I am an Awful Person

QUESTION

Hello Pastor Chris,

I am from Ethiopia. I am practically a loner. I have a non-Christian girlfriend and I have been totally awful to her. I have been lying to my girlfriend and also have cheated on her. We are still together and I have lied to my friends and family. I am a notorious liar. My mind has evil in it. I am kind of addicted to pornography and everything that is related to it. I do not respect my parents. I think about revenge on people. I manipulate people. I only pray to God when I am in serious trouble. Even now I am in trouble and I am considering church solely because I need relief from my troubles. I have an anxiety problem and many more mental illnesses I notice on myself. My sister once gave me 300 (Ethiopian $) to give to church and I took it for myself. I stole money from my parents. I’m stubborn and just an awful person. I have been thinking about going to church but I am scared the pastor there will speak of my wrong doings to the congregation because they record it live on a Christian channel. I know that should not stop me and I do not know what to do next about my relationship and friends. Please pastor I am an awful person and I absolutely have no one to talk to. I need your advice and prayer. Thank you pastor and pray for me. I am a wreck.

Bereket

ANSWER

Dear Bereket,

There is hope for you! You need to completely turn your life over to Jesus Christ. Give yourself to Jesus without reservation, without hesitation. Jesus is the Savior for the world regardless of what anyone has done, regardless of where they live, and regardless of their ethnicity. Jesus welcomes all people. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (even you and even me!) believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NAS). Then meet with the pastor of your church so that he can guide you as you grow in Christ. Get a Bible and start reading the Gospel of John. This is your opportunity for a new life!

~ Pastor Chris

How do I become saved and know for sure I'm saved?

Question

 

Pastor Chris,

How do I become saved and know for sure I’m saved?

~ Sabrina

 

Answer

 

Sabrina,

Jesus said that we must be born again (John 3:3). There is a physical birth and there is a spiritual birth when we receive Jesus as our Savior. John 1:12-13, NIV says, “to all who received him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” We are born of the Spirit the instant we place our trust in Jesus alone for salvation.

How do we know that we are saved? Read the book of 1 John. It was written to give believers assurance of their salvation. Several additional thoughts come to mind.

Look for the fruit of the Spirit in your life (Galatians 5:22-23). You cannot produce fruit on your own. This is the Holy Spirit’s work and is therefore an evidence that you belong to Him.

Trust what God says. Your emotions can lie to you. Satan will lie to you. Believe the Bible and hold on to what it says. The Bible says that if you trust Christ you are saved and that God will never let go of you (John 3:16-18; 3:36; 5:24; 10:27-29).

Just as you cannot become unborn physically after you have been born; so you cannot become unborn spiritually after you have been Spirit-born.

See also 1 Peter 1:3-9 and Romans 8:16.

God bless you as you follow Jesus! Stay close to Jesus and remain in His Word. Jesus said that the words of God are food for us (Matthew 4:4). We need them to be spiritually strong and secure.

~ Pastor Chris

How did Jesus become God if he was born from mankind?

Pastor Chris, 

Shollom alaikum, my name is Sadam and I am Muslim. I am asking you about Jesus. My question is, I read a bible and I found ,”God is not man and isn’t the son of man”. Then how to Jesus become God because he was born from mankind and is man? Thanks!

~ Sadam

 

ANSWER

 

Sadam,

 

Excellent question! Thank you.

 

The Bible verse you refer to is Numbers 23:19 which reads, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.” This verse uses a metaphor. The online dictionary (dictionary.com) defines a metaphor this way: “a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in ‘A Mighty fortress is our God.'” We would say that God is strong like a fortress; however, He is not a literal fortress in the sense that He is not a building.

 

Numbers 23:19 uses the negative sense of a metaphor. The verse means that God does not do things like men do things. God does not lie. Men often tell lies. God does not change His mind. Men regularly change their opinions. God is not like a man.

 

Numbers 23:19 is not a statement about the deity of Jesus. Jesus claimed to be God and others said the same thing about Him. For instance, Jesus referred to Himself with the same words God used to declare His name (“I am”) when He spoke with Moses at the burning bush (see John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14). Jesus also declared, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

 

Thomas said he would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead unless he saw the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and put his finger in them. After Jesus died on the cross He came and stood among the disciples several days later. Thomas was there and cried out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) Paul wrote about the deity of Jesus in Philippians 2:5-11 and Colossians 2:9. Even Jesus’ enemies said that He claimed to be God (John 10:33).

 

Consider John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Bible scholar Herschel Hobbs says that these verses tell us that Christ is “coeternal, coequal, and coexistent with God.” He goes on to explain that the expression “the Word was with God” means “face-to-face with, equal to.” Hobbs also helps us to understand that the form of the verb “was” carries the meaning “always was.” He then concludes his analysis of the deity of Jesus contained in these two verses by writing, “There never was a time when this was not true.” (see Herschel Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message, Nashville: Convention Press, 1971; p.40)

 

After reading John 1:1-2 be sure to look at John 1:14, 18 which tells us that the eternal Word became flesh at a point in time. That is what happened when the virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. This is referred to as the incarnation. The angel Gabriel told Mary what was going to happen, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). It is fascinating to realize that the virgin birth of Christ was prophesied centuries earlier. Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” The name Immanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). This virgin born child was called “Mighty God” in Isaiah 9:6.

 

Jesus is fully God and fully man. There is no one else like Him! “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).

 

The Bible tells us about God’s love for everyone (John 3:16). It also tells us how God expresses His love to sinful people. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:8-10)

 

~ Pastor Chris

 

NOTE: All Bible references in this article are from the New International Version (NIV).