SESSION 1

ONE TRUTH
The Gospel

What is the gospel?

The word “gospel” in Greek* literally means “good news.” The question
is what is the “good news”? The answer to this and most of our questions
about the Christian faith are found in the Word of God, the Bible. We will
discover, by studying the Bible, answers to questions concerning how
Jesus truly is relevant to our lives – how He loves us, and how He can
truly transform our lives.

*
see note on page 10

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 EXPLORE
Good News

Form a group of 3-4. Give time for each one to introduce themselves.
They will also share something based on the last digit of their birth year.
Be guided by the following criteria (to be flashed):

If your birth year ends with:

0-1 : Something good that happened to you today
2-3 : Something good about your family
4-5 : Something good that you will like to eat for breakfast
6-7 : Something good about your work or school
8-9 : Say something good about the person to your right

1. When did you become a Christian?

2. How did you come to Christ? Short Testimony

3. Can you memorize the Gospel? Are you confident in sharing the gospel already?

SOMETHING GOOD THAT HAPPENDED THIS WEEK

LEARNING NUGGET

People love to share good things that has happened to them. The Bible
tells about the greatest news that mankind has ever received. But the big
question is, what is the" good news" and why is it so?

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 EXAMINE
THE GOOD NEWS
God desires to have a relationship with you!

God loves us
Read 1 John 4:8–9
1. What does this verse tell us about God’s basic nature?
When we say God is love, we are not saying everything about God. Love is an essential aspect
of His character, and colors every aspect of His nature. But it does not eliminate His holiness, His
righteousness, or His perfect justice. Instead, we know the holiness of God is loving, and the
righteousness of God is loving, and the justice of God is loving. Everything God does, in one way
or another, expresses His love.
Read John 10:10
2. In your own words, what do you think Jesus meant when He said that
He came to give us an abundant life?
The Greek word for ‘abundance,’ perissos, has a mathematical meaning and generally denotes a
surplus…The abundant life is above all the contented life, in which our contentment is based upon the
fact that God is equal to every emergency and is able to supply all our needs according to His riches and
glory in Christ Jesus.”

We cannot live abundantly without Christ because we are dead without Him.
While God is loving, He is also holy
Read 1 Peter 1:15
3. How is God described in these verses? What does it mean that God
is holy?
The main idea behind holiness is not moral purity but it is the idea of “apartness.” The idea is that God is separate, different from
His creation, both in His essential nature and in the perfection of His attributes. But instead of building a wall around His
apartness, God calls us to come to Him and share His apartness. He says to us, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

i. When we fail to see God’s apartness, we begin to believe that He is just a “super-man.” Then we don’t see that His love is a
holy love, His justice is a holy justice, and so on with all of His attributes. Holiness is not so much something we possess as it is
something that possesses us.
So far we have seen that God is loving but He is also holy.
In the following verses, we will see how these two aspects
of God’s nature are both involved in the Good News. But
how does this relate to us?

Our Problem: Sinful and Opposed To God

4. How does Isaiah 53:6 describe us prior to placing our faith in Christ?
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way: Here the prophet describes our need for the
Messiah’s atoning work. Sheep are stupid, headstrong animals, and we, like they, have gone astray. We have turned – against God’
s way, every one, to his own way.

i. We all have our own way of sin. The constant temptation is to condemn your way of sin, and to justify my way of sin. But each
way that is our own way instead of the LORD’s way is a sinful, destructive, damned way.

f. And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all: Here we see the partnership between the Father and the Son in the work on
the cross. If the Messiah was wounded for our transgressions, then it was also the LORD who laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The
Father judged our iniquity as it was laid on the Son.
Book 1: ONE BY ONE
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 Read James 2:10
5. Is there any difference between breaking one commandment and
breaking all the commandments? How would this affect people who
think they are basically good?

Read Romans 6:23

6. What is the consequence of our sin? Is anyone exempted from the
sentence that has been handed down to us? Why or why not?

Doctrine of Adoption

e
Not

In the Greek language, in which the New Testament

was originally written, death meant separation –
spiritual death means eternal separation from God.

Most people have the perspective that they

basically are good, and somehow God should
accept us because of His great love for us. But if
we compare ourselves with the perfect holiness of
God, our goodness is not enough. Sin separates us
from God; it is rebellion against Him. Sin is basically
choosing self-will over God’s will.

So far this doesn’t sound like very good news.

Though God desires to have a relationship with us,
we are cut off from Him because of our own sin and
rebellion. Is there any solution to our dilemma?

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God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin

7. What do Romans 5:8 and John 3:16 say that God has done?

How does the death of the Son demonstrate the love of the Father? Because it was harder for the Father to send His only
Son, and because God [the Father] was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself

The work of Jesus on the cross for us is God’s ultimate proof of His love for you. He may give additional proof, but He can
give no greater proof. If the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love, it is also the ultimate demonstration of man’s
hatred. It also proves that the height of man’s hatred can’t defeat the height of God’s love.

iii. The demonstration of God’s love isn’t displayed so much in that Jesus died, but it is seen in whom Jesus died for –
undeserving sinners and rebels against Him.

Difference from t=other religion: Only Christianity offers eternal life for free, no work has to be done because the God that
we serve already did the work for us.

Sacrifice of His Son

The story is told of a drawbridge operator whose job
was to lower the bridge each day before the arrival of a
passenger train, then raise it again for the ships in the
river below to continue plying their trade. Each day as
he lowered the bridge, the passengers in the train would
smile and wave as they passed over his bridge.

One day the drawbridge operator brought his son to work

with him. He showed him the huge gears and pulleys used
to raise and lower the bridge, and the beautiful view of
the river valley and the many ships that passed under the
bridge. As he prepared to lower the bridge for the daily
train, he heard a terrifying noise – his son had fallen into
the gears of the draw bridge and could not free himself!
As the oncoming train barreled on, he was faced with a
dilemma – he could either go and free his son, knowing
that hundreds of people would die as the train would smash
into the raised drawbridge; or he could continue to lower
the drawbridge, knowing that it would cost his son his life.
With tears in his eyes, he chose to lower the drawbridge
– sacrificing his own son for the lives of those on the train.

Book 1: ONE BY ONE

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 Another Death Sentence
On the 14th of June 1830, US President Andrew Jackson
granted pardon to convicted robber George Wilson who
was handed the death sentence by the circuit court of the
eastern district of Pennsylvania. However, on October 21,
1830, George Wilson appeared in court and said that "he
had nothing to say, and that he did not wish in any manner
to avail himself... of the pardon referred to." Sadly, even
if pardon from the death sentence was available for Mr.
Wilson, "the court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of
the pardon, unless he claims the benefit of it, and relies on
it by plea or motion... It is a grant to him... he may accept it
or not, as he pleases."

Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/32/150

It seems impossible to believe, but many today do not accept the

forgiveness that Jesus offers.

• Some may be too proud to accept that they need God’s

pardon.

• Some feel they have to do something to make themselves

worthy first before accepting pardon.

• Some think there is another way to be pardoned, and insist

on doing it their way.

We all have the choice to accept or reject the offer Jesus gives us. Have
you ever made a decision to accept His gift of forgiveness?

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If you have not, you can accept that gift right now by faith. One way to
express our faith in Christ is through prayer. Prayer is simply talking to
God, and expressing to Him the desires of our hearts. You can open your
heart to God right now and accept His gift of salvation through a simple
prayer of faith. Pray something like this:

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You so much for loving me. I am so sorry for
my sins. Thank You for dying on the cross for all of my sins.
With Your help, I will turn away from all my sins. Today, I trust
in You to be my Savior and Lord. And I receive You into my
heart. Thank You for forgiving my sins and for coming into my
heart. I accept Your free gift of eternal life. Thank You that one
day, I will go home to You in heaven. From this day on, I will
follow and obey You. Amen.

Book 1: ONE BY ONE

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EXPERIENCE
If you made the choice to trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord, entering
into an eternal relationship with God, read and sign the pledge below as a
reminder of your commitment today:

“Today, Jesus, I trusted in You to be my Savior and my

Lord and I accepted Your free gift of eternal life. I commit
to love and obey You for the rest of my life.”

SIGNED

DATE

EQUIP
On-the-Job Training (15 minutes)

Your discipler will read through the “What is the Best Decision You've
Made in Your Life?” booklet with you. This booklet is what we often use
at CCF to share the gospel with our loved ones, friends, co-workers, etc.
(See Appendix A).

Observe carefully how he/she does it.