Category: The Gospel

Find out how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ and why you need one.

I Am the Lord, and There is No Other; Besides Me There is No God.

And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”

Satan was once a powerful and high-ranking creation of the heavenly order.  The bible tells us that he was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty and that he was a guardian cherub in the heavenly garden of God. He was called a “star of the morning” and a “son of the dawn” (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28).

His troubles began when he decided that all of that wasn’t enough for him.  He looked with covetousness upon the throne of glory that was God’s alone.  No longer content to give worship to the Most High, he craved the worship, power and authority for himself.   His desire was to exalt himself above God, to raise himself up to be God.

When Satan attempted to “raise his throne above the stars of God”, he was met with a jarring force.  Instead of being raised to the lofty heights of the highest heavens, he was cast violently to a crude and foreign realm far below the heavens. He hurdled down like the dead star that he now was; a fiery, burning ball crashing hard into earth’s prehistoric surface.  

His position in the kingdom of heaven has been eternally revoked.  His membership card now reads “access denied”.  Because of his transgression and sin, he will now and forever more cease to be what he was originally created to be.  He has been irreversibly transformed by his deceitful act of pride and lust. The voice that before resounded the praises of the Lord of Hosts now spews hateful venom.  Then covered in precious stones meant to reflect the glory of heaven are now sealed forever in darkened scales. Once a cherub on the lofty mountain of God, now a serpent thrust into a darkened watery chaos.

God was about to prove to him, and to the entire heavenly host, that “I Am the Lord God, there is no other; besides Me, there is no God.” (Isaiah 45:5) And with that we finally come to Genesis 1:2.

“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” 

 It is now that God determines to finish what he began in eternity past.   The Spirit of God is hovering over the amniotic waters of a pre-born earth, and it is here that He has a very distinct point to make.

We would do well to remember that the devil was a liar from the beginning, in fact, scripture calls him “the father of the lie.” (John 8:44).  The first lie he ever told was to himself, the lie that he could be God, and he was foolish enough to believe it.   God is about to bring Satan back into proper alignment with reality and the with the truth. 

The unspoken challenge of the triune God echoed in silence over the dark, uninterrupted waters.

“So you think you could be God Almighty, the Lord of Heaven and Earth?

Then CREATE.”

If there had been crickets alive at this moment, that’s all you would have heard.  God waited.  He waited some more.  After all, He had all of eternity to prove His point.

“Go ahead, here’s your chance.  Let’s see what you can do with the place.”

Nothing.

Satan had no power to create anything.  The darkness remained. The formless void of churning chaos continued until finally the Word of the Lord penetrated the awkward silence,

“Let there be light.” 

And light was.

The proclamation of those words brought forth the beginnings of the final phase of creation.  In utter humiliation, the devil was forced to watch God do all the he was uncapable of doing.  Wave after wave of “God said… God called… and God saw that it was good… transformed the planet and the heavens surrounding it.   Time and space manifested in light, matter and energy.  The realm of earth had order.  It had form and substance.  

It had life.

And the devil seethed with a burning envy.  The realm of earth was his prison.  Yet on all sides he is confronted with the beauty and perfection that reflects the God of the heavens.  He is painfully reminded of the Paradise that is forever lost to him.  The fire of bitterness and anger blackens his sinful heart and consumes him.

And yet the Heavenly Father isn’t quite finished.

There is still one more element left to fulfill before this realm is complete.

The kingdom of earth must have a king.

I think you may already know where we are going with this. After all, you have heard the story. But maybe not quite like this.

The God of Creation…

Is the God of Law and Order

We can look into God’s word, which is a revelation about Himself, and understand that God is a God of perfection, of law and of order.  Everything about His creation reflects this.

 Within all of creation, God establishes systems of order and boundaries.  He provides that all things work according to their prescribed design and purpose.  Take a look around you and notice all the things that work according to this principle.  From cells, to atoms and molecules, to the set order of the planets in the solar system, to the laws of physics, mathematics, music, science, chemistry, and mechanics; all things work according to how God designed them, and performs the function He intended for them.  Light operates according to the law of light and matter according to its laws. The human body is a perfect example in the fact that each part performs only as it was created to function; the eyes see, and the ears hear, and the heart pumps blood.  The fish swim in the water and the birds fly in the air and in order for them to survive and thrive, they must operate within the realm and boundaries for which they were created.

This principle is true in the realm of heaven as well as in the realm of earth.

We must first understand this very foundational characteristic of God if we are going to understand the concepts of sin, trespass and iniquity; things that go against the nature and character of God. 

The word sin actually means to miss the mark.   If God is holy, perfect and just, anything less than that standard is sin.  It has missed the mark or goal of God’s perfect character and quality.   

A trespass is a violation of a law or boundary.  A landowner posting No Trespassing signs on his property desires that no one cross the boundary lines and come onto his property. Anyone who does so, intentionally or unintentionally, has trespassed.  Similarly, one who violates a law or boundary of God trespasses against Him.

And iniquity is a perversion of the intent and purpose of a thing. It literally means to make crooked.  It is taking something that God created for one purpose and twisting or profaning it for a purpose it was not created for.

I tell you all that now, at this point in the story, because we must understand that all this these unfortunate things found their way into the kingdom of heaven long before they make their grand entrance into the realm of earth. In fact, they have their origination in heaven. 

What most people do not understand when they read the first verses in the book of Genesis is that there is a long pause in time between “God created the heavens and the earth” and “The earth was formless and void…”.  I use the term time here loosely, because as I stated before, time as we know it has not officially been established.  So, let’s say that in the space of eternity, after the creation of the heavenly realm and before the final creation of the earth, a lot happens.

When God created the heavenly realm and the beings that were intended to live there, He made them each with a specific purpose according to their function in that realm.  He also made them to have a will of their own.  This means that each created being had the power to freely think and choose according to their own express desires apart from the will of God.  

Just how long the realm of heaven existed before we get to the final earthly phase of creation, nobody knows, but it was long enough for it to have its own act of willful rebellion and its own fall.

We look to the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah for revelation into this event.

“You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.You were in Eden, the garden of God…

…On the day that you were created, they were prepared. “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God;

You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. “You were blameless in your ways. From the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.

 “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.

And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.

Ezekiel 28:12-17

“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north.

‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 

Isaiah 14:12-14

The above passages are speaking allegorically of the being we know as Satan.  But before he was Satan, he was Lucifer, a guardian cherub who was created to hold a very high position in the echelon of angelic beings. He enjoyed intimate proximity to the throne and glory of God.  He was created with great beauty and perfection, until, that is, he became a little too taken with himself.  Lucifer became so enamored with his own beauty and glory that be began to fancy himself to be equal with God.  With a root of pride growing deeply in his envious heart, he became dissatisfied glorifying and worshiping the King of kings and Lord of lords. He began lusting after that worship for himself.  He sought after that which was God’s alone.   Lucifer violated a great boundary. He attempted to step outside of his established order, and place himself a position he was not created for. He has committed the first act of rebellion against the will of God.

Lucifer has corrupted himself with sin and sin has no place in the Presence of a holy and perfect God.  As a result, he is cast out of the kingdom of heaven to the earth.  This is how we know the timing of these events.  The earth existed at the time of Lucifer’s rebellion and fall.

Lucifer sought to exalt himself to the place of God Most High and instead found himself grieviously demoted.  Lucifer, whose name means Light bearer, now has lost his light, his beauty, his position… and his name. 

Lucifer was not and never could be God of all creation.  That point is about to be made perfectly clear. In my next post, we will see how God uses the opportunity of the creation of the earth to show His new adversary exactly who he is…

and who he is not.

In the Beginning

God Created the Heavens and the Earth

What I am about to share with you is not new, but rather has been shoved to the back of the closet like a pair of old jeans that are 2 sizes too small. It’s truth that is a little wrinkled and dusty and hasn’t seen the light of day in a while.  It’s time it was taken out, shaken out and put back to work for the Kingdom of God!

Ok, lets do this.

In the Beginning…

The bible, from Genesis to Revelation, tells one comprehensive story.   It is the story of God, His creation, and the corruption of and eventual reclaiming and restoration of His creation.  The story of the bible is “what was will be again.” The part of the story we are living out right now is the time in between “what was” and “what will be”.  You and I are living so up close and personal to this that we can’t adequately see the big picture.  It’s like having your face so close to the page that you can’t see the whole book.  We need to draw ourselves away and objectively see things the way God sees them. 

So, the first thing we have to do is get a clearer understanding of what creation looked like “in the beginning”, and how it was.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens. Stop.

God first created the realm of heaven and all the heavenly beings designed to inhabit that realm.  Notice that the word heaven is plural, meaning there is more than one dimension of the heavens. 

“You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You.” Nehemiah 9:6

“For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),“I am the Lord, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:18

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light!  Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens!  Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded, and they were created.  He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away.” Psalm 148:1-6

Colossians 1:16-17,

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16,17

We can keep reading in Psalm 33:6, Proverbs 3:19, Jeremiah 10:12-13, Hebrews 11:3, Isaiah 44:24, and SO MANY MORE passages that speak of the plurality of the heavens.

Heaven is a place that is unrestricted by the dimension of time.  That is why it is called eternity, and heaven and earth were created at some point in eternity past.  There is no way for us finite beings to know how long ago this was because we do not know how time was measured in eternity.  Truthfully, it is not necessary for us to know how long ago it was, but perhaps one day we will. 

Heavenly beings were created to dwell specifically in the heavens.  In scripture, these beings are sometimes called the “sons of God”, cherubim, seraphim, or angels.  They were individually created by God with specific design and purpose for the kingdom of heaven.  They were not intended to procreate as men do.  They were not to “beget” sons and daughters of their own.  They are spirit beings and their bodies were created of light and energy that is compatible to their dwelling.  As man was created from the components of the earth to inhabit the earth, heavenly beings are created of the substance of the realm of heaven.  Men are natural, heavenly beings are supernatural.  1 Corinthians 15:40-48 provides us a little insight into this.

It is very important to realize that when the bible says that God created the heavens and the earth, it is not simply talking about the area immediately surrounding the earth, it’s atmosphere or the universe, but the entire realm and dominion of the heavens and the heavenly beings.  

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

When God created the heavenly realms, He also created the sphere and substance of the earth.  But at this particular moment in eternity, it is unfinished.  It is merely suspended in the universe awaiting it’s completion.  The sun, the moon and the stars have not yet made their appearance in the grand story.  The earth is there, and even in this state has a purpose to serve. 

But you will have to wait for the next post to discover what that is. 

And I think you will be amazed!

Sometimes You Don’t Know What You Got till It’s Gone

“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.  They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”  These are the words to a catchy little tune that rings of the painful irony of loss and regret.

Have you ever had to live with regret?  Have you ever said or done something that you wished with all your might that you could unsay or undo?  Have you ever turned your Paradise into a parking lot and then thought, “my god, what have I done?”

I think we have all been there.

Some regrets have steeper consequences than others.   An abandoned marriage or a terminated pregnancy will generate a different degree of remorse than let’s say, spending too much on the shoes or having the spicy chili for lunch.  A broken confidence or betrayed trust is harder to earn back than carelessly spent rent money.  Tums does nothing to reduce the acid of a soured relationship.

Sometimes we think we want something until we actually have it.  Sometimes we don’t value what we have…  until we don’t.

Our own fickle hearts will deal us a hand we don’t necessarily want to play; sometimes demanding an ante we can’t afford to pay.  

Just ask Adam.

Talk about a guy having to live with a heap of regret.    All the bounty and favor he was granted in his Paradise was eclipsed by the one thing he was forbidden.  In one act of doubt and desire, the whole course of human history was forever altered. 

Adam did something that he could not undo; he lost something he could never get back. 

Before we can adequately understand and appreciate the full gospel message- the good news of what Jesus Christ came to regain and restore on our behalf, we have to first comprehend all of what Adam had… and lost.  

Now I am just going to tell you right up front that this study in the Word is not something that can be dished out in a few easy paragraphs.  Generally, I try to keep my posts short-ish and easy to digest, but sometimes learning deep biblical truth requires more of a mental commitment than what our usual spoon size attention spans can handle in one sitting.  My intention is to deliver this study out in a series of smaller portions, and I think that if you stick with me all the way through you will be amazed and thoroughly satisfied!

Now, right here I am going to invite you to go fetch your bible and read for yourselves the first three chapters of Genesis.  They are not long, and it should take you all of 15 minutes to read.  But keep your bookmark there because we are going to be camping out here for a while.  

The first three chapters of Genesis tell the story of a Paradise that was created and then tragically lost.  If ever you were a child in any Sunday school class ever in your LIFE, you heard this story of Adam and Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.  You can probably still picture the flannel-graph easel board standing at the front of the class, still see Adam and Eve in their leafy clothes hiding behind the tree, still holding the half-eaten apple in their hands while the snake hangs smugly from the flannel tree above their heads.  

But the first three chapters of your bible tells you more about YOU than you ever realized, and it tells more about the GOSPEL than you ever realized.  The story of Adam and Eve is the story of sin and redemption, rebellion and grace, and sets the stage for the story of Jesus Christ Who is Himself the creator and redeemer of all things.  The story of death and atonement starts here in the opening chapters of Genesis. 

You will never appreciate all that you were originally created to be if you don’t know who Adam was and all he was created to be, and you won’t know what Adam lost if we don’t first understand what he was given. 

This is more than a story of the first man and woman eating from a forbidden tree in a Garden.

It is a story of kingdoms and realms, of dominions and authority, and of power.  It is a story of truth and lies, thievery and restitution.  It is my story and your story. 

Paradise is not completely lost.  It is within reach.  It is as close as a prayer.

“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”   Mark 1:14-15

And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.  Luke 23:42-43

Ok, go get that bible and let’s get started!

The Coming Storm

The Importance of Knowing the Bad News

Let’s say you are a guest in my home.  As we are sitting there at my kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee and a nice conversation, I casually mention to you that my house has a full basement.  I may even go on to explain how nicely furnished and comfortable it is and how much my family enjoys it.   You may think, “ok, that’s nice, but why is she telling me this”?  Perhaps you would respond politely to this bit of news, but your interest in my basement would probably stop there. 

Then let’s say that out of nowhere a strong storm comes upon us.  Not far in the distance we see the dark clouds forming and notice that the wind has started to pick up.   Thunder peels and lightning flashes and yet we aren’t too concerned, until all at once the tornado warning siren pierces the air.

Suddenly, the knowledge of my having a basement would take on a whole new level of importance.   

As the level of concern rises to the state of panic, you now strongly desire to be shown the way to my basement door!  And not only that, you begin to fiercely warn everyone within the sound of your voice to quickly take cover in its shelter.

The good news of my having a basement wasn’t life-saving knowledge until you were made aware of the immediate crisis that loomed in front of you.  The news was nice, but not vital, until you were made aware of the approaching devastation.  Just knowing about the basement wasn’t enough to save you, you needed to be IN the basement, and there is no question that ignoring the warnings could have life and death consequences.  

Unfortunately, we have come to treat the message of the gospel much in the same way as we do the casual news of my basement.   We treat Jesus Christ as though He were just a nice feature simply there to add comfort and increase the value of our life. He is good to know about, but not truly lifesaving.  And, sadly, for the most part, largely ignored.

So long as the church remains silent about the reality of the coming storm, that is where the importance of knowing Christ will stay. 

The storm that is brewing not far off into the distance is the wrath of God.

The wrath of God is a reality that is coming upon the world for sin.   It is the manifestation of His judgement upon it.  Anyone not found in Christ will suffer that wrath and judgement.

Does that scare you?   It should.  It scares me. 

It scares me enough to take the bibles warnings about it very seriously.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”    Romans 5:8-10

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”    John 3:36

Paul writes how happy he is for the believers in Thessalonica who, “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, who He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath of God.”  1 Thessalonians 1:10

“For this we know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”  Ephesians 5:5-6

The only true shelter and safety from the promised coming wrath of God is to be found in Jesus Christ.  Just knowing about Him will not rescue you. Just knowing that there is a basement is not the same as being IN IT when the storm comes.

The Good Message becomes life-saving good, only when we are made aware of the severity of the bad news.

 To fully appreciate the Good News of what we have gained in Christ, we must first have an awareness and understanding of who we are and what we lost in Adam.  All you had to do to be eligible for the consequences of sin and the coming judgement was, believe it or not, to just be born.   And to escape the coming wrath of God all you have to do is to be born again.  (John 3:3)

When you boil the gospel down to its most basic formula it is just that:

You must be born again.

Let’s Make This Personal

If you have made it this far in reading my blog posts, then you are probably sick of hearing me harp on and on about how bad the church is for wandering so far away from the gospel.  But listen, this isn’t a railing against the church so much as it is a railing against me.  This is personal.  That is why I am so passionate about it.

Look, this is what happened, in my own life as well as that of the church, we got cold and lazy.  The culture of the world started pushing back hard against the church and the gospel.  The world doesn’t want to hear it, it’s just that simple.   And the louder the world got about telling Christians to shut up and keep their religion to themselves, the quieter the church got.  You know what I am saying is true, because YOU got quieter.  We stopped being bold about sharing our faith because we didn’t want to be labelled as being judgmental or bigots.  We just wanted the world to like us, so we just focused on LOVING everybody.  The church quit talking about God’s judgement and His wrath and just started telling everybody how much God loves them.  Well, that’s true, but that’s only HALF the message!  We only wanted to proclaim the parts of the bible that the WORLD would accept.  That is crazy! But it happened just like that.  And now we have generations of people who profess to be Christians that don’t even know what the Gospel is, let alone defend it when it is questioned or opposed.

Somewhere along the way, things have to get turned around and I think that time is now.  Someone has to recognize the deficiency and do something to fix it.  My hope and prayer are that this change can start with us – you and me, learning together and then getting excited about what we discover and then telling others.  The road to Glory is paved with the bricks of the gospel.  There is no other road and we were not meant to travel it alone.  Point the way, friend.  Do not be content that your family and friends know Jesus.  Look around you.  A sea of humanity is lost and blind.  Lift up your head out of your hand-held devices and LOOK AT PEOPLE all around you!   Look at their faces.  Look at the shape their lives are in.  They are being devoured by the enemy unhindered!  If you are a Spirit-filled, bible-believing, born again follower of Jesus Christ then YOU have the answer!  You have to care! Do not let your love for mankind grow cold.  Let’s decide right here to stop being calloused and lazy.

Ok, enough about that.

IF you continue to follow my posts, then let me tell you things are about to get crazy exciting. Why, you ask? Because I think I am going to show you things that will revolutionize the way you see God, yourself and the world around you.  Hey, I have been a Christian for over 28 years, and I am finding out just how ignorant I have been about the gospel.  When God first started revealing these truths to me, I was blown away.  Sometimes I would just sit for a long time with my mouth hanging open marinating in my own “wow” moment.

I know scripture.  I have been an avid bible student for all my Christian life.  But sometimes we filter His word through what other teachers have taught us that may not be exactly correct.   Our view gets distorted and it’s hard to “unsee” through those lenses.   It’s like trying to put a puzzle together wearing your grandma’s glasses.  If we take the glasses off, we can see the pieces more clearly, put them together more correctly and see the whole big picture start to take shape.  All of a sudden, those difficult pieces that sat sidelined for so long start to fit in too.  When we get our understanding in focus, we get high definition revelation!

About ten years ago I decided I wanted to become an EMT.  Turns out I didn’t really like it and wasn’t all that good at it.  But I learned a whole lot of stuff that is still with me today.  One of them is the ABC’s of CPR.  Airway, breathing, circulation; over and over again that got hammered home because it didn’t matter what else your patient had going on, if he didn’t have those 3 very important things going on, it didn’t’ matter what else you did to help him. 

The gospel has got its own ABC’s that is foundational knowledge and we need to know it well, so we are going to hammer them home, too.  Not to overuse my puzzle analogy but, when I do a puzzle, the very first thing I do is find all the edge pieces and start putting that frame together.  Once I have that done, I organize my other pieces in order to start filling it in.  The ABC’s of the gospel is the framework.  All the other stuff are the pieces that fit together make up the whole message of the bible.

The gospel ABC’s have 6 basic elements, which we went over before, but like I said, we will go over again and again.  They are,

  1. The Virgin Birth of Christ
  2. His perfect, sinless life
  3. His death
  4. His resurrection
  5. His ascension
  6. And His promised return

In studying each of these elements in depth, we will have a foundation that all the other truths in the bible build upon.

Another thing. 

The good news is only good because of the bad news.   To completely understand and appreciate the wonderful, life giving message of the gospel, you also have to have a good grasp on the BAD NEWS! 

Not to put you on the spot, but do you know what that is?

Well, don’t feel bad because I didn’t either. 

The bad news boils down to one thing, we are all sons and daughters of Adam.  Adam lost something that we cannot regain on our own.  And I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that most Christians today probably do not know what that thing is.

We are going to discover what that thing is in our next study.  And when you learn of it, you will see how there is nothing you can do to earn your ticket into heaven, no matter how saintly you are.  You will see how important the works of Christ are and how we can apply them to ourselves.  You will understand that Christ came to do ONLY what He could do, and how it is impossible for us to achieve any of it without Him.  The message at the heart of the gospel is the “undoing” of what the devil did through Adam.  Christ came to do what I call the “re” words- redeem, renew, recover, restore, regenerate, reverse, reveal, regain, remedy- all that our earthly father Adam lost.  So, guess what, we are starting at the beginning of the Ol’ Glory Road and if you join me in my next post, have your bible out and turned to Genesis 1:1!

Praying you will join me!

The Essence of the Gospel

So far we have established that the modern Church is in a crisis. 

The word crisis is defined as a time of intense difficulty, trouble or danger.  But it can also be defined as a time when a difficult or important decision must be made, sometimes called a crisis point.  I believe both definitions apply to the critical situation in which we find the modern church.  The church today is not facing a time of difficulty, trouble or danger, it is already there.  We are in the midst of the crisis, but for the most part, the body of believers that identify as the church doesn’t even realize it.  The problem must first be acknowledged before a solution is sought, before a corrective decision can be made.

We have established that the cause of the crisis is the overall ignorance of the biblical gospel message.  This not only creates an identity crisis for the church, but it cripples the churches ability to fulfill its mandate to proclaim the gospel to all creation.  How can it proclaim that which is does not know? The gospel is not something that the church learns once and moves on from, it is necessary to be aware of it every day.  It should color the lens through which we view the world.

So, the obvious answer to the crisis seems to be to alleviate the ignorance, to enlighten and educate with the scriptural truth concerning the gospel.  I believe this with all of my heart. The gospel is that important because it is the power unto the saving of the souls of men (Romans 1:16).  The darkness of evil and sin ingrained in every human heart is the birthplace of every worldly problem.  The church wears itself out and drains its resources fighting against the symptoms of the disease (think abortion or sex trafficking) instead of attacking the illness itself (sin).  Sin is the cause, sinful acts that manifest out of that sin is the effect.  The gospel is the remedy for both.  

Now I am not excusing the devil from his part in all of this.   Of course, he is the power and energy at the source of evil, but he works through men’s hearts.  Sinful men willfully do his bidding whether they know it or not.  They work in tandem with each other because they are both darkened and in rebellion against God.  The gospel brings light and deliverance from the darkness.  It breaks the power that hold men in enslaved in deception.  The gospel is a big deal.  That is why it is so important that we rediscover what the fullness and truth of the gospel is!  

The gospel message is the key that unlocks the hope for all creation. It is not only the remedy for the sickness infecting mankind, it is the message of redemption from the kingdom and powers of darkness, it is the reversal of the curse over all creation, it holds the promise of restoration and recovery from the effects of the fall and rebellion.  The gospel is the good news of the undoing of all that the devil has done to steal, kill and destroy.  That is why the devil hates it.  It is why he has attacked not only the deliverers of the message but the message itself.  If the church is going to assume an effective position in the war, its going to have to fit itself with the right armor and ammunition. Knowing God’s word is the best place to start.  Knowledge is power.

With that being said, let’s begin by laying down the foundational elements of the whole gospel message.  I say it like this because one of the problems of modern-day preachers is that they do not preach the whole gospel.  They capitalize on one element and portray that as the message.   One popular preacher today tends to focus heavily on the cross.  Another seems to think the answer lies in the resurrection alone.  I am here to tell you that while those aspects of the gospel are important, it is not the whole gospel.   Each component is critical to the other.  You cannot remove, replace or emphasize any one part without negating the whole.  The message must start at the beginning and no where else and it must run its course until the very end. 

My prayer is that by the time we are finished with this study, you will understand why I say this so emphatically.  I pray we will all have a more precise awareness of the nature of God and our own standing before Him, because without that we will never value the gospel or its power.  Remember, the gospel is the message of one central figure, the person and work of Jesus Christ and that alone.

The Gospel has 6 key elements concerning Jesus Christ that are vital and indispensable, and these are:

  1. His virgin birth
  2. His perfect, sinless life
  3. His death on the cross
  4. His resurrection from the dead
  5. His ascension
  6. And the promise of His return

In the upcoming lessons, we will explore each one in depth and discover why they are so crucial to each other and to the message as a whole.  In so doing, we will discover the necessity of the gospel and why it is so important for the church to be grounded in it firmly.  And we will be able to discern the effects of the gospel in the world around us.  Gear up, we are going on a journey into the depths of biblical truth.

For whosoever wishes to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake and for the gospel’s will save it.                                                  Mark 8:35

The Answer to the “Gospel Ignorance” Problem

In my last couple of posts, I have presented the idea that the greatest crisis facing the church today is its ignorance of the true, biblical gospel message and that this problem carries with it some very clear and drastic consequences, especially in light of eternity. 

If this is true, then this is indeed a very big problem, because it is the mission and function of the church to declare the gospel to the nations, to the unbelieving world.  It cannot fulfill this mandate if the church itself walks in the darkness concerning the correct message of the gospel.  So, if this is the problem, how do we fix it?  

The solution may not be as simple as we would like to think. And the reason is because the modern church has not only distorted the essence of the gospel message, they have skewed the meaning of the word itself.   As I said before, the church thinks it knows the gospel.  They think they are sharing the gospel.  But if you would ask 10 professing Christians what they thought the gospel was, you would probably get 10 different answers.  In fact, during a discussion I had with a lady this week, who professes to be a Christian and says she reads her bible daily, suggested to me that the gospel is “different to different people”.  

Really?

 Have we now added the gospel into that pot of subjective, culturally relative soup that says, “what something is to me may not be what it is to you…”?  We have done this with truth, with Jesus, with justice… Now, is my gospel different than your gospel?

God forbid!

Unfortunately, it seems in our contemporary culture, that is exactly what we have done with many other basic biblical concepts.  We have taken words like salvation, atonement, and love and we have made them so egocentric that we have no clue as to what they really mean in a true scriptural context.  They sound so Christian, so churchy, but we have attached our own personal impressions and meanings to them rather than adhering to actual concrete, biblical definitions. This should not be. This is how cults get started. This is how deception is birthed. It all starts out of ignorance.

Not only do so-called Christians not know the gospel, they do not know why the gospel is necessary. They do not understand the true nature of God or their own state and condition.  And to make things worse, most of these misconceptions have been propagated from very big and very public pulpits all across our country.

The answer to the problem may be as simple as going back to the scriptures themselves and building a basic foundation on what the true gospel IS and why it is so important.

Before we get into that, let’s first discuss what the gospel is NOT.

First of all, the gospel is not about you (or me).  It is not the message that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  It is not that God will give your life destiny or purpose and solve all of your problems. The gospel does not exist to make you healthy, wealthy and comfortable.   It is not simply the notion that you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.  The gospel is not your own personal testimony or how you live your life, no matter how righteous or holy it may be. While all of these things may be true, it is NOT the gospel.  It is not true that you can preach the gospel without using words, even though that sounds noble and wise.  Your life may be a testimony to the power of the gospel, but it is not the gospel itself. It may have a profound and powerful effect on you, but it is not ABOUT you.  The gospel is FOR you, but its message is not centered on you.   We are not the centerpiece, Christ is.  And any gospel that Jesus Christ is not the center of, is not the true gospel.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, a few fun facts…

The word gospel is the English translation of the Greek word “euaggelion” which means a good message.  The prefix “eu” means good. As an example, when we give a eulogy at a funeral, we are saying good words about the deceased, or when we are feeling euphoric, we are having intensely good feelings about something.  The root word “aggelos” is where we derive the English word angel, and it literally means messenger.  So, the word at its root means a good message, or good news.

The word gospel is often translated as a noun, referring to the message itself.  It also translated as a verb, referring to the act of announcing the message.   We get the word evangelize from this word euaggelion (can you see it now?).  An evangelist is anyone who carries or proclaims the good message, or good news.  Call me stupid, but I never saw before that “angel” is nestled right in the middle of that word. Makes perfect sense now, doesn’t it, knowing that an angel is a messenger from God?

The next thing we need to acknowledge is that the gospel is the gospel of God (Mark 1:14, Romans 1:1), in other words, it is GOD’S gospel.  It has its origin in and with HIM.  He, therefore, has authority of it. He decides what it is and what it is not.  We who are commissioned to proclaim this good news do not get the privilege of defining it.  God help any man who takes the essence of God’s gospel and perverts it to fit into his own twisted theology.    It is the good message of the restoration of mankind unto God, their purchase and pardon, the forgiveness of their sin, and rescue from the wrath of God.  It is not something men should profit from or use to build names for themselves.  No, it is God’s message.  It is God’s word and promise concerning His Son and His work to redeem men from the curse of sin and death. It is that and nothing more.  It is that and so much more.  It is that simple and yet deeply complex. 

I hope you stick with me through the next several posts so we can discover together the whole truth about the Gospel of God and His Kingdom.  I think it will not only amaze you, but it will grow your appreciation for God and what He has done on your behalf so that you may be with Him for all eternity.  My prayer is that once you fully understand the nature of the good message, you will be emboldened to proclaim it like never before.  It is why Christ came.  It is what He has appointed His church to do until He returns.

“…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”                                                                     Mark 16:15

The Consequence of the Crisis

What Happens When the Church is Ill Equipped for Its Commission?

In my last post, I suggested that the greatest crisis facing today’s modern church was the widespread ignorance of the gospel.  Now, notice that I said the church has this problem, not the world.  We expect that the world would be generally unaware of the true biblical, gospel message, but… the Church?  Really?

Yes, really.

And if the Church is even somewhat illiterate to the Gospel, the consequences are no less dire.  An ill-informed Church promoting a distorted and diluted Gospel message has the same effect as not preaching the Gospel at all.  Its commissioned purpose is to proclaim the Good Message of Jesus Christ unto Salvation.  Without a pure gospel, can you have authentic salvation? 

Turns out, this is not a new problem for the church.

Even in the history of the early church Paul issues the same warning to the believers in Galatia.

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.  But if even we, or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!   Galations 1:6-8

Paul issued the same admonition to the Corinthian church.  He hotly chastised them for being so willing to accept “another Jesus whom we have not preached”, receiving a “different spirit” other than the Holy Spirit and accepting a “different gospel” which he had not delivered to them.   (2Corinthians 11:3-4)

Sadly, many so-called believers today have bought into the “inclusion and tolerance” gospel the world is advocating.  They espouse a Jesus of their own making; a one-size-fits-all savior that simply came to make the world happy, rich and comfortable in its own skin. They are not receiving, through this “gospel”, the rebirth and regeneration that only the Spirit of God can deliver.  Folks, this false spirit, gospel and savior will not grant us solid shelter in the coming storm. 

There is another consequence to this widespread lack of comprehension of the basic gospel message:

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.   Mark 8:34-35

A church not schooled or confident in its basic, fundamental message will not risk life and reputation to proclaim it. 

To be completely sold out to the appointment, you must first absolutely buy into it with everything you are and everything you have. Sadly, much of the so-called church today has not done this.  They want to follow Jesus and keep their life.  Not only their life, but their BEST life, an ABUNTANT life, and a PROSPEROUS life.  This false gospel proclaims that this is the evidence of Gods blessing in their life when, in fact, the true gospel bids a man to come and die to himself.  This is the true evidence of the real gospel of Jesus Christ. That one would be willing to lay down his life for sake of Christ and His gospel message.

Now trust me when I say that I am not pointing an accusing finger at you or anyone else. I thought I knew what the gospel was, and it wasn’t until I felt the Lord strongly pressing into my heart that I needed to share it that I questioned my own comprehension of it.  After many months of hard study, I concluded that my own handle on the gospel had been shallow and weak which in turn, paralyzed my desire to proclaim it.   

And it did more than that.  It blinded me.

Because I did not understand the POWER of the gospel to transform the world around me, I was willfully unaware of it’s LOSTNESS.   I had no desire to reach out to people who were obviously held in the bondage of their own sin because I did not see it as such.  Instead, I would create a safe distance from people whose dysfunction disrupted my life, even in the simplest of ways.  I had to learn what it meant to “love my neighbor as myself” and recognize that all men everywhere were my neighbors.  I had to be CONCERNED with their souls and not put off by their sins. I loved myself enough (even in my own sin) to receive salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ, did I love them enough to share it?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…(Romans 1:16).

You see, it’s not that the Church today isn’t busy.  Oh, it is.  It is busy fighting hunger, fighting social injustice, fighting against abortion, same sex marriage and government corruption. The church is busy fighting with itself over heresy, doctrines, worship techniques and territories.  The Church is busy trying to make a name for itself.    It’s busy fighting the issues and as a result it is tired, battered and bleeding.  All because it forgot its true purpose-

To declare the Gospel!

The source of every woe and plight of mankind is the nature of his heart and his loyalty to his kingdom.  A man is devoted to the kingdom of darkness and its culture because his own heart is darkened by sin.    Of course, we want to end all of the issues the Church is fighting against, but should’t the real solution be to change hearts so that men would not WANT to do them? Proclaiming the true gospel message carries with it that power of transformation, the power to deliver from darkness, and the power to break free from blindness and demonic strongholds. 

We, as the Church, have to be willing to proclaim this message of the Gospel to our lost and dying neighbors at any cost. 

Can we even call ourselves true followers of Jesus Christ if we are unwilling to do this?

 I urge you, if you have never done this, examine your own heart and mind and ask yourself, what am I willing to die to for the sake of Christ and the gospel? Am I willing to sacrifice myself for the sake of my lost and dying neighbor? What is prohibiting me from sharing the gospel? Is it fear? Is it because I am afraid of rejection or because my own ignorance will be exposed? My guess is, it is all of the above.

What is the answer to this crisis?

Each individual, everyone who claims to follow Christ, must make it their own responsibilty to know the Gospel as it is presented in the Word of God. Search it out. Study it. Pray that God gives you a passion and desire to know it and then to share it. Pray that God opens your blind eyes to see the sick, lost and dying all around you and pray that He gives you a heart to love them.

Friends, we do not have time on our side. The storm approaches. The fringe of it is already here. People you love may stand unprepared to face it. We must get our own feet planted firmly in our faith and in the word of God so that we can fulfill our commission proclaim the Gospel!

That is worth fighting for!

The Greatest Crisis of the Church Today

I believe the church today is in a crisis of epic proportions.

Now, not many of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ would disagree with me, but they may be surprised to know what I think the real nature of the crisis is.

It is true that there is no lack of conflict that could create crisis for the modern church; whether it be the increasingly humanistic worldview of the present-day culture, religious persecution, or the threat of government overreach, I do not think they are the origin of our current crisis situation.

In my opinion, the most pressing and dire crisis of the church today is its ignorance of the gospel.  Yes, you heard me right.  The biggest obstacle keeping the church from fulfilling it’s greatest and most foundational commission – is ignorance of the gospel.

And this is how I think we got here.

In the early 2000’s, somebody decided we needed to make churches “seeker friendly”.  There was the idea that if we made church feel more like the world, it would attract more people who were considering Christianity as a viable choice in the smorgasbord of world religions to choose from.  As recruitment methods, we threw out the etiquette of dressing in our Sunday finest, hipped up the music and provided donuts and coffee to go along with their watered down, non-offensive, “Jesus loves you” messages.  Now, nearly twenty years later, we have a whole generation of people who call themselves Christians but really do not have a clear, hard and deliverable handle on the true gospel message. 

Oh, they think they do. Only it does not line up entirely with the gospel found in the Word of God. 

Now, there are plenty of resources out there, if you care to search them out, that will lay out for you the ills and contaminations of the counterfeit gospels.  And I applaud them.  Such as these would include the social gospel, the prosperity gospel, and the green gospel, not to mention the versions of the gospel that would attempt to blend thoughts and practices that have their source in the occult.  Trust me when I tell you that they are out there. And if you are not rooted deeply in the Word of God, it would be easy to buy into some of them. They SOUND good.  They have a warm, fuzzy feel to them.  They are inclusive.  They appeal to human plight and woes.

But they are poisonous. And they are benign.  Powerless and ineffective to offer any authentic hope.

I am not going to here address all the counterfeits.  What I am going to do, however, is to attempt to show you the True Gospel presented to us in the bible, and to prove to you how necessary it is for the church to have a good, strong purchase on it.  Without that, we will not be competent nor compelling to accomplish our mandate to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations.

Without a clear, commanding grasp on the gospel, we will be afraid to share our faith, fearful that we are not able to refute arguments and disputes that go against what we believe.  Without a good understanding of the gospel, Christians will not even see the need to share their faith.  They will not have the confidence to say “Jesus is the only way” if they do not understand WHY He is!  They will have no defense when the world calls them bigoted and judgmental as they take a stand against the tides of lawlessness invading our culture or stand for biblical principles in their lives.

How many people reject a gospel they have never heard?  They have never heard it because the Christian community at large does not have the confidence to share a core belief concept that even they do not understand.

And how many people are lost and dying in this world because of the ignorance and apathy of a church whose sole commission was to proclaim its only remedy and hope?  The world goes along its merry way down the wide path to destruction blind to it’s NEED for a different way.  In fact, the church, for the most part, is skipping along the down same path!

Guys, we have got to shake out of this apathetic slumber we are in and start being concerned for our neighbor.  

We must fulfill the greatest commandment of the Law;

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,

And with all your soul,

And with all your mind.

This is the great and foremost commandment.

The second is like it,

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40

Do you LOVE the enough to share the gospel with them?

To love your neighbor is to be concerned with his eternal life. 

To love your neighbor is to recognize that the guy you passed at Walmart is your neighbor.  The waitress that served you your breakfast is your neighbor.  The mailman is your neighbor.  Your NEIGHBOR is your neighbor!

Let’s dive into the word of God and discover the true gospel message.  Let’s work to educate and equip ourselves to reach a blind and decaying world with the only HOPE it has in Jesus Christ!  The time to act is right now.  Time is running out.  No crisis the world faces today is greater than the crisis of ignorance of the Gospel!