How We Can All Go To Heaven: Recipient's Copy
1. Our world is a mess.
2. Why do you think the world is in such a mess?
3. This is why God says our world is in such a mess:
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
“There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become
worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:11-12, 14-18)
“The heart of our human problem is the problem of our human heart.”
The Bible’s word for our human problem is “sin”, which simply means “missing the mark”, as
in when an archer misses their target. The “target” is God’s way that he wants us to live. He has a
standard for us to live by which will give us peace, purpose and joy. When we fall short of that
standard, and live the way we want to live, that’s called “sin”. And sin is why our world is in a mess.
4. Do you see yourself as a sinner?
The Bible says that all of us are sinners:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1John 1:8)
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but
I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. (Romans 7:18-21)
5. Here’s what happens to us when we die with sin on us:
For the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23, NIV) - other translations put it this way:
When people sin, they earn what sin pays - death. (Romans 6:23, New Century Version)
Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. (Romans 6:23, The Message)
These verses explain that sin will keep us out of heaven:
Your eyes [God’s eyes] are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. (Habakkuk 1:13)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1Cor. 6:9-10)
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
(Hebrews 12:14)
Nothing impure will ever enter it [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only
those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:27)
6. God’s solution for every person’s sin is to remove the sins from our soul by placing them on
Jesus, on the cross. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah predicted this would happen 400 years before
Jesus was born when he wrote this:
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his
own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)
"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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned . . .” (John 3:16-18)
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood
opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is
being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins
of many people. (Hebrews 9:27-28)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1Peter 3:18)
7. Three important keys about what Jesus did for us on the cross:
A. God’s forgiveness isn’t forced on anyone. God made us with free will, even the free will to
reject God’s free invitation to have our sins forgiven and to live forever in heaven.
B. God’s forgiveness is given to those who can admit they are in need of it because they are a
sinner whose sin separates them from God and makes them incapable of saving themselves. There is no
action we can do to have our past sins forgiven and forgotten by God.
C. Here’s the good news: By his death on the cross, Jesus made it possible for us to have our
sins taken away from us. All who believe that Jesus took their sins upon himself on the cross and all
who ask God to forgive those sins will be forgiven and made fit for heaven.
8. Two key questions:
A. How far along the way to trusting in Jesus are you?
B. Would you like to become a Christian today and be sure of it? Here’s how:
A – Admit that you are a sinner in thought, word and deed.
B – Believe that Jesus died in your place on the cross and put all of your past sins on himself.
C – Confess your sins to God and ask for his complete forgiveness.
Can you say a prayer out loud using these three verbs: “I admit . . . I believe . . . I confess”.
YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN! YOU ARE HEAVEN BOUND!!
9. Next time we can talk about the next two (alphabetical) steps after salvation:
D – Demonstrate your faith by living an increasingly holy life (by eliminating sins one at a time).
E – Empower your discipleship by using the means of grace (worship, Bible, prayer, etc.)
How To Share Your Faith: Your Copy
1. The first thing you want to talk about is this: the world is a mess.
All you have to do is watch the news, read the paper, etc., to see how bad things are. Loneliness, fear,
hate, death are everywhere. The songs of our generation are filled with these things. Look at the
statistics of teenage suicide, divorce, child abuse, etc.. Look at all of the wars going on in the world.
2. Ask them, “Why do you think the world is in such a mess?? Listen to them. Interact with them.
Honor their answers. Don’t argue with them. Just listen and ask follow up questions.
3. Ask them, “Can I show you why God says our world is in such a mess?” If they say, “No thanks,”
then honor that and ask if you could talk about it another time. If they say, “Yes,” then show these
verses:
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
“There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become
worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:11-12, 14-18)
To sum up this section, you could use this old bit of wisdom - God’s diagnosis for why our
world is in such a mess is this: “The heart of our human problem is the problem of our human heart.”
Another word for our human problem is “sin”. What is sin? The writers of the New Testament
used a Greek word for sin that simply means “missing the mark”, as in when an archer misses their
target. The “target” is God’s way that he wants us to live. He has a standard for us to live by which
will give us peace, purpose and joy. When we fall short of that standard, and live the way we want to
live, that’s called “sin”. And sin is why our world is in a mess.
4. Ask them if they see themselves as a sinner?
If they don’t, then ask if you can show them verses from the Bible that show we are all sinners?
If they say, “No thanks,” then honor that and ask if you could talk about it another time. If they say,
“Yes,” then show them these verses:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1John 1:8)
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but
I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. (Romans 7:18-21)
5. Ask them if you can share with them what happens to sinners when our physical bodies die
with sin on them? If they say, “No thanks,” then honor that and ask if you could talk about it another
time. If they say, “Yes,” then show them the following verses:
For the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23, NIV) - explain that the writer is referring to spiritual
death in Hell. Here are other translations that re-word this verse in a way that’s easier to understand:
When people sin, they earn what sin pays - death. (Romans 6:23, New Century Version)
Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. (Romans 6:23, The Message)
Show them these verses which explain that sin will keep us out of heaven:
Your eyes [God’s eyes] are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. (Habakkuk 1:13)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1Cor. 6:9-10)
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
(Hebrews 12:14)
Nothing impure will ever enter it [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only
those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:27)
6. Ask them if you can show them God’s solution for every person’s sin? If they say, “No
thanks,” then honor that and ask if you could talk about it another time. If they say, “Yes,” then with a
wink in your eye and a smile on your face, (letting them know that you’re kidding) share with them
what many people think is God’s solution for each person’s sin,:
 Going to church every Sunday.
 Giving 10% of their income to a church.
 Becoming a missionary to the lost tribes of Australia.
 Completely stop swearing, drinking, smoking and gossiping right now.
Tell them that these are all good things but they do nothing to actually remove the sins
that are on our soul. We need our sins taken and lifted off of us somehow, so that we can approach
God in honest prayer without guilt getting in the way and go to God in heaven when we die. Then
share with them God’s REAL solution for each person’s sin, beginning with this prediction (a.k.a.
“prophecy”) from the Old Testament part of the Bible about what Jesus would do for us on the cross,
400 years later after Isaiah wrote these words:
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his
own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)
"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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned . . .” (John 3:16-18)
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood
opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is
being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins
of many people. (Hebrews 9:27-28)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1Peter 3:18)
7. Ask if you could show them in the Bible how they can personally benefit from what Jesus
did for the world on the cross. If they say, “No thanks,” then honor that and ask if you could talk about
it another time. If they say, “Yes,” then explain the following to them:
A. God’s forgiveness isn’t forced on anyone. God made us with free will, even the free will to
reject God’s free invitation to have our sins forgiven and to live forever in heaven.
B. God’s forgiveness is given to those who can admit they are in need of it because they are a
sinner whose sin separates them from God and makes them incapable of saving themselves. There is no
action we can do to have our past sins forgiven and forgotten by God.
C. Here’s the good news: By his death on the cross, Jesus made it possible for us to have our
sins taken away from us. All who believe that Jesus took their sins upon himself on the cross and all
who ask God to forgive those sins will be forgiven and made fit for heaven.
8. Ask them these two questions:
A. How far along the way to trusting in Jesus are you? (Be patient and sensitive here. This
is often when people list some of the personal problems in their lives, or something they did in their
past that makes them feel unworthy, or some religious question which has always bugged them. Any
of these could have prevented them from believing in God/Jesus in the past. So, they may tell you they
want to think more about it. Honor that and ask if you could talk about it another time.)
B. Would you like to become a Christian today and be sure of it? If they say, “No thanks,”
then honor that and ask if you could talk about it another time. If they say, “Yes,” ask if they can do
the following:
A – Admit that you are a sinner in thought, word and deed.
B – Believe that Jesus died in your place on the cross and put all of your past sins on himself.
C – Confess your sins to God and ask for his complete forgiveness.
Ask them to say a prayer out loud using these three verbs: “I admit . . . I believe . . . I confess”.
CELEBRATE THEIR SALVATION!!!
By the way, here are the next two (alphabetical) steps after salvation:
D – Demonstrate your faith by living an increasingly holy life (by eliminating sins one at a time).
E – Empower your discipleship by using the means of grace (worship, Bible, prayer, etc.)