Good News

...separated to the gospel of God which He promised...concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Romans 1:3-4, NKJV

I think sometimes we lose focus of the gospel. We concentrate on good teaching and sound doctrine and effective communication skills. we want to lead people in experience and growth as believers. In church we direct our energy and resources to buildings and programs. And in all of the good stuff, I think it is sometimes easy to lose track of the right stuff--the gospel is really our reason for being! Everything else is secondary to that.

It is God's good news to His creation.

It is God's promise through His prophets.

It is God's message about His Son.

And if the gospel--the good news from God to creation--must be the central focus of our existence and efforts, then even more important is that Jesus must be the central focus of the gospel.

God help us if, in all of our preaching and teaching, we forget to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Nothing else matters. Without Christ, everything else is foolish and irrelevant. it's not about how we live, it's about who He is! He is everything! he provides the definition and the meaning for the gospel. He is the living Word, the spoken Word, the written Word.

And Jesus' place in the gospel--front and center--is not based (entirely) on what He did, bur rather on who he is.

He is the Son of God!

He is eternally existent with God, and as God.

He is the extension of God in physical form.

He is the body of God.

He is the representative and emissary of God, but He is still god Himself.

You can find Him on every page of the Book, in every story, every lesson, every event.

The gospel message, the message of salvation, is meaningless without Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

He wasn't merely a man; He was the Son of God, the only begotten, conceived by the power of God, delivered through a human womb, but born what He already was!