Some people think that believing in God and in Jesus is just a crutch. As if believing in God is actually just a sign of weakness because you can't "cope" without it.

What I then ask them is: "If you broke both your legs, you need a wheelchair for a while, right?"

Which most people would then concede.

Then I simply say: "And if you broke one leg, you need crutches, right?"

Again, they would then say "yes".

Then I would further explain: "I have discovered in my life what a broken person I am before a holy God. Perhaps you, too, if you think about it carefully and are willing to be honest, might also have to admit that you are not perfect and are also broken in some ways.

I have never met anyone who is not broken in some sense of the word. That's why I'm so grateful that I can lean on Jesus while He makes me whole and healthy again."

As I've already said, I'm a Christian because I need God's grace and His forgiveness. I'm a Christian because Jesus did something for me - and for you - to pay our sin debt, but also so that God, who is a Holy God, can have mercy on us.

Let me remind you of the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16.

It says: "For God so loved the world..."

Write your own name where "world" is written.

God loved you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus, to come and do something for you too.

So many people like to wear a cross around their neck, just because it looks nice to them.

What they don't understand is that the symbol of the cross is actually a horrible symbol if we think about it carefully. After all, the cross was a way in which the Roman authorities at the time made criminals suffer, to punish them for their crimes, and to then execute them in this way. Almost like the gallows where people are hanged until they die. Because they deserved it.

For us as followers of Jesus, the cross is the symbol of what Jesus came to do for us. There He, the totally Innocent, came to give His blood and His life for me and you, who are actually the guilty ones. So that God could forgive our sins, because Jesus had already paid the full price for them.

Therefore, God can absolve me, forgive me, because I believe that Jesus did this for me too.

This is what I personally chose to believe on October 10, 1969, and why I also accepted Jesus as my Personal Savior and Lord in faith.

That day, as John 1:12 says, “received Jesus”.

There, I chose to believe in Him. Chosen to, based on the historical facts about what He did there on Golgotha ​​in April 30 A.D., to accept Him as my personal Savior and Lord.

That day, the Lord regenerated me, made me new, and “reset” my spirit.

That day, something happened in me; new life was turned on in me; God’s Spirit Himself came to live in me, to complete this work that God had begun in me, until the end of my life.

That day I became a child of God, and I know I will not perish, but I have eternal life. Because God says so and promises it in His Word. In verses like John 3:16 to 18, John 1:12, 1 John 5:12 to 14, etc.

We cannot change our past, but we can bring our past to God, and He can cleanse us, make us clean, set us free, and forgive us.

Can I summarize all of this for you?

Why did I choose to become a Christian and to accept Jesus in faith as my Savior?

Because I need forgiveness.

Because Jesus died for me to erase my past and give me new life for today, and hope for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

To tie all this to my heart and yours, the Lord gave us all these wonderful images in the Bible to help us understand who Jesus is to us and what a difference believing in Him can make in our lives. Here are a few examples of this, in conclusion:

• Jesus is the Bread of Life.

• He is the Water that gives Life.

• He is the Light of the World.

• He is the Cornerstone.

• He is the Sun of Righteousness.

• He is the Hidden Treasure and a Pearl of Great Price. — bankers can understand this well.

• He is the Great Physician.

• He is the Good Teacher or Instructor.

• He is the Lily of the Field.

• He is the Eternal Rock.

• He is the True Vine.

• He is the Righteous Judge.

• He and all that He teaches us is truly Wisdom.

• He is the Word of God.

• He is the Good Shepherd.

• He is the Alpha and Omega.

• He is the King of kings.

• He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

All of this is who Jesus is.

Therefore, He is the One in whom I believe and whom I trust and follow with my whole life!

Another reason I am a follower of Jesus and a Christian is that I have discovered how much I need the Lord’s grace and forgiveness.

A mother once asked her husband to watch their daughter, Annie, while she went to town. He agreed but wondered how to keep her busy. He leafed through a magazine and found a world map, which he then cut into small squares and scattered across the floor. He then called Annie and said to her, “Annie, please put the world back together for us, and when you are finished, come and call me.”

He thought this would keep her busy for a long time, but a few minutes later, she called to him, “Daddy, I am finished.” He could not believe it. However, when he checked it, every piece was in the right place.

“How did you do it?” he asked.

She then said, "When Daddy cut the card, I saw a picture of a man and a woman on the other side. I thought if I could put the man and the woman back together, I could put the world back together."

The big problem in the world and in the lives of people like us is what is going on in our own hearts and in the hearts of so many people around us, where we cannot see.

Let me explain it another way. Imagine you die and wake up in this huge hall. An angel comes in and says, "Welcome to the theatre of God's judgment. Sit back, relax, and watch the show that follows!"

Before you, on a giant screen, you see your entire life playing out before you: everything you have ever done, said, or thought. You see there all the sins you have committed, but also everything you have left undone; everything you should have done but did not do, and failed to do.

When the film ends, the angel comes back and says, “Relax. There is now a second showing. This time, everyone who appeared somewhere in the film will sit with you and watch it.”

I don’t know how you would feel about that! Yet I know and believe that if there is a day of judgment waiting for us somewhere, I really need God’s grace and especially His forgiveness!

I don’t need anyone to convince me that what has happened in my life, everything I have thought, said, and done, and everything I have failed to do and say, definitely deserves the wrath and punishment of a holy God!

The Bible does not say for nothing that all these things, which the Bible calls “sin,” cause separation between the holy God and me. It is like this huge overdraft that is slowly but surely building up in my bank account before God. The worst thing of all is that no one can help us with this, because all of us are completely overdrawn, and no one can pay off this debt.

Yes, I know there may be those who want to make excuses. Who says: “It wasn’t my fault! It was my parents… my teachers… society’s fault!”

Others will try to deny much of this. However, God knows the full truth. He knows that you and I are equally guilty, and that there is only one punishment for this that is just. The Word is very clear about this: All of us are guilty and ultimately deserve only one deserved punishment, namely, death! Yes, not only will we ultimately experience hell or die here on earth, but we all also deserve eternal death, hell, and its full glow of hellish, eternal punishment.

This is where the Good News, the Gospel message of forgiveness, salvation, and grace resounds! What tells of Jesus, the Messiah, who came to pay our bill for and on our behalf! This is what Jesus came to do for us!

This is why He, God the Son, became man. As John 3, verse 16 says: “For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Yes, for this, Jesus the Christ came to pay with His blood, His life, to fully pay the debt that rested on us.

Yes, I chose to believe it! That Jesus did this for me, too.

That is why I accepted Him as my Savior and Lord, so that, as John 1:12 says, I would also know with certainty: I am now a child of this God and will never perish! Because I believe that Jesus did this for me, I believe that God, as a Holy God, can also forgive me and absolve my sin, because Jesus has already borne the full punishment for it.

Tell me, do you believe this, too?

Do you really believe this?

Then just grab that word and promise in John 1:12 for your life again today, because the God who says and promises it cannot lie! What He says stands firm and is true!

As I have already said, I chose to be a Christian and follower of Jesus.

I am a Christian because I believe that Jesus is the Messiah of whom the entire Old Testament prophesied, and I believe that He also died for me and certainly rose from the dead as the King of all kings.

I am also a believing follower of Jesus because I have discovered how much I need God’s grace and forgiveness, which Jesus has also made possible for me.

Here is another reason: I am a Christian because it works. I chose to follow Jesus, to believe and obey His Word, because what God promises and says works!

Our neighbours next door, when we still lived in Potchefstroom, were not Christians. They were Muslims. To them, we were their “neighbours from heaven.”

If someone on our street were sick, they would call us and ask us to go with them to pray for those people in Jesus’ Name.

I have been a follower of Jesus since 1969. That is why I have wonderful stories to tell about how the Lord intervened in miserable emergencies and changed everything.

I can talk about people for whom we prayed, whom the Lord then healed. Yes, I can even talk about people with stage 4 cancer, whom He healed instantly.

I can also talk about people with serious vision problems whom He healed.

Then I can also talk about so many times in my and others' lives, where it was so necessary that the Lord intervened supernaturally and gave abundance.

So, I can talk about how He came to heal me when I was dying for 3 years from a disease for which there was no solution at the time.

So, I can also talk about how He has financially cared for and provided for us as a family every month for the past 33 years, without us ever receiving a fixed salary during this time.

Yes, we are just ordinary people living among other ordinary people. The world and its people around us are also just ordinary and sometimes very broken and sick.

Yes, there are days when we certainly do not understand everything and do not have all the answers. However, we have never doubted one thing: We have always known God is there. God is in control. He is good, and I will never doubt His love, because I know He cares.

Maybe you are worried about your finances today, or about your or a loved one's health.

We are going to pray for that, because Jesus is here. He is the Caregiver and Provider. He takes care of us in all aspects of our being, in spirit, soul, and body.

Therefore, we are going to ask and trust Him to bring restoration, bring healing, and provide what is needed.

I know He hears.

Before I ask you to be quiet and pray for what you want to ask Jesus for today, can I just summarize once again everything that I have stated as the reasons why you and I can be so sure about what we believe as followers of Jesus:

The reason why I am a believing follower is that…

I am sure He is exactly who He told us in His Word. He is.

Because I know and believe that Jesus is the Messiah, God who became man, to give His life for you and me and to bear the full punishment that we deserve.

This Jesus was crucified and did not only die. No, He certainly rose from the dead, and He is here as the Living, resurrected Lord and King of all kings.

Yes, I know I need forgiveness, but I also know for sure that He became man and also came to die on the cross for me. So that the Father can forgive me and so that His grace can also be enough for me.

Yes, I am a follower of Jesus because what God promises and says to us in His Word works!

These are some of the most important reasons why I am a Christian.

With all this in mind, let us bow before Him as King and Lord, and ask Him in prayer for what we need from Him.

Let us also thank Him in advance that He has heard our prayers.

Last time we talked about the scientific probability that 322 prophecies prophesied in the 39 books of the Old Testament, over a period of more than 1200 years, by more than 30 different writers, are one in 10 to the 84th power. That is 1 followed by 84 zeros!

Yet our faith as followers of Jesus, as important as it is, is not based only on these fulfilled prophecies. It is not even based on everything that Jesus himself taught, how He lived, or what He did, or even that He was crucified.

No, the most important of all important things why we believe in Jesus is because this Jesus rose from the dead!

That is why 1 Cor. 15 says that everything we believe as followers of Jesus stands or falls on whether He really rose from the dead, and whether He still lives!

Listen to what it says in verses 1 to 7:

“I remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you also stand. By this gospel you are also saved, if you hold fast to the message I preached to you. If you hold to something else, you have believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to more than five hundred brothers at once, of whom some are dead, but most remain. After that, he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, he appeared to me also, who was born out of time.”

That is why verse 14 says: ‘And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.’

Therefore, most of the attacks on what we believe as followers of Jesus and on the Bible have been aimed at trying to prove the resurrection of Jesus to be a lie.

So, in the 18th century, there was a man named Gilbert West who didn't like that many of his friends had become Christians. He set out to write a book disproving the resurrection, because if you can disprove the resurrection, you can disprove the heart of the Christian message.

Halfway through writing the book, however, he encountered a Living Jesus himself. Instead of disproving the resurrection, he ended up writing a book defending it.

In the 19th century, there was a famous atheist in America named Ingersoll. He was upset that Christianity was growing so rapidly worldwide. One of his friends was the famous general, General Leo Wallace. Ingersoll said to him, "Leo, you have to help me. Why don't you write a book that refutes the resurrection?"

That's how Leo Wallace began writing his book. His wife was a Christian, and she prayed for him while he worked. That's how Leo Wallace also met a living Jesus while writing his book about the resurrection of Jesus. Today, you and I know his book because it became the text of the famous film titled "Ben-Hur".

In the 20th century, a lawyer and journalist named Frank Morrison decided that he would destroy Christianity. He believed the only way to do this was to refute the resurrection. As a journalist, he knew how to do research, and as a lawyer, he knew how to examine evidence. Halfway through writing his book, he found so much evidence for the resurrection that he met a living Jesus himself! Eventually, his book would be published with the title: "Who Rolled Away the Stone?"

So, if you are in a hurry to meet a Living, Risen Jesus, try writing a book to refute the resurrection!

I want to end this section with an image.

Imagine life as this street in front of us, with a road ahead, and this fork in the road. You don't know whether to go left or right. However, in front of you are two men lying in the middle of the fork in the road. One is dead, but the other is alive. Which one would you ask for directions about life ahead?

I am a Christian because Jesus Christ is alive. So His resurrection confirms everything He said and everything He did.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent 40 days with His disciples there in Jerusalem and the surrounding area before He ascended to heaven.

During those 40 days, He added nothing new or took away anything He had taught them during the previous three years.

Therefore, we can trust what Jesus said about the past, the present, and the future.

I am a follower of Jesus and a Christian, because I believe there is undeniable logical and historical evidence that everything we believe is true, but especially because Jesus really rose and lives as the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.