Let’s Make a Deal - 40 pack

This tract tells about how I thought I could make a bargain with a just and Holy God. The truth is God, doesn't want to make a deal with you. He just wants you to come just as you are and make you spiritually whole (well) again. Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is way that seems right to a man (mankind), but its end is the way of death."
 
Let’s Make A Deal!
 
I was raised in a religious home, that is, my father would send my brothers and me to church with the offering. And we, me and my two brothers, were offered to the church to serve as altar boys. I grew up knowing about God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the triune (one essence with three expressions) God.
Because I was religious in my thinking, I would go weekly to the priest and confess my sins to get a clean slate (fresh start). The priest would listen to my confession and I was asked to repeat a set of prayers that my sins would be forgiven. Well that got me to thinking, that as long as I could make it back to church and confess my sins before I died, then I would be all right with God and good for heaven for at least another week.
 
Those thoughts stayed with me up to the time that I made a deal with God. In my early twenties, I found myself in a life-threatening situation. I felt that it would take a real miracle to get me out of this one. 
I had made many stupid moves in my life but, up until now, I was able to take care of them on my own. I remembered back to what I had learned - that God had all the power and, because of that, He was the only one who could get me out of this mess. It was like going to the priest and getting a fresh start, only this was with God Himself. I said, “God if You will get me out of this jam, I will quit drinking for a year.”
I had nothing else to offer God but that which I loved so much, my booze! I was an alcoholic. Yes, a true alcoholic! And, I did give up drinking for one year, with the exception of a drink that I was talked into. Peer pressure, it will get you every time if you let it!
 
Well, God came through as I had hoped He would. The reality was that it was not my time to leave this earth until God was ready for me.
 
We all have an appointment with death as Hebrews 9:27 says: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
 
I thought that I could bargain with a Holy and Just God. If anything, God, in His mercy, saw one that had served Him but never truly received Him through His Son Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 
 
I did come to know the God of love and mercy before it was eternally too late. As Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” God doesn’t want to make a deal with you, He just wants you to come, just as you are, and trust Him to make it all better. Jesus said in John 14:6, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
 
~ B.V.M.
 
“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7
 
YOU CAN HAVE A NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
ADMIT that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short (missed the mark) of the glory of God.”
REALIZE the penalty of your sin.
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
that Jesus Christ died to pay the price for your sins and rose from the dead. 
Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
TRUST and RECEIVE Christ alone as your Savior. 
Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
 
WHAT’S NEXT?
Just as a newborn baby grows physically, in a similar way you can grow spiritually, by taking the following steps:
READ THE BIBLE – starting with the Gospel of John, read a chapter each day.
PRAYER – Spend time each day talking with God.
WORSHIP – Regularly attend a church that honors Jesus Christ and teaches you the Bible.
FELLOWSHIP – with Christians who will help you grow in faith.
WITNESS – Tell others what Jesus Christ means to you!