Proclaiming the Simple Truth of the Gospel

Salvation is when jesus saves you sanctification is when Jesus changes you. It's kind of an instantaneous moment and a continuational process. It never finishes. It never ends. In fact, John Wesley, one of the founders of our faith, said, when you were saved, you got all of God. But when you were sanctified, God got all of you. That's when he became the Lord of your life. That's the one where you said, I will submit my selfish desires and allow God to have them. And I will want to take on his character, his nature, his desires in my life. [00:57:11] (47 seconds)  #SalvationAndSanctification

Now, as followers of Christ, we need to remember to keep the main thing the main thing. Sometimes churches and Christians can be swayed by political debates or by cultural trends or by internal debates and discussions, social agendas. Paul calls us back to a very simple, life-changing gospel. As I said earlier, true faith is not just a one-time decision, but it becomes a lifelong commitment to stand firm in the gospel, as Paul put it. [00:58:14] (40 seconds)  #KeepTheMainThingMain

Paul makes it really simple. Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ was raised. That's pretty easy to remember, isn't it? That's pretty simple. He wanted to remind these people in this church that this is what you first accepted, this is what you first agreed with, and when people come in to say, no, no, no, there's no such thing as a resurrection, if there's no resurrection, the rest all fall down. And Paul's saying we must believe in the death and resurrection of Christ. This isn't mythology. This isn't history. It's history, and it's good news. [00:59:14] (36 seconds)  #ChristDiedChristRose

See, salvation is not found in a religious system, it's not found in personal morality. I mean, I know a lot of people say, I just want to get cleaned up and come to Jesus, I just want to live, I can just live better and I'll be going to heaven. It's not about personal morality, and it's not about multiple spiritual paths. I know we've all seen the cars with the bumper stickers that say coexist, and they have all the religious symbols for different religions on them. According to Paul, that's not it. According to our belief, that's not it. Jesus is the only way to heaven. The only way that we can have true salvation is in the name of Jesus. [01:02:01] (42 seconds)  #SalvationNotMorality

Salvation in Christ is not only forgiveness of sin, but it's a restoration into God's intended holiness for us, making us more like Jesus through sanctification. And in a pluralistic culture, both theirs and ours, affirming that Jesus is the only way will offend some people, but it's central to our faith. That tells me that if Jesus is the only way, evangelism is not optional. No, it's urgent. [01:02:43] (38 seconds)  #JesusOnlyWayUrgent

Our salvation doesn't count on, does not, does not count on our performance, thank God. But it only counts on the unchanging work and person of Christ. In a world that says all roads lead to God, the gospel boldly says Jesus is the way, the only way, period. [01:04:14] (24 seconds)  #SalvationByGraceNotWorks

The idea that God created the world with beauty and order. God's original design. God's original design. God's original design. God's original design. Thank you. and that we were made to be in relationship with him. Remember Adam and Eve walking in the garden with God? That was the original intent of how we were created. But then sin came into the world and ruined God's design. Sin distorted that original design that God created and our relationship with him. And now we all experience pain and shame and addiction and fear and many other things. It's called the consequences of sin, both personal and universal. But then you want to tell him there's good news. And that good news is that Jesus came and that he lived perfectly and he died for our sins and he rose again. And when we turn to him and trust in him, we are restored to his design. [01:05:04] (58 seconds)  #OriginalDesignRestored

``Simply, Jesus died for my sins and he rose again so I could have new life by grace through faith. There's the gospel for you, succinctly, to the point, not vague, very simple. If you were able to give people that message, think of the change that could happen in their life. [01:07:54] (28 seconds)  #SimpleGospelPower

See, the gospel isn't something that we whisper. It's the best news that the world has ever heard. It's the one thing that can save their soul. We don't need to change it. We don't need to dress it up. We don't need to make it trendy. But we do need to tell it. And when we do, God moves. [01:08:23] (23 seconds)  #GospelUnchangedAndTrue