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Category: Christian Living
Keywords: message, Christ,
preacher, Harringay Arena, London, Christian message, God, Cross, Jesus Christ,
resurrection, human race, Bible, forgiveness, eternal life, Lord, Savior, ministry,
Harper San Francisco, Graham, Billy Graham
"More than anything else, I yearn for people--including the readers of these pages--to
understand the message of Christ and accept it as their own.
I recall an old Methodist preacher who came to Harringay Arena in London in 1954, 'I have
come here every night for ninety-three nights,' he told us, 'and I have heard only one
message.' He meant it as a compliment, for he knew as I did that there is only one
Christian message.
The message is, first of all, a message about God. God created us in His image. He
created us and loves us so that we may live in harmony and fellowship with Him. We are
not here by chance. God put us here for a purpose, and our lives are never fulfilled
and complete until His purpose becomes the foundation and center of our lives.
The message is also about the human race, and about each one of us. The Bible says that
we have been separated and alienated from God because we have willfully turned our backs
on Him and are determined to run our lives without Him. This is what the Bible means by
sin--choosing our way instead of God's way, and not giving Him His rightful place in
our lives. The evidence of this is all around us, in the moral chaos and heartache of
our world. The headlines scream every day that we live in a broken, sin-ravaged world.
But in addition, the message declares that God still loves us. He yearns to forgive us
and bring us back to Himself. He wants to fill our lives with meaning and purpose right
now. Then He wants us to spend all eternity with Him in heaven, free forever from the
pain and sorrow and death of this world. Moreover, God has done everything possible to
reconcile us to Himself. He did this in a way that staggers our imagination. In God's
plan, by His death on the Cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins, taking the
judgment of God that we deserve upon Himself when He died on the Cross. Now, by His
resurrection from the dead, Christ has broken the bonds of death and opened the way to
eternal life for us.
The resurrection also confirms for all time that Jesus was in fact who he said He was:
Now God freely offers us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
Finally, this message is about our response. Like any other gift, God's gift of salvation
does not become ours until we accept it and make it our own. God has done everything
possible to provide salvation. But we must reach out in faith and accept it.
How do we do this?
First, by confessing to God that we are sinners and in need of His forgiveness; then by
repenting of our sins and, with God's help, turning from them.
Second, by committing our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The best-known verse
in the New Testament states the Gospel concisely: 'For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through Him' (John 3:16, 17 NIV). God in His grace invites us to receive His Son
into our lives today.
If you have never done so, I invite you to bow your head right now and by a simple prayer
of faith open your heart to Jesus Christ. God receives us just as we are. No matter who
we are or what we have done, we are saved only because of what Christ has done for us. I
will not go to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds. I will go to heaven for one
reason: Jesus Christ died for me, and I am trusting Him alone for my salvation. Christ
died for you also, and He freely offers you the gift of eternal life as you commit your
life to Him.
When you do, you become a child of God, adopted into His family forever. He also comes
to live within you and will begin to change you from within. No one who truly gives his
or her life to Christ will ever be the same, for the promise of his Word is true:
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation' (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NIV).
We have seen this happen countless times all over the world and it can happen in
your life as well. Open your life to Christ today."
SoAmazing Review: Just As I Am, The
Autobiography of Billy Graham follows this man of God from early childhood
through his conversion. And shows the miraculous touch of God upon his
life. It covers his crusades and travels. But most important you learn that Jesus lived in his
heart and from that came everything else. To God be the glory!
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