Preaching the gospel requires us to . . . - JI Packer

In the Bible, the gospel is the entire saving plan of God, all revolving around the person, the place and power of our Savior Jesus Christ, the incarnate, crucified, risen, reigning, returning Lord.

Preaching the gospel requires us to show how Jesus Christ relates to every part of God's plan, and how every part of it relates to us who are savingly related to the living Christ through faith.

Evangelism involves explaining life in Christ as well as inviting sinners to Him. This means dealing with six main topics, as follows:

1. The Truth about God. 

The one God who made and rules everything is revealed as three persons through His plan of salvation. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit love us, and work together to save us from sin and make us holy. Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, is Lord over all the powers of evil. Any other view of God is idolatry.

2. The Truth about Ourselves.

We were made for God, to bear His image and be like Him in moral character, but sin controls and spoils us so that we need to be brought back to God to be forgiven and remade. Jesus Christ, who brings us back, is Himself the model of true godliness. Any other view is deception.

3. The Story of God's Kingdom.

Step by step, as Scripture tells, God has been working to establish His kingdom in this fallen world. Jesus Christ is the King, and our lives are to be His kingdom. King Jesus is also the Judge, and those who have not bowed to His kingship here will not share His joy hereafter. Trusting, loving and honoring Jesus, and serving others for His sake, is true godliness at its heart. Any other form of religion is error.

4. The Way of Salvation.

Jesus Christ, our sin‑bearer on the cross, now from His throne reaches out to rescue us who are lost in the guilt and shame of sin. He calls for faith (trust in Him as Savior) and repentance (turn to Him as Master). He sends His Holy Spirit to change us inwardly so that we hear His call as addressed to us personally and respond wholeheartedly to it. Whereupon we are forgiven and accepted (justified); received as God's children (adopted); made to rejoice at our peace with Him (assurance); and made to realize that now we are living a new life in Christ (regeneration). Any other view of salvation is deficient.

5. The Life of Fellowship.

Christians belong in the church, the family of God, sharing its worship, work, witness and warfare, and enjoying its worldwide brotherhood in Christ. Any other view of the Christian is sectarian.

6. Walking Home to Heaven.

Helped by the ministry in the church of word and sacrament, prayer and pastoral care, spiritual gifts and loving support, Christians live in our constantly hostile world as travelers, heading for a glorious destination. Led and inspired by their Savior through the Holy Spirit, they seek to do all the good they can as they go, and to battle all forms of evil that they meet. Any lesser view of the Christian life is wordly.

All this is permanently and universally true, transcending all differences of color, race, culture, age, gender, health, economic standing, social position and political background. As the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit sustain us all, so the gospel levels us all, teaching us to know ourselves as great sinners saved by God's greater grace, and to see all non‑Christians as needing that same grace themselves.

For reflection and Consideration:

1. How completely am I preaching the Gospel?

2. Which of these six Gospel topics do I need to preach more fully than I have been preaching?

3. Am I including the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in my preaching?

4. Am I properly explaining the saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

This Amsterdam 2000 speech text is under copyright. The author has rights protected by

international law. This text is not for reprint or republication. The message actually delivered at

Amsterdam 2000 may have differed significantly from this text.

J.I. Packer

The Content of the Gospel

Save all you can - DL Moody

"I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, 'Moody, save all you can.'" 

D.L. Moody

Gracefully Broken - Matt Redman

 

God will break you to position
He will break you to promote you
And break you to put you in your right place
But when He breaks you He doesn't hurt you, He doesn't
When He breaks you He does it with; grace
Anybody been gracefully broken?
Thank You, Lord, thank You
So Father tonight, we're broken before You
Thank You for handling us with grace
Just lift your worship right there in this moment

Take all I have in these hands
And multiply, God, all that I am
And find my heart on the altar again
Set me on fire, set me on fire
Take all I have in these hands
And multiply, God, all that I am
And find my heart on the altar again
Set me on fire, set me on fire

Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken

My heart stands in awe of Your name
Your mighty love stands strong to the end
You will fulfill Your purpose in me
You won't forsake me, You will be with me

Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken
Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken

All to Jesus now
All to Jesus now
I'm holding nothing back
Holding nothing back
I surrender (I surrender)
Y'all throw your hands up and sing I surrender (I surrender)
Say I surrender (I surrender)
All that I am, I surrender (I surrender)
Have Your way, use me Lord, I surrender (I surrender)
Do Your will, it's all Your way, I surrender (I surrender)
Use my life for Your glory, say I surrender all (I surrender)
You want to tell right where you are (I surrender)

(Oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh) I'm strong when I am weak
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free
(Oh, ooh-oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm strong when I am weak
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free
(Oh, ooh-oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm strong when I am weak
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free
(Oh, ooh-oh) Your power at work in me
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm broken gracefully
(Oh, ooh-oh) I'm strong, I'm strong
(Oh, ooh-oh) I will be free

Here I am, God
Arms wide open
Pouring out my life
Gracefully broken

This is your Life - the Call

 

This is your Life

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven,—our hope,—this is the time

This is your life

The push and the pull, we give and we take, we rise and we fall, we bend and we brake the future is ours, the promise is true, this is your life

I’ve seen it before, I’ve seen it many times, an impossible task—cut down to size, we stand in the breach we fight at the front, this is your life

Yeah.

This is your Life

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is the time

This is your life

We’ve all grown up together,

It’s a shame we grow apart.

Yeahhh

We’ve grown up together,

It’s a shame we grow apart.

Yeahhh

This is your Life,

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is the time

This is your life

It’s a world without end,

It’s a stroll through the fire,

The journey that begins, on the length of the wire

We’re rarely at ease, the pressure is high

This is your life

And so it begins we reach for the stars

Lift up your voice, freedom is ours

The spirits alive, Oh what a ride

This is your life

This is your Life

This is your world, beginning to end

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is the time

This is your life

This is your Life

This is your world, the struggle begins

This is the price of heaven, our hope, this is your chance

This is your life'

Author: Michael Been

He is no fool - Jim Elliot

 "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

doing a work for God vs. doing Gods Work

 

It seems as though God has been trying to speak to me lately just how intimately connected he is with our lives. While this is not the place to debate predestination we must determine and set before us the goal to be about the Lords work. While that seems completely obvious its not as simple as it would appear on face value. Often I find that I am doing a work for God verses doing Gods work. When I do Gods work I am seeking His agenda for my life. The more I am seeking Gods agenda the less I will be concerned and waste time worrying about the events f this life; cars, computers, health, food, food, and housing.

When I relate this to the Adopt-A-People commitment we personally must determine that we are committed to seeking Gods goals for the church. This results in a desire not only for Our church but a focus that people, Gods chosen people, have yet to hear the Gospel, respond, fellowship together, and begin to evangelise there own.

Culture Shock

 

There are generally three stages of this Phenomenon. called culture shock:

• The honeymoon stage - where everything seems wonderful and new.

• The critical stage - where you question why they can't just do things like you do in your own country you know the right way!

• Readjustment - where you settle in and become more comfortable with the cultural differences.

Ideal Country house - CS Lewis

 “Not for me” said Peter; “I’m going to explore in the house.” Everyone agreed to this and that was how the adventures began. It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armour; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up, and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony, and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books —- most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill.

fighting the right way - Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril Collins

 Would this but be what had happened, but everyone failed to honor the people.

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country.

We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.

As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.

Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.

You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.

You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.

Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day.

Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves."

Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril Collins OBE^[1] (born 30 April 1960)

The mission Of God - Chris Wright

 This uneasiness stems from the persistent paradigm that mission is fundamentally something we do; and especially if we use the word 'mission' as more or less synonymous with evangelism.

The appropriateness of speaking of 'a missional basis of the Bible' becomes apparent only when we shift our paradigm of mission from our own human agency to the ultimate purposes of God himself,    for clearly the Bible is, in some sense, ' about God'. What, then, does it mean to talk of the mission of God?

it is not so much, as someone has said, that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission is not just something we do (though it certainly includes that).

Truth with a Mission: towards a missiological hermeneutic of the Bible, Chris Wright Nov2001 ALL Nations.

Mission Is not. . . . - John Piper

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't.

John Piper, let the nations be glad, baker 1993

Song for Josiah - Keith Green

 

Song for Josiah

Oh my son, you were born in a world that hates you,

And I swear I will never forsake you.

But there was a father centuries ago,

Who watched his beloved son die. Oh, die.

Oh my son, I am weak and I'm trembling,

For the Lord I am always remembering.

Oh what a strong shepherd holds you in His arms.

He'll break you and make you His own.

And then take you home.

Well if I could I would protect you from what you will see.

This world will promise love and beauty, but it lied to me.

And I will show you, if you will listen.

And I will promise, to listen too.

Oh yes, there are some who love the lies,

they will kill you if they can.

Though you speak the truth in love,

they will hate you like the man,

Jesus, although He was God,

He allowed himself broken for you.

Well if I could I would protect you from what you will see.

The world might seem so alive,

but it's dead to me.

And I will teach you,

if you will hear me.

And I will promise,

to hear you too. Yes I do.

Oh my son, I am only your brother.

For a sister, God gave me your mother.

But just like a mother, so long ago,

had to watch her beloved son die,

Oh son, we will try, to let you go

Keith Green

A modern perspective on Sex - Jane Goldman

 

You bet! You see, the hormones that cause all the physical changes in your body during puberty don’t just make you sprout hairs and suchlike. They also get working on your brain quite apart from that, sex is jolly interesting, and thinking about it can be a very nice, exciting thing to do with your spare time! Even if you can believe that you"re perfectly healthy and normal, thinking about sex all the time can still make you feel uneasy, because you can feel that you're losing control of your brain.

I often imagine having sex with people I know, or famous people. I really enjoy it. Is it okay?

Its called fantasising. It’s more than okay, and nearly everybody does it at some time in their life. It"s just like daydreaming, only its main purpose is to make you feel excited in a sexual way. Fantasising is a fantastically healthy way to discover more about your own sexual feelings, so you should never feel guilty about doing it.

others with strong religious beliefs that sex and the sexual organs only existed in order for married people to make babies, and that using the genitals for any kind of sexual pleasure B especially outside of marriage B was Asinful@. There are still people about who think the same way. Of course, everyone is entitled to their won beliefs, but people also have a right to know the truth. Facts are facts, and the plain truth is that masturbations is not harmful.

Some parents have very strong views that young people shouldn"t have sex at all, or that sex should be saved for marriage. Changing their minds is likely to be impossible. In cases like this, you"re best off keeping some things secret, but that doesn"t mean you should sneak around and go against what they say.

If you"re considering taking a relationship further i.e. Having sex not just for the first time but any time, you should always ask yourself these questions

Do I really like, fancy, care about or maybe even love my prospective partner?

Do they like fancy, care about or maybe even love me, too?

If I don"t feel like I want to have sex now, would my partner be prepared to wait until I do?

Am I certain that my partner is okay about us using a condom?

Have I or my partner got a condom already, or is one of us prepared to go out and buy some before we decide to have sex?

What if I don"t get a chance to think carefully before I have sex?

That happens. You might be in a very intimate situation - alone with someone, having a passionate snogging and petting session and suddenly you realise that you"re on the verge of losing your virginity. In these cases, you just have to go with your gut instinct do you really want to do it? Not because all your friends have, not because you"re scared of losing your partner, not because you figure you might as well now you"re this close to it, nor because your worried about being a tease if you back out, but because you really, really want to experience sex and closeness with this person, right now? If the answer is a definite yes, then as long as one of you has a condom ready to use, there"s no reason why you shouldn’t go ahead.

. . . 

Sex for sex's sake can be wonderful between two people who think the same way.

Source: Sex: How? Why? What? The Teenagers Guide, Jane Goldman Penguin Books, London