My Grandma and the Gospel

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My Grandma was born in 1908. She loved Jesus and loved telling others about Jesus. She went home to be with Jesus forever in 2006 after 98 years on this earth.

When I was a young child, she gave me a Gideon’s Bible which she had prepared especially for me. She highlighted seven verses that communicated the essence of the gospel message. Then she took masking tape and created tabs which were numbered from 1 to 7 along the edge of the pages.

She encouraged me to memorize these verses and to share them with those who didn’t yet believe in Jesus. I cherished this little Bible.

Two years before she died, she sent me another Bible – a paperback New Testament. Again she highlighted the same seven verses with the gospel message and included florescent numbered tabs along the edge of the pages. I treasure this – and have shared these verses with many people.

Today in my Core Group with college students, one of them asked me for a list of Bible verses that would share the essence of the gospel message. I immediately grabbed the New Testament from my grandma and gave him the references she had highlighted for me.

My grandma loved Jesus, she loved the church, she loved the gospel, and she loved introducing children to Jesus! For many, many years she invested her life in teaching Sunday School and Bible Clubs. I love sharing her gospel verses with others.

7 Key Verses – The Gospel

1. Romans 3:23-24
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

2. Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. 2 Corinthians 5:21
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

4. John 1:12
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

5. Revelation 3:20
Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

6. Romans 10:9-10
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

7. 1 John 1:9
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

(All verses from New Living Translation)