JOHN 3:15-17
1. All human beings start life as "lost" people.
Since he was the first man, Adam served as representative of the human race. When he sinned against God (Genesis 3), his spirit became one of rebellion and sinfulness. (Romans 5:12) That "sin nature," which is passed along to each generation, results in our being "lost." Neither our deeds nor the fact of God's love are the determining factors.
2. Mankind is dead in trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1) When Adam sinned, his intimate relationship with God died. We, his descendants, are born into that state. Although we are physically alive at birth, our spirit—the only part of us that can relate to God—is dead.
3. We are eternal beings. Because we are made in God's image, our souls are eternal. Yet Scripture tells us that those who reject Christ as Savior will perish. (John 3:16) This does not mean annihilation; it means that the "lost" will live forever but eternally separated from God.
4. New birth is required. (1 Peter 1:3) To have a relationship with God requires that the part of us which has been dead to God now become alive. When we trust in Jesus, the very life of God is born in us, and we move from being spiritually dead and lost to being alive and saved.
God, out of love for us, provided just what we needed—a Savior. Start spreading the truth!
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Charles Frazier Stanley was born September 25, 1932, in the small town of Dry Fork, Virginia. The only child of Charley and Rebecca Stanley, Charles came into the world during a time when the entire nation felt the grip of the Great Depression. To make matters worse, just nine months later, his father Charley died at the young age of 29.
However, Charles refused to let the Great Depression or the difficulties of his life define him. Instead, like his father and grandfather before him, he clung to God’s Word and took up the mantle to preach the gospel to whoever would listen.
Dr. Stanley’s motivation is best represented by the truth found in Acts 20:24, “Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God's mighty kindness and love.” This is because, as he says, “It is the Word of God and the work of God that changes people’s lives.”
Dr. Stanley’s teachings can be heard weekly at First Baptist Church Atlanta, daily on “In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley” radio and television broadcasts on more than 2,800 stations around the world, on the Internet at intouch.org, through the In Touch Messenger, and in the monthly, award-winning In Touch magazine.