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Hello Dear Reader,

I have but one goal in writing this book. I want to present the Gospel Message to my family … to my nieces and nephews, my cousins and my friends.

That is the purpose of this book. I want to express to you, using the Bible as my foundation … the need for three things in your life.

First, the need for Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. This is more than head knowledge; it is having a personal relationship with Jesus.

Second, the need for prayer and reading the Bible in your daily life. A relationship involves contact with the other person. You talk to Jesus in prayer, you listen to Jesus when reading the Bible.

Third, the need to live your life differently. If you are a Christian, if you have asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, then you should live your life by the principles found in the Bible.

Let’s go to Scripture … …

Matthew 16:13-16 (NKJ) “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” v14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” v15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” v16 Simon Peter answered and said “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”

Jesus asked His disciples … “who do you say that I am?”

It was fine for the disciples to know what others thought about Jesus. But Jesus asked them, as individuals, what they believed about Him. This is the question placed before all who hear of Jesus … this is the question before you … and each person (including you) will be judged by their answer.

There are two things that must be clear in our mind.

Who is Jesus. What did Jesus do.

These are the two things that all of us have to be clear on in order to be Christians. We need to know these two things in order that we might exercise faith and be saved. These are the two questions I want to answer … using Scripture as my foundation.

But first, allow me to help you understand how I wrote this book for you.

When I read a verse or passage of Scripture, I read it in several translations. This helps me to gain a fuller understanding of the verse. Whenever I have written a verse or passage of Scripture, I have cited the translation I used.

(NAS) New American Standard (NLT) New Living Translation (NKJ) New King James Version (KJV) King James Version (NET) New English Translation (AMP) Amplified

I know many people have their favorite Bible translation. Be it the NAS or NLT or whichever. I know people who only read the KJV, and believe it is the only true translation and will dismiss any other translation. So to all you people who enjoy your translation of the Bible, I pray you will still read this book. Perhaps you could have your Bible open and ready. When I use any Bible passage that is not in your chosen translation, please don’t dismiss it, simply look it up and read it in your translation.

Important: I have used different commentators, along with other sources, to help me put together this book. What I did was compile, combine and rearrange commentaries, along with my own thoughts. I am not attempting to pass this off as my own writing. What I have attempted to do is present the Gospel Message to the best of my ability, with the help of commentators. I do not want any monetary gain from this book … I wrote this book for my family and friends.

Important: I know that there is a chance that I will write something that some people will not agree with! Perhaps you will read something that goes against what you have always been taught. There are areas of the Bible, which are not politically correct in today’s world. … But I cannot change what the Bible says because I possibly might offend someone or step on someone’s toes.

R.C. Sproul: You are required to believe, to preach, and to teach what the Bible says is true, not what you want the Bible to say is true.

If you disagree with me on something … that’s ok. That means you’re reading my book and thinking about Scripture! Instead of tossing this book to the side because you disagree with something … my prayer would be that you open your Bible, read the verse or passage that you disagree with …and draw your own conclusions.

Charles Spurgeon: Try everything by the Word of God. Do not believe what you hear because I say it, or because somebody else says it. Go to the Word of God to learn what you need to know and ask the Spirit of God to teach you the meaning of what you read.

Please do not dismiss this entire book because you disagree on one or two points.

J. Vernon McGee: As you study the Word of God, ask the Spirit of God to teach you and lead you. … If you don’t understand something the first time, get down on your knees and say, “Lord, I missed the point. I don’t understand this. Make it real to me. I want this to be real to me.” … There are certain things which the Spirit of God can make very real to you.

I know in my own study of the Bible, more than once I had to make a decision, do I continue to believe what I have always believed and been taught, or do I change my thinking and my conduct to agree with what is written in the Bible. I have come to the conclusion that I will live my life in accordance with what Scripture says rather than what I have always been taught or what people have told me.

Grace Wesley: I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world, than stand with the world and be judged by God.

What hangs in the balance is your eternal destiny. That is why this is so critical and why I am writing this book. There is a heaven and there is a hell and the only way to heaven is believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior. It does not a matter if you are Catholic or Baptist or any other denomination … or even that you believe in God, the only thing that matters and the only way into heaven … is Jesus.

Note: I have sincerely tried to write this book with correct grammar and all the words spelled correctly, but I have no doubt I messed up somewhere and probably more than once. Please forgive me.

Table of Contents

001 – Hello Dear Reader 002 – How I wrote this book … Things you should know

Who is Jesus

005 - Jesus is God

Jesus is God

John 1:1-2 (NKJ) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. v2 He was in the beginning with God.”

“The Word” is one of the highest and most profound titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before time began, Christ was already in existence with God.

Swindoll: In eternity past, before the beginning of anything—space, time, matter—in the indefinite expanse of timeless existence, in a beginning that had no beginning, “the Word” was existing in an eternal, infinite “present.”

When I think of eternity, I think of time going forward and the fact that it will continue forever. What I don’t think about, at least not as much, is eternity before God created this world. At some point in time, God created this universe and world we live in and set it all in motion. Before that point in time was eternity.

McGee: The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Does that begin God? No, just keep on going back billions and trillions and “squillions” of years. I can think back to billions of years back of creation—maybe you can go beyond that—but let’s put down a point there, billions of years back of creation. He already was; He comes out of eternity to meet us. He did not begin. “In the beginning was the Word”—He was already there when the beginning was.

Swindoll: In eternity past, before the beginning of anything—space, time, matter—in the indefinite expanse of timeless existence, in a beginning that had no beginning, “the Word” was existing in an eternal, infinite “present.”

- So, the Father and the Son (the Son is known here as the Word) are equally God, yet distinct in their Person. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father. Yet they are equally God, with God the Holy Spirit making one God in three Persons.

- Everything that can be said about God the Father can be said about God the Son. In Jesus dwells all the wisdom, glory, power, love, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth of the Father. In Him, God the Father is known.

John 14:9b “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

The Incarnation ~ God Became Man

John 1:14