We lived in Turkey for about 9 years One day our church got a call that a man needed to be picked up at the bus station. He was coming from another country and wanted to get baptized. They gave me the name and I told them I would get him.
As I was on the way, the person called and gave me additional information they failed to mention. The man was from Jordan and a year earlier had gone to Iraq to kill Americans for Jihad. I remember thinking, “that might have been useful information to know.”
I have to tell you I definitely was a little scared as I neared the bus station. When I picked him up I did not pick him up as an enemy, but a brother in Christ.
While he was on the way to Iraq he met a Christian. That Christian had told him to look to Christ and not religion. After this time, he decided to become a Christian and was changed.
As I picked him up, we talked about how much he had been changed by Jesus Christ. This man went from being a man of war for religious vengeance to a man saved by Jesus.
I have traveled the world over and have seen lots of religious people and buildings, but they don’t bring peace. The only place I have truly seen that is able to bring love, live, and change is Jesus Christ.
John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
To be saved by Jesus means you have become born again or a new person. This happens has you call on Jesus to save you. Like the former Jihadist there is no one who is beyond saving.
Today, make sure that you have not trusted religion or your works, but have truly been born again by Jesus Christ.
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