Our Mission
Our mission as Cru is to connect students to a lifelong discipleship to Jesus Christ.
Our spiritual mandate is found in Matthew 28:18-20:
Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age.'
1. God loves you and created you to know Him personally. He has a wonderful plan for your life.
God's Love: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
God's Plan: Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
2. People are sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know him personally or experience his love and plan.
People are sinful: …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
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People were created to have fellowship with God; but because of our stubborn self-will, we chose to go our own independent way and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin.
People are separated: For the wages of sin is death [spiritual separation from God]. (Romans 6:23)
God is holy and people are sinful; a great gulf separates the two. People are continually trying to reach God and establish a personal relationship with Him through our own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion, but we inevitably fail.
Our Faith
3. Jesus Christ is God's only provision for our sin. Through Him alone we can know God personally and experience God’s love and plan.
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He Died in Our Place: But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
He Rose from the Dead: …Christ died for our sins…He was buried, He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred… (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)
He is the Only Way to God: Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' (John 14:6)
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God has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love and plan.
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We Must Receive Christ: Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
We Receive Christ Through Faith: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth: John 3:1-8
We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation: [Christ speaking] Here I am! I stand at the door knocking. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
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Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.
You Can Receive Christ Right Now by Faith Through Prayer
God knows your heart and is not as concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer (prayer is talking to God):
Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.
Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.
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How to Know That Christ is in Your Life
Did you receive Christ into your life? According to His promise as recorded in Revelation 3:20, where is Christ right now in relation to you? Christ said that He would come into your life and be your Savior and friend so you can know Him personally. Would He mislead you? On what authority do you know that God has answered your prayer? (The trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word.)
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The Bible Promises Eternal Life to All Who Receive Christ
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)
Thank God often that Christ is in your life and that He will never leave you (Hebrews 13:5). You can know on the basis of His promise that Christ lives in you and that you have eternal life from the very moment you invite Him in.