1.  God created us for his glory!

“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone

who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah. 43:6-7).

Understanding anything begins with God.  He created us “In His image” so we would reflect His glory in the world.  Why God wanted us to share in shining with his glory is a mystery.  Call it grace.  Once we were not.  Then we existed—for the glory of God!

2.  God created us to love us!

            Psalm 136, “His love endures forever…”

            God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love!" Jeremiah 31:3

"Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with Christ ... because of His love, God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His children - this was God's pleasure and purpose.” Ephesians 1:4-5 (Good New Bible)

3.  We were created to enjoy a relationship with God and to manage all the rest of His creation.

So many people get confused about a relationship with God.  His original design was for us to enjoy Him.  As a matter of fact, the greatest way you can glorify Him is to enjoy Him.  Listen to just a few Psalms:

·        Delight yourself in the Lord; and he will give you the desires of your heart (37:4). 

·        As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God (42:1-2)

·        ...earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you... (63:1)

·        How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. You will find me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand (119:103)

·        Taste and see that the Lord is good (34:8)

The Scriptures are clear from the beginning that God designed us to manage His creation. 

"So God created human beings, making them in His image.  He blessed them, and said, ... live all over the earth and bring it under control. I am putting you in charge." Genesis 1:27-28 (Living Bible)

            “So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God”  (1 Corinthians 10:31). 

Our duty comes from God’s design.  What does it mean to glorify God?  It is simply acknowledging His glory and to value it above all things.  Heartfelt gratitude: “He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me” (Psalms 50:23).  Trust:  Abraham “grew strong in his faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:20).  Glorifying God is not only the duty of those who have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ—it’s for every person.

“There are things about him that people cannot see—his eternal power and all the things that make him God.  But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy to understand by what God has made.  So people have no excuse for the bad things they do.  They knew God but they did not give glory to God or thank him” (Romans 1:20-21).

God will not judge anyone who didn’t know that it’s our duty to glorify God.  But even without the Bible, everyone has access to the knowledge that we are created by God and depend on Him for everything.

Humanity has a natural desire to BE THE BOSS and ignore God's principles for living.

The Bible calls this attitude: SIN.  Sin is a biblical word that means, “to miss the mark.”   Key word: REBELLION

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, and each of us has turned to his own way.  Isaiah 53:6

If we say that we never sin, we are only fooling ourselves, and refuse to accept the truth.  1 John 1:8

Human’s original, first sin (Genesis 2-3) damaged humanity’s relationship with God. Sin separates us from God and causes us to live our lives outside of his will.

But there is a problem—your sins have cut you off from God. Isaiah 59:2 (NLT)

For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 (NLT)

The result of these attempts is worthless. The Bible teaches us that our attempts lead to DEATH. A relationship with God is NOT based on anything you DO.

There are ways that SEEM right to man, but they only end in death.  Proverbs 16:25

When our relationship to God is not right, it causes PROBLEMS in every area of our lives: friendships, school, parents, jobs, money, etc.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Falling short of the glory of God doesn’t mean that we were supposed to be as glorious as God is.  It simply means that we exchange it for something of lesser value (Romans 1:23).  All sin comes from NOT putting supreme value on God’s glory.  And every human that has ever lived and ever will (excluding Jesus), has sinned.

           “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

           ”They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion

from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might

(2 Thessalonians 1:9).

Those who don’t care to glorify God by gratitude, trust or enjoyment will be excluded from enjoying God for eternity (i.e. Heaven).  Hell is a place of torment, not merely the absence of pleasure.  Jesus talked about it more than anyone did in the Bible.  Hell’s punishment is eternal the same way heaven’s enjoyment is.

Hell is not unfair or mean.  If Heaven is our enjoying the presence of God forever, why would God send someone to heaven that doesn’t want to enjoy Him now, on earth?  God gives us the unbelievable freedom to choose to live out the purpose He created us for.  If you desired God, you’ll get God.  If you chose not to, you’ll exist forever where God’s blessing isn’t.

Jesus said, “I AM THE WAY, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except THROUGH ME! ” John 14:6

God came to earth as a human being [through His Son, Jesus] to bring us home to Himself. If any other way would work, Jesus would not have had to come. “The Way” is through the person of Jesus!

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

JESUS HAS ALREADY TAKEN CARE OF YOUR SIN PROBLEM

WHEN HE DIED ON THE CROSS!

God is on one side and all people are on the other side, and Christ Jesus, Himself man, is between to bring them together, by giving His life for all mankind.  1 Timothy 2:5 (LB)

WHY DID GOD SEND JESUS TO DIE IN YOUR PLACE?

God did this for YOU because he loves YOU and wants YOU to know him.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

God has already done His part to restore our relationship to Him. HE TOOK THE INITIATIVE.  NOW HE WAITS FOR EACH OF US to individually ACCEPT what He has done for us.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

“Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This truth of God’s grace through Jesus cannot be learned from nature.  It has to be told to friends, preached in churches, and carried around the world by missionaries.

1.     You have the opportunity to HEAR the good news of Jesus.

            “Consequently, faith comes from HEARING the message, and the

message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17)

2.     You have the opportunity to CALL on Jesus to save you.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹³for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9, 13, NIV)

3.     You have the opportunity to put your FAITH (trust) in Jesus, who is the good news.

John 3:16, NLT For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 14:1, NCV Jesus said, Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me.

Ephesians 2:8-10, NLT God saved you by his special favor 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 that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Romans 10:9 If you confess that Jesus is your Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (Jesus) by which we must be saved. 

3.     You have the opportunity to REPENT of your sins, which is turning from living a life characterized by sin.

            But unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13:3)

“In the past, God overlooked…ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30)

4.     You have the opportunity to be BAPTIZED into Christ.

“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” (Acts 2:38).

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4).

5.     You have the opportunity to live a NEW LIFE in Christ.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)