The Gospel

Created by God

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth ... And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Genesis 1:1-31 (ESV)

Because God created the world, He is the one who makes the rules. Initially, there was only one rule, but still man managed to break it.

God cast the man and woman out of the garden He planted and made them to work the soil for their food. With sin came death, old age and infirmity, sickness and disease. God's creation was no longer 'very good'; it was broken, and there was nobody to fix it.

Because of Sin

there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 3:22,23 (ESV)

We don't become sinful by doing wrong; we do wrong because we are born already sinful. God's standards are very high, and even those society regards as 'good people' are not good enough to meet those standards.

Because the first man sinned, that tendency to sin passed down to all his children. No amount of good works can balance out our failure. It's as if Mother Teresa was caught speeding. Just because she's Mother Teresa doesn't mean she shouldn't pay. But the cost of sin is greater than a speeding ticket. The penalty for sin is death.

Jesus Died For You

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

Although it is God who judges us, and it is God's own holiness that makes us unacceptable to Him, He still showed His love for us.

He sent Jesus to die in our place. Just as in ancient times, a lamb or dove was sacrificed as a temporary measure to remove sin and God's anger against us, so Jesus was sacrificed to, once and for all, remove our sin and God's anger against us.

Jesus Rose For You

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (NLT)

Jesus died to set us free from sin, but He also rose again to set us free from death.

If our hope in Jesus was only for this life and there was nothing after death, we would be fools indeed. But when this life is over, those who receive Jesus will be raised from death, just as Jesus was raised. We will meet Jesus at His return and live with Him forever.

Jesus Will Return

...they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory ... But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Mark 13:26,32 (ESV)

God's creation is still broken, and He doesn't plan to fix it by patching the old world. Jesus has promised to return.

When He does, He will sort those who love and serve Him from those who hate and reject Him. Then He will destroy this broken creation, and there will be a new heaven and earth, for those who love Him to enjoy with Him forever. God will dwell again with man, and all who rejected Him will be cast away.

Repent and be Baptised

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.

Acts 2:38 (NLT)

The only way that Jesus' death can pay for our sin is if we believe in Him and accept what He has done. First, we must repent. That means to change our mind about how we have lived. When we repent, we say sorry to God for all our sins and commit to changing, to live as God wants us to live.

Second, we must turn to God. When our sin is removed, we have peace with God. This means we don't just carry on our lives alone; we can have a relationship with God, where we speak to Him and He speaks back.

Thirdly, whenever people repented and responded to God in the New Testament, they were told to be baptised. Baptism involves three steps: going into the water, going completely underwater, and then coming out again. These three steps demonstrate we have joined ourselves to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus also baptises us with His Holy Spirit.

Take your first step of obedience by being baptised in water and the Spirit.