outside of a chunk of years in my 20’s. But then I went back to church around age 28 knowing I needed God, but still having no clue that God was really real… but somehow I knew I needed Him. Then in my mid 30’s I encountered the Living God at a church not too dissimilar to yours where they actively engage the Holy Spirit and pray and study the Scriptures and call people to right relationship with God and trust Him with every need, engaging faith and seeking to love in all that they do. And, look what happened… a life transformed, simply eager to be used by Him to help others see He loves them and will move heaven and earth to help them, too, literally.
Now almost 20 years later, my life transformed dramatically by Jesus, I long to see those sitting in the pews take hold of the truth of God’s Love and saving Grace. I weep still over how possible it is to sit in church and not know God’s love or the need for salvation or what personal walk with Jesus is or can be if we surrender to Him. If there is ever anything I can to do be of help engaging people in God’s love and grace, please let me know.
God bless you and all that you do for the Body of Christ to emerge in our generation as the one called out in scriptures as the generation who together seeks His face (Psalm 24:6),
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