A Life with JESUS JESUS Author: Aaron Lee A one month journey for those beginning a life with Christ.
Week 1: A New Beginning Day 1: Something New If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. - Romans 10:9 Things are changing in your life, aren t they? You made a big decision, and we re excited to help you get started on this new journey! It s new and it s exciting. But it s also unknown. WEEK 1 A NEW BEGINNING Take a minute and write down a few questions you have about what it means to follow Jesus.* Being saved means your future plans have just changed. Instead of spending forever apart from God, you will spend eternity with God. And you have just embarked on a journey for the rest of your earthly life: growing closer to God and learning more about what it means to follow the ways of Jesus. It takes work, but it is worth it. Just like being a skilled craftsperson, gifted musician or a trained athlete, it takes time and effort on your part to draw closer to God. For the next 4 weeks, we will walk through your story, God s story and how your story can become more like God s story. For today, be encouraged. You are being prayed for right now, and people in your church want to be on this journey with you. Just a note: Every day, we ll include a short passage or two from the Bible. If you learn them and memorize them, these verses will come back to mind throughout the rest of your life. Today s verse is a promise, a memory, of how you started your life with God and what it means. Try memorizing Romans 10:9 today. *Every day will also have questions for reflection. Get a small notebook or something where you can record your answers these questions.
Day 2: My Story Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! - Genesis 1:31 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard. - Romans 3:23 At the beginning of time, God laid out the sun and the moon, the earth and the sky, the plants, birds and animals. After God created humans, and it was all completed, God saw that it was very good. See that? Everything was good. Week 1: A New Beginning Take a look outside your window. God created everything around you the animals, the trees, the mountains, the water, and it was good. People started out good, too. Something happened with those first humans, Adam and Eve. God gave us the freedom to make our own decisions, and Adam and Eve decided they knew better. We all sin because we make decisions that go against God s ways every person on this Earth has fallen short. Short of what? Short of God s glorious standard. God created you to be in relationship with Him. Anything we do that points us away or distracts us from God keeps us short of God s glorious standard. We ve all done it. Remember: Even though we fall short, God forgives us, and we can become good like God intended for us to be in the first place. That s great news! Think for a few minutes about your own story, using the questions below as a guide, and write down a few notes: How were you falling short of God s glorious standard before you committed to following Jesus? What was distracting you from God? How did it feel knowing you believed in God and were committing to following Jesus? Is your life different today than it was before that decision? How? Over the next few weeks, we ll keep looking into your story. Remembering your story helps you tell other people about what God means to you, and it s a story only you can tell. Remember, God created you good! A Life with JESUS
Week 1: A New Beginning Day 3: A Guide to Prayer When Jesus was living on Earth, he spent time with 12 close friends, his disciples. Jesus taught the disciples how to pray and what to pray about. Here s what Jesus said to pray: 9 Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-13 Let s break this prayer down into parts, which will help you pray every day: 1. Keep God s Name holy: respect God. God created you, and God sent Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Remember: God is awesomely holy. This prayer reminds us why we spend time with God each day, because God is worthy of our daily attention. 2. God s Will On Earth: God has a future plan for all of us: everlasting life. But God also has a plan for us, as we make disciples of all nations, look after orphans and widows, feed the hungry, heal the sick and love our neighbors. Praying everyday for this to happen is important to how we ask God to lead us. 3. What We Need Today: food to eat, a roof over our heads. Ask God each day to provide for what you need, and give thanks for what God provides. 4. Forgive our sins, forgive others: here s the thing about being a Christian we don t become perfect. We still sin, and God forgives. Ask God each day to forgive you and to help you forgive others. 5. Rescue Us: temptation will be around you every day. Friends might tempt you to stray away from God. Remembering and praying every day for God to rescue us from temptation helps us remember to ask God to continue rescuing us. Pray right now, focusing on one of these key points. Remember: prayer is not only about us talking. Pause and let God speak to you through the silence. What was it like praying this prayer? A Final Thought: You might have heard the Lord s Prayer before, and it may have sounded different from the one printed here. This happens in the Bible: when words and phrases are translated from one language to another, they will sometimes sound a little different. If you ve ever studied another language, you know what this is like. There are lots of Bible translations out there, and people have spent a lot of time praying, researching and studying. As continue your studying, find a translation that makes sense to you.
Day 4: The New You 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control- Galatians 5:22-23 By now, we hope you know how excited we are for your new journey with God. You ve been forgiven, but now what? What should this new life look like? These verses in Galatians tell us what the fruit of the Spirit looks like. Like an apple tree produces apples in the fall, you will produce the fruit from the Spirit that lives in you. When we are close to God, God will work through the Holy Spirit to bring out these traits in our life. Week 1: A New Beginning The Holy Spirit is the spirit of a loving God, living within each one of us who commit and believe in God. The Holy Spirit helps us understand truth and know when something is wrong. Regardless of language or country, the Holy Spirit is the same in every follower of Jesus, and these fruits come to life because the Holy Spirit is at work inside of us. Take a few minutes to read over these words. Love Joy Peace Patience Kindness Goodness Faithfulness Gentleness Self-Control Look at each one and think about which one is easiest for you to accomplish. Which one is the hardest to accomplish? Choose one for today, and write it down: (On the blank above.) Pray using the prayer from yesterday, and ask God to provide opportunities to practice today. A Life with JESUS
Week 1: A New Beginning Day 5: Devoted All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord s Supper), and to prayer. - Acts 2:42 Sometimes it only takes one verse for us to understand a very important truth, and this verse is one of them. After Jesus came back to life from the grave, He spent time with the disciples. Eventually, he returned to Heaven, and when he did, a lot started happening in the church. Peter and the disciples were teaching, and the church was growing. In verse 41, it says 3,000 people were baptized in one day, because they believed what Peter was teaching. That s incredible! Verse 42 tells us what the believers did, and it gives us an idea of how we can spend our time: 1. They kept learning: all the believers listened to the apostles teaching, but devoted means they listened and applied what they learned. Ask this: Is your life different each day because of what you re learning from God? 2. They spent time together: They spent time together: fellowship can sound like an old word. Your church might have a Fellowship Hall. But fellowship is about more than having a meal together. Fellowship is about spending time with fellow believers, encouraging each other and truly caring for each other. Ask this: who could you spend time with to encourage each other? 3. They shared meals: think about a time when you ve had dinner with another family, or maybe with a few families together. There is something great about sharing a meal with other people. It s sharing an everyday thing we do with people who are close to us. We ll talk more about the Lord s Supper in a few weeks. Ask this: who could you eat a meal with this weekend? 4. Praying: these believers didn t just pray. They were devoting themselves to prayer. Devoting yourself to pray means making it an integral part of your life. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, Never stop praying. Having specific things to pray for will help you keep praying always, like we talked about earlier this week.
A Life with JESUS Which of these seems most exciting to you? Circle one of them. Then circle the one that sounds most difficult. Why is that one harder than the others? Life with Jesus isn t any easier, but more love, more joy, more peace make life so much sweeter. We are excited you have decided to follow Jesus, and we want you to be another devoted follower. What is one step you can take today toward being more devoted and focus on one of these things: learning spending time together sharing a meal praying Week 1: A New Beginning Day 6-7: The End of the Week See if you can find a comfortable place and a good time to pray. Get a piece of paper, a small notebook or a notecard where you can write down things to pray for: people who need God s help, something in your life you want God to help with, or a family member. Remember to use the prayer Jesus taught us (from Day 3). Then see if this is a good time to keep praying each day throughout next week.
WEEK 2 : Moving Forward Day 8: Why Jesus? This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! - 2 Corinthians 5:17 What was your old life like? Think for a minute and write down a few traits of what life was like. Your old life could look different from someone else, but for both of you, the important thing to remember is you are forgiven: a new life has begun! WEEK 2 MOVING FORWARD Think back to Day 2 last week: we talked about how God created good things, but our selfishness and pride gets in the way. We think we can do it better, and God lets us figure it out on our own. God lets us make our own decisions. When we make poor decisions, God must be hurt and disappointed, and this is not what God envisioned for us. But God also wants us to figure out for ourselves that we need Him. When God created Adam and Eve, things were good. When Noah s family reached dry land with the ark after the flood (Genesis 6-9), God reminded them of how things were in the beginning, but it didn t take long for Noah s family to mess things up again. God made a covenant with Abraham, too, but Abraham s descendants included a lot of sinners. So God sent Jesus Christ to Earth. John 1:1 says Jesus was with God in the beginning, and John 3:16 tells us Jesus was God s son. Once and for all, God wanted forgiveness, restoration, and hope to be known. When Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb and came back to life, those who knew him knew this was important. KNOW THIS: God, the Creator of the universe, who created everything good, cares so deeply about you and wants to be in a forever relationship with you. Now that you believe this, you are a new creation. It s like you have been born again. You have a fresh outlook on life and can live knowing how much the creator loves you. Take some notes on what it means for you to have a fresh outlook? What does it mean to you to know that your creator loves you?
Day 9: Finding God in the Scripture 15 You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. - 2 Timothy 3:15-16 You might be wondering how you could ever learn everything there is to know about the Bible. It is a very, very large book! Actually, the Bible is a collection of books. It s like its own library: 66 books by many different authors, collected together. Thousands of pages. WEEK 2 : Moving Forward One of the incredible things about the Bible is God speaks to us each time we read through its pages, and God will teach you so many things through reading. There are a lot of ways to read through the Bible, but here s one way: 1) Open up to Matthew 5:14-16 in your Bible. Read through this passage 2-3 times. 2) Once you have read through a few times, pick one verse. God might be drawing your attention to a specific verse. 3) What does this verse say? Write the verse, word for word. 4) What does this verse mean? Write the verse, putting the verse into your own words. 5) How can you apply this verse to your life? Write something specific and personal about how you can apply the meaning of this verse to your life. 6) What was it like to read the Bible like this? Was it helpful? God s Word is made powerful because God speaks to us through the words on the page. As you continue on your journey of faith, reading the Bible will be an important part of your day and your week. A Life with JESUS
WEEK 2 : Moving Forward Day 10: Having Doubts? Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. - Proverbs 3:5-6 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. - Romans 8:28 Nobody said it would be easy. We say God created things to be good, but we don t say everything stays good. On Day 8, we looked at how God sent Jesus to restore us and forgive us because we fall short. Even in forgiving us, God doesn t make our lives perfect. We still mess up and God keeps forgiving. God loves us! What s the most difficult thing in your life right now? Write it in the sentence below. But is so hard right now! Today we re looking at two verses, because they both help us understand how to walk through hard days. Proverbs 3 says not to do this all on your own. With a new relationship with God, you have the Holy Spirit on your side to help you navigate and point you in the right direction. The Holy Spirit, God in you, will point you in the right direction. When days are tough, it gets hard. Questions pop up. You wonder what step to take next. Romans 8:28 says something really important about this. God causes everything to work together for the good This doesn t say God causes good. God gave us the freedom to make our own decisions. God gave the people around us the same freedom. Bad things will happen because we live in a world that is broken (remember Day 8?). This verse reminds us that God redeems even those hard things. Don t lose hope. God is still with you. Say a special pray for that area of your life you listed as being hard. Pray for one other friend and whatever their most difficult thing may be.
A Life with JESUS Day 11: My Story For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 On Day 8, we asked, What was your old life like? Take a minute and look at what you wrote down. Think back to when you made the decision to follow Jesus. John 3:16 is a verse you ve probably seen on posters, jewelry, pictures, online profiles. WEEK 2 : Moving Forward Open your Bible and see what John 3:17 says. Remember: telling your story isn t about judging someone or telling them what s wrong with them. Your story is about a saving hope and what we can give to someone else. We give our story, we tell them what Jesus did for us, and we pray God will work in their hearts so they hear our story. Think about the moment you first made the decision to follow Christ. What was it about grace and forgiveness that made sense to you in that moment? If you were to tell someone else about deciding to follow Jesus, what would you tell them?
WEEK 2 : Moving Forward Day 12: Death & Resurrection Imagine losing your friend, someone you had spent so much time with every day. Your friend was carted off, beaten and hung up on a wooden post to die. For this period of time, hanging on the cross was a humiliating, public way of death for the worst of criminals. Jesus was innocent. Jesus had not broken any of God s law. Jesus was God, and God created everything! But he still died a cruel death as though he were a criminal. Unlike anyone else in the history of the world, Jesus didn t stay dead, though. Three days later, when his friends went back to the tomb, he had come back to life. When the time came, Jesus left Earth to spend eternity with God. We find hope in following the earthly Son of the One who created the world. Our hope comes in grace forgiveness when we don t deserve to be forgiven and in the offer of eternal life with God when our days on Earth come to an end. Jesus came to show us death does not have to be the end. God s gift to you was His Son, Jesus. Now that you have believed in Jesus and desire to follow his example with your life, things are different. When something gets you down, remember Hope. When something starts to worry you, remember Hope. When you have a bad day, remember Hope. God cares so deeply about you, and your decision to follow Jesus means so much to God. Remember, the God of the Universe, the Creator of the World, knows you, loves you, and cares about you. Where in your life do you need to hope? Pray that God would fill those toughest places in your life with his unending hope. Day 13-14: The End of the Week Go to a worship service or experience this weekend and focus on God through the words being sung, the Scripture being read and the prayers being prayed. It can be easy to get distracted, so turn off your phone, sit by yourself if you need to, and remember to push the distractions away. Seek God!
A Life with JESUS Day 15: Fellowship with Others A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triplebraided cord is not easily broken. - Ecclesiastes 4:12 WEEK 3 ALL ABOUT FELLOWSHIP Have you ever had a loose string hanging off your clothes? What do you do? Rip it off. It s never very hard to do! Today s verse reminds us we need to support ourselves with strong relationships. It is easy to break a string, but if the string or rope is braided together with other strands, it becomes much stronger. Think about a thick rope and how many small strands are wound together to make it strong. WEEK 3 : All About Fellowship If we try to follow God on our own, we more easily fall down. But if we surround ourselves with a few people, we will be much stronger like the strong rope. You need to be in community, in relationships with other people who can challenge you, support you and encourage you. And these same people can be challenged by you, supported by you, encouraged by you. Our communities of faith (church) are incredible groups of people with many life experiences. On Day 11, we talked about how God uses even our bad days to help others, and this help is strongest in the community of our church. Spend some time thinking today about the people you want to surround yourself with and start building relationships so you will be a triple-braided cord not easily broken.
WEEK 3 : All About Fellowship Day 16: Fellowship of the Table 26 Take this and eat it, for this is my body. 27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. - Matthew 26:26-28 There are two times we celebrate and remember the gift of the life of Jesus Christ as a church: baptism and communion. We ll talk about baptism next week, but let s take a look at communion today. Jesus knew his days on Earth were numbered, so he got his closest friends together in an upstairs room to share a meal together, and he gave them, and us, a gift. He broke a loaf of bread into pieces and handed a piece to each friend around the room. He told them the bread represented his body: Take this and eat it, for this is my body. Now that we know what happened at the end of Jesus earthly life, we hold the bread in our hands and know he died so we could be free. Forgiven. Loved. Then he passed around a cup for each person to drink from and said:...this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Translation? What is in the cup is a symbol of Jesus blood and represents how much God loves us. In the old way, people who followed God believed they needed to sacrifice an animal, pouring its blood on an altar as a symbol of their covenant with God. By sending Jesus, God sent a new sacrifice: His own son. When Jesus died and came back to life, it represented a new covenant. No more sacrifices, no more blood. This cup represents the blood, and it has already been sacrificed. For you. When a family member or friend dies, we celebrate their earthly life. We visit the place where they are buried. But what would we do if they didn t stay buried? We can t visit Jesus grave! Jesus left us with a way to remember him. When you eat the bread and drink the cup, you have an opportunity to remember God s gift to you and the sacrifice Jesus made.
Day 17: Your Gifts 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-11 WEEK 3 : All About Fellowship The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual gift to every person who believes and commits their lives to following Jesus. It is more than a talent or an ability. It is something specifically given to you by the Holy Spirit to help you love God, love others and share God s message with other people. Today, we want to help you understand more about your gifts. God works powerfully through these gifts. Knowing what your gifts are will help you see how God is at work in your life. Take the Spiritual Gifts Test online at http://www.vbmb.org/spiritualgifts. What are your top three spiritual gifts? 1. 2. 3. Tomorrow, we will unwrap these gifts some more. A Life with JESUS
WEEK 3 : All About Fellowship Day 18: Your Gifts for the Fellowship A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. - 1 Corinthians 12:7 Did you learn anything new about yourself yesterday? When we talked about the Holy Spirit on Day 3, we learned the Holy Spirit gives us fruits. These are traits we all have. The Holy Spirit also fills us with unique gifts from God. It is important that we know what our spiritual gifts are so we can help each other. Did any of your top three gifts surprise you? Do they make sense? If you read the rest of 1 Corinthians 12, it says we all represent a part of the body. Just like the human body would not be able to function without all of our body parts working together, the Church won t work without all of us using our gifts together. What is one way you can use one of your gifts today? COMMIT: find a way to use one (maybe more!) of your gifts in your church and community and commit to developing your mission. Tell someone (maybe a mentor or a pastor) what you think God is leading you to do and ask them to pray for you and support you.
Day 19: Scripture in the Fellowship Last week, we talked about one way to read the Bible. The truth is there are a lot of ways to read the Bible. We only have a chance to look at two in this guide, but you will learn that at different times in your life, you will read the Bible in different ways. For today, here s one more way you can read the Bible: 1) Open your Bible to Acts 2:1-12 2) Read through the passage three times, slowly each time. WEEK 3 : All About Fellowship 3) Does a word or phrase jump out at you while you re reading? Circle it. 4) Read through the passage one more time, pausing at what you circled. Let that word or phrase linger in your mind. 5) What do you sense God is saying in this word/phrase? Write it out. 6) Now read through the passage one more time, thinking about what God is saying through this word/phrase. Did you get more meaning out of the passage by reading it a few times? What did you sense God was saying to you through this passage? How will this verse shape how you look at life today? Day 20-21: The End of the Week Look for a place to get connected this weekend, not just friends to hang out with or a place that is fun, but a person or group of people you can spend time with who will help you live your life closer to God.
WEEK 4 : Giving it away Day 22 What is Baptism? 16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. - Matthew 3:16-17 WEEK 4 GIVING IT AWAY By now, someone might have mentioned baptism to you. It is an important symbol of your faith in God. It is one way to share the story of what God has done in your life. What happens when you are baptized? Someone, usually a pastor or leader of your church, will lead you into the water. You might be in a small pool at your church, a lake or river or maybe someone s backyard pool. The pastor will lean you back, letting the water cover your whole body, and then stand you back up. What does this mean? First, going under the water is symbolic of your new life in Christ. Being baptized is not what cleans you; putting your faith in Jesus did that. This is about the symbol of new life. Second, this act is like Jesus in two ways. One, Jesus was baptized, too. Two, later in his life, he died and rose again. Going under the water and coming back up symbolizes Christ s burial and coming back to life. There s one more: the act of baptism is a symbol. By being baptized, you are sharing the symbol with others who have gone before you, showing in an outward, public way what has been going on in your heart and your mind. You have committed to following Jesus, and baptism is a way you show that to people around you. Does baptism make me clean? No, baptism is a symbol of what God has already been doing in your life. Do you have to be baptized within a certain amount of time? No. Talk to your pastor or a leader about when a good time would be to be baptized. Some churches have baptism at a certain time of the month or year. My friend got sprinkled when she was a baby. What does that mean? Some churches choose to baptize a baby (and putting a baby under water isn t the best idea!), so they sprinkle the baby. Churches who baptize babies generally believe baptism symbolizes the gift of God s grace, and the celebration of baptism is a commitment for the parents and the church to point the baby toward God throughout his/her life (in many Baptist churches, this commitment is celebrated with a dedication instead of baptism). If you have not been baptized yet, commit today to talk to someone about making this outward act of your inward decision. If you have been baptized, take some time to remember that experience. How can share that feeling with others?
Day 23: A Spirit of Generosity And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together... met in homes for the Lord s Supper...shared their meals...all the while praising God... And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. - Acts 2:44-47 God s people are known for their generosity! From the very beginning, these followers of Jesus in Acts shared what they had. They showed their generous hearts! WEEK 4 : Giving it away What do you have to give? You may not have much money yet, and that s ok! Money isn t the only thing you can give. You can also give your time. Outside of school, you probably have free time you could give away. You could serve an organization or help out at church in your free time. Perhaps one of your neighbors needs help or a friend could use some extra help with tutoring. You also have talents you can share. God has given your unique physical or mental abilities, plus your Spiritual Gifts (remember Day 17?), and you can be generous with these talents, too! You can start with a little. God will grow your desire to give over your entire life. Generosity is a remarkable trait. Churches teach about giving a tithe 10% of the money you earn. When offerings are collected during worship, we are offering our tithe to God as a gift. Generosity doesn t have to stop at 10%, but 10% is a good goal to have. What if I m not giving anything? 10% is a lot! Take steps: start with a few dollars each month, and make a goal to give more. Knowing you could give away time, talents or money, what do you think you could give? What are two ways you could start being more generous?
WEEK 4 : Giving it away Day 24: Welcoming Others 13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. Matthew 19:13-15 Jesus had a generous spirit. He was always giving himself away. He was welcoming children. He was touching the sick and dying that no one else would touch. He was speaking to those cast out of normal society. Those kinds of people are all around us. The ones no one wants to talk to. They sit alone for lunch at school. They do not get picked for group projects. They are the homeless person on the street. They are the one shunned for their mistakes. If we are to have a generous spirit like Jesus, if we are to welcome others like Jesus, if we are to bring others to Jesus we must have that same spirit. We must see others around us as Jesus sees them. We must remember that while we are special and created in the image of God, so is everyone we meet. Who can you reach out to today? Who needs an act of kindness or a word of encouragement? Pray that you would see others as Jesus does.
Day 25: Telling Your Story Remember in week 2, we talked about John 3:17? The life of Christ is not about judgment but about how much God loves us and why God sent Jesus to Earth: for us. Take a few minutes to think about these questions from the past three weeks. Are your responses different now? How has your story grown? Day 2: How is your life different now than it was before you committed to following Jesus? WEEK 4 : Giving it away Day 11: What would you tell someone now about what it means to follow Jesus? Day 17: What are your spiritual gifts you can use to encourage and support other people and the church? Your story is uniquely yours. Just as God knitted you together before you were born, God gave you gifts, talents, abilities and a story. Only you can reach people the way you can. Remember your story and tell it so others will know the God you have come to know and love. Ask God to help you know when the time is right to share your story with your friends and the people you interact with every day.
WEEK 4 : Giving it away Day 26: What s Next? 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. - Matthew 28:19-20 We have reached the end of our journey together. What a ride! There are a couple things you need to know: First, we have been praying for you. We might not know you personally, but we have been praying that God would use these words we have put on paper to help you learn more about God and what your relationship with Jesus really means. Second, this might be the end of our journey together, but your life with Christ is only beginning! We re so excited for where God is leading you. Jesus tells a story about building a house. Think about what it takes to build a strong house: you have to start with a good foundation, and that s what Jesus said when he used that illustration. We hope these past few weeks have been a good foundation for you. Jesus laid a foundation for his followers, the disciples who spent so much time with him. He taught them what it meant to follow God, he told them stories to illustrate his example and he showed them how to live, pray, worship and give. Right before he left this Earth to return to Heaven, Jesus said one more thing to his disciples: today s verse. Read it over a few times. This is how you are called now, too. Go and make disciples: help other people learn what it means to follow Jesus. Tell your story. Give, love like Jesus did and pray for the people around you. of all the nations: God might lead you to someone just down the street or God might lead you halfway around the world. God has called us to all of the nations, everywhere! baptizing them: You will live out your story. Your life will become like your baptism an outward sign of what s going on inside your heart and mind. Let your life lead other people to follow Jesus and be baptized.
teach these new disciples: Use your actions and use your words. Help these new followers of Jesus understand what it means. Share this guide with a new follower of Jesus. Encourage them, pray for them and help them understand why following Jesus will change their life forever. We re glad you spent the last few weeks with us. Now go. Let the peace of God go with you, the love of Christ fill you and the Holy Spirit guide you to the people you are called to love, lead, teach and baptize. WEEK 4 : Giving it away Day 27-28: The End of the Week There are so many ways to serve. Find somewhere to plug in, more than just once: invest your time in that place for a few weeks or months and see how God speaks to you about your passions. Maybe you will learn more about your spiritual gifts or find a way to share your story of faith.
For more information please visit: www.vbmb.org