​The Son of God

Jesus is the one and only unique Son of God. Jesus (i.e. God the Son) existed from eternity past, before the earth was created. He existed alongside God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. The three of them together are the one true God, eternally existing in perfect union and oneness. We call them the "Trinity".

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​Everyone's Problem​

After the "fall of man" (when humans first rebelled against God), ​God saw that humanity was in a terrible state of sin, which caused great confusion, brokenness, and self-destruction on the Earth. Yet He still loved every human being. He had created them in His own image, to be in perfect union and fellowship with God. But that image was horribly marred and distorted by the introduction of sin into the world by our first parents. That perfect fellowship was broken by sin. Sin is rebellion against God. It is going our own way instead of pleasing God in all we do in our lives.

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God's Solution​

The Historical Acts of Jesus

So in His great love, God the Father sent His only Son Jesus into the world. Jesus was conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem, Israel. He lived a perfect life, pleasing God His Father in every way. He was the only person ever to live a perfect life of righteousness in God’s eyes. As He walked the earth 2000 years ago, He performed many miracles, healed many sick people, taught about God’s kingdom, and cast out demons who had afflicted his beloved children. Though Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, He was killed through the cooperative efforts of the Jewish and Roman leaders. But, just as He had prophesied to his disciples, and just as Hebrew Scripture (aka The Old Testament) had prophesied, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day! He was the only person to defeat death. He also defeated sin for the sake of all humanity by His death on the cross.

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The “Gospel” (i.e. His life, death, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances) is the source of eternal life for all people. Yet, simply knowing this is not enough. He calls us to respond in faith. Jesus repeated the words “repent and believe” multiple times, and so did his disciples. What does it mean that every person must “repent and believe”? This is a key question and applies to every human being, including you. Jesus was not only speaking to Jews or Christians. His message to repent and believe was for everyone, regardless of religion, race, gender, or anything else. It was then and is now a universal message to all humanity. 

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Making it Personal

Turning and Trusting

His word makes it clear that repenting is the act of turning. It is turning from living my life as a self-absorbed person trapped in my own sinful cravings, lusts, actions, and addictions. I am commanded to turn from all my rebellion against God, in intentions, thoughts, actions, etc. And… it is turning to Jesus. Jesus calls people to follow Him, giving up our own ways, our own priorities, and even in fact our own lives. To follow Him with a whole heart. To live in obedience to Jesus, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the God who made us and is our only final Judge. Jesus didn’t only say that we needed to believe. He said we needed to repent and believe.

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To believe is to trust in Jesus as the Lord, the Son of the living God. To trust Him with my life, with my decisions, with my future, and even with my eternity. It is to trust that God has my good in mind, always. It is to believe in Him as the only Son of God, the living resurrected Messiah, the only Savior. He alone has the power to forgive all my offenses (sins) against the holy God.

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All people are invited to repent and believe, thereby making the Gospel message applicable to their own lives on an individual and personal basis. In believing and repenting, we are made His beloved and adopted born-again children. But the Lord also has called us to be one with his other born-again children. To live as family, eternally. In a very real sense, this whole life of following Jesus is a great big practice session for living in perfect unity with all of His followers in heaven one day.

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I'm not Able

But God is!

Many of us feel like we are not “able” to repent and believe and live a life pleasing to God. That is because we can only do so by the power of His Holy Spirit living in us. We cannot make ourselves into his adopted born-again children, but we can cry out to have Him transform us, from the inside out.

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Jesus shared the story of the tax collector. In his day a tax collector was viewed as one of the most vile sinful people of all, traitors of the Jewish people because they worked for the oppressors, the Romans, demanding money from the Jewish people. Jesus said this tax collector cried out, "God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner." Jesus then said that even this vile sinful person "went home accepted by God." (Luke 18:13-14). Knowing and admitting we are sinners is the first step of turning away from our sin as this tax collector did. We first need to admit we are sinners, all of us. No matter how hard we try to be good, the Bible says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).

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New Lives and Victory

When we surrender our lives to him as this tax collector did and ask Him to remake us into His children, He begins to give us the power to overcome our sins, addictions, self-centeredness, and all rebellion against God. He gives us a new family, a spiritual family of all other Jesus-followers on the Earth and in Heaven. We can begin to walk in unity with these other brothers and sisters and encourage one another in the faith, building one another up so the entire body of Christ, our new and everlasting family, is built up. This family will be our eternal family and we’ll enjoy fellowship eternally with them in heaven. But the Lord has things to accomplish in and through our lives on this Earth. So we surrender to Him daily and ask for His Holy Spirit’s power to accomplish His will each day. In this way, together in close relationships with other believers, we are empowered to live for good and eternal purposes. Our “works” done by the power of the Holy Spirit, will actually carry over into our heavenly lives as rewards, which will last forever as we enjoy God’s and each other’s fellowship for eternity.

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His Invitation,

No Matter What Your Background Is

It does not matter who you are or what you have done. All men, all women, and all children are invited to participate in these glorious life-changing experiences. Whether Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Baháʼí, Buddhist, another religion, or even no religion at all. Jesus extends His love and invitation to people who are Atheist or Agnostic, like I was. Jesus' act of self-sacrifice on the cross was for YOU! Jesus says, "For God loved the world so much that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). This is for "the world", for "whoever believes", which is turning and trusting in Him as stated above. Jesus suffered the most horrific death and even went to hell, for you. Don't allow the false claims about Jesus that run rampant today to block you from His gift of eternal life, his gift of an eternal friendship with the God of all. Come and see the goodness of God in ways we can only experience through Jesus. Only through Jesus' death on the cross can we be made righteous in God’s eyes. Only through the Holy Spirit can we be made born-again as God’s children. And only through our Heavenly Father’s loving activities in our lives are we able to live lives that truly matter, that matter for all eternity.

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Even right now as you read this, Our Father in heaven is calling out "Child, come be a part of My family" to each person. To you. Jesus encounters are not just for "super spiritual" or "super blessed" people. In fact, Jesus said in the Bible, "My sheep listen to My voice. I know them and they follow Me" (John 10:27). Even now, He is inviting us all to become His beloved sheep, His followers who obey Him and are deeply loved by Him in a wonderful and everlasting relationship with Him as our Good Shepherd. He is inviting us all into encounters with His Word, encounters with His Holy Spirit, encounters with the Father, not only for our life on this Earth, but also for all eternity. New life here, eternal life in heaven, and Jesus encounters are... for you!

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WELCOME

to His Family!

If you are crying out to God to forgive you as a sinner also, trusting in Jesus alone to save you from your sins, and the punishment those sins deserve, then He is listening. Jesus said, "I will never send away anyone who comes to me." (John 6:37). He welcomes YOU!

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As so do we! Please contact us and let us know about your spiritual journey and/or decision to follow Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit. He has promised to be with us and never leave us, giving us the strength to live well, each day. We have His Spirit living inside us if we are His followers. And we have each other. A single log burning will last only so long. But a log on top of a pile of other burning logs creates a giant fire that keeps burning. Come be a part of Abba's Family. Let us have the joy of welcoming you to His family!

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