Beginning a Christ-Centered Life
Notes
Transcript
Handout
What If?
What If?
A neighbor dies suddenly. He was the picture of health, yet collapsed after playing racquetball and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. After his funeral a friend who lives on your street brings up her sadness and confusion at such a painful circumstance. After rambling for a few moments about the shortness and uncertainties of life and her own lack of clarity about what might happen after we die, she asks you, "What do you think? How important is religion anyway? How good do you need to be to be all right with God, if there is one?"
Discussing life and death issues with a family member is often difficult. Understanding God's truth about the subject and speaking with clarity are essential.
1. How would you respond to your neighbor?
2. What is distinctive about the Christian teaching on life and death?
Christianity is the only religion where the leader has risen from the dead
3. How is a relationship with Jesus different from the many religious systems in our world?
God Says What?
God Says What?
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is sin?
The most frequently word for sin in the New Testament means missing the mark. According to Charles Ryrie, “this is not only the negative idea but includes the positive idea of hitting some wrong mark.”
What kind of news is given in this verse? Bad and Good
Great
Great
Cover the following while drawing the following
Plan of Salvation
picutre
Plan of Salvation
Plan of Salvation
Good News
Good News
Good News
Good News
We were created for intimate fellowship with God
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
gen126-27
We are made in God’s image. He wants a relationship with us.
We are made in God’s image. He wants a relationship with us.
Bad News
Bad News
Man’s sin leads to physical and spiritual death (separation)
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
How are your temptations similar to Eve's
At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.
How did sin impact relationships in the Garden?
In what ways are our responses to God like theirs?
Gen3
How are your temptations similar to Eve's
Worse News
Worse News
Separated by sin, man suffers consequences he cannot remedy
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
“For the wages of sin is death...
Great News
Great News
Jesus Christ died on the cross to completely pay for our sins
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
…but the free gift of God is eternal life...
“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.
Urgent News
Urgent News
You must personally receive God’s gracious gift of salvation in Jesus through Faith.
“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.
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
See also for detail on how we are made alive through Christ by Faith and Not Works
See also for detail on how we are made alive through Christ by Faith and Not Works
So What?
So What?
Now What?
Now What?