Provide you with the opportunity to make a personal and informed decision about Jesus.
Provide people, who have already accepted Him, ways to grow deeper in their faith.
Provide people with a non-threatening way to introduce, share, and/or reconcile people to a right relationship with God through Jesus.
Welcome! We are glad you are here and consider it a wonderful blessing. Praise God for you taking time to consider starting or building a right relationship with God through Jesus.
Virtually every serious conversation I have ever had about life and my faith in God through Jesus ends the same way: "God knows, I don't."
So why not just start there?
This is what we have decided to do. We have created "God Knows I Don't" to be a starting point for building or continuing to grow a right relationship with God through Jesus.
Our starting point is our front page.
What is a right relationship with God through Jesus? It begins with knowing Jesus Christ, is defined by faith in God Almighty through accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and overflows in loving obedience and service-not to earn salvation, but as a living response to it.”
Again, this is just a starting point. Everything we do here is to help you identify where you are in your understanding of Jesus and point you back to Him through reading the bible, prayer, service, and discipleship.
For those of you who do not yet know Jesus - here's why it is so important:
The world is broken. And while we can blame others or believe it isn't us who contribute to this brokenness, every one of us has done things we’re not proud of-things God Almighty defines as sins against Him. Because God created everything, it's really important to understand how sin impacts our existence and relationship with Him. Our sins separate us from God. But God, because of his Love and desire to have a personal relationship with each of us, didn’t want to leave us separated from Him.
So He sent Jesus-His own Son-to create ONE way for ALL OF US to get forgiveness for our sins. Jesus lived a perfect life as an example for us, performed miracles, taught us how to live, chose people to tell his story, AND (to fulfill the scriptures of the Old testament) He died on the cross for our sins.
Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ - John 14:6
When He died for us on the Cross, He paid the ultimate price. He gave us this ultimate gift. And when He rose again, He conquered death, defeated satan (the devil), and opened the door for us to be made right with God.
All we have to do is make the very personal decision to believe, turn toward Him, and receive that gift. That’s how much He loves us.
Here's what the bible says:
“No one who denies the Son (Jesus) has the Father (God). Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” - 1 John 2:23
Once you understand this clear and eternal difference, you can start to appreciate why Jesus came to earth, what he did for all of us, and why he had to die, and why you MUST start with Jesus on the Cross.
Once you know Jesus (also known as Messiah, Christ, Emmanuel, King of Kings, Son of Man, Son of God, Lamb of God, etc.), then you can choose to follow Him. Once you choose to follow Him, then you can, as Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths."
In other words, Love Him, Share Him, and Defend Him.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30
Because the Bible is so vast, those who don’t yet know Jesus—or are struggling to get to a right relationship with God through Him—can find it difficult to know where to begin or what to focus on.
The reality is, if you want to get to know Jesus, the first and best place to go is The Bible.
Unfortunately, many people and churches are not following the truth of the bible. They pick and choose the parts they like and avoid or even reject the parts they don't. Be careful. The very best place to learn about God and building a right relationship with Him through Jesus is The Bible.
after about a week, text back (if you haven't heard back yet), "what did you think about the website I shared with you?"
If you get a positive reaction, you might say "would you like to get coffee/have lunch/get together and talk more about it?"
The Bible tells us that God loved us first. Our response to his love is to repent and to have faith in him through Jesus Christ and to seek to be more like Him. The bible says that a genuine faith means we are changed forever. This change will change the way you live. People will say, "what happened to you? You've changed."
In other words, it will compel you to hate evil instead of doing evil. You will turn away from evil more. Most importantly, when you sin, you will go to God and ask for forgiveness and know the only path to God is through Jesus and the price he paid for our sins.
“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” - James 2:17
Furthermore, Luke (considered the first historian of the early church and because the truth was important to him) used firsthand accounts and other resources as material for an accurate and complete account of Jesus's life.
Still Skeptical?
Christianity doesn't say, close your eyes and believe but rather, learn and investigate for yourself so that you can have the kind of faith that actually changes you and endures through good times and bad.
The Bible teaches and encourages us, according to the following scripture verses, to investigate these claims Luke and others make thoroughly:
"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."
Our only advice is this: If you are not 100% convinced that God is the creator of heaven and earth and that Jesus was and is the living Son of God, start here....
Why? Because Jesus provided proof. Jesus lived. Jesus performed miracles so that the people he healed (and those who witnessed these miracles) would have proof.
One of the reasons Jesus choose to perform miracles was so that those who believed would listen closely to his teachings and also believe what he was telling them.
Our choice is this: Do we believe the eyewitness accounts of the 12 apostles, disciples, and thousands of people who witnessed and benefited from these miracles...or not?
Isaiah 55:8-9 – "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Jeremiah 17:7-8 – "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."
2 Corinthians 5:7 – "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
James 1:5-6 – "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."