A FEW WORDS ON SOCCER AND SALVATION

I live in a soccer mad city. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm of the supporters is not always matched by the brilliance of the team! Even getting towards the top half of the table gives grounds for celebration.

The hardest working member of the team is the goalkeeper, and if he has a bad day we are in a mess. His brilliant saves form the headlines the next day after each match.

Evangelists like me are often accused of going up to people and saying "Are you saved?" as if we are threatening people. But when my football team plays we don't think the word "saved" is threatening - it's game saving. In the same way the word "saved" when used by Christians can be life saving. Let me explain what I mean

SAVED FROM ...
In soccer, the goalkeeper is to save the ball from going the wrong way - from giving us a negative score line and preventing us from losing. Jesus Christ wants to do that for us with our lives. We need to be saved from -

... SIN
Sin is the great killer disease of the soul. God says we've all got it - we think wrong things, say wrong things and do wrong things, and don't do the good things we should do. This sin is killing us and we need to be saved from it.

...SELF
Unfortunately we can't even go through one day without doing wrong things, because of ourselves we can't save ourselves - so we need to be saved from ourselves.

...HELL
Barry McGuire (the man who sang that amazing "Three wheels on my wagon ...!") was asked on the radio "Is Christianity escapism?" to which he replied "Yes it is - the whole ship is sinking and Jesus is the lifeboat. Either we go down, or we sail on with Him for ever."However, Christianity is very positive. It's no good us having a good goalie and not having anybody else in the team who can do anything - we would only end up with a nil nil draw at best. When our goalie saves the ball he passes it to other players in order that we may get the ball into the other goal and win. Jesus Christ wants us to win and therefore we need to ask

WHAT ARE WE SAVED FOR? ......FOR HEAVEN
Jesus said
"I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am you may be as well" (John 14:2).
It is God's ambition that at the end of our lives we should win and end up in the goal of heaven.

...FOR YOU
Jesus Christ has come to bring life back into living. He said
"I have come so that you have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10).

Benjamin Disraeli, a statesman of the 19th Century, said "The great majority of men exist but do not live". Jesus Christ wants to give us life in all its fullness and for us to win rather than lose as we live day by day.

...FOR OTHERS
The world around us needs to know that they can be saved, and we need to let Jesus Christ save our lives so that we can share this good news with our neighbours, family and friends.

...FOR JESUS
We are called to love and serve the greatest person who ever lived on planet earth, who is also the Son of God.

WHO ARE WE SAVED BY?
My football team has a goalkeeper and a team, led by a captain. The Bible says "It is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and reign salvation upon you" (Hosea 12:12). It is certain we can't save ourselves because of the wrong things we do. That is why Jesus came. God sent his son Jesus to live as we should have lived, and then to die as we deserved to die, to take the payment for our sin, and the result of our losing, on Himself. An old hymn says that we are "Saved by His previous blood". When Jesus Christ died on the cross He died to wash away our sins with His blood, and to take our very hell in Himself so that we might be turned round and pointed towards heaven. That is why we need to come to know Jesus Christ, and His risen life, as God fills us with His Holy Spirit. John Wesley put it like this "Only the power that made the world can make a Christian".

WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN
Now. "It is time". God says "Come now, let us reason together."
"Though your sins are like scarlet they will be white as snow, though they are red like crimson they will be like wool" (Isaiah 1 v18).

It's time to join the winning team, and get on the pitch. The crowds will see, and will watch the way we play. The captain, the Lord Jesus, will give us the power within us to play well so that we can be saved.

If that's what you need, then pray these words:
"Lord Jesus Christ, I give you my whole life now. Please come and live in my heart. Wash away all my sin. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you that you will never leave me. Amen"

If that was a prayer for you then be sure to let a minister or leader in a church know that you have trusted Christ to save you. If you would like to let me know that this has been a very special page for you then e-mail me, Ian Knox, at office@fortythreetrust.com.