Transcribed from Sermons by Bruce Peterson at Grace Chapel in Scottsbluff, NE. The video of this sermon can be found by clicking this link.

For a printable list of the primary verses to use when sharing the Gospel via this method, click on this link.

Click here for “How to Lead Someone to Christ (Part 1).

Click here for “How to Lead Someone to Christ (Part 2).

Click here for “How to Lead Someone to Christ (Part 3).

Good morning Grace Chapel! We are on week four of “How to Lead Someone to Christ.”

This is a fun week. This week we get to tell them the results of believing in Jesus. There are so many passages you could go to to talk about the benefits of what happens when you believe. The list is…like 25 things happen instantly the second you believe, the second you put your trust in Christ, the second you understand what God has accomplished through his Son for us.

We are not going to go through that whole list; I don't go through that whole list when someone first believes it would be overwhelming.

That's really the journey of our whole Christian life—to learn what happened at salvation and to learn to walk in it. That's learning to walk by faith, it's a journey. But there are some things that are really important right up front that they need to know.

As you think through passages in Ephesians…the whole book of Ephesians really, it says, “You know you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ,” and then Paul begins to enumerate them.

Colossians is also full of them…really, all the books are, but we are going to stay in Romans for this week.

But, whatever your favorite ones are, the basic idea is that you are trying to get them to understand that salvation is not just something about the future, it's not about only going to Heaven and not going to Hell, it's not only about experiencing the promises of God and avoiding the wrath of God, it's about right now.

I think it’s Peter who says (correction: 1 John 3:2), “Behold now we are sons of God.”

We don't know what we're going to be like in the future. We know we're gonna be like Jesus when we see Him. We're gonna see him face to face. But, “Behold now we are sons of God.”

If I could say there's one struggle in the Christian life that all the New Testament authors are going to appropriate and try to give to their audiences—it’s: now, right now, your whole status has changed. You're now a Son of God. You're now on team Jesus. You're an ambassador. You now have a mission. The work of your salvation is done.

That's the big idea: the work of your salvation is done. Stop worrying about that and now only worry about growing. Only worry about the mission. Step into your faith. God's promises are real and they're true and they're dynamic and they’re essential for life and faith and growth.

Without faith it's impossible to please God. What is faith? It's believing the promises. It's taking God at his word and acting like it.

Faith is demonstrable. Do you have faith in a bridge? Then you'll walk over it. If you have faith in the promises of God, you will walk in them.

So, let's back up a little bit…When I try to lead someone to Christ there's four phases of the conversation, and I really want to engage every single phase of that conversation.

The first phase

Put the weight of Holiness right on them.

No one no one is declared righteous in God's sight by works of the law. No one can even pass the two big commandments:

Moses and The Ten Commandments - Artwork4Jesus

Commandment 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

There's no one no one who loves God with all their passions, with all their effort, with all their energy, with all their thoughts, with all their life, no one does it, nobody.

You can lay yourself out as the sacrificial lamb when you're having that conversation (pointing out how you, personally can’t do it) and the person across from you is probably not that much better than you. If you crush yourself in front of them they will feel crushed too. “We’re equals in this, we’re good people, but we don’t measure up to God.”

Commandment 2) Love your neighbors yourself.

Again, nobody loves their neighbors as themselves. When Jesus was asked who's your neighbor, He said every single person who is in need is your neighbor. We do not meet other people's needs the same way we meet our own. We just don't. We might help somebody a little, but we don't give them half of our stuff. We don't love our neighbors the same way we love ourselves, not if you consider your neighbor to be everyone who has need.

The Law crushes us. Put the weight of Holiness on their shoulders, that's the first phase of the conversation.

The second phase

Take the weight of Holiness and put it on Jesus.

Jesus does love people. He does meet their need. He's going to go to the cross. He's innocent and yet He's going to pay the price for everyone. He isn't just loving them as Himself, He's not splitting what He has, He's taking all of God's wrath on Himself and giving us all of God's righteousness. Jesus can bear the weight of Holiness and we cannot. That's why He is a great Savior.

Make Jesus big, big, big!

The third phase

How how do I get it?

Jesus Walking on Water- ReverentReflections

By faith. We have to believe.

We have to understand what God is accomplishing on the cross. We have to understand our need and how Jesus saves us and then we have to appropriate it to ourselves.

We have to make a decision: do I want to trust it? Do I want to put my eggs in Jesus's basket? Do I want to put my hope in the anchor that God provides? If God tells me He provided a sacrifice for me, do I want to believe it?

Faith, faith, faith, that is the third one.

The Fourth Phase

We want to help them move forward.

Salvation isn’t just “check the box, I'm going to Heaven, phew”. At the cross every single thing changes:

New Creation in Christ - PropheticVessel

Who we are
Our relationship with God
The purpose of our life
How we view suffering and trials
How we see other people, etc.

Paul says, “God's love compels me. I no longer look at people the way the world sees people, I see them as a mission.”

Everything about our life is supposed to change. We're now citizens of Heaven and we're no longer citizens of this Earth. We're supposed to live as aliens and strangers and we are now intimately related to God.

So, I want to explain some of this stuff to them. Let's jump into some texts and we'll walk right through it. They're amazing. They're all out of Romans, because you could overwhelm someone at this point and that's not the goal.

Let’s start with Romans 5:1-5 and walk them through it.

Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You want to point out that these verses are written in past tense. You have been justified through faith when you believe.

What does it mean to say you “believed it”? If this makes sense to you and you have chosen to put your trust in the work of Jesus.

Then the results are spoken of in past tense.

You have been justified. Justified means to be declared innocent. It means to have no books, no guilt, nothing, no debt to God.

Therefore, since we have been (past tense) justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

He's at peace with me now; no longer an agent of wrath; no longer against me; no longer punishing me. I can't get on His wrong side. I have been past tense declared innocent.

People who are innocent before God have ‘present tense’ peace. I have peace with God through Jesus. Jesus accomplished continuing peace. Peace today, peace tomorrow, peace a month from now, peace a hundred years from now, peace ten thousand years from now. That peace doesn't start when I die and go to Heaven, that peace starts at the moment of belief.

The unbeliever sees God as wrathful and judgmental and out to get them and out to punish them for their failures and sins. For a believer that is no longer true; we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.

All we do is have faith; all we do is believe. In the text, those are the two things we do, God does all the rest of the work.

through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

We stand.

Our standing—our state—before God is grace.

What is grace? Everything Jesus accomplished for me on the cross; all the promises of God from the cross: that I am in Him, that I am safe, that I am forgiven, that I am a Son of God.

I now stand in all of these promises.

Remember when we were in point number three? Ephesians chapter 2: saved by faith.

Ephesians 2:1-9 (NIV)

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Everyone starts as an object of wrath; we started in wrath. Romans 3 said:

Romans 3:9-20 (NIV)

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

No one is justified before God, all have sinned, all have walked away, all have become worthless.

But, we now stand in grace. Our standing is now totally in Christ. I am in Christ. When God sees me He sees the finished work of the cross. When He sees me He sees His son dressed in Jesus' clothes. That's outrageous!

How did all of that come true? Faith, faith, faith. It just says it again and again. That's the beauty of these verses in Romans 5, they reinforce the previous points all the way through.

Look how verses 3, 4, and 5 go on:

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Paul is saying here that our entire perspective on life can now change.

“Suffering is not promised to go away for a believer. We’re going to suffer just the same as the world. We’re in a world of sin. We are the light in that world but we’re, nonetheless, still in this world that that we brought sin into.”

— Bruce Peterson

An unbeliever doesn't see…and God doesn't use suffering in an unbeliever's life the same way. With suffering in an unbeliever's life, they're suffering in the world.

Suffering is not promised to go away for a believer. We're going to suffer just the same as the world. We're in a world of sin. We are the light in that world but we're, nonetheless, still in this world that we brought sin into. We are the light and hope drawing people out but we're in the world with them so of course we're going to suffer. That goes away in Heaven, but for now we're going to suffer.

But, notice that in our suffering we now have a totally different perspective. Because God is no longer an enemy, now He's a friend. He's no longer treating me with wrath, He's now treating me with grace. The sufferings I go through are now trials or opportunities for me to lean into the promises of God.

I can lean into God’s promises and go through the struggles and I can still find that God is my friend, that God is with me. Through the suffering I'm finding areas in my life where I'm not trusting God and I can lean in to God—who is the Good Shepherd—who also suffered for me, who understands suffering, who understands the cruelty and the injustices of this world.

I can remember that the God who loves me is with me and He is wanting me to be light in the midst of the struggle so that I can give hope to other people in the midst of their struggle. In the end all of it gets made well, all of it gets redone, all of it gets rewarded on my behalf.

All of life's struggles get changed because I've now entered into a relationship with God. The spiritual has been made visible to me and I am able to be used in a totally different way and view my life in a totally different way than before I knew God.

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

I have changed; I have shifted. What is this grace in which I now stand? I now stand in the love of God.

Paul's going to lean into this in Romans chapter 8 when he says, “Who can separate us from the love of God?”

I now stand in the love of God. I am now a child of God and his relationship with me is that of a child which he is raising up. My sin is not counted against me any longer but that doesn't mean I am mature.

I like to use this illustration: When a human baby gets born they are fully human but they are not mature in any sense. In zero sense are they mature but they are fully human. They're not going to become more human later in life, but they are going to mature. They're going to be able to walk as a successful human being. That's exactly how the Bible talks about us, about maturity.

Jesus is going to talk about salvation with the euphemism of being born again. You start as an infant and the goal is to put on the full armor; to put on Christ; to put on the Word.

I'm supposed to learn to use the weapons of righteousness that I've been given. God is now going to work in my life maturing me and as I mature in Christ I will put off sin and I will put on righteousness because I will mature in my spiritual growth.

How does that all work? Through the Holy Spirit who is given to us like Ephesians 1 says.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

When you believed you were marked in him with the promised Holy Spirit who is a seal guaranteeing your inheritance until that day comes. We now have God living in our chest. I have I've been justified. I have peace with God. I stand in Grace. I walk in the love of God and I have God in my chest.

That's what happened and; therefore, I can have a totally new perspective on my life; on my struggles; on how I relate to people in life; and on the worries of this life. All have radically shifted because of Christ.

It's an amazing passage and you can literally take the entire afternoon talking to someone about all those truths, but the goal isn't to bring them to full knowledge on these subjects, the goal is to get them inspired. For them to go, “Oh wow I should look into this stuff.”

You're not teaching them a theology class, that would last forever. That's what church is for. This conversation is to inspire them to learn more about this because it's not just salvation, it's something even more awesome.

All right, let's jump to Romans 8:1-4. Paul has accomplished a lot of work through Romans, but, again, we can't teach everything, so we're just trying to show them that everything has changed at the moment of Salvation.

Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Archangel Gabriel Recording in the Book of Life -Michael Rucker

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation. Not now, not later, not when we die, not at the Great White Throne Judgment.

We will have a name in The Book of Life; we will not have books, they've been taken away. Like Colossians 2 said, everything written down that stood against us got nailed to the cross. It got taken away. Jesus triumphed over it. I now stand in peace. I now stand in Grace. I've been declared justified. I'm innocent before God who took my wrath away.

Where did the Wrath go? Jesus took it. It was nailed to Him on the cross. Jesus took our sin.

Paul sums that up in 2 Corinthians five:

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

But here in Romans he's kind of going a little slower.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

We get the spirit who gives life.

What's the law of the Spirit? This is the promised Holy Spirit this is life in Christ Jesus.

What's the law of sin and death? The Ten Commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart soul, mind, and strength; love your neighbors as yourself; have no other gods before me; tell no lies; have no lust.

The law crushes you.

For what the law was powerless to do…

What do we need? Holiness. The Law, though it itself is holy—it’s a demonstration of holiness—it didn't have the power to make me holy.

Why? Because I don't have the willpower to obey it and neither do you.

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,

The flesh is me. I can’t follow the Law. I can't do it. I can't and neither can you.

The Law was powerless to make us holy; to give us a way back to God. And because we couldn't do it, God did it by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful men to be a sin offering.

The Law couldn't get me back to God; make me holy; make me acceptable; get me access to Heaven; get my get my books taken away. The Law couldn't do it. The law is actually a record of how I break the Law. That's what the books which record our actions are. The books can't help me; the Law can't help me. But God wants to give us help.

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

So what the Law couldn't do, God accomplished by sending Jesus.

What is the Law? What I should do. How I should be holy. My holiness, or the expectations of my holiness. That's what the Law is.

Jesus is my holiness. I get credit for Him. That's why it's Grace. We don't stand in performance or effort, we stand in grace. It’s what God accomplished for me by sending Jesus.

That's a crazy gift. It's the gift of God.

And so he condemned sin in the flesh,

Jesus is flesh and He defeated sin on the cross.

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us,

What are the righteous requirements of the Law? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbors as yourself. And 611 more laws. All of them.

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us,

Wow, wow! Who's the “us”? Those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

How do I get in Jesus? By faith, trust, promise, follow,—whatever word you want to use—born again, citizen of Heaven. I have “thrown my eggs into the basket of Jesus”. I have I have aligned myself with Christ.

And when I did that—the moment I believed—Paul says in Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)

Divine Encounter, The Conversation Between Jesus and Nicodemus- EternalLightPrints

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

The minute I believe these things become true of me. They didn’t happen when I believed, they happened on the cross, but they get credited to me when I believe by faith. I get credit for it.

Let's go further down in the Romans chapter:

Romans 8:15-17 (NIV)

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

This passage is talking about our new relationship with God. We were by nature objects of wrath. By nature, who we are, our relationship to God, we're condemned. We have books that are bringing wrath. That's who we were before we got saved.

When we get saved there’s no more fear. Fear is gone.

1 John 4:18 (NIV)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with judgment. We do not live in fear now. The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again; it's not just a different kind of fear. This is release from fear.

Back to Romans:

rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

Let's stop there for a second because it's really important to understand this word here : “adoption”.

In the West in 2023 people would rather be a natural born kid than an adopted child. Adoption is awesome. It’s powerful; it's meaningful. I'm not trying to minimize it at all. But there's an insecurity about adoption in our day, I assume. I'm not adopted so maybe I'm wrong. But I presume that there's some insecurity that comes with that. Some unknowing; some some instability.

In the Roman world it was different. They had a pretty low view of human life and not a lot of birth control. So if you had a kid and you didn't want that kid you would take that kid and put it out in the field.

The early church is actually known for rescuing those children and raising them themselves, which is a great testimony to us.

But, until the family deemed them wanted and human they had no rights and could be left out in the field for the for the animals. It was pretty tragic.

In that world they had a totally different idea of adoption.

Your natural born child you couldn't really prevent and you couldn't really decide between girl or boy; blue eyes or dark eyes; curly hair or straight hair; whatever. You didn't get to choose any of it. The kid just just came

Adoption on the other hand has the parent’s full intent. It’s fully obvious that right up front, “I am choosing that child there to be mine. That one right there is mine now. I am choosing to adopt it.”

So once you adopted a child in this culture it was yours forever; you couldn't disown it later, you couldn't give it back.

Adoption was a statement of security. Your parent wanted you. They chose you out of the whole “nursery” full of kids. They chose you and they want you. It also brought legal security that a natural child didn't have.

On some level that makes sense because, “I'm choosing you, so I don't get to give you back.”

God wrote these verses with that culture as the primary audience. That's what it's like when we become His child. He is choosing us. He intentionally sent Jesus to save us. He knows us and He wants us saved, so He is putting Himself on the hook.

God is saying, “I have chosen you.” That's why there is no more fear.

What would the fear be over? I can get lost. I can get abandoned. My sin could kick me out. My sin could make God mad and I'd no longer be welcome. No, no, no, no. No more fear.

There's no more insecurity. Insecurity is gone, you are now secure.

And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

This is a crazy story:

It says “Abba”. Nowhere in the Bible is God the Father called Abba. which is

It is just the common term like “Daddy”. It’s nowhere in the Bible except when Jesus was in the garden.

If you go back to the Law when God reveals himself to Moses, God says they're supposed to speak the name of God to each other and Yahweh is His name.

But then in the Ten Commandments God says, “Don't use my name in vain.”

So, the Pharisees wanted to protect themselves and were wondering how they could know if they were using God's name in vain. So they just put a fence around that law by adding other laws that said to never use God’s name. It's just safer not to use the name of God.

Even today Jewish people won't even spell the name of God. They'll write “GD”.

Jesus totally breaks that in the Garden of Gethsemane when He's at his weakest; when He is suffering the most; when He is bearing the most weight; when He is needing God's comfort the most; Jesus—in that intimate moment, when He is talking to his Abba, to his dad—He is referring to Him out loud as Abba.

“Dad, look at me here man, I need help. I need strength. I need I need you. I need, I need, I need the confidence of those promises to be brought to my mind. I’m going to be dying literally for the sin of the world.”

Jesus is leaning on Abba to help him, to get him through, to remember his promises.

Then Paul says because we are now in Jesus we get that kind of a relationship with God. God is now ‘Abba’ to us.

Pictures of Jesus Christ - UpliftYourFeed

So, it went from ‘Yahweh"‘ and don't use my name in vain to ‘Abba’—dad, dad, dad. The audacity it would take to be so trivial with our unholiness that we would refer to God as Dad.

But, I don't have unholiness. I sin still, I do. But it's on Jesus' account and that breaks my heart. I am immature. I need spiritual growth, but God loves me as a dad. He's in my life hoping that in the struggle of life and in the temptations of life that I don't get waylaid.

Because you believed, now your whole relationship with God is different. He is no longer your enemy. He's now a loving father who's going to help you mature.

Does that mean suffering is going away? Nope, you're still going to suffer. But He's going to walk with you through it. Like David said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil because you're with me… (Psalm 23:4)”

You’re relationship with God is totally different. God is no longer your enemy, He's your friend.

Look at this:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…”

Who I am has changed. Who God is to me has changed.

I am no longer an outsider; I am now a family member. I'm no longer a beggar on the curb of Heaven hoping to find a crumb; I am now a co-heir with Christ I have rights. Jesus said, ‘Whoever believes in me has been given the right to be called The Son of God.”

Grace gave me these rights: Real sonship, real relationship, God is obligated to be on my side.

That's awesome! And if that's true, then what would be the consequences of that?

Here's where I'll shift to Romans 8, starting at verse 31.

Romans 8:31-39 (NIV)

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

For the first point, lets focus on the following:

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Cling to God in Times of Despair! – A Safe Harbor is Jesus

God couldn't give anything more than Jesus to save me. God gave it all. No father is just going to offer up a son he loves, his one and only son. God went to the very limit of giving when He gave us His Son to save us.

Now that I'm his child God is going to give us all things for godliness—not all things in the world. I'm not going to just become physically fit. I'm not going to become taller. I'm not going to become richer. Those things are not what we're talking about here. We're talking about way more substantial things than that, not the trivial things of life.

“ If you’re not bold enough to talk to your friends about God, lean into this promise. Just start talking and see if God doesn’t embolden you in that conversation. Just start, take Him at His Word, enter into these conversations with your friends.”

— Bruce Peterson

God is now in my life making me His son, making me into a person He can be proud of and He will give me everything I need for godliness in this life. He will give me everything I need for boldness. If you're not bold enough to talk to your friends about God, lean into this promise. Just start talking and see if God doesn't embolden you in that conversation. Just start, take Him at His Word, enter into these conversations with your friends.

God is never going to be against us. He's not against you; He isn't your enemy; He isn't out to get you. If you get sick it's not because He's punishing you for sin, that's not how it works. Your whole relationship has changed. He is not against you; He's for you.

The proof of this is that He gave you His Son and with that He's going to give you all things.

Here’s the second point:

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Who could bring any charge against us when the Judge, Himself, has declared us innocent.

There's no books left, where would the charge even come from?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

God is for us. God the Father loves us. We're now His son, His heir.

Who's the judge? He is. and he has justified us. More than that, Jesus, the one who caused my justification, is alive in Heaven and His role is to pray for me.

So God already loves me. I'm already His son. He is already on my side. And Jesus is constantly praying to Him about me.

That’s pretty good, like a minute ago before this conversation you were an enemy of God deserving of wrath with books stacked up that had your death in mind. You are now innocent, book free, and team Jesus in the family of God. You are an heir of God with God, Himself, living in your chest and your whole life is now on a different trajectory.

This is pretty good stuff, right? That's pretty good. That enough to try to get the person you're talking to to lean into church.

Why go to church if you're already going to Heaven? Why be good if I'm already going to Heaven? Because you have this whole relationship with God which you can develop.

Imagine building a relationship with the God of the universe who wants to change this world through you; who wants to bring life to your circle of influence. You just got saved, yes, but you know lots of people whom you love who aren't saved. You can put this stuff on, you can learn it, and you too can go bring life to those people. You can partner with Jesus in this world.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Let's slow down. Paul is taking every possibility of being separated from God and putting it there.

Can the heavens, themselves, separate us from God? No. No powers, no demons, no angels.

What about the future? I don't know what's the future holds. The future is this mysterious Pandora's Box. What about the future? What if God changes His mind? What if I fail? What if disaster happens in my life and I panic? What if I begin to lose my mind? What if I get dementia, start cursing God? What if I get angry? What if I become an alcoholic a decade from now? What about the future? No. No, not even the future. Not the present. Not the Future.

…nor any powers, neither height nor depth…

This is spiritual. Not the heavens and not the abyss. There is no dark force, there's no chaos force out there that can come in between the cross and you. The matter is settled, you have been declared innocent. Jesus has taken all your guilt—not just the guilt up to that moment—your whole life got paid for on the cross, all sin for all time with one sacrifice.

Just so you know, if this was one conversation where I was sharing the Gospel in two hours, I'd refer back to Hebrews 10:11-18 (NIV):

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy…

One time for all time. One sacrifice and we have been made holy. That's this hear:

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation…

Are you part of creation? You are. And even you cannot separate you from Go. You are now a legal heir with legal rights. You might go sideways. You might become the prodigal son.

What then will the Father do? Cut you off? No. He will look to the horizon and He will work to call you back. You're now His son. He's now in your corner. You might be a wayward son, but He'll pull you back. You might be a strong son and He'll raise you up and use you to change the world.

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If you have believed this, then this is now true of you.

The way you pray, the way you see God, the the desires of your heart, the the way you see people, the way that God is in your corner, everything, your confidence in life, it has all changed.

Know that you are loved and accepted and on team Jesus. God is now committed to your maturity and He is going to work through the things in your life to cause you to know the promises and learn the promises and lean on the promises and to put on Christ. God and you are now together on one team.

Your name is in The Book of Life. Your place in Heaven is certain, that's true, but you get way more than that. Your entire relationship with God, starting now and for every day in your future, can be significantly different because you are now His child.

That's how I'll kind of end that. I usually give them a hug and often times I give them the Bible that I used to show them these verses with. I use a real handheld Bible and it's my Bible. I'm happy to buy new Bibles. So, oftentimes I just give them my Bible and I write a note to them in the front. Something like, “You got saved on this day (I put the date) and here's my Bible.” And I add whatever it takes to help them.

Do I do that every single time? No. Do I do it a lot? Yes, I do, and whatever helps to trigger them to believe these promises and to know that their relationship with God is secure.

With that, we have wrapped up Revelation 20:11-15 the Great White Throne Judgement and how I use that passage in leading people to Christ.

Thanks for coming to church today! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you put it into practice. I hope you're able to lead many many people to Christ. Go in the boldness of Jesus as an ambassador for the light. Go change your world!

This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written or transcribed by Amanda Hovseth.