Maiden Lane Church of God is an active member of the General Assembly of the Church of God (www.chog.org ) that meets annually in Anderson, Indiana.

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LIFE'S ULTIMATE QUESTION  

 Is there one question in life that is of ultimate importance? We believe that there is and that question is this: “Can I honestly say that I know God and that God knows me?” It is a relational question that goes right to the heart of why we exist as human beings. The question can be reworded in this way: “Do I have a personal relationship with the God who created and loves me?”

 Being a Christian

 Perhaps you have heard someone say that they are a Christian, or perhaps you have been asked, “Are you a Christian?” At Maiden Lane we are committed to helping everyone understand what it means to be a true Christian by teaching the “good news” about Jesus Christ. This is called the Gospel.

 The Gospel says that God’s love was most perfectly expressed when He sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ into our world as one of us, a human being. He was sent to teach and show us how to live our lives in ways that please God and He was sent to give His life as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the whole world through His death on the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross was for the purpose of taking on Himself the punishment we deserved for our sins. To be a Christian begins by believing this truth about Jesus—trusting He can save us from our sins—and committing to follow Him and let Him be the Lord of our lives.

 Sin : The Human Problem 

 When the first human beings, Adam and Eve, sinned for the first time it has been called by many “The Fall.” By that we mean that they fell out of right relationship with God and something happened to the human race that has caused pain ever since.

 Sin is doing anything that is disobedient to God’s Word, inconsistent with God’s character and displeasing to God’s will. Sin can be intentionally doing what we know is wrong, or not doing what we know is right. Ultimately, all sin is our refusal to live life God's way and an insistence to live life our way. The prophet Isaiah expressed it this way: “We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). From this verse we see that sin is losing our relationship with God by choosing to do what we want instead of doing what God wants. Sin is being “lost” from God’s grace and love and because He is perfectly holy it separates us from Him.

 Every human being has committed sin and is a sinner. In his letter to the Christians at Rome,  Paul, an early follower of Jesus, says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Bible says that the only person to ever live on earth who never committed a single sin is Jesus Christ, and that is why He is the only person qualified to be our Savior (Hebrews 4:15).

 Our Solutions Won’t Work

 Fallen human beings are notorious for working hard to fix our sin problem our way. We frequently do that by trying to be religious and falsely think that our religion will save us. Sometimes we create a list of rules that we try to keep without messing up and falsely think that our morality will save us. Often we work hard at doing good things for others and falsely think that our good works will save us. This false thinking is the result of our broken relationship with God and God tells us that all of our efforts to fix the human problem will fail because we are trying to do it our way and not His way. 

 Jesus Christ: God’s Solution 

 The Bible is clear that there is only one person who can forgive us of our sins and that person is Jesus Christ. Jesus said of Himself, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).

 God loves us so much that He doesn’t want our sins to destroy us. Instead, He wants to be in relationship with us and to give us what He calls the gift of eternal life. Eternal life is a life of grace, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, joy, peace, truthfulness and hope, both right now, here on earth, and in heaven with God, after we die. “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). Jesus is God’s way to eternal life and His solution to our sin problem.

 Answering Life’s Ultimate Question with an “YES”

 Let’s come back to life’s ultimate question, “Can I honestly say that I know God and that God knows me?” Can you answer that question “Yes?” If not, do you desire to answer it “Yes?” You can answer it “Yes” by simply doing what God says to do. It’s as simple as ABC and here is what He says:

 Acknowledge that you have sinned and that you need a Savior.

 Honestly admit and take personal responsibility for all the ways you have disobeyed God and hurt Him, yourself and others. Honestly admit that you need forgiveness and that Jesus Christ is the only one who can truly forgive you. This is what the Bible calls repentance. Repentance means that you are really sorry for the sins you have committed and are willing to stop living life your way and start living it God’s way.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation
and leaves no regret . . .  ~2 Corinthians 7:10

 Believe in Jesus Christ alone to be your Savior from sin.

 This means that you put your faith (trust) only in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the source of your salvation. Jesus is the only person worthy of your complete trust in this matter because He is the only true Savior there is.

 Yet to all who received him (Jesus Christ), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.  ~John 1:12

 Confess Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life.

 When you confess Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life you are stating that you believe that He is who He claimed to be, God come to earth to be your Savior, and you are committing to live your life in obedience to His teachings and commandments. In other words, you are putting Him in the driver’s seat of your life and letting Him be in control of your life. He is leader and you are His follower committed to living life His way.

 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 it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  ~Romans 10:9-10

 Good News

 If you honestly prayed the prayer above, we have “good news” for you. God has forgiven you of all your sins and has adopted you into His family as His child. The Gospel of John says that this is like being “born again.” You have a new life in Christ and you are a brand-new person. Now that you have taken this first step of faith here are four additional and important steps you should take to help you grow in your relationship with God:

Find a good church and get connected with other Christians

 Regular fellowship and worship with other Christians will do more to strengthen your faith than anything else. We welcome you to join us in worship here at Maiden Lane Church of God. For information on how to get here and when we gather for worship go to www.maidenlane.org. 

Begin reading your Bible every day

 We encourage you to begin with the fourth book of the New Testament, the Gospel of John. Reading the Bible will help you to grow strong in your faith. If you don’t have a Bible please email us at rejoice@maidenlane.org and we will see to it that you get one absolutely free.

Talk with God every day

 This is called prayer and it is the most important thing you do as a Christian. Prayer is just talking with God honestly about your life, your family and your needs, and it is learning to listen to what God wants to say to you.

Tell someone else about your decision to become a Christian

 Sharing your decision with someone else is the first step to going public with your faith. Please email jsherman@maidenlane.org and share your decision with us. We have some information to share with you about how we can help you grow in your faith by getting connected with the Maiden Lane community of believers.