To many
people Jesus of Nazareth is only an historical personage, who lived about two
thousand years ago somewhere in the land of Israel, of whom
the Bible says that He lived a holy life, did many miracles and then He died.
To us Jesus of Nazareth is much more than that, for He is the Son of the
Living God who was sent by God into this world to die for our sins. But His
story did not end with His death, for the third day Jesus rose again by the
power of God and after forty days He was taken up into heaven. He lives! And
we have known Him; yes, we know Him personally. We came to know Him when we
repented of our sins and believed in His name. Formerly we did not know Him,
to us He was a stranger, even though we knew that He had lived many centuries
ago in the land of Israel, He had lived a sinless life, and He had died on
the cross for our sins and risen again the third day. But that glorious day,
on which we repented of our sins and believed in Him, we tasted His love, His
power, His goodness, His faithfulness; in other words, we discovered His
reality. He forgave our sins and caused us to be born again; by His mercy we
were born again, we became new creatures in Him and from that time on we have
never been the same again. He manifested Himself in our life, and came to
dwell in us. We now feel He lives in us, He is always with us, His divine presence never leaves us. Blessed be His holy
name now and forevermore. Amen.
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If you
don’t know Jesus, I urge you to humble before Him, acknowledging that you are
a sinner, then repent of your sins and believe that He is the Christ, the Son
of the living God, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again for our
justification. Talk to Him as if He were physically near you. When you do
these things you will feel immediately forgiven and will experience the new
birth. The peace and the joy of the Lord will flood your heart, and you will
never be the same.
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