“Connecting people to the FAMILY of God.”
The gospel is called the “good news.”
The gospel is that God himself has come to rescue and restore creation in and through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. We do not have to work to earn relationship from God. Jesus earned it for us and we are called to rest in his work. This is the difference between the Gospel and Religion. Religion says work, Jesus says rest.
We talk a great deal about the Gospel as a story and a framework; we sum it up like this:
Creation
– We have been created to bear the image of God and to delight in relationship with him
Fall
– Sin entered the world and infected everything, including our relationship with God
Redemption
– God promised a rescuer to reverse the curse of sin, and everything in scripture is systematically put together to point us to that rescuer-- Jesus.
Restoration
– Even though the curse is reversed, sin still exists in the world. Jesus has promised that he will return to restore everything back to perfection like it was in the beginning.
In this case, the good news is that God sent his Son to redeem the world from the effects of sin and create a new humanity. Eventually the whole world will be renewed and restored to the way God originally created it. Rebellion, death, decay, injustice, and suffering will all be removed. When everything is restored, God will be seen by all for who he truly is and He will be glorified. (Ephesians 2:10,14-22; 2 Corinthians 5:15-21; Revelation 21)
How does this happen? Jesus helped clarify how we accomplish the purpose of the gospel by giving us his mission: “Go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19). As the arts, industry, politics, families, and other areas of culture are being filled with Jesus’ disciples bringing about his gospel restoration, the earth is being filled with his glory! The gospel is not just about my individual happiness or God’s plan for my life; it is about God’s plan for the world.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Good News!
When we repent (change the way we think) of our sin and receive the new life that Jesus has offered us, we begin a journey of restoration inside and out. And not just for us-- but for the entire world! This does not mean that we have it all figured out. It means that we are willing to learn together exactly how Jesus has set us free. WE REST IN HIS FINISHED WORK, NOT OUR OWN.