 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I Need Help...
Our physical needs take many forms – we need food, shelter, clothing, health care, etc. At Harvest we are committed to helping those in need. We seek to follow our Lord’s example. He fed the hungry and healed the sick. As important as our physical needs are, we have a much greater and more urgent need – being in right relationship with God.
The Bible teaches that God is by nature a holy, righteous, and just God. God is very straightforward about he requires of us, perfect righteousness. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus put it like this, Matthew 5:48 - You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. That standard of perfect righteousness is found in the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21) and summarized by Christ in Matthew 22:37-39 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
An honest assessment of our ability to be righteous lead us to conclude with the apostle Paul, "None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Romans 3:10-12); and “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) …none is righteous, no not one.”
The bottom line is this, we are unrighteous sinners who justly deserve God’s wrath.
The Bible could not be more clear, by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). We cannot ‘justify’ ourselves before God on account of our very best works. Instead of justifying us, our works will condemn us. The prophet Isaiah said that our very best works are as filthy rags before a Holy God.
So then, is it possible for a “sinner” to safely stand before a holy and righteous Judge? The answer is an unambiguous ‘yes’, but only with this qualification - our faith must be in Christ and in him alone. Paul writes, Romans 3:28 - For we hold that one is justified (declared righteous and pardoned) by faith apart from works of the law. The reason that God is able to justify us is because Jesus Christ lived in our place and died in our place. We are declared righteous only because Christ’s perfect righteousness is laid to our account, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). God is able to forgive our sins because Jesus Christ shed his blood in our behalf, Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
If you have come to a place in your life where you realize that you are unrighteous before God and need to be forgiven, you are in a very good place. WGod comes only through the instrumentality of faith in Jesus Christ. It was true for Abraham, Romans 4:3 - "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness (cf. Genesithout a realization of your sin, you will not see your need to place your faith in Christ. A right standing with is 15:6)." It is still true today, Romans 4:23-5:1 - But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. [5:1] Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you would like to learn more about your relationship to Christ, we invite you to attend a worship service and hear the Gospel preached. Or if you would like to speak with someone in more depth, please call the church office at 402-558-4119.
If you would like to find out more about becoming part of our community please visit the page.
We at Harvest would love to find out more about you, please tell us by visiting our Tell Us Your Story page.
If you would like a quick overview of what kind of support our community can provide please visit the Our Resouces Page.