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I Am The Way The Truth And The Life 25 Pack
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Book Synopsis I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (25-Pack) by : Billy Graham
Download or read book I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (25-Pack) written by Billy Graham and published by Good News Publishers. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evangelist and author Billy Graham proclaims that "the way to God is through personal faith in Jesus Christ." This redesigned tract explains the undeserved gift of salvation.
Book Synopsis I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Pack Of 25) by : Billy Graham
Download or read book I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Pack Of 25) written by Billy Graham and published by . This book was released on 1995-08-04 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the years I have talked to thousands of people who have asked me how to find their way to God. Some have sat in church pews all their lives but never come to personally know God. Others have sought for ultimate meaning in all sorts of ways but never found the peace of mind for which they were searching. Some simply realize that there is something vital missing in their lives. The Bible teaches that this sense of lostness is rooted in the fact that we live in a fallen world in which we are all handicapped by a sin nature: we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). And despite our best efforts we are unable to remove the haunting weight of guilt that separates us from our Creator. God sent his Son to solve our dilemma. "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus Christ made the way to God for us by his death on the Cross. He purchased our salvation by the shedding of his blood. His death and resurrection made a new and everlasting covenant between God and humanity. Jesus told his disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). He did not merely point the way to God. He himself claimed to be the only way to the Father and the source of eternal truth and life. The way to God is through personal faith in Jesus Christ. Intellectual acceptance of Christ is not enough. You must come to him determined to turn from what displeases him, with a total trust in Christ's saving power for you. Christ promises those who turn to him: "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed from death to life" (John 5:24). Today you can come to him by surrendering your life and heart to Christ. The Bible says: "To all who received him (Jesus Christ), to those who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Right where you are you can pray something like this: "Lord, I know that I have sinned and need your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me and rose from the dead. I invite you into my life to be my Lord and Savior." If you sincerely put your faith in Christ, God promises not only to forgive you, but also to receive you into his family. It's the greatest discovery you will ever make!
Book Synopsis Father's Love Letter by : Barry Adams
Download or read book Father's Love Letter written by Barry Adams and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2007-03-01 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Father's Love Letter by Barry Adams is a series of paraphrased Scriptures that take on the form of a love letter from God and will impact your heart, soul and spirit. Experience the love you have been looking for all your life. This gift book contains beautiful full-color photographs and fifty-seven powerful devotional thoughts. A prayer that will help you put into words your response to God follows each devotional thought.
Book Synopsis I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die by : Sarah J. Robinson
Download or read book I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die written by Sarah J. Robinson and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.
Book Synopsis One Minute After You Die by : Erwin W. Lutzer
Download or read book One Minute After You Die written by Erwin W. Lutzer and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2007-05-01 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One minute after you die, you will either be elated or terrified-and it will be too late to reroute your travel plans. When you slip behind the parted curtain, your life will not be over. Rather, it will be just beginning-in a place of unimaginable bliss or indescribable gloom. One Minute After You Die opens a window on eternity with a simple and moving explanation of what the Bible teaches about death. Bestselling author Erwin Lutzer urges readers to study what the Bible says on this critical subject, bringing a biblical and pastoral perspective to such issues as: Channeling, reincarnation, and near-death experiences, What heaven will be like The justice of eternal punishment The death of a child Trusting in God's providence Preparing for your own final moment
Download or read book Truth for Life written by Alistair Begg and published by The Good Book Company. This book was released on 2021-11-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A year of gospel-saturated daily devotions from renowned Bible teacher Alistair Begg. Start with the gospel each and every day with this one-year devotional by renowned Bible teacher Alistair Begg. We all need to be reminded of the truth that anchors our life and excites and equips us to live for Christ. Reflecting on a short passage each day, Alistair spans the Scriptures to show us the greatness and grace of God, and to thrill our hearts to live as His children. His clear, faithful exposition and thoughtful application mean that this resource will both engage your mind and stir your heart. Each day includes prompts to apply what you’ve read, a related Bible text to enjoy, and a plan for reading through the whole of the Scriptures in a year. The hardback cover and ribbon marker make this a wonderful gift.
Book Synopsis Are You Ready? (Pack of 25) by : Good News Publishers
Download or read book Are You Ready? (Pack of 25) written by Good News Publishers and published by Good News Publishers. This book was released on 2009-06 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evangelist Billy Graham asks "Are you ready to meet God?," and this tract explains how to answer with "yes"!
Book Synopsis A Christmas Message (Pack of 25) by : Good News Publishers
Download or read book A Christmas Message (Pack of 25) written by Good News Publishers and published by . This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Billy Graham illustrates three different ways to respond to the birth of Jesus Christ, and the impact of each response
Book Synopsis The Promise of Heaven (Pack Of 25) by : John MacArthur
Download or read book The Promise of Heaven (Pack Of 25) written by John MacArthur and published by Proclaiming the Gospel. This book was released on 1996-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What will heaven be like? Heaven is a place more wonderful than we can ever begin to imagine. It is a place of joy and beauty, of peace and happiness that will never end. Why? Because heaven is also a place where there will be no sin or suffering, no sorrow or pain. It's a place where there will be no quarrels or disagreements, no disappointments or weeping--because there will be nothing there to make us sad. And in heaven we will never do anything to displease God. We will then know perfect joy. Psalm 16:11 says, "In Thy presence is fullness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever." Everything that now makes us groan will finally be done away with, and we will find ourselves in the very presence of God, where the purest and truest kind of joy is possible. In heaven we will also have perfect knowledge. The Bible says, "Then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). We will have no more unanswered questions, no confusion, no ignorance, and no more need to walk by faith rather than by sight. We will live in perfect comfort. We will love God perfectly and will be loved perfectly by Him. His love will engulf us forever. Stated simply, heaven is a place of perfect joy forever. Think of it! We will be perfectly free from evil forever. We will be set free from captivity to sin, and finally able to do that which is absolutely righteous, holy, and perfect before God. With sin and its effects erased
Book Synopsis No Greater Love (Pack Of 25) by : Good News Publishers
Download or read book No Greater Love (Pack Of 25) written by Good News Publishers and published by . This book was released on 2013-01-31 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There's no greater love in the world than Christ displayed by dying on the cross for our sins in our place
Book Synopsis Have You Been Born Again? (Pack of 25) by : Good News Publishers
Download or read book Have You Been Born Again? (Pack of 25) written by Good News Publishers and published by . This book was released on 2009-06 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This tract explains six characteristics that will be evident in a believer's life if they have been born again.
Book Synopsis How Can We Know That We'll Go to Heaven? (Pack of 25) by : Randy Alcorn
Download or read book How Can We Know That We'll Go to Heaven? (Pack of 25) written by Randy Alcorn and published by Crossway Books. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A recent poll indicated that for every American who believes he or she is going to Hell, there are 120 who believe they're going to Heaven. This optimism stands in stark contrast to Jesus Christ's words written in the Bible: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few"(Matthew 7:13-14). The truth is that according to the Bible we don't automatically go to Heaven. In fact, Hell--not Heaven--is our default destination. Unless our sin problem is solved once and for all, we can't enter Heaven. That's the bad news. But once that's straight in our minds we're ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ--Jesus took upon himself, on the cross, the Hell we deserve so that we could experience for eternity the Heaven we don't deserve! The Only Two Options There are two possible destinations when we die--Heaven or Hell. Can we really know in advance where we'll go? John, one of the writers of the Bible, said this: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). We can know for sure that we'll go to Heaven when we die. Do you? To sin means to fall short of God's holy standards. Sin is what ended Eden's paradise. And all of us, like Adam and Eve, are sinners. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2). Sin deceives us and makes us think that wrong is right and right is wrong (Proverbs 14:12). Sin has terrible consequences, but God has provided a solution: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loved us so much that he became a man to deliver us from our sin. "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). He came to identify with us in our humanity and our weakness, but he did so without being tainted by our sin, self-deception, and moral failings (Hebrews 4:15-16). Jesus died on the cross as the only one worthy to pay the penalty for our sins demanded by the holiness of God: "For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). But God raised Jesus from the grave, defeating sin's consequences and conquering death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54-57). When Christ died on the cross for us, he said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). In those times "It is finished" was commonly written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant "Paid in full." Christ died so that the certificate of debt, consisting of all our sins, could once and for all be marked "Paid in full." The Critical Decision Only when our sins are dealt with in Christ can we enter Heaven. We cannot pay our own way. Jesus said "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Because of Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, God freely offers us forgiveness. To be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of our sins. Forgiveness is not automatic. It's conditioned upon confession: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Christ offers to everyone the gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. "Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Revelation 22:17). There's no righteous deed we can do that will earn us a place in Heaven (Titus 3:5). We come to Christ empty-handed. We can take no credit for salvation. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift cannot be worked for, earned, or achieved. It's dependent solely on Christ's generous sacrifice on our behalf. Now is the time to make things right with God. Confess your sinfulness and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf. You are made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person, and Heaven is the place. They are a package--they come together. You cannot get Heaven without Jesus or Jesus without Heaven. "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6). For all eternity you'll be glad you did. If you understand what God has done to make forgiveness and eternal life possible for you, you may want to express it in words like these: "Dear Lord, I confess that I do not measure up to your perfect standard. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins. I now place my trust in him as my Savior. Thank you for your forgiveness and the gift of eternal life."
Download or read book 3:16 (Pack Of 25) written by Max Lucado and published by . This book was released on 2007-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A twenty-six-word parade of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. Brief enough to write on a napkin or memorize in a moment, yet solid enough to weather two thousand years of storms and questions. If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And God's treatment is prescribed in John 3:16. He loves. He gave. We believe. We live. He loves. God loves you because he chooses to do so. "God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important... He did it out of sheer love..." (Deut. 7:7-8, MSG). God's love for you depends on his goodness, not yours. And since he is totally good, you are absolutely loved. You don't need to win his love, you already have it. And since you can't win it, you can't lose it. He will love you forever. You may step outside of his will, but never his love. Mark it down. He loves you. So much, in fact, that... He gave. He gave his one and only Son. Jesus is God's "one and only." He is unlike any other person in history. Every quality we attribute to God, we can give to Jesus. Jesus has an eternal life span, unending wisdom, and tireless energy. Most of all, Jesus is sinless. When he lived on the earth, he never sinned. "He never did one thing wrong. Not once said anything amiss" (1 Peter 2:22, MSG). We, on the other hand, do wrong things daily. We stretch the truth.
Book Synopsis Your Ticket to Heaven (Pack of 25) by : Sumner Wemp
Download or read book Your Ticket to Heaven (Pack of 25) written by Sumner Wemp and published by Crossway Books. This book was released on 2007-12 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May I offer you a ticket to Heaven? You don't have to pay for it, and that's a good thing, because you could never afford to buy it! It's free, but only because someone has already paid the ultimate price for it. God loves you and not only wants you to have a fulfilling life on earth, He also wants you to live with Him in Heaven forever. He's the one who offers you a paid-in-full ticket. No one wants to go to hell where there will be no joy and no pleasures whatsoever, and God doesn't want anyone to go there either. The Bible says that God is "not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9). But there is a problem with getting that free ticket. We have all done wrong--we have all sinned, haven't we? God's Word says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John 1:8). Sin pollutes--it makes us unclean, unfit for God's presence in that wonderful, perfect place called Heaven. Sin penalizes--it separates us from a sinless God, "for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). In short, our sinfulness blocks the delivery of the ticket that we need to get into Heaven! Who paid for it? Wait! There's good news! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth to be born and to live His life without sin. He "once suffered for [our] sins, the just [One] for the unjust [all of us!], that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). When God "laid on Him the iniquity [sins] of us all" (Isaiah 53:6), Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34). The answer is simple and profound: Jesus was separated from God because He took your place and mine on the cross, and by dying He paid in full the "wages" our sins had earned. Then He rose from the dead, was seen by hundreds of people, and is alive today so you can know Him and receive the gift of eternal life--your ticket to Heaven. That's right! The Bible says this about all who believe in His name: "as many as received Him [Jesus], to them gave He power to become the sons of God" (John 1:12). That is fantastic! You can become a "new" person--born of God--to start a brand new life that pleases God. And, of course, all God's children have a ticket to Heaven! Do you want it? It is no accident you were given this offer of a ticket to Heaven. God has made sure you can receive it. The whole issue is, did Jesus pay for all your sins or didn't He? God said He did. Trust God that it is so. "He that believeth on the Son [of God] hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). Just as a man says, "Yes, I will take this woman to be my wife," God wants you to tell Him, "Yes, I will take Jesus to be my Savior. I believe that He is the only way to Heaven." The Bible says, "He that hath the Son [Jesus] hath life" (1 John 5:12). If you believe that God's way to Heaven is the only way, you can "claim your ticket" by telling God in words like these: Dear God, I have sinned. I know I have offended You in many ways. I am so sorry. I believe that Jesus suffered and died for my sins, paid my debt in full, and rose again. Jesus, I believe in You and thank You for what You've done for me. Please save me from the penalty of my sins, and give me a new birth and the power to live for You. Thank You for this offer to spend eternity in Heaven with You! Remember what John 3:36 says: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Do you now believe in Jesus as your Savior, your only "ticket to Heaven"? Do you have everlasting life, like God said?
Book Synopsis To Be a Christian (Pack Of 25) by : J. I. Packer
Download or read book To Be a Christian (Pack Of 25) written by J. I. Packer and published by Good News Publishers. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To Be a Christian By J.I. Packer and Lane Dennis What does it mean to be a Christian? What is essential for Christian faith and life? How can we know Jesus Christ and experience the full love of God through him? How can you become a child of God, anchored in the full reality of unquenchable joy, beginning in this life and ever increasing in the life to come? It is possible to know about these things, however, without actually knowing them personally in one's life. In order not to miss what God is offering you, it is imperative that you receive Jesus Christ as your own Savior and Lord--if you have not already done so--and commit yourself to him to be his life-long disciple. There is no more important thing in life that you could ever do--both for the sake of this life and immeasurably more for the life to come. And when you have received Jesus Christ as your own Savior and Lord, to know that you have done it, so that you can go on from there, knowing the fullness of joy as a child of God both now and forever. To be a Christian is a lifelong personal commitment to Jesus Christ, but it begins with becoming a Christian in a deliberate conscious way, much like being a spouse begins with taking marriage vows. Being a Christian is a process of advance from that point. As you continue with Christ, with his Father as your heavenly Father, his Holy Spirit as your helper and guide, and his Church as your new family, you will constantly be led deeper into your born-again calling of worship, service, and Christ-like relationships. You need to know from the beginning that God creates human beings for the purpose of knowing him, loving him, and enjoying a deep friendship with him. But no one naturally fulfills this purpose. We are all out of step with God. In the words of the Bible, we are sinners, guilty before God and separated from him (Romans 3:23). Life in Christ is, first and foremost, God's taking living action to remedy our dire situation (Romans 5:8). The key facts of this divine remedy--which the Bible calls the Gospel (meaning "good news")--are these: 1. God the Father sent his eternal Son into this world to reconcile us sinners to himself, and to preserve and prepare us for his glory in the life to come. 2. Born of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit, God's son (whose human name is "Jesus") lived a perfect life, died a criminal's death as a sacrifice for your sins, and rose again from the grave to rule as Christ (meaning "the Anointed One"), reigning on his Father's behalf in the Kingdom of God. 3. Reigning now in heaven, Jesus continues to draw sinners to himself through the communication of the Gospel here on earth. 4. By the Holy Spirit, God enables us to turn wholeheartedly from our sinful and self-centered ways (repentance) and to entrust ourselves to him, to live in union and communion with God (faith). Our natural condition could not be more desperate and urgent. In spiritual terms, our sin and self-centeredness is the way of death, and fellowship with Christ is the way of life now and forever. As the Apostle Peter said when her proclaimed the Gospel on Pentecost morning: "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 for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself (Acts 2:38-39). God the Father calls us to himself through his Son. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 4:16). As we come to the Father, through Jesus Christ his Son, we experience and know and grow in the unconditional and transforming love of God. God the Son calls us to believe in him. We may understand a great deal about Jesus, but that is not the same as personally believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We can attend church services and do many good things without knowing the risen Jesus. Knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord means personally believing in him, surrendering our lives to him, and living as his joyful followers. God the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds and hearts to believe in Jesus, giving us spiritual birth and life as we believe and trust in him. Our loving Father will "give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Luke 11:13). As we place our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and wonderfully provides us with the power and gifts for life and ministry as Jesus' disciples. To live faithfully as Christians, we must rely upon the equipping and enabling power of the Holy Spirit. In a way beyond our grasp, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are revealed as equally one God and three Persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are near to us at all times and will hear us whenever we pray with sincerity, truly meaning what we say. God calls us to enter into continual repentance and faith in Christ. And the way to enter into life in Christ--today and forever--is to pray a prayer like this (preferably in the presence of a mature Christian): Lord Jesus Christ, I confess my faults, shortcomings, sins, and rebellious acts, and ask you to forgive me. I embrace you, Lord Jesus, as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for your atoning death on the cross in obedience to your Father's will, to wash away my sins. I enthrone you, Lord Jesus, to be in charge of every part of my life, and I ask you to indwell and empower me with your Holy Spirit, so that I may live as your faithful follower from now on, in this life and forever with you in heaven. In Jesus name I pray these words with all my heart and soul, amen. If you have prayed the prayer above "to be a Christian," we would encourage you to visit the GoodNews.org website, where you can read the Bible free and find many helpful materials for your new life as a Christian. Excerpted from To Be A Christian: An Anglican Catechism. Used by permission of the Anglican Church in North America.
Book Synopsis "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life". by : Clifford Earl Young
Download or read book "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life". written by Clifford Earl Young and published by . This book was released on 1952 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis When God Takes Your Place (Pack Of 25) by : Dave Furman
Download or read book When God Takes Your Place (Pack Of 25) written by Dave Furman and published by Good News Publishers. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Greatest Exchange Adapted from Kiss the Wave by Dave Furman By Dave Furman Kelly Gissendaner was on death row for almost two decades for the murder of her husband. She planned the murder and convinced her lover to kidnap her husband and kill him in the woods. Afterward they set the evidence on fire. Their motive was to collect a life insurance policy and receive sole ownership of the house the Gissendaners had just purchased. A jury convicted Kelly of murder for her role in the crime, and after refusing a plea deal, she was given a death sentence. While she sat on death row, Kelly's entire life changed. She was transformed as she came to understand that Jesus died for her. She encountered the Bible and the truth of the gospel. God worked in her heart to bring her to repentance of her sins and to faith in Christ. The fruit of Kelly's transformation was on display for all to see. Kelly began to minister to the other women in prison and led various Bible studies. She counseled women through an air vent and prevented some women from committing suicide. Perhaps the biggest change was that, in Christ, she found peace in the midst of the storm of death she was facing. She was in awe that Jesus took her place on the ultimate death row. On one occasion she said, "I have learned first-hand that no one, not even me, is beyond redemption through God's grace and mercy. I have learned to place my hope in the God I now know, the God whose plans and promises are made known to me in the whole story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus." Her hope was not in her continued breaths in this life, but in her union with Christ in this life and in the next. She was a shipwrecked woman who finally found land. Not all of us have been convicted of murder, but all of us have at one time rejected God. The Bible is clear that we are all under an eternal death sentence and apart from God's intervention we would all sit on death row facing a forever death. The truth of God's holiness and our sin means we can never be in his presence unless something changes. We are not simply in need of an inspiring example--we need a saving substitute. We need someone who will take our punishment. When Jesus was being tried for crimes he did not commit, the Roman governor Pilate gave the people a choice: He could release Jesus, an innocent man, or a man called Barabbas, who was a known terrorist. The crowd chose Barabbas and demanded Jesus to be crucified. The crowd chose a murderer over the one who brings the dead back to life. They chose evil over the one who loves perfectly. Put yourself in Barabbas's place for a minute. You are walking to your death in chains and then all of a sudden, when you least expect it, you are free. Then you hear the words begin again: "Crucify him, crucify him." You see another person walking by. Those chants are not for you. The guards are dragging another one to his death-- Jesus of Nazareth. He's beaten and flogged and is forced to carry his cross to his death. It's the very cross you had imagined yourself carrying only moments earlier. You think to yourself, "That's my death he's dying." The Bible says of Jesus that "For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). You and I are sinners. We sit in a spiritual prison, bound helpless, awaiting the day when we will receive the just punishment we deserve. We sit on the death row of all death rows waiting to be dragged out to death not knowing when God's righteous judgment will come down. But the good news is that when you repent of your sin and trust in Jesus to save you, Jesus goes off to the cross in your place. He gets what you deserve; you get what he deserves. It is the greatest exchange in all of history. Jesus gives up his life so you can have life. You and I are Barabbas. We need someone to take our place, and Jesus has done that for us. He willingly took the wrath of God upon himself. On the cross, Jesus absorbed all our wickedness. He has poured out his perfect love upon us. First Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit." Jesus was leading a true revolution. You can always stop a Barabbas, but you can't stop Jesus. He took our place on the cross so that the greatest exchange in all of history would bring you to God. If you are reading this and want Jesus Christ to become your substitute and exchange your sin for his glory, call out to him right now with a prayer like this: Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son, and that he died on the cross to save me from my sin. I believe that he rose again to life, and that he invites me to live forever with him in heaven as part of your family. Because of what Jesus has done, I ask you to forgive me of my sin and give me eternal life. Please guide me to a Bible-believing church where I can grow as a Christian with others who love Jesus. Amen.
