You Can Still Respond

You can still respond to God’s call. If you were at church on Easter Sunday and felt a nudge on your heart, but you ignored it … don’t keep ignoring it! Hebrews 3:8 warns us against hardening our hearts towards Christ. It was a very special Easter Sunday as 148 people went public with their faith in Christ and were baptized! If something resonated with you, lean into it. Maybe you didn’t feel ready to get baptized just yet, but you left church with questions. That’s a great place to start! After all, Easter is about a relationship, not a religion. 

After Jesus rose from the dead He went around Jerusalem and Galilee and traveled around other areas and was seen by thousands ... at one time 500 people saw him and they had to be saying, "He's baaaaccck!" My point is you may have missed that opportunity to respond on Easter Sunday, but He's still ready to receive you today. Just like Jesus gave Doubting Thomas the evidence he needed after the resurrection, He will give you what you need if you ask.

Easter

Everything about Christianity hinges on what we celebrated on Easter Sunday. Christ died so that my relationship, and your relationship with God could be restored. What you believe about God is the most important thing in life. Your belief determines how you deal with your past, where you’ll go in the future, and how you live today. 

Respond

Once upon a time, I stood up in front of a group of people and said “I do” to my wife. Those two words have changed the trajectory of my life. I’ve been working out the implications of what “I do” means for 24 years!  I didn’t know everything about marriage when I said those words and it’s the same thing with Christ. You don’t have to know everything right now. Maybe you’re still processing, wrestling, doubting, wondering, and questioning if this whole "Jesus thing" is for you. Just because you didn’t respond immediately doesn’t mean Christianity isn’t for you. Take it one step at a time. But just know, you can come with your questions, your doubts, your discouragements and everything else. Over time, those questions will be answered, your doubts will be dealt with and your discouragements will be gone. 

Get Rooted

To be rooted in Christ, we must understand that Christ wants a relationship with us, not a religion. Every one of us (including the person who invited you to church) has rejected that relationship at some point. We all, in our own way, reject Christ from time to time. We’ve all opted to do our own thing, our own way and too often decide to be the god of our own life. Unfortunately, just like when we break man's laws, we pay man’s penalties … when you break God's laws, you pay God’s penalties. Either you have to pay for it or someone else does. Thank God Jesus said He would pay the penalty for you and me. Not only is that worth celebrating, that’s worth a response!! That’s at least worth investigating. It’s worth another visit to Skyline Church next Sunday.

See, I am absolutely convinced that if someone is presented the opportunity to know the real Jesus, what He offers, not the Jesus we've been presented in the media or the Jesus we learned about from a misinformed friend or relative, but the actual Jesus, NOBODY WOULD TURN HIM DOWN. The free gift He offers is just too good to pass up.

Here's a quick synopsis of the deal you get when you accept Jesus' free gift: Every sin past, present, and future paid for, my future home in Heaven secured, and purpose and energy to live today! 

Next Step

Our goal at Skyline Church is to help people find and follow Jesus seven days a week. We don’t do it perfectly but we take it one step at a time. As a matter of fact we're starting a brand new series this Sunday, May 1 where we will be digging in and understanding the 9 characteristics God wants to see in our lives. Those characteristics don't all happen at once. As a matter of fact, it's all about progress not perfection. I hope you’ll lean into God this week and join us for church on Sunday. I want to encourage you, don’t ignore His nudge on your heart. My prayer for you is from Ephesians 3:18-19. “May you be able to feel and understand … how long, how wide, how deep, and how high (God’s) love really is; and to experience this for yourselves.”