Here is a beautiful song which describes our walk with our Lord so well:

O what a wonderful, wonderful day, day I will never forget;
After I’d wandered in darkness away, Jesus, my Savior, I met;
O what a tender, compassionate Friend, He met the need of my heart;
Shadows dispelling, with joy I am telling, He made all the darkness depart.

Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!
When at the cross my Savior made me whole;
My sins were washed away, And my night was turned to day!
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

I trust that it is your song also, my dear friend. I am praying for you. May your love for our Lord and your faith in him grow stronger day by day. May you daily become more and more like the gentle, tender, loving Savior in every way! Here is what the Bible says about our wonderful Lord:

“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is  above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven  and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is  Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

May Lord Jesus bless you and keep you close to Him always.
May you discover all the treasures He has for you as you read his words in the Bible!
Goodbye, my dear friend, God be with you till we meet again!

As I look back on our lessons, I am amazed at the life God gives us when we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus and choose to follow Him:

• Without the Lord Jesus, I am a lost sinner.  With him, I am found, I am saved and secure!
• Without the Lord Jesus, my heart is stained and dark with sin.  With him, my heart is pure and clean and He lives in it.
• Without the Lord Jesus, I am stumbling in the dark.  With him, I am walking in the Light!
• Without the Lord Jesus, I do not know my way.  With him, I have a Guide who knows my Way!
• Without the Lord Jesus, I am dead in my sins.  With him, I am alive and have eternal life!
• Without the Lord Jesus, God is my stern Judge.  With him, God is my Heavenly Father!
• Without the Lord Jesus, I have passing friends.  With him, I have a constant Companion!
• Without the Lord Jesus, I am terrified in a storm.  With him, I have a safe Refuge!
• Without the Lord Jesus, I have no peace.  With him, I have peace in all circumstances!
• Without the Lord Jesus, I have momentary pleasures.  With him, I have joy everlasting.
• Without the Lord Jesus, I am in Satan’s hold.  With him, I am free from Satan’s bondage!

With Lord Jesus, I have a loving God, his priceless love, and all his blessings. And I am on my way to heaven!

Then God has given me a purpose for my life.  He says, “Go tell everyone what I have done for you.  I want them to know my tender love for them also and experience all these blessings.”  Obeying Him, I have sent all these wonderful Bible lessons to you, my friend. God’s amazing love is for everyone! Let us tell them “Come, Come to the Lord Jesus! God will give you a blessed life you never imagined possible!”

Prayer: “Dear Lord Jesus, please help me to tell everyone about the good news of Your Gospel and the precious gift of Salvation You give us freely.”

Ravi: I was a young man with a good job. But I was restless. Something was missing in my life. I started having a deep desire for God. I believed there is a God, a higher power in control of our universe. But I didn’t know how to find Him or reach Him. I began seeking God in the religion of my family. I performed all the rituals at home and in the temple, I gave alms to the poor, I fasted and prayed. But I just could not get close to God. I felt that there was a deep, wide gulf separating me from God. I looked around at other religions. The pathway to God in every religion came to a stop at the gulf! “How do I cross this big gulf and reach God?” I thought in despair.

One day I heard a message that the gulf between me and God are my SINS! God is holy and pure. I’m full of sin. My sins are keeping me from reaching God! “God, what do I do?” I cried in despair. “There is hope for you,” the message said. “Lord Jesus, God’s Son, has bridged the gulf between you and God when He died on the cross for your sins.”I ran to Jesus and knelt at His feet. “Lord, I’m so sorry for all my sins. Please forgive me and accept me,” I cried. The Lord Jesus gladly forgave my sins because He has paid my punishment on the cross. And He washed me clean of all the dark stains of sin. Jesus now took my hand and together we turned towards the gulf. To my amazement, I saw a bridge across the gulf! It was in the shape of a cross. I followed my Lord over the bridge and reached God the Father, who was waiting for me on the other side! My joy knew no bounds! I fell at God’s feet and worshiped Him. I looked back across the gulf of sins. There were many people along many pathways desperately trying to reach God. But they all came to a stop at the gulf! There was no way for them to cross the gulf. They could not cross the big gulf of their sins by their own efforts. They were crying out to God, but could not reach Him, just like me before I came to the Lord Jesus. But I saw that many people, who came to Jesus and had their sins forgiven, we’re all crossing the big gulf joyfully with him and were reaching God and were rejoicing!

Now I understood the truth of what Lord Jesus says in the Bible: “I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

This is Ravi’s spiritual journey. He has now left his old life of sin and lives a pure new life for his Savior, the Lord Jesus. And he wants to tell everyone where they can find the way to God!

How about you, my friend? Have you come to the Lord Jesus and obtained forgiveness for your sins and joyfully found the way to God?

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, I believe with all my heart You are the only Way to Holy God.Thank You for forgiving my sins and taking me to God by your sacrifice on the cross for me. Amen.”

What does God tell us in the Bible about Lord Jesus’ second coming?  

• Only God knows the time of his coming.
• He will come in the clouds with His angels, with a shout and a trumpet sound and great glory!  And every eye will see Him!
• He will come as the King of kings and Lord of lords!  He will rule the earth with goodness and justice for all.
• He will throw Satan and his demons into the hell prepared for them.
• He will gather all God’s children to himself.
• He will come as a fearsome Judge of all who have not accepted him as their Savior.
• The Bible calls this “the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior  Jesus Christ”.

As we wait for our Lord’s return, He says, “Watch and pray.”  

The last book of the Bible called Revelations ends with this glorious promise from our Lord and Savior: “Surely I am coming quickly.” And we reply joyously: “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.”

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, we eagerly wait for your return.  Please help us to be ready.”              

A few families are gathered in the living room.  They welcome us warmly.  The worship begins.  There is no organ here to lead us in our singing. But the praise songs are just as sweet and come from the heart. As in the other church, a leader leads us in prayer and Bible reading. Another gives the message. After the service, we have a happy time visiting with our brothers and sisters in this church.

You may wonder ‘what is a church?’  The church of the Lord Jesus is not a building. Each church is the people who meet together in the Lord’s name.  As a family of believers, we love and care for each other, pray and support each other and serve each other. Then, the Bible says, there is one church in the whole world!  What does that mean? The Christians all over the world, who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus and have decided to follow only Him, form this church. The Lord Jesus is the ‘Head’ of this church.  This church is called the ‘Body of Christ’. He breathes his life into his church and cares for us.  We are his very own.

 The Bible says: “Christ is the Head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior.” As you are reading this, wherever you may be in the world, whatever your culture and language maybe if you are a follower of Jesus, you belong to the world-wide church of our Lord. And you are my brother or sister in Christ.  Isn’t this wonderful?! I love you and I pray for you. I care about you. Are you glad, my friend, that you came to church with me to worship God with his family today through these pages?

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, thank You for making me a part of your world-wide church family.”

Why do Christians go to church on Sundays? The Lord Jesus came alive from the grave on the first day of the week which is Sunday. We remember his resurrection that day. The Bible says his disciples met together on the first day of the week. So Christians around the world gather on Sundays to worship God, praise Him, and thank him with fellow believers.

Do you see the cross on top of the church?  You may see one on most churches and another one inside the room where we meet for worship. The Cross is a symbol of value for Christians.  It reminds us that our Savior gave his life on a cross to save us.

Let us go inside and sit quietly on a seat. We see many other Christians who have come to church also.  Let us pray quietly and prepare our hearts to worship God. The organ music is playing beautifully. As we focus our minds on God, our hearts are lifted up. We can feel God’s presence with us in the church. Here is the Pastor.  He is the spiritual leader of all the people of this church.  He is leading us in worship. We joyfully sing songs and hymns of praise to God and the Lord Jesus. Pastor prays. We hear passages read from the Bible. Pastor gives us a message and teaches us from the Bible. Then, with a blessing, the worship service is over.

We meet the other Christians after the service.  We are so happy to visit with them! They belong to God’s family just like you and me and so they are our family. They are our Christian brothers and sisters. God is our Heavenly Father – to all of us who have accepted his Son as our Savior. In the Bible, a great king, David, wrote: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’ “Psalm 122:1

 Prayer: “Almighty God, thank You for giving us a church to worship You in. And for inviting us to worship You there with other believers.”

Salvation – being saved – is a free gift from God!  It is not a reward for our good deeds or self-denial. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn or give God in exchange for our salvation. It is a GIFT we don’t deserve. We are sinners who have been disobedient to God. We don’t deserve anything from Him. Yet God, in His love, has chosen to give it to us. It is called GRACE in the Bible. It is received only through FAITH in the Lord Jesus. There is no other way to get it.

In the Bible, we read:

“It is by GRACE you are saved, through FAITH… not as a result of works.

”This is the simple but wonderful truth of the Gospel!

We rejoice in our salvation. Now, what do we do? How do we live? In the Bible, God says: “I know the plan I have for you.”  Jeremiah 29:11

God has a plan and purpose for our life! Before our salvation, we had our own plans and we were going our own way, living selfishly for ourselves. Now we want to live our new life for Lord Jesus and follow his plan for us. God has lovingly planned a unique life for each of his children. It is not an empty life, it is a fulfilling life, full of good deeds He wants us to do for him. 

What are the good deeds God has for us? Serving God by serving others – like being kind-hearted, loving, and caring, helping people in need, praying for them, telling others about the Lord Jesus and his priceless gift of salvation, etc. The Lord Jesus will lead us along the way and the Holy Spirit will show us how to follow him. All the blessings God has for us will be found only along this path as we follow the Lord. Bible tells us: “God has created us in Christ Jesus to do all the good works which He has already planned for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 

My dear friend, as we rejoice in our salvation, let us eagerly pray and find out all the good deeds God is calling us to do.  And let us do them with joy!

Prayer: “Heavenly Father, please help me not to live a meaningless life only for myself. Help me follow the Lord Jesus and do all the good deeds which You have planned for me to do to serve others and bring You praise and honor.”

Before I came to Lord Jesus, I used to think like this: 

I steal a little pin – it is not a big sin like robbing a bank. I hate somebody and I am happy when something bad happens to him. I have not done anything to harm him. I am not in jail like all the criminals, so I am a good person.  I am not a sinner. I do not need to ask God for forgiveness. How wrong I was! 

God has given His basic laws in the Bible in Exodus 20: 3 – 17. They are called ‘The Ten Commandments’.  When I break even one of them, I sin. The Lord Jesus explained all the laws of God very simply: “Love God with your whole heart. Love others as yourself.”

Most of my sins are against God and against other people.  God knows everything that is in my heart.  He not only sees what I do, but He also knows all my reasons. I cannot hide anything from Him. I cannot pretend to be a good person outside and be a different person on the inside. I realize what a big sinner I am in God’s sight.  I love my Lord.  I do not want to do what He hates.  I humbly ask for His forgiveness for all my sins. I now want to live a life that will honor Him.  I do not ever want to go back to my old sinful ways and bring dishonor to my Savior who gave his life for me.

The Bible tells us :

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new person; the old sinful person has gone, the new has come.”   

Prayer: “Lord God, I give You my heart’s full devotion. Please help me not to sin, but live a new pure life for You. Amen”

”The Lord Jesus replied: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  Mark 12:30

“How do I love God this way?” I wondered.  Then Holy Spirit shone his light in my heart and showed me.

God wants me to love him with all of me!  He wants my total and complete devotion! He wants me to give Him first place in my life! 

I look back on all that God has done for me: 

He created me in my mother’s womb and gave me life. He has given me all the blessings I enjoy in this life.

He gave his own Son to save me from my sinful ways and has given me a new life.

He has given me his Holy Spirit to be with me and guide me till the end of my life.

He has promised to be with me always in all the trials and cares of this life, guide me and take care of me.

He has prepared a home for me in heaven, to live with Him forever.

How can I not love my God who has blessed me with so much?

Then I wondered: How do I show my love for God? Again Holy Spirit shone His light in my heart and showed me.

First and foremost, I show my love for God by hating what He hates:  SIN

In the next lesson, we will see what sin is according to God.

Prayer: “ Heavenly Father, please help me to love You with all of me.”

The Bible also calls Satan the ‘Devil’ or the ‘Ruler of this world’.  He rules over the whole world and overall the people of the world. God has allowed Satan to be free in this world for a short time. A time is coming soon when God will throw him and his demons into hell which he has prepared for them. And sadly all who have rejected the Lord Jesus and have chosen to follow Satan will follow him to hell also.

Just as Adam and Eve had a choice, God gives each of us the freedom to choose: I want to love, obey, and follow God, or do I want to obey and follow Satan? When I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior, I stepped onto God’s side. Now I obey only God and refuse to obey what Satan tells me.

Satan lost me!  He has now become my enemy.  His one purpose in my life is to make me believe God does not love me and to turn me away from following God. Satan is powerful.  He wants to win me back at all costs!  He tempts me with all the glitter and glamour of this world.  He hits me with all kinds of trials and sufferings. He wants to make me sin at any cost.

But the Bible tells us:

“God, who is in you, is greater than Satan who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

So don’t be afraid of Satan, my friend. Come to the Lord Jesus and be free and safe. God will keep you in all your trials.  I want to stay close to Lord Jesus and follow him in my life. When I do, the Holy Spirit gives me the power to resist Satan and live a pure life for the Lord Jesus every day.

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, please keep me strong against Satan’s attacks of trial and temptations and help me to live a pure life for You always.”