Get With the Gospel Project

On Sunday we were looking to try and provoke the church to be inspired once again by the Gospel. We wanted people to remember that the Gospel is heart breaking, life staking, world shaking, no faking, disciple making truth that transforms lives. You can listen to the whole thing here but in amongst it we recognised that the biggest challenge that we face in speaking about Jesus to people is knowing where to take them to in God's Word. Over the past couple of years at Harvest we are repeatedly repeating some sentences to give clarity to people about what the Gospel is. Those who are regularly in the church will be familiar with:

Jesus died on a cross, in your place, for your sins.

Jesus lived the life you could not live, died the death you deserved to die, to buy for you the gift you could never afford.

Neither of these are particularly original but are now so ingrained in my head that I can't remember where I heard them first and from whom - regardless they are helpful.

So, as promised, here are some verses to help you explain the Gospel to people from God's Word.

Who is God?

• Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Isaiah 40: 28-29
• He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 1 Timothy 6: 15-16
• Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6: 7-8
• Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12: 28-29
• This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1 John 1: 5-6

What is sin and how does it affect us?

• Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Romans 1: 24-25
• For there is no distinction:for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... Romans 3: 23
• And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 2: 1-3

Who is Jesus and why did He come?

• She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1: 21
• He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1: 15-17
• For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5: 7-8
• The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 1 Timothy 1: 15
• He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high... Hebrews 1: 3

What is the cross and what does it achieve?

• But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2: 4-7
• He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1: 13-14
• And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2: 13-14
• He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2: 24-25
• For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3: 18

What must I do to be saved?

• Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2: 37-38
• I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2: 20

Over the next few weeks we are going to unpack each of these headings to give you as much assistance as we can in sharing Jesus with those God has placed around you.