A HALLOWEEN QUIZ!

1    Every year Linus waits for what to appear in the pumpkin patch?

         (a) Snoopy in his Red Baron costume

         (b) The Great Pumpkin

         (c) The Halloween Goblin

2    What do pumpkins grow on?

         (a) Bushes

         (b) Trees

         (c) Vines

3    What were the first Jack-o-lanterns made from?

         (a) Turnips

         (b) Coconuts

         (c) Pumpkins

4    In what country did trick-or-treating begin?

         (a) Translyvania

         (b) Ireland

         (c) Germany

5  What three colors are used in the original candy corn?

      (a)White, red, and orange

      (b) Brown, yellow and orange

      (c)White, yellow, and orange

How did you do on the Halloween quiz?  Now that you’re warmed up, let’s move on to a couple of harder questions. Ready?

·  How many hairs do you have on your head?

Give up? Most heads have about 100,000 hairs! But who could know exactly how many are on yours?

·  How many stars are in the sky?

“Wait a minute!” you’re thinking. “Nobody knows that answer!” Well, astronomers estimate there are from 200 to 400 billion stars just in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

And finally…

·  Who knows the exact answers to those first two questions…and everything else there is to know?

God does. His special book, the Bible, says that he created the universe and everything in it. God knows how many stars there are and even names them! The Bible says “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4). And when it comes to the smallest details, the Bible says that “even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). God knows that about the universe…and all about you!

So whether it’s “ginormous” or teensy-tiny, God knows all about it!

God not only knows…he cares

 But how can we know that someone so powerful and intelligent would care about people on a little planet like ours? Because 2,000 years ago God sent his only Son, Jesus, to be born and live on earth…and then to die for us…that’s how!

Wait a minute…what could possibly be so bad that God’s Son would have to die for us to make things right again? It’s what God calls “sins,” the bad things you do and say that get you into trouble at school and home and on the playground. Sins are also the thoughts that lead you to disobey and tell lies. The Bible says that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23),  kids and adults, too.

Sinning is doing the opposite of what God wants us to do. That’s why sins have serious consequences. If nothing is done about them, we can’t please God with our lives now and we won’t go to live with God forever after our life on earth.

So God did something about our hopeless situation. Jesus came to earth and became a man, but there was a major difference. He never sinned. As God and perfect man, he was the only one qualified to die in the place of every person who ever sinned! “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom [payment] for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). When he died on a cross he took the punishment we all deserved. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

It is the only way to save us from being separated forever from God. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son [to die for us], that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). When Jesus came back to life three days later, it proved that God had accepted his payment for us! You can have eternal life and be forgiven by believing that Jesus died for you.

Do you know the God who knows everything?

God wants you to be one of his own children. And he wants to give you eternal life. If you truly believe Jesus died for you, you can tell God by praying words like these…

“Dear God, thank you for loving me so much that you sent Jesus to die in my place. I’m sorry for the sinful things I’ve done. Now I truly believe that Jesus died so I can be forgiven and live with you forever. Amen.”