THE GOSPEL

This message is a summary of teaching from Romans 1. The teaching can be found here - http://www.awmi.net/tv/2000/week37a

The Word Gospel means 'Good News' and even though most of us know what this Good news is, over time ... lots of 'bad news' has been added to it when it gets preached. So what exactly is this Good News? We need a little bit of a background story first to understand why this 'Good News' is relevant in the first place. God created everything perfect and that is how the world began. Man sinned and introduced imperfection, this is the reason why today's world has anything bad in it. Before Man sinned, we were really close to God, He spoke to us directly and hung out with us in the same garden whilst we were naked :). After we sinned, this relationship was broken (spiritual death). (Genesis 1 - 3)

So far, I've given you the bad news. What then is the 'Good News'? The 'Good News' or Gospel is that God came to earth in the form of the man Jesus to fix our mess ... and he succeeded! He will eventually restore everything back to its original state but meanwhile He is offering us a way to restore that broken relationship and live forever in communion with God. Now here is the best part of the news ... His offer is FREE! Completely, Absolutely FREE! The Bible calls it a 'free gift'. (Gifts should be free by definition but humans are so corrupt that the Bible had to use a qualifier).

All you have to do to receive this gift is to receive it by believing it is true. We call that 'faith' in Christianity. Now in receiving this gift, you have to confess and repent from your sins and profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, thank Him for this gift and receive it with ALL of your heart. This constitutes the process of receiving. Think of it this way, you are holding SIN in you hands and your hands are full. There is this Free Gift from God that you want to take. You have to first put the sin down (Confess and Repent) and then your hands will be free to take God's Free Gift. Isn't that Good News?! Its almost like someone wrote a check for you, a huge one! and all you have to do is take it, cash it and enjoy! God loves giving away things for free ... we call it Grace in Christianity.

 
WHAT DO I DO AFTER RECEIVING THIS FREE GIFT?

Well, you keep the gift. This answer is going to surprise people but the way you keep it is the exact same way you received it. (Colossians 2:6) Don't try to pay God back for it by trying to become a 'good person'. You can't become a 'good person' by trying and you certainly can't pay God back for the Free Gift ... if you could you wouldn't need it in the first place! So what do you do? You enjoy the GIFT. It comes with many benefits including the following:

• Your relationship with God is restored and you get to spend eternity with Him (John 3:16)
• You are automatically as 'Sinless' and as 'Righteous' as Jesus Christ ... or in other words ... God considers you Perfect! just as Jesus was Perfect (Romans 4:5)
• You are freed from slavery to anything and everything the only thing you need to submit to is God (Luke 4:18)
• You get access to complete healing (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:4-5)
• You get access to the numerous other FREE blessings in the Bible that God has provided (Deuteronomy 28 has some of those blessings)
• You are free from having to sin and are able to do things that please God (Romans 6:22)

WHERE IS THE CATCH?
There is no catch ... there are a lot of other things that are true ... but they really aren't 'Good News' so shouldn't be part of the Gospel. It is useful to know them anyways. I'll list a few of them here:

• If you don't receive this FREE GIFT before you die, there won't be any way for your relationship with God to be restored and you will end up in the 'eternal fire of God's Judgement' (Jude 1:7)
• Satan and his workers will try and steal this FREE GIFT from you. They don't have access to it and they would rather no one else did (Ephesians 6:12)
• You will encounter trials and tribulation in this life. (1 Peter 4:12) Please remember that God isn't the one responsible for them and also, staying sick isn't a trial to suffer for God. (1 Peter 2:20-25)

All of the above isn't Good News so if anyone tries to tell you this as part of the Gospel ... kindly remind them that the Gospel means 'Good News' so you are only expecting to hear 'Good News'.

Keep Enjoying God's FREE GIFT,
The SriBuO Team