Step One God's Purpose: Peace and Life God loves you and wants you to experience peace and life--abundant and eternal. The Bible says... "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10 Why don't most people have this peace and abundant life that God planned for us to have?   Step Two The Problem: Our Separation God created us in His own image to have an abundant life. He did not make us as robots to automatically love and obey Him. God gave us a will and a freedom of choice. We chose to disobey God and go our own willful way. We still make this choice today. This results in separation from God. The Bible says... "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 Illustration by Andrew Wright Our Attempts to Reach God People have tried in many ways to bridge this gap between themselves and God... The Bible says... "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Proverbs 14:12 "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." Isaiah 59:2 No bridge reaches God...except one. Illustration by Andrew Wright Step Three God's Bridge: The Cross Jesus Christ died on the Cross and rose from the grave. He paid the penalty for our sin and bridged the gap between God and people. The Bible says... "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ." 1 Timothy 2:5 "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 God has provided the only way. Each person must make a choice. Illustration by Andrew Wright Step Four Our Response: Receive Christ We must trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and receive Him by personal invitation. The Bible says... "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20 "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 "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 Where are you? Will you receive Jesus Christ right now? Here is how you can receive Christ: 1.Admit your need (I am a sinner). 2.Be willing to turn from your sins (repent). 3.Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the Cross and rose from the grave. 4.Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit. (Receive Him as Lord and Savior.) How to Pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name. Amen. God's Assurance: His Word If you prayed this prayer, The Bible says... "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 Did you sincerely ask Jesus Christ to come into your life? Where is He right now? What has He given you? "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 "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 5:12-13 Receiving Christ, we are born into God's family through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. This is called regeneration, or the "new birth." This is just the beginning of a wonderful new life in Christ. To deepen this relationship you should: 1. Read your Bible everyday to know Christ better. 2. Talk to God in prayer every day. 3. Tell others about Christ. 4. Worship, fellowship, and serve with other Christians in a church where Christ is preached. 5. As Christ's representative in a needy world, demonstrate your new life by your love and concern for others. Why did God create man if He knew some    would go to hell? Preface This provocative question comes from a Christian who is training to be a missionary. It was good to ponder this issue about my Lord Jesus Who created everything-- For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. Why Were We Created? This is a good starting point. Why were we created? Look at us--dust. What could we possibly offer God Almighty? Solomon said that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him--He's too big, too awesome, too fantastic to be contained. We are like grasshoppers in His sight. What is man that God is mindful of him? Our answer lies in the Bible which is God's word. Let Him explain why He created us: ...thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11 We were created for God's pleasure! Don't you know that God loves you and wants you? It was His whole purpose in creating mankind. The Bible draws an analogy between our relationship with our earthly parents and God, our heavenly Father. Let us therefore consider why a man and his wife desire to have children: the joy of a little child, to replicate themselves through creation, to have fellowship with that little kid, to have life. God uses the family relationship to illustrate our relationship to Him, our Father in heaven. But What About Hell? Know ye not that hell was not created for people? God tells us who it was created for: ...everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Matthew 25:41 Hell was created for the devil and his angels. It was not created for man! God doesn't want anybody to go there, it was not His purpose for men to go there. God knew that we would sin so He made provision for us by coming to this earth in the form of a man and paying the penalty for our sins with His own blood. Nonetheless, humans do indeed go there because many say as the citizens in the parable of the nobleman in Luke 19, "We will not have Him to reign over us." When such people are cast in hell, it is literally what they asked for. Nonetheless, God is not pleased that they should perish: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die...? Ezekiel 33:11 The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 But Was it Fair to Create Us? This is the bottom line in my mind--it would not have been fair for Him NOT to create us. God knew that many people would be cast in hellfire for their rebellion towards Him, but He also knew that there would be a multitude that would bask in His glory and love Him and want to be with Him forever. Would it have been fair for me, Tracy, to miss out on knowing Jesus Christ because of the actions of the wicked? Would it have been fair for me to have been aborted of the opportunity to know my God and His pleasures forevermore? Would it have been fair for me to not have known love and bliss? I say a resounding NO!!!! If God, in His Sovereignty had said, "There are going to be too many evil people, so I will not create man," He would have been overcome with evil! Evil would have dictated what He was going to do, would have denied life to the righteous and it would have stripped Him of His power as Lord of the Universe. Read what the scriptures say: Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21 If God had not created us, He would have been overcome with evil, for it would have dictated that the righteous would never have an opportunity to love and be loved by the One who is everlasting and full of pleasures forevermore. If the righteous were to miss out on the Magnificent God, would that be fair? That would be folly.