1. Highlight the paragraph that tells you “The children of God are partakers of His nature.”
2. Also read Steps to Christ,  pp. 49,50
3. Highlight the paragraph that says “You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away.”
4. Highlight the paragraph that discusses the paralytic at Bethesda.

“In the council of heaven, provision was made that men, though transgressors should not perish in their disobedience, but, through faith in Christ as their substitute and surety, might become the elect of God, predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. God wills that all men should be saved; for ample provision has been made, in giving His only-begotten Son to pay man's ransom. Those who perish will perish because they refuse to be adopted as children of God through Christ Jesus” (The Faithful Live By, p. 157).

BEFORE AND AFTER

Benjamin sat quietly in the backseat of his new car with his new parents as they made their way to his new home. He had dreamed of this moment for so long, and now it wasn’t anything like he had imagined. The foster care homes he had been in were temporary, and the uncertainty of bouncing from home to home, packing what little belongings he had in a small duffle bag, had become a comfortable routine for him. This was different, and he wasn’t sure if the permanent nature of this relationship was a good thing or a terrible mistake.

As they pulled into the driveway, his mother said, “We are home.” The words were foreign to Ben. It was like speaking another language to him. Ben looked at the simple home with the welcome sign draped across the front of the house and choked back the uncertainty welling in him. He wanted this to work more than anything else, but he wondered if he was capable of being a member of a family.

Ben took a deep, audible breath and bravely stepped out of the car and followed his new mom and dad into the house. He sensed immediately that things were going to be different with this home; he wasn’t sure how or why, but he was certain things were going to change. Benjamin was 13 when he was adopted, and he struggled for two years with his new parents. He pushed his new parents in a variety of ways, but eventually their consistent love and commitment to him won him over.

“Of all the emotions you feel,” he reports almost 10 years later, “anxiety about making a mistake and causing your new parents to regret their choice to adopt you is overwhelming. You just want to test their commitment to you and check the depth of their love. What is surprising is that when my parents continued to love me through my rebellion it made me angry. I thought, You can’t love me this much! But they did, and eventually I became so used to the gentleness of my new father and the joy and hopefulness of my new mother that I found myself laughing, hugging, trusting, and loving—emotions and actions I had never experienced before in my life. The most amazing reality of adoption is: They chose me! And later, when I was able to—I chose them.”

1. What do Benjamin’s experience with adoption and our adoption into God’s family have in common?
   

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2. Do we go through a time of rebellion in our adoption experience?
   

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3. Was our adoption a spur of the moment decision?
   

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4. What makes our adoption complete?
   

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5. Why do we resist being adopted so much of the time?
   

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See Steps to Christ,  pp. 51, 52.

1. Highlight the paragraph that says “Do not wait to feel that you are made whole.”.
2. Highlight the paragraph that starts “Some seem to feel that they must be on probation.”

Baptism

Decode the message by finding each substitute letter or symbol.

See Steps to Christ, p. 53.

Highlight the paragraph with the sentence in it that states “I have a compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered, I will arise and go to my Father.”

“Dear children and youth, your heavenly Father and the dear Saviour are your very best friends. You have every evidence that it is possible for you to have of their love for you. ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

“God will not with hold anything from us that will really be for our good. Jesus would have us happy in this world, and enjoy with Him the glory of the next world. God has given to children and youth invitations to surrender to Him. ‘My son, give me thine heart.’ A promise is given—‘Those that seek me early shall find me.’

“All who live have sins to wash away. . . . True repentance of sin, faith in the merits of Jesus Christ, and baptism into His death, to be raised out of the water to live a new life, are the first steps in the new birth which Christ told Nicodemus he must experience in order to be saved. The words of Christ to Nicodemus are not only spoken to him, but to every man, woman, and child, that should live in the world. . . . We are safe in following the example of Christ.” (Lift Him Up, p. 79.).
 

SO WHAT?

A research study showed that 90 percent of all conversions to Christ come before the age of 20. As you get older the number of people who commit their life to Christ decreases tremendously. Some think that young people should wait until they “know more” or “understand better” the Christian faith before they make a decision to follow Christ. But think of this: the most stern rebuke Jesus ever gave was for people who make it hard for young people to follow Him. Take a minute and read Matthew 18:4-6.

So what do you think of childlike faith now? If you haven’t been baptized yet and wonder if you are ready, ask yourself, “Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” and listen to your answer. Baptism is an important step but the steps out of the baptistry are equally important, if not more so. The steps you take after you dry off and go to school the next Monday are big steps. The challenge for those who have chosen Christ as Savior and Lord is to “continue” taking those childlike steps toward their Father.

Match the phrase with the text. All verses are taken from the NIV bible.

To find an NIV Bible go to www.guidemagazine.org/rtf . Click on RealTime links and scroll down to Biblegateway.com. Once you are on the drop down menu you will find the New International Version.

1. Matthew 28:16-20
2. John 3:1-7
3. Galatians 3:26-29
4. Romans 6:3-7
5. 1 Peter 3:18-22
6. Luke 3:7-14
7. John 1:10-13
8. 1 Corinthians 12:12,13

1. “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.”
2. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
3. “He was in the world, and the world was made through him.”
4. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts.”
5. “For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up the children for Abraham.”
6. “For Christ died for sins once for all.”
7. “You are all sons of God.”
8. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”

1. Highlight the paragraph telling you how much of the heart “must be yielded to God.”
2. Highlight the paragraph beginning with “The warfare against self.”
3. Highlight the paragraph that ends with the sentence “It remains for us to choose whether we will be set free from the bondage of sin, to share the glorious liberty of the sons of God.”

Christ represents Himself as sustaining the same tender relation to us that a father sustains to his children. ‘What man is there of you,’ He inquires, ‘whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?’ He is willing to give the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks in faith. Why are we so weak, so faithless? Why do we cherish defects of character? Why do we not always come to our heavenly Father, to ask in simple, childlike faith for the things that we need? {2SAT 222.2}

“John speaks of Christians as ‘little children,’ and this is what all the members of God's family on earth are. In knowledge and understanding we are nothing but babes. Christ volunteered to teach us in a language so simple that all can understand. No one needs to use a dictionary in order to comprehend the meaning of the simple words He uses in telling us how to gain eternal life” (Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, p. 222).

What Does This Have to Do With Me?

Some teenagers chose to be baptized in their moments of “childlike” faith. Sometimes they feel as if they might not have understood “everything” they understand now. While that may be true, as a teen you don’t understand as much as you will in college. What about after you are married and have children—will you know even more then? Probably.
Life as a child of God is a journey. Baptism is an important part of that journey, and it needs to be the result of a thoughtful decision. It is a lot like buttoning a shirt. Faith in the grace of God and promise of His power to save you is the first button. If you get that right in your mind, the buttoning from there on is simply following through.

Your baptism may be (or have been) in cold water, or your grandparents may not be able (or have been able) to attend, or your favorite pastor may have (or have had) a broken leg. That is not what matters. What is important is where you start. Think of the baptism as a celebration. As you continue to grow older you will find challenges that will remind you that you need to surrender every day. Seize each moment to recommit your heart to Christ as Lord and Savior, and your baptism will become more and more meaningful as you go.

1. What makes baptism so important?
   

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2. Is getting baptized something you have to do because your friends are doing it?
   

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3. Why should you make the decision to get baptized?
   

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4. Have you been baptized?
   

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5. Please explain your answer for number 4.
   

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6. If you haven’t been baptized yet do you want to talk to your pastor about being baptized soon?
   

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There is nothing hard or complicated about giving your life to Jesus completely and being baptized. All you have to do is pray and then ask your pastor to study with you so that you can be baptized. If you have never made that commitment why not do it now? Stop and say a prayer or write it on the lines below. Then go and speak to your pastor about taking the step to baptism.

1. Highlight the paragraph beginning with “Do you feel that it is too great a sacrifice to yield all to Christ?”
2. Highlight the paragraph beginning with “God does not require us to give up anything that it is for our best interest to retain.”
3. Highlight the paragraph containing the thought “How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?”
4. Highlight the paragraph that tells how “an entire change may be made in your life.”

How Does It Work?

Before and after pictures can be deceptive. One quality you find is that in the before picture usually the person is sad or simply not smiling. Whereas, in the after picture they are happy and hopeful looking. In some cases, that is the only difference.
In the “Before” area below, list the parts of the old you that you will not miss. In the “After” area, write things you look forward to growing into as you continue to walk with Christ.