Would you consider yourself a worshipper?

Believers in God might be quick to say yes, while others who are not believers—or perhaps are skeptics—would say they’re not.

I would suggest to you that everyone is a worshipper.

Now, understand me. I did not say that everyone worships God. I simply stated that everyone worships.

Some worship at the altar of the “First Church of the Perfect Physique.” To them, it’s all about how they look. Others worship at the “Altar of the Mall.” To them, it’s all about what they wear. Others worship celebrities or sports stars or political heroes. But everyone worships someone or something.

Now consider this: God is looking for people to worship Him! He is seeking seekers!

Years ago, Jesus had an intense conversation on a hot afternoon with a woman who had wasted years of her life chasing men who let her down. Jesus knew what she really was seeking deep down inside was a relationship with God. She was spiritually thirsty and He made this statement to her:

But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23–24 nlt)

But how do we do this? How do we worship God in “spirit and in truth”?

Is there some sort of formula or ritual for doing so? Perhaps there’s a special place or time that is best suited to get in contact with God. Don’t we need specially trained people to help us call upon the Lord?

Jesus was explaining that true worship is not about necessarily meeting at a particular place or time, but rather a matter of the heart. In other words, spiritual worship is not about where or when; it’s about how.

When Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth,” He indicated two fundamental elements of true worship:

1. God must be worshipped in spirit.
2. God must be worshipped in truth.

Let’s start with the latter—God must be worshipped in truth. The God we worship must be the true God—not a god of our own making. So our worship of God must be based on reality or truth. And what is that truth?

First, God can only be approached and known though Jesus Christ.

I know that some people cringe at a statement like this. But it is the truth as presented in the Bible.

You see, Jesus is God made flesh. The more we know about Jesus and His life, the more clearly we see the reality of God. And it is only through his sacrifice and death on the cross that we have access to the Father. We don’t attempt to approach God on the basis of our own personal righteousness or merits. We put our trust in Jesus as the One who makes us right with God.

Second, God is worthy of our worship, and we should worship Him whether or not we feel like it.

Do you think some of Jesus’ followers were “in the mood” to worship God when they were arrested, beaten, and thrown in the dungeon for their faith? Would you have been? We read the story of the apostle Paul and his friend Silas, who were whipped and put in stocks in a dungeon. Yet at midnight, they sang praises to God.

Look, it’s one thing to come to church and worship when we feel like it, when things are going reasonably well. The bills are paid. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. Everything is good. So we say, “Praise God!”

Then the next Sunday, the sun isn’t shining. The birds aren’t singing. There are problems. So we think, “I don’t feel like going to church.” But that’s when we need to worship more than ever. That’s when we need to say, “Lord, I’m helpless. Lord, I need your wisdom. I need your guidance. I need your power. I need your comfort. Lord, I am turning to you.” We worship regardless of our circumstances, because God is always worthy of our praise. We should worship God not because we are in the mood, but because God has asked us to and has everything in control. That is the sacrifice of praise.

Third, we can’t worship God when we knowingly have sin in our lives.

That doesn’t mean we have to be sinless before we can worship God—that’s impossible. Rather, when we knowingly and willfully sin against God, we are deceiving ourselves—and our prayers and worship will not be received.

For example, if I know I’ve lied to someone and have no plans to come clean anytime soon, I can’t expect my worship to be meaningful before God. Or if I am holding a grudge against someone and have no intention of trying to work things out with him or her, then I shouldn’t expect God to be honored by my worship. Or if I am living in sexual sin, I shouldn’t expect God to want to hear my songs of praise or prayers and petitions. The psalmist tells us, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18 nlt).

God wants our lives and our worship to be combined together in an honorable way. God wants us to worship in spirit and in truth. And God wants our hearts more than anything else.

So accept it—you are a worshipper! Just make sure you are worshipping the right God in the right way.

Some people claim to be Christians but don’t attend church. They say, “Well, I haven’t found a church I like yet, and I work and Sunday is my only day off!” But if you really love God, you will love His people and long to be with them.

The Bible indeed commands us to go to church, and—even more—to be a functioning part of it. Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (NKJV).

I like the way the New Living Translation puts it: “Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.” The Bible does not say: Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together unless Sunday is your only day off, or unless you want to run in a triathlon, or unless it’s a great beach day, in which case you are excused, because you just don’t need fellowship as much as other Christians do.

Yes, if you love God, you will love His people and long to be with them. If you don’t really love God, you won’t love His people. Some will say “I’m so over the church; people are critical and judgmental. It’s so full of hypocrites!” My response to that is: there is always room for one more! Understand, I am not justifying hypocrisy of any kind, but honestly, we have all been hypocritical at times. But that is not a reason to not attend church. The church has its flaws because people are in it. However, Jesus both started and loves the church. He died for it.

Being in fellowship is a proof that you are indeed a child of God. It says in 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (NIV). Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (NKJVM). Not going to church is a proof that something is wrong with you spiritually. We read in 1 John 2:19, “These people left our churches because they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left us, it proved that they do not belong with us” (NLT).

Studies show that if you don’t go to church for a month, the odds are almost 2 to 1 that you won’t go for more than a year. Being a vital and active part of the church is something we pass on to our kids. A study once disclosed that: If both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72% of their children remain faithful in attendance; if only Dad attends regularly, 55% remain faithful; if only Mom attends regularly, 15% remain faithful; and if neither attend regularly, only 6% remain faithful.

What legacy will you leave your kids? Are you committed to demonstrating to them that going to church is important?

I think America is going in the wrong direction.

I don’t believe the answer to our problem is a political one; I believe it is a spiritual one. America needs to turn to God.

We have two secret weapons in the church that we need to start using like never before; they are prayer and preaching. 

First, we need to pray for America. Pray that God would send a great spiritual awakening and that people across our land would return to Him. 

Secondly, we need to preach, and specifically we need to preach the gospel. It all comes down to this: each and every one of us needs to tell someone about Jesus. 

Would you use your secret weapons? Would you make it a daily priority to pray for America? Would you look for every opportunity to preach the gospel? 

Pastor Greg Laurie

What does it mean to be a Christian? How do you become one? I’m glad you asked. First, let’s look at three ways you cannot become a child of God. That’s right. How not to become a Christian.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13)

You cannot be a Christian simply by being born into a Christian family. I’m amazed at how some people, when asked how they know they are Christians, will answer, “Because I think my grandfather was,” or, “Because my mother is a Christian.” It’s as though they believe their family somehow has Christian “genes.” Having Christian parents is a great privilege. It’s a wonderful thing to be raised with biblical values and to develop a Christian worldview. But you still must personally believe in Jesus. You cannot live off the faith of the family.

You cannot make yourself a Christian by your own will. Not only does faith have nothing to do with your family background, it has nothing to do with desire. You can’t just say, “From this moment on, I am a Christian!” Becoming a Christian involves putting your trust in God. God is the one who saves you, not yourself. It would be like a drowning person trying to save himself or herself. Becoming a Christian involves turning away from sin and trusting Jesus and Jesus alone for your salvation. It involves saying “yes” to God’s invitation to change your heart.

You cannot become a Christian by compulsion. No one in the world can make you a Christian. No minister or priest can make you a Christian by mere baptism or a sacrament. You cannot be reborn through a ceremony, or by reading a creed, or by standing up or sitting down, or by going forward, or by kneeling at a bench. None of these things, in and of themselves, will make you a Christian.

Now that we’ve covered how not to become a Christian, let’s look at how to become one. We find the answer in the verse quoted above: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

There has to be a point when you are awakened to your spiritual need and say, “God, I know I’m a sinner. I know I don’t measure up. Your light has crept into the crevices of my life, and You have exposed my spiritual nakedness. You have shown me my vulnerability and my need. At the same time, I know I can’t become a Christian in my own strength. So I am coming to You on Your terms. I am turning from my sin. I believe that Your Son, Jesus, the Word who created all things, became a man and walked among us. I believe that He died on a cross for my sin. I put my trust in You. I choose to follow You.”

Becoming a Christian is not unlike having a gift offered to you. God is offering you a gift, but you need to accept it and open it to understand what it is.

In the same way, God has given each of us a gift, but it’s not any good until we open it. The gift is just sitting there.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I’ll get to it later. I know it’s there. It gives me a good feeling to know it is there. I just love the fact that it is there.” But wait a second. You need to receive it. You need to open this gift. Until you have done so, you are not experiencing what God has in store for you.

You can say, “I know Jesus is the Lord. I know He is the Creator of all things. I know He died on the cross. I know He has the answer to all my questions. I know He can forgive me of my sins. He is there knocking. It’s nice to know He’s right there.” But that’s not enough. A gift is only good if it’s being used. So reach out and receive the gift.

Your Christian family can’t do it for you. You can’t do it for yourself just by saying, “I believe in my own way.” You have to say, “Lord, I receive your gift of eternal life, happily and gladly. I trust in your promises and I choose to follow Jesus.”

Have you done that yet? If you are not sure, click KnowGod.org now.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14 NKJV).

In a broad sense, we should pray about everything. But there are certain things that we don’t need to pray about.

For example, if someone were to say, “Greg, I’m praying about robbing a bank. Would you pray with me?” I will pray for that person, but I won’t pray that God will bless their efforts.

Why? Because the Bible says, “You shall not steal.” We don’t need to pray about that.

Yet, there are certain things God tells us we can pray for.

• He tells us we can pray for wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5 NKJV).
• We can pray for His provision. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (NKJV).”
• We can pray for protection. Psalm 91:5–7 says, “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you (NKJV).”
• We can pray for power to meet the challenges of life. Ephesians 1:18–19 tells us: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe (NIV).”

The key to effective prayer is getting our will in alignment with God’s will, as the verse at the top of today’s post explains. Nothing lies outside the reach of prayer, except that which lies outside of the will of God.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
—Psalm 107:8

In the Old Testament, we find an interesting story of how King Jehoshaphat took an uncommon approach when his enemies waged war against him. Instead of sending in his army first, he sent the choir and musicians.

Imagine the scene: “All right, guys, here’s the plan today. An army is out there, armed to the teeth. So we are sending in the choir and the musicians.” If I had been a choir member or musician, I might have wondered whether the king liked our music.

But God had directed Jehoshaphat in this unusual battle tactic. We read that Jehoshaphat appointed people to sing to the Lord, praise the beauty of holiness, and go out in front of the army saying, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever” (2 Chronicles 20:21).

So that is exactly what they did. The Bible tells us that when they began to sing and praise, God sent an ambush against the enemy, and they were destroyed. God’s people were able to go into this situation giving thanks, because He was in control.

In approaching God to ask for new blessings, we should never forget to thank Him for the blessings He has already given.

Have you recently come to God for help and He came through for you? Did you come back to say “thank you”?

If we would stop and think how many of the prayers we have offered to God have been answered and how seldom we come back to God to thank Him, it just might amaze us. We should be just as deliberate in giving thanks to God as we are in asking for His help.

The happiest Christians are evangelistic ones.

The unhappiest Christians are the nitpicky kind—the ones who, in the words of Jesus, “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24 NKJV). They are so busy arguing theological minutia that they miss the opportunity. They are like someone seeing a burning building with people inside, and they are debating what kind of hose should be used to put the fire out.

There is a joy we are missing out on if we are not sharing our faith. John wrote that his personal joy was made possible by sharing with others the message of Christ. “We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:4 ESV).

Jesus said, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7 NKJV). And when the angels came to the shepherds, they brought “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10 ESV).

It seems like some Christians just want to receive and learn, receive and learn. . . That is a noble and biblical thing to do. But if that receiving does not also include giving, then you are missing the point. Does not Scripture tells us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive”?

The believers I know who make a habit of sharing the gospel are happy. Proverbs 11:25 says that “those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” (NLT). You are blessed to be a blessing.

But before you preach it, you must first live it. Billy Graham wrote:

“We are the Bibles the world is reading.
We are the creeds the world is needing.
We are the sermons the world is heeding.”

We need people today who walk and talk with Jesus Christ—people who, before they even speak a single word, give evidence that there is something different about them.

We need people who, through their godly lifestyles, have earned the right to be heard.

What we need today are people who have “been with Jesus.”

Having had the opportunity to travel around the world, let me say that I think America is the greatest country on earth!

We are far from perfect. We have our many flaws. But we have so much to be thankful for as a nation.

Imagine what kind of world we would live in today if there had been no America. No one to turn back the rise of Nazis and their allies in World War II. No one to stand up against the tyranny of Communism over the years. No one to stand up for the small nations that cannot help themselves. Then there are the billions of dollars in aid we have sent around the world to help those in need.

Why has America been able to do all those things? Because we have a foundation that has taught us what right and wrong are, that there is a God who has given us His Word to guide us, and that there is a responsibility that comes with His bounty.

We learn those things from the book our country was founded on: the Bible.

Thomas Jefferson is said to have written, “The Bible is the cornerstone for American liberty.” Of Holy Scripture, Andrew Jackson said the Bible is “the Rock on which our republic rests.” Abraham Lincoln stated, “All the good Savior gave to the World was communicated through this Book. But for this Book we could not know right from wrong. All the things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found in it.”

The Fourth of July is this week. As you know, our founding fathers framed a document that we call the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson and signed in 1776.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

We often forget that in declaring independence from an earthly power, our forefathers made a direct declaration of dependence upon God Almighty. The closing words of this document declare, “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

So it’s not only a “Declaration of Independence” from foreign tyranny. It’s also the “Declaration of Dependence” on God Almighty.

God has blessed this great nation of ours over these past 200-plus years. We rightly sing “America, America, God shed His grace on thee . . . ”

A symbol of our country and our liberty is the Statue of Liberty. Inscribed at the entrance to it are the words:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

And come they have from around the globe. There is no other country on earth people flock to like America! There are no walls around America, forcing people to stay in. They are free to leave if they choose.

Instead, we have more and more people who want to come in, searching for the “American Dream,” searching for this happiness we speak of in our Declaration of Independence.

And as we have seen time and time again, it’s still possible to come from another place to the United States and live the “American Dream” Hard work really can pay off and you can still succeed and prosper in this country.

But the question is, are we a happy people? Let me personalize it: Are you happy?

Some of the unhappiest people I know are those who are in the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps that is why philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote, “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness,” Playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote, “There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.”

In America, the accumulation of material goods is at an all-time high. But so is the number of people who feel an emptiness in their lives.

Forbes magazine devoted its 75th-anniversary issue to a single topic: “Why we feel so bad when we have it so good” Noting that Americans live better then any other people on the planet, Forbes invited prominent observers of modern culture to speculate as to why we are “depressed,” or in the words of editor James Michaels, “Why is this Nation that marched so proudly into the 20th century slouching so dejectedly toward the third Millennium?” The articles in this special issue chronicled an alarming loss of values, absolutes and meaning in contemporary life.

Why is this? Abraham Lincoln answered this question many years ago.

We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

President Lincoln was right. We have forgotten God. It’s even more true today.

We have thrown God out of the classroom. We have thrown Him out of the courtroom, a judicial system built on Biblical truth. And we have done our best to throw Him out of modern culture.

We have, as the Bible says, “sown the wind, and reaped the whirlwind” (see Hosea 8:7 NKJV).

In spite of being a nation at peace and having a robust economy, we have “trouble in paradise.” As many as 20 percent of Americans—54 million—will battle major depression in their lifetime. As many as 45 million Americans participate in drinking binges at least once a month.

There are 650,000 attempted suicides a year in our country. Every 17.2 minutes in America, someone kills themselves. Approximately 500,000 people received emergency room treatment as a result of attempted suicide. There are more suicides than homicides, and the highest rate is among senior citizens. Teenage suicide has reached epidemic levels.

I read in a recent article on young people and suicide that the number of 10-14 year olds taking their lives has gone up dramatically since the early 1980s. According to a study by the American Association of Suicidology, up to 60 percent of high school students report having suicidal thoughts. The word that experts use over and over again to describe kids is “hopelessness.”

And why is there this hopelessness? Because we have forgotten God.

How can this be? In our pursuit of “freedom,” some have lost sight of the Creator who has given us the clear parameters to live by. And for many, that “freedom” and “pursuit of happiness” has led to bondage and despair.

On the wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. are these words from Thomas Jefferson: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

The answer for America’s problems is not a political one. It is spiritual. We need to turn back to God. Why? Because the real problem is inside of us, and only God can change us!

A news reporter asked a person on the street, “Do you know what the two greatest problems in America are?” The man responded, “I don’t know, and I don’t care!” “Then you’ve got both of them!” was the abrupt reply.

We sing, “God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her, and guide her, through the night, with the light from above. . . ” We are in that “night” in America right now, and we desperately need that “Light” from above.

Not some nebulous, whatever-you-conceive-God-to-be spirituality. We need to turn back to the True and only God.

The same God our founding fathers invoked when they established this nation. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who gave us Jesus Christ as His Son to die on the Cross in our place. The God who gave us the Bible as our guide and manual for living. The only God who can save America and us as individuals.

The happiness we all seek as Americans can be found not in the pursuit of it, but as the result of pursuing something else, or rather someone else. And that someone is God.

Scripture reminds us, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15 NKJV).

May you have a happy and blessed Fourth of July!

A Harvest Crusade is really just a “shot in the arm,” a catalyst to rally the troops, a call to battle. But the ongoing work of evangelism happens in churches. In fact, what’s needed in our churches today is an evangelistic culture.

This is not something that happens naturally; it happens supernaturally. Things always default to mediocrity—never to quality. That’s true of businesses, restaurants, stores, and even the church. If you see quality, and life, and an evangelistic culture, it is there because of effort.

And that effort starts with you as the pastor or ministry leader. You cannot take people any further than you yourself have gone. As Paul told Timothy, the farmer that labors must first be a partaker of the fruit (see 2 Timothy 2:6).

How can you have an evangelistic culture in your church?

1. If you want to start a fire in the pews, begin with the pulpit.

   If there is a mist in the pulpit, there will be a fog in the pews. C.H. Spurgeon said, “The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you. If you can rest without their being saved, they will rest, too. But if you are filled with an agony for them, if you cannot bear that they should be lost, you will soon find that they are uneasy, too. I hope you will get into such a state that you will dream about your child or your hearer perishing for lack of Christ, and start up at once and begin to cry, ‘O god, give me converts or I will die!’ Then you will have converts.”

2. If you want to see people come to Christ, you must articulate the gospel.

   You might say, “But I’m a pastor, not an evangelist!” That may be true, but Paul told timothy to “do the work of an evangelist.” You need to specifically break down the gospel and explain it to people. Try to imagine that you are a nonbeliever hearing it for the first time. Use language a person will understand.

   There are certain elements that must be in play for the gospel to be the gospel. We need to tell people they are separated from God by sin, that Jesus died for that sin, and that if they repent and turn to Him, they can be saved. Our message is “Christ and Him crucified.”

   Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.” There is power in the simple message of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

   You need to start giving invitations for people to come to Christ. This takes a commitment, because there is always the possibility of failure. But there is an even greater possibility of success. It’s worth the risk. At the end of your message should be an evangelistic “hook.” No matter what the topic, there is always a way to wrap it up evangelistically. The key is to transition to the cross. Preach this part of your message with urgency, “as a dying man to dying men.” You must trust that God will bless His Word and convict people of sin.

   When Peter was preaching on Pentecost they were “cut to the heart,” and they said, “What shall we do?” In Acts 2:38–41, Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”

   Like Peter, you must be intentional in your invitation, preaching for a decision.

3. You must be clear in your invitation.

   This is where it breaks down for most preachers. I have heard pastors and speakers give excellent messages with a call to Christ. Then it all falls apart in “the mechanics” of it. People do not understand what you are asking them to do.

   By the way, there are many ways to skin a cat. There are a lot of ways to ask people to respond to your invitation. You can have people stand up and pray, you can have them pray with you and then send them to a room for follow-up, you can have them come forward to the front and lead them in prayer. The main thing is that we call them to Christ. There needs to be a “moment of decision.” We don’t have the specifics of an invitation in Scripture. But we have many instances of people repenting and believing in large numbers.

   This is a good time to get out of “preach mode” and be conversational. Use the vernacular, as though you were speaking to a person one on one.

4. You must have a follow-up system in place.

   I’m talking about counselors who have been trained to encourage new believers. If a church does not have a follow-up ministry for new converts, something is not right. A church that does not have a constant flow of new believers will stagnate. New converts are the lifeblood of the church. We have a choice: evangelize or fossilize.

5. You must start and maintain an evangelistic culture.

   People always return to mediocrity, so you must not let this culture die. Our crusade can help, but ongoing evangelism is something you must do in your church. Your people must invite other to church! In almost all cases, new converts at our crusades end up in the church of the person who brought them.

   If you just announce the crusade and put out invitations, you might see some growth. But if you urge and exhort your people to bring nonbelievers, it will grow.

If you are thinking, “That just won’t work in our church!” then change the culture of your church so it will. Do a series on the importance of sharing one’s faith. When we were in Australia for a crusade, we were told that “invitations” were something that didn’t work there, but God can and did work in Australia just like He does here.

Let’s all pray for an evangelistic culture in our churches.

What does it mean to be a Christian? How do you become one? I’m glad you asked. First, let’s look at three ways you cannot become a child of God. That’s right. How not to become a Christian.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

You cannot be a Christian simply by being born into a Christian family. I’m amazed at how some people, when asked how they know they are Christians, will answer, “Because I think my grandfather was,” or, “Because my mother is a Christian.” It’s as though they believe their family somehow has Christian “genes.” Having Christian parents is a great privilege. It’s a wonderful thing to be raised with biblical values and to develop a Christian worldview. But you still must personally believe in Jesus. You cannot live off the faith of the family.

You cannot make yourself a Christian by your own will. Not only does faith have nothing to do with your family background, it has nothing to do with desire. You can’t just say, “From this moment on, I am a Christian!” Becoming a Christian involves putting your trust in God. God is the one who saves you, not yourself. It would be like a drowning person trying to save himself or herself. Becoming a Christian involves turning away from sin and trusting Jesus and Jesus alone for your salvation. It involves saying “yes” to God’s invitation to change your heart.

You cannot become a Christian by compulsion. No one in the world can make you a Christian. No minister or priest can make you a Christian by mere baptism or a sacrament. You cannot be reborn through a ceremony, or by reading a creed, or by standing up or sitting down, or by going forward, or by kneeling at a bench. None of these things, in and of themselves, will make you a Christian.

Now that we’ve covered how not to become a Christian, let’s look at how to become one. We find the answer in the verse quoted above: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Being a Christian is not merely following a creed, though it would include that. It is not merely believing certain truths, though it is that, too. It is receiving Christ into your life as your Savior and Lord.

There has to be a point when you are awakened to your spiritual need and say, “God, I know I’m a sinner. I know I don’t measure up. Your light has crept into the crevices of my life, and You have exposed my spiritual nakedness. You have shown me my vulnerability and my need. At the same time, I know I can’t become a Christian in my own strength. So I am coming to You on Your terms. I am turning from my sin. I believe that Your Son, Jesus, the Word who created all things, became a man and walked among us. I believe that He died on a cross for my sin. I put my trust in You. I choose to follow You.”

Becoming a Christian is not unlike having a gift offered to you. God is offering you a gift, but you need to accept it and open it to understand what it is.

In the same way, God has given each of us a gift, but it’s not any good until we open it. The gift is just sitting there.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I’ll get to it later. I know it’s there. It gives me a good feeling to know it is there. I just love the fact that it is there.” But wait a second. You need to receive it. You need to open this gift. Until you have done so, you are not experiencing what God has in store for you.

You can say, “I know Jesus is the Lord. I know He is the Creator of all things. I know He died on the cross. I know He has the answer to all my questions. I know He can forgive me of my sins. He is there knocking. It’s nice to know He’s right there.” But that’s not enough. A gift is only good if it’s being used. So reach out and receive the gift.

Your Christian family can’t do it for you. You can’t do it for yourself just by saying, “I believe in my own way.” You have to say, “Lord, I receive your gift of eternal life, happily and gladly. I trust in your promises and I choose to follow Jesus.”

Have you done that yet? If you are not sure, click KnowGod.org now.