The gospel is the message we believe in that results in immortality (2 Tim 1.7-10). If I were the devil, I would target the gospel message so that even if some Christians rustled up the courage to actually share it with others, they’d have a distorted or partial message. In fact, scripture tells us that the god of this world blinds the minds of unbeliever to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel (2 Cor 4.4)! We cannot just go along with the flow of evangelical or Catholic Christianity. We need to examine the scriptures to see what the original gospel was. When we do this, we discover a radically different message from what we hear on radio, TV, and in most churches today. In this message I make the case for a gospel with a minimum of three elements: the kingdom, the cross, and the resurrection. Take away or alter one of these and you no longer have the whole gospel.
Notes and Links:
Does Amos 9.11-15 seem strange to you?
Two Major Problems
- most of us do not speak the gospel
- those who do speak it know a partial gospel
Importance of Getting the Gospel Right
- Is the gospel like a paint color or a medical diagnosis?
- It is a matter of life and death (Galatians 1.6-9; 2 Timothy 1.7-10)
- the gospel is the pill of immortality, washed down with faith
Three Elements
- kingdom (Matthew 4.23; 5.5; 6.9-10)
- cross (1 Corinthians 15.3; Romans 5.8)
- resurrection (1 Corinthians 15.4)
Four Reasons the Kingdom Matters
- it is God’s idea
- it was Jesus’ primary focus
- it is gospel
- promotes stewardship
Satan attacks the believing of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4.3-4; Matthew 13.19; Luke 8.12)
But just knowing isn’t enough!
- believe
- repent
- persevere
- Check out Jacob Rohrer’s interview about his journey of getting the gospel right
- Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
This was great! Had this been the type of ‘gospel’ message I heard growing up, my passion for knowing God and his Messiah greater and studying all things theologically might have been ignited sooner. Thanks for sharing the tools to share a more complete gospel message.
Podcast 70; I am trying to follow along with earth being Heaven ( and am open to the thought) when Jesus returns, but am somewhat lost. I had heard this when I was younger ( I am fifty now). I am lost because Matthew 5:10 has “fort theirs is the kingdom of heaven and Matthew 5:18 “Til heaven and earth pass”.
Hey Roland, check out episode 89, which covers the kingdom of God/heaven in the New Testament.