Proverbs 22:6(NLT) Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.

Recently while cleaning out some bookcases in my study, I found my old and worn NIV Bible. The pages are dog-eared but It's a very special Bible and it brings back many memories. You see, this is not just any Bible; it is the first’s Bible I had as a Minister and bought at my final year at Bible College – just weeks before I graduated.  

Many verses, whole pages are covered by the colours of different highlighters yellows, orange pink blue and green. Many of my favourite verses coloured in.

Romans 3:23   For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.

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

Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his special favour when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

On the top of one page I’ve written for a sermon , Pray a prayer like this. Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow,
saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.'

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

1 Corinthians 10:13 But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the
temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.

Romans 10:9 For 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.

2 Corinthians 6:2 For God says,” At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.

Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation.

On another page I’d written Now will you accept Christ?

I prayed that prayer on a Friday night in July 1975 Some people can name the exact date and time that they prayed a prayer for Jesus to come into their lives. I
remember it was a Friday night in July1975  Billy Graham can tell you the exact date he accepted Christ, but his lovely wife Ruth cannot. She, seems to simply
always remember knowing Christ as her Saviour.

That Friday I felt a huge change in my life, but I never really truly understood what having a Saviour meant until I was baptised and then I understood what happened on
an old wooden cross nearly 2,000 years ago. It was not until then, that I grasped the true meaning of Easter; it was not until I realized that Christ suffered and died
willingly in my place. He did not just suffer and die for me. He died instead of me. I should have been beaten and hung on that Cross. But He stepped up and took my
place and He took your place also. When I internalized that realization, my Christian walk took a huge leap. Everything I do, everything I am and everything I want to become flows from my deep sense of gratitude and love for what He did for me. Do you really understand what happened three days before Jesus rose from the dead? Do you really appreciate that first Easter?

Father, We praise You, we thank You. We have trouble understanding why Your Son would die for us, but we are so thankful that He took our place on that Cross.
Father Increase in us thankfulness. Increase in us the desire to tell and show others about Your Son. Increase in our lives the love and gratitude that flows from Your
perfect love. In Christ's precious and Holy name we pray, Amen.