Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] My name is Dean Annan, and I'm the discipleship pastor here. So whether you're new here today or not new today, I'd love to meet you. I'll be down here right afterwards after service. Well, today we are finishing our series on hinge points, and I know a lot of you are waiting for two corinthians, and guess what? You get to wait one more week. Yay. So come back next week. We're gonna be starting two corinthians. Well, here's an important question to start, and the question is this, what should I do with my relationship with Jesus?
[00:00:38] If I'm truly grateful? Remember last week sermon on being grateful? What should I do with my relationship? If I'm truly grateful, the relationship that I have with Jesus Christ, what should I do? There's many answers to that, right? We can answer that in many different ways. One critical way, though, to think about this with our relationship with Jesus Christ, and if we are truly grateful for it, is to share it, to tell other people about it. And that's important. It's actually a hinge point because our growth as christians actually rely on that. Now, I want to go back to a slide we had before on hinge points. What are hinge points? What's this series about? Hinge points are critical moments of decision forks in the road that determine the trajectory of our future.
[00:01:20] Now we have these moments in our life that God puts before us. To decide to talk about him or to not talk about him and our future and our faith in our growth really depends on this. Our hinge point today is sharing the gospel with wisdom. And we're gonna be in Colossians chapter four, but I'm gonna take quite a while to get there. There's a lot of setup before we get to Colossians chapter four. My focus today and what I really want us to see at a 10,000 foot level, the big idea is this. Sharing our faith grows our faith and our relationship with God, our intimacy, even with God. And this is one of the main ways we grow as christians, is sharing our faith. It helps us in our sanctification, which means becoming more like Jesus as disciples of Christ. Don't we want to be about what Jesus is about? And that is the gospel.
[00:02:20] This sermon today isn't going to be filled with methods of how we can evangelize or how we can explain the gospel to people necessarily. It's going to be more about the wisdom and the motivation behind it. And so we'll start with the why or the motivation for sharing our faith, but also some wisdom we're going to see in Colossians chapter four from Paul. So 1st. 1st motivation, why we share the gospel because it is the best news ever. That's true. Best news ever. From a human point of view, this is the greatest thing, better than string cheese. I mean it's, this is, what we don't want to do is assume that I'm from Wisconsin so that makes sense.
[00:02:59] What we don't want to do is assume that people know this. People don't necessarily know the gospel. Don't assume they do or the love that God has for them in America today. Most people think that they're all right with Goddesse or they're going to heaven based on one thing because they're a good person. That's what most people believe today in America, which is not the gospel at all. I want to talk about the motivation of our motivation is because it's the best news everyone knows. But what's God's motivation for the Bible? You know that famous John 316, I have to put it up there. John 316 for God so loved the world, there's his motivation because of God's love. That's why the gospel that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Don't assume people know this. I think we make a big mistake in church that we think everybody knows this. They don't. Not everybody understands that salvation, first of all is for everyone who will come to Jesus. Everyone. And the motivation that God has is because he loves.
[00:04:03] Second motivation or why we should share the gospel with other people are the spiritual blessings in Christ. These are just words that I'm borrowing from the apostle Paul. I'm going to unpack that a little bit now. Men's first Tuesday a while back taught on this, but write down if you're taking notes. Ephesians, chapter one. You can look at Ephesians, chapter one. These are the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ that we want other people to experience.
[00:04:30] Before we get there. Let me read a verse. We'll have it on the screen. Ephesians, chapter one, verse three. Spiritual blessings in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father. This is Paul speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And then he goes on in chapter one and he talks about all these spiritual blessings quickly. It's that the Father God chose us to be his. That's one spiritual blessing. The other is the Son gives redemption through his blood for the forgiveness of our trespasses or our sins. Redemption is one of those elements of salvation. Redemption is one of those words of salvation we talk about. It's Jesus blood paying the price for you and me, his death on the cross that bought sinners out of darkness and out of slavery into his family for all time, into salvation. And then there's a third spiritual blessing you'll see in Ephesians, chapter one. Please go there and look at it. It's a great thing. We want people to know this, that the Holy Spirit seals a believer. In other words, keeps a believer, keeps a believer for all time, guarantees our inheritance in heaven, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. You know, we didn't work for our salvation, so we can't work to lose our salvation.
[00:05:58] So the second reason then, is for the spiritual blessings in Christ. This is a reason, a motivation, behind why we want people to know that they can be assured of being right with God and being with him forever in heaven. We want people to know that. All right, here's an exercise. Think of, no, you don't have to stand up. Think of your favorite restaurant. You don't have to say what it is, but does anybody have a favorite restaurant?
[00:06:21] Some of you have a favorite one. Great. Keep that in mind. My favorite restaurant is any restaurant that serves food.
[00:06:27] Now think about having, think of your favorite restaurant. Think of that restaurant now having unlimited seating. Unlimited seating. And you've been told by the richest person in the world who has unlimited funds, that you can invite anybody you want to this restaurant, and you get to feast together, and everything's gonna be paid for. You know, the offer of salvation is much like that. Where God chose us, God has redeemed us. He has sealed our salvation, and he has paid for everything to those who will come to the invitation, you know, and he assures it 100% paid for for us, to anyone who will come. And so it's not just that the gospel is the best news ever, which it is. It's also not all these spiritual blessings and other reason or motivation to share. The gospel is not just these spiritual blessings we have in Christ, which is that God loves you and is that Christ has taken care of all your sins. It is that you have 100% guarantee to be with him forever. There's another reason I wanna talk about the third reason, another. Why? Why does this even matter? Why should we be concerned or motivated to share the gospel? Because eternity goes on forever. So sometimes when we think about eternity, we think about heaven and we think about hell. But remember, it's unending.
[00:07:48] That's a sobering and a big thought. Ideas like eternity, ideas like forever, are sometimes hard for our finite minds to understand, of course, because we live in space and we live in time. We live in dimensions like height and width and depth and time and all those things. I even have a cube up there, which kind of helps you see that God doesn't live in that.
[00:08:16] He is timeless because God is spirit. The Bible teaches that God is spirit. Time is simply created by God for his creation, for his purposes, for us. And so God dwells in a different realm. He is beyond sometimes even our perception. And yet he speaks to us through his word and sent his son Jesus Christ. It's beautiful thing. But we should remember, though, that eternity goes on forever. And so when you think about friends not perishing and coming to know God and having eternal life, like John 316, remember eternity is forever, but also remember this, not just eternities forever, but also that it's not your job. I hope this helps. It's not your job to convict people of their sin. It's not your job to move people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that does that work. That's not your work. You and I, we're messengers.
[00:09:17] We're messengers of the gospel. Well, another reason we should share the gospel, this is the fourth one, is obedience grows us. This is important for our hinge point. Today, obedience grows us as christians. Why should we share the gospel? Share the gospel because it is a command.
[00:09:34] Have it on the slide. Matthew 28. Remember, Jesus said to go therefore and make disciples of all nations when he says that we cannot make disciples until we introduce people to Jesus Christ and the saving faith that comes through believing in the gospel. So it is a command that Jesus gives us to share the gospel, bring people into his kingdom. But it always grows us when we do.
[00:10:01] Whenever we follow God's commands, it's better for us. It grows us, and it leads us into spiritual maturity every time it's good for us. You know, it's the Holy Spirit who guides us to maturity as we know the word of God and we obey the word of God. Knowing the word of God, we can't obey it if we don't know it. So it's kind of silly. Knowing the word of God and obeying the word of God is such an important thing for a hinge point today, as christians, this grows us in our faith. It's important to our future as we grow. You know, Pastor Michael always talks about future. You right, future, future you can speak to current you today you, well, there's also older you. So whether it's older you or future you, I can guarantee you would be cheering on current you to share the gospel with people.
[00:10:50] See any person at all, you don't have to be a Christian or not, can strive towards being a better person. Right? People can just try to strive towards being a better person, but that's not with Christianity, and that's not what the gospel's about. It is about standing for and proclaiming the life and the death of resurrection for forgiveness of sins. You know, this is the way. Then proclaiming this, this is the way. And sharing this, that we love God and this is the way that we love people.
[00:11:25] All right? When we don't do this and when we keep something that's so beautiful to ourselves sometimes, and I felt this before, and maybe you felt this too, sometimes in our faith, in our walk with God, sometimes we feel disillusioned or dissatisfied or disinterested, maybe, or even dysfunctional. We can fall into sin and we have a weaker faith and we just don't, don't get it. And I think a lot of times that's because we're not following God and obeying what he says, including letting people know about Jesus. So I know I've been there when we're not exercising our faith. You know, Dave last week talked about gratitude being a hinge point. In other words, sharing. I mean, being thankful to God. And he said gratitude is a key indicator of spiritual maturity. And that's true also with sharing Jesus with others, us sharing our faith, obedience to his word. Why? There's a lot of reasons. Why is this a hinge point for us? Because when we tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ, it helps us refine inside what the gospel is. What is the gospel and why is it important? What and why are so important to the gospel? And it refines us. It's good for us. It grows us. Growing's important. Apostle Peter said this in two. Peter, I won't put it on the screen, but two. Peter 318 says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So God starts making us more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit, of course, is one who refines and sanctifies and continues us. But we pursue it. We pursue it. Bye. Obeying God. All right, those four points. Cause I wanna get to colossians chapter four. I know that's what we're waiting for. Colossians chapter four. Before we get there, real quickly, those four points were, why? What's our motivation? Why would we care to share the gospel? Because it's the best news ever. And don't assume people know it. Because of all the spiritual blessings in Christ that we have. We have redemption, forgiveness of our sins, that God has chosen us and has sealed us for all eternity. Those are spiritual blessings in Christ. Eternity, of course, goes on forever. That was the third thing. The fourth thing was because obedience grows us. We should be a little selfish and care about our growth to become more like Jesus. We should care about it. And that's a four things. So a big idea again is sharing our faith grows our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ.
[00:14:06] Here we are, Colossians, chapter four.
[00:14:09] We're going to look at it, gain some wisdom in sharing the gospel. And we have a map up there, and this map is the modern country of Turkey. You'll see Colossi is about 100 miles east of Ephesus. And this was the roman province in that day. It was called Asia or Asia Minor. And Paul writes a letter to the church at Colosseum. And he's writing that letter and there's a lot of things that he's doing there. But one of the things he's doing there is he wants to write the church to bring them to spiritual maturity in Christ. It's important to him. And so he talks about prayer a lot. He tells them to pray without ceasing. And then in this book, Paul asks the church of Colasi for prayer.
[00:14:55] He asks them to pray for him, but not for selfish reasons. I'm going to read Colossians chapter four. We have it on screen three through six. Here we go. At the same time, he's talking to the church. Pray for us. He's talking. Pray for my companions with me, that God may open a door for us, or to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. Verse five. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. The apostle Paul does this all the time. He wrote that the church at Rome, he asked for prayers in order to share the gospel. He wrote to the church at Ephesus. He asked them to pray for him so he could share the gospel. He wrote a couple letters to the church at Thessalonica. Really hard to say. Thessalonica. And he wrote them asking them to pray for him so he could share the gospel.
[00:16:00] And what did paul want to get out in this Colossians chapter four passage? What did he want to get out? He wanted to get out the gospel to as many people as possible.
[00:16:15] He didn't ask to get out of prison.
[00:16:18] He asked to get out the gospel. So let's take a closer look. Colossians chapter four. We can get a little more direction, a little more wisdom, not methodology, but wisdom in sharing the gospel.
[00:16:31] We're going to look at praying and open doors and being clear. And so you'll see in Colossians chapter four, verse three, it says, open to us a door. We have it there, bolded open to us a door. We needed to find a door. We need to talk about the door for a minute. The door is an opportunity. It's an opportunity that God gives you, that God gives me in order to share the gospel. We as christians, we don't bust down doors. You know, that you probably get hauled away. So we don't bust down doors as Christian. God will open doors. The apostle Paul, same thing. The apostle Paul would go from city to city and he would look for, for people who are interested in listening or that would have an ear to listen to the gospel. You know, today in our culture, studies show that people are drawn to Christianity not necessarily as much as they used to when it comes to things like rhetoric or good speeches or arguments. That's not modern day America. Most people today are drawn to the gospel and are drawn to christians and are drawn to church because of one word, relationships.
[00:17:39] People are drawn when people see you care and when people see that you love, it's relationships that are. With that in mind.
[00:17:46] Slide here. An open door is a heart, really a human being, a soul that somebody loves, that God loves, that is willing to listen to the gospel. An open door, then, in our context today, is a heart, a person that's willing to listen to the gospel. And christians, you can't force anyone to convert. Amen. That's not an option. The good news is God is the one who saves. And so sitting where you are today, and I say this all the time, so forgive me, theology matters. So when you're sitting down right here today, I want you to know this matters. What I'm about to say, that the pressure is off you. You don't have to bear a any pressure. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of their sin. It is the Holy Spirit who moves people to repentance in Jesus Christ. Again, you and I are the messengers.
[00:18:39] We just tell the truth in love. And so for years, I've had discussions. See the double quotes here? Discussions, some people call them arguments with my father about the Bible and what the Bible says and the gospel and believing in Christ. And sometimes, you know, he would get loud. Of course I would keep my cool.
[00:19:02] Well, okay, so there was times my volume went up. It's because he was hard to hear him that at least that's what I.
[00:19:10] Right.
[00:19:12] Okay. That's not necessarily true. But the progress in his own journey in understanding of the gospel I saw came from.
[00:19:21] Not my arguments, came from prayer, and it came clearly from the Holy Spirit. Moving. The key to the open door is prayer. Look at colossians four three again. Prayer.
[00:19:37] He asks for prayer because Paul knew that prayer is the key. We pray to God because God is the one who gives the open doors.
[00:19:48] He's the one who opens the doors to share the gospel, not me. Why do we need this? Because we need this key from God. Because it is a spiritual battle. This is not in the physical realm. This is here happening in the spirit world with people.
[00:20:02] We need this weapon of prayer because it is the strongest spiritual weapon. Don't try to open doors by yourselves. When it comes to spiritual matters, you don't have the keys. Only God does. Only God has the key to open spiritual doors. So pray because spiritual problems require spiritual solutions. Amen.
[00:20:26] So how do I know? Wait, how do I know? How do you know? How does anybody know when there's a neon open sign? You know, you've seen those in storefronts, right? When they're open. How do you know when there's an open door? How do you know you're being invited in? Well, I'm gonna go back a couple years, about three years, to a sermon series on evangelism and steal a few things from their partial list. Here, a sign of open doors. Signs of open doors. Here's the first one. Open doors. Open doors to share the gospel. One sign is a spiritual question is asked. So someone asks you a spiritual question, just go ahead and try to answer it. If you can go ahead and answer. That's an invitation. See where it goes. Or maybe if you don't know, just say, that's a great question. I want to look at that. I'll get back to you and follow up. It's like any conversation. You can just ask clarifying questions, but be a listener. More than anything else, be a really good listener. This is an open door. When someone asks you a spiritual type question, the second thing, open doors to share the gospel, a spiritual need is expressed. So when someone expresses a spirit, spiritual need to you take that as an open door, go ahead and walk gently into that. Something like someone might say, oh, I wish I had more peace in my life. Anybody ever say that? Even christians say that sometimes I wish I had more peace in my life. I wish I had a clear conscience or I wish that I mattered or I don't know what's going to happen when I die. These are all invitations, christians, to you to step in with humility and gentleness. The gospel has answers to these questions. People are wrestling with them, people we know, people we love. And Jesus has the answer and is the answer. A third neon open door invitation is a spiritual observation is shared about your faith. So somebody looks at your faith and notices something about you, you always show such peace. How come you don't get angry? All these things that people see about you in your life, they're inviting you to talk to them, they're inviting you to share. Now sometimes you could just share a part of your testimony about coming to faith in Christ and how that has changed. You. Maybe give the events of how that happened or who talked to you about Jesus and what that looks like, knowing that your sins are forgiven, the peace that gives you and living a life beyond yourself. But for goddesse, it can be brief, but it can be a bridge, a bridge of more conversations. That door is, that's an invitation. A fourth thing of these, this idea of what should I look for as far as an open door and sharing the gospel? A prompt from the Holy Spirit. I don't know what that's going to look like. I don't know. I know what it doesn't look like. Something that's the opposite of what scripture would teach. The Holy Spirit always works in truth and truth is defined and seen, I should say in the scripture, it will always be in line with the scripture. Now maybe the Holy Spirit is asking you to phone a friend, right? Pick up the phone and phone a friend. Have a conversation with Jesus, see what they say first. Ask them what's going on in their life. Or maybe have a coffee with somebody. Because coffee over coffee, a lot can happen. And maybe you just feel like you want to say, hey, has anybody ever shared with you what the Bible says about the gospel?
[00:24:00] Sometimes people say, I don't want to know. Okay, done. Maybe they say, no, say, can I?
[00:24:08] And just begin a conversation. Just begin a conversation.
[00:24:12] You know, a wise person doesn't break doors down. A wise person prays for invitation. You might remember James, chapter four, verse two. I'll just read it for you. James four two says, you do not have because you do not ask. You do not have because you do not ask.
[00:24:31] And we ask for in verse four, we'll put it up there. Verse four, we also ask for clarity. It said in that passage, clarity in speech to declare the word or to declare the mystery of Christ, which is the gospel.
[00:24:47] You'll see there in verse four, it says that I may make it clear he wants the gospel speech to be clear out of his mouth, which is how I ought to speak. And so Paul wants prayer for open doors so he can share the gospel with people, and he can do it with clarity, clear speech. So it's not just the open doors. It's also to be clear in speaking. All right. But our tone and our approach also matter. So how we walk into this, the Bible uses that language. Walk into this or walk with wisdom. Look at verse five. It says, walk in wisdom towards outsiders. Again, this is concerning open doors. Walking into open doors with the gospel, someone whose heart is open, ready to listen. So he's setting this up. The apostle Paul, when he says outsiders, he simply means people that aren't yet trusting in Jesus for salvation. And Paul here is saying, act wise, be wise. Some of your translations in the Bible here will say, act with wisdom. Others will say, like ours today, say, walk in wisdom. It's our approach. The apostle Paul is talking about our approach when we go to people, because this isn't something our culture necessarily buys into, into today. But there is a right way and there is a wrong way to talk about the gospel.
[00:26:11] And we can see it in this passage. But one author said this, that what Paul has in mind here is the difference between being wise and bold and uncompromising in our witness, but gracious, too, and loving. And the other side of the house would be harsh and unloving and tactless. And one author said, obtruding. I didn't know what that was. I have to admit. Obtruding, obtruding means to be rude or forceful.
[00:26:43] And also a way we don't want to do this is sharing at the wrong time.
[00:26:48] At the wrong time. This reminds me that something's happening this November. You know what I'm talking about? November 5. Yeah, November 5, election day. You know, we can be as christians even in politics, and we can be annoying at times. We can be rude and bring disunity, just like we can be with the gospel as well, or we can be wise and we can try to be discerning and loving and careful. And we can be careful about when we engage and talk and when we don't engage with people. Look at verse five. Verse five said about this being wise with people who don't believe in Christ. Yet there are, we're to make the best use of the time now in the original language. What it's talking about here, especially, it's talking about being strategic.
[00:27:42] Strategic with our opportunities.
[00:27:45] That's the language there for an open door, about open doors. And when they come, see, not every open door is for you. It might be for somebody else. Not every person is your responsibility. Be wise.
[00:27:59] In two corinthians, chapter two, Paul's talking. Here we have it on the screen. It says, when I came to troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me and the Lord, my spirit was not at rest.
[00:28:15] There's a lot happening here and I won't go into all the details, but he left. He didn't share the gospel. He left. He came back, but he left.
[00:28:23] See, it wasn't the right time at that time for him to share the gospel. A wise person waits for the right time. An unwise person is impulsive. So to be wise with the gospel, it's not just the timing matters, but also our approach matters. I want to put up a list concerning our speech, because next we're going to see in verse six that the apostle Paul is talking about our speech. So it matters what we say, the words and how they come out of our mouth. Or how they come out of our mouth. You know, your speech. Have you ever thought about this? I hope you do. Our speech is a gift from God. Has anybody ever lost their voice?
[00:29:04] Yeah. Yeah. If you have something, someone sitting next to you who's lost their voice, don't say, yeah, it was a great day.
[00:29:11] Don't do that. Losing speech is a hard thing. Our speech is a gift and our speech matters. Some of us grew up in places maybe where our environment was a little harsh. We always argued, and this is just who I am. It's like, well, no, as Christians, that's not an excuse. Speech matters. Look what the apostle here says in Colossians four six. He says, let your speech. Remember we're talking about open doors and talking to people about Jesus. Let your speech always be gracious and seasoned with salt so that you may know that you ought to answer each question. So you may know how you ought to answer each question in conversation. Then in discussions with people, we respond in love and kindness. Above all the love and kindness of God rather than the wrath of God. Is wrath of God real towards sin? Absolutely. But look at what romans chapter two, verse four says this.
[00:30:15] Or do you presume on the riches and the kindness of his forbearance and patience? What are you saying, Paul? He's saying, do you just expect God's kindness, his riches, his patience? Do you just expect it? Or maybe there's something behind God's kindness. Let's look at it. It says, not knowing that God's kindness. Here's what God's kindness is for. God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
[00:30:42] God's kindness, your kindness, can lead people to repentance. So our humility and our listening and our kindness goes a long way. And so let's look at this list here on the screen. I have graciousness and season with salt here, and I'll be adding some helping words. Our speech, then our graciousness. You see some words there like patient and sacrificial and discerning and undeserved. Favor this one way. Love this towards people when we speak. Be gracious, be nonjudgmental.
[00:31:17] Jesus is the judge. I am not the judge. I don't leave truth behind. I bring truth with, and I speak truth, but I'm not top down. I want to love people well seasoned with salt. That's being attractive and wholesome, like a preservative. Verse six. It's so interesting when Paul says that here because he uses this seasoned with salt other places. And when he uses this, he's usually saying, be attractive and wholesome in your speech. That comes out like a preservative. Why like a preservative? Because a preservative preserves something or keeps something from rotting or dying. You don't want your conversation to die. I you want to preserve that conversation, keep it going. It's not a two by four upside the head. When we talk to people, we want to be like what the apostle Peter says first. Peter. I'll just tell you the reference first. Peter 315. I'll read it in your hearts. Honor Christ. The Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you. In other words, if you know Christ as savior, you have a hope. Be ready to talk about it. And then he says this because he qualifies it. Again. This is one. Peter 315. He says, yet I love it when the apostles agree and teach on the same thing. Yet when you do this, do it with gentleness and respect. Our approach matters when God opens a door. Finally, we live in a world that's hurting. We live in a world, actually, that's lonely. With all this communication available to us today, we're more lonely today than we have ever been in our nation. And we're also confused, just confused about who God is and his love and the answer to these problems. And where healing begins is a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's where it begins. And so we pray. We pray for open doors. We pray that God will show us the open doors and give us what we need to tell people about the savior that grows you, it grows me, it changes us, and it makes a difference in our future while we're here. And so simple. So what's today? So what can we do with this? One is very simple. Some of you, I know on your phones, I've seen you on your phones, you make lists on your phones, or maybe you have a prayer journal. Just make a list. Make a list of people. Make a list of people who need to know Christ.
[00:33:44] Who can you think of? Somebody that's just right in front of you, somebody who you love, who you know, that needs to know the savior and the love of the savior.
[00:33:52] Pray that they would be interested in spiritual matters. You could have conversations with them and then pray that God will give you an open door to talk, or maybe someone else an open door to talk. So start praying. The second is, so what is get partners in gospel ministry to pray for your list. Remember, list our souls, people that God loves dearly, precious in his sight. This is not a project.
[00:34:23] Maybe you're in a group that prays regularly. Well, this could be part of what you pray for. These people, a list. Remember, an open door. An open door is a heart that is willing to listen to the gospel.
[00:34:39] Gospel sharing is a community thing. The apostle Paul had his people, you know, when he wrote church at Philippians, he talks about partners in the gospel. He says, you need. I need partners in the gospel. This is a team sport. We don't do this alone. Amen. We have each other. We pray for each other. We need partners to. And third, we want to gain clarity. Just want to gain clarity about the gospel. Gain clarity. Let me dissect this for a minute and hear what I'm saying and hear what I'm not saying. It almost seems silly to explain this to Christians, but it's kind of like a bunch of carpenters sitting around talking about what a hammer is. Oh, there's value in that. So I want to talk about again, the gospel.
[00:35:22] When a preacher says, here's the gospel.
[00:35:27] And the preacher says, God loves you and has a wonderful future planned for you, that's not the gospel.
[00:35:35] It might be true, but it's not the gospel. It's not the gospel. It's what's being preached in our nation today. And it just brings. It's such a weak thing, and it just leads us into weak or no worship at all. So let's gain clarity. I'll put a couple points up here. Clarity. Hopefully this helps. And this is for you. Okay. And me. The Book of Romans. A great thing to go back to. When's the last time you've been in the Book of Romans? There is an amazing step by step expression of the gospel and understanding. It goes deep. Thank you, God, for the book of Romans. And then we love to preach the gospel every week at village church, and we kind of steal a lot from one. Corinthians 15, one five. There's some great language there of understanding the gospel, a summary of the gospel. Good stuff to look at. Pastor Gilbert writes a book called what is the Gospel? It's only 121 pages, and it's actually really, like, small. So it goes really fast, but just dissects the gospel. Love it. Go deep and deep and deep, and it just changes how I see God in myself every day. But the emphasis that I want to put today, and we have a symbol of it behind me on purpose. The emphasis, the gospel, if we're losing track, if we get fuzzy, if we get gray, if there's a cloud, the emphasis always is the cross of Jesus Christ. Please, let's never forget that the emphasis is always the cross of Jesus Christ, and it is punctuated by the resurrection. Without the resurrection, we have no christianity. We have no hope. We have no future with him at all. We have no salvation. And so our methods of talking about, our methods of talking about the gospel, they might change over time, and they probably do, and maybe even should. But our message of the gospel never changes. The gospel is the message of historical events with a specific purpose, and it concerns you, and you can reject it or you can receive it by faith.
[00:37:30] What it is, the gospel is the life, and it is the death on the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? For the forgiveness of sins, for anybody who will believe, and you will have eternal life. If you ask the Lord to forgive your sins, that's a lot to unpack.
[00:37:48] I hope that you'll see clarity in the gospel and ask God for open doors.
[00:37:54] Let's pray God, thank you for the love we see in sending your son Jesus to save us, to die on the cross, to take the penalty that we deserved so that we don't have to pay for it forever in hell. But instead, God, you've expressed your love through the cross, your power, and your promise keeping through the resurrection. And so, God, thank you. Thank you, God, give us hearts to think more deeply of the gospel and about the gospel and finding even creative ways to love others well and helping them in their steps and having a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
