VBS 2023 - Versailles Baptist Church

Introduction

We have had a wonderful week at VBS here at Versailles Baptist Church. I want to thank you all for trusting us with your kiddos. That is not a responsibility that we take lightly.

I want you to know that we are here for your family, and we want to help you in every way that we can.

Whatever your need, we want to serve you.

We are passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that He is the hope of our world, and we want to share that hope with others.

We have had a great week learning about who Jesus is and how he can change our lives.

Our first night, we learned that Jesus is holy.

Our second night, we learned that Jesus is trustworthy.

Our third night, we learned that Jesus is forgiving.

Our fourth night, we learned that Jesus is worth following.

And tonight, our lesson is that Jesus is for everyone.

Tonights story is about a man named Cornelius who came to know Jesus and Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples who had a dream. In that dream, Jesus told Peter than anyone who came to God would be saved and have eternal life in Him.

Explanation

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God is holy. We learned this night one.

It means that God has never done anything wrong.

He is perfect in all of his ways.

God has never sinned. He has never lied. He has never thought a bad thought about anyone. Not one time!

Man is sinful.

We have sinned. Sinning is doing something that goes against what God wants for us.

Maybe, it is telling a lie or not telling the truth. Maybe it is being disrespectful to mom and dad. Maybe, it is being mean to a brother or sister.

Because we have sinned against God, we are separated from him. It is as though a brick wall has been placed between us and God. Our sin separates us from God.

We cannot do enough good to make up for our sin.

We cannot

God sent Jesus.

Jesus lived a perfect life.

He died upon a cross. The cross was for bad people, but Jesus was good. Why did He go to the cross?

The Bible says that Jesus went willingly to save you and me. How?

When Jesus went to the cross, God gave Him your sin, and he punished Jesus for it.

It is as if you are playing with a ball in the house and you break a nice vase. Your mom comes in, and says, “You are grounded! No more Nintendo switch for the rest of the summer!” And your brother says, “No, mom. I will take His punishment so that he can go free./I will take her punishment so that she can go free.”

Jesus soaked up your sin on the cross so that God would punish him for your sin, and you could go free.

Trusting in Jesus and turning from ourselves leads to salvation.

This doesn’t happen automatically. Only when we trust that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and turn from our old life does Jesus save.

When you believe that Jesus died on a cross for your sins and you give your life to him to save you, God punishes Jesus for your sin, and gives you the life that He deserves.

It’s like the vase I was talking about earlier. Let’s pretend that while you broke the vase, your brother was cleaning his room. He was supposed to get 5 dollars for cleaning his room. Mom gives you the 5 dollars and takes the switch from him for the summer

Jesus got what we deserve, so that we could have what Jesus earned.

The moment that we trust Jesus, that wall of sin comes *crashing down.

Invitation

All you have to do is pray to God, and Jesus will save you.

If you want to know more about giving your life to Jesus, ask your parents, ask Mrs. Autumn, ask a VBS leader, or even ask me!

Let’s pray.