THE GOSPEL

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

On the earth, God created a garden called The Garden Of Eden. And in the Garden He put man, and God had fellowship with man…

God also placed two trees in the Garden: The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and The Tree of Life.

God told man to eat of the Tree of Life so that he would live forever, but God also told man not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, because if he did, he would surely die…

God had given man this choice because He loved man, and He wanted man to genuinely love Him back.

For example: If you “programmed” your child, spouse, or any loved one to say “I love you”, it wouldn’t be genuine and it would feel fake because you know that you “programmed” them to say that.

But…if they say that of their own will, then you know it’s not fake because you did not “program” them to say that…

It’s the same with God. He gives us free will, and does not force us to love Him…

So God gave man choice. But what did man do with that choice…?

Well, he decided to disobey God and to eat the fruit of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Now man had sinned against God, and his heart had hardened toward God.

Because of this, God cast him out of the Garden and put angels to guard the Garden so that he could not eat of The Tree of Life and live forever in his sinful state.

Now, as I mentioned, man now had a hardened heart toward God. So what happened after that? 

Well…

Man created more versions of himself…

He had children, and they had children, and they had children and so on…and all of them lived in sin and had hardened hearts toward God…

It had gotten so bad at one point that God had regretted even creating man, God decided to save one righteous man, and his family, and depopulate the rest of the world with the Great Flood.

But, after the Flood, what happened again?…

Well, man fell into sin, he had children and they sinned, and they had children and they sinned and so on…

So the problem wasn’t in the earth; the problem was in man’s heart…man had a hardened heart toward God and, therefore, disobeyed God.

Now, let’s explain sin…

Sin is what separates us from God.

Have you ever broken a commandment of the Law? 

For example: 

Have you ever lied? 

Have you ever stolen? 

Have you ever committed adultery/had sex with someone before marriage?…The Bible mentions that if you have even looked at someone with lust, you’re guilty of committing adultery with them. 

Have you ever murdered someone?…The Bible mentions that if you have even hated someone, you’re guilty of murdering them in your heart.

These are just some of the commandments of the Law…

The Bible states that if you’ve broken even one of the commandments of the Law, then you’re guilty of breaking all of them.

Let’s give another scenario…

Imagine that I had this app on my phone or had a camera that recorded everything you did…

This camera records every bad thing that you have done or even thought, but it doesn’t record the good things because those are to be expected of you.

Then, I created a 5-minute video of all the bad things you ever did or thought,  and put it on a big screen for the whole world to see…your friends, family, the whole world.

How would you feel?

If it were me, I would feel ashamed and would want to hide from the world.

Wouldn’t you agree?

In the same way, we all have sinned…

But we tend to compare ourselves to each other, saying things like: 

“Oh, I haven’t murdered someone, I’m not as bad as them.” or 

“I haven’t gone to jail like them, I’m not as bad as them” or even

“I haven’t done something as bad as that person, so I’m better than them.” etc…

You can always find someone who’s done worse than you, but does that make you right? 

No, it doesn’t.

Instead of comparing ourselves to each other, we need to compare ourselves to God because He is holy and righteous. 

And when we do that, we will see how unholy and unrighteous we truly are.

So that helps explain sin and how it is a problem…

Thankfully, God still loved man, so He decided to create a solution for this state that man was in…

God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, to the world to save man from his sin.

Jesus was sinless and he grew up as any other child and was even tempted as any other person, but never once did he sin…

At the age of 30, Jesus was baptized in water and received the Holy Spirit, which is God’s Spirit…then he started his ministry…

Jesus went around preaching the Gospel, making disciples, and performing miracles such as: healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead…

Now, because man still had a hardened heart toward God, man hated Jesus and decided to kill him.

They killed him by beating him and putting him on a cross; then they buried him in a grave….

But, three days later, he arose from the grave!

But how did he do that?

Well if we look back to the Garden of Eden, we see that man died because he had sinned. But Jesus never once did sin, so the Holy Spirit was able to raise him the dead because death had no hold on him…

After Jesus had risen from the dead, he went to see his disciples again and told them that he must go back to heaven so that he could send the Holy Spirit to them. 

Jesus also told them that after he sent the Holy Spirit, they would be able to do even greater works than he did.

Now, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father(God) in heaven…

Now, how can a person be saved…?

The first step is Repentance…

Repenting is more than just feeling sorry for your sins; it is deciding to turn away from your sins, doing things your own way, and disobeying God. 

After you repent, you ask God to take away your heart of stone, and to give you a heart of flesh.

The next step is Baptism in water…

Baptism in water is the freedom and forgiveness of your sins; this is full submersion, not sprinkling water on your head or baby baptism…that’s unbiblical.

When you go down in the waters of baptism, you are dying with Christ, as he died on the cross, and you are rising with him, as he rose from the dead…baptism applies Christ’s blood to your life because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission/forgiveness of sins.

The next step is receiving the Holy Spirit…

The Holy Spirit is the power that Jesus raised from the dead. He will be your helper and will guide you into all truth.

After you have repented and been baptized in water, you shall receive the Holy Spirit…whether it is by asking God to give it to you or by the laying on of hands.

That is how a person can be saved, but it is just the first step to living the life of a disciple.

Now we must go out and do as Jesus has commanded us…healing the sick, preaching the Gospel, casting out demons, and making disciples just as Jesus did…

Now, Jesus is coming back soon, and he will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep are the ones who followed him and did as he commanded, and the goats are those who disobeyed him and did not do as he commanded.

He will get rid of the people who disobeyed him (the goats), but those who obeyed him(the sheep) will once again be able to have fellowship with God for eternity.

So, there are four stages where a person can be at.

Which are you? 

Are you the first one…Do you have a hard heart toward God and are living in your sin?

Are you the second one…Have you repented from your sin and asked God to give you a heart of flesh, but are still in bondage to sin?

Are you the third one…Have you repented and been baptized in water so that now you are free from sin and have a new life?

Or are you the third one…Have you repented, been baptized in water, and have received the Holy Spirit so that now you are able to go out and do what Jesus has commended us?

The Bible says to “choose today whom you will serve.” You are not guaranteed another day, so make sure you are right with God.

If you choose to follow Jesus and are willing to give up everything for him, contact us so that we can show you how to be a disciple of Christ. God bless you and may His grace and peace be with you for all of your days in Jesus’ name. Amen.