Day 1- Why Jesus Had to Die
-Pray- Thank God for sending Jesus to die for you. Thank Him for His great love for you.
-Read- Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:8-10; Romans 10:9,10
The picture of Jesus hanging on the cross is everywhere. If there is one thing people know about Jesus, it’s that He died on a cross. The sad thing is that many people, even Christians, don’t really know why! In the verses you just read, you get a very basic outline of why Jesus had to die.
-Stop- Prepare yourself to take in the truth of what Jesus did for you. Read with gratitude and love for your King.
Romans 3:23 brings to our attention that everybody has sinned. No matter how good you may be or how much worse someone else is than you, you have sinned and can’t measure up to God’s awesomeness and perfection.
Romans 6:23 shows us the good and bad news about our condition of sin. First the bad news. The payment for sin is Death! AAAAHHHH! What does this mean? Not only do our bodies die on this earth, but when we do, we are separated from Jesus, eternal LIFE, in Hell for eternity. This isn’t a scare tactic or a joke, it’s the truth. Want the good news? God has the gift of eternal life for us! All we have to do is take it and accept it.
Romans 5:8-10 tells us that even though we were sinners and didn’t deserve to stand before our perfect Creator, Christ Jesus died for us in our place. Remember 6:23 says the payment for sin is death, so Jesus’ death paid the price for you and me! It continues to say that Jesus’ blood (see Going Deeper) makes us righteous. This allows us to be in God’s presence now and forever! Jesus’ death rescues us from hell on earth and in eternity! The best news is after Jesus died, He rose again and conquered sin, death and hell! (Acts 2:32) Praise God!
But wait there’s more. If I offer you a gift, you don’t actually have the benefits of it until you accept and take it. This is the same way with our gift of eternal life. Romans 10:9,10 says in order to be saved, we must accept the gift by 1) CONFESSING with our MOUTH the Lord Jesus, 2) BELIEVING in your HEART God the Father raised Him from the dead.
Without Jesus’ payment on the cross, we would be doomed to hell, but because He died we can have life now and in Heaven! This is why Jesus had to die.
-Going Deeper-
Read Hebrews 9 and see more about the importance of Jesus’ death.
-Try This-
if you have never accepted this gift of eternal life do it now. Confess with your mouth and believe with your heart just like Romans 10 says. Tell your parents and pastors about it!
-Why do we say that?-
What does it mean to be “saved”? This is just a statement saying we’ve accepted Jesus’ Gift of eternal life and are now saved from Hell.
- Prayer-
Pray that you can be bold and begin to share the good news of Jesus with your friends. Ask Holy Spirit for boldness and courage.
Day 2- The Blood
-Pray- Ask God to show you His secrets. As you listen and follow Him, He will show you.
-Read- 1 John 1:7; Hebrews 9:22; Ephesians 2:13
Most of the pictures we see of Jesus on the cross show Him hanging with nails in His hands and some drops of blood on Him. But, in reality, the movie The Passion of the Christ is probably more accurate to how Jesus looked when He was crucified. Jesus’ death was a brutal and bloody event and many people may wonder, “Why so bloody?” This is actually a very complex topic but we’ll simply it as much as possible.
-Stop- This is an important topic because it’s the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin. It is one of the most important parts of our salvation.
Before Jesus died on the cross, it was set up by God a long, long, long time ago that in order to pay for man’s sin, something must die.(Romans 3:23) Because God didn’t want to see the people He loved die, He commanded them to sacrifice animals as a substitute for them. So what’s with the blood? Leviticus 17:11 says, “the life…is in the blood.” The blood is the life of a person or an animal so, in order for the life to actually be given, the blood must be present. Because animals are just animals, they could not actually cleanse and take away man’s sin but simply cover them.
When Jesus died and shed His blood, He was the perfect Son of God and He made the final payment for mankind. That is why animals don’t have to be sacrificed anymore and why we can be cleansed from our sins. Ephesians 2:13 actually says the blood of Jesus brings us close to the Father!
His blood gives us healing (Isaiah 5:35), cleanses our sins (1 John 1:7), makes us righteous (Romans 5:9) and so much more.
-Going Deeper-
If you want to read about how Israel used animals as a payment for their sin read Leviticus 4. After reading this, aren’t you glad Jesus, the perfect sacrifice died so this isn’t necessary now?
-Try This-
When you sin, confess what you did to God and ask Him to cleanse it with His blood. Remember 1 John 1:7 says this happens.
-Why do we do that?-
Why do we dance in praise and worship? Psalms 150 and many other verses in the Bible commands us to dance. Dancing isn’t based on emotion but on our knowledge that God is good despite our circumstances. It is a sign of victory, even in the middle of a hard time.
Day 3-Getting Dunked
-Pray- Take 5 minutes and listen. Ask God to speak to you. Believe that He is willing and wanting to speak to you.
- Read- Acts 8:26-40
Many people have seen someone get baptized at church. Maybe it was a friend, relative, baby, or even yourself. Isn’t it funny how we do a lot of things but don’t really know the reason why? Why do we get baptized? What’s the point? If you don’t know, then it’s time for you to find out and then make a decision on what you will do.
-Stop- Baptize comes from the Greek word baptizo which means to immerse. This is getting dunked under the water.
Before Jesus started teaching and doing miracles, He was baptized (dunked in water) (Matthew 3). When He told His disciples to go and make disciples He told them to dunk them (Matthew 28:19). When thousands of people were saved they were dunked afterward (Acts 2). Why?
Baptism is a sign, a public declaration of a new beginning, a new start. It says the old you is gone and the new you is alive. Romans 6:1-7 says when we are baptized the old us goes under and we come out of the water new! It is a representation of Jesus going into the tomb dead and coming out alive and powerful. We get dunked in the water dead to sin and come out alive to Christ!
This declaration let’s shows God, you, the world, and the devil that you have chosen to be a disciple of Jesus. A lot of Christians don’t do this because they don’t think it is necessary. It is true that it isn’t necessary to be saved, but Jesus commanded us to do it and it is a sign of our obedience.
So we get baptized to declare we are following Jesus, to represent we are now dead to sin and alive to Jesus, and because He commands us too. Have you been baptized? Do need to be?
-Going deeper-
Read Romans 6:1-14 to learn more about baptism.
-Try This-
If you have never been baptized but have accepted Christ, talk to your pastor and parents about it. If you’ve been baptized before but didn’t know why you might want to do it again. Talk to your pastor and parents about that also.
Day 4-Do the Math
-Pray- Ask God to help you follow. Tell Him you love Him.
- Read- Luke 9:23-27; Luke 14:25-33
Have you ever met someone who claims to be a Christian but pretty much everything they do says they aren’t? Sometimes these people know the Bible, go to church, and have even said a prayer to become a Christian. Is God looking for these types of Christians? Is that what He died for?
In the verses you just read, Jesus clearly states what it means to be a disciple.
-Stop- A disciple is someone who FOLLOWS someone else’s teachings. Jesus clearly states that we are to be disciples, not just Christians by name.
The first thing Jesus tells us is we are to give up everything for Him. Does that sound extreme? It is! We are supposed to be extreme followers of Jesus and we will see Him do extreme things in our lives. The great thing is that God is patient with us and brings us little by little into a place where we can give it all to Him. Our job is to be willing to follow Him and obey Him.
The second thing we see Jesus say in the verses you read is basically, “Do the math.” He wants you to count the cost of being His disciple before you make your choice. You need to realize you are surrendering your life to Him. You also need to realize the cost of choosing to reject His gift of love and eternal life is far worse than any temporary discomfort or pain we may have now because we choose to follow Him. The truth is we may be ridiculed, made fun of, and persecuted in different ways because we choose to follow Jesus, but He promises if we choose Him He will make it worth it.
Paul said in Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (NKJV) This isn’t to say life with Jesus will only be hard and horrible. But we need to know that we have decided to follow Jesus wherever He may lead. He is our Lord, our Love, and our Master, and we will choose Him above all else.
-Going Deeper-
Think about your life and see if you are living life as a disciple or just a Christian by name. Where has God been asking you to follow Him that you have not listened to? Repent and choose to do so now.
-Try This-
Tell God you are ready to follow Him no matter what. Trust He will not give you more than you can bear. Don’t be afraid. He loves you and will only do what’s best for you!
-Why do we do that?-
Why do we sing? Singing has been a way to express ourselves to God for a long time. There is singing in heaven as seen in Revelation, and the book of Psalms is a book of songs written to God. God loves to hear our songs whether we have great voices or sound like a choking goat!
-Pray-
Pray for your family and relatives that don’t know Jesus.
Day 5-Return of the King
-Pray- Listen to a worship song (search YouTube if you have to) and just tell Jesus you love Him.
-Read- John 14:1-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Jesus came to earth as a baby, became a man, died, rose again, commanded us to make disciples and went back to heaven. Why? What’s He doing now? Well amongst other things, Jesus said in John 14 He was going to prepare a place for us in heaven and that He would return to take us there! You see, we shouldn’t be living this life like it’s all there is. There is something still to come, and what we do now will have an impact on our eternal future.
We are here on earth to obey our King and we will reap the rewards when we get to heaven, and we will live there with Him forever.
-Stop- The return of Jesus to take us to heaven is often called the “Rapture”. This word is not used in the Bible, but it is the common term used for Christ coming to get His followers.
Paul told the Church of Thessalonica to remind each other that Jesus would return for them; that they should comfort each other with this. He wanted them to remember that even though life can be hard, there will be a day when Jesus comes and takes us up to heaven to be with Him. When this happens everything will be ok.
Our job is to build our relationship with Jesus, obey His command to make disciples and live our lives excitedly waiting and expecting His return. As young people, we can often think, “I don’t want Him to come back yet. I have things I want to do. I want to get married, have my career, and experience some things.” That is understandable and natural. As you grow closer to Jesus you will desire more and more to see Him. Not only that, but when the Rapture does happen, you will see Jesus face to face and any thoughts of wanting to be on this earth will probably be overwhelmed by the greatness of seeing our King.
So for now we live like the King will return any moment, plan like we have our whole lives ahead of us and get excited about seeing Jesus in all His power and awesomeness!
-Going Deeper-
Think about what it will be like to suddenly be sucked up from the earth to meet Jesus in the clouds. Picture the excitement and love in His eyes for you as He gets ready to show you all the great things He’s prepared for you.
-Try this-
Ask Jesus to help you live like He is returning soon. How would things look different for you?
-Pray-
Just tell the Lord you love Him. Ask Him to make you more like Him.