{tab=The First Step}

Salvation is not a one time event where you “say this prayer” and you are instantly complete, but there is a point in time where you decide and you receive this provision from God that you can get nowhere else.

Salvation is not some “get-me-to-heaven-when-this-is-all-over” card, and it does not remove the Death penalty for Sin. The wages of Sin is Death. Proverbs says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction.  Sin always produces death, and God has never changed the consequences. 

Salvation SAVES you from death. It saves you from death by RESTORING you to Life (John 14:6).

{tab=Be Free From Death}

 But the Mercy of God paid the Death penalty for us through His Son, Jesus, the Christ. This is God’s great gift! The provision is already in place and the only thing lacking may be our acceptance and surrender to His one and only provision for true Identity restoration. Unless you are born again (born from above or born of the Spirit), you cannot perceive the things of the Kingdom of God.

It is the beginning of a new relationship where God comes right into your own heart and places His Spirit in you!

The Spirit comes in to replace and remove everything that is there instead of God and all that is opposed to God.  He will teach you His ways, comfort, heal, and empower you to live in agreement and harmony with God.  He is called the Spirit of Truth. As you learn the Truth, the Truth sets you Free. This is how your true identity is restored (this may take a while)

{tab=Accept This Free Gift}

Have You Accepted God's Free Gift?

God loves you. He loves you and me so much ...that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 NIV).

The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In other words, we have all missed the mark. But if we will admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, God is faithful and true to His word and will forgive us and wash us clean from everything wrong that we've ever done (see 1 John 1:9).
{tab=Get It Here Now}

If you have never invited Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, we invite you to do so now. The Bible promises that when you pray a prayer like the one written here from your heart, you will experience a new life in Christ. Simply read it aloud and mean it from your heart. Say:

Father, I come to You just as I am. There is nothing I can do to earn salvation I cannot work my way into a right relationship with You. The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith as a gift from You. I confess that I have sinned against You and others. I ask You to forgive me and wash me clean with the precious, life-giving blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son. I believe that He died for me—He took my sin upon Himself and died on the cross for me. And I believe that He was raised from the dead, giving me power over the enemy. Jesus, I ask You to come live inside of me. I don't understand everything about being a Christian, but I invite You into my life to help me learn daily how I am to live. Thank You, Father, for Your gift of restoration and eternal life. I am so grateful for Your love and mercy. In Jesus' name, amen.

See John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 4:14-16; 1 John 5:1, 1 John 5:12-13.

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Genesis 1:27 Says that God created human beings to be godlike, reflecting God’s nature, that is the true identity of man –

We are to reflect the true character and nature of God; we are designed for that, it is “natural” for us to live and operate with the same integrity, generosity, confidence, and power that is in God himself. We are built, hard-wired if you will to walk and commune with God consistently and without reservation or fear like Adam did walking “in the cool of the day” in the Garden of Eden. But we do not see this character reflected in much of humanity. It is obvious that there are some people who have lost their original identity and they operate out of something else. They operate out of things like greed, fear, murder, lust, perversion, anger, rage, and the like.

How many people are affected?

Rom 3:10-12

As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one. [see Psalm 14:3}.

No one understands [no one intelligently discerns or comprehends]; no one seeks out God. [see Psalm 14:2].

All have turned aside; together they have gone wrong and have become unprofitable and worthless; no one does right, not even one! (Amplified Bible)

All Have Fallen Short of the Glory of God

Romans 3:23 says …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (New King James Version)

Sinned - to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize)

Glory - Brightness; luster; splendor, magnificence. Honor, praise, fame, renown, celebrity (From Webster’s 1828 dictionary

We can re-phrase this verse accurately to say:

We have all missed the target (goal, purpose , or end to which we were created), we are not heading toward the place where we were originally aimed. And what we are is far short of the splendor, magnificence, Honor and praise that is the true image of God. We are identified by something else. This lesser identity is how we see ourselves and how others see us. We think that this is all we really are.

The Identity Theft Statistics are Simple

It is 100% and there are no exceptions.

We all fall short, We all miss the goal and purpose for which we are created. We look at ourselves and to other people, we do not see God’s splendor, we see some other image. We think that this IS our identity – failure, sin, falling short, but our true identity is still godlike.

So how does this all work out?

If people are really Godlike creatures, it does not take very long to begin to ask the question.” What kind of ‘God’ would create creatures that are so violent, arrogant, and self indulged as what we see in the world?” Couple that with the gnawing fear of failure, insecurities, and general frailties that we all know deep with our “selves”. Deep in the places where we perceive the “me” that we rarely reveal to anybody. This place can be a large overwhelming part of what we call our personality, but often it is (or at least it appears to be) a smaller more controlled corner of darkness pressed away somewhere deep in the basement of our memory and experience.

We usually only release the realities of our “selves” to a few close companions and even then usually only in packaged parts and pieces just as a precaution against total exposure.

Total exposure – that’s what we fear.

We operate out of a “secret place” that always needs protecting, it is always needing, clawing after, grabbing, planning, strategizing, and executing operations in our lives to get what we think we need and keep it. Approval, acceptance, a measure of our worth, status, food, clothing, safety…

{tab=What Kind Of God is This?} This God who created People like you and me?

We celebrate the amazing strength, ingenuity, and success of some people against staggering difficulties and obstacles - There are history books and newspaper records to document the “good”, the “bad” and the “ugly”. We are embroiled in this seething brew of a mixture of good and evil, strength and weakness, honor and perversity, wisdom and foolishness. There is the stench of innocent blood on the soil that grows our food, we seek for justice, but often try to hide from it for fear of our own guilt. We build our own defenses, we form weapons that seem to suit our hands, and we grab and hold as much as we can as long as we can all the while knowing that in the end there is a grave for us. History has been teaching that lesson for thousands of years.

Is this the Image of God?

At this website you will begin to find the answers.

The truth is that God is good! – He is better than we thought, probably better that we know right now. Mankind originated out of the heart of God – we are born to reflect and demonstrate the actual nature and reality of the Jehovah God of the Bible. God is a giver, He is rich in mercy, He is patient, God is Agape Love, God is wisdom and knowledge, He is a friend to the Poor, He looks after the widows, and notices solitary sparrows, He counts the stars and calls them by their names, God loves justice and hates robbery and deceitful scales, God does not weary or slumber, He never tires, He is strong in Battle and His name is the LORD OF HOSTS. He is all this and more– and He has never changed His mind about his purpose.

{tab=The Heart of the Matter}

– It is not about climbing and clawing into some exclusive “get me to Heaven when this is all over” club or about measuring out on the good side of a divine judgment “good and evil scale” . The heart of the matter is about Restoring that which was stolen from us - namely our Identity.

Our identity is that which defines us to ourselves and consequently to others.

It is the “me” inside ourselves that we rarely reveal, it is our heart. True Christianity is about bringing us back to the place where we are what God says we are and we do not doubt it or believe anything else in our heart, it is our true identity. Out of the heart flow the issues of life. When our hearts are changed, everything else changes as a result.

Restoration

True Christianity restores us to the place and condition where we operate our lives out of our true identity as God’s own covenant people. The Bible has two testaments the Old and the New, but the word “testament” means “Covenant”. A covenant is a unique agreement between two individuals or groups where by the two become one. This “one” is a “one” that did not exist  before the two parties entered into the covenant. The two covenants that are presented in the Bible do not conflict as may appear to some, but they compliment and reinforce one another. They are sequential, one follows the other, and their sole purpose is to restore what was lost, to bring us all back into a close and intimate union with God himself.

In the Covenant we can hear his voice; we do as He says because we are sure that He only brings our good and our satisfaction. Our true identity is in Him, we are hidden in Him and we no longer have a need to hide things, or horde, covet, or steal to get what we need. In our true identity we operate in strength and confidence because His strength is made perfect in our weakness – this is the power of a covenant.

Even as I write these words, they sound like a goal that is still off in the distance, sometimes even just a wispy day dream. But the Bible tells me that His promises are good, He has authored and He is bound by covenant to finish my Faith, so I find that the only thing lacking is my belief in my true identity. Something else is in its place. And this is where the true work of the Kingdom of God takes place.

Everything else flows from that.

Luke 17:20-21

"The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." NIV

John 10:7-10

Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. NIV