What Is The Gospel?
Have you ever thought about why life is so wonderful at times, and yet is so hard at others? Have you ever been disappointed by others…or by yourself?
We believe that Jesus Christ has answers to these questions, and that we all have been created by God with a purpose. That purpose is to please Him and to live a life blessed by Him. But all of us have not only disappointed others and ourselves – we’ve disappointed God. Our wrongdoing (which the Bible calls sin) has kept us apart from God and there is nothing we can do to heal that divide between us and Him. What’s to be done?
There is Good News, which is what “Gospel” means, because God has taken action to heal that divide. Motivated by love, He came to earth Himself, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus, by his sinless life and example, gives us confidence that He indeed is both the Son of God and the perfect man. Jesus, through His death on the cross, earned forgiveness for us for the wrongs we have done so that our relationship with God could be restored. Jesus, by his resurrection from the dead, gives us hope for eternal life. Because of Christ, we can move from hopelessness to having real hope and joy.
This Good News was foretold by Isaiah the prophet about 700 years before Jesus was born:
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).
This is the message of hope in Christ alone, which is available to you if you turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus Christ:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
If you’d like to know more about Jesus and the Gospel, you might want to check out this interactive presentation called Two Ways to Live or this helpful explanation called The Good News on our denomination’s website.
And of course, we would love to have you visit our church on a Sunday morning to worship with us! There you will encounter the truth of Jesus Christ being preached from the Bible, sung in our songs, and lived out (imperfectly) in the lives of the people you’ll meet.
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” -Jesus