God has created me for this world. My body was made so that it can live in this world. I have been especially designed for "Earth-life." My eyes were made so that I can see this world with all of its beauty. God could have made me so that I could only see things in black and white. But God made me so that I can see the world with all of its beauty and color. My lungs were made so that I can take in and breathe out this world’s air. My mouth and stomach were made so that I can eat and digest this world’s food. God made me so that I can walk, skip, hop and run on planet earth and even swim in its lakes and oceans. God made me so that when the weather is too cold I shiver and when it is too hot I sweat.
Can you think of other ways in which your body is especially made for this world? God has created you to be an earth-dweller. Has your body been made for "Moon-life"? If you were placed on Mars or on Jupiter, how well would you do? What planet has God given to men for them to live on (Psalm 115:16)? __________________________
Every person has been created by God and is one of God's creatures (see Revelation 4:11). Has the turtle been created by God? _______________ Is the turtle one of God’s creatures? ______
You are one of God’s creatures, but so is Mr. Turtle. You are a person, and Mr. Turtle is an animal. God has designed you for earth-life. Has God designed Mr. Turtle for earth-life too? Can Mr. Turtle see? Can Mr. Turtle breathe in earth’s air? Can Mr. Turtle eat earth’s food? Can Mr. Turtle walk on the earth and swim in the earth’s waters? Would Mr. Turtle do very well on Mars?
Men and animals have both been made for earth-life, but man is more than an animal. Read Ecclesiastes 3:19-20. An animal lives and then it dies, and then its body goes back to dust. A man lives and then dies, and his body is buried and goes back to dust. But is man more than dust? How is man different than the animals? Was the turtle or the gorilla made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27)? ______ Did the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world to save sinful rabbits (Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15)? _______ God created man for a special reason and God wants to save man for a very special reason.
Has God redeemed you (Ephesians 1:7)? Has God saved you (2 Timothy 1:9)? God wants to
save you (1 Timothy 2:3-4). If you are a saved person God has a very special purpose for
you on planet earth. God has saved you out of this world and for this world. When you were
saved, why didn’t God take you to heaven immediately? Why did God leave you
here on the earth? The fact that God has left you here must mean that God has some purpose for you
in this world. Why are you in this world? Why does God want you on
Planet Earth today?
Jesus once said to His followers: "Ye are the ____________ of the earth" (Matthew 5:13). What did He mean by this?
Today we use salt on our food to season it and to make it taste good. Salt makes potato chips very tasty. If you were to eat a potato chip without any salt, it would taste different, and you may not like it as much without salt.
In Bible times people used salt to make their food taste good just like we do today, but there was another use of salt that was even more important. Salt was used in preserving foods. What would happen if you were to leave the milk or the hamburger meat out of the refrigerator? Would it go bad in time and spoil? In Bible times people did not have refrigerators or freezers, but they did have salt! Salted foods would not spoil or go bad as fast as unsalted foods.
We live in a world that is "going bad" because of sin. Sin ruins and spoils everything. But in this evil world believers are to be salty (Matthew 5:13). These believers are helping to keep the world from going bad too fast. When a believer is obeying God’s Word, God’s life is made known. This will help to slow down the forces of sin and evil.
A good example of evil being restrained is found in the Old Testament. Jehoiada was a godly priest who acted as "salt" during the reign of King Joash. As long as Jehoiada was alive, what did Joash do (2 Chronicles 24:2)? __________________________________________ But after Jehoiada died and the "salt" was gone, we are shocked to see how corrupt and bad King Joash became (2 Chronicles 24:15-22)! He even killed Jehoiada’s son (2 Chronicles 24:20-21)!
Think about your own life. How salty are you? If your friends use bad language do you
do the same thing? If you hear someone telling bad jokes do you laugh too?
If others lived the way you live, would the world be better off or worse off? If the
world were made up of people just like you, what kind of a world would it be? Would there
be light to snow the truth? Would there be right to know that which is
wrong?
The believer is not only salt, but he is also light. Jesus said, "Ye are the __________________ of the world" (Matthew 5:14). God saved me and kept me in this world because He wanted me be a light.
Light is important because it helps people to know the right way to go. The captain of the ship sees the light shining from the lighthouse at night and he knows which way to steer his ship. A flashlight can shine onto a dark path and show us the right way to go. The headlights of a car do the same thing.
The world is very dark because of sin (John 3:19). People are lost and do not know the right way to go. But in this dark world there are believers who are lights (Matthew 5:14). When a believer is living as he should then he is showing others the right way to go.
Consider Matthew 5:15. According to this verse, a light has a definite purpose. It is meant to: (circle the correct answer)
be hidden
give light
be turned off or put out
be covered up
Jesus said, "Let your light so __________________ before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Think about your own life and the way you live at home and in school and elsewhere. What kind of good works do people see as they watch your life? As your friends watch you live, are they learning the right way to go or the wrong way to go? Do they see darkness (sin) or light (good works)? If they were to live the way you live, would the world be a brighter place or a darker place? According to John 8:12, who is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD? __________________________ If people follow Him will they be going the right way? _______ If people follow you will they be going the right way or will they be walking in darkness?
One of the reasons God has saved you and left you on this earth is because
He wants you to shine for Him. Can you find a verse in Philippians chapter 2 that tells us that God
wants believers to shine in the middle of this dark world (just like the stars shine in
the middle of the dark night sky)? Philippians chapter 2, verse _______
There is much wrongness in this world. We studied this in Chapter 10 of these notes. Where is rightness in the world? The world sees wrong all the time. How are people going to see right? The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 2:24 that Christ died for us and, "bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto ________________________________." God has saved us and left us on planet earth so that we might live righteously!
People need to see a right example, not a wrong example. Believers are to be the right kind of examples to others. How can you set the right kind of example in school? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
How can you be the right kind of example in your home? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
How can you be the right kind of example in church? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
If people were to follow your example, would they be doing right or wrong? We do not
want to be an example of sin (wrong thinking and wrong doing), but we want to be an example of
righteousness (right thinking and right doing--see Romans
6:18). God has saved us and left us in this world to live right, act right, speak right,
think right and be right.
What is a witness? John the Baptist was a witness (John 1:7). A witness is like an arrow. An arrow points you to something. John the Baptist was an arrow that pointed to the light (John 1:7):
Was John the Baptist the Light (John 1:8)? ______ Did he point to the Light (John 1:8)? ______
Read John 1:29 and answer this question: Who did John point to? (circle the correct answer)
himself
the river Jordan
Jesus
the birds in the air
God wants us to be good "arrows" that point clearly to Christ. If you use bad language, are you helping to point people to Christ? _______ What happens if you bow your head and quietly thank God for your food when you are in the school cafeteria? Is this being a good witness? Are you pointing to God? When people see you praying they should realize that there is Someone else at the table besides you. They should see that there is a God that you are thanking and praying to. All they have is their lunch! You have a great God who is with you even at the lunch table!
Can you think of other ways that you can point to God and be a good witness?
Jesus said, "Go ye into all the __________________ and preach the ______________(good news) to every creature" (Mark 16:15). There is much bad news in the world. Can you think of some of the bad news that we hear about on the radio or television or read about on the Internet? Is there any message of good news for the world?
Believers have the greatest news of all! This good news is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. The angels announced this good news long ago (Luke 2:10). It is good news about a great Saviour!
The Bible tells us to preach the gospel. This means we are to preach or announce the good news. We are to be heralds of the good news of salvation.
A herald is a person who carries messages and makes announcements. When the herald would enter a town the people would gather together with excitement. They wanted to hear the news. This was especially important in the days before television and radio and newspapers. The herald would stand in a place where everyone could hear him (sometimes even on a rooftop) and then he would give his message. Sometimes it might be a message of bad news: "The enemy is invading our land." Sometimes it might be a message of good news: "We won the battle!"
How are people going to learn about God’s wonderful salvation? If they turn on the evening news will they learn how to be saved from sin? Will they learn how to get to heaven by reading the daily newspaper? No, God wants every believer to be a herald and to carry the message of good news. God could have sent angels to tell people about salvation. Did He do this? _____ God could have spoken Himself so that all men could hear the way of salvation in their own languages. Did He do this? No, when God wanted His gospel to be preached He said, "Go" (Mark 16:15). Believers need to obey!
A missionary was preaching in the village market, and some of the people were laughing
at him because he was not a very handsome man. He took it for a time, and then he said to
the crowd, "It is true that I do not have beautiful hair, for I am almost bald.
I have artificial teeth, for they are really not mine; they were made by the dentist. I
do not have a beautiful face, nor can I afford to wear beautiful clothes. But this I know:
I have beautiful feet!" He then read the verse found in Isaiah 52:7. Do
you
have beautiful feet? See also Romans 10:14-15.
Why did God save me and keep me on this earth? This world is filled with people who need answers. Most people do not know the answers to these three important questions:
1. WHERE DID I COME FROM?
2. WHY AM I HERE?
3. WHERE AM I GOING?
Do you know the answers to these questions? If so then you can help others also.
If people see that we live the same way they live, then they will not ask very many questions. But if they see that we are rightly different, then they will begin asking questions:
"Why do you read the Bible?"
"Why do you pray before eating?"
"Why don't you ever use swear words?"
"Why do you go to church several times every week?"
Can you think of other questions people might ask?
Did you ever have "Show and Tell" in school? Believers need to show and tell. First we must show people that our lives are different, and then we must tell them why we are different! We are different because of Christ and what He has done for us! What would be the problem if a believer shows but does not tell? What would be the problem if a believer tells but does not show? Which speaks louder, actions or words? ___________________
When people ask us questions we should always be R____________ to give an answer (1
Peter 3:15). We may not always know what to say, but we can always trust God and do our
best.
It is not very good when we try to show off and try to show how great we are. But it is good when we are able to show off God so that people can see how great He is.
Let’s think about just one of these truths about God. People in the world do not have God’s peace. They are all troubled and upset about the problems in the world. They are all worried about whether they will have enough (see Matthew 6:31-32). They are about ready to push the panic button. Do they have the peace that Christ can give (see John 14:27)? _____
The believer can show off God’s peace. God is not upset and worried
about anything, and the
believer does not have to be either. As people look at us they need to see
peace not panic. When God gets upset and starts to worry then the believer can worry too, but
not until then! If people see that you are upset and worried, then what will they think
about your God?
God wants to teach the angels about His wonderful wisdom that made it possible for Him to save sinful men. How does God teach the angels? He teaches them through us!
Think of your class in school. If your teacher were teaching geography she might use a globe as an object lesson. To teach you something about the earth, she would point to the globe.
Read Ephesians 3:10. The universe is God’s school room. God is the Teacher. The
angels (principalities and powers) are the students. The Church (made up of
believers in Christ) is the
object lesson. What is God teaching the angels? Not about geography, but about His
wonderful wisdom. When God wants to teach the angels about His wisdom and grace He points
to us and shows them what He has done for us. Did you know that God was using you to teach
angels?
The Bible says that we are to walk worthy of the _______________________ wherewith we are called (Ephesians 4:1). The English word "vocation" refers to a person's job or occupation. God has called us to a wonderful occupation! Why didn’t God take me to heaven when He saved me? Because he has a job for me to do on this earth!
What job has God called me to do? The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 1:9. Every
believer has one main job: to walk with God and to please Him and to fellowship with Him
every day of our life! Have you been doing your job? You might say, "My main job is
to go to school and be a student!" No, even though it is important for you to go to
school and be the best student you can be, this is not your main job. Your main job is to
serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to please Him and obey Him. One of the ways you can please
Him is to be the best student you can be to the glory of God!
If God has really saved us, then we ought to live differently! Does God want us to live the same way unsaved people live (see Ephesians 4:17-20)? _____ We need to show the world that Christ makes a big difference (2 Corinthians 5:17). We need to show the world a changed and changing life (2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2). We need to show that we are not of the world even though we are in the world (John 15:18-19; John 17:11,14-15). We need to show them that we belong to God and not to Satan (1 John 3:10). We need to show them that heaven is our true home (John 14:1-3 and Philippians 3:20) and that if they trust Christ they can have a wonderful future too!
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