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I. This is God's World

This is God's world because he made it. We belong to God as we are part of his creation.

God made people so that we could enjoy his friendship forever. He wanted us to experience his loving care, to work the earth in accordance with his plans for it and to live harmoniously together.

God gave humans the highest place in his creation. He has given us authority over all other living things, and over all the earth's natural resources.

But we are not free agents who are independent of God. We live under his authority and are responsible to God for our lives, and for all that we do with them.

II. What is God Like?

God is supreme. He is still in ultimate control of this world and the destiny of everyone living in it.

God is real. He exists whether we choose to believe in him or not! He has always been there and always will be.

God is a person who can be known. He is not just a force in the universe. We can see some of God's qualities (like his power and his greatness) in his creation. But if we are to understand God we need to look at Jesus Christ.

God is concerned for justice. Everything he does is fair and right. Although evil exists in his world for the time being, in the end God will make sure justice is done.

III. What Are We Like?

We generally think of ourselves as basically good. And it's true that God's image is built into us. But there is another side.

People are rebellious. We have rejected God's authority over us in this world. People are self-centered. We are mainly concerned with our own comfort and security, putting our own selfish ambitions first.

People are often unconcerned. We usually don't worry about our broken relationship with God. But we were made to have a living relationship with him.

People are still accountable. Because he is concerned for justice, God can't let us go unpunished. The penalty is permanent separation from God (Romans 6.23). This is a death sentence that rests on all people.

People are deceived. Having rejected God's authority and friendship, we look for substitutes. Instead of putting God at the top of our priorities, we fill our lives with getting things or getting by, concern for security or power, maybe even drugs or the occult. Such substitutes don't finally satisfy. They can't replace God and knowing him.

People are proud. Some of us think so highly of our own achievements that we decide that God doesn't matter. Others think that living a good life will make them acceptable to God. But we must face the fact that rebels are rebels, no matter how decent they seem! To receive God's forgiveness we must change our whole attitude to him and recognize his right to rule us.

IV. What Has God Done?

God longs to know us; he took action. He broke into history by sending his Son to live among us.

Jesus Christ came into this world:

1. To show us what God is really like - loving and just.
   
   
2. To reveal his authority as Ruler of the world.
   
   
3. To rescue us from the terrible penalty for our failure to obey God.
   
   

"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." (John 1.18)

V. What Has Jesus Done?

As rebels against God, we cannot meet his standards for good living. However, Jesus did in fact meet God's standards so he was able to take our place; he died on our behalf. Jesus is God's answer to our problem.

1. Jesus was innocent, but God sent him to take our punishment (2 Corinthians 5:21). In sending his Son to die, God took his own medicine. Amazing generosity!
   
   
2. Because he loves us Jesus died for us while we were still rebellious (Romans 5.8)
   
   
3. His death restored our broken relationship with God; now we can be his friends (Romans 5.9-10).
   

Jesus did not stay dead, however. He walked out of the tomb alive! By coming back to life he showed that:

1. He is God! Jesus was not just an exceptional man; he also had the same nature as God. Because Jesus is the Son of God it was impossible for death to hold him prisoner (Romans 1.4).
   
   
2. We don't have to fear death anymore because Jesus has won. Death is not the end - it is a new beginning. The door to God is open (Romans 6.9).
   
   
3. We have a future! Those who believe in Jesus will also be raised - the resurrection of Jesus is our guarantee (1 Corinthians 15.20). We can look forward to life with God forever.

VI. What Must We Do?

It is not enough just to agree with these truths. They must become real in our lives. To receive God's gift of forgiveness, we must:

1. Turn away from our past rebellion against God, and have a complete change of heart and mind toward him. Also, we need to be genuinely sorry for all our wrong action towards others, asking God to forgive us. This radical change of attitude is called repentance.
   
2. Trust in Jesus Christ and in what he has done for us. We must make this real in our own lives by saying "Jesus died for me; Jesus rose again from the dead to bring me new life." This is what is meant by believing in Jesus (John 3.16).
   
3. Acknowledge a new ruler, Jesus Christ. Instead of being self-centered, letting our wills rule our lives - we must be Christ-centered, that is, let Christ rule our lives and be responsible to him.
   
   Are you ready to take these three steps? If you're not ready right now, keep thinking about these things. Here's a promise to encourage you: "You will seek me, and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29.13).

VII. How You Can Know God

If you feel ready to come to God right now, pray a prayer like this:

"Dear God,

I know I'm not worthy to be called a child of God. I don't deserve your gift of eternal life. I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you. I need your forgiveness.

I want to turn from living my life in my own way. I believe that Jesus died for me and rose again to give me new life. I now acknowledge Jesus as the Ruler of my life.

Make me a member of your family. Please help me to love You and serve You always.

Amen."

VIII. What Now?

Three key facts:

1. We are Christians because of what God has done. He helped us to trust in Jesus so that we would live with him forever. We have the gift of eternal life, not because we deserve it or have earned it, but because God is generous (Ephesians 2.8-9).
   
   
2. God wanted us to grow as Christians, and to show this in our outward behavior. We do not become Christians by doing good deeds. However, we are to do good once we are Christians to show that we belong to our new Ruler (Ephesians 2.10).
   
   Without the Holy Spirit inside us, we wouldn't even be Christians (Romans 8.9).
3. God gives us his Holy Spirit to show that we are now his. The Spirit, living within us, helps us to live pure lives that honor God (1 Corinthians 6.19-20).
   

IX. Four Ways of Growing

1. Obey what you read in the Bible "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3.16) (Call 1-800-621-5267 for a free Bible study guide.)
2. Keep in touch with God by praying. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition present your requests to God" (Philippians 4.6).
   
3. Belong to a church fellowship "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2.42).
   
4. Live the kind of life that points others to God. "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did" (1 John 2.6).

X. Quotations from the Bible

Romans 6.23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

2 Corinthians 5.21 - "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Romans 5.8 - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5.9-10 - "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"

John 3.16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Ephesians 2.8-9 - "For it is by God's grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2.10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Romans 8.9 - "And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."

1 Corinthians 6.19-20 - "Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."