Start to put together a gospel tract that you can give to people. You can use the gospel structure from my testimony (see below).
God Had a Plan for My Life
Testimony of Matthew Steven Black
The helicopter flew quickly from St. Francis Hospital near the south side of Chicago with two tiny premature twin babies. God is real. I know for a fact because He gave me life. My twin sister and I were born (May 22, 1974) two and a half months premature and weighed only 2 and a half pounds each. We should not have lived! We were flown in the helicopter at the age of one hour old to Ignatius Loyola University Medical Center where our lives were saved. By the time I was four years old I made several trips to the hospital, including open heart surgery.
Certainly my life was spared in each of these events, but why? I believe it is because God had ordained a plan for my life!
When I was 8 years old, my mom divorced my dad. I moved about 800 miles away from my dad, with my twin sister, Tammie, and my mom. My mother was working most of the time, so my sister and I had very little supervision. By the time I was 14 I had been arrested on several occasions for drinking alcohol as a minor, stealing a car, and doing drugs. I had run away from home, and I was really running from God. At that time I thought I had everything. But the real truth is that I was empty on the inside. I tried to keep myself busy so I wouldn’t have to think about reality. I caused a lot of problems for my family by running away and living in a rebellious way.
Then as a sophomore in high school, I was invited to a meeting. There were thousands of young people there. It was at a large college auditorium, and the place was packed! A man got up and spoke to us that night. “No matter what your situation in life, you need God,” he said, “– you need Jesus Christ.” He said that we all have sinned, lied, and done wrong things in our life, and that no person on earth deserves to go to heaven. That night I knew why God had spared my life so many times. The speaker said that Christ died personally for me, – that if I was the only sinner on earth He would have gladly died for me.
That night, I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ for my eternal salvation. My sin was placed on Jesus and His righteousness was given to me. I turned from my sin in a radical way, and I began a relationship with Christ. Now I knew he had a plan for me! I know when I stand before God, I will be accepted, not because I'm good, but because he is good, and he forgives me because of what Jesus did on the cross.
What about you?
Are you ready when the end of life in this world comes for you personally?
The Bible says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
It is coming the moment you die, and that could be at any time for any of us. You may be expecting to live for many more years, but you can’t know for sure. We never know.
One of the biblical prophets wrote, “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12).
What have you done spiritually in your life to prepare for that moment when your heart stops beating?
The Bible also says about Jesus: “There is salvation [from God’s judgment for sin] in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
You need to make a commitment to Christ today.
First, repent of your sins,
including all of those things we say and do that offend other people, and God himself!
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Without God’s Spirit coming to live within us we don’t have the strength to change and live a life that pleases God. That’s why we need to be saved!
Repentance means that you say to God, “I have sinned. I am sorry for my sins. I want to change my way of living by your empowerment.”
Second, you come to God by faith.
That means that you put your whole trust in him and say, “Lord, I believe Christ’s death for me provides everything I need to be forgiven for my sins and become accepted by you. I trust in Jesus alone for my salvation. Please save me now and help me live for you.”
You may be a good person. You may do all the good that you can think of, but all of that isn’t enough. You must come in childlike faith to Jesus who died on the cross for you, who rose again, who is waiting for you to make that commitment.