Someone asked me a very simple question on our forum today
and, you know, I cannot remember it ever being asked on there before.
Yet it is so fundamental... so basic to all that we stand for here.
So I wrote a slightly longer answer than usual
and I felt it should be turned into a video.
While it was long for a forum post, it's pretty short for a video.
So please watch it, and share your thoughts at the end.
Oh yeah, and please subscribe, if you haven't already.
The question was: "What Is the gospel?"
Here is what I wrote:
That's a very good question.
There are various aspects to the gospel, but it all revolves around Jesus.
Some people focus just on his dying on the cross
and say that the gospel is that we can all be forgiven and live forever in heaven
because Jesus died on the cross.
That is quite true.
But they leave out everything that Jesus taught in the three and a half years that he spent preaching
before he died on the cross.
Some even go so far as to say that what Jesus taught before he died on the cross
should NOT be taken seriously by non-Jewish Christians.
They say it was only for Jews
and that it really is part of the Old Testament, or the "law".
But, when they do that, they give us a half-truth, which amounts to a lie.
They cheat themselves and everyone who listens to them
out of what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John called "the gospel".
The gospel, according to these four men, included all that Jesus did and said.
And when you listen to it, it becomes clear that he wants us to actually change the way we are living
and that his coming was not just about "going to heaven when we die".
Rather, he came to start heaven happening right here on Earth
if we would just live according to the principles that he taught.
Over and over Jesus spoke of "the kingdom of heaven"
(in stark contrast to the kingdom of Israel, or any other human empire).
This kingdom of heaven is a world where everyone concentrates on helping and loving each other
rather than everyone trying to make money for themselves, like happens in the world today.
This message has never filtered through to the institutional church
everyone still chases money, and teaches that the kingdom of heaven
is that pitiful little meeting that they have on Saturday or Sunday morning each week.
The full name of the "gospel" (according to Jesus) is "the gospel (or good news) of the kingdom of God".
We here on this channel are trying to introduce people to that message and to that part of Jesus' ministry.
His death on the cross is part of it
but only in that it earned him the right to give the fullness of this kingdom
in the form of eternal life, to whomever he chooses.
The religious world has been tricked into thinking that we can just "claim" that forgiveness for ourselves
by saying, "Hey, you know what? Jesus is my Saviour! Yeah, because I said so. I 'accepted' that."
But Jesus didn't teach that, and neither did any of his true followers.
Jesus only promised forgiveness and eternal life
to those who take up their cross and follow him on what he called "the narrow way" to heaven.
That narrow way is, to those who have trusted Jesus enough to try it
the most exciting and genuine life in this world.
It is the very purpose for which we were created.
What a shame that the whole world has pushed this real gospel aside
in favour of one that is false, shallow, and insipid.
It will not stand up to the light of God's judgment when Jesus returns.
We call this part of the gospel "the elephant in the Bible"
meaning that it is a most important and hugely significant part of the gospel
which is being stubbornly ignored everywhere in the church world today.
They simply refuse to address it.
On the screen now is a link to a video about it.
Please check it out, and contact us if you would like to become a part of this good news that Jesus preached.
God bless you. Thank you for listening.