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The Joy of Salvation

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Have you ever lost the joy of your salvation? King David certainly had! In Psalm 51 we see David repenting of his sins, and he ends this section with an appeal, O God, grant me a willing spirit. In other words, incline my heart to obey you, Lord. And then he says, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” King David had lost the joy because of his sin.

Having a joyful heart is an essential part of sharing the Good News — you have to truly believe its good in order to convince someone else of it! But I think many Christians today have lost the joy of knowing Jesus because of un-confessed sin. So let me ask you: Are you rejoicing in the Lord today? Are you truly happy in your heart? Are you free from your sins? Are you enjoying all the good things that God has for you, all the beauties of why its called “the Good News”?

If you are rejoicing, thats wonderful. But if you arent, then take time and let the Lord cleanse you today. Ask Him if theres an area in your life that needs to be settled, and then settle it right. Then the Lord can use you to spread the Gospel, because youll finally believe, yourself, that its good news!

Bob Hunter’s Prayer

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If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are also a priest. Peter 2:5 says, “you also … are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.” And one of the jobs of being a priest is prayer and intercession.

A friend of mine, Doug Coe, told me that he challenged a new Christian named Bob to pray for Africa for 45 days. So Bob started praying every day, “God, help Africa.” After about three weeks of prayer, Bob meets an African American lady and learns that she runs an orphanage in Uganda. She pleads with him to come see the orphans and maybe as a businessman he could do something. So he flies to Uganda, looks at the kids, and of course his heart breaks. He comes back home and begins to do all sorts of things for the orphanage.

Then one day, the president of Uganda calls and asks him to return to Uganda because of the work hes done for the orphans. So Bob goes back to Africa and befriends the President. Through their friendship, the president ends up releasing numerous all his political prisoners who had unjustly been imprisoned.

What an amazing story! Yet this could happen to you, too! When you take your priesthood seriously, theres no telling what God could do with your life, and whom you may touch with His Spirit.

What Does It Mean To Store Up Treasure in Heaven?

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Did you know that you can save up treasure in Heaven?


Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21 Dont store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

So, whats that mean? Well, do you have a piggy bank in your room? Maybe youre putting money in it to save for something you want to buy like a new video game, doll, or lego set, you may not spend money on other things, like a candy bar or a soda because you want to save all your money for that new toy! Many people work only to buy more and more things, but when we die we wont be able to take any of our things with us to Heaven.

Now, having Stuff isnt a bad thing, but God wants us to be more interested in things that will last FOREVER! So you may wonder, What will last forever?

Our friendship with Jesus and friendships that we make here on Earth will be things that last forever. Just think, if you have a friend here on Earth and you tell them about Jesus and how He wants to save them from their sin too, and you help them to know Jesus, then you and they will be friends forever in Heaven!


Maybe you can play hide and seek, or build sand castles together on a beach, or even go exploring with them on some other planet! The more friends you take with you to Heaven, the more exciting it will be for all of you when you get there!


Besides the friends we will take with us, we can lay up treasure in heaven by doing other things like giving out tracts that tell people about Jesus or giving money to help send Bibles or missionaries to other countries so they can tell people about Jesus.We canhelp older people we know with chores that may be too hard for them to do any more like taking out the trash, carrying in grocery bags, or mowing the yard. You can put on a play about a Bible story for your family, or buy a Christmas gift for another kid whose parents cant afford to get them anything this year . . . you get the idea.

Jesus really just wants us to help each other and tell others how to get to Heaven, and by doing this He says He will reward us when we get to Heaven. He doesnt really say what He will give us, but we can only imagine how wonderful agift would be thatGod made special, just for us!


Now that youve heard about Heaven,
Jesus, and what Hes done for us so we can get there,
I hope you will trust Jesus with your life.

Remember all you have to do is believe and trust Him, talk to Him,
and try your best to do what you know is right so you can make Him proud.

How Do I Get To Heaven? Just How Good Do I Have To Be?

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Have you ever done something that you know inside is wrong? Have you ever disobeyed your parents? Or told a lie, or taken something that belongs to someone else, or even been mad at someone without a reason. Weve all messed up and done stuff like that, this is what the Bible calls Sin. Many people believe that if theyre good they will go to Heaven, but the Bible says that no one can ever be good enough to get to Heaven! It says that Every sinner deserves to die, and we are ALL sinners, this means that we All deserve to die.


The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:22
According to the law . . .
without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

This means that without punishment, or blood, we cant be forgiven, thats why Jesus came from Heaven. He Loves us so much thatHe wanted us to have a way to be forgiven from our sins; He didnt want us to die!

Jesus came from Heaven, was born as a baby and grew up on earth, just like all of us! But, because Jesus is also God, He never sinned, not even once! He was perfect in every way so that He could die and take the punishment we were supposed to get.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says

God saved you by His grace when youbelieved.

And you cant take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

This is like when you were born, you were not born because you had done anything good, you werent even around yet! Your parents had you because they love you and wanted you, and now that youre getting older and can understand how much your parents love you, you want to obey them and do what they say so they will be proud of you and youll make them happy.


This is how it is with God, He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to save us, and now that we understand that He loves us so much that He came from Heaven and He died in our place, we should want to please Him too, and really make Him proud of us.


This would be like if your big Brother had seen you do something bad, like say you were throwing a ball in the house when you knew you shouldnt be, and you knocked over an expensive lamp! When your Dad found out about it and was going to punish you, your Brother took the punishment for you so you wouldnt have to. In this same way, Jesus took our punishment when he died on the cross for us. Now THATS Love!

ButJesus didnt just die for us, you see, Jesus rose from the dead and walked out of the grave to show that sin and death no longer has any power over us! And although we may die here on Earth, He will bring us back to life in Heaven and will bring us back to live with Him on the New Earth!

If you believe in Jesus, and trust that He took your punishment for your sin, you will go to Heaven.

You should talk toJesus. Praying is not some big deal that only grown ups can do,praying is just talking to God, like you would talk to your brother, sister, or your best friend. You don’t have to kneel to talk with God. You can talk to Him anywhere, anytime, about anything! Tell Him how your day went; ask for help when you feel scared or when youre doing something hard. Tell Him youre sorry if youve done something bad, and then try not to do it again.

Gods not going to kick you out of Heaven because you did something bad, not if you have put your trust in Jesus to save you. We all make mistakes, even after we become a Christian, but we have to try to do what is right, what we know inside our heart that God would want us to do.


Its like your Mom or Dad, they wouldnt kick you outside to sleep out in the dark and cold in the yard because you spilled red soda on the new carpet. They may be disappointed in you that you didnt listen when they told you to stay at the table and dont takeyour drinkon the new carpet, but they love you, and will most likely discipline you and not let you have red soda for a while, but they will still let you live inside the nice warm house with them where you belong. And you will still be their child, no matter what!

If you believe Jesus loves you, and you want to live for Him and go to live with Him in Heaven one day, you can ask Him something like this:

Jesus, I love You,

And I thank You for taking my

Punishment for me so I can live.
Please forgive me and come into my heart
And help me live my life the way You want me to,

The way I should. And take me to live with You in Heaven someday.
Amen!

Building Community

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I remember the story of Keith Green. He was a highly influential American singer and songwriter from the 1970s. Before he gave his life to Jesus, though, he was heavily involved in drugs and eastern philosophies. But one night he was invited to a Bible study at a friends house.

The true fellowship in the group impressed Keith. He saw people full of joy and love as they studied the Word of God together. And thats where the Lord really began to tug at Keiths heart. Later he paraphrased Matthew 18 like this: “Its time to quit playing church and start being the Church.”

Keith was “burdened with reaching the lost, and broken with the true message of the Gospel.” And he had witnessed himself the power of community in reaching lives with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Living out the Gospel message in Christian unity is a powerful way to make an impact on our world. Psalm 133, you remember what it says… It says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

When you and I live together in the joy and peace that only comes from Jesus Christ, the world, like Keith, will sit up and take notice and our neighborhood will notice too. The world will pay attention when theres unity. Jesus said that in John 17 and Ive seen it to be true all over the world.