Christian Coalition for Reconciliation

Fresh Bread

file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/ca/10/0ED2B3A5-D83A-449B-B27A-434DAE812F2E/unknown.png The Gospel

WHAT THE GOSPEL IS NOT
1 NOT THE PLAN OF SALVATION - The gospel is not the plan of salvation. Believers need the gospel. Gospel is not like a hub in a wheel of truth. There is nothing more than the Gospel. You never outgrow the Gospel. You are not too sophisticated for the Gospel.
2 Not just the two great commandments. These two are not the Gospel. Love God, love People, is not the Gospel. It is a summary of the law. It is not the gospel. Love is the fulfilling of the LAW. It is not the magic key to the gospel. This idea is ubiquitous. They mean “get away from the law” but they are really saying “obey the law” and if you just love people you fulfill the law. Loving God and the People is the product of the Gospel.
3 Not the moral teachings of Jesus. Today we treat His ethical teaching as if it is the Gospel. The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. They were not pursuing “the fulfillment of the law” of righteousness, but they found the righteousness which is of God by faith—that is the Gospel. Jesus did not come to give you a kick start just because you were a little off course. He didn’t just come to get you in line so you could pursue righteousness. There is no way we can get within a million miles of righteousness of the Gospel by following the law.
4 It is not antinomianism. Paul is not arguing for antinomianism. Christ kept the law for us and He keeps the law in us. When you receive the Holy Spirit by the Gospel the fruit of His presence the fruit comes because of His presence.. Take My yoke upon you. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

WHAT THE GOSPEL IS - “Sola Fide - Only from faith from the Latin expression coined by the reformers meaning that all of God’s Grace is transmitted to the believers by the gift of faith.” The difference between the two is the Gentiles to the stumbling stone. Thesis statement for Romans, Righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The gospel makes us right before God.

1. The Gospel is News; behold, says Paul, listen up, here’s news! We do not live the Gospel. We cannot live the Gospel. We can’t live the news, anymore than we can live out the front page headlines. The one who says, “Preach the gospel at all times and use words if you have to.” does not know what the Gospel is. It is like saying, “Give me the news at all times, and use words if you have too.” You can live because of the Gospel. The Gospel is what Jesus did in Christ and through Christ and by Christ. The Gospel is not something we live but it is what makes us alive. It is news from, about, for, and through God.

2. The Gospel is God Centered News. It is what God has done, not what I have done. It is God Centered news. Mark 1:14 after John was arrested Jesus came preaching the Gospel of God. It is not about you, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” What role does man play? We are the problem, the antagonist. We make is sound like we are doing God a favor if we “come to Him.” That is not the Gospel. The Gospel is not about how special you are, but about how sovereign God is. It is about how bad things are for you.

3. The Gospel is Christ Centered News. I lay in Zion a stumbling stone.
the stone is Christ centered. The Gospel is Christological news about what God has done in Christ. Rock of offense.” The Cross is what makes the Gospel scandalous. The fact that God of the universe killed His own Son and made Him substitute for lowly sinners is a scandal.

4. The Gospel is Cross Centered News - We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews…—but don’t use this the wrong way—at Easter we may talk of how gruesome the Cross was, and we say, “Look He did this for you, can’t you come and serve Him?” Cross centered means you help men to understand how weighty their sin is, how awful your sinful filthy life is so that God’s wrath had to be poured out. We take the cross and turn it into man centered theology. “He was on the cross and I was on His mind.” Or modern, “You took the fall and thought of me above all.” It is the glory and righteousness and holiness of the Father that is vindicated by the Cross. In our day some say, “it is cosmic child abuse.” The blood flowed in the OT, tubs full, barrels full, because of sin. Then, He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God n Him.” 2 Cor. 5:21 The Gospel allows God to be both just and justifier. You cannot live this, nor can you live without it.

5. The Gospel is Grace Centered, “I am laying…a stumbling stone” and whoever believes in Him (Jesus paid it all Isaiah 53:5). In verse 30 the Gentiles did not pursue righteousness…but have attained it. They did not pursue it. It is grace. John 1:17 of His fulness we have all receive….Grace upon grace. Romans 5:15 grace abounding. Ephesians 2:8-9 “dead in trespasses, grace alone, faith alone and that is not our doing.” The gospel is grace centered.

6. The Gospel is Eschatological — who ever believes in Him will not be put to shame. That is a reference to the judgment. It is not psychological, it is eschatological. Because it is eschatological we eliminate the idea the Gospel only being an entry and then a precarious path. The grace that saves you is the grace that keeps you. The Good news is Christ has done it all. It is the life altering news that God became man, eternally victorious over every man…The difference between Jews and Gentiles is a picture of one running a race to attain and the other is the announcement that it is done by Him for those who have their faith in Him.

Perhaps more common yet is the tendency to assume the gospel, whatever that is, while devoting creative energy and passion to other issues—marriage, happiness, prosperity, evangelism, the poor, wrestling with Islam, wrestling with the pressures of secularization, bioethics, dangers on the left, dangers on the right—the list is endless. This overlooks the fact that our hearers inevitably are drawn toward that about which we are most passionate. Every teacher knows that. My students are unlikely to learn all that I teach them; they are most likely to learn that about which I am most excited. If the gospel is merely assumed, while relatively peripheral issues ignite our passion, we will train a new generation to downplay the gospel and focus zeal on the periphery. (4–5)

It is easy to sound prophetic from the margins; what is urgently needed is to be prophetic from the center. (5)
When we insist that as a matter of first importance, the gospel is Christological, we are not thinking of Christ as a cipher, or simply as the God-man who comes along and helps us like a nice insurance agent: “Jesus is a nice God-man, he’s a very, very nice God-man, and when you break down, he comes along and fixes you.” The gospel is Christological in a more robust sense: Jesus is the promised Messiah who died and rose again.

(12)The cross and resurrection are not nakedly historical events; they are historical events with the deepest theological weight. (13) From the beginning, sin is an offence against God. God himself pronounces the sentence of death (Gen. 2–3 (https://www.esv.org/Gen.%202%E2%80%933/)). This is scarcely surprising, since God is the source of all life, so if his image bearers spit in his face and insist on going their own way and becoming their own gods, they cut themselves off from their Maker, from the One who gives life. What is there, then, but death? (14) In all our sinning, God is invariably the most offended party. That is why we must have his forgiveness, or we have nothing. (15–16)

It is News
God Centered
Christ Centered
Cross Centered
Grace Centered
Eschatological Hope
Adapted from Voddie Baucham, What is the gospel?

THIS WEEK IN THE WORD
Daily Meditations

Monday - Acts 14:7 (The Gospel is News)

Tuesday - Mark 1:1 (The Gospel is Christ Centered)

Wednesday - 1 Timothy 1:11 (The Gospel is God Centered)

Thursday - 1 Corinthians 1:17 (The Gospel is God Centered)

Friday - Galatians 1:6 (The Gospel is Grace Centered)

Saturday - Colossians 1:15
(The Gospel is our Eschatological Hope)

How can the Church Love the Homos*xual Biblically?
Homos*xuality, Lesbianism, Transgenderism - the church is presenting a confusing response to the s*x and gender issues deluging our culture. Michael Newman has been there and gives us the 4 main responses in churches and which one is the biblical approach. He also gives a response to Jackie Hill-Perry’s mixed & confusing theology and approach on it all as well.
Audio only & video on most podcasts apps and at https://truthunbound.podbean.com

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2020/10/72218/

Sexual Orientation Is Not What You Think It Is When we speak of protecting people “whatever their s*xual orientation,” we must realize the term is not as simple as most assume.

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/09/57342/

“Born That Way” No More: The New Science of Sexual Orientation A new study adds to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that the dominant narrative about s*xual orientation—that it is genetically determined—simply cannot be true. Instead, the science shows that a person’s s*xual orientation and choice of partners depends heavily on the development and...

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2020/june/trump-signs-international-religious-freedom-executive-order-approving-50-million-for-programs

Trump Signs International Religious Freedom Executive Order, Approving $50 Million for Programs President Donald Trump called upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution on Tuesday.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-to-end-conversion-therapy-we-must-understand-what-it-actually-means/?fbclid=IwAR09Hav_g0eqjro_FPFbJ3kQ8XoZxUApAti3-eylnzq9NMbRhnZnlAVzqb0 This is to inform you what proc-change/transformation ministries like CCR face from an active gay opposition.

Opinion: To end conversion therapy, we must understand what it actually means The discourse around Calgary’s new ban on the practice, which follows in the footsteps of Ontario, Manitoba, and municipal jurisdictions in B.C. and Alberta, revealed that its definition remains murky to many

https://joedallas.com/2020/05/27/and-the-banned-played-on/

Radical Calgary law banning "Conversion Therapy"

And the Banned Played On • Joe Dallas Sit. Stay. Don’t speak!Lie down. Now roll over.Aw, who’s a good church? You’re a good church! Yes, you are. So said the City Council of Calgary yesterday to its churches – and indeed, to believers in general – when it voted, unanimously, to ban so-called “Conversion Therapy.” Calgary c...

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2020/03/60895/

The Empirical Case against “Conversion-Therapy” Bans Research over the last decade has solidified the finding that s*xual minorities are far more likely to have faced adverse experiences during childhood—experiences that they ought to be able to explore in therapy.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march-web-only/same-s*x-attraction-has-answer.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=28034162&utm_content=700757497&utm_campaign=email. I UNFORTUNATLEY DONT SEEM HOPEFUL, TRANSFORMING MESSAGE HERE!!

My Same-Sex Attraction Has an Answer But it’s the answer God gives all of us.