The Gospel : In Bullet Points

First things first, my intention is not to offend anyone with this short summary of what Christianity is all about...my intention is to simply put it out there in a straightforward way as a starting point for people who have not got a clue what it's about.

The reason being..I wonder if people don't like the gospel (good news) because they don't hear or see it. If all they hear and see is judgement, hate and a list of rules... they are not going to want to know more, they're going to run in the opposite direction, and so they should...none of that sounds like good news to me either.

So, for those of you reading this that have never really heard what Christianity is all about, this is for you.

Here goes:

• Christianity in one word is probably best described as forgiveness. We believe that Jesus died for us, thereby paying the price for the sins of each and every one of us (past, present and future) and in exchange giving us His perfection and righteousness (lack of sin). 《1 Peter 2.24》
• We believe that in dying for us Jesus, opened up the way for us to have a purposeful, loving relationship with God the father and therefore live life through Him, and as a result live better.

That's pretty much it. The bible is all about the situation we were in before Christ came to earth (in need of forgiveness), what happened when He came to earth (paid the penalty for our sin and brought forgiveness), and the new situation we can be in if we choose to accept Him in our lives (living a supernatural life -beyond natural, realer, deeper and more vibrant than what we see and do day-to-day).

I could go on..but I wanted to keep this short and sweet. The gospel is that Jesus died to set us free from lives full of sin and all that go with them and enable us to live a life of righteousness with Him, our closest, most trustworthy and faithful friend; leading the way.

The Fear of Stepping Out

On Sunday in church, a man called Jeremy stood up to tell us about two occasions when he had stepped out in faith and spoken to people. He told us of how when he had been obedient to God and talked to people or prayed with them God had moved in a big way. The statement that he said that really stuck with me was this:

"When we pray for people we give God the opportunity to move."

I think too often we act as if praying for people and talking to people is about us. At least, this has definitely been the case for myself. So many times I've thought, 'but what if they laugh?' or 'but what if nothing happens right now and it's really embarrassing?'

Stepping out in faith is not about any of us. Honestly, whether or not we are embarrassed is irrelevant. We need to stop being afraid of talking to others about Jesus, and start being happy to do so. Look for opportunities. Share with everyone as you feel prompted. The good news of Jesus was not given to us to be hidden in small boxes, and glimpsed every now and then. It was given to be shared.

At the end of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul asks them to pray for him that he might '...open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel' [Ephesians 6.19]. That is my prayer for each and every one of us, that we will not shy away from sharing the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection with others, but we will rush to do so, willing to share with others the blessings we have received.

God bless