Who is Jesus? 

He was present at creation, and all things were made through him.

He was a man - completely unique, but very much a human. He loved, wept, taught with a passion that drew thousands to hear him, and didn’t put up with hypocrisy or self-serving attitudes.

He is real today - Just as when he walked on earth, he still perplexes people, attracts people, and even repels people. He continues to change lives.

Jesus healed many people, and even brought a few dead people back to life, but that wasn’t his main purpose. He sought out the ordinary people and the outcasts of his day, not the politically powerful or the religiously influential. He chose to spend his short time on earth with those who were looked down upon for their professions (laborers, tax collectors, and prostitutes) or for their physical conditions (lepers and madmen), even for their race (Samaritans) or gender (women). He brought a message of hope to the marginalized, of challenge to the complacent, of a new way of living and of knowing God.

Then he did something that took him totally beyond the definition of a “good example”. He became our sin-bearer. Humankind is deeply sinful - we turn our backs on God and repeatedly choose our way over God’s ways. We love darkness instead of God’s light. The outcome of that sin is death - separation from God. God loves us so passionately that he doesn’t want to lose us, so he sent this Jesus, his son, to take our place in that death due to sin. Jesus, the innocent sinless person, willingly allowed himself to be railroaded through to a conviction and to be killed in a painful public execution. He died so that I’d get a chance at real life, life with God. He died so that you could have that real life too.

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

John 3:16-18

Translation: “The Message” by Eugene Peterson

But wait! There’s more! When he died, that wasn’t just the end of him. Jesus defeated death. He paid the penalty on our behalf, and he came back to life three days after his own death to pave the way for us to a whole new way of relating to God. We get to live fully alive now, transformed step by step into being more like him, and we get to see God face to face after we die, living with him forever.

That doesn’t happen automatically just because we’re decent human beings. Each one of us must acknowledge that deep sinfulness in us; we must acknowledge that we need to be saved and that Jesus is the one who can do that. Once we reach out to him, believing, it’s amazingly easy: Jesus, Creator of the universe and savior of our souls, reaches back.

People use lots of phrases to describe this new connection - “give my life to Jesus”, “trusting Christ”, “ask Jesus into my heart”, “being born again”, “being saved”. The essence of what the phrases are getting at is a reaching out and offering of our broken selves to Jesus. He’s not pushy -- he just stands at the door and knocks. Maybe you’ve heard him.

Some people answer right away. Some never do. Many wrestle and wonder, wanting all the questions answered and all the ducks in their rows before they make that jump. Here’s a tip: the questions never all get answered, but we leap, and where we land is amazing and so worth the leap.

Please write us and ask us your questions. If you make that faith leap, make a point of going to someone else who believes and telling them of your decision. (Or you can contact us) That person can help you find a group of Christ-followers with whom to worship and grow. It doesn’t have to be at Harbor Covenant Church, although we want you to know that we genuinely welcome you. Tell us that you’re a new believer - we’d feel privileged to join with you as you begin your journey through life with Christ.

Want to look into it a little more? See what God has to say.

Harbor Covenant Church

5601 Gustafson Drive NW

Gig Harbor Washington 98335

office: 253.851.8450

fax: 253.851.3597

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