People have many different belief structures.

Some may say that they believe In God, but not really Know God.
Many people go to church and call themselves Christians, but they really are not. Being a Christian means a whole lot more than simply attending a service of some kind or being religious. You can park your car in a garage but that does not mean that you are a car. You can go to McDonald's but that does not mean that you are a hamburger, so being a real Christian means having a personal relationship with God. It means having a life-changing experience after having met the life changer...

Others do not believe in the existence of God at all. How sad. They don't just miss out on eternity with Him, but a very interesting life in the here and now.

It is very interesting to find that many scoffers and those who deny any belief in eternity and a God of any kind will suddenly cry out to Him or even curse the name of Jesus when faced with serious situations, such as when facing death.

In this presentation, I ask one simple question. "Do you believe"?

The choice is yours...

Salvation is the central theme of the Gospels and apart from certain doctrinal issues, I’d say that it is the overall message of the whole New Testament.

The Old Testament refers to salvation 119 times and the New Testament is mentioned 169 times, so it must be important.
It is not a religious phrase, but is very relevant to the issues of life, both in the here and now in this present time and in the time to come.

People often say that they do not believe that there are such places like heaven and hell are real, but a split second after this present life is finished, every human being on earth will find out. Why take the risk? You can know for sure in a few moments from now if you believe and act on what I share.

There are various meanaings for the word salvation.

They include deliverance, health, help, welfare, safety, victory, savior, defend, avenge, rescue, preservation and of course...salvation.
Salvation refers to-

• Deliverance from danger (Exodus 14:13-14)
• Victory over enemies (1 Samuel 14:1-23)
• Healing of the body (Acts 3:6; 4:12)
• Forgiveness of sin (Luke 19:9; Romans 10:9-10; Psalm 38:18-22; Psalm 51:1-13; Psalm 79:9)
• Freedom from prison (Philippians 1:19)
• Deliverance from captivity (Psalm 14:1-7)
• Deliverance from wrath (John 3:36, 1 Thessalonians 5:9) and more...

It is simply a matter of making a change or of choosing the free gift of salvation that God offers us. Because it is a free gift, there is nothing we can do to earn it. In fact trying to do the good deeds and charitable acts associated with religion offends God. There are many scriptures that tell us this. Here is one taken from Ephesians 2:1-10:

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

You and I were born as descendants of Adam. When he and Eve ate that piece of fruit iun the garden of Eden, they did what the bible describes as "falling short of the mark". It is like aiming an arrow at a target miles awayfor you, only to have it land one inch away. Many scriptures like Romans 3:23 explain it. See also Romans 6:23.

We have a solution. It is seen in John 3:16

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.

This is basically what salvation is about.

Without getting into too much theological debate, the need for salvation is common to all mankind. It is a result of what Adam did in the garden by disobeying God. He told him not to eat one kind of fruit. It does not matter what kind of fruit. It was the deed that matters—the act itself was what we call sin. The result of sin is complete separation from God and eventual death. Those matters are massive subjects in themselves.
The issue is fixing the problem and that is why Jesus came.
Our codes of conduct have no bearing at all. By trying to live in a certain way or to be religious in any way devolves down to self effort and God dislikes that.

He died at calvary so that we do not need to. Salvation is an exchange process and is offered to us as a free gift that we can choose to reject or accept. When we accept it, God "wipes the slate clean". Our past life and failures and the things that lead us to sin are eradicated and we can embark on a new life in and with God.

In this simplistic explanation, this is why we need to be saved.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to the crown of people who had gathered there to observe a Jewish festival.
They were devout, religious people who had traveled to Jerusalem for the occasion and responded to his message.

When they heard this they were crushed and realized what they had done to Jesus. Deeply moved, they said to Peter and the other apostles, “What do we need to do, brothers?”
Peter replied, “Repent and return to God, and each one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus, the Anointed One, to have your sins removed. Then you may take hold of the gift of the Holy Spirit. For God’s promise of the Holy Spirit is for youⁱ and your families, for those yet to be born and for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Peter preached to them and warned them with these words: “Be rescued from the wayward and perverse culture of this world!”
Those who believed the word that day numbered three thousand. They were all baptized and added to the church. Acts 2:37-41.

His key word was "Repent".

In simple terms, repenting means a change in heart attitude. It is more than feeling sorry for offending, hurting or harming someone, but keep doing it later. It means that you want your life to be turned around as if going in a different direction. Once we were lost and destined for hell, but now we are found and destined for heaven.

There is more to it than that of course, but that paints the picture.

Repenting involved admitting to God that you need Him and are asking Him to help you. 

This is done by a simple prayer directed to Him alone. It has to come from the heart because you mean business. The actual words are immaterial. Some people say that you have to invite Him into your life. Others say that you need to do certain other things, but there really is no formula.

A simple, "Lord save me" or "God forgive me. I want what you have for me. Please forgive me and come into my life" suffices.

God knows you and know what you mean.

If you do something like that, He does hear you and will answer such a prayer. When that happens, you are "saved" or "born again".

You should tell someone about it. Tell us if you need to and if you do, we can advise you of what happens and what you can do next. I hope that you do.

Robert