Tract Text
Click here to download - Friday Night Prayer - a free prayer card you can print out on your home computer
Big football fan that you are, you thought you knew all the moves.
The bump-and-run. The down-and-out.
The quarterback draw. The play-action pass.
The end-around.
But suddenly you began to see some action that never appeared in your high school playbook.
The end-zone knee. The post-game kneel.
The sky point.
Where did these moves come from, you wondered?
And then you began to hear new terms that you had never heard associated with football.
In post-game interviews and in newspaper articles, players were tossing phrases around like:
“Give all the credit to the Lord.”
“My strength came from God.”
“I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Not quite the same as, “I’m awesome.
I played great!”
So now you’re baffled. You’ve seen the moves. You’ve heard the terms. Yet you haven’t the slightest idea what these people are doing or talking about.
Can we help?
What’s going on here is not religion. It’s not ritual. It’s not some kind of help-me-god mantra.
What’s happening is that some of the most powerful men in the NFL have discovered the true source of power and happiness, and because it’s changed their lives, they can’t stop talking about it.
In one way, this has nothing to do with football. It’s not a method to improve their game. It’s not a magic potion to make them win. That’s not what faith is all about.
Faith is about a person—whether he’s a player, a guy who sells beer, a fan in the last row of the stadium, or a woman who is watching the game at home—who realizes that he or she has a problem that only God can solve.
The problem, in a word, is sin. It’s something we all do, to varying degrees (Romans 3:10). We do or say wrong things.
We treat people as we shouldn’t. We violate basic rules of human behavior. All of us!
Our sin—yours and mine—leaves us playing a bad position. It leaves us alienated from God.
Have you ever thought about God and wondered why He doesn’t seem close to you? It’s because God is perfect and your sin makes you imperfect. As a result, you are alienated from God.
But God provided a solution.
He sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life on earth and to be crucified on a cross. His death was a sacrifice for us. All the sins we ever committed were placed on His shoulders (1 Peter 3:18).
Three days after He was killed, Jesus rose from the dead. Today, He is still alive—living in heaven with God the Father (1 Peter 3:22).
Those guys on the football field who seem so excited about God have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. They have been forgiven of their sin. They are on speaking terms with God. They know they are going to heaven someday.
They have a constant, ongoing relationship with God. That’s whythey thank Him—even on the football field.
The Game Plan
Would you like to know that God has forgiven you? Here’s what to do.
1. Recognize the Problem
You can’t get to God on your own. Sin put a roadblock between you and God.
Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
2. Understand the Plan
God knew we needed a Savior, so He sent Jesus Christ to earth. Jesus never sinned, so He was the perfect sacrifice. When He died, Jesus took your sins and mine on Himself. Then He arose from the dead to prove His power over sin, death, and hell. Romans 4:25 says, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification [to set us right with God].”
3. Accept God’s Salvation
Jesus’ death and resurrection gives you the opportunity to accept the gift of eternal life—meaning that your soul will live in God’s presence forever. But you have to accept this gift. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death [being separated from God forever], but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Here’s how you accept the gift: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
You can pray something like this:
Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to earth to die in my place. Thank You that He rose from the dead. I realize that I’m a sinner, and I need Your forgiveness. Please forgive my sins as I put my faith in Jesus and His sacrifice. Thank You for solving my sin problem.
—Dave Branon
Respond to this message!!
|
