There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the Gospel. But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they�re preaching the Gospel to you when they tell you, �you can have a purpose to your life�, or that �you can have meaning to your life�, or that �you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.� All of those things are true, and they�re all important, but they don�t get to the heart of the Gospel.
The Gospel is called the �good news� because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I�m not. And at the end of my life, I�m going to stand before a just and holy God, and I�ll be judged. And I�ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness � or lack of it � or the righteousness of another. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn�t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.
The great misconception in our day is this: that God isn�t concerned to protect His own integrity. He�s a kind of wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. So valuable was that sacrifice that God pronounced it valuable by raising Him from the dead � so that Christ died for us, He was raised for our justification. So the Gospel is something objective. It is the message of who Jesus is and what He did. And it also has a subjective dimension. How are the benefits of Jesus subjectively appropriated to us? How do I get it? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified not by our works, not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by faith � and by faith alone. The only way you can receive the benefit of Christ�s life and death is by putting your trust in Him � and in Him alone. You do that, you�re declared just by God, you�re adopted into His family, you�re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have begun your pilgrimage for eternity.
Mr. Row let us be sensible here. you commented on my statement. We both know that mormons and some others do not confess the same faith as we do. They deny the truth of Christ and his salvation. How can they who do not believe in the truth confess Jesus. the Mormons do not see jesus as we do. they even added books to the bible.
You both are hitting on where I'm coming from in regards to Row's statement about the Catholic chruch. So don't miss my points, I am not ignorant of the teachings are writings of these men of God, I know all about Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Arminius, Clarke, and many other great theologians and their writings and teachings that many churches have made into doctrines, and some have made into false doctrine and teachings.
And many church doctrines are based upon thier teachings and writings, instead of upon the doctrine of Jesus Christ, the Reformed church based their church doctrine upon what Calvin has written, and they are very heavy in Calvins doctrine, and can't tell you one spiritual word of what God has to say. Many churches beleive is a doctrine based their leaders facts who orginaized their church denomination.
Yes, Jesus said we will know them by their fruit, which is their behavior, their conduct, their professions of faith in Jesus Christ, their confessions of Jesus Christ and their Christian beliefs and faith. And by this we will KNOW who is a Christian and who is in the family of God, and who is not. I ain't about being poilitically correct, only to be spiritually wrong. Bieng spiritual right should be the goal of every believer.
And as BELEIVERS WE ARE TO CORRECT others who do not follow scripture and NOT condemn, when we judge them as James say, we have become their judges. And yes, we are to judge, but the key to judging is making sure YOU"VE got it correct and right, so that you yourself will not be judged.
There are doctrines that the JW, Catholic, Methodist, and the Mormom , and many other churches and some cultic churches teach and believe in that are not found in the Bible and are against what God has to say. We are to correct them, not condemn them. Their faith and beliefs are based on what the man who founded they denomination hs to say according to his own understanding. We are to correct them, not condemn them.
My point is that as believers in the doctrine of Jesus Christ who is the sole founder of the Chrurch of the living God, the Christian faith and its church. We are to witness to those who do not follow the cross according to the teachings of Jesus in the Bible, win the lost to Christ, NOT condmen them.
Oh, yeah, if you say you are a believer, and what you speak is not according to what scripture teaches, if you don't know the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then you've got a problem. So Leon, to say, that no one knows the truth , is totally off the hook. As a believer you had better know the truth or else somewhere there is a spirutal problem if a person does not know the right from the wrong, good from evil, and a lie from the truth of God in the gospel. Its a misconception to say none of us know the truth.
I know the truth of God's word, because its all written in the Bible, and its not a twisted truth either, as satan quoted to Jesus. Its not so much about knowing the truth, its about accepting the truth and living accordingly, when you do hear it and receive it.
I have nothing against Calvin or any of the rest of the great scholars and theologians, but I do know God never called us to preach their doctrines or their teachings, or their gospel. They left us with much biblical insights. But my salavtion isn't based on their teachings or doctrines. As I precieve Row, and James are trying to push the doctrine of Calvin of the Reformed Chruch , which is a denomination, as being the only ones who've got it right,. maybe I've misunderstand thier point of teaching, which have sounded more like pulling Calvin's doctrine, and condmening, instead of teaching what thus said the Lord.
The Reformed church its self has many things wrong becasue their doctrines are based on Calvins teachings and not on what God has to say. But that does not make a person unsaved when they are in error or a heretic, but we are still supoose to win them over to Christ, not our denomination, but to Christ with the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the doctrine of our church based on what Calvin or any other theologian said and/or thought.
If a person knows the difference between the false teachings of these churches, and what the Bible has to say about salvation, and does not correct or witiness to that person according to what God says in scripture, its wrong. The person is to be corrected based on what God say, not Calvin or any of the other doctrines, but according to scripture, just as Paul corrected the Judiaziers who creeped into the churches teachings false doctrine to the new converts throughout the region.
There is a proper way for all things when it comes to the teaching and preaching of gosple of Jesus Christ.
Paul says it best in I Corinthinas Chapter 9: For though I am free from ALL men, I have made myself a servant to ALL men, so that I might WIN the more, and to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might WIN Jews, to those who are under the law, I became as under the law, so that I might WIN those who are under the law, to those who are without the law(sinners), I became as without the law, (but not being without the law toward God, not in sins), but under the law toward Christ, so that I might WIN those who are without the law, to the weak I became as the weak, so that I might WIN the weak. I became ALL things to ALL men, so that I might by ALL means SAVE SOME. Now this I do for the SAKE of the GOSPEL, SO THAT I MAY BE PARTTAKER OF THE GOSPEL WITH YOU (THEM).
And James Chapter 5 has this to say: Brother/sisters if ANYONE among you wanders from the TRUTH, and someone TURNS the person back, let the person who TURNED another back, let him/her know that he(the person who did the correcting) who turnes a sinner from the error of his/her ways will SAVE a soul from death (hell) and cover a mulitude of sins( not only the sisn of the person who turned from the error of their ways, but the sins of the person who corrected the error, his/her sins will also be covered)).
And Solomon in Proverbs Chapter 11, says this: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the person who WINS souls is WISE.
Yeah, everybody has a formula for the Gospel and 20 scripture verses to back it up. But the Gospel is about relationship, it always has been, plain and simple. God loves you and has your best interests at heart. He proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt at the cross. Which leaves us with only one thing to decide; "Who Loves you; Who's your Daddy!"
Row, the Bible is about relationships. And indeed the Bible is about relationships between God and man, and man with one another.
Is not the body of Christ suppose to be ONE Body United In Christ? I would think that's what a relationship is all about being of one mind, one heart, one spirit untied together.
Also, does not scripture tells us this even so, in Jesus prayer in John chapter 17, where he prays, I neither pray just for these alone(speaking about his disciples), but also for them(that's us), who will believe on me through hearing their (speaking about the gospel preachered by the disciples) word. That they(all those who hear the gospel), may be ONE, as You, Father are in me, and I in You, that they(all who hear the gospel) also may be ONE in US, so that the world may believe that You have sent me.
Paul also writes about our relationship in Christ and with one another in Romans chapter 15, wherein he says, Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be LIKE MINDED ONE toward another according to Christ Jesus. So that you may with ONE MIND and ONE MOUTH glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And the list goes one and on. Especially the book of Philippians speak clearly about relationships. The whole New Testament is about spriitual relationships with God and personal realtionships with each other.
One must then ask what is the meaning of relationship if you don't think the Bible is about relationships? Does not the word relationsuip it mean being CONNECTED?...as buds , or partners or family united as together in unity in one accord :buddies:
Why don't we just let the word of God tell us what the gospel is?
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!!!
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8
So if Jesus is coming back to destroy those who DO NOT obey the gospel, don't you think that it is a good idea that we know how to obey the gospel?
MrRow ~ The scripture quoted above from TwoSparrows is spot on here..."The" Relationship is that of a Father to Us His Children...Here is scripture incase ya havent read it...
(KJV) Romans 8:15 ~ For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, *Abba, *Father.
Galatians 4:6 ~ And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, *Abba, *Father....hope this helps ya...xo
