The Gospel

Creation

Here we come to understand that God is eternal and is the Creator of all things. Since God is the Creator, He is the one who gives meaning and purpose to all that exists and is the one for whom all exists. We aren’t self-made men or women AND we don’t determine our own meaning or purpose, God made us and determines the purpose for our lives. And, He has the authority to hold us accountable to the purposes for which He created us.

Genesis 1:1 // Psalm 90:2

Fall

In this part of THE STORY we come to understand why all that has been made is no longer in the state that God created it to be. Humanity and all of creation is broken and in need of restoration because of humanity’s rebellion against God, which started with Adam and Eve in the Garden but has continued on to the present. We all deserve judgment and death because of our sinful rebellion. We are presently experiencing the consequences of our rebellion all around us in the world and in our lives. Ultimately, we will all stand before God as Judge for our rebellion.

Romans 3:10 // Romans 3:19 // Romans 3:23

Redemption

Since humanity rebelled and was turned over to their rebellion by God, God is the only one who can rescue us from our rebellious state and the punishment we justly deserve. God spoke words of hope to Adam and Eve and to generations that followed by foretelling of His rescue and redemption plan. God spoke through the prophets of a rescuer who was coming to live the perfect life we don’t live, die the death we deserve, rise from the dead overcoming sin and sin’s penalty, which is death, ultimately satisfying the righteous requirement of God for us and purchasing for God a people set apart for His work and worship. This rescuer and redeemer is Jesus Christ. There is no other hope for being rescued and redeemed for God and from God’s righteous judgment outside of Jesus and His work.

Luke 19:10 // 1 Peter 3:18 // Galatians 1:4 // Ephesians 4:8-9

Restoration

The plan of God doesn’t end with only a people redeemed for God and forgiven by God, but with a New Heaven and New Earth where sin, death and destruction is all removed and peace and love defines how we relate to each other and God. Jesus will return to bring about this full restoration and will ultimately be at the center of it all – all honor and praise and glory will belong to Him. While we wait with hopeful anticipation for him to return to complete this final work, he calls us to participate with him in bringing about healing and restoration as a foretaste of this future reality. Wherever people are living in submission to Jesus and His ways, serving and sharing the Gospel with others while empowered by His Spirit, Restoration is being experienced. Our lives of Gospel Service are like a Movie Trailer of what is to come when The Kingdom is fuller consummated.

Revelation 21:1,3-4

<span style="font-weight: normal;">Now What?</span>

Now What?

Our Response:

YOU CAN Embrace the invitation of God’s rescue by simply:

  • Admitting Your Need to God

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:9–10, ESV

  • Asking Him to Forgive You and Help You Turn from Sin

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9, ESV

  • Trusting in Jesus Christ Alone to Rescue You

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
John 14:6, ESV

“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, ESV

  • Following Jesus Christ, the King of Your Life, in Faith from This Day Forward

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
Galatians 2:20–21, ESV