Anyway you slice it, this is for you. What you find below will affect you for eternity. Lets get to it!
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The basis of Christianity is Love. God's amazing love for humanity and the world. This is His story- simplified.
The Backstory
In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth(1), along with all that is in it(2). He is all-powerful, perfectly loving, and perfectly just. People were made in the image of God during this time.
He gave people free-will to make their own decisions. He did this by giving early humanity a choice, by telling them not to eat the fruit of a certain tree. Their options were to follow His instruction or do otherwise.
Unfortunately they choose the latter. Their act of disobedience is called sin, and resulted in being cursed. This curse resulted in death and affected both people and the earth. Sin affects all people and creation.
Humanity was tarnished by sin. Imperfect people could not be in a clear relationship with a perfect and Holy God.
No matter how hard we tried to be 'good', it would not be good enough(4).
The bad news
This sin results in death(5), and eternal separation from God, whom all good things come from(6). This is what Hell is, eternal separation from God(7). No person on earth can fix this, and all people must go to Hell because of sin....Unless they accept below🙂.
The Good news
God is perfectly loving! He loves you more than words could discribe, more even than you could understand. God IS love(8)!
Immediately after delivering the punishment for humanities sin, He began to tell of a way that people could be with Him(9).
That Way is our Savior, Jesus Christ(9).
Christ was fortold of long before He came(10). He was fully God and human - He is God's Son. He lived a perfect, sin-free life, and was then beaten, murdered, and separated from God for a time. He then rose from the dead three days later. By doing this, He took your eternal punishment for sin; Allowing you to live eternally both in Heaven and the new Earth to come(11).
This is Life, Gods amazing gift to humanity. It can never be earned, but is given freely to those who believe in Christ.
To accept this, all you have to do is the following:
1.)Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Christ is your savior(12).
2.)Repent (turn away from, stop doing) of your sin(13).
Then What?
This is the Gospel. It is Gods amazing mercy on humanity, and possibly the greatest act of love. After we decide to follow Christ, we try our best to live a life of repentance from sin, following His commands, and sharing this amazing news with others(14).
Of course the above is a very simplified overview - but it is the core of our message. We teach Christs' work, commands and the repentance of sins. I am blessed to be able to share this with you!
Please share this with people you know, even other Christians. It is important to keep our focus on finishing the race strong, and to try to bring as many people to Christ as we can.
Praise God!
Footnotes, All verses from ESV bible:
(1) Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
(2)Please read Genesis for more on the creation event, and the fall of humanity.
(3) Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them"
(4) Romans 3:10 "...None is righteous, no, not one;"
(5) Genesis 3:19 "' By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”" - Part of the curse given
(6) James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
(7) 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 "in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,"
(8) 1 John 4:16 " So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
(9) Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”"
(10) the entire old testament has well over 100+ prophecys telling of Christs' birth and life.
(11) Read the Gospels. Mark is the shortest and most concise, Luke and John are very detailed. The Gospels tell of Christ's life and death, His commands and His sacrifice.
(12) Romans 10:9 "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
(13) Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,"
(14) Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”"
Hey, thank you! This reading was well-written, and straight to the point.
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