Everyone. Everywhere. Part 1Sýnishorn

Before Faith: When did you trust Christ and begin to follow Him?  Whether it has been a couple of days or over a decade, praise the Father that He revealed His Son, Jesus, to you through the power of the Holy Spirit. Your life was headed down a different path until God convicted you of your need for the salvation found by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The book of Romans says that the wages of sin is death. Before you believed and trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the trajectory of your life was eternal separation from God. Looking at your past, you might have thought or done things you are not proud of, and those actions may still be causing you shame. Jesus, however, does not come to bring shame or condemnation but to bring the fullness of life. He lived, died, and rose from the grave to forgive ALL sins and to free you from shame and guilt. 

Even Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, did not live a life to be proud of before coming to know Him. He was famous for persecuting Christians, but Jesus came into his life and made him new. Now he is remembered as one of the most devoted apostles who went on to write most of the New Testament. Paul left who he was in his past and took on his new identity as a child of God, and Jesus gave Paul the mission to reach the Gentiles, the outsiders of Israel. Paul’s new identity resulted in a new purpose for his life.

• Questions:
  • Is there anything you have done, thought, or said that you now regret? Are you confident in sharing those things with others? Why or why not? 
  • Is there something for which you have not yet forgiven yourself?