what is the gospel?

Many books have been written and sermons preached to explain the Gospel and it's content. Although Gateway is not affiliated with the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, we've found their summary of the Gospel worth repeating: 

  • God, the just and gracious Creator of the universe, looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent His Son, 
  • Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear on the cross His own wrath against sin. 
  • By the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, God shows His power over sin so that all who turn and trust in Him will forever be reconciled to God. 

A right way to understand and respond to he Gospel includes these elements: 


The Character of God

  • Biblical truth: God is the holy, just, and gracious Creator of all things. 
  • Biblical response: We must realize that we belong to Him, are accountable to Him, and are created to glorify Him

The Sinfulness of Man

  • Biblical truth: We are each created by God, but we are all thoroughly corrupted by sin. 
  • Biblical response: We must admit areas of rebellion, be honest with God about our sin, and turn away from it. 

The Sufficiency of Christ

  • Biblical truth: Jesus alone is able to remove our sin and reconcile us to God through His death. He alone satisfies the wrath of God for our sins. 
  • Biblical response: We must recognize that we are helpless to be reconciled with God apart from Jesus Christ. 

The Necessity of Faith

  • Biblical truth: We are reconciled to God only through faith in Jesus. There is nothing we can do to become right with God. 
  • Biblical response: Faith that leads to salvation involved turning from sin and self-sufficiency. We turn to Jesus and trust in Him as Lord, confessing that He is our Savior and Lord. 

The Urgency of Eternity

  • Biblical truth: Our eternal destiny is dependent on our response to Jesus. 
  • Biblical response: We must cry out to God to save us of our sins, put our faith in Jesus Christ and confess His as Savior and Lord while we still have breath in this world. Do not wait another day!





Why proclaim the Gospel?

We proclaim the Gospel because it is the Good News of what God has done to redeem a people for Himself. In it we see clearly Who God is and how He loves us. We never outgrow or graduate from the Gospel, but constantly God shows us new ways to cherish it and let it change our lives. The Gospel is the very work of God for salvation from beginning to end! 


The Bible teaches us that the ultimate purpose of God is to display His glory, so the foremost purpose of the church must be to glorify Him. We are to place the Gospel in the forefront of mission of the Church, as through it we receive the complete demonstration of the glory of God's grace. The Gospel is the very manifestation of His glory, and both in it and by it we understand more clearly the love, justice, wrath, grace, mercy, holiness, and patience of God. We see the humility of the Son, and we receive the wonderful effects of His amazing grace. God has commanded the church to proclaim His Gospel to the ends of the earth. That task was launched thousands of years ago and is still in process today. 


We are privileged to be given the opportunity to join God in this responsibility. Will you come join us?

Discipleship

A disciple is a person who is following Jesus having been reconciled into a living relationship with God through new birth by trusting in the Gospel who then grows in their love for God and for others. 


In giving the command in Matthew 28 to "make disciples", Jesus gives two qualifications: The first is baptism, which is a ceremonial initiation into the Christian life as a symbol of entering the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second is teaching for the sake of obedience to all that Christ commanded. The Scriptures summarize the teaching of Christ in two inseparably-linked ways: belief and love. A person who truly trusts and believes the Gospel will love, and that person loves because he or she has first entered into relationship with God through faith. A true disciple will love God!