GOD
God lives in Heaven. God is Holy, that means he has never done anything wrong, He is perfect. He created the whole world, the land, sea, sky, stars, plants, animals, birds, and most importantly us! We are His favorite creation! He loves us so much and wants us to be with Him!

​But there's a problem...

SIN
That problem is sin. Sin is Anything we think, say, or do that breaks God's law and makes Him sad. Or sin deserves punishment and that punishment is eternal separation from God. We can not be with God because of our problem of our sin; He is perfect and we are not.

Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

But God loves us so much He created a way for us to be close with Him again...

JESUS
The way for us to be in close relationship with God again is through Jesus, God's Son.

Jesus was born as a baby to Mary and Joseph. He lived a perfect life, but also went through many things that we go through (pain, temptation, sadness, happiness, and more). 

The Bible says, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." Hebrews 9:22b. That means that someone must take the punishment for our sins and that is what Jesus did for us! He willingly took our punishment on himself by dying on a cross. God put our sin on Jesus and He shed his blood for us. He died, but he didn't stay dead! Three days later He rose again and is now in Heaven in a place of honor.
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Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we can be with God...

ACCEPT
John 1:12 in the Bible says, "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."

-To receive means to take Jesus as your own, believing that He died on the cross to take the punishment for your sins and rose again from the dead three days later.

-To believe in His name means you are trusting in Him alone to save you from the hopelessness of sin.

When you believe this, God forgives your sin and you are given the right to become God's child, a member of His family.
Do you believe that Jesus is the only one who can save you from your sins?
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If you do you believe this then you can know these things for sure...

Assurance
Jesus never leaves you!
Hebrews 13:5b says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Jesus' life in you gives you power to do what is right!
Hebrews 13:6 says, "So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear'".

Confess
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Once we are saved, we don't lose our salvation when we sin, but it is important that we confess our sins as it helps us to remember what Jesus has done for us, helps us to remember not to do that sin again, and helps our relationship with God to grow.

How else can we grow?...

GRO​W
2 Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ."

When you believe in Jesus as your Savior, trusting that He is the only one that can save you. It is important that you continue to grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus, which is also called growing in your faith. Here are a few ways you can do that:

G = Go to Church and Sunday school! (This is where you can become more familiar with the Bible and also build relationships with other believers.)
R = Read your Bible and Pray! (When you read your Bible this is God talking to you and when you pray that is you talking to God. Both are very important!)
O = Obey God! (You can learn how to obey God by readying the Bible.)
W = Witness! (Tell other people about Jesus!)