Gospel Basics

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God...” (Hebrews 5:12)

According to a recent ABC poll, 89% of Americans (267 million) claim to believe in God, yet 66% of those (200 million) doubt that they will ever get to heaven! Up to 94% of high school students stop attending church after graduating because of biblical challenges and stagnation of their faith. Over 50% of all weekly churchgoers are not Christian! Christians are not mature in their faith because many professing Christians do not even know the basics of their faith. Like fire tests gold and silver, God commands us to test ourselves daily (2 Corinthians 13:5) to be sure that our heart is right with Him and that we can defend and articulate our faith. Testing our faith is essentially getting back to the basics and building for ourselves a strong foundation.

This is the basis for Gospel Basics.

Every year professional athletes attend training camp to get back to the basics of their particular sport. Regardless of their previous successes, they review the fundamentals (hitting, fielding, base-running, blocking, tackling, special teams, etc.) of their profession to ensure that they have a solid foundation in which to excel. Most games are won or lost because of a lapse in a basic skill. These are professional athletes making millions of dollars, yet they go back to the basics every year and before every game. They hone their skills to ensure that they are foundationally sound so that the game to them becomes second nature.

This is what God is asking each of us to do as well; get back to the basics of the Christian faith to be sure that we are biblically sound. Most parents and churches are failing in this area! Getting back to the basics and building a strong biblical foundation helps us in many ways:

It helps us become closer to God and grow in our faith
It helps us biblically resist the temptations from the devil and non-believers
It helps us to weather the storms of life
It helps us to faithfully share and defend our faith
It helps us to be assured of our salvation

The most important thing you can do in this lifetime is to insure where you will be spending the next. Let’s get back to the basics of the Christian faith by knowing and understanding the Gospel.