When I say "i'm a Christian", i'm not shouting i'm clean livin'.
I'm whispering i was lost, now i'm found and forgiven.

When i say "i'm a Christian", I dont speak of this with pride.
Im confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say "i'm a Christian", i'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that i'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say "i'm a Christian", i'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting i have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say "i'm a Christian", i'm not claiming to be perfect.
my flaws are far too visible but, God believes i'm worth it.

When i say "i'm a Christian", I still feel the sting of his pain.
I have my share of heartaches so I call upon His name.

When i say "i'm a Christian", i'm not holier than thou.
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow.

"Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name, you are mine.
You are precious in my eyes,
because you are honored and I love you...

the mountains may depart, the hills be shaken,
but my love for you will never leave you
and my covenant of peace with you
will never be shaken."

Isaiah 43: 1,4; 54:10

I know there’s been a lot of talk about Born-Again Christians. You’ve all got different ideas about what we believe in and what we stand for. I don’t know if you’ve got a bad or good image of us, but from what I’ve heard, most of you think we are absolutely off our heads mad. I don’t know where you’ve all gotten your ideas about us from? Have any of you ever really sat down and talked to one of us and asked us what we believe in? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t but for all those who really want to know what we stand for, this is for you.

First of all we’re not a cult, or a religious group, or whatever you’d like to call us. We’re not born-again because we joined some group or signed a contract or were forced to or even because we do good things. We’re born-again through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Born-Again. Saved. I’m sure you’ve heard us use these terms before. Both of them come from the Bible, the word of God. The Bible tells us that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born-again (John 3:3)

Being born-again means that you enter a new spiritual life with Jesus Christ. So many of you think we are a religious group, but we’re not. What is a religion? My view on religion is that it offers rules and regulations. To get to the afterlife it takes good works. You must be a good person but humanly it’s impossible to be a good person all the time. Sure we all do good things but we all do our fair share of bad ones also.

Take Islam for an example. They are a religious group. There religious book tells them that they must pray to there God five times a day. That is a rule (in simple terms).
Jehovah’s Witnesses. They must go on door-to-door ministry. It’s part of what they teach. Once you’re a Jehovah’s Witness, you absolutely must do door-to-door ministry.
Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Protestantism. These are all religious groups. They all offer rules. To get to their heaven (or whatever they believe as the after life) they must follow a set of rules and regulations. God does not offer rules. God offers a relationship. I don’t have to do good works to earn my salvation. I only do good works in response to my salvation. Don’t get me wrong, I respect all religions. I don’t have anything against those people but I do believe that there is only one God and only one way to him.

When someone becomes born-again they enter into a personal relationship with Jesus. It means that they have personally and deliberately put there trust in Jesus Christ. I’m born-again. I belong to Christ but I’m not saved because of what I did. I’m not saved because I’m a “good person”. I’m saved because God loved me so much to send his only Son Jesus Christ to earth to die on the cross and to take the punishment for the sins that I’ve committed. The Bible says that everyone is a sinner. Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) That means everybody. All sin is equal in the eyes of God. No sin is greater than another. From the murderers to the rapists to the thieves and even to the liars. We have all sinned and continue to do so. Unfortunately for us God doesn’t like sin and won’t allow sin into heaven and that’s where Jesus comes in.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). In simple terms that basically means that because we have all sinned we all deserve to be punished but because Jesus came and died on the cross, God has made it easy for us to get to heaven. Jesus came and stood in our place. He took the punishment for your sins and now offers you the gift of salvation and eternal life in heaven when you die. But of course we have to receive this gift first. It’s like when someone goes out and buys you a present. Well it’s not really yours until you decide to take it. To get th