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Daily Encounter ~ Thursday, January 6, 2005
Know God: http://www.Got-God.net/know_god1.htm
www.ACTSweb.org www.actscom.com/store
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By Richard (Dick) Innes. Published and (c)
by ACTS International http://www.actsweb.org

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NOTE: "Tips for Better Living" is available on the
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or non-framed. See copy and purchase at:
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Today's Daily Encounter

1. Do Good People Go to Heaven? Part I

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father [God] except through me'" (John
14:6, niv).

A Daily Encounter reader asks, "My aunts are of a
non-Christian faith and have been good persons all their
lives. They are elderly and I'd like to believe that they
will be in Heaven. I talked to God about this yesterday. He
did not speak directly back to me, but I felt that they
would. God is a good and understanding God, and although
not all of His children are believers, I think He will use
His judgment when it comes to the end times as to who is,
and who is not allowed in Heaven."

Dear Friend: Thank you for your email and for your concern
about your aunts. First, however, the only way to know and
understand God's plan for salvation and who qualifies for
heaven is to know what his Word--the Bible--teaches, for
God never acts contrary to his Word. Never.

Second, sad to say no matter how good we are, our goodness
doesn't qualify us for God's heaven. None of us is sinless
no matter how good we are and because God is a God of
absolute holiness, no sin or sinner can ever survive in his
presence any more than a moth can survive in a flame. It
just isn't possible.

Third, God is also a God of absolute justice and therefore
all sinners--no matter how small--must be judged, otherwise
God wouldn't be God. Because God IS God, the just judgment
of all sin is death; that is, spiritual death which is
actually eternal separation from a holy and just God in the
place the Bible calls hell, whatever and wherever that may
be.

Fourth, fortunately, God is also a God of absolute love.
That's why he sent his Son Jesus to die in our place on the
cross to pay the just penalty for all of our sins. If being
good, religious, sincere, or being anything else could have
qualified us for getting into God's heaven, Jesus would
never have had to come to earth to die for our sins.

Finally, to enter God's heaven we have to be saved or
delivered from sin's consequences. That is, we need to be
totally forgiven by God and cleansed from our sinfulness.
All we need to do is: (1) believe that Jesus is the Son of
God, (2) that he died in our place on the cross to pay the
just penalty for our sins, (3) repent of and confess our
sinfulness to God and, (4) ask God for his forgiveness and
accept and invite Jesus into our heart and life as our
Savior.

For help to do this click on:
http://www.actsweb.org/invitation.htm
To be continued ...

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you have made
it very clear in your Word, the Bible, what we need to do
to have our sins forgiven and how we can become qualified
for entering your heaven. And thank you for your love in
giving your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins and making
forgiveness and eternal life in heaven possible. Thank you
for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus'
name, amen."

<<

1. Do Good People Go to Heaven? Part II

"Jesus answered and said to him [Nicodemus], 'Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God'" (John 3:3, niv).

Continuing our two-part series on "Do Good People Go to
Heaven?" if ever there was an individual who would have
qualified for heaven through his goodness it would have
been Nicodemus, a religious leader of Christ's day.

By all human standards Nicodemus would have been a model
citizen--strong in character, a man of integrity, and a
sincere religious leader. It was to this good man that
Jesus said, "You must be born again." In other words,
unless a man/woman is born again he will not even see the
kingdom of God/heaven let alone enter it.

"You must be born again," meant that Nicodemus, like
everybody else, needed to be born spiritually (as well as
physically) if he was to enter God's heaven.

Once, after addressing a group of church workers, the
famous evangelist Dwight Moody was confronted by an angry
person. "Mr. Moody," she said, "do you mean to tell me that
I, an educated woman, taught from childhood in good ways,
and all my life interested in the church and doing good,
must enter heaven the same way as the worst criminal of our
day?"

"No, madam," said Mr. Moody, "I don't. God does. He says
everyone who would enter heaven, no matter how good they
think they are, or how well educated, or zealous in good
works, must be born again [that is, born spiritually]."

The difficult thing to grasp is that our sin has made us
spiritually dead to God. This is why we all need to be
reborn spiritually. To become a member of the human family,
we were born physically. To become a member of God's family,
we need to be born again spiritually. But how can we do
this?

Contrary to what many people think, it isn't by being good
or through good works...or religion. It is simply by
confessing our sinfulness to God and by believing that his
Son, Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and by
responding to his call to receive him into our heart and
life as personal Lord and Savior.

If you're not sure that you have been born again
spiritually, you can be--right now--by sincerely praying a
prayer such as the following: "Dear God, I confess that I
am a sinner and ask for your forgiveness. I believe that
Jesus, your Son, died on the cross to pay the consequences
or penalty for all my sins. And dear Jesus, I thank you for
doing this for me. Please come into my life as Savior and
Lord and help me to become the person you want me to be and
to live always for you. Thank you for your forgiveness and
the assurance that I will spend eternity with you in heaven
forever."

NOTE: For more information read "Born Again People" at:
http://www.actsweb.org/art_bornagain1.htm

<<


7. To Send a Prayer Request
To submit a prayer request to David Clark
go to: http://www.responda.co.uk/prayer.php
David is not on the ACTS staff but is offering
this as a service to Daily Encounter readers.


ACTS International
P.O. Box 73545
San Clemente, California 92673-0119
U.S.A.
Phone: 949-940-9050
Fax: 949-481-3686
http://www.actsweb.org

Copyright (c) 2004 by Acts International.

When copying or forwarding include the following:
"Daily Encounter by Richard Innes (c) 2004 Acts Int.
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