Global Good News Literature
Basic
Christianity
Part I, II, III
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every
good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17).
“The entrance of your words gives light; it
gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm
119:130).
*Note: All Scriptures in this study are either from the NIV or
the NKJV.
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Table of Contents
Part I
Lesson One: Salvation .......................................... 5
Lesson Two: The Word of God.......................... 16
Lesson Three: Prayer .......................................... 32
Lesson Four: Faith .............................................. 54
Part II
Lesson Five: Fellowship ..................................... 70
Lesson Six: Spiritual Warfare ........................... 79
Lesson Seven: Baptism & Holy Communion .... 95
Lesson Eight: Giving ........................................ 110
Part III
Lesson Nine: Holy Trinity ................................ 119
Lesson Ten: The Holy Spirit ............................ 128
Lesson Eleven: The Second Coming of Christ ..... 138
Lesson Twelve: Ministry / Service................... 144
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Global Good News Literature
Correspondence Course
These lessons can be used for individual or group Bible study. They
can also be used by a person who has the responsibility of teaching
new believers or discipleship classes. For those of you who would
like to take the course with us, you would have to register and get
your Student ID from us. The main purpose of this correspondence
course is to help new believers and those who would like to
strengthen their Christian foundation, send their roots down, and
grow in the Lord by learning the basic concepts or foundational
truths of Christianity.
As the idiom says, “You can lead a horse to the water but you cannot
make it drink,“ so unless the student follows up these lessons
diligently and reads the Scripture references carefully, he/she cannot
receive the full benefit of the courses. We encourage everyone to
study these lessons with an open Bible to read the verses for
themselves. We also encourage everyone to have their own
notebook to record write the truths the Holy Spirit teaches you
through these lessons.
Then you can continue the correspondence course by sending the
answers to the questions that are at the end of each lesson. This
course contains twelve foundational lessons divided into three parts.
If the contents of these lessons are taken seriously and applied
accordingly, they will help the student to be firmly established in
his/her Christian walk with the Lord. To achieve this desired target,
we encourage the student to do the questions at the end of each
lesson in a thoughtful manner where the answers are found within
each preceding lesson.
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Lesson One
SALVATION
I. What is salvation?
The word salvation might be understood differently by different
people. The salvation to which we are referring in this lesson is
strictly regarding the salvation of our soul or spirit from eternal
punishment or hell. Jesus said, “What would a man profit if he gains
the whole world and loses his soul”? We are talking about the
salvation that keeps one’s soul from being lost.
To really understand what salvation means, we have to go back and
see what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. After
God created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden, He made
them ruler over all earthly creation. God also gave them a
commandment: Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the
garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
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but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:15-
17).
Even though God created man as “very good” (Genesis 1:31,
Ecclesiastes 7:29), He also created him with a free will. As free
moral agents able to choose good or evil, Adam and Eve chose to
disobey God’s commandment. “When the woman saw that the fruit
of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also
desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also
gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
(Genesis 3:6). As God said, Adam and Eve died spiritually that day.
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they
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were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves coverings. 8And they heard the sound of the LORD God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife
hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees
of the garden” (Genesis 3:7-8). Adam and Eve lost the invisible
grace that was covering their nakedness, and they were separated
from God’s presence. Spiritual death is being separated from the
presence of the Lord.
The Bible tells us that this spiritual death was propagated to all
humanity. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the
world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men,
because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). “For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Mankind inherited the
sinful nature of Adam and became a sinner by nature and by his
deeds also. David said in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth
in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
II. What is the way of salvation God provided?
Since God is love, He didn’t want man to be lost forever. Yet, since
God is also holy, He had to punish disobedience and sin. God, in His
love and mercy, provided a way out of the situation man got himself
into. That way is through His Son, Jesus Christ. “For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
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). Just as sin
entered the world through one man, Adam, salvation came to
mankind through the second Adam, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12-21,
II Corinthians 5:18-19).
The grace that man lost in the garden of Eden when he disobeyed
will be restored to him when he accepts the gospel which is the good
news of salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 2:5-9).
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The gospel can be summarized as follows:
1. Mankind is spiritually dead because of sin (Romans 3:23,
Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1).
2. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.
3. We have to admit our sinfulness and repent (Acts 17:30).
4. We must believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and accept
Him into our heart as our personal Lord and Savior (John 1:12,
3:16).
The Word of God tells us that salvation is through Jesus Christ
alone.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John
10:9).
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).
This might sound narrow and very exclusive. But this is what the
Bible says about “the narrow gate”:
Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the
gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter
through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to
life and only a few find it.”
III. What does “being saved” mean?
1. It is “being born again.” When a person gets saved, he is born
again in his spirit. This means that his spirit that was dead
because of sin becomes alive because his sins are washed away
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by the blood of Christ. He no longer is a slave to sin but alive
for righteousness.
2. It is becoming a “child of God.” All mankind is God’s creation,
but all mankind is not in the family of God. Jesus said to the
Pharisees who were conspiring against Him, “You are of your
father the Devil.” After the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind
departed from the family of God. Only those who willingly,
through repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ, come back into the
family of God are accepted by Him as a child of God (John
1:12).
3. It is going from darkness to His wonderful Light (I Peter 2:9).
4. It is “receiving God’s mercy” (I Peter 2:10, I John 1:7).
5. It is going from eternal death to eternal life (John 3:16).
IV. Can a person be sure of his salvation?
One of the reasons the Word of God was written for us is to give us
an assurance of our salvation. The apostle John says in I John 5:13,
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of
God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” He did not
say that you may hope that you have eternal life, but ‘that you may
KNOW that you have eternal life.’
In addition to the Word of God, the Spirit of God also witnesses to
our spirit that we are saved. “The Spirit himself testifies with our
spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).
What are some of the changes that happen when a person is
saved?
Once a person is saved, born again, or becomes a child of God, he
becomes more sensitive to sins that he was committing without a
second thought. Now, everything has come into the Light. His
conscience has become alive and enlightened. This does not mean
he will no longer sin; rather, it means he becomes more sensitive to
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sin and will be convicted by the Holy Spirit whenever he commits
sin.
The child of God also becomes burdened for the salvation of others.
He would like others to experience the genuine salvation experience
he experienced. This is because of the love of Christ that has been
poured into the heart of the believer (II Corinthians 5:18-20,
Romans 5:8).
Also, the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 will start
manifesting in the life of the child of God. “But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patience], kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
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And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh [sinful nature]
with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22-24).
V. Relationship vs. Fellowship
Relationship is the Father-Son or Father-Daughter relationship we
have with the Lord as our Father. This relationship, which is like an
earthly family, is eternal. It does not depend on our own strength or
weakness, faithfulness or lack of faithfulness, sin or righteousness.
This relationship was established by God when we repented of our
sins and accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. “To
all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God” (John 1:12 NIV).
Fellowship, on the other hand, is the day-to-day spiritual
communion we should have with the Lord. Fellowship depends on
our love, faithfulness, and commitment to the Lord. “We proclaim
to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have
fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with
his Son, Jesus Christ” (I John 1:3 NIV).
Fellowship can get broken from time to time. What breaks our
fellowship with the Lord is SIN. Isaiah 59:1-2 says the following:
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“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear
too dull to hear. 2But your iniquities have separated you from your
God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not
hear.”
Even though, sin breaks our fellowship with God, it does not mean
that we lose our relationship with the Lord every time we fall into
sin. We have to repent of our sin and re-establish our fellowship with
the Lord as quickly as possible. Just like an earthly father can be
pleased or displeased with his son or daughter, we can live a life that
pleases and honors our Heavenly Father, or we can live a life that
displeases and dishonors our Heavenly Father. At any given time,
our life is either honoring or dishonoring the Lord.
VI. Why were we saved?
If the only reason for being saved is to go to heaven, the Lord would
have taken us to heaven the moment we got saved. God’s purpose
for getting us saved is much more than simply going to heaven.
Here are some of the reasons why the Lord saved us.
1. To find “rest” in Him.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give
you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
“Be still, and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10).
2. To learn from Him.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke
is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).
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“All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your
children’s peace” (Isaiah 54:13).
Read the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village
where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had
a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he
said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to
be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my
sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
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“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and
upset about many things, 42but few things are needed—or indeed only
one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away
from her.”
May our choice be like Mary’s!
The Lord has a series of calls to us.
a) Come unto Me!
b) Rest in Me.
c) Learn from Me.
d) Serve Me.
3. To be His dwelling place. To be set apart (holy) for Him.
Ephesians 2:22, “And in him you too are being built together to
become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
I Peter 2:1-5, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit,
hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies,
crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your
salvation, 3Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4As you
come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God
and precious to him—5you also, like living stones, are being built
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into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s
mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any
longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve
what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I Corinthians 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor
God with your body.”
4. To praise and glorify Him
Psalm 50:14-15, “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows
to the Most High,15and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will
deliver you, and you will honor me.”
Psalm 50:23, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and
he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
I Chronicles 23:30, “They were also to stand every morning to
thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the
evening.”
5. To tell others about the Lord
I Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful
light.”
Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
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Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill
cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under
a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone
in the house. 16In the same way let your light shine before men, that
they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
6. To accomplish the assignment the Lord has for us
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to
do.”
David accomplished his purpose while he was alive.
Acts 13:36, “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own
generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his
body decayed.”
Jesus and the apostle Paul are good examples for us. The following
is said of Paul:
Acts 9:15, “But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my
chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their
kings and before the people of Israel.’”
Toward the end of his life, Paul said:
II Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith.” Paul meant that he has finished the
assignment that was given to him by the Lord.
Also, Jesus Himself prayed to the Father by saying:
Acts 17:4, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the
work you gave me to do.”
7. Finally, we are saved to BE LIKE JESUS!
Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of his Son.”
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We become like Jesus as we get rid of the works of the flesh and
grow in the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-24, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-
control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and
desires.”
If the reason for our salvation is not just going to heaven, we must
be diligent in our prayer life, in the study of God’s Word, and in our
fellowship with other believers.
Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and
to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Colossians 2:6-7, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as
Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness.”
The remaining lessons will help us do exactly that.
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Lesson 1 Quiz: Salvation
(Please write your answers on a separate piece of paper.)
Student ID #: ______________________________
Student Name: ______________________________
Address: ______________________________
1. In Hebrews 2:3, the Word of God says:
“How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was
confirmed to us by those who heard him.” Why is man in
need of salvation?
2. What are the basic messages that the gospel proclaims?
3a. What is the provision God made?
3b. What are the steps man has to take in order to receive
salvation?
4. What are some of the changes that would be evident in a
person that has experienced salvation?
5. Explain the difference between fellowship and relationship.
6. What is the ultimate goal that God has for those who are
saved?
7a. Are you saved? ☐ Yes ☐ No
7b. If yes, what gives you the assurance that you are?
7c. If your answer is no or not sure, what steps do you have to take
to be sure.
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