Saturday, April 16, 2016

The Good News is Not Shallow




Today is a day in which I long to know that the gospel is not merely story telling to make someone religious, but good news to the souls of people who do not even want the good news today.

It seems to me that I have such a narrow, law based view of the gospel, trying to "simplify" it down to a formula to use "on people." What if the gospel really is the heart of God and the power of God expressed to people for them to accept or reject?

In his book, Creating a Missional Culture, JR Woodword asks some interesting questions about the heart and the nature of being a gospel story-teller... (or an evangelist, whichever you prefer):


  • What does it mean to be the church that lives under the reign of God?
  • If God's reign were to be perfectly realized in this neighborhood, what would be different?
  • What are the kinds of idols in our neighborhood that need to be unmasked? (This makes me think of Acts 17: 16-17; 1 Corinthians 14:25)
  • What rhythms of life and what community happenings might challenge these idols and express the kingdom?
  • How do we call others to receive and enter into the kingdom of God so that they might join us in representing God's reign in our neighborhood?

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:42-44 ESV)

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