Yesterday you finished your first day of studying your textbook and praying the prayers in the workbook. Today we will be taking the information and prayers from yesterday and building on them. Today we will need to give you an example of a person like you; he too was trying to get his life heading in the best direction. So, let’s take a look at this man who was suffering with a lot of problems just like we do. He decided to go to Jesus!

Like you, a man named Nicodemus, decided to give Jesus a chance to work on his life. He went to see if he could get some answers that would head him in a better direction. This man had been studying all kinds of books and had been following all kinds of people’s advice and was still feeling an emptiness down inside him. So, he decided to let Jesus explain what kind of help He was offering. And, like you, deciding to go to Jesus was the best decision this man ever made.

Since everything Nicodemus had tried hadn’t helped him get a handle on the meaning, purpose, and rules to life, he could have given up. Since nothing had helped him find principles that he could use to start living a successful life, he could have decided that there weren’t any. Since he had tried very hard to find the answers and had lived a long time, he could have decided that Jesus probably couldn’t help him either. BUT, he didn’t! He went to Jesus and found out that the problem was because he was looking in the wrong direction.

The record of this event is found in the New Testament (the second part of the Bible) in John (the fourth book of the New Testament). We would like for you to meet Nicodemus, a person who was hurting and confused about life just like you are. He was able to find the answers to his problems.

John chapter 3 verse 1 (John 3:1) Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. This was a man who had joined the top religious group available. And, he had made his way to the very top of the organization. He was litterly trying to seek God and live by His principles. If anyone was going to be able to get his needs met, win over life’s problems, and succeed, it was Nicodemus. But, in spite of all his accomplishments, in spite of all his seeking God, he didn’t get the help he needed until he went to Jesus.

If Nicodemus did all he did to win at life and it didn’t work for him, we need to understand that it is even more likely that we wouldn’t typically head in the right direction. It is important that we not feel bad about the fact that we made a lot of mistakes in our decisions. It is important to see that what happened to us is typical of everyone else. We must understand that we all need to come to Jesus for His power and training. We all make the same kind of mistakes and end up with typical results. We must see that our situation is like everyone else’s situation.

In many ways, he was looking in the right direction. He was trying to live a successful life by looking to God for help. A lot of people aren’t doing this; they approach life as if there is no God. They aren’t atheists; they just don’t think much about spiritual things. Many of the people we have been associating with are taking that approach. They don’t know that Jesus has caused a Book to be written that explains how to win at life.

Suppose you are playing a game with some people; they know the rules to the game and are having a great time playing; but, they won’t tell you what the rules are. You try watching how they play the game and try picking up the rules from them; but, it seems like they are always changing the rules and telling you that you are doing the wrong thing.

This is the way a lot of people are living life. They are watching a whole lot of other people and are trying to find out from them what the rules are to life. The problem is, many people are playing the game of life with their own rules. They have different rules; and we don’t know what those rules are. This makes life very frustrating and causes us to keep breaking people’s rules. We are all approaching life from a different perspective and are assuming that everyone is on the same page. But, we aren’t!

Jesus is trying to get all of us to live by the same set of rules. They are the rules that win in life; and, if we all join Him, we will all be on the same page.