Each of us must receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior

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

• How do we receive Jesus?
• Believe in Him!
• Do our good works do anything?

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

• What does it mean to have faith?
• Faith is belief and trust in and loyalty to God
• How do we know we can trust God? (He has a plan for us, nothing can separate us from His love...)
• Our faith is a gift from God. Remember how we learned about the wages of sin? Let's look at the rest of that verse...

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

Romans 6:23

• Eternal life is a gift from God!
• What is eternal life? (living in Heaven forever with God)
• What else do we remember about eternal life? (Remember 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.

John 3:16

• By faith - which is a gift from God - we can believe in Jesus and when we believe in Jesus, we have eternal life - which is a gift from God!
• Do you like getting gifts?

Summary questions

• Do you know that God loves you?
• How do you know God loves you?
• Do you know that you are a sinner?
• Do you know that Jesus died for your sin?
• Do you know that Jesus is the ONLY way to God?
• Do you personally believe in Jesus - trust in Jesus - as your Lord and Savior?

God sent Jesus to die for us

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

Romans 5:8

• Did Jesus die for us because we were good or bad?
• We earned death (remember Romans 6:23?) but Jesus died for us.
• So then, Jesus took our punishment, right?
• After Jesus died, what happened to Him?

...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living...

1 Corinthians 15:3-6

• Jesus rose from the dead. Death did not stop Him!
• So, if Jesus died for our sin and our sin is what separated us from God, we don't need to be separated from God anymore!
• Is Jesus the only one who can get us to God?

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

• So Jesus is the only way to God. Is that all we need to know?

We're sinners separated from God

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23

• Who has sinned?
• What is sin?
• What is the result of sin?
• Have you ever sinned?

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8

OK, we are all sinners. Where does that get us?

For the wages of sin is death,

Romans 6:23a

• Wages are what we earn
• If we sin, we earn death not eternal life
• Do you remember what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned?

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23-24

• Because of their sin, Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden
• Before they got kicked out Adam and Eve walked and talked with God
• Because of their sin, they were separated from God.

But there is some good news...

God loves you

This was the first of our family Bible studies. I'll go ahead and post the ones we've already done, but once I've taken care of the backlog, I'll only be posting the new ones.

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.

John 3:16

• Who is God?
• Who is "the world?"
• How did God show His love to us?
• What is the reward of believing in God's son?

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16b

ordain means to establish or order by appointment, decree, or law

• What has God ordained?
• If God ordained all of our days, does that mean He has a plan for us?
• If God has a plan, do you think it is a good plan?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

• Can any thing separate us from God's love?
• If nothing can separate us from God's love, do you think you can trust God?
• If God has a plan for you, do you think that you can trust God?

Unfortunately though no thing can separate us from God's love, something does separate us from God. We'll find more out about that in the next Bible study...