- Do you sense that you are approaching a decision? The Good News has that effect. When Saul learned the truth about Jesus, he faced a choice. Saul could ignore what he had learned and return to his old way of life (which was bad news), or he could act on the truth of the Good News. He made the better choice. He trusted the Good News and he participated in the Good News Event through baptism.
- Do you choose to accept God’s love, which gives you a new and better story? Do you want to “wash away your sins, calling on His name”? Do you recognize baptism’s part in that spiritual cleansing? “Choosing Good News” will go into these questions, seeking the Bible’s answers.
- The decision to participate in the Good News impacts all of the rest of your life. So Jesus counsels every believer to “count the cost” (Luke 14:28). For that purpose, “Living Good News” and “Living with God’s Family” surveys the new life in Christ.
Memory Verses
1) Ephesians 2:1,4-5 – And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved.
2) Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
3) 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, 11 – Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain… so we preach and so you believed.
4) 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 – … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 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.
5) Romans 10:9-10 – 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
6) Matthew 16:24-25 – Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
7) Matthew 18:3 – Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
8) Acts 2:38, 41 – Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
9) Acts 22:16 – And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name.
PRAYER:
Where, Oh God, do I begin? You know better than we that we can’t figure out most of our world, let alone ourselves. We need help. You offer help. Show us. Teach us. Change us.