What's the big deal about Jesus, God, church, etc.?
God is the centre of all we do.
God is real. This isn't make believe.
God is real and... is crazy about you. Totally in love with you. The same way a mother or father loves their child, that's how God feels about you, but a thousand times more. And God wants you to share life with him.
That's why God came to earth in the person Jesus Christ. He didn't have a celebrity birth. He grew up in a humble family and experienced all the same challenges and temptations we all do. The difference is that he followed God's way through it all. The same as today, there were lots of messed up people around. The wonderful thing is that they loved being around Jesus. Even though he was holy, they found that attractive, rather than a turn-off. Maybe they saw in him what they needed in their lives.
Jesus didn't demand they meet a standard of perfection. His requirement was simple: Follow me. What happened is that as people hung around Jesus, their lives were transformed. They experienced forgiveness, love, healing, new power for living, a new purpose for living. Jesus brought them into a community where former enemies became friends; where rich and poor, weak and powerful, and every kind of person were treated the same: with loving welcome.
That community was the church, and it's still going strong two thousand years later. Jesus was clear about this: we don't follow him by ourselves. We need one another, and that's why he gave us the church.
Jesus also promised that after he left the earth, he would continue to be with his followers, living in us by the Holy Spirit. That's how God works in people's lives today, through his Spirit. There's a saying that “God loves you just the way you are …” that means God forgives us for the wrong things we've done, and accepts us and loves us as his children. But that saying has a conclusion: "... but he loves you too much to leave you that way.” That means God's Spirit works in our lives, helping us grow and become more like Jesus.
God is real. This isn't make believe.
God is real and... is crazy about you. Totally in love with you. The same way a mother or father loves their child, that's how God feels about you, but a thousand times more. And God wants you to share life with him.
That's why God came to earth in the person Jesus Christ. He didn't have a celebrity birth. He grew up in a humble family and experienced all the same challenges and temptations we all do. The difference is that he followed God's way through it all. The same as today, there were lots of messed up people around. The wonderful thing is that they loved being around Jesus. Even though he was holy, they found that attractive, rather than a turn-off. Maybe they saw in him what they needed in their lives.
Jesus didn't demand they meet a standard of perfection. His requirement was simple: Follow me. What happened is that as people hung around Jesus, their lives were transformed. They experienced forgiveness, love, healing, new power for living, a new purpose for living. Jesus brought them into a community where former enemies became friends; where rich and poor, weak and powerful, and every kind of person were treated the same: with loving welcome.
That community was the church, and it's still going strong two thousand years later. Jesus was clear about this: we don't follow him by ourselves. We need one another, and that's why he gave us the church.
Jesus also promised that after he left the earth, he would continue to be with his followers, living in us by the Holy Spirit. That's how God works in people's lives today, through his Spirit. There's a saying that “God loves you just the way you are …” that means God forgives us for the wrong things we've done, and accepts us and loves us as his children. But that saying has a conclusion: "... but he loves you too much to leave you that way.” That means God's Spirit works in our lives, helping us grow and become more like Jesus.