Seven Points to Divine Life:
The Basic OrthodoxChristian Gospel Message of Jesus Christ
1. God allowed us to come into existence because He is love and wants to share His love and Divine life with us. His original plan for us was to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him and to partake of His Divine life in this world so that we can have everlasting life with Him in the next.
2. Through sin, mankind fell from this original plan, and partook of death instead. As a result, we all sin and go against God’s will. Our communion with God (our participation in His divine life) has been broken. Sin is the rejectionof God’s willand ultimately a rejection of God’s love and Divine life.
3. God the Father sent His Only-begotten Son into this world to restore our broken communion and to give everyone again the opportunity to know Him and to partake of His Divine life. Now we all have to decide for ourselves if we want to partake of His Divine life. God will not force this upon us. True love is freely chosen.
4. If we want God’s life in us, participation in the life of God begins with repentance. We begin by acknowledging and taking responsibility for the things we have done wrong in our lives. We ask God’s forgiveness for them and His power to help us turn away from sin and wrong doing. We can begin by doing this in our hearts. But we must also confess our sins before His priests whom God established as His ministers of reconciliation.
5. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Him. To become one with Jesus Christ is also to become one with His body the Church. The entrance into the Church and participation in Divine life comes through (1) faith in the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and (2) reception of Holy Baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity.
6. Once we have repented,becomeBaptized and receive God’s Holy Spirit:
We become enlightened with God’s truth,
We are cleansed of our sins,
We are made members of His Body the Church and
We begin our participation in God’s Divine life.
7. We spend the rest of our lives in this world, together with His Church, partaking of God’s Divine Life& Energy through the reception of His Holy Mysteries (the Sacraments),through Divine Worship (Liturgy) and especially through Holy Communion which gives us Christ Himself. Because God’s truth is liberating,we dedicate our lives to learning His Divine will-especially through reading the Holy Scriptures-so that we may serve Him and others in this life. An encounter and relationship with the living God is not only LIFE-GIVING, it is LIFE-CHANGING! Do you want to know the living God and partake of HisDivine life? If so, contact a member of His Church who can help you do this. This is the reason God made you!