Jesus lived as a human and walked this earth preaching, teaching and healing. Although Jesus had such a great ministry, He was placed on this earth to stand in place of us for our sins and was going to die a very painful death by being hung on a cross. Imagine someone who loved us so much even before we were born taking the place of all our wrong doing and dying for us. We are all sinners. We were born into sin, it is our nature. Romans 3:23 verifies this.      3:23  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God In this passage we are shown that we all have sinned and come short of God’s glory.  Now that it is established that we are sinners and that sin keeps us from God there is a penalty for that sin in our lives. Romans 6:23 tells us:      6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. According to this passage, the penalty for the sin in our life is what? For the wages or penalty of sin is death. So we know that without Jesus in our lives we will pay the price of death for our sins. Interesting though that this passage carries on with a "BUT." Although our sin will bring us to death, the Scripture here includes a�?but" which gives us hope from the wages of death due to our sins. What is that "but" in this passage. But the gift of God is eternal life. Isn’t that great, although we are sinners and the penalty of that sin is death, God loves us so much He gives us an out to that death by giving us a free gift in eternal life through Him. So basically if we turn our lives to Him, we are free from the penalty of death and can receive eternal life in Him. Romans 5:8 says:      5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This confirms the love that God has for us that He allowed His only Son to die for us and our sins. John 3:16:      3:16  "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. God loves us so much that He sacrificed the life of his Son, Jesus, to take our place as sin so that we may be forgiven of our sins through Jesus. Now that is real love. Would we sacrifice the life of one of our children for someone that we don’t even know? Remember, God did this for us with His own Son before we were ever born. So now that we know that we are sinners, the penalty for our sin is death, God, through His love for us, sacrificed His Son so that we may have a free gift in eternal life with Him. How does that all sound to you? How can we receive that free gift God offers us? Read Romans 10:9-13:      9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."      12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,      13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Let’s break this down a bit. The way that we can receive our free gift of eternal life is in verse nine. We need to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, ask forgiveness of our sins, and believe that God has raised Him from the dead. Verse ten continues to say that as we confess with our mouths and truly believe with our hearts we will be saved. Verse eleven states that as we need to put our trust in Him who offers us this eternal life. Verse twelve confirms that the same God that saves you is there to save all who calls upon Him. And verse 13 sums it all up by telling us that everyone who follows the steps of confessing, asking for forgiveness, believing in Him, and has faith and will open their heart to Him, will be saved. How does that all sound to you? Do you clearly understand all that we talked about? Let’s review: What are we?    Sinners. What is the penalty of our sin?    Death How much did God love us?    So much that He sacrificed His Son for our sins. What does God offer us if we accept Him into our heart?    Eternal life. Now does that sound like something that you would like to do with your life? Would you like to confess your sins to Jesus, ask for forgiveness of your sins and accept Him into your heart and receive His free gift of eternal life? If you are ready then repeat this prayer with me as you take the steps to accepting Jesus into your heart and become free of sin and to receive God’s great gift of eternal life.   Father I thank you for your love. The love that you show me through the pain, suffering and death of your Son for my sins. I confess to you right now that I believe that Jesus is Lord. I ask you to forgive me of my sins. Of all of my wrong doings. And release me from the penalty of death that it carries. I believe that God has raised you from the dead. And that through this confession I make to you. And through the belief in my heart. That I will be saved. I put my trust in you right now. And ask you to come into my life. Thank you Jesus for your forgiveness. In your name I pray�?Amen.   Congratulations you have just accepted your place as a child of God to live eternally with Him in Heaven. How do you feel? The usual response is that a weight has been lifted off of them and you will see and experience tears of joy. God Bless you for you have directed a soul to the kingdom of Heaven.   Friend