• You have been created by God as an eternally, forever existing soul (Genesis 2:7). Your soul will continue to exist beyond that of your physical body (Ecclesiastes 3:21 & 12:5-7).

• Everything about you was created by God, the way he wanted it and planned it, for the purpose of glorifying God – your: person, personality, capabilities & gifts, weaknesses and shortcomings, upbringing, background, education, opportunities, - everything (Psalms 139:13-18 & John 9:1-11)

• You exist because God loves you and he wants you to love him the same, and he wants to prove your love towards him by testing your obedience and service to him (John 14:21-23) – because his ultimate plan for you is to some day take you to be with him forever. (II Peter 3:9)

• God’s words are very powerful for even the very creation of all things came into existence by God commanding it to be. He spoke the word, and it was done. (Genesis 1 & Hebrews 11:3)

• Throughout the history of the world God has also at times spoken his word directly to certain men (Genesis 3:15, Exodus 3, Samuel 3:4-14, Jeremiah 30:1-2) – to have them obey his word, and to have some of them write down what he spoke so that others could also read, understand, and obey his word. (Luke 1:1-4 & Acts 1:1-3)

• God has inspired men by his Holy Spirit to speak his word to others (by preaching and teaching), and also to write down his word, and to record the history of what people did when they heard his word (whether they obeyed it or not) – so that others could also read it, learn from the word, and learn from the examples of those who obeyed and did not obey (I Corinthians 10:11-12).

• The actual record of the various written words of God, and what people did with God’s word, is called "the scriptures"

• The collection of all the scriptures into one book is called "the Bible" which is made up of 66 books that are divided into two main sections, the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament."

• God has been particularly careful about the record of his word, and the collection of those records found in the Bible – he wants us to be very particular and careful about it also (Revelations 22:18-19).

• God desires a close relationship with people, but a close relationship is based upon a common love, purpose and interest (Isaiah 59:1-4, Micah 6:6-8, John 14:21)

• God loves: good, trueness, faithfulness, purity, holiness, sincerity, and humbleness (Philippians 4:8-9, I Tim 2:1-3)

• God hates: evil, falseness, unfaithfulness, filthy living, insincerity, and pride (Proverbs 6:16-19, Psalms 97:10)

• God’s purpose and interest: to seek and to save people who are lost in sin - lost in the things that God hates - so that he can bring them back into a close love relationship with him again (John 3:16-21)

• As already stated above, God is a just and righteous judge, and as such, he has determined an eternal reward for everyone (Matthew 25:31-46). Our time of existence on this earth is a proving ground for us to determine where our eternal reward will be. (Deuteronomy 8:1-3 & Deuteronomy 13:1-4)

• Heaven is the final reward for the: good, true, faithful, pure, holy, sincere and humble (Matthew 5:1-12, II Timothy 4:6-8)

• Hell is the final reward for those who do: evil, lies, unfaithful, filthy lust, are deceitful, are proud (Revelations 20:11-15, Revelations 21:8)

• Heaven is a wonderful place where there is only happiness, comfort and love (Matthew 6:19-20 & Revelations 21:3-4). Most of all, heaven is where God is, and no sin or evil of any kind can go there (John 8:21-24)

• Hell is a horrible place where is only sadness, suffering and hatred. (Mark 9:43-48) Worst of all, God and his true servants are not in hell. Hell is a place of eternal separation from everything good and everyone good. In hell, you and your hope for anything better is forever forgotten. (Luke 16:19-31)

• The name Jesus Christ means "anointed savior" (Acts 10:38 & Acts 13:23) – this means that he is the one who has been ordained by God himself to save souls from sin and from being lost forever in hell (Isaiah 9:6-7)

• Jesus is God’s only begotten son (John 3:16-21) who loves God the Father with a faithful and true love (Luke 4:1-13)

• Jesus willingly came down from heaven, to be born of a virgin (Luke 1:26-38), and to personally show people what God is like(Luke 14:6-17), and to show us all a new way we can live (I Peter 2:20-25)

• Jesus fulfilled the will of Almighty God his Father, (Jesus fulfilled the word of God), with power and great authority (John 8:26-32).

• Jesus paid for our salvation with a price that ourselves and no one else could pay – he took the punishment we deserved and allowed selfish religious men to nail him to a cross and kill him with a horrible death (Philippians 2:5-11 & Luke 23:20-48) – Jesus himself became the sacrifice for our sins

• By the sacrifice that Jesus gave by dying on the cross for us – if we humble ourselves, believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and ask for forgiveness for our sins, we can be saved from sin (Acts 10:34-43)

• Jesus’ sacrifice was a perfect sacrifice, producing a perfect salvation (I Peter 1:15-23) – a salvation that not only provides forgiveness for sins, but that also delivers us from the power of sin (Romans 6:11-18) – once Jesus saves us, he also gives us the power to resist temptation and to not sin anymore (I John 3:3-10)

• God the Father resurrected Jesus the third day after he died on the cross, and now Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father – and God has given all authority and judgment into Jesus’ hands (Matthew 16:31 & Acts 2:22-40)

• Jesus reigns as King in heaven and earth, and he has all authority over all kings and powers on the earth (Matthew 26:63-64 & Acts 7:55-56 & Revelations 19:11-16)

• The devil is that evil spirit in the world that influences and tempts people to be evil and to do sinful things in direct opposition to the word of God and the will of God (Genesis 3:1-19 & Luke 4:1-13)

• The devil works through people to tempt others into committing sin (John 8:44)

• The devil works through people by using them to cause others to believe false religious teachings that are close to the word of God, but yet influences the same people to not believe and obey all of God’s word (II Corinthians 4:1-2 & II Thessalonians 2:1-12)

• The devil is the father of lies, and he has power to make a lie seem just like the truth (II Corinthians 11:13-15)

• The more the devil gets people to sin and believe a lie, the more power he has over those same people (Romans 1:18-32)

• The devil was created and is allowed to exist for one purpose (Isaiah 45:5-12 & Job 1:6-12) – to test people to see how much they really love God and his word

• The Holy Spirit is the principal administrator of the will of God and the word of God in the earth (John 16:13-15) for the Holy Spirit obeys and fulfills the will of God the Father, and glorifies his son Jesus Christ

• The Holy Spirit works through the hearts of people who truly love and obey God with all their heart (Acts 5:32)

• In mercy, the Holy Spirit will speak to the hearts of people to convince and convict them of the wrong they are doing, and to teach them how to understand and live God’s Word (Romans 9:1, Acts 16:14, Luke 12:12, Hebrews 10:15-17)

• The Holy Spirit gives good gifts to those who are saved so that they can use those gifts for God’s glory, and for the work of God in saving souls and encouraging them to stay true to God (I Corinthians 12:1-14)

• The Holy Spirit will NEVER cause anyone to act or live in a way that is contrary to God’s will and God’s word (I Corinthians 14:32-33) - but the devil will lie to people and convince them to believe that he is the Holy Ghost causing them to do strange things contrary to the will of God (I John 4:1)

• God’s Holy Spirit is also love, so he loves and helps people so that they can be faithful and true to God’s love (Romans 5:5)

• God’s people are those who have humbly and sincerely prayed to God’s son, Jesus Christ, and asked him to forgive them of their sins (Acts 2:37-41)

• Because God’s true people are sincere in their desire to serve God, they have fully turned away from committing all sin that they know – they fully obey God’s word to the best of their understanding and love and serve him with all their heart (I John 3:3-10)

• God’s people are his true servants, and because they are servants, they have learned to not promote their own agenda (I Corinthians 6:19-20), to not establish their own Church (Ephesians 1:20-23), nor develop their own doctrine (John 7:16-18 & II Peter 1:19-21)

• God’s true people worship God’s son Jesus Christ as being the King over all people, nations and lands (Ephesians 1:20-23 & Revelations 19:11-16), yet they, according to the direction in God’s word, obey the rules and governments of the nations where they live (Titus 3:1), and the jobs where they work (Ephesians 6:5-8)

• Because God’s true people are all servants of the same King, they are one Kingdom, one spiritual family (Ephesians 3:6-21), one Church (Ephesians 4:3-6) – they are not divided into different: Churches, religions, denominations, sects, beliefs, fellowships, doctrines, etc. (I Corinthians 1:10)

• God is true and faithful in love, and his people are the same – they are true and faithful in love to God and his word, and within that context, they are true and faithful in love to each other and also to others that are not God’s people

• The true and faithful presence of the Spirit of God himself dwells amongst his true and faithful people – and this very presence of God is known and felt even by those who do not serve him when they come around where God’s true people worship

• Baptism is a symbolic testimony of the change that God makes in the heart of the individual when they ask for forgiveness of their sins and turn completely away from sin

• The word "baptism" means burial and when one is baptized they are brought down into the water and completely submerged, or buried, to symbolize that they are "dead" to the old sinful life, and then they are brought up out of the water to symbolize that they are "resurrected" to a new sin-free life serving Christ Jesus

• Baptism is an outward testimony to everyone that you have left doing sin for good, and that your conscience is clear before God – your sins are forgiven and washed completely away by faith in the sacrifice that Jesus Christ gave for us

• Because people want to serve God their own way – in spite of the way that God has chosen and given

• Because people do not want to forsake all their sin, yet they want to feel soothed in their conscience

• Because the devil wants to deceive people and make it easy for them to believe a lie and end up being lost in hell

• Because people like the religious social life and human attention they get from having a form of righteousness, but yet are sinful in their heart

• Because religious leaders want to be honored by people as being a special, rather than suffering the dishonor of people because of humbly worshipping and serving God from a sincere heart

These are questions that you must answer for yourself! 

• Is there any sin between you and God?
• Is there something keeping you from giving him all your life?
• Are there attitudes working between you and others?
• Is his purpose and work accomplished first in your life?
• Are you headed for heaven, or for hell?