1.1 God created humans as unique and special creations, designed to live in relationship with the God of the universe. We are not an accident; we have dignity and purpose because God created us.

1.2 A long time ago, man rebelled against God, and that relationship was broken. We then owed a debt to God we could not come close to paying.

1.3 God chose to deal with our rebellion and restore this beautiful relationship with man by sending his only son, Jesus Christ, to come to earth as a real man like us and give His life in payment for that debt.

1.4 Jesus is the Son of God, and lived a perfect life while he was on earth. He willingly died so that the debt we owed to God could be paid in full. In fact, He didn’t stay dead; He came back to life, so that we could again enjoy a personal relationship with him, we could refuse to rebel against God’s good boundaries for us, and successfully follow his teachings.

1.5 Anybody can know God personally if they believe that they have rebelled against a perfect God, and that they could not pay the debt they owe to God. Further, they must acknowledge that Jesus really is God’s son, and that he paid for us by dying and coming back to life. We also must realize that now He owns us, and deserves our full submission to His leadership.

1.6 As Christians we believe that everything was made by God and that the collection of His specific words to us, the Bible, is true. In fact, we believe that the Bible was inspired by God: that is, He guided people in exactly what to write down. The Bible tells us who He really is, what He is like and how we can live in harmony with Him.

1.7 Since God made everything, it is important that we learn how to see the entire world the way God does.

 1.8 But most importantly we need to learn how to know, love and follow the God who made us, and who loves us so much that He was willing to die for us. Then we are able to love other people like He loves us. In all of this He has given us a clear and powerful reason to live.

1.9 As we live our life the way God designed it to be lived, He is shown to be glorious, and we flourish even through suffering. We will enjoy fellowship with him, experiencing His powerful presence both now and forever. And that is indeed good news.

The Gospel really is Good News! Our relationship to the Gospel can be defined as*:

1. We don’t really know or understand it.

2. We know it, but don’t accept it as true and applicable to me.

3. We accept it, but it makes little difference in our daily lives.

4. It sometimes makes a difference in our lives, but we do not fully surrender our lives to it.

5. We fully, though imperfectly, surrender to it, and God helps us live it out.

The surrendered Christian “buys into” God’s vision, strategy & purposes for the Kingdom of God, and makes a firm commitment to follow His lead.

*adapted from A Stranger to Self-Hatred by Brennan Manning

Mark 1:15; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 24:14