History is His story.
God's story is one of a tireless work and mission to rescue the deeply broken by the unimaginable love demonstrated through Jesus Christ who died in our place for our sin in order to eternally rescue and restore us.
This is the good news (gospel) of God who is the story's sole and supreme hero. God entrusted His story to Jesus' followers with the instruction to make it known to every nation. We are never to lose it in a cluttered culture, leave it in favor of something more favorable to us, or change it to make it fit our wisdom or fit more easily into our life and the lives of others.
This story is one of both great power and great offense.
The Gospel of Great Offense
The gospel is the good news of God's redeeming work but it is not received by all as good news. When speaking to a crowd, Jesus began teaching about eternal life. John records that Jesus said to the crowd that only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood have eternal life. Jesus didn't intend that the people literally begin taking out knives and sharp objects to remove His flesh to eat and cut Him so they could drink His blood.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ suffered and died, allowing His body to be broken and His blood to be poured out for the forgiveness of our disobedience and rebellion. Only those who trust in His suffering, death, and resurrection have the promise of eternal life. Unless we consume His sacrifice as everything we need to have life we cannot live at all.
Jesus could have said what He did a different way, but He chose His words carefully because He wanted no half-hearted, thrill-seeking followers. He got the response He expected. Many were so offended by this message of the gospel that they walked away to never follow Jesus again (John 6).
The gospel is offensive. Followers of Jesus must never forget that our good news is perceived as offensive by the world apart from the work of the Spirit in the heart. We must also live to give no offense in anything except the gospel.
The Gospel of Great Power
The same gospel that offends so many possesses great power to rescue humanity from despair and destruction and give hope and restored life. The Scriptures declare that the gospel of Christ's kingdom is the only thing that has the power to rescue God's enemies and make them His sons and daughters.
When the Spirit of God descended in power upon the followers of Jesus in Acts 2, they immediately went into the streets and the marketplace to declare the gospel to those gathered in Jerusalem. Peter and the others began to tell of how Jesus suffered and died and then rose again. Not all who heard believed. But a great number of 3,000 believed and then took the next step of following Jesus in baptism.
The gospel is the power of God to bring us home and make us His forever. Followers of Jesus cannot find or invent a greater power or better message. We must live allowing the gospel to work powerfully in our sin-sick lives, as well as in the lives of others.
Reaching People
When it comes to the church--both new churches and churches of some years--our mission has always been and remains to display and declare God's story of how our deep brokenness was met with unimaginable love in Jesus in order to eternally rescue and restore us. This message will offend those who are repulsed by its message, while it will transform those who humbly surrender and believe.
Churches who are faithful to God's story will find not all will like their message, which makes reaching people a long and difficult mission at times. Yet those same churches who communicate well in both life and word this gospel will see God's power bring change lives beginning with our own.
The gospel is a message of both great power and great offense. And this message is the story the world needs.
Refuge Church | Our Message: Available Here
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ suffered and died, allowing His body to be broken and His blood to be poured out for the forgiveness of our disobedience and rebellion. Only those who trust in His suffering, death, and resurrection have the promise of eternal life. Unless we consume His sacrifice as everything we need to have life we cannot live at all.
Jesus could have said what He did a different way, but He chose His words carefully because He wanted no half-hearted, thrill-seeking followers. He got the response He expected. Many were so offended by this message of the gospel that they walked away to never follow Jesus again (John 6).
The gospel is offensive. Followers of Jesus must never forget that our good news is perceived as offensive by the world apart from the work of the Spirit in the heart. We must also live to give no offense in anything except the gospel.
The Gospel of Great Power
The same gospel that offends so many possesses great power to rescue humanity from despair and destruction and give hope and restored life. The Scriptures declare that the gospel of Christ's kingdom is the only thing that has the power to rescue God's enemies and make them His sons and daughters.
When the Spirit of God descended in power upon the followers of Jesus in Acts 2, they immediately went into the streets and the marketplace to declare the gospel to those gathered in Jerusalem. Peter and the others began to tell of how Jesus suffered and died and then rose again. Not all who heard believed. But a great number of 3,000 believed and then took the next step of following Jesus in baptism.
The gospel is the power of God to bring us home and make us His forever. Followers of Jesus cannot find or invent a greater power or better message. We must live allowing the gospel to work powerfully in our sin-sick lives, as well as in the lives of others.
Reaching People
When it comes to the church--both new churches and churches of some years--our mission has always been and remains to display and declare God's story of how our deep brokenness was met with unimaginable love in Jesus in order to eternally rescue and restore us. This message will offend those who are repulsed by its message, while it will transform those who humbly surrender and believe.
Churches who are faithful to God's story will find not all will like their message, which makes reaching people a long and difficult mission at times. Yet those same churches who communicate well in both life and word this gospel will see God's power bring change lives beginning with our own.
The gospel is a message of both great power and great offense. And this message is the story the world needs.
Refuge Church | Our Message: Available Here
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