Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow

What Does God Expect From Us?
John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (English Standard Version)
Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he (Jesus) said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (English Standard Version)


What If I Have Fallen Short?
  By the way… You HAVE fallen short, and so have I.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (ESV)
 No one has obeyed God's law perfectly.
What do we do about that?
We can…
Run, Avoid God and religion thinking, “If I don't believe it, then it's not true.”
Blame Others, Even God
Try to make up for it with our good actions.
Blindly hope it will all just work out.
OR
We can trust God's promise of forgiveness through following Jesus.
Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (ESV)
  
John 1:12 “But to all who did receive Him (Jesus), who believed in His name, he gave the right to become the children of god.” (ESV)

 Ephesians 2:9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift from God, not a result of works so that no one can boast.” (ESV)

In other words, God shows grace to those who…
Confess their need for Him.
Trust His way of meeting that need (Faith in Jesus).
Decide to turn away from their own way, and turn towards following Jesus.

Your First Step Is To Simply Pray… God, I have not loved you or my neighbors perfectly as you command. I trust your promise that Jesus lived, died and was raised to bring forgiveness for my imperfections. Today I want to let go of my own attempts to live right and begin to follow Jesus as my Lord. I may not be perfect at it up front, but I trust your love, grace and power to help me grow in my walk with You. Thank you for loving me through Jesus. Because of Him I pray. Amen.

Remember...
"For God so loved the world that He gave is only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but has eternal life." John 3:16

If you have decided to follow Jesus recently...
Tell someone you care about.
Begin reading the Bible: Begin in the book of John to get to know who Jesus is and what He came to do.
Get around other followers of Jesus for encouragement, to serve others, and to grow alongside others in your faith.

We would love to know where you are on your journey with God, so please email us at gbcpastor@comcast.net or come and join us on Sunday for worship.