York Alliance Church Message Podcast

When declared faithfully, the gospel is a counter-cultural message to a world that is moving in a different direction. While we should never seek out persecution, we should be prepared for the fact that not everyone will be receptive to the counter-cultural message of the gospel. However, for those who will receive it, the gospel is the only news that can bring hope.

In some of Jesus' final words, He told the disciples that they would do even greater things than He did. Demonstrating the gospel through our actions is a vital component to preaching the gospel. Love, justice, compassion and the supernatural work of the Spirit should regularly animate our day-to-day living.

Jesus referred to life in the Kingdom of God as the "abundant life." As we increasingly live life in the Kingdom as apprentices of Jesus, we are also inviting those around us into that life. The nature of our lives should beg the question from others: How do we live with hope?

While the essential nature of the gospel never changes regardless of time and place, the way that we present the gospel must change. Our current cultural context presents unique challenges and opportunities for declaring the message of Jesus. Understanding our context is a vital component to proclaiming the gospel clearly and effectively.

Salvation and discipleship are always works of God, not man. While we have a part, it's vital for us to recognize where God is already working and to join Him in His work. Like Jesus, we are called to join the Father in the work that He is already doing in the lives of those in the world around us.

While Jesus never sinned, he was known as a "glutton" and a "drunkard" by the religious elites of His day. If Jesus had a particular strategy of evangelism, it seemed it was regularly eating and drinking with people who were far from God. As apprentices of Jesus, we are called to follow His example and open our tables and lives up to those in the world around us.

While the word "gospel" has so many various and diverse meanings in the church, it's important to look at some of the popular "gospels" of our day in contrast to the gospel of Jesus. The most popular understandings of the gospel within the church are not so much wrong as they are incomplete. However, seeing the partial gospel gives us a foundation for proclaiming the full gospel.

For many of us, evangelism is among the single most terrifying things that we are called to do as Christians. Could it be that our problem is less with the call to evangelism and more with our faulty understanding of the gospel? In order to understand what it means for us to preach the gospel to the world around us, we need to understand the gospel according to Jesus.

Near the end of his life, the Apostle Paul gives us a beautiful and clear example of what it means to tell our story. While the details of Paul’s story are quite different than ours, the arc of the story remains the same for all who encounter Jesus. All of His followers are created for good, damaged by evil, gifted for life, and empowered to heal.

Understanding the story of Jesus requires a big picture understanding of the important phrase "according to the Scriptures." Paul invites us to engage the great story of God through His simple statement of the gospel. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration are simple and clear movements in God's story that help us to discover where we fit.