The Hope We Share!
In the beginning, God made you and all things (1) He first created angels in order to have a heavenly family. After creating angels, He made people (Adam and Eve) so that He could have a human family (2) His plan was to have a relationship with that family!
He placed them in a beautiful garden and gave them only one rule- not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (3) He loved to walk and talk with the man and woman He created. (4) Sadly, one of the angels that God created turned against God and became evil. He is Satan. He tried to ruin God’s plan by tricking the humans into disobeying God. (5) They did (6) Disobedience is sin and sin ruined God’s plan (7) and Satan then became the “god of this world.” (8)
Sin separated them from God because He is only good, and now they were not! (9) But God had always wanted a relationship with His human family, so He devised a way to make it so that He could walk and talk with them again and to defeat the one who tricks people, Satan. (10)
He sent His son, Jesus, to spend time on the earth and show everyone by how he lived his life exactly what God is like. After years of separation from Him, they did not know His true character! Everything Jesus did was a perfect match to what God’s will or desire was. He loved, cared, spoke, and acted only in the way that God does. (11)
Then God’s plan was carried out- Jesus bought us back from the power of the enemy, Satan.(12) The purchase price was the willing death of Jesus. He did it because he loved his Father (God) so much and because he loved us so much! (13)
God didn’t tell Satan His plan so Satan thought he had won and defeated Jesus when he had Jesus killed (14) Satan thought that when Jesus died he had ruined God’s plan again- but this time Satan was the one who was tricked! (15) Three days after his death, Jesus came back to life again and promised to leave all those who would choose Him a special gift- His Spirit! He called the Holy Spirit our helper. (16)
Now people can walk and talk with God again AND can look forward to a perfect life with God after they die! (17) Being one of God’s children is called being a disciple- one who follows Jesus (18) When Jesus lived on the earth he showed us what God was like. Now we can follow his example and with help from the Holy Spirit we can live the way that he did! (19) We can know how to follow Him by reading the words that He gave to us in the Bible. (20)
If you want to be a follower of Jesus, keep reading!
- The first step is to want to repent, which means to change your mind about doing things your own way and decide to do things God’s way- and tell Him that you want to be His child! (21)
- Next, get baptized in water and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (22)
- Now you are part of His family! (23)
- Learn the words of Jesus by reading the Bible, and follow him by doing what he told us to do. (24)
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Genesis 1:27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them;
- Genesis 2:16-17 You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden- except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…
- Genesis 3:8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.
- Genesis 3:1-4 “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”… “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.”
- Genesis 3:6 So she took some of the fruit and ate it.
- Genesis 3:23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden
- Ephesians 2:2 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.
- Isaiah 59:2a It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.
- 1 John 3:8b But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
- Hebrews 1:3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God… John 12:49 I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. John 5:19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
- 1 Timothy 2:6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
- John 3:16 For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Philippians 2:8 When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
- 1 Corinthians 2:8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.
- Acts 2:24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.
- John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…
- 1 John 5:11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
- Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, … and follow me.
- 1 John 2:6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
- 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
- Romans 10:9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- Acts 2:38 Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Ephesians 1:5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
- Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
