1. God loves you.

No matter who you are, where you live, or what you have done God loves you with a perfect unconditional love. He has said in the Bible "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). He loves you because He made you. In fact God made everything - including His home, Heaven. Heaven is a perfect place because God is perfect. There is nothing bad in God's nature and nothing bad can be near God.   

 

2. Everyone has sinned.

Sin is anything you think, say, or do that does not please God. Many people think sin is an outdated idea, but God does not agree. He has said in the Bible "There is not a just man on the earth who does good and does not sin." In God's sight all sin is equal. It doesn't matter whether you have murdered someone or had an impure thought. Although God loves you He hates all sin. He hates sin because it separates you from God. Sin must be punished. We are punished for our sins by being separated from God - separated here on earth and separated after death. Because of God's love He made a way for you to be saved from this punishment of sin.

 

3. Jesus, the Son of God, took your punishment.

Because He loved you God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to take the punishment for your sins. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life while on earth. However He was punished for sin - the sin of every person. He was beaten, and put on a cross to suffer and die. Although He could have used the power of God to save himself, He willingly stayed on the cross to die. After He died his friends buried Him in a tomb. They thought it was finished and their hope of a Savior was gone. However, three days later Jesus came back to life. Because He is alive Jesus can forgive you for your sins and save you from sin's punishment. The Bible tells us "For Christ died for sins once for all,... in order that He might bring us to God,..."(1 Peter 3:18).

 

4. You can be saved from the punishment of sin.

Because of what Jesus did, you can have your sins forgiven and become a part of God's eternal family. God says in the Bible "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). If you choose to believe that your sins separate you from God and that Jesus died and rose again to forgive you and remove your sins then you can be saved from the punishment of separation and will become part of God's eternal family. You can know for certain today that you will be in Heaven with God someday.  

 

If you would like to tell God that you believe today you may want to pray something such as this:

Dear God, 

I know that I have done wrong things you call sin. I'm sorry. I believe that Jesus died and came back to life for my sins. Thank you for making a way for me to be forgiven! Please forgive me right now and remove all of my sin. 

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

 

 

5. God has given you everything you need in order to grow.

When you are part of God's eternal family God wants you to learn more about Him and how He wants you to live. God has given you three tools to help you with this. First, and most importantly, God has given you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives with each person who has believed in Jesus to help him understand the Bible and to help him live in the way God desires. Secondly, God has given you the Bible. The Bible is God's Word to you. In the Bible it says "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). The third help God has given you to learn more about Him and live for Him is the church. The church is a family of people who love God. The teaching, encouragement, and fellowship you receive as a member of a church family is an important part in helping you to grow. We would love to have you come meet our church family, but if you can't, you can find many churches that teach the Bible as the true and only Word of God.