THE GOSPEL

​

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

The gospel is getting back to the basics of our Christian faith.  It is the heart of what the Christian believes and teaches.  It is of importance because it is through the gospel that God works his plan of salvation to mankind.

​

The gospel means “good news.”  It’s the good news about Jesus Christ.

​

The good news is that God offers a plan for man to be reconciled to Himself as a result of man’s sinful nature.  God is offering to do for man what man cannot do for himself.  It addresses the most serious problem that we all have as human beings: that God is holy and just and we are not!  At the end of our life, each of us will stand before this holy and just God and be judged.  We will be judged based on our own, works related, righteousness or we will be judged based on the righteousness of another (Jesus) imputed into us by faith.  It’s one or the other.  The outcome will determine our eternal destination.

​

The acronym S.U.R.E. perfectly describes the gospel:

​

S, for Sin

Man was created perfect but sinned against a holy and righteous God.  He turned his allegiance to Satan, who now controls the world system.  This original sin was handed down to every generation.  Since a perfect man (Adam) sinned, a perfect man must pay the penalty for this sin.  We know what sin is by God’s Law (10 Commandments), but we cannot fully obey them as God’s standard is 100% perfection.

​

U, for Understand

We must understand that God’s nature must punish all sin, even one.  Unless we realize that we have a disease called sin, we cannot find a cure.  The wages of sin is death, an eternal spiritual separation from God in hell.  A just God must punish all sin.

​

R, for Repent

We must swallow our pride, humble ourselves, and repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We believe that when Jesus went to the cross at Calvary, He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself.  Those who put their faith in Jesus are given, in return, the righteousness of Jesus.  Jesus rose from the dead, forever conquering death and giving us eternal life.  When we are judged, God the Father will see the righteousness of Jesus within us and declare us “justified,” sending us to heaven.

​

E, for Enhance

As a result of our love and faithfulness to God and what He has done for us, our goal will be to help evangelize the world by bringing others to a saving faith in Jesus.  We will be rewarded for our efforts as “the gospel keeps bringing blessings.”  (Colossians 1:6)