The Good News
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
Dear Friend,
As we go about living our lives at a frenzied pace there just doesn't seem to be enough time to spend on the things that really matter. Our relationships often get put on hold as we attend to the urgent, but often unimportant, details of daily living.
For just a few moments, take some time to read the words that follow. Take some time to contemplate something that really matters - your relationship with God. This is a matter with eternal consequences.
You're not reading this message by fate, chance, or mistake. God has brought you to this place, at this time, to share something important with you - the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "Gospel" means "good news." The good news is that the broken relationship that we have with God has been restored by an act of incomprehensible sacrifice by God's Son, Jesus Christ.
A Relationship Broken by Sin
How did our relationship with God get "broken" in the first place? By sin. All of us have fallen short of maintaining God's Holy standard for living. We sin when we covet, when we gossip, and when we have anger in our hearts towards another. We sin when we put ourselves in control of our lives and choices, rather than making Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. We sin when we are indifferent towards God - living as though He really doesn't matter.
Many of us have been taught that being a sinner is the opposite of being a good person. This is comparing apples to oranges. Sin is the result of falling short of God's Holy standard for our lives. Being a "good" or "bad" person relates only to human measures of behavior and conduct. In other words, what "good" and "bad" people have in common, as far as God is concerned, is that both kinds of people are sinners.
Many people have difficulty considering themselves to be "sinners" because they get caught up comparing themselves with others, as in "I'm at least as good a person as she is..." If you are going to restore your broken relationship with God, you will have to first come to grips with your own sin, and stop making meaningless comparisons to others. Sin is between you and God, not between you and your friend or neighbor.
On the other hand, many people are keenly aware of their sins - they may feel a great deal of shame because of the ways they have mistreated other people in their lives. They may harbor guilt for acts they consider to be wicked or immoral. The good news is that guilt or shame is actually a good starting point for a repentant heart, and a repentant heart is the starting point for a restored relationship with God!
A God of Justice and a God of Love
Sin separates us from God. Although our God is a loving God, He is a Holy God and a God of justice. In our relationship with Him there is both bad news and good news. The bad news is that the justice demanded for sin is spending eternity in a place of complete separation from God's love. This place of everlasting punishment is called hell. Unless a right relationship with God is restored, this judgment and sentence will be carried out when we die.
The good news is that God, in His loving mercy, made a provision for us to be restored to a right relationship with Him. He did this using His very son, Jesus Christ, Who is the central figure and focal point of the entire Bible. Jesus' life was sacrificed in order that we would find life through His sacrifice.
Jesus Christ Is Our Savior
The Bible teaches that God sent his son Jesus to live with us on earth some 2000 years ago. Jesus, unlike us, was able to lead a perfect (sinless) life, fully upholding His Father’s standard. This entitled Jesus to live for all eternity in fellowship with His Father in Heaven.
Instead, Jesus, who was perfect and blameless in the eyes of God, allowed himself to be put to death by crucifixion at the hands of sinful men. Jesus submitted to an undeserved death on a cross to take on the punishment for the sins of people like us. He paid the price demanded by God's justice so that those who trust in Him would not have to.
On the third day following His crucifixion, Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave. (Note: His resurrection was witnessed by more than 500 people. Many witnesses were martyred - put to death - because they refused to recant the testimony of what they saw.) His resurrection proved His victory over sin and death. His victory can be ours, too, if we believe in Jesus.
How to Restore Your Relationship with God - The Good News!
You must first acknowledge that you are a sinner in God's eyes...
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(Romans 3:23)
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)
You must understand that God's justice demands a penalty for sin, and that each of us is deserving of this penalty...
The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)
You must repent of your sins and turn away from those sins. Genuine repentance is not something you can fake - pray that God would give you a true spirit of repentance for your sin, and for the price that had to be paid for our sin by Jesus Christ...
Unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:3)
Christ died for our sins. (1 Corinthians 15:3)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16)
You must acknowledge that Jesus Christ rose from the grave to conquer death so that you might have eternal life...
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
Then your sins are forgiven and you are saved, having the assurance that you will spend eternity in joyous fellowship with God in Heaven...
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)
Here is the apostle Peter's summary message from Acts 10:36-43
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached -- how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen -- by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
If you have questions about the good news you have just heard, we would love to have an opportunity to talk about this with you! Contact us at 302-834-4772 or 1-877-MARKINC, or by email.
May God bless you this day with His salvation!
