Explaining the True Gospel

In the previous three posts I have tried to describe what is wrong with the Gospel message that is being given out these days and now I feel that perhaps the better approach would be to explain the true gospel. A bank teller is taught how to recognize counterfeit currency not by handling a lot of fake money but by becoming extremely familiar with real genuine currency. I believe this same principle will be most effective in recognizing what is wrong with the present teaching surrounding the Gospel and living a victorious Christian life.

When a number of Pharisees and other religious leaders came out to John the Baptist to be baptized of him, John did not rejoice as our religious leaders today would but rather challenged them to prove they were repentant telling them to "bring forth fruits of repentance". In essence he is saying "I need to know that you are serious about this matter and are already taking steps to change the direction of your life".

Jesus said "from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force" Matthew11:12
From the beginning of John's preaching onward the kingdom and the kingdom message came under violent assault both from the devils camp and from the religious camp. Every effort and tactic was used to try to destroy what God was doing and that has not changed except now the attack is from within by erosion of the truth into what I call "greasy grace" and further corrupted by erroneous teaching that includes traditions of man and doctrines of demons.

Jesus said "the violent take it (kingdom life) by force". Other perhaps more culturally relevant words might be aggressive, determined,highly motivated. If a person is not motivated to aggressively go after the "things of God" and a new life in Christ, their chances of experiencing anything more than momentary relief followed by bitter disillusionment are nearly zero.
I lay the fault for this directly at the feet of our current pastors and teachers for they have a responsibility to not only teach the Gospel in it's fullness but to train everyone in their congregation to carry out faithfully the the sharing of the Good News accurately, for indeed they are the ministers and the pastors and teachers are given to prepare them for the "work of the ministry" Ephesians 4:12
Unfortunately the focus of the leaders has now become how large can we make the congregation, how can we keep them here and how can we motivate them to give of their finances so we can build a better and larger sanctuary. The change is from quality to quantity and the result being "watered down Christianity".

Getting saved is serious business and cannot be taken lightly for scripture declares that "now you are not your own for you were bought with a price"1 Corinthians 6:19-20 The precious blood of Jesus was the price and nothing we have or could pay is enough to purchase the right to have His blood applied to our sins except our total surrender to His will. That act is the hard part unless we are completely at the end of ourselves and have nothing further to hang onto. Sadly many have prayed the so called sinners prayer but have never even made it to first base with God because they stopped at the prayer and figure if they attend church once a week and listen to some mundane sermon and sing a few songs that they are doing all they need to do. They are bored stiff but never hearing the truth they think that's all there is. Jesus promised life and that more abundantly, what did he mean by that? Today's prosperity teacher would have us believe that means more cool stuff for our homes and garages and vacations to exotic places and more.
I like to think of the abundant life He promises as "an abundance of living". Let me explain, The pew warming Christian is usually bored and boring from a spiritual perspective, not receiving anything significant from God and having nothing significant to offer either to fellow Christians or to unbelievers. On the other hand a Christian who is walking with God (spoken of in scripture as walking in the Spirit) is receiving a daily download of blessing that can only be understood spiritually. His inner man is constantly being nurtured by the God of all creation and his heart is in a state of near constant expansion of love for his fellow man and for the God Who created him. Because of this deep love and friendship that has developed with the One who indwells him God is able to entrust him with many blessings and responsibilities He cannot place on others who are weak in their walk. Everyday holds some blessing in the form of opportunity to minister life to someone else through sharing Jesus love with them or the chance to pray for a healing and the sheer joy of experiencing the answer. It may come as we share our trust in God to supply either our need or that of another and to see their faith get a boost. The abundance of living we will experience leaves no room for boredom or dissatisfaction with what material possessions we may have or do not have. A person who is living Jesus abundant life never lacks for an inspiring testimony of the goodness and mercy of God.
I remember a brother who attended a men's breakfast with me on a regular basis. This brother was bound by a 2 pack a day smoking habit, one day as we were leaving the fellowship room where we had breakfast he lit up a cigarette as soon as we were outside. He mumbled an apology to me saying he felt guilty but just couldn't quit. I asked him if he had ever spoken to God about it but he did not answer me. We didn't meet again for about 3 weeks because he was out of town on a long trip. When we did again meet he seemed a different person and I inquired the reason to which he answered "I thought about what you said to me and decided to ask God to help me quit smoking, I haven't had a cigarette in 2 weeks and don't want one. I never knew He really was listening and just waiting for me to ask for something". That man's life was never the same from that time forward.

On this note I will end this post. I encourage my readers if they are helped to share this blog with their friends and acquaintances and don't hesitate to post comments either to this blog or to my email acts2216@eoni.com