I have in my friend list some 140+ friends.
Some of you I have known for most of my life and some of you are recently made friends. Some of you are childhood friends I have recently re-connected with and some of you I know through your blogs or websites. Some of you are as dear to me as a close family member and some of you are friends of my friends. I know where some of you stand in relation to God, but there are some of my friends here on FB where I can't say that I know where you stand before God.
I want to take just a few minutes today and pour out my heart before you.
The other day I headed down to Canton, Ga. to do something I have done for the previous six years on the 4th of July. I handed out gospel tracts and personally talked to people about their spiritual beliefs (or unbelief). I had conversations with those who are Christians, claimed to be Christians and those who are not Christians at all.
While reading a entry from a blog called Doulos Iesou Christou (doulosiesouchristou.blogspot.com) by Tony Miano, I realized that in order for me to truly be a friend to my FB friends I must share with you what I would share to a complete stranger if I were out on the street witnessing -
Since I don't think I could personally write this any better than it has already been written by Tony Miano, I humbly ask you to read the following appeal from his blog:
"If God, by His grace and mercy, has caused you to be born again--extending to you the gifts of repentance and faith in the Jesus Christ, He is your Lord. But if you have not repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you even scoff at His gospel and deny His very existence, He is no less Lord--your Lord. Whether He saves you by His grace and mercy or justly punishes you for all eternity for your sins against Him, He is Lord--your Lord. The question is will He be your Savior, too.
And why, if you are an unbeliever who is reading this article, do you need a Savior?
Without Christ as your Savior, you will one-day stand before God, alone. Because He is good; because He is holy, righteous, and just He will judge you according to the perfect moral standard of His law. If you have ever lied, stolen, blasphemed His holy name, looked at a person other than a spouse with lust in your heart, or if you have sinned against Him in any other way (in thought, word, or deed), then God will find you guilty of breaking His law. And because He is good He must punish sin. The punishment God has ascribed for sin is eternity in Hell.
But thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift! God the Father is also loving, merciful and kind. He loved the pinnacle of His creation (mankind) so much that He gave His one and only Son. 2,000 years ago God the Father sent His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ--fully God and fully Man, yet without sin. He was born of a virgin, just as the prophet Isaiah declared He would be more than 700 years before His birth.
Jesus lived the perfect sinless life no one else could every live. And then He voluntarily, in perfect submission to the will of His Father, went to the cross. Jesus suffered and died a horrible, bloody death He did not deserve in order to take upon Himself the punishment all people everywhere rightly deserve for their sins against God. On the cross, God the Father made God the Son, who knew no sin to be sin on behalf of those who would repent and believe the gospel. It pleased God the Father to crush His one and only Son under the fury of His holy wrath.
Jesus' last words on the cross were "It is finished!" All the work necessary to satisfy God's righteous judgment and wrath against sin was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross. Then, He forever defeated sin and death when three days later He rose from the grave. He is alive, today; and He will one-day return, at a time of the Father's choosing.
What God commands of all people everywhere is that they repent--turn from their sin and turn to God. And by faith, and by faith alone, receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
For the unbelievers who read this, I do hope you will come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior; because whether or not you accept this, He already is your Lord. He is Lord over all creation."
Jesus said that He was the way, the truth and the life and that no one goes to the Father but through Him. The only way you can have forgiveness of your sins and eternal life in Heaven is through Jesus Christ; that's either true or it's not.
Some of you may believe that you are going to Heaven when you die because one time in your life you recited the "sinner's prayer", or walked a church aisle, or signed a commitment card of some sort....you may believe your going to Heaven but you are living your life in complete disobedience to God. The Apostle Paul tells us to examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith. Nothing can possibly be worse than believing you are going to Heaven when you die when, in fact, you are headed for an eternity in Hell.
I don't want that to happen to any of my friends.
I am fully aware that this message may offend some of you. I know that some of you may "un-friend" me or simply choose to just ignore me while writing me off as one of those "Jesus Freaks". If that is the case, I understand; I really do.
I just ask that you sincerely consider what you have read and consider my motive for asking you to read it. I'm not asking for your money. I'm not asking you to join my church. I just want you to examine yourself in light of God's Law and what He has done for you through His Son Jesus Christ.
Whether you are a "Christian" in name only or if you have never given God a second thought before now, I urge you to repent of your sins and put your trust in Christ before it's too late to do so; you never know when you will take your last breath.
Yesterday, approximately 150,000 people worldwide died yesterday. I'm sure that the vast majority of those people thought they were going to live to see another day. Tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us -
Thank you for taking the time to read this -
Your friend,
Wayne Albrecht
