I have already shared with you on eight occasions why I am so certain about what I believe as a follower of Jesus. 

If you can’t clearly remember everything I’ve shared with you about this, go read it on my website at www.new-wine.co.za   

Everything I’ve shared with you means nothing if you don’t respond to it. 

If you have never made this choice to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, then I invite you to do so now. 

Maybe at some point in your life, you have accepted Jesus in faith as Savior. Then I also want to remind you that He is not just Savior, but also Lord and King. 

That’s why I want to invite you to choose that He will be Lord and King in every area and aspect of your life. 

Ask His Spirit to take full control of your life and to steer your life’s engine as and where He wants. 

Let’s pray about this together. 

I'm going to do it first in my own language and in my own way so that you can read it calmly and have the opportunity to really think about it. Because what we are doing here is life-changing!

Then I invite you to say it out loud in your own words to the Lord. Yes, even if you’ve done it in the past.

Let’s just pray and reaffirm our faith in Jesus.

Here’s what I’m praying for today in my prayer:

'Lord Jesus, thank you for what You did for me on the cross. I believe that You also died for me, were buried, and rose again from the dead.

Today I choose to accept You in faith as my Savior and Lord. Lord Jesus,

I believe that You are God the Son who became human to take my punishment upon Yourself.

I confess that I have done so many things wrong and sinned against You.

Forgive me. Have mercy on me! Free me from my sinful past. Cleanse my life.

I choose to love You, follow You, and serve You for the rest of my life.

Come through Your Spirit and take full control of my life.

Fill me with Your presence and Your power.

Guide me and teach me every day.

Use me however and wherever You want.

Help me to obey Your Word and to continue believing it.

Thank You, Jesus, for hearing my prayer. Amen.”

Don’t you want to say it out loud now in your own words to the Lord who is there with you, in prayer?

Let me give you a chance to do it yourself.

Have you done it?

If so, can I now, finally, pray for you?

“In the Name of Jesus Christ, I now declare that the Lord has forgiven your sins.

From this moment on, as God’s Word itself tells you, you can know that you are a child of God.

May you, from this moment on, see and experience evidence everywhere that what you prayed for has become true in your life.

May you experience the peace of the Lord as a reality in your life.

May you discover that His grace is enough for you every day.

May you grasp His protection and presence in your life every day in faith and live from it.

Therefore, I bless you now in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

May you be aware every day of His presence and grace in your life, as God the Father, who made us, and as Jesus, God the Son, who died for us, and as God the Holy Spirit, who is with you every day.

Be assured that this God’s grace is enough for you every day.

Amen.

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!

I became a follower of Jesus and chose to believe all of this because the evidence was impossible to deny.

Along with this, I became a Christian because I believe that everything written about Jesus in the Bible is true.

Yes, of course, I also became a believing follower of Him because I need forgiveness. I chose to believe, based on all the facts, that Jesus also died for me so that my sins of the past could be fully forgiven.

Therefore, I know and believe that something new has happened in me, yes, that I have been, as it were, “born again” as Jesus explains it in John 3! That is why I experience this new life in my life today, and I know and believe that there will also be enough hope for tomorrow.

Being a Christian means belonging to Christ.

Without Christ, without Jesus, there is nothing.

Yes, I know many people describe what we hold on to as Christians as if it were just another one of so many religions in the world.

Yet I believe and know that it is not really a religion. After all, it is not something we do, or try to do, to serve God or to make or keep him happy.

After all, the heart of our faith as followers of Jesus is precisely that a person can in no way do anything that can ever be “good enough” for the only true God. This is precisely the reason why Jesus, God the Son, had to become a man in our place, to come and do what was necessary so that God could forgive, absolve, and completely restore us to be His family.

Think of your life like a car. Being a Christian means that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is now in your car. I am going to ask you right now, if He is not in your car yet, to invite Him in.

Many of you have already invited Him into your car; maybe there is someone here who has not yet made that choice. Today, you have another opportunity to invite Him into “your car”.

Remember what it says in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me.”

John 1:12 speaks of “receiving him”, choosing to believe in Him.

Can I ask you: Have you accepted Jesus by faith as your Savior and Lord?

Please, take this opportunity and do it today!

For those who have invited Him into their life-car somewhere in the past, my question is: Where in the car does He sit?

Does He only get into your car when you go to church on Sundays to be with you for that hour or so on a Sunday?

Of course, that is not how it works!

Okay, but where in your car is He then? In the back seat? Is He just a passenger? Or is He sitting in the front passenger seat? Is He a companion, but still not in control?

Yes, I know! You’re waiting for me to ask if Jesus is the Driver of your car?

Even if you say “Yes,” I’m going to ask you right away: Are you a “back-seat driver”?

Maybe Jesus is driving your car, but if He wants to turn off or drive somewhere you don’t expect or don’t do what you want to, I hear you asking from behind: “Where are we going now?”

Let me use an example.

Maybe Jesus is teaching you how to give more often and more generously.

So many of us then say: “No, Lord, I can’t give now or here. There’s not even enough for my loved ones and me!”

Or maybe the Lord wants to take you on the path of forgiveness.

I hear many of us say: No, I don’t want to forgive them.

My faith in Jesus must influence my behavior. It must influence what I do, say, and think.

Therefore, today is another opportunity for you and me to choose again to allow the Spirit of God to control your entire life, as Gal. 5:16 says.

Then His Spirit will make the characteristics of Jesus visible in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

So, whether you have been a Christian for five months or fifteen years, what does the fruit look like in your life?

If you are lacking in those characteristics, it is a warning light on your dashboard telling you it is time to reposition Jesus.

Some of you have another opportunity today to choose and say: “I want Him in my life. I want Him as the Manager of my life.”

Others will say, “I need to reposition Him.”

Today is another chance for you to choose. Use it because you are now more certain than ever about what the full truth about Him is.

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.