You see, before "the law" was given to Moses, people only had their gut instincts. You have to understand that those rules were provided by God for the benefit of better understanding what righteousness really means. As such, it can turn secular people away from the rich promises it holds.Īfter all, the Old Testament is full of specific rules by which God's people were expected to abide. Unfortunately, Christianity is often misrepresented with a similar list of do's and dont's. You have a long list of do's and dont's that count as credit towards your seat in heaven. You see, most of the world's religions adopt a philosophy that one has to work to earn a place in paradise after death. In fact, the concept of a specific path to heaven that is defined by our behaviors is so popular that most of the world's organized religions have adopted some form of it.īut there is one RADICAL difference for Christianity compared with every other organized religion. The idea of a route to paradise, our ultimate home for eternity with perfect bodies and perfect lives. The idea of a specific path upwards to heaven. Amen.What do you picture with that phrase? What do you think about?Ī very tall staircase rising from the earth? In Jesus’ name we praise you for the Gospel, and we pray that you would use our lives for the spread of the Gospel. We pray that this Gospel would spread around the world particularly to people who have never even heard it. God, we pray that this Gospel would spread through our lives today, this week, through our churches today, this week. God, help us to persuade people, to trust in Jesus by the power of your spirit to do that knowing that their eternity hangs in the balance.įather, we pray for life transformation in us that leads to Gospel sharing with those around us. Help us not just to share information about Jesus. God, help us today to sow seeds of the Gospel around us, to speak about your character, to speak about the offense of sin, to speak to others about the sufficiency of Christ of who Jesus is, to call others to personally respond to Christ. As we praise you, thank you for the Gospel, we pray that you will help us to spread this Gospel. Ephesians 2:8–9 Thanks and Praises God for the Gospel This is a gift from you for which we give you glory. We praise you for saving us by grace through faith. G-O-S-P-E-L, God’s character, the offense of sin, the sufficiency of Christ, personal response to him, eternal urgency and how we respond to him that then leads to life transformation. Verse 10 goes on to say, “Created in Christ Jesus for good works.” So, this Gospel changes the way we live, changes every facet of our lives. G-O-S-P-E, all of that leads to L, life transformation for we are his workmanship. Heaven and hell hang in the balance with how we respond to Christ, eternal life, eternal urgency. So, we’re provoked to trust in him today, to call other people to trust in him today because life and death, eternal life and everlasting death hang in the balance. All of our lives are dependent forever on how we respond to Christ. That leads to E, eternal life and eternal urgency. We trust in Christ and what he has done for our salvation, that’s the P. Our personal responses, not try to do a bunch of things for God no, we trust in what God has done for us. By grace you have been saved through faith, not your own doing. How do we respond to this good news of what God has done in Christ? We place our faith in him. Ephesians 2:8–9 Teaches Us How to Respond to the Good News So God’s character, offense of sin, sufficiency of Christ, then P, personal response. His life, his death, his resurrection make salvation possible, which then leads to the P in Gospel. God has sent Jesus to do what we could not do, to save us from our sin. This passage describes us as dead in our trespasses and sins given over to the passions of our flesh like children of wrath by our very nature. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. We see his holiness, his love, his grace, his mercy, and his wrath all over this passage, the character of God, G. He hates sin, and yet he loves to show his salvation. So think G-O-S-P-E-L based on Ephesians two here. I would even just real quick give you a quick Gospel acrostics. This is maybe one of the clearest verses in passages, Ephesians 2:1–10, describing the Gospel and how we can be saved. “For by grace, you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” – Ephesians 2:8–9
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