The Gospel

THE GOOD NEWS

The word gospel means good news. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, salvation is available to all people.

Christianity is about relationship, not religion. Religion is man’s attempt to get to God and Christianity is God’s attempt to get to you. However, most people classify Christianity as a religion. With that said, it is the ONLY religion that has good news. No other religion has good news. The reason why is the other religions are based on what YOU have to do to get to heaven. Instead of, what’s already been done for you so you can go to heaven. It’s totally unique, it’s not a goal to be achieved, but it’s a gift to be received.

To understand how GREAT the good news is, you must understand that there is bad news. In a nutshell, man messed up really bad and God sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us and straighten things out for good. It’s unfortunate, but many people, including Christians, take the finished work of Jesus for granted. He suffered horrific physical punishment instead of you. Think about the spikes in His wrists and feet as He is hanging on the cross in agonizing pain. Now imagine you are hanging there and understand that you, not Him deserve that punishment! We don’t always truly realize that without His loving, obedient, unselfish act of sacrifice, we would ALL be destined for Hell and eternal death!

The Bible tells us: Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had created. And the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden—beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden He placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8-9 NLT). The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. But the LORD God gave him this warning: “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you will surely die (Genesis 2:15-17 NLT). And the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam (Genesis 2:18, 22 NLT). Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all creatures the LORD God made. “Really?” he asked the woman. “Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?” The woman told him “God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die.”

“You won’t die!” the serpent hissed. “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil. ”The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then she ate it, too. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness (Genesis 3:1, 3-7 NLT).

God discovers what Adam and Eve have done and He hands out their punishment:

Then He said to the woman, “You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master. ”And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return (Genesis 3:16-19 NLT). So the LORD God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, and He sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After banishing them from the garden, the LORD God stationed mighty angelic beings to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:23-24 NLT).

This is how Adam and Eve broke their relationship with Almighty God. As a result of their disobedience, all of mankind is now born into sin and we are separated from God (If you don’t believe you have a sinful nature at birth, tell me this: Why don’t you have to teach a child to lie, to complain, to say “NO!”, or to be selfish? Because WE ALL have a sinful nature and wicked heart at birth.) The Bible tells us For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Because of our sinful nature, it was impossible for us to come back to God. Romans 8:7-8 (NLT) says For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. We were dead in our sin. We hated God and His righteous ways. We loved our own selfish sinful ways. The Bible says Now the LORD observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and He saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. (Genesis 6:5, Colossians 1:21 NLT).

God is perfect, holy and righteous and He can have nothing to do with sin. As long as you carry your sin burden, God, who is a just God, must oppose you. You have caused God’s wrath against you and He must judge you and condemn you. The Bible says They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. Don’t you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see how kind He has been in giving you time to turn from your sin? But no, you won’t listen. So you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin. For there is going to come a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done (Romans 1:32, 2:4-6 NLT).

Having to face the wrath of Almighty God would be very, very bad news for all of us. BUT, if there was a way for your sin to be taken away, God would be appeased. There would be justice and God’s wrath would be removed. The Bible tells us He had done no wrong, and He never deceived anyone… But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush Him and fill Him with grief…He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all (Isaiah 53:9-10, 5-6 NLT). JESUS CHRIST IS THE ANSWER!!! IN HIM AND HIM ALONE IS LIFE! 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NLT) says Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what was passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. Jesus goes to the cross and takes our punishment to the point of death and our sin debt is paid in full, forever! His resurrection proves that He is Who He said He is and gives Him the victory over both sin and death. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ–1 Corinthians 15:57 (NKJV).

Because of our sinful nature, man cannot, will not and has no desire to come to God. We are actually hostile towards Him. The only way we will come to Him is if He draws us towards Him. In John 6:44 (NIV), Jesus says No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Even when we are not aware of it, God is at work in our lives trying to draw us towards Him. The Holy Spirit is prompting us to make us aware of God’s presence. However, He isn’t looking for people who just ‘like’ what He has to say. He wants disciples! He wants a sincere commitment. Jesus said For many are called, but few are chosen. For it is my Father’s will that all who see His Son and believe in Him should have eternal life—that I should raise them at the last day (Matthew 22:14, John 6:40 NLT). Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship.

YOU HAVE HEARD THE GOOD NEWS AND I PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS DONE SUCH A WORK UPON YOUR HEART THAT YOU ARE READY TO TAKE ACTION!!!!

Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins (Acts 3:19 NLT).

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17 NIV).

For God so loved ________ (insert your name) that He gave His one and only Son, that if  ________ (insert your name) believes in Him he or she shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 NIV).

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. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For “ANYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:9-11, 13 NLT).

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—Jews first and also Gentiles. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has faith. For we died and were buried with Christ through baptism. And just as Christ died from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised as He was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share in His new life. We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. He died once to defeat sin, and now He lives for the glory of God. So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and to live for the glory of God through Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16-17, 6:4-11 NLT).

Repent and believe and through your faith in Jesus Christ and by the grace of God you will be saved. (To repent means to make a change of mind, heart, and action, by turning away from sin and self and returning to God. Grace is unconditional love to an undeserving person from an unobligated giver). By the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be transformed into a new creation with a new beginning, a new life, new habits, new behaviors and a new way of thinking. Your old nature died with Christ on the cross and you were resurrected with Him with a new nature. Your old nature lived for sin. Your new nature lives for Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me”. Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey Him and commit yourself to Him, for He is your life (John 14:6, Deuteronomy 30:20 NLT).

Romans 10:9 tells us to be saved you must confess with your mouth that JESUS IS LORD. If you believe the gospel and you are truly saved, Jesus is the Lord of your life. Lord is defined as one having power and authority over others; a ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due. If you are living for Christ, your life has CHANGED! (If you have just chosen to give your life to Christ, your life WILL CHANGE!!!) Philippians 2:13 NLT says For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him. You are now living a surrendered life; and God and His Word, the Bible, are the primary authorities in your life. You have a loving, intimate relationship with God and you are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ more and more everyday. You understand that you exist for God and you were placed on this earth to glorify Him. Romans 11:36 (NLT) says For every thing comes from Him; everything exists by His power and is intended for His glory. To Him be glory evermore. Amen.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will accept. When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Romans 12:1-2 NLT, Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV).

GOD IS LOVE! HE IS THE GREATEST LOVE YOU WILL EVER EXPERIENCE!

FIND A GOOD BIBLE-BASED CHURCH WHERE THE BIBLE IS NOT ONLY TAUGHT, BUT PUT INTO PRACTICE. READ THE BIBLE, STUDY THE BIBLE (Join a small group), APPLY IT TO YOUR DAILY LIFE AND LIVE THE VICTORIOUS LIFE JESUS DIED TO GIVE YOU!!! BE A CHAMPION OF CHRIST!!!

BE BLESSED MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

Go Live The Victory!

Stephan Sanford

Stephan Sanford

Total posts created: 52

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