You and I were created to live in a relationship with God.

Until we find that relationship, there will always be something missing in our lives. As a result, we are often aware of a gap. People try to fill this emptiness in various ways. Some try to fill the gap with work, music, sports, money, sex, drugs, alcohol, while others seek success. These things may provide passing satisfaction, but it does not last. They do not satisfy that hunger deep inside every human being.

Nothing will fill this gap except the relationship with God for which we were made.

He restored our relationship with God...

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). He is the only one who can satisfy our deepest hunger because He is the one who makes it possible for our relationship with God to be restored. 

If we are honest, we would have to admit that we all do things that we know are wrong. The Bible calls this sin. The things which we do wrong cause a barrier between us and God. Because of our sin, we are unable to have a relationship with God without forgiveness.  

These are some of the things the Bible says about sin: 

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23  

So that we could be forgiven. 

Our greatest need, in fact, is for forgiveness. We can’t earn God’s forgiveness – it must be given. Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice so that we could be forgiven. By His death on the cross Jesus made it possible for us to be forgiven and brought back into a relationship with God. 

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 

Jesus said He died “for” us. The word “for” means “instead of.” He did it because He loved us and did not want us to have to pay the penalty for all the things that we had done wrong. On the cross He was effectively saying, “I will take all those things on myself.” He did it for you and He did it for me. 

What people tend to mean when they say this is that they are happy with their lives the way they are – without God. But what we really need is forgiveness, not happiness. 

We all need forgiveness. Without it, we are in big trouble as God is not just our Father, he is also a judge. Our choice is either to accept what Jesus has done for us on the cross, or pay the price for what we have done wrong ourselves. 

Christianity is based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   

Jesus was and is the Son of God. Some people think he is just a ‘good religious teacher’, but this doesn’t fit with what He said about Himself. 

Jesus claimed to be equal to God. He said that he was able to forgive sins and one day would judge the world. 

C. S. Lewis pointed out that: ‘A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.’ He would either be insane or else he would be ‘the Devil of Hell’. ‘You must make your choice… Let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’ 

There is also strong evidence for the physical resurrection. When the disciples went to the tomb on Easter Sunday, they found that Jesus’ body was absent. In the next six weeks, he was seen by over 500 people. The disciples’ lives were transformed and the Christian church was born and grew really quickly.  

There is one God who is the creator and sustainer of all things, and He calls us His children.

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.” 1 John 3:1 NLT 

The one God exists eternally in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God came to earth in the person of Jesus the Son who was both fully God and fully human.

(Genesis 1:1-3, John 1:1-14, John 10:30)

Jesus is the most remarkable man who ever lived. He is the centerpiece of our civilization.

After all, the calendar designates time by what happened before Him (B.C. —Before Christ) and what happened after Him (A.D. — Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”). Jesus was and is the Son of God. Some people think He is just a “good religious teacher.” C. S. Lewis pointed out, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.” He would either be insane or else he would be “the devil of hell.” “You must make your choice,” he writes. 

Either Jesus was, and is, the Son of God or else He was insane or evil but, C. S. Lewis goes on, “let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. 

Jesus is fully God and fully man and is alive today in Heaven. 

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" — which means 'God with us (Matthew 1:22-23). He came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 

Jesus was crucified, killed, and buried. After three days, he rose again overcoming death and breaking the power of sin. The resurrection is the foundation of Christian faith as without it all of creation is left to the decay of death (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-7, Luke 24:1-49, John 20-21, 1 Corinthians 15:1-34).

The evidence for the physical resurrection is very strong indeed. After the resurrection of Jesus, He was seen by over 500 people. The disciples’ lives were transformed and the Christian Church was born, and then grew at a dynamic rate. 

Jesus is no longer physically on earth, but He has not left us alone.

He has sent His Holy Spirit to be with us. When His Spirit comes to live within us, He gives us a new freedom. The power of God is alive in us through the Holy Spirit.

And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Salvation is the result of Jesus work through the cross. We cannot save ourselves, nor can we earn salvation as a result of our deeds. God came to earth in the person of Jesus because of his love for us, and it is by his grace that we are saved.

(John 3:16-17, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:16, Titus 3:5) 

We must accept this free gift from God by committing our lives and heart to Jesus.

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

The New Testament makes it clear that we have to do something to accept the gift that God offers. This is an act of faith.

John writes that “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).

Believing involves an act of faith, based on all that we know about Jesus. It is not blind faith. It is putting our trust in God. The way people take this step of faith varies enormously, but I want to describe one way in which you can take this step of faith right now. It can be summarized by three very simple words:

“Sorry”

You have to ask God to forgive you for all the things you have done wrong and turn from everything which you know is wrong in your life. This is what the Bible means by repentance.

“Thank You”

We believe that Jesus died for us on the cross. You need to thank Him for dying for you and for the offer of His free gift of forgiveness, freedom, and His Spirit.

“Please”

God never forces His way into our lives. You need to accept His gift and invite Him to come and live within you by His Spirit. If you would like to have a relationship with God and you are ready to say these three things, then here is a very simple prayer which you can pray and which will be the start of that relationship.