Below is a resource from 7/27/17
What is The Gospel?
Every now and then you come across a resource that becomes a staple part of your life and ministry. One of those resources for me has been Greg Gilbert's book called "What is The Gospel?" In this book, Greg sets a foundational framework for the fundamental truths of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. He surveys the messages of early preachers of the gospel in the New Testament, and summarizes 4 key truths that are always included. This book has been revolutionary for me for a few reasons. It has helped me communicate the gospel message more clearly. It has helped me teach people a framework for getting into gospel conversations with others. It has also helped me diagnose where I am forgetting the gospel in my own life and preach it to myself until I am assured again in Christ.
The word gospel gets used in Christian circles so much that I wonder if sometimes we assume people understand the content of the message we are referring to with one word. I started several years ago asking potential ministry volunteers what they thought the gospel was. These were people who were planning on speaking and teaching others how to know Jesus. They were mature Christians who were willing and ready to move to the front lines of the battle. Yet you would be amazed at how much the answers varied when people communicated the core truths of the cross. Paul says in Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." It is the content of the gospel message itself that The Holy Spirit uses to save people and bring them from death to life, so we need to be right about that message. Here are a few ways Greg Gilbert's book can be used to equip your D-Groups with gospel clarity for their own growth and their ministries.
- Read the book and teach the content to your group. (For fun, ask them all to summarize the gospel and see if their answers vary.)
- Read through the book together as a group and discuss.
- Get into the habit of having group members take turns summarizing the gospel in 2 minutes or less using the 4 key truths from the book.
- Encourage people in your group to give a copy to a lost friend and discuss the content with them as an evangelistic opportunity.
You can find Greg's book here: What Is the Gospel?
Grace and Peace, Scott