Articulating the Gospel

Articulating the Gospel – David Platt 1-30-11

What is the Gospel?

The good news that the just and gracious God of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that all who have faith in Him will be reconciled to God forever.

Thread #1: The Character of God

God is the just and gracious Creator of all things.

*He is our Creator. (Romans 1:18-20)

            *We belong to Him.

*He is our Judge. (Romans 2:1-16, 3:5-8)

            *We are accountable to Him.

*He is our Savior.  (Romans 3:23-24)

            *We need Him.

Thread #2: The Sinfulness of Man

We are each created by God, but we are all corrupted by sin.

(hardest part of presenting the gospel is convincing someone they need a Savior. Only the Holy Spirit can do this.)

*We have rebelled against God. (Romans 3:9-20)

*We are separated from God.  (Romans 8:21)

*We are dead without God.  (Romans 5:21)

Thread #3: The Sufficiency of Christ

Jesus alone is able to remove our sin and reconcile us to God.

*Jesus displayed the righteousness of God.

            *He is fully man (humanity).

            *He is fully God (deity).

*Jesus’ death satisfied the wrath of God.

*Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated the power of God.

(Matt 17, John 8:58, John 14:6-7, John 15: 1-5, John 11: 25, John 8:12, John 20:28, John 10:30)

(memorize Romans 3: 21-26)

Thread #4: The Necessity of Faith

We are reconciled to God only through faith in Jesus.

*Faith involves turning…

            *From our sin. (Romans 4 and 5, 6:1-4)

            *From ourselves. (Romans 6: 11-14, Galatians 2:20)

*Faith involves trusting….

            *In Jesus as Lord. (Romans 10:9-13)

            *In Jesus as Savior.

*Faith and Repentance….

            *Repentance –

                        *Change of heart. (Desire to turn from sin. Sorrow for offending God)

                                    *Sorrow over sin (2 Cor. 7:10)

                        *Change of mind.

                                    *Agreement with God about sin. (Lk. 16:15)

                        *Change of life.

                                    *Abandonment of sin. (Eph. 4: 22-24).

            *Faith –

                        *Knowledge of Christ (notitia). – John 8:24

                        *Agreement/Assent to Christ (assensus). – John 20:31)

                        *Commitment to Christ (fiducia). – James 2:14-26.

*Are faith and repentance both necessary?

*”The message of faith only and the message of faith plus commitment of life cannot both be the gospel; therefore, one of them is a false gospel and comes under the curse of perverting the gospel or preaching another gospel.” – Charles Ryrie

*Faith is “the inward conviction that what God says to us in the Gospel is true. That – and that alone is saving faith.” – Zane Hodges

*”We take Him for what He is – the anointed Savior and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of lords! He would not be who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives.” A.W. Tozer

*”There is only one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and…anyone who believes in a Savior who is not the Lord is not believing the true Christ and is not regenerate. We call for commitment to Christ, the trust Christ.” – James Boice

Conclusions –

            *Grace infiltrates every aspect of salvation. (1 Cor 15: 5-10)

            *Salvation is a process and an event.

                        *Justification: We have been saved.                       

                        *Sanctification: We are being saved.

                        *Glorification: We will be saved.

*Union with Christ is essential for understanding what it means to be saved. (Relationship)

            *Repentance and faith are necessary for salvation.

                        *Saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.

            *The call to salvation is a call to submit to Christ as Savior and Lord.

            *Assurance of salvation is based on Christ’s performance, not my own.

Thread #5: The Urgency of Eternity

Our eternal destiny is dependent on our response to Jesus.

*Heaven is a glorious reality for those who trust in Christ.

*Hell is dreadful reality for those who die without Christ.  (Matt 10:28,  Mark 9:43-48, 2 Thes 1:7, Rev 20: 15, 20:10)

*The Gospel demands a decision –

            *Will you turn from Jesus?

            *Will you turn to Jesus?

Beautiful Video

Beautiful video on adoption playing to Mandi's song, This Love, my favorite song on her CD!!!! So beautiful it might make you cry! Blog: http://keithandjackie.blogspot.com/2011/01/adopted.html

Necklaces

Homestudy Rescheduled...

For my birthday, lol. My social worker needed to reschedule. Since she works part-time and is a full-time mom she has limited availability. I didn't want to put it off any longer than needed so I went ahead and agreed to do it February 7th.

 

Foster Update

My home study  is February 1st! This is the final step of the process along with waiting for the background check!

Spiritual Essentials for Evangelism

Spiritual Essentials for Evangelism – David Platt 1-23-11

“The greatest single hindrance to evangelism today is the secret of our own spiritual experience.” – John Stott

*We must have a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

            *Zeal for the kingdom is fueled b zeal for the King.

            *To live is Christ… Phil 1:21

            *”I know who I have believed…” 2 Tim 1:12

*Not what – our “what” will increase over time, but how tight of a grasp do we have on “who” we believe?

*We must recognize the need of the lost.

*Our lives are all too often functionally universalistic (all roads lead to the same place)

*”…those who are perishing.” 2 Corin 4:3

*Do we have a burden for the lost? Romans 9: 1=5

(Help us feel the lost through His eyes)

*We must be aware of the spiritual battle around us.

*2 Cor 4 – Battle between the god who blinds the mind and the God who shines light into the heart. (In the middle we are preaching Christ).

            *”We preach Christ…” 2 Cor. 4:5

            *Extreme Dependence – We are completely dependent on the Holy Spirit.

*Extreme Diligence – We will get nowhere without prayer, fasting, and steadfast disciple.

*We must have some understanding of how to help other people to faith in Christ.

            *We cannot share a Gospel that we do not know.

*If we are going to be good at anything, we need to be good at leading people to Christ.

*We must carry out the evangelistic task in the context of the Great Commission.

            *Evangelism is the fundamental component of disciple-making.

            *Evangelism always takes place in the context of God’s heart for all nations.

Biblical Basis of Missions

Biblical Basis of Mission – David Platt 1-23-11 (my notes in parenthesis)

The Big Picture

 We glorify God by making disciples of all nations.

“We Glorify God…” 

*The purpose of the people of God…

            *The enjoy God’s grace in a relationship with Him.

            *To extend God’s glory to the ends of the earth.

*The beauty of the Gospel of God…

            *God orchestrates history to display God’s glory.

            *God ordains His people to enjoy God’s glory.

(We enjoy His glory most when we display His glory)

“….By Making Disciples…”

*We glorify God by becoming like Christ.

*We multiply the Gospel by leading others to become like Christ.

*The command is clear…Make Disciples.

*The command has been compromised….

*We are tempted to do everything else except the one thing Jesus told us to do in the Great Commission.

            *Jesus never told us to….

                        *Build colleges, universities, or seminaries.

                        *Construct church buildings.

                        *Organize programs.

            *Jesus did tell us to….          

                        *Make disciples in every part of the world.

            *An all-important question: Are our plans self-directed or Christ-directed?

*We have a tendency to create our own plans out of self-directed Christianity, and we even follow through with those plans with a motive to glorify God, but we must realize…

*God does not bless based solely on our motives.

*God always blesses His plan. (make disciples)

*The command in Christ…

            *John 17:4 – “I have finished the work…”

*In John 17, Jesus never mentions the miracles he performed or the multitudes to whom he preached, but over 40 times he mentions the men whom god had given him out of the world.

*Jesus’ strategy was to revolutionize the hearts of a few, and they would impact the world.

*The command in the church…

            *Four components of disciple-making:

                        *Share the Word,  Show the Word, Teach the Word, Serve the World.

Share the Word.

                        *We want to be equipped to be Gospel-living and Gospel-sharing.

                        *We want to be confident in God’s sovereignty, not our savvy.

                        *We want to be able to share life, not just laws.

Show the Word.

*The world longs to see a demonstration of Christ that accompanies our explanation of Christ.  (1 Corin. 11:1)

                        *We are devoted to the process of disciple-making for other’s sanctification.

                        (People will not be what they cannot see).

                        *We are dependent on the process of disciple-making for our sanctification.

                        *When we’re making disciples, we’re living for the glory of God in others.

Teach the Word.

                        *Are we receivers or reproducers?

                        *As Christians, we must all…

                                    *Know the essentials of following Christ.

                                    *Model, teach, and reproduce the essentials of following Christ.

Serve the World.

            *Are we discipling or disinfecting Christians?

*Disinfecting isolates a Christian in a spiritual safety deposit box called the church building and teaches him or her to be good. The result in…

            *Decent church members with little world impact.

            *Disobedience to God’s command to reach the world.

            *Wasted lives.

*Discipling propels a Christian into the world to risk his or her life for the sake of others. The result in…

            *Disciples of Christ with total world impact.

            *Obedience to God’s command to reach the entire world.

            *Abundant lives.

*The question we must constantly ask as Christians:

- How can we most effectively make disciples of all nations?

“…Of All Nations.”

*Everything we do, we do ultimately for the sake of God’s glory in all nations, ie, among all people groups.

            *Over 11,000 people groups in the world.

*Over 6,000 people groups still unreached with Gospel (less than 2% evangelical Christians).

*Over 5,000 people groups unreached and unengaged with the Gospel.

                        *A dangerous approach to the world…

*”But I’m not called to foreign missions” (yet we are all called to global missions)

                                                *Reflects an unbiblical understanding of our salvation.

                                    *”Wouldn’t it be better for me to give than to go?”

                                                *Reflects an unbiblical understanding of the gospel.

                                    *”But what about the needs here?”

                                                *Reflects an unbiblical understanding of compassion.

                        *A dynamic alternative for the world…

                                    *World-impacting disciples.            

                                    *Ever-multiplying churches.

                       

Evangelism & Missions

Today are the first day of my new Institute of Disciple-Making class. David and Jonathan Bean, our global disciple-making pastor, are co-teaching this class. David taught all of today's class. It's going to be a great class! I just spent the last hour re-typing the notes from the class so I can share them on my blog and have in typed form. I hope to type them and post them each week. PLEASE read them. The next two posts are notes from tonight's class.

I'm Going to Africa!!!! (and new blog info)

I'm going to Africa in May to meet precious Ruth, Faith and Mercy!!! Check out www.visitingroyalty.blogspot.com for more information.

Till I'm Home

Mandi Mapes is such a precious girl who has a heart for reaching the nations for Christ. She has been pouring her heart out in her music for the past couple of years at Brook Hills and is now she leaves Saturday for East Asia for 6 months serving with the International Mission Board. She's leaving us with a great new CD, her first, to enjoy while she is gone. Please keep Mandi and her friend Ashley in your prayers and please spend $10 on her CD. You WILL be blessed! 

PS - If I had to pick a favorite it would have to be THIS LOVE! Cried the first time I heard it. 

www.mandimapes.com

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/til-im-home/id414244886

Institute of Disciple-Making

In the Fall and Spring our church offers seminary level courses for members to take. In the Fall I signed up for my first class called, "Teaching the Bible" that David Platt taught. It was a lot more than I realized I was signing up. It was kind of a "preaching" class and we were supposed to prepare and present a sermon as a part of the class. I didn't do this part of the class. I simply attended the class for the lectures and did most of the weekly reading assignments but I learned a lot. 

I'm not really sure when and how God will call me to use the information learned in this class, it may be 20 years from now but I could not pass up the opportunity to learn more from the greatest pastor I've ever heard. 

One quote sited in our lectures was from E.M. Bounds, "The church of God makes or is made by, it's leaders. Whether it makes them or is made by them, it will be what its leaders are; spiritual if they are so, secular if they are...A church rarely revolts against or rises above the religion of its leaders." 

This is such a powerful and true statement. When pastors live in country clubs and drive Lexus' their flock probably are, too. However, when pastors are downsizing their homes and lifestyles and adopting orphans their church will follow their example and do the same. That should be humbling and frightening to any church leader! 

Another quote from my notes, "People today are crying out for practical application when it comes to God's Word. They want to see the Bible's relevance for their lives. But there is a dangerous tendency in our day to focus so much on contemporary application that we begin to look at the Bible with man-centered eyes. Our infatuation with practical application can cause us to overlook the most important quality of the Bible - it's divine feature. The Bible is a book about God more than it is a book about us."

I used to turn to a Billy Graham "Christian Handbook" that had scriptures to help people deal with various issues such as depression, grief, stress, etc for encouragement any time I was dealing with something and I wanted to see what God's Word said about that issue. Now I understand that my greatest need is to know Christ and become more like Him and God gave us His Word to accomplish this. Although we can find comfort from scripture when we are dealing with different things His Word is about Him, not us. 

I'm going to scan in my notes from class, if you would like a copy of them please let me know and I will email you the PDF. 

I wasn't planning on taking a Spring class because of tax season but when I saw the class titles posted last night I couldn't resist. I signed up for "Evangelism and Missions." David and Jonathan (our global disciple making pastor) will be teaching this class from 1/23 to 4/17 which is of course right smack in the middle of tax season. Here's the course description....

Evangelism and Missions - Making disciples involves proclaiming the Gospel here in Birmingham and around the world. This class will provide biblical, theological, and practical training in how to share our faith and spend our lives for the sake of God's glory among the nations

I couldn't resist taking this class since I will be heading to Uganda and Guatemala in just a few months. I need all the practical training I can get! 

New Reading Plan!!

Now that we have finished reading through the Bible in 2010 we are now going to study certain passages in depth starting with the book of Acts. We will be in Acts for 11 weeks I think. We will still have Family Worship Guides, memory verses, Family Worship Songs and weekly Bible reading online but they won't be posted on the Radical Experiment website. The messages on Sunday will be from the passages we read from that week.

It appears that the Radical Experiment website is now reverting back to January so that anyone wanting to go through the Radical Experiment in 2011 can do so.

For this year's new reading plan visit http://www.brookhills.org/gathering/this_week.html.

Excited about our church giving God a blank check and about spending some time in Acts as a faith family. I am so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful faith family!

Directv Does NOT like the Radical Experiment

Last year when I suspended my cable I really didn't miss it that much. I watched the main shows I like on hulu on my laptop and although it may have been inconvenient to wait until the day after the show was on live before I watched it and the video "skipped" a lot I didn't really care because I was saving $70 something a month. Paying $70 a month for ONE person to watch a handful of shows is a bit high. During March and April I didn't have time for TV anyway so I didn't miss it then at all.

 

Not having cable also freed me up to "make time" for God. It's amazing how easy it is for us to commit to watching our favorite TV shows and sports teams but we can't commit to spending even 15 minutes alone with God, ya know. When we first started the Radical Experiment I knew keeping up with the reading plan would be a challenge but suspending my cable at the beginning really helped me get the year started on the right track. 

 

It's hard for me to "justify" (I know that's not the right word) completely canceling cable when I have a flat screen and a DVR so I just decided I would go 6 months on/6 months off since Directv will only let you suspend your cable for 6 months at a time. I guess if I were really radical I'd get rid of the TV and the cable, but well, I doubt that's going to happen.

 

After watching a few shows on my DVR last night (before I'd lose access to them) and shamelessly watching the Bachelor, I called Directv this morning to have them suspend my cable through May. Unfortunately I didn't get the details clear and they said I can't suspend my service until August. It's 6 months out of a 12 month time period and I guess I haven't reached the 12 month time period. The guy said his supervisor would let me suspend it for one month but I decided to wait and try again in March when I seriously won't have time for TV.

 

So much for starting the year with radical cable. Thanks a lot, Directv!  I tried.

 

P.S.

Don't let that last post fool you, I was not "radical" with my finances all year. I did end the year with a brand new iPhone 4, a MacBook Pro and a puppy with expensive pet bills....just saying.

 

Last "Radical" Decision of 2010

A few days before Christmas my hot water pressure was very low. I've had this problem before and after a few days it worked fine so I left for the holidays and didn't think about it. I naively thought I would come home after Christmas to normal water pressure, I guess. When I got back it was still slow so finally after a few days I called the water company. Since the cold water was fine they said it was probably my hot water heater. A co-worker told me about a client of ours that was a "jack of all trades" that is reasonably priced so I had him come check it out. It was in fact the hot water heater.

 

He did something that "fixed" it but he said it really did need to be replaced. His "band-aid" could make it work for a day, week, month or even a whole year, though. He said he could replace it the next day or I could put it off, it was up to me. I told him I'd sleep on it. A part of me wanted to go ahead and replace it and get it over with but the "radical" (or cheap) side of me thought that maybe I could get another year out of it, so that is what I decided. I rationalized that the worst that could happen is I have cold water for a few days while I wait for him to fix it. With so many people in the world without access to clean water was I really going to suffer when the band-aid failed? I was confident I made the right decision and I would at least get another month out of the old hot water heater....

 

WRONG! It worked for two days! Sunday morning my mom and I basically took cold showers/baths. If I hadn't had company I wouldn't have cared about it (after all I took cold showers in Guatemala) but I hated it happened while my mom was here. So today he is replacing it. So much for having a "new" home anymore!