CWT full

John and Jenna, new neighbors, meet and discuss their lives. They both work as teachers, enjoy the neighborhood, and have a church background. John asks Jenna a spiritual question about getting into heaven based on being a good person. He shares that heaven is a free gift, not earned through good deeds. He then explains why Jesus is relevant and demonstrates how Jesus can cover the sins of our lives. Jenna listens and engages in the conversation. They discuss the importance of Jesus and God's gift of salvation. John emphasizes the significance of Jesus' sacrifice and its relevance in today's world. Jenna is open to learning more about Jesus and the gift of eternal life. Hello there. I'm your neighbor. I wanted to introduce myself to you. My name is John. Hi, John. I'm Jenna. It's nice to get to meet you. Nice to meet you, Jenna. A lot that I noticed is you and I guess your husband moved in not too long ago. Yes. We've only been here a week, but just getting to know some people and glad that you stopped over. Well, good. Good. I think you'll like the place. It's a great, great place to live. This neighborhood is so sweet. There's so much character and just noticing that there's some nice activities around here It's good to get to meet some neighbors as well. Yes. It's walking distance from the little place up the road where you get coffee and you can get a movie, a restaurant or dinner. It's really a great place. We walk up there all the time. That's wonderful. Yes. Don't you leave for work at the same time every day or something? I noticed that you go someplace together every day. We've passed you a couple of times. We do. We leave together for work. We're both teachers up at the high school. Super. That's great. What do you teach? I am a history teacher. My husband teaches math. We're off in different directions once we get to the building. We enjoy doing that together. That's a huge challenge. My kids graduated from that school. It's a big school. Lots of activities. I'm a graduate teacher because those are people that really invest in our kids. That's what I was going to say. A great investment for sure, but we love it. We love it. That's so good. That's so good. I hope you enjoy the area. We want to say welcome to you. I hope you get to meet some of the friends that we've met here. I have really enjoyed the area. That's cool. We'd love to get to know your wife as well. I hope we get to meet her sometime. Yeah, sometimes we'll have to come over and invite you guys to a barbecue with us in the backyard. We often have church friends and other friends from other neighborhoods in here come over and meet out in the summer. It's a great thing. It's a great thing in the backyard. That's wonderful. We'd love to. Yeah. How did you come around here? Our families are both about 30 miles north of here, so we're new to this area but not necessarily to the region. Okay. That's good. I mentioned my church a moment ago. A lot of my friends come over here to hang out with us from our church. Lots of those are young couples just like you. I think you have a lot of meeting them. I don't know if you have a church background. Do you have a church that you go to? We don't have a church here. We both have been in church as we were children. Our parents both directed us that way. We would love to get to know some of those folks as well. We just have some friends from the school, of course. We'd love to get to know some of the friends that you have over here in this neighborhood as well. That would be great. That's neat. That's neat. Yeah. My wife and I grew up in church. Then when we married, we began to go to church together. It really made an impact on our marriage. It made an impact on our children as we raised them. Our kids loved it. It just became part of our life. It was a meaningful part of our life, I might add. I can see that that would be really valuable. That was something that we did as kids. Oh, yeah. With a family, that would be really important. I don't know if you would mind, but I'd love to ask you a question. It's kind of a spiritual question that has to do with church and spiritual things. May I ask you that question? No. I mean, of course, I'm open to that. Okay. Well, good. Well, the question that I ask you today is a question I ask lots of people, and here it is. If you were to die and stand before God, and he were to say to you, Jenna, why should I let you into my heaven, what would your answer be? As I mentioned, we've grown up in church as children. My sister and I always went. Our mom took us, and we were in Sunday school classes. I feel like if I had to answer to God on something like that, that I would just remind him that I know about him. I know some of the principles. We were taught right from wrong as children. We work now, my husband and I as a couple, doing best betting students, which is so difficult sometimes, but just really doing our best to be good people and make sure that the good in our lives really outweighs what's wrong. My grandma always said that God is love. I think that that's true. That was something that was important in our families, that we really just did our best, gave our best to each other as families, and held strong to those values. Well, your grandmother was right. I believe God is love, no doubt about that. I appreciate your answer, Olivia. With so much bad going on in the world, it's great to see people that want to choose to do the right thing to do good. What you told me is, if I remember correctly, if I can stress it, you said God is love. You also said that you would tell God that you're living a good life. You're trying to do the best you can. That by what you do, you hope that you can go to heaven when you die. Would that be correct? Yes. I appreciate you sharing that with me. You know, that's a really incredible question, and I ask philosophy for that question. You might be surprised at how many people answer the same way you answered. They say that they are good people. There are a lot of good people out there, by the way. Sometimes they're religious people. Sometimes they're not. But many people say, I would say to God, I do good. I live the right way. I'm trying to do the right thing, and I hope that's good enough for you. What I'd love to share with you, though, is that we can actually know that we have eternal life. We can know that when we die we'll go to heaven. The Bible says these words were written that you might know that you have eternal life. My life, when I was younger, I was fearful of death. Because of that unanswered question, what happens on the other side? Very, very afraid. But at some point in my life, I received the gift of eternal life. It really changed everything I thought about life and about death. As I came away from that, I looked back at that experience and realized all my fear is gone. I have every confidence that if I were to die, I would spend eternity with God in heaven. I'm really grateful that He made that possible for me. I want to tell everybody else about that, too. You shared with me that you would say to God that you live a good life and that you hope that's good enough for God. Let me share with you what the Bible says about that. Do you mind if I share a verse with you? Not at all. The Scripture makes it very plain. It says in Ephesians 2, That's not of yourself. It's a gift of God. It's not a result of works that no man should boast. In other words, the Scripture, not only in this part, but in every other place in Scripture, affirms the fact that heaven is not earned. It's not deserved. It's a free gift from God. I like to say it like this. Heaven is not achieved. It's received. Those words sound a lot, but they're not the same. If I achieve something, then I do it on my own, and I deserve the credit for it. But if I receive something, somebody else has done something, and I can only receive it as a gift from them. That's what the Bible says about eternal life. It says there's no way that anybody can do a good thing to get to heaven. Heaven is a free gift, and it's not earned or deserved. Does that make sense? Yes. I will come back to that in a minute if I can, because that is a key truth. But first, let me ask another question, if you don't mind. It's a question that people ask me all the time. When I talk about Jesus or church, and I get to the subject of the fact that Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago and was buried and rose again the third day, I have lots of people that ask me this question. They say, why is that so relevant? That's an easy thing to understand why people want to know that, because we live in an age with lots of information. We know about world religions. We know about all other religious leaders as well. That's a great question. Why is Jesus so outstanding? Why does he stand out above all other religious leaders? Have you ever wondered why he's so relevant? Yes, of course. I'm sure you've heard of Jesus as you were growing up. Yes. He is probably the central figure of our history. Yet the Bible tells us why he was so relevant. I'd love to share that with you if I can. Can I show you as well as tell you why Jesus is so relevant? Okay, yes. I'm going to do this by using my hands and by demonstrating the truth about Jesus if I can. Let me just have this left hand and hold it up for you for just a minute. Let me let this hand right here represent my life. You can let it represent your life as well. Let me put this booklet here on top of that hand, and let's let this booklet represent everything I've ever done in my life, good or bad. I'll try to imagine that for just a few minutes. Let's multiply the number of years you are old and multiply that by 365 days a year. Everything you say, everything you do, even things you think about, and maybe even those you didn't do that you should have done, and you've got a record book of your life. Some of it's good and some of it's bad. Would you agree with that? No. I have to confess the same thing. Not everything in my life is perfect. Some of the things in my life are bad and even sinful and embarrassing. I wouldn't want you to be able to read the book about my life, and you probably don't want to read the book about my life. The reality is God knows every page of our lives. Let me let this right hand represent God. I'm going to hold it up above us all. This hand right here represents God. The Scripture says about God that He's a loving, merciful God, but at the same time He's a just judge, that He will by no means let the guilty go unpunished. That's a real problem for us, and the reason it's a problem is because all of us have sinned, and all of us have fallen short of God's glory. So there's a barrier between ourselves and God. I can't rise above the level of that sinfulness, and I can't undo what I've done. I have no way to get to God because of my sin. I can't solve the problem. But here's the great news, Jenna. God can solve the problem, and He does in the person of Jesus Christ. Let me let this hand be lowered, and let it be on the same level as my first hand, my left hand. I want you to see by that that Jesus Christ came, that He took on the form of a man and lived a perfect life. The Bible says that when Jesus Christ lived that life, He laid down His life at the end of about 33 years of life. The Bible says He that knew no sin became sin on our behalf. But here's what I want you to see. I'm going to share another verse with you. At the same time, I'm going to move this hand to this one, and I want you to watch what happens 2,000 years ago. Isaiah said this. He said, You saw how I moved the book from this hand to that one? That's what happened 2,000 years ago by an act of God. God Himself put our sin upon His Son, Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross. He was buried. He rose again the third day, and He dealt with our sin and removed it. And now the Bible says as far as the East is from the West, that's how far He's removed our sin from us. Now there's no separation between myself and God. He offers me the gift of eternal life, and as He offers that, I have the opportunity to reach out and receive it by faith. I put my hands together like that and clasp them to just symbolize the fact that I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. And that's how the Bible says I receive the gift of eternal life. Are you tracking with me there? Yes, sir. It's a pretty important truth. It really is. In fact, I think it's the most important truth in all of mankind. I really do. Now the Bible says the only way that we can receive that is by what the Scripture says is saving faith. Let me explain what saving faith really is because we have lots of kinds of faith in our lives. Saving faith is not just intellectual understanding. It's not just mental knowledge of what Jesus did. We know lots of things and lots of facts about lots of people, but that doesn't mean we trust them for anything. So it's not just head knowledge. Saving faith is also not trusting God to help us out of a jam. It's not trusting God to help us get through our problems. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's not what saving faith is. Saving faith instead is putting our trust and faith in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. That's a really, really big deal. That means that we trust him and no one else. I want you to imagine something with me. I don't know if you've ever been parachuting before. Has that ever happened to you? No. Me either, and I'm not sure I want to do it. But if I ever had to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet above sea level, as I plummet to the earth, I'm going to be looking for one thing. I'm going to be grabbing for that ripcord that opens the parachute. That's my only hope to break the fall and let me land on earth safely. Because it's that one thing, it's the only thing I'm looking for. The Bible says this. The Bible says Jesus is the only one that we can trust to forgive us of our sins and give us the gift of eternal life. So saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone. Let me put it one more way just to be clear. Saving faith is not Jesus plus baptism. It's not Jesus plus church attendance. It's not Jesus plus good works. It's just trusting Jesus Christ alone. And the Bible says in John 6, 47, Jesus himself said, He who believes in me has eternal life. That's powerful. It's fast-paced, and it happens at the moment we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ. I've shared a lot with you. You've tracked with me. You've been along with me the whole time. Let me ask you this question. Does that make sense to you? Yes. And if it makes sense to you, I want to ask another question. And that question is, would you like to receive the gift of eternal life? Yes. That's awesome. Then I'm so glad that you want to do that. You know, the way that we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ is through prayer. And it's through a very simple prayer that we ask him to give us the gift that he offers to us. But before I lead you in that prayer, if you'll allow me, I want to ask just two or three key questions. Number one, do you want to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvage? Yes. Number two, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to give you forgiveness of sin? Yes. And then a third question is one of the most important. That is, are you willing to turn away from everything else you've trusted in and anything in the way of displeasing God in order to put your full confidence and full trust in Jesus Christ alone? Yes. Then if that's what you want to do, I'd love to lead you in a prayer. I can lead you in a prayer just a phrase at a time. Not magic words, but it's a way for you to express your trust and confidence in God. And I can lead you just a phrase at a time. Would you like for me to do that? Okay. Let's pray together. Just follow after me. Dear Lord Jesus. Dear Lord Jesus. I understand you died on the cross for me. I understand that you died on the cross for me. And now I know that I need to be forgiven for my sin. And now I know I need to be forgiven for my sin. Today I ask you to forgive me. Today I ask you to forgive me. And give me the gift of eternal life. And give me the gift of eternal life. I turn away from my sin. I turn away from my sin. And everything else I've trusted in. And everything else I've trusted in. And I put my full confidence. And I put my full confidence. And my full trust in you. And my full trust in you. I ask you to be my Savior. I ask you to be my Savior. And I ask you to be my Lord. And I ask you to be my Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.