We had a fun time bowling with some of the youth last Saturday. Neither our forms nor our scores were the stuff of the PBA tour, but we enjoyed our time together. Hopefully we didn't damage the lanes or put dents in the gutters!
After lunch and bowling I wanted to take the opportunity to share the gospel with our students. I'm a preacher, you know. You can't miss a moment like this, can you?
After lunch and bowling I wanted to take the opportunity to share the gospel with our students. I'm a preacher, you know. You can't miss a moment like this, can you?
Let me ask you, reader, the same question I started the discussion with. How many different ways are there to bowl?
There are many different approaches and many different styles, but there's only one way to knock the pins down - you've gotta use the bowling ball. I can't get a running start, sprint down the lane and do a belly flop gliding with outstretched arms to send the pins flying. I can't take a shop broom and sweep the pins over with a single push. There's only one (right) way to bowl.
That's what I wanted to emphasize with the students. The Bible teaches clearly and emphatically that Jesus is the only way to the Father. As Jesus answered plainly in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
We also read through selected portions of Mark's gospel in chapters 15 and 16 highlighting Jesus' suffering and death, His burial and His resurrection.
Many people believe that there are multiple roads that lead to heaven. It's common to hear things like, "Well, it really doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you believe something. We all pray to the same God." Or, "A loving God wouldn't let anyone go hell." Or, "Yeah, I think I'm good enough to go to heaven."
These statements prove a great lack in understanding the biblical view of salvation and a sad view of the significance of why Jesus came to die on the cross for sinners. If there were any other way that man might possibly be saved from death and hell, then Jesus' suffering and sacrifice would have been absolutely unnecessary!
Here are some other key verses in God's Word that affirm the road to heaven is Jesus alone:
John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
That's what I wanted to emphasize with the students. The Bible teaches clearly and emphatically that Jesus is the only way to the Father. As Jesus answered plainly in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
We also read through selected portions of Mark's gospel in chapters 15 and 16 highlighting Jesus' suffering and death, His burial and His resurrection.
Many people believe that there are multiple roads that lead to heaven. It's common to hear things like, "Well, it really doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you believe something. We all pray to the same God." Or, "A loving God wouldn't let anyone go hell." Or, "Yeah, I think I'm good enough to go to heaven."
These statements prove a great lack in understanding the biblical view of salvation and a sad view of the significance of why Jesus came to die on the cross for sinners. If there were any other way that man might possibly be saved from death and hell, then Jesus' suffering and sacrifice would have been absolutely unnecessary!
Here are some other key verses in God's Word that affirm the road to heaven is Jesus alone:
John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
John 3:16-17 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Acts 4:12 - Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 16:30-31 - And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 10:9-13 - That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. for "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
1 Corinthians 15:1-5 - Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
Ephesians 1:13-14 - In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Titus 3:4-7 - But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Acts 4:12 - Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 16:30-31 - And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 10:9-13 - That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. for "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
1 Corinthians 15:1-5 - Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
Ephesians 1:13-14 - In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Titus 3:4-7 - But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
1 Peter 1:3-5 - Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 2:24 - Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed.
1 Peter 3:18 - For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.
1 John 5:11-13 - And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
This is just a sampling! I'm just getting warm-up! The whole Bible reveals that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one and only Savior and Lord.
I asked the students to rate the following sentences based on what they believe to be true. See what you think about them.
1 = No way! 2 = I don’t think so 3 = I don’t know 4 = Might be 5 = Yes, baby!
_____ I will go to heaven someday because I am kind to others.
_____ I will go to heaven because I go to church.
_____ I will go to heaven because God couldn’t possibly do without me there.
_____ I will go to heaven because everybody goes to heaven.
_____ I will go to heaven because I am a pretty good person.
_____ I’m not sure whether I will go to heaven or not.
_____ I will go to heaven because…[answer with your understanding of salvation in your own words]
I praise God for the ones who are sure their sins have been forgiven in Christ and are living their lives in devoted trust, love and obedience to Jesus.
But for some, by their varied answers, there's still much work to be done. I pray that God will pour out His Spirit of Truth upon their hearts, that they will not be dissuaded by the world's distorted views of God and His salvation, and that He will draw them to a true understanding and personal receiving of the gospel of Christ Jesus.
How would you answer that last one in your own words?
1 John 5:11-13 - And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
This is just a sampling! I'm just getting warm-up! The whole Bible reveals that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one and only Savior and Lord.
I asked the students to rate the following sentences based on what they believe to be true. See what you think about them.
1 = No way! 2 = I don’t think so 3 = I don’t know 4 = Might be 5 = Yes, baby!
_____ I will go to heaven someday because I am kind to others.
_____ I will go to heaven because I go to church.
_____ I will go to heaven because God couldn’t possibly do without me there.
_____ I will go to heaven because everybody goes to heaven.
_____ I will go to heaven because I am a pretty good person.
_____ I’m not sure whether I will go to heaven or not.
_____ I will go to heaven because…[answer with your understanding of salvation in your own words]
I praise God for the ones who are sure their sins have been forgiven in Christ and are living their lives in devoted trust, love and obedience to Jesus.
But for some, by their varied answers, there's still much work to be done. I pray that God will pour out His Spirit of Truth upon their hearts, that they will not be dissuaded by the world's distorted views of God and His salvation, and that He will draw them to a true understanding and personal receiving of the gospel of Christ Jesus.
How would you answer that last one in your own words?
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