The Invitation to an Experience of Salvation


Jesus comes preaching the “gospel” of God, i.e., the good news that God has come into the world and made possible a personal knowledge of Himself.  When Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” He is referring to God’s rule over the personal lives of individuals.


It is “at hand” because it is connected with the coming of Jesus.  He comes to make it clear that God wants to enter into a person-to-person relationship with everyone on the earth. 

Jesus, as God in human form, is a living example of the personal relationship that is available for those who want to know God.   This new relationship may be described (as it is here in Mark) as “entering the kingdom of God.”  It is described elsewhere as being “born again” into the family of God (John 3:5), being “saved” from sin (Eph. 2:8) and being declared just/righteous before God (Romans 3:26).  While the New Testament uses these and other terms to describe the experience of salvation, the heart of them all is the establishing of a new, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  That is what the Gospels picture for us so well, i.e., people coming to know Jesus!

If you have never personally invited Christ into your life, you will not want to go any further without doing that.  If you have started in a relationship with Jesus at some time in the past and you are uncertain as to whether that relationship is currently continuing, then you want to be clear regarding this personal commitment as well.


We invite you in either case to respond to the two things Jesus asked people to do to get to know Him. 


A.  Would you begin to pray and repent of your sins.  This will involve three things:

  1)  telling God you are very sorry for your sins and the ways in which 

       you have disobeyed Him.   

  2)  confessing those sins to Him,

  3)  asking for His forgiveness for these on the basis of Christ’s death 

       in your place on the cross. 


Repentance involves a genuine sorrow and disappointment at the impact of sin upon our lives and the lives of others.  It also represents a genuine desire for a serious change in one’s heart and one’s life.



Stop at this point:  Pray through these three parts of trusting Jesus.



B.  The next step is to believe in Jesus.  This will involve the following. 

1)   a choice to trust Him to forgive your sins,

2)   trusting Him to come into your life so that you might enter the 

               family of  God, and 

         3)   thanking Him for a new, clean heart, a new relationship with Him   

                and for beginning to change your life from this moment forward.


Belief means a faith or a confidence in the person of the Lord Jesus and the “Good News” that He has brought that it is possible to enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus.  It involves not only an intellectual understanding that this is possible, but an actual trusting of Christ to come into one’s life and begin that relationship.



Stop at this point:  Pray through these three parts of trusting Jesus.


Now that you have repented of your sins, trusted Him and invited Christ into your life. You have begin a new journey and the Spirit of God will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God. God desires that we not be just saved, but that we know Him in an intimate way and that we become more like Him. By His love and grace at work in you and through the putting of death the deeds of the body, so that you will become renewed in His image to the measure of full salvation.


            Not only is it important to develop a relationship with Jesus, it is vitally important to develop a relationship with a few others who want to be His disciples.


            We would like to hear from you, if you have invited Christ into your life and are seeking after Him with all your heart. Please contact us at pastors@bethelcotn.org or call us at 1.479.750.1355