The Gospel
The gospel is not just what God has done, but his message explaining what he has done. Thus the gospel is not something that can be done, but something that must be proclaimed. In Colossians 1:28 Paul sums up his ministry like this, 'We proclaim him...so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.'
The gospel explains why Jesus is essential for living life and knowing God. It can be summarised in 6 steps:
The beginning
1. God is the loving ruler of the world. He made the world and he made us rulers of the world under him. But that's not the way it is now...
The world today
2. We all reject the ruler - God - by trying to run life our own way without him. But we fail to rule ourselves, society or the world. And God cannot simply overlook such a mess
The future
3. God wont let us rebel forever. God's punishment for rebellion is death and judgement. Now God's justice sounds harsh...
God's love
4. Because of his love, God sent his Son into the world; the man Jesus Christ. Jesus always lived under God's rule. Yet by dying in our place he took our punishment and brought forgiveness. And there's more...
God's plan
5. God raised Jesus to life again as ruler of the world. Jesus has conquered death, now gives new life, and will return to judge. So what does this all mean?
Our choice
6. We all have a choice to make: We either can continue living life our own way, rejecting the ruler and his offer of a relationship with him, but the result of that choice is we live condemned by God and facing death and judgement. Or we can live God's new way, by submitting to Jesus as our only ruler and rely on his death and resurrection alone for our future. The result of that choice is we are fogiven by God and amazingly given eternal life starting today. So the question must be which of these represents the way you want to live?
In Immanuel we seek to live as Jesus' new society: proclaiming him, loving people, aiming for mature transformed lives that live for him.
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