WEBVTT 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:15.660 Welcome to the Teaching Tuesday for March of 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:18.219 2025. Today we're going to be talking about the 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:20.920 gospel. Most Christians have probably heard the 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:22.679 word before and have a vague idea of what it 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:24.739 means. They know it's got something to do with 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:27.140 Jesus' death and resurrection, but they may not 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:29.699 be able to articulate exactly what it is. Our 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:31.600 goal for today is to figure out what the gospel 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.079 is, what it isn't, and how to share it with others. 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:38.399 Our resource today is the book Systematic Theology 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.159 by Wayne Grudem. Systematic theology takes all 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:42.719 the information about a topic in Christianity 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:45.240 and groups it together in one place. It's a huge 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.020 time saver anytime we're studying a particular 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:49.039 topic, since the alternative is hunting through 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.039 the Bible looking for every reference to a topic 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:53.280 yourself. And you can probably imagine just how 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:55.899 many references there are to the gospel, so this 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.420 could potentially save us dozens, if not hundreds 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:00.939 of hours. Now within the church there are three 00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:03.539 common uses of the word gospel, so which one 00:01:03.539 --> 00:01:06.219 or ones are we talking about today? The first 00:01:06.219 --> 00:01:08.739 is gospel music. You know, great music, a lot 00:01:08.739 --> 00:01:11.400 of fun, not what we're talking about today. And 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:12.799 plus, you probably don't want to hear me sing. 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:15.560 There's also the Gospels, the four books of Matthew, 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:18.099 Mark, Luke, and John that tell the story of Jesus's 00:01:18.099 --> 00:01:20.540 life and ministry. And it turns out that these 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:23.599 are actually what reveals the gospel itself. 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:25.439 And that's the meaning we're studying today. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.659 It's the message that Jesus shares in those four 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:29.739 books that gets repeated for the rest of the 00:01:29.739 --> 00:01:32.420 New Testament. Now, we're going to start in a 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:34.420 slightly different place than you might expect. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.680 Instead of starting with what the gospel is, 00:01:37.780 --> 00:01:39.280 we're going to start with the question that sets 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.620 the stage for everything else to help us understand 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:44.480 the importance of what we're learning about today. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:46.719 And that question is, what is the purpose and 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:50.319 importance of the gospel? Theologians consider 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.739 it the central purpose of the church. They call 00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:55.200 it the reason for its existence. It's been called 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.599 hope for a hopeless world and perhaps the single 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.579 most important piece of information that has 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:03.219 ever existed. It's definitely a big deal. Let's 00:02:03.219 --> 00:02:04.640 see if we can find out a little more straight 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.599 from the source. Word studies, where we look 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:09.500 up where and how a word is used in the Bible, 00:02:09.539 --> 00:02:11.580 are always a good first step. We get the word 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:13.919 gospel from the Greek word evangelion, which 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.080 translates to good news. You'll see these terms 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.039 used interchangeably in the New Testament in 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:20.599 many translations. One of these is the verse 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:23.599 we just saw in Greek, Romans 1 .16. Here it is 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:32.259 in the NLT version. It says, the Jew first, and 00:02:32.259 --> 00:02:35.099 also the Gentile. So point one, the gospel has 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:38.500 to do with the eternal fate of our souls. We 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:40.400 also know that it's not something passive we're 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.699 just supposed to receive. The gospel of Mark 00:02:42.699 --> 00:02:44.860 ends with Jesus telling the disciples to go into 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:47.039 all the world and preach the good news to everyone. 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:51.840 That's Mark 15, 16 in the NLT. It's also incredibly 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.719 important that we get the meaning of the gospel 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:57.539 correct. In Galatians 1, 9, Paul writes, Let 00:02:57.539 --> 00:03:00.099 God's curse fall on anyone, including us, or 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:02.419 even an angel from heaven who preaches a different 00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:05.099 kind of good news than the one we preach to you. 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:08.039 It's so important that we should be willing to 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:11.060 suffer greatly to share it. In Acts 5, the apostles 00:03:11.060 --> 00:03:13.139 are arrested and put on trial for preaching the 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:15.259 gospel. They were whipped and beaten, but they 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:17.360 refused to give up, and the chapter ends by saying, 00:03:17.539 --> 00:03:20.199 the apostles left the high council rejoicing 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:22.460 that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:26.009 for the name of Jesus. Now that we've established 00:03:26.009 --> 00:03:27.969 why the gospel is so important, we can finally 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:30.650 answer question two. What information comprises 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:32.909 the gospel? In other words, what is the kind 00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:34.770 of good news that Paul preached that was such 00:03:34.770 --> 00:03:37.370 a big deal? Now, unfortunately, there's no single 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:39.409 verse that defines the gospel completely, but 00:03:39.409 --> 00:03:41.090 there are many that give pieces of the whole 00:03:41.090 --> 00:03:43.210 gospel message. We can use them to start putting 00:03:43.210 --> 00:03:46.569 the puzzle together. One of those is Romans 1, 00:03:46.650 --> 00:03:48.930 3 -4, and we'll look at it in the NLT version. 00:03:49.449 --> 00:03:52.430 It says the good news is about his son. In his 00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:54.490 earthly life, he was born into King David's family 00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:56.710 line, and he was shown to be the son of God when 00:03:56.710 --> 00:03:58.349 he was raised from the dead by the power of the 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:02.229 Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:03.610 there are three things that we want to highlight 00:04:03.610 --> 00:04:07.310 in this passage. First is when Paul refers to 00:04:07.310 --> 00:04:12.509 Jesus as his son or as God's son. Second is that 00:04:12.509 --> 00:04:15.550 it talks about Jesus's earthly life. And then 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:17.490 finally, it talks about the son of God being 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:20.410 raised from the dead. So we've got three things 00:04:20.410 --> 00:04:23.230 here. We've got Jesus being divine or God's son, 00:04:23.389 --> 00:04:25.689 we've Jesus living an earthly life, and then 00:04:25.689 --> 00:04:28.790 Jesus dying and being raised from the dead. We 00:04:28.790 --> 00:04:31.389 can also look at 1 Corinthians 15, 3 -4 in the 00:04:31.389 --> 00:04:34.009 NLT. This verse says, Christ died for our sins 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:36.649 just as the scriptures said. He was buried and 00:04:36.649 --> 00:04:38.209 he was raised from the dead on the third day 00:04:38.209 --> 00:04:41.389 just as the scriptures said. And there are four 00:04:41.389 --> 00:04:43.769 things we can point out in this one. We again 00:04:43.769 --> 00:04:46.410 see that Christ died, but we see the reason why 00:04:46.410 --> 00:04:49.399 he died, and that was because of our sins. We 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:51.480 see that he was buried, and we also see that 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:53.680 he was raised from the dead on the third day. 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:55.459 And then the final verse that can help us put 00:04:55.459 --> 00:04:58.660 the puzzle together is John 3, 16 -17, also in 00:04:58.660 --> 00:05:13.560 the NLT. This verse reads, And there are three 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.329 big points here. We see that God loved the world. 00:05:16.430 --> 00:05:20.329 Jesus was sent for the world. We also see that 00:05:20.329 --> 00:05:22.529 people who believe in Jesus are meant to have 00:05:22.529 --> 00:05:24.970 an eternal life. This has something to do with 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:28.050 our eternal destiny. And then finally, we see 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:31.009 that Jesus is going to save the world that was 00:05:31.009 --> 00:05:34.389 mentioned in that first point. And so this allows 00:05:34.389 --> 00:05:36.310 us to put these verses together and the points 00:05:36.310 --> 00:05:38.329 that we pulled out, and we can build a picture 00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:40.949 of the gospel. Putting all those together, we 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:44.230 see that Jesus is God's son. Jesus is also a 00:05:44.230 --> 00:05:47.970 human. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus came back 00:05:47.970 --> 00:05:50.790 to life after dying. Something about what Jesus 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:53.310 did gives us eternal life, and there's also the 00:05:53.310 --> 00:05:55.670 idea of the world being saved through Jesus' 00:05:55.870 --> 00:05:58.209 actions. And it turns out we're almost there. 00:05:58.509 --> 00:06:00.689 Christian theologian Miller J. Erickson analyzed 00:06:00.689 --> 00:06:03.189 every verse in the Bible that refers to or describes 00:06:03.189 --> 00:06:05.730 the gospel and came up with this short summary. 00:06:05.970 --> 00:06:08.709 He says the essential points of the gospel are 00:06:08.709 --> 00:06:11.069 Jesus Christ's status as the Son of God, his 00:06:11.069 --> 00:06:14.139 genuine humanity, his death for our sins, and 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:16.980 his burial, resurrection, subsequent appearances, 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:20.500 and future coming and judgment. So let's take 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:22.939 a 30 -second look at each of those seven points. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.819 When we say that Jesus is the Son of God, we're 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:29.240 pulling in a whole lot of different ideas into 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:32.019 that one sentence. First, we mean that he is 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:35.120 God because God is Trinity. There is the Father, 00:06:35.139 --> 00:06:36.980 the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is that 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:39.639 second person of the Trinity. It means that Jesus 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:42.329 is fully divine. We're going to see in the next 00:06:42.329 --> 00:06:44.310 point that he's also fully human. But the fully 00:06:44.310 --> 00:06:46.790 divine point is very important because when we 00:06:46.790 --> 00:06:50.370 sin and that sets us apart from God, it can't 00:06:50.370 --> 00:06:52.550 be a human that sets us right with God because 00:06:52.550 --> 00:06:55.470 there's no human that can't sin. If someone is 00:06:55.470 --> 00:06:58.089 going to make us 100 % right with God, it would 00:06:58.089 --> 00:07:00.509 have to be someone perfect. And the only someone 00:07:00.509 --> 00:07:03.209 that could be perfect enough to do that is God 00:07:03.209 --> 00:07:05.829 himself. But then Jesus' human nature is also... 00:07:06.329 --> 00:07:09.589 crucial to the gospel message. Jesus being human 00:07:09.589 --> 00:07:12.589 allows him to be our representative and to take 00:07:12.589 --> 00:07:15.509 the punishment that was meant for our sins. But 00:07:15.509 --> 00:07:17.750 it also shows us the essence of what it means 00:07:17.750 --> 00:07:21.550 to be human. Jesus is the perfect human. He lived 00:07:21.550 --> 00:07:23.870 a life, he faced the same trials and temptations 00:07:23.870 --> 00:07:27.050 that all of us do, but he was sinless. Now that 00:07:27.050 --> 00:07:28.829 also leads into the third point of Jesus dying 00:07:28.829 --> 00:07:32.079 for our sins. Because he was both fully God and 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:34.680 fully human, and he lived a perfect, sinless 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:38.680 life, he was able to take our sins. One illustration 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:41.360 I like to use when I'm teaching the kids is I 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:43.339 will pull out a trash can and a bunch of pieces 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:45.459 of paper. And I'll write different sins on the 00:07:45.459 --> 00:07:48.560 pieces of paper, you know, like anger or lust 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:51.199 or stealing or lying. And I'll show them that 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:52.980 when Jesus died, it was like those pieces of 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:55.540 paper being thrown away. And we move the kitchen 00:07:55.540 --> 00:07:57.980 into the trash can. But when Jesus comes back 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:00.079 out, or when I come back out of the kitchen without 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.759 the trash can, all of those sins have stayed 00:08:02.759 --> 00:08:06.220 dead, just like the trash can stayed in the kitchen. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.699 And when we talk about Jesus dying, it's really, 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:11.240 really important that we emphasize that Jesus 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:14.639 actually physically died and was buried. That 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:17.959 it's not just a theological thing, it's also 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:20.759 an actual physical death. He was beaten. He was 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:22.399 whipped. He had a crown of thorns put on his 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:24.560 head. He was nailed to the cross. He was stabbed 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:28.649 in the side. You know, he physically died. A 00:08:28.649 --> 00:08:30.350 bunch of people took his body down, prepared 00:08:30.350 --> 00:08:33.169 his body, saw his body, touched his body, and 00:08:33.169 --> 00:08:35.549 then put him in a tomb and closed the tomb. He 00:08:35.549 --> 00:08:38.490 was 100 % physically dead. And that's important 00:08:38.490 --> 00:08:41.610 because Jesus was actually physically dead, but 00:08:41.610 --> 00:08:43.549 then he actually physically came back to life. 00:08:43.649 --> 00:08:47.950 This wasn't a ghost or a spirit or a hologram 00:08:47.950 --> 00:08:51.350 or a hallucination. This was Jesus being reborn 00:08:51.350 --> 00:08:54.960 in an actual physical body. completely healed, 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:58.120 just like the same one that had died and was 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:00.899 buried. And in this, you know, resurrected body, 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.200 Jesus appears to his disciples and many other 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.799 people after he came back to life. Now, the Gospels, 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:08.299 people used to think they were written decades 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:10.480 or hundreds of years after Jesus' life, but it 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.610 turns out that The Gospels were written very 00:09:12.610 --> 00:09:14.710 soon after Jesus' life, some of them as early 00:09:14.710 --> 00:09:17.289 as 30 or 40 years. Paul's letters were also written 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:19.889 much earlier than people used to think. The importance 00:09:19.889 --> 00:09:21.490 of that and the importance of Jesus appearing 00:09:21.490 --> 00:09:23.889 to the disciples and many other people is that 00:09:23.889 --> 00:09:26.309 there were tons, hundreds if not thousands of 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:29.769 people who were alive, and if Jesus hadn't appeared 00:09:29.769 --> 00:09:31.769 to them, they could have set the record straight. 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:34.110 And then finally, there's Jesus' promise to come 00:09:34.110 --> 00:09:37.539 again. We know from many of Jesus' parables, 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:39.940 many of his lessons, and also from the book of 00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:42.480 Revelation, that Jesus will come back a second 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.620 time. And on this second coming, he'll fight 00:09:44.620 --> 00:09:47.080 the final battle against the devil, and then 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:50.159 the world will reborn into a perfect paradise, 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:53.059 and we'll all be reborn into our perfected bodies. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:55.860 Let's also apply the lessons we've learned over 00:09:55.860 --> 00:09:57.899 the past two sessions to make sure that our concept 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:00.100 of the gospel isn't being skewed by a modern 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.710 Western perspective. In other words, let's make 00:10:02.710 --> 00:10:05.190 sure that our gospel is the same gospel Jesus 00:10:05.190 --> 00:10:08.049 and the apostles taught. Now we could spend hours 00:10:08.049 --> 00:10:09.850 on this alone, but let's take advantage of a 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:12.129 tool that the early church developed called creeds. 00:10:12.409 --> 00:10:14.809 They're statements designed to express the fundamental 00:10:14.809 --> 00:10:16.730 aspects of the Christian faith. They were often 00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:19.090 created to push back against heresies that were 00:10:19.090 --> 00:10:22.049 threatening people's salvation. Paul records 00:10:22.049 --> 00:10:23.929 one of the shortest and simplest creeds in 1 00:10:23.929 --> 00:10:27.129 Corinthians 15, 3 -5. It's a good sign that it's 00:10:27.129 --> 00:10:29.470 endorsed by one of the apostles. It reads, Christ 00:10:29.470 --> 00:10:31.649 died for our sins, just as the scriptures said. 00:10:31.830 --> 00:10:33.889 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead 00:10:33.889 --> 00:10:35.929 on the third day, just as the scriptures said. 00:10:36.129 --> 00:10:38.509 He was seen by Peter, and then by the twelve. 00:10:38.809 --> 00:10:41.149 And this is great. It doesn't get into the theology 00:10:41.149 --> 00:10:43.590 of Jesus being both divine and human, and it 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:46.269 doesn't discuss Jesus' second coming, but it's 00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:48.889 remarkably complete for only two sentences. One 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:50.590 of the more complex and complete ones is the 00:10:50.590 --> 00:10:53.070 Nicene Creed. Since its creation, it's been the 00:10:53.070 --> 00:10:55.230 gold standard of Orthodox Christian belief, and 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:57.029 was only updated to address certain heresies. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:59.379 It includes everything from Erickson's essential 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:01.980 points. Although there have certainly been doctrinal 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:03.539 and denominational splits throughout history, 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.080 most modern Christian churches treat all other 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:08.759 Nicene -affirming churches as legitimate. Now, 00:11:08.779 --> 00:11:10.519 we could look at other creeds, and maybe we will 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:12.480 in a future class, but the result will be the 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.759 same. Our understanding of the gospel is compatible 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.580 with those who first taught it. Now that we have 00:11:17.580 --> 00:11:19.299 a good idea of what the gospel is, it's time 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:20.919 to revisit a point I made at the very beginning. 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:23.269 It's not enough to understand and believe the 00:11:23.269 --> 00:11:25.289 gospel yourself, and it's not even enough to 00:11:25.289 --> 00:11:27.029 just attend a church that faithfully teaches 00:11:27.029 --> 00:11:29.690 the gospel. Jesus and the apostles taught that 00:11:29.690 --> 00:11:31.970 we must be out sharing the gospel with the world, 00:11:32.070 --> 00:11:34.809 even if it causes us great inconvenience or suffering. 00:11:35.129 --> 00:11:37.429 It's a huge topic that some people dedicate their 00:11:37.429 --> 00:11:39.509 lives to studying, so there's no way I could 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:42.250 do it justice in just a few minutes, but let's 00:11:42.250 --> 00:11:45.210 look at some common evangelism techniques. The 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:47.860 first disease is called the Roman's Road. This 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:49.820 is an evangelism technique that was developed 00:11:49.820 --> 00:11:52.580 by a pastor in the 20th century, and his goal 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:55.259 was to use the Bible to express the gospel message 00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:58.019 in a short and simple way. It works really well 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.279 for a patient adult audience, especially if they 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:01.919 already have some respect for the scripture, 00:12:02.100 --> 00:12:04.360 but it's less effective against a hostile audience 00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:06.559 or people who are impatient or if you're very 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:10.440 short on time. The four verses that it uses are 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:12.700 all from the book of Romans, hence the name The 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:17.570 Romans Road, and they go Romans 3 .23. For everyone 00:12:17.570 --> 00:12:19.970 who has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:22.909 standard. After you read this, then you briefly 00:12:22.909 --> 00:12:25.129 explain that there is no person that is perfect. 00:12:25.230 --> 00:12:27.909 We all fall short of God's standard. We all need 00:12:27.909 --> 00:12:30.629 someone to help us. The next is Romans 6 .23. 00:12:30.909 --> 00:12:33.690 It reads, For the wages of sin is death, but 00:12:33.690 --> 00:12:35.990 the free gift of God is eternal life through 00:12:35.990 --> 00:12:39.090 Christ Jesus our Lord. We presented the problem 00:12:39.090 --> 00:12:41.590 in the first verse and now we're presenting the 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:45.850 solution. The third verse is Romans 10 .9. It 00:12:45.850 --> 00:12:48.289 reads, if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord 00:12:48.289 --> 00:12:50.269 and believe in your heart that God raised him 00:12:50.269 --> 00:12:53.549 from the dead, you will be saved. So first verse, 00:12:53.610 --> 00:12:56.350 problem. Second verse, solution. Third verse, 00:12:56.429 --> 00:12:59.779 how we are able to access that solution. And 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:02.639 then finally, Romans 5 .1 reads, Therefore, since 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.779 we have been made right in God's sight by faith, 00:13:04.919 --> 00:13:06.779 we have peace with God because of what Jesus 00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:09.700 Christ our Lord has done for us. It ties everything 00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:12.500 together, gives the person hope, and then helps 00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:15.019 us set a foundation for growing the person's 00:13:15.019 --> 00:13:17.830 faith and engaging them in discipleship. Sometimes 00:13:17.830 --> 00:13:20.190 it's helpful to explain the gospel using analogies 00:13:20.190 --> 00:13:22.029 and illustrations. You might have an audience 00:13:22.029 --> 00:13:24.490 that needs help with abstract concepts like children. 00:13:24.669 --> 00:13:26.570 Maybe they get stuck on certain points or they 00:13:26.570 --> 00:13:28.830 just can't picture one of the things that you're 00:13:28.830 --> 00:13:31.929 explaining. There are more analogies and illustrations 00:13:31.929 --> 00:13:34.710 for the gospel than I could possibly include 00:13:34.710 --> 00:13:37.230 here. You know, one was the trash can analogy 00:13:37.230 --> 00:13:39.629 that I used earlier. Another one that I love 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:42.009 to use for the kids is I take them outside to 00:13:42.009 --> 00:13:43.870 the set of concrete stairs. You can also do this 00:13:43.870 --> 00:13:46.190 inside on a regular set of stairs, but the concrete 00:13:46.190 --> 00:13:48.710 stairs are the ones I have access to here. But 00:13:48.710 --> 00:13:50.149 basically the way it works is you have the kids 00:13:50.149 --> 00:13:53.230 gather at the bottom of the stairs and then you 00:13:53.230 --> 00:13:55.110 stand next to the stairs and you explain to them, 00:13:55.230 --> 00:13:58.090 I'm giving you a task. Your task is to go from 00:13:58.090 --> 00:14:00.929 the bottom stair to the top stair. However, you 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:03.870 cannot touch the ground, the railings, the grass 00:14:03.870 --> 00:14:06.330 with any part of your body, not your hands, not 00:14:06.330 --> 00:14:09.220 your feet. Not your head, not your butt, whatever. 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:11.220 And the stairs are way too high for somebody 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.379 to jump. So you present all this to them, and 00:14:13.379 --> 00:14:15.419 then you ask them, how do you get to the top 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:18.179 stair? Now, hopefully what happens is what happens 00:14:18.179 --> 00:14:20.139 here a lot. The kids start debating with each 00:14:20.139 --> 00:14:22.320 other about different ideas. Could we get on 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.480 each other's shoulders? Could we pick up a kid 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.940 and throw him up the stairs? And eventually, 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:30.700 somebody will turn to me and ask me, are we allowed 00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:34.519 to ask for help? And I say, well, yes. What would 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:36.840 you like? And they'll say, would you pick us 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:39.860 up and take us to the top stair? And that's the 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:41.419 solution that we're looking for. We're looking 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:43.860 for them to understand that getting to the top 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:47.039 step by themselves is impossible. But God is 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.580 there waiting for us to ask. And honestly, God 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:52.799 isn't just there waiting for us to ask. He's 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:54.220 standing there at the bottom of the steps with 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:56.220 a giant sign that says, hey, ask me to carry 00:14:56.220 --> 00:14:58.019 you up to the top. I really want to do it. All 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:00.179 you have to do is say yes. And if you think that 00:15:00.179 --> 00:15:02.179 kindergartners can't have a complete and accurate 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:04.379 understanding of the gospel, then you've never 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:06.500 tried explaining it to them in a way like this. 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:09.179 One of the most powerful, but also one of the 00:15:09.179 --> 00:15:11.720 most concise ways of sharing the gospel is using 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:14.779 John 3 .16. I call it the short and sweet verse. 00:15:15.340 --> 00:15:17.860 You know, if you're short on time or you're dealing 00:15:17.860 --> 00:15:20.419 with somebody who's having a crisis, you tell 00:15:20.419 --> 00:15:23.980 them John 3 .16. And when I said John 3 .16, 00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:26.399 you probably already said to yourself the first 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:29.000 couple words. I bet you did. You probably thought 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:32.519 to yourself, for God so loved the world. That 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:34.820 is a powerful verse that really speaks to people, 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:39.000 whether they're having a busy, hectic, you know, 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:40.899 stressful day, or whether they're going through 00:15:40.899 --> 00:15:43.639 some sort of personal crisis or a health crisis 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:46.379 or whatever it could be. It kind of stops people 00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:49.120 in their tracks. It expresses God's love to them, 00:15:49.220 --> 00:15:52.440 and it gives you a chance to express your concern 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:55.460 for that person. You say, hey, I'm here. I'm 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:57.659 listening to whatever you're going through. I'm 00:15:57.659 --> 00:16:00.399 here to help. But I also want you to know that 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:03.080 God loves you. And when things are calmer, I'd 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:05.000 really like to talk to you about that. And this 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.019 sort of personal touch is important for other 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:09.659 evangelism methods too. One of those is sharing 00:16:09.659 --> 00:16:11.940 your testimony. You know, maybe you're a new 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:13.460 Christian. Maybe you haven't spent a lot of time 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:15.639 reading your Bible. But the one thing that you 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:19.919 do know is your story. You can tell people what 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.179 your life was like before Jesus, what your life 00:16:22.179 --> 00:16:24.480 is like now. You can explain to people what he 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.460 changed in you, what he saved you from. And that 00:16:26.460 --> 00:16:29.289 can be incredibly powerful. You don't have to 00:16:29.289 --> 00:16:31.570 have the entire Bible memorized or have scripture 00:16:31.570 --> 00:16:33.809 verses and numbers memorized and a bunch of different 00:16:33.809 --> 00:16:35.789 translations. You don't have to be an expert 00:16:35.789 --> 00:16:38.330 in apologetics or know the entirety of Christian 00:16:38.330 --> 00:16:41.750 history. You just start by sharing your testimony 00:16:41.750 --> 00:16:44.190 and then invite the person to come to church 00:16:44.190 --> 00:16:46.070 with you. Invite them to meet your pastor. Invite 00:16:46.070 --> 00:16:48.669 them to do a Bible study with you. Your testimony, 00:16:48.830 --> 00:16:51.009 your honesty and vulnerability, they create a 00:16:51.009 --> 00:16:53.669 connection that God can use to reach even the 00:16:53.669 --> 00:16:56.799 most hard heart. And then finally, speaking of 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:59.279 hard hearts, there's the tool of servant evangelism. 00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:01.539 We do a lot of this around here. You see, we 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:03.700 do our flower giveaways. We do our backpack giveaway 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:06.259 where we give away school supplies. We do angel 00:17:06.259 --> 00:17:08.319 tree where we help kids with incarcerated parents. 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:10.660 We do our Easter community events where we do 00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:13.539 Easter egg hunts and we give people books. The 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:16.480 point is, when people look at the news, it's 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.339 easy to get a hard heart about church. When was 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:20.779 the last time you saw on the news all the good 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:22.940 things the church was doing? Probably not often, 00:17:23.059 --> 00:17:24.640 but you've probably heard about all sorts of 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:27.259 different church scandals, you know, sexual scandals, 00:17:27.259 --> 00:17:30.640 abuse scandals, money laundering, theft, all 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:32.539 sorts of horrible things. And so that is the 00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:34.740 idea that many people in America have and probably 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:37.039 many people around the world have when they think 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:40.460 of church. And so servant evangelism is an attempt 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:43.200 to say to people, hey, we want to invite you 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.470 here. We want to show you God's love. We want 00:17:45.470 --> 00:17:47.329 to help take care of you in whatever way you 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:49.769 need. No strings attached. You know, we don't 00:17:49.769 --> 00:17:52.210 invite them here and then make them sign a contract 00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:54.910 or recite a prayer or read a Bible verse before 00:17:54.910 --> 00:17:57.470 they get their stuff. No, we invite them here. 00:17:57.630 --> 00:18:00.049 We take care of them. We tell them that God loves 00:18:00.049 --> 00:18:03.730 them. And if 5 ,000 people come to this church 00:18:03.730 --> 00:18:06.269 and one person decides to start a relationship 00:18:06.269 --> 00:18:08.730 with Jesus because of that, then it was worth 00:18:08.730 --> 00:18:10.910 it. I want to wrap up tonight with something 00:18:10.910 --> 00:18:13.400 that leads into next month's topic. What the 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:15.980 gospel does not include. We want to make sure 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:17.980 we're not bringing any personal or denominational 00:18:17.980 --> 00:18:20.599 baggage into our gospel presentation. You know, 00:18:20.619 --> 00:18:22.579 some things the gospel doesn't include are a 00:18:22.579 --> 00:18:25.460 liturgy or worship style. God gives us a lot 00:18:25.460 --> 00:18:27.819 of flexibility in how we carry out church. You 00:18:27.819 --> 00:18:29.740 might like the high church style of a Catholic 00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:32.180 mass or Lutheran service. Maybe you like your 00:18:32.180 --> 00:18:34.519 pastor in a football jersey. Maybe everyone, 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:36.259 including the children, should wear a suit and 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:38.380 tie. You could have classical music, contemporary 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:41.220 Christian, hard rock. Absolutely none of these 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:44.200 things change the gospel message, and so we shouldn't 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.839 tie it to any of those preferences. We also don't 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.220 want to tie the gospel to a certain Bible translation. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.339 With all due respect to the people who say the 00:18:52.339 --> 00:18:54.420 King James Version is the only legitimate Bible 00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:57.220 translation, the truth is that any legitimate 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:59.839 Bible translation should be acceptable. This 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.720 doesn't mean we accept heretical translations 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:04.220 like the Watchtower or the Passion Translation, 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.759 but we shouldn't put an undue burden on someone, 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:09.700 especially a new or potential Christian. If you 00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:12.940 don't like the language of the NLT, but somebody 00:19:12.940 --> 00:19:15.720 finds the NLT to be the easiest version for them 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:18.180 to read and understand, let's let them get the 00:19:18.180 --> 00:19:22.019 gospel in a way that they can understand. Similarly, 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.839 we don't want to tie the gospel to our interpretations 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:28.019 of debatable scripture. You know, think about 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:30.460 the events and the timing surrounding Jesus' 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:34.069 second coming. There are at least 14, if not 00:19:34.069 --> 00:19:36.509 way more, different interpretations of those 00:19:36.509 --> 00:19:38.829 events and the timings. There are more than a 00:19:38.829 --> 00:19:40.910 dozen ways that genuine Christians can interpret 00:19:40.910 --> 00:19:43.529 the book of Genesis, but the core points of the 00:19:43.529 --> 00:19:46.269 gospel are not debatable, so let's not muddy 00:19:46.269 --> 00:19:48.730 them with secondary or even tertiary doctrines. 00:19:48.849 --> 00:19:51.190 And then finally, here's the preview of next 00:19:51.190 --> 00:19:53.990 month's talk on apologetics. It would be wonderful 00:19:53.990 --> 00:19:55.849 if people listened and believed every time we 00:19:55.849 --> 00:19:58.450 shared the gospel, but that's not reality. People 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:00.250 have questions, objections, and preconceived 00:20:00.250 --> 00:20:02.190 notions about Christianity that get in the way. 00:20:02.369 --> 00:20:04.549 And apologetics is a set of tools that covers 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:07.170 everything from why we believe that truth exists 00:20:07.170 --> 00:20:09.890 to reasons why God exists and why we can trust 00:20:09.890 --> 00:20:12.509 the Bible. It would be wrong to say that the 00:20:12.509 --> 00:20:14.809 information we get from and transmit through 00:20:14.809 --> 00:20:17.269 apologetics is part of the gospel, but it is 00:20:17.269 --> 00:20:20.289 an incredibly important tool in sharing the gospel 00:20:20.289 --> 00:20:22.569 with others. And so to wrap things up tonight, 00:20:22.650 --> 00:20:24.630 I just want to toss today's resource back up 00:20:24.630 --> 00:20:27.450 on the screen. The book was Systematic Theology 00:20:27.450 --> 00:20:29.730 by Wayne Grudem. I highly recommend it. It's 00:20:29.730 --> 00:20:32.150 one of my favorite books. And if you're looking 00:20:32.150 --> 00:20:35.910 for a great 1 ,500 -page easy read that you can 00:20:35.910 --> 00:20:38.069 sit down in an afternoon and go through very 00:20:38.069 --> 00:20:41.400 quickly, I highly recommend it. As always, if 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:43.920 you've got any feedback or ideas, I would love 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:46.299 to do a question and answer type session in the 00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:49.319 future. Please send all of that to john at hcb 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:51.700 .church. I also really want to hear from you 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:53.819 if you have feedback or questions or concerns 00:20:53.819 --> 00:20:55.859 about any of the information that's been provided. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.420 My goal is to make sure that all of this is accurate 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:02.099 and accountability from all of you helps me make 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:04.200 sure that it is. And finally, if you ever want 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.569 to get... The slides, you can get them at htv 00:21:06.569 --> 00:21:09.269 .churchteaching, and we'll always upload the 00:21:09.269 --> 00:21:11.309 audio to some of the different podcasting sites. 00:21:11.769 --> 00:21:14.230 Thank you for listening tonight. Have a great 00:21:14.230 --> 00:21:15.410 day, and God bless.