Give God Another Chance --- God Wants You

 

Pastor Rory Clark

Barah Ministries

www.barahministires.com

 

Hi there!

 

My name is Rory Clark and I am the Pastor of Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ

 

I have a question for you…

 

Why Don’t You Give God Another Chance?

 

That’s the focus of these ten-minute lessons.  You can give God another chance.  Why consider doing that?  You might want to consider it because God wants you! 

 

God Wants You!

 

God loves you unconditionally and He wants you.  The God I am talking about is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The Lord is God, and He wants You!

 

Maybe you wouldn’t consider giving God another chance.  No one can make you do it…you have free will…you can act independently from God…no one can convert you…you can do anything you want including rejecting a relationship with Him.

 

A lady was telling me she is just turned off to church.  My ears perked up.  I wanted to know why.  So I asked.  It wasn’t because God did something to her.  It was a person that motivated her to turn her back on God.  That’s always the way.

 

She was a Roman Catholic…she would go to church…but she had a baby as a teen-ager…and when she would go to an intimate community church here in the Phoenix area, when the priest would come to shake hands with parishioners during the “handshake of peace,” he would never shake her hand.  It not only turned her off, it turned her away from God.  As a former Roman Catholic who was on the track to be a Jesuit priest in my youth, I experienced similar insensitivity from people in the church, not only toward myself, but also to others.  I refused to let it turn me away from God. It wasn’t church…it wasn’t God…it was people…always people.

 

I met a terrific guy this week who happens to be Jewish.  He put his children in Catholic School to give them a superior education.  He is a very focused and a very committed person, and he used his focus and commitment for the church only to experience a similar situation.  The people in the church became all about the money.  It turned him off.  Luckily it didn’t turn him off to God.

 

Maybe you relate to these situation or you have a similar one.  Okay.  But I have a question for you…

 

Why Don’t You Give God Another Chance?

 

God wants you!  What does that mean?  Perhaps this story will illustrate.

 

A learned Christian approached a new believer after church one day and asked him for a testimony concerning how the new believer had come to be saved.  The new believer said, “It was easy.  I did my job, and God did His job.”  The learned Christian was curious since there are no works necessary to get to heaven.  “What do you mean you did your job?” the learned Christian asked.  “I thought being saved required no effort on our part.”

 

The new believer said, “I have a different opinion.  It was my job to be lost.  It was God’s job to find me.  I did my job, and God did His job.” 

 

Are you lost?  If you don’t have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the bible says you are lost.  But being lost is “good news” according to the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, who says, in Luke, Chapter 15, Verses 4 through 6…

 

LUK 15:4

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine (sheep not lost) in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?”

 

LUK 15:5-6

“When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”

 

God wants you!  If you are lost, God is looking for you.  You cannot find yourself.  Shepherds find lost sheep.  God wants a relationship with you because you are His sheep.

 

The gospel message is the good news about the perfect provision a perfect God made on your behalf, so you can have a relationship with Him forever and ever.  Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9 says this…

 

2PE 3:9

The Lord (Jesus Christ) is…patient toward you…and is not willing for anyone to perish in the Lake of Fire but for all to come repentance, a change of mind about the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

According to the Word of God you were born condemned.  It is not your fault but it is your circumstance at physical birth.  Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 12 explains why…

 

ROM 5:12

For by one man (Adam the) sin entered the world and (spiritual) death by sin, so (spiritual) death passed upon all men, for all have (been considered by God to have) sinned (when Adam sinned).

 

When you are spiritually dead you cannot have a relationship with God, you cannot save yourself, and you cannot perform any works that would remove the barrier between yourself and God. 

 

God offers you a relationship with Him while you are condemned.

 

ROM 5:8

But God (the Father) demonstrates His own (unconditional) love toward us (all mankind), in that while we were yet sinners (spiritually dead unbelievers), Christ died (as a substitute) for us.

 

While you are in the pathetic state of spiritual death, a just, righteous and loving God extended His righteous right hand to offer you salvation.  Why? God wants you!  Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31 says…

 

ACT 16:31

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and (everyone in) your household (who also believes).

 

A relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the way to salvation.  And it is so easy…John, Chapter 14, Verse 6… 

 

JOH 14:6

(The Lord) Jesus Christ said, “I am the way (to salvation), (I am) the truth (through the Word of God) and (I am) the (eternal) life; no one comes to the Father, but through (believing in) Me.”

 

The CREATOR of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, laid down his life for you on a Cross.  Why?  Because He loves you…because He created you…because He wants you.  John, Chapter 15, Verse 13…

 

JOH 15:13

“Greater unconditional love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

 

God loves His imperfect creatures with a perfect love, a love willing to do EVERYTHING to provide you with salvation.  God is willing to do anything to save you but He is not willing to force you to believe.  You have free will and God honors it.  You can choose to be saved or you can choose to remain condemned.  John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

JOH 3:36

“He (anyone) who believes in the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) has eternal life...but he who does not obey (the command to believe in) the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) will not see (eternal) life (in heaven) but the wrath of God (the lake of fire) abides on him.”

 

How do you become saved?  It’s a private decision.  It’s a one-time decision only you can make.  You have a choice.  After hearing how to be saved, your soul can express itself with another gift God has given you called faith…you simply place your confidence in His Person and in His Work on your behalf. 

A five-word conversation with God the Father results in your salvation.  “Father I believe in Christ.”  Faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone is the way to salvation.  For a thief being crucified next to the Lord Jesus Christ, it was a nine-word conversation leading to salvation…Luke, Chapter 23, Verses 42 and 43…

 

LUK 23:42-43

And he (one of the thieves on the Cross next to Jesus) was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He (the Lord Jesus Christ) said to him (the repentant thief), “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Nothing is easier than salvation.  It’s easy for you because it was hard for the Lord Jesus Christ when He laid down His life for you at the Cross.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ paid for everything that might stand in the way of your salvation.  Because of the Lord’s sacrifice on your behalf, the door of salvation is wide open to you right this minute.

 

Once you have salvation you cannot lose it.  John, Chapter 10, Verse 28…

 

JOH 10:28

And I give eternal life to them (believers in Christ), and they (believers) shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them (believers) out of My hand.

 

But if you have been exposed to religion, the simplicity of salvation is foolishness to you.  Religion encourages people to work for salvation and to reject the free gift offered by the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for your salvation.

 

If you are still in a state of condemnation at your physical death because you have rejected a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ during your lifetime, you will hear words that you never want to hear when you meet the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ face to face.  Matthew, Chapter 25, Verse 41…

 

MAT 25:41

“Then He will also say to those on His left (unbelievers who rejected the offer of salvation), ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

 

On that day, the Lord Jesus Christ will grant your request to have nothing to do with Him.  By your own choosing you will be sent to a literal place that is totally separated from the presence of God.

 

It’s your choice. 

 

You can spend eternity in the lake of fire, or you can spend eternity in relationship with the one and only eternal God, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

God wants you.  What’s your choice?   Do you want Him?  Thanks for listening.

 

Pastor Rory Clark

Barah Ministries

Thanks for Listening!

www.barahministires.com