Susan : 0:39

Welcome to the One Yes At A Time Podcast. My name is Susan Dies and I'm here with my co-host, Keidra Hobley, and I'm so excited about today's podcast because as Christians, Jesus has given us the responsibility to share the good news about what He's done for us. And so we're gonna do that today, because he wants everyone, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you've done, what you haven't done, to have the opportunity to experience the grace... and peace... and forgiveness... and love... and promise of eternal life in heaven when this life is over... that God offers to anyone who is willing to put their faith and trust in Jesus and what he did for us on the cross. We don't deserve it. There's nothing we can do to earn it. We just have to come to him with a sincere heart and let him do the rest.

Keidra: 1:26

That's just exciting because it lets us know that we don't have to have it all together before we start this relationship with the Lord, so I love that.

Susan : 1:34

As I was thinking about today's podcast, and all the things that we're gonna talk about, the thought came to me that not everybody who's listening to us today knows who Jesus is. Mm-hmm. Not everybody even knows why knowing him matters. And I think a lot of times we make the assumption that because we live in the South... we live in the Bible belt.... Mm-hmm... the part of America where there's literally a church on every corner... that everyone knows who Jesus is. And yet in reality, that's just not true. That's right. I don't know if you know this or not, but according to a Gallup poll.. Okay... that was done in 2023... you probably...

Keidra: 2:09

I don't know this if it's a Gallop poll. No, I don't.

Susan : 2:11

You might know this.. Okay. About 20% of Americans have no religious affiliation. Mm. Okay. Another 10% identify as atheist.

Keidra: 2:20

Ooh. Okay.

Susan : 2:21

And that same poll showed another interesting statistic. It said 68% of Americans identify as Christians. But only one in four say that they are practicing Christians.

Keidra: 2:33

Wow.

Susan : 2:33

Meaning that they prioritize their faith. Mm-hmm. They attend church at least once a month. That blew my mind. Wow.'cause growing up, you know, in the church. Mm-hmm. We were there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. We were there on Monday night for visitation and Thursday night for softball. It was literally. Our life. Yeah. But as we talked about last week, not everybody grew up that way. That's right. And so that statistic just kind of blew my mind that now to prioritize your faith is just, even if you attend church just one time a month, and of course also spending time with God in prayer and in God's Word, making that a daily part of their lives.

Keidra: 3:10

Wow. So that's really just 25%. That is, that's what I heard. Only 25% of America are actual Christians.

Susan : 3:19

Well, it's 25% of the 68% who say they're Christian. So it's even less than that. Ooh, I see. And that's why one of our goals for this podcast is to hopefully encourage people, at least in our spheres of influence, to realize the importance of not just identifying as a Christian, but actually living a life that aligns with the truths that we find in God's word... also it just comes down to us being willing to share our personal experiences with God, what he's done for us. That's good, what Jesus has done for us, because when we share our personal stories of how we're trusting God and how every word of God that we have applied to our life has proven to be true, it gives us a way to share the truth of God's word in a way that others can't refute. Mm-hmm. They can refute whether or not they believe that the Bible is the word of God... but when we put it into practice... and we say, God's word said to do this, and I didn't really wanna do it, but when I did it.. Yeah.. what he said would happen is exactly what happened. People cannot refute that. And so I think we need to understand the importance of us having the courage to share our personal testimonies of faith with others... Then just realizing it's not our job to convince people to believe... yeah... or to put their faith in Jesus. Our responsibility, so to speak, is simply to share the good news and then leave the rest to God... that's good... the most loving thing any Christian can ever do is share the truth of God's word if we truly believe God's word, that putting our faith in Jesus is the only way to be saved, to have a relationship with God, to be forgiven of our sins and to receive eternal life, and we don't share it. Mm-hmm. And no one else shares it. Not only will the people that we didn't share it with miss out on experiencing God's love and all the blessings and the benefits of being a child of God, but the Bible tells us that they're gonna spend an eternity separated from God in a place called Hell.

Keidra: 5:11

Yeah.

Susan : 5:13

And nobody wants to talk about hell, right. To be honest, I don't wanna talk about hell.

Keidra: 5:16

Yeah, we, we have to..

Susan : 5:18

But the Bible says it's a real place. Mm-hmm. In fact Jesus taught more about hell than he did about heaven. Mm. And people need to know that. That the good news is good news for a reason. The fact that there's good news means that there

Keidra: 5:31

it's bad news. News. Some bad news. Yeah.

Susan : 5:34

And 2 Peter 3: 9 assures us that God does not want anyone to go there. He wants everyone to come to him, and to repent, and to experience the grace and the mercy that he offers us in Jesus so they can go to heaven. Yeah. God wants everyone there. That is his plan. The only reason anyone goes to Hell is because by their own choice.. Yes... they reject the most loving gift that God has ever offered to this world, which is his son Jesus. They reject God's invitation to come to him and to be saved. And to reject Jesus.. Mm-hmm. after He sent his one and only son to die for us, the Bible says it is to trample the blood of God's son.

Keidra: 6:15

Mm.

Susan : 6:15

Treating his sacrifice as nothing, when it was everything.

Keidra: 6:19

Yeah.

Susan : 6:20

That's the thing. God doesn't send anyone to hell. People choose hell over heaven. Mm-hmm. And God just simply gives us a choice. Yeah. Everyone wants to go to heaven, but not everyone is willing to accept that Jesus is the way to get there. And I have to believe it's because they just don't know or they don't understand what his death on the cross accomplished. And I thought maybe we could share a few verses from God's word today. Oh yeah. To help those who may not get it. I'm hoping these verses will allow them to hear God's heart today. So since you have your Bible.. Yep. And you've already got it open John three 16 is probably the most well loved, well-known verse about salvation.. Mm-hmm... in all the Bible. And so I wanted to start with that one.

Keidra: 7:00

Yeah. And this one is so familiar that I think sometimes we just rattle it off and don't really... I think you're right... take it to heart. So I want, even as, we share these, I want us to take'em to heart as if it's the first time we've heard it, even if it's not. Mm-hmm. John 3: 16... and I'm reading from the NIV, it says,"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." That's so good.

Susan : 7:26

I don't know if it gets any clearer than that.

Keidra: 7:27

It doesn't get any clearer. Mm-hmm. It doesn't, I mean, you don't even have to try to interpret it because it spells it out for us. I mean, it, it speaks to his love for us. Mm-hmm. Like we have to be willing to accept that love. Yes, he loves us, but we have to accept it. And, and the benefit of doing that is eternal life.

Susan : 7:45

Wow.

Keidra: 7:46

Eternal life instead of eternal death.

Susan : 7:48

And why would anybody not want to believe that? Yeah. I mean, we're all looking for some good news. That's the best news ever. Yes. For God so loved the world. That's everyone. That's everyone. That's everyone. He's the most inclusive God. And so I find it so interesting when people say that Christians are intolerant for giving this message that God loves everyone. Yes. I mean, we're not leaving anyone out. And then it says He gave his one and only son. And every time I read that. Wow. Is the only word that comes to my mind because we've talked about this before. I don't love anyone enough to trade the life of my child.. Mm-hmm. to save them. I'm just not that loving. Yeah. I'm not that good. Yeah. And I honestly don't know anyone else on this earth, who is that good and that loving. Only God would give his only son. And then it says whosoever.

Keidra: 8:43

Mm-hmm.

Susan : 8:44

So, I mean, that's anyone,

Keidra: 8:46

yes. Whosoever

Susan : 8:47

I don't know why that word just seems a little more personal, because a lot of people think, well, God couldn't love me.

Keidra: 8:53

Mm-hmm.

Susan : 8:53

You know, God surely couldn't save me because all the things I've done. Yeah. But this is whoever believes in him. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's the qualifier right there. Every person is a whosoever, anyone who believes anyone who's just willing to look at the facts. I mean, he's a fact. Yeah. He died on the cross to save anyone willing to put their trust in him as their Lord and Savior It's a promise. Yes. And so it's just a simple choice, but it does come down to faith.

9:25

Yes.

Susan : 9:26

Romans 3 23. Read that one for us. Okay, let's turn there.

Keidra: 9:31

Romans 3 and 23. Here we go."For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Mm. That's nice and sweet and to the point too. Mm-hmm. I, I think the definition of all in that sentence there is.. All.

Susan : 9:50

Yeah. We don't have to look up the original language to no,

Keidra: 9:53

no. All of us have have sin. We've done wrong. We've done things that don't line up with God's will. Mm-hmm. And so we've, we're all falling into that category. So there's nobody who does not need to accept Christ.

Susan : 10:06

I think one of the issues is we compare ourselves to one another. Mm-hmm. All the time. So we basically think we're really good.. Mm-hmm. Compared to most people. Yeah. And people might not want to admit that that's the way they think about themselves. Mm-hmm. But, I think that we all have that tendency to compare ourselves and think, well, I'm not as bad as her, might not be as good as her, but I'm definitely good overall. Mm-hmm. And yet this says all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. Yeah. So what does that mean? That we fall short of God's glory?

Keidra: 10:41

That we're not perfect. That's right. He's the only one that's perfect that, that's right. And so he is the standard If we're gonna compare, we should be comparing ourself to him. That's right. And then we will be able to see, oh, I really don't measure up. We have to use him as the standard. And that shows us that we've fallen short.

Susan : 10:57

So that's the bad news, that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So what do we do about that? Romans 5:8, what does it say?

Keidra: 11:04

Let's see, Romans five, eight says,"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That's so good. The part that stood out to me on that one is while we were still sinners. Because I think a lot of times people don't come to Christ because they feel like they have to get it all together before they come to Christ, but it says clearly while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So he knew we were gonna sin. He didn't wait for us to clean ourselves up. And he still chose to die.

Susan : 11:39

That's right. When I think about Christ dying for us while we were still sinners... I think about Easter, I think about the cross. I think about the sinless son of God. What he went through, The mock trials being humiliated, him being spit upon, yeah. Having his beard pulled out. Mm-hmm. Being stripped naked, Being flogged with the cat of nine tails. It had pieces of metal. It says that he was literally unrecognizable.. They put the crown of thorns on his head. They nailed him to the cross, they lifted him up. What was the very first thing he said? I.

Keidra: 12:14

Father forgive them. Is that the first thing?

Susan : 12:16

Isn't that crazy?

Keidra: 12:17

Yeah. For they know not what they do.

Susan : 12:19

And he was giving us an example because you know what? That's one of the hardest things he ever asked us to do.. Mm-hmm.. To forgive people who sin against us. Yeah. And so all of these things just kind of flooded my mind. The other thing is the word demonstrates. It's in the present tense. It doesn't say, but God demonstrated his love for us in this. God's love is continual. I mean... that's so good... it's never ending... and in Jesus, it's for all eternity. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But why would he do that? Look at Romans 6 23. All right, let's see. Romans 6 23 says,"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Hmm. So he, did that for us because he knows the wages of sin. Have you ever thought about the fact that in the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve, mm-hmm... there was only one rule?

Keidra: 13:14

Okay.

Susan : 13:14

He said, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, except this one tree... the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Mm-hmm. And he even told them why. You know, God is so good. He doesn't just tell us a whole list of rules that we have to keep. Right. He tells us why and why not. Mm-hmm. He tells us the blessing and the consequences because he's so good. Yeah. And he's so loving. But he told them on the day that they ate from that tree, they would surely die. And what'd they do?

Keidra: 13:43

They still ate from the tree they ate.

Susan : 13:45

But aren't we the same way? Yes. Aren't we the same way? Even though we know the wages of sin is death, like it leads to death? Now, interestingly, they didn't immediately die. Mm-hmm. But God did not want them to reach out their hand and eat from the tree of life and remain in their sinful state forever... and so he cast them out.. Yes... of the garden. He took the life of an animal... mm-hmm... and he covered them with the skin of that animal, because the Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. And so that was the first type and shadow looking forward to the cross. Yes. That there would ultimately be a sacrifice for sin.

Keidra: 14:26

Yes.

Susan : 14:26

Every person, since Adam and Eve has sinned. The wages of sin is death, and we know that. We can look at our own lives and see that when we sin, it can destroy all kinds of things in our life. So we can see the truth of God's word... with regard to the wages of sin, but the gift of God. Yes, it cost him everything. Everything. Yeah. And so that's the thing that we're trying to wrap our minds around. This next verse is another thing I want us to try, okay... and wrap our minds around. Romans 8: 1.

Keidra: 15:01

Romans 8: 1 says,"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Mm. Let me read that again. Mm. Therefore, that's so good. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Wow.

Susan : 15:20

That is an amazing promise.

Keidra: 15:22

Because we condemn ourselves all the time. And we condemn each other if we're honest about it. Yes, we do. But he's saying there is no condemnation if we're in him.

Susan : 15:30

That's right. Anyone who puts their faith in Jesus. When they stand before God... and we all will... we're gonna be declared not guilty.

Keidra: 15:39

Ooh. Glory.

Susan : 15:40

Not because we're not guilty.

Keidra: 15:42

Yes.

Susan : 15:43

Not because we did anything worthy of being able to enter into heaven. Mm-hmm. But because of what Jesus did for us. Yeah. When God looks at us, he will not see our sin. Even now, we are covered by the blood of Jesus... amen... and that's what he sees, and he counts our faith as righteousness. Look at Romans 10: 9.

Keidra: 16:04

Romans 10: 9 says,"If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. I love that.

Susan : 16:18

I do too. It's so simple. It's so simple, and we complicate it. Mm-hmm. I complicate it at times. Every person who hears the good news about Jesus simply has to decide for themselves if they're willing to believe it. That's right. And for those who are willing, the moment that we confess that Jesus is Lord mm-hmm. And we receive his Holy Spirit.. Yeah. We become a new person. Yeah. We get a fresh start. I mean, who doesn't want a fresh start? Mm-hmm. We don't have to be weighed down by the guilt and the regret and the shame of our sin anymore. We may still bear some consequences for the sins that we've committed. Yeah. But in God's eyes, we are gonna be declared not guilty, not because of anything we've done, but, because of what Jesus has done for us. I want us to read one more verse. Okay. Ephesians 2: 8.

Keidra: 17:08

Ephesians 2 verse 8."For it is by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not from ourselves, it is a gift of God. There's that gift again. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Grace through faith. Read verse nine. Okay. Not by works so that no one can boast.

Susan : 17:28

Yes. And that's the thing. Yeah. We think that we can do enough good works. If I'm a good person, I'm gonna go to heaven. But it's really not about what we do. The only thing that matters is do we believe that Jesus paid that price for us? Yeah. And that we are forgiven and that we have eternal life in heaven because of him. Mm-hmm. And not because of us. No amount of good that we ever do is gonna make us good enough or perfect enough, to earn God's favor or forgiveness, or to receive eternal life, it is just a free gift.. Yeah... that God has offered to us, and we have to either receive it, or reject it, because indifference is really the same as rejecting it. But we make a choice. Yes. And it has eternal consequences as we've talked about today. And God wants everyone to go to heaven. Mm-hmm. He does not want anyone to spend eternity separated from him, let alone in a place called Hell. And so in just a moment, Keidra, I'm gonna ask you to lead us in a prayer. If you've never accepted Jesus as your savior, if you've never received or felt God's forgiveness. If you don't have the assurance in your heart that one day when this life is over, that you're gonna spend eternity in heaven, you can have that assurance today. And so I want you to just pray along with her. So Keidra, if you would just go ahead and lead us in that prayer.

Keidra: 18:46

Yeah. I just wanna say this too, because when you just said that God gives us a choice, when it comes to deciding, making a decision for Christ, this is not the time to be indecisive. Mm-hmm. You need to make a choice. Because tomorrow's not promised. And so I'm gonna encourage you right now to be decisive and make a choice. And I pray that your choice is for Jesus. And as I mentioned earlier, I know sometimes people can struggle to surrender to God because they believe they need to clean up their life before they come to Christ. But the beautiful part is, we've already talked about it, the good news is that, 1 John 1: 9 says, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and clean us from everything that we've ever done wrong. Like, how awesome is that? If you knew that you could be clean from everything that you've ever done wrong, why would you not, take God up on his offer to clean you up? We can take care of that right now. So in your own words, I just want you to confess to the Lord the things that you know you've done wrong. Just confess those things before him in your own words and let him know that you're sorry you repent. It's that simple. So I want us to take a minute. I want you to do that right now and that's gonna settle it. You may need to pause the recording... and come back to it... if you need a little bit longer, but I want you to just ask him to forgive you of the things that you know that you've done wrong. Let's do that now. All right. Now that we've repented, and we've made the choice to turn away from our sins... we've already read Romans 10: 9, right? It says, if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved. There are no magical words... and that's why I want you to use your own words...'cause I don't want you to think that the words that I'm saying are going to be the magical words to save you. No. I want you to learn to go to Jesus for yourself. Okay? So use your own words. Just confess out loud that you accept Jesus as your savior, and that you believe God raised him from the dead. And again, remember, there's nothing magical about the words because God's not judging your words. He's looking at your heart. So in your heart... I need you to be sincere about it... just let him know that these are things that you are confessing. Let's take time to do that right now. So, if you with a sincere heart, have repented of your sins... you've confessed with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, then guess what? It's that simple. You're saved. You're saved. That's right. You're saved. You've been born again. You get that fresh start that Susan was telling us about earlier and, and I just wanna add this too, because... it's one thing to declare what we just declared, but it's another thing to walk it out. Okay? So this is critical... because sometimes we can go through the motions of saying the right words... and think we're saved... when we're not. Okay? And so when I say walk it out, if you were sincere in what you said, then your heart's desire is going to be to walk it out. 1 John 2: 3 says,"This is how we know that we know him. If we keep his commands, and so I wanted to point that out. So the only way we can keep his commands is if we know what his commands are. The only way we can know what his commands are, is if we get in his word. So I'm gonna encourage you to start developing a discipline of reading your Bible. And I hear a lot of people say, but I, I don't know where to start. Well, I'd encourage you just start in the book of John. If you don't know where to start, just start in the book of John. That's a good place to start. And then you might say, but I, I'm reading it, but I don't understand it. Well, I'm gonna encourage you, just keep reading. Just keep reading and then ask the Lord to give you understanding of it, because there's nobody in the world who wants you to understand his word more than him.

Susan : 22:52

That's right.

Keidra: 22:53

So just ask him to give you an understanding of it, and you're going to have to make a conscious choice to surround yourself with other people who believe. And not only that, that they are actively pursuing a life of holiness. Because you want to be able to walk alongside people who are trying to live the same life you're living now. Okay? You gotta get yourself out of the environments, that may have been tempting you to live a different lifestyle in the past. And, surrounding yourself with other people who are trying to live this same lifestyle as you now, this life of holiness, it's gonna be an encouragement to you. When it gets tough, they'll be able to encourage you to stay on the path. You'll have people you can discuss these scriptures with to help bring understanding and light, and then it'll help you to not give up because once you start on this journey, listen, the enemy is gonna be after you and try to tempt you to give up. So you want other like-minded believers who can encourage you along the way. And so I just wanna say congratulations to you... if that's a choice that you just made... welcome to the Kingdom of God. I'm so glad to have you as my new sister, my new brother in Christ, and we're looking forward to continuing this journey with you.

Susan : 24:08

All right, well, if you prayed that prayer today, please tell someone who could help you maybe get connected in a local church so that you can begin to take next steps with God and begin to grow in your faith. And if you like what you heard today and you wanna know more about what it looks like to put your faith into practice, be sure and hit that subscribe button so that you know when our next episode is out so we can do this together. And if you know of someone who needs to hear the good news about Jesus that we shared in today's podcast, be sure to forward that link so that they too can have the opportunity to say yes to God.

Keidra: 24:41

Amen.

24:41

I.