Let's look at some Bible stats. Bible.org says, 'The term gospel is found ninety-nine times in the NASB and ninety-two times in the NET Bible. In the Greek New Testament, gospel is the translation of the Greek noun euangelion (occurring 76 times) “good news,” and the verb euangelizo (occurring 54 times), meaning “to bring or announce good news.” ' So the word gospel occurs often, making it imperative we understand what it means!
The word gospel correlates to good news. But what good news?
When I read the newspaper I struggle to find good news, unless it's a local paper that intends to write 'good news stories'. Quite often than not, I'm reading about drug smuggling, brawls, murders, disasters, underworld crime, falls from grace and political whingeing.
The New Testament that centers around Jesus, is not full of corruption and negativity. There are books full of good news. News of a promised Messiah. News of salvation freely available to all. News of victory over death. News of the beginnings of a dynamic church.
The gospel is the good news about Jesus. The Apostle Paul sums it up in 1 Cor 15:1-4 when he writes, " 1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. "
The gospel can then be summed up in BIG Idea No. 2.
BIG Idea No. 2 - The Gospel is the good news that is found within the birth, life, death, resurrection, and promised return of Jesus Christ.
Will you believe the gospel? Will you preach the gospel?
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<-- How could God love someone like me? BIG Idea No. 1
--> Why did Jesus die on the Cross? BIG Idea No. 3
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A gift from the wilderness…truth.
ReplyDeleteGod will not put any child created in his image no matter what their sins into a hell fire. It never entered God’s heart or mind to ever do such a thing Jer 7:31, Jer 19:5.
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