The gospel is important to those who attend our church. Jesus Christ came into the world in order that people might have life; that is, that they might have life abundantly and eternally. Many people in our country who attend church regularly, try to live a good life, and even follow the teachings of Jesus Christ without knowing for sure that they have eternal life and going to Heaven.

You have to hear the bad news in order to understand the good news! The bad news is that all of us fall short of God’s standard of perfection. God calls this sin.

If we stand together facing the north and each throws a stone as far as possible to hit the north pole we will both fail and fall short. You may be a better person than anyone else, but if you’re not perfect you still fall short of God’s standard.

The Bible teaches that the penalty for sin is death. When you work for someone that person pays you a wage in return for your work. Our sin earns the wage of eternal death which is what we deserve. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that Jesus Christ died for you. He suffered on the cross, died, and rose again the third day.

Let’s say that you have cancer and someone visits you in the hospital. If it was possible for the other person to take your cancer cells into their body and replace them with non-cancerous cells what would happen to you? You would be cured, but the other person would die in your place. This is what Jesus did for us on the cross.

You can know you’re going to Heaven by trusting in Jesus alone for your eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16 (NKJV)