The Gospel is All-Important
I can’t believe that God is giving us the opportunity to plant a new church. This is an exciting and rare opportunity.
I am looking forward to this, because I believe that this experience will give us both challenging, yet new and fresh experiences in our Christian walk as we depend on God to do what only he can do: to take something that is not there, and to create something new.
So, as a group, I’d like to challenge you to think about this phrase: “The gospel is everything!” What do I mean by this? Let’s take a look at First Corinthians 15:1–8. It says:
Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time,, he also appeared to me.
I’d like to direct your attention to verse 3 which Paul says, “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received.” And then he starts explaining the gospel message of how Jesus died and rose again, and how this is a true event that has real ramifications on our life.
Now, there are a lot of things that are really important.
Health is important: We can’t live without health!
Relationships are important: Relationships gives the love, joy, and support that we need.
Finances are important: We can’t meet basic needs—like food and clothing, without money.
Now, I don’t want to discount these things, but I do want us to recognize the preeminence of the gospel.
Lord willing, when I start preaching this year. It is my desire to preach the gospel every time I open God’s word.
And when we do hear the message of the gospel; I hope and pray that our minds don’t automatically think, “Oh, I hope someone hears their need of this, this morning!” I want us to be thinking, “I need this, we need this, we all need this.”
Because the gospel is more than getting to heaven when we die. It is central to our daily lives. The gospel shapes us, informs us, renews us, transforms us, unites us, comforts us, heals us, empowers us, satisfies us, guides & directs us, keeps & protects us, strengthens us, enriches us, encourages us, challenges us, equips us, and completes us. This list can go on!
So, as we start, this journey of planting a church called, “Gospel Life,” let us be reminded that the gospel shapes and informs everything we do.
A Prayer for the Gospel to Be Important in Our Lives
Heavenly Father,
We come before you with grateful hearts as we embark on this exciting journey of planting a church called “Gospel Life.” That is our hearts desire: to glorify your name and be a life giving community to all we come in contact with.
As we begin this journey, we pray that the gospel will be at the center of all we do. Help us to remember that the gospel is more than just a message about getting to heaven when we die, but it is central to our daily lives. May the gospel shape and inform every aspect of our lives.
We pray that as we hear and share the message of the gospel, our hearts will be filled with a deep sense of personal need for it, not just a desire for others to hear it. Help us to be constantly reminded of the preeminence of the gospel in our lives and to live out its truth every day.
We pray all of this in the powerful and holy name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
