and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift...

Unless you've been living under a rock your whole life, you’ve probably heard of Christmas and Easter. Well, ever wondered why we have these holidays?

The answer is this: The Good News of Great Joy. The Gift of Salvation. The Free Gift that God offers everyone who will listen and receive. Salvation means you go to heaven to be with God instead of going to Hell eternally separated from God.

Here is an explanation of the Free Gift

Let’s start from the beginning....

The Bible explains that the reason we have so many problems in this world is that we are sinners. We are all sinners, every one of us. We have in us what is called the "sin nature". This means you do things that are wrong in God’s eyes. The definition of sin is to miss the mark. As in archery when you miss the bullseye. So it is different than what you might have been taught by worldly philosophies. We actually are not born inherently good. Though we are born with a conscience (which helps us determine right from wrong) we are also born with the "sin nature" in us at birth which is bad.

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." - Romans 3:23

Even if you are a pretty good person and do things that are mostly good, in God's eyes you are still the same: a sinner. In fact, God says there is no good person in the whole world who does not sin.

"For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." - Ecclesiastes 7:20

Being that God is Holy and perfect, He cannot allow sin to enter into His presence in Heaven. It would be like defying the law of gravity here on earth. It just can't be that way. So in other words, sin is what keeps us from going to Heaven.

continuing…

The penalty for sin is death. The Bible is pretty clear about this.

"For the wages of sin is death" - Romans 6:23

"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die" - Romans 8:13

"but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." - Genesis 2:17

Because of sin, death has been earned. Not just physical death but spiritual death, meaning your soul. In this spiritual death a soul will suffer eternal punishment and torment and be eternally separated from God. Justice must be served. This place is called Hell and means eternal separation from God. Not a place you ever want to go.

God is a just God and sin must be punished. We can do nothing about sin on our own.

...But here is where the good news comes in. God has provided a solution!

The Free Gift…

You’ve probably heard “God is love.” Well it's true, God is love. "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." - 1 John 4:8

He loves us even though we are sinners. But God is also perfect and just, He cannot allow sin to be in His presence. So this is what He did. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to take all of our sin upon Himself and die in our place. His death paid the penalty for ALL of our sins.

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." - Isaiah 53:6

Jesus now intercedes on our behalf to God the Father and God the Father now sees us as being His own sons and daughters. When we believe in Jesus we become adopted into the family as God's own children.
"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
"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 (a very famous verse!)

You see, all we have to do is accept the gift of salvation. We just have to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he paid the price for our sins on the cross. It's that simple, Jesus came to earth and sacrificed his life for us. All who believe in him will be saved. The bible talks about this throughout the New Testiment. This is why the New Testiment is the Good News of Great Joy.

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." - John 3:36

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved — you and your household." - Acts 16:31

Isn’t that a great gift? Eternal life with God in His Kingdom. Its actually pretty huge when you think about eternity (forever and ever). This is something we didn’t deserve and could never earn. It had to be given to us by God’s grace. Jesus sacrificed himself willingly to save us from the eternal fire of Hell.

So what should you do? Well of course, accept the free gift!

The only thing you have to do is believe. And if you believe in Jesus, you should pray to God right now. Tell God that you understand you are a sinner and not worthy of His kingdom. But that you believe in Jesus and you want to be forgiven for your sins and to be accepted as one of His children! Tell God that you believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6) and you believe he died on the cross for your sins and that you want to follow him the rest of your life instead of following your sin nature.

"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

It is your faith (your belief in Jesus) that ensures your salvation.

For more information:

It all begins with a fear of the Lord. This means that you have a serious awe and respect for God the creator of the universe.

Psalm 33:8
Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.
Psalm 25:14
The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Here are some more verses that are notable:
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 4:25
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans 6:10
The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
John 6:47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
John 6:40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Romans 5:18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

God is real!

In a world of trials, chaos and misinformation it is good to know God really does exist. Just look in the mirror and you will see proof. God created us in His own image. (Genesis 1:27) We were made with a purpose and with intelligent design. God does not show himself to us as he did to Adam and Eve in the beginning. We are for now protected from his presence. He cannot have sin near him and we cannot handle being in His presence. This is why you don’t see God talking to us verbally and showing himself to us physically. The only time he did this was with Adam and Eve before sin came into the world and then later when Jesus was on the earth. There is something to this faith thing, some reason why we have to come to an understanding of who he is through other means. I guess it wouldn't be faith if we had proof positive would it.

Jesus is the Word

The Bible says Jesus is the Word of God. (John 1:1) That means this is how God communicates to us. The spoken/written word of God is the Bible. He spoke through humans down through the centuries and provided His infallible word documented in one book. Over the years it was put together by his Jewish chosen people first (the Old Testament), then later through the disciples of Jesus (the New Testament). The Old Testament is “The Law” and the New Testament is the “Good News”.

Where did sin come from?

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:17)
The Bible tells us that in the beginning in the garden of Eden Adam and Eve ate from the tree they were told not to and sin entered the world. More specifically they were tempted by Satan to disobey God. He told them a bold faced lie “you will not surely die” Genesis 3:4 From then on, all the descendents of Adam and Eve (all humans) have had to deal with the complications of sin.

Relationships Are Important – Finding other Believers

God views relationships as very important. The disciples were taught by Jesus personally. They had a real life relationship with Jesus and learned his ways. That is why they were uniquely qualified to write about him as God inspired them to in the bible. Christians as a whole are called the body of Christ. Just like in a human body each member of the body has a different function which work together in harmony. Each person has a gift to give in service to God.
The fact is we can learn about God from other believers. This is why we go to church, to be disciples and to learn more about God our creator. As a new believer it is especially important to meet other Christians and learn from them. We have a search site you can go to to find a church in your area that believes in Jesus.

o•be•di•ence –noun 1. the state or quality of being obedient. 2. the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance 3. a sphere of authority or jurisdiction, esp. ecclesiastical.

To some it sounds like a hard word to swallow. But to those who truly know God it is like music. A symphony is obedient to the conductor for example. Is this a bad thing? No, it's a beautiful thing if done with the right heart.

John 14:15 [Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit] "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

How can we be obedient to the Spirit of God? Answer: Read His Word. Just like following the recipe helps you create a beautiful dinner or desert. Following the Word of God helps you have a healthy, productive life and contribute to the beautiful thing God is working out through us.

Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

This means that through Adam sin entered the world. And later Jesus through his perfect obedience to the Father made us righteous when we believe in Him.