"The Right Start to a New Year: SALVATION !"

 

2nd.Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore if any man be in CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

     HAPPY NEW YEAR ! This greeting is frequently exchanged among friends and even strangers. It is one thing to wish someone a "Happy New Year," but it is quite another to know exactly how to experience it. Our text for today explains the necessity of becoming a new creature "in CHRIST." How is this accomplished ? Making New Year's resolutions will not do it; trying harder to be a better person cannot provide the answer; joining a church, being water baptized, going through religious rites and rituals -- none of these will make anyone a new creature in CHRIST.

     A right start to the new year is only possible for those who have received GOD's gift of eternal life by trusting JESUS CHRIST as your personal SAVIOR -- the ONE WHO died for you and rose again. Mankind does not have many saviors or many paths to GOD. JESUS is the only way: HE is "the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE" (John 14:6 the 2nd.picture above); "neither is there salvation in any other" (Acts 4:12 pictured below). As sinners, we cannot purchase or earn forgiveness or obtain salvation due to anything we do. No, GOD says HE has provided salvation completely by HIS grace through faith in HIS SON JESUS  and "not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9 pictured above; and John 3:16).

     If you have not already done so, trust JESUS CHRIST as your personal SAVIOR today: you must believe that HE died on your behalf for your sins and rose again (1st.Corinthians 15:1-2a,3-4 see last picture) -- your eternal salvation rests solely upon what JESUS has already accomplished on the cross for you. Trust CHRIST's promise that HE will never cast out any whom comes to HIM (John 6:37). If you truly want to have a happy New Year, make sure you are saved and enjoying the blessed assurance that GOD wants you to possess (1st.John 5:11-13). MHR

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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