God has approximately 8.32 billion souls on this earth today, and Jesus died for each and every one of us. God knows you and your heart, no matter who you are among the billions.
Through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus (God’s only Son), you and all of us have been extended access to the greatest gift ever offered: eternal life with our Creator. How? By choosing to follow Jesus, learning to keep His commandments, and keeping God first in our lives.
Scripture shows us that as we hear God’s Word and believe, our understanding will lead us to repent of our sins (change direction), confess Jesus as the Son of God, be baptized (immersed in water) for the forgiveness of our sins, and then, in our faith, pursue a life of doing God’s will according to His Holy Word—sharing with others through words and deeds the hope that is in us.
God’s Holy Word is how we get to know God; His living Word tells us exactly how to respond to His love and grace.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). In the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus had already spoken of being born of water and the Spirit as the way into the kingdom (John 3:5). True belief is an obedient faith that responds to God’s call.
“And Peter said to them, ‘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. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself’” (Acts 2:38–39). This was Peter’s direct answer on Pentecost to those who had already heard the gospel and asked, “What shall we do?” Baptism is the point at which forgiveness is received.
“Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Peter compares baptism to the waters of the Flood that carried Noah to safety. The saving power is not in the water itself, but in the obedient response that appeals to God through the resurrection of Jesus.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3–4). Paul reminds Christians that their baptism was the moment they died to sin and were raised to walk in newness of life. That burial and resurrection with Christ is the foundation for living free from sin.
Hearing the Gospel: Romans 10:17
Belief/Faith: Hebrews 11:1; John 8:24
Repentance of sin: 2 Corinthians 7:9–10; Luke 13:3–5; Acts 17:30
Confess Christ: Romans 10:9–10; Matthew 10:32–33
Baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sin: Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Romans 6:3–4; Matthew 28:18–20
God First!
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