Keeping the Main Thing  the Main Thing

Is there anything more important than our children and grandchildren?

Well, yes. And we’d like to share it with you.

As grandparents, we’re all eager to watch our grandchildren grow and experience all of life – and enjoy it with them. We hug away their hurts, cheer on their accomplishments, bathe them in prayer and just love them.

But there IS something much more important than our grandchildren because it impacts us for eternity: our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We (the founders of Grandparents of Homeschoolers) both came to know Jesus Christ as our Savior when we were in our late teens. We were blessed that our children started that relationship at very young ages and their lives through adulthood are evidence that their faith is genuine.

We want to share our stories with you in the hopes that you will consider the most important relationship you’ll ever have — trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, through faith alone, not any “good works” on our part because we all still fall short.

The greatest joy we can have on earth is experiencing our own salvation and then seeing our family follow suit as God touches their hearts. May you and your children and grandchildren know this joy and assurance.

~ Rich’s Story ~

It’s interesting how many different ways people come to salvation in Christ, with a multitude of unique circumstances, yet one outcome – redemption from our sins through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.

I was raised in a church-going family but it wasn’t until Jr. High that I clearly understood the Gospel message. Even then, it was more of an acknowledgement than a full realization of just what Christ had done – and is doing – in lives. I was grounded in all the keys points of Christ and His substituionary death to save our souls from eternal separation from God. Yet it wasn’t registering in the one place it really had to in order to make a difference in my life.  As they say, the message hadn’t yet traveled the 18 inches from my head down to my heart.

One Christmas evening as I watched the newer version of the movie, “Kings of Kings,” God’s gentle spirit finally lifted the veil of my self-guidedness and I knew that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. It was following that movie that I contemplated how I was living and realized it was only for myself and not for the Lord. I realized for the first time that if I meant business with God, I needed to repent of my own selfishness and accept the forgiveness of my sins that our sinless Redeemer paid with the price of His life.

Our church’s assistant pastor, upon learning that I had made a commitment to follow Jesus, was as encouraged as he was amazed that a Christmas evening 1960s movie rebroadcast on a local TV station in Chicago would cut a young man to the chase and confront him with his mortal condition in light of a holy and just God.

I see that movie as a visual extension of God’s Word.  Although it certainly is not the Bible, it did follow the life of Christ as depicted in the Bible. And it was at that moment when I first realized that just as Adam’s sin had transcended time to mark me a sinner before God, yet Christ’s death and resurrection on the Cross put to death my death for all eternity.

~ Barb’s Story ~

My salvation experience was not one of those “heroin to Heaven” experiences. I was your normal church-going girl who assumed that I would go to Heaven someday because I was a pretty good person, and the good far-outweighed the bad. Still, I always wondered how to know for sure.

God changed my heart one day, through the Scriptures I heard in a movie, “A Thief in the Night.” It was the first time I had ever heard God’s plan of salvation. I learned that “pretty good” wasn’t good enough. God requires sinlessness and Christ was the only One who qualified. I repented alone in my car after the movie ended and spent much time in prayer as God was changing my heart before my very eyes.

In hindsight, I now can see that God had been drawing me toward Him simply by giving me an interest in spiritual things. Something had prompted me to go to that movie at a church that never would have interested me previously. Now I know it was the Holy Spirit drawing me there.

Just a month before that, in a related move that can only be seen as God’s providence, I had started reading the Bible only because my grandma had died just ja few weeks earlier, and before her death she had wrapped up a birthday present for me that was given to me after her death — a version of the Bible written for teens. I read it only because my loving grandma, recently deceased, had prepared it for me.

Grandparents — you have no idea what a huge impact — an eternal impact — you might have in your grandchildren’s lives.

What the Bible Says About Salvation:

Three things are common to every human being: Life, Death, & Judgment

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” – Hebrews 9:27

Why we need a Savior

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23

Sin separates us from God; the penalty is death

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Rom. 6:23

Christ’s substitutionary death is applied to everyone who is made alive in Christ

“You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”– Col. 2:13–14

Good works do not get us to Heaven

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” – Eph. 2:8-9

Christ rose from the dead to conquer death

“…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” – 1 Cor. 15:3(b)-4

Christ is the only way to Heaven

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” – John 14:6

God’s forgiveness requires our repentance

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

Our lives change forever! 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Cor. 5:17

God’s Word is fully sufficient; study it

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness….” – 2 Tim. 3:16

~ Starters for new Christians ~

Read the Gospel of John (Jesus’ life), the book of Romans (our inability to save ourselves), and Genesis (the foundational Biblical text).

How to Find A Good Church

If you have made a profession of faith in Christ, you’ll want to find a Bible-centered church in your area. The links below provide some guidelines to help you find a church that faithfully preaches God’s Word, which will help you grow in your new faith and enable you to minister to others. (Note: No endorsement of any organization is intended by providing these links.)

http://www.9marks.org/what-are-the-9marks/

http://www.intouch.org/you/article-archive/content/topic/finding_the_right_church_article#.U2g

Keep in Touch!

We’d love to hear from you, and if the information in this brochure has made a difference in your life, please share that with us!  You may contact us using the “Contact” menu tab on our website:

www.GrandparentsOfHomeschoolers.org