Im going to do a quick 2 to 3 part blog on the gospel and it's power. This was laid on my heart to do while being here in India after seeing that the "repeating prayer" method is being used to declare people saved!
How is it that the Gospel can move one man to wade through an army of opposition to publicly identify with Christ in a deadly winter baptism, and yet in another man who confesses the same Gospel, it has no power to make even the most insignificant changes in his life? (washer)
My question to you is this has the gospel lost its power? The power to utterly and radically change a man from being a follower of darkness to a pursuer of righteousness. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all together, in its totality the most powerful message any man can proclaim and it need no strategy nor method to assist it. Or does it? I would argue to say it doesn't because it never has! What perfectly operating machine needs to be tuned?
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."
The gospel breaks the harden heart, it changes the corrupt man, it recreates the nature of a the sinful human, it saves the soul, it humbles the proud, it penetrates the depths of a blackened heart! Christ crucified Paul proclaimed! Christ crucified!
1 Corinthians 2: 1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
The gospel is inerrant, infallible, and sufficient because it is God breathed not man breathed! The gospel is living and active and it is sharper than any double edged sword! What man can prove it wrong or lessen its power?
2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."
Hebrews 4: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
When Christ speaks nations tremble, kings and rulers bow down, idols crumble, and the wicked fall at one swing of his sword. Oh how I am thankful for the good news of Jesus Christ and him alone.
To be continued!
