GOOD NEWS!

SCRIPTURE

John 3:16-21 (NRSV)
God's son saves the world

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."


DEVOTION

A beloved reader once asked me, “How can we be sure that if today was the last day we would open our eyes here that we would open them in the presence of God in heaven? I've always felt that you had to be a minister or always in the church in order to go to heaven. What if I don't attend Bible study or Sunday school class or even church…Am I going to heaven? I’m scared.”

Today, I want to provide some GOOD NEWS to this reader—and the many others—who have ever wrestled with the fear that you won’t get into heaven.

I want to say this in plain language. Our scripture reading for today tells us exactly how we get into heaven. It says that God gave his son, that whosoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life!

To put it another way, we are delivered, rescued, and saved from our sins by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus.

Now, I want all of us to notice something here. There is nothing in the above sentence that says anything about humans doing any work to attain our salvation! This is because salvation is a free gift given to us by God--and God alone.

I hope that this knowledge takes a huge burden off of all of us! There is no one who has ever lived on the earth besides Jesus who was good, smart, strong, wise, or holy enough to deserve heaven!

It does not matter if we are pastors, ministers, evangelists, bishops, Sunday School teachers, Deacons, or church mothers, neither does it matter whether you go to church every Sunday and Bible Study every Wednesday; NONE OF US is good enough to get into heaven on the merits of our own works, because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!

So, if being good and working hard doesn’t get us into heaven, what does? The answer is simple my friends! We get into heaven by putting our hope in Christ!

Romans 10:9 puts it this way, “If you say with your mouth that you believe in Jesus and really truly believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead—YOU ARE SAVED!”

There is no hocus-pocus. There are no magic words. There are no special tests or tasks and you don’t pledge and you aren’t hazed. All that you have to do to become an heir to God’s kingdom is to put all of your hope in Jesus!

Now, I can hear some of you saying, “It can’t be that easy!” I can hear others of you saying, “That’s good for other people, but I’m too messed up. I’m too sinful. I’ve messed up too big for God to care about me.”

But, I am here to tell you that all of the above is a lie. God knows all about you. God has seen all of your mistakes and God still loves you. God still cares about you. And God still wants to spend eternity in your presence.

There is nothing—absolutely nothing--that you can ever do to ever make God stop loving you and there is no mistake so big that God cannot forgive it!

SALVATION IS SIMPLE, MY FRIENDS…and I want to apologize on behalf of all of us “church folks” who have made it complicated in your life. I am sorry, please forgive us.

Here’s the bottom line in clear, plain English--God loves. God gave. God saves. It’s all about GOD and GOD has chosen to make it super easy for all of us to inherit eternal life!

Today I invite you to be set free! No longer do you need to live in fear of hell and damnation! No longer do you need to cower concerned about judgment and condemnation. No longer do you need to fret that you aren’t doing enough to earn your salvation!

God says to all of us, “You are my child and I love you. I know that you believe in my Son. I look forward to spending eternity with you in my Home. Do not be afraid. All that was needed has been done for you. Jesus did the work. You are saved!”

Do you have a saving faith in Jesus today? Have you put all of your hope in Jesus? Are you SURE that if you died today, you would wake up in heaven? (If not, please pray with me)

Dear God, I know you love me and I love you too. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and that you raised him from the dead! Please forgive all of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I want my whole life to declare your praise and glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.



SPECIAL NOTE

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today, you are saved! Let me encourage you to tell a Christian friend that you just put all of your hope in Jesus. Ask him or her to help you find a Bible that is easy for you to understand and to find a good Bible believing church where you can be baptized and make new friends who will walk with you on your Christian journey!

I would be honored if you would take a moment to share your good news with me by clicking "YES" in the upper right hand corner of the blog in answer to the question, "Did you put all of your hope in Jesus today?" Thanks!

Congratulations and Happy Re-birthday! Your salvation is our GOOD NEWS, please go and share the GOOD NEWS with others!