The Gospel
Share The Good News Boldly
April 30, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Acts 4:13
Bottom line: When we consistently hang out with Jesus and pray, we gain boldness to share the good news. Our success in sharing the good news (gospel) is not winning someone to Jesus. Our success is in actually sharing the good news. The person you share the gospel with may never put their faith in Jesus, but they can because they heard. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).
The Gospel's Forgiveness
April 2, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Matthew 9:1–7
Bottom line: I believe the bad news of my sin and the good news of the gospel. Jesus paid my debt so that I could be forgiven of my sin. The bad is news is our sin condemns us and separates us from God. The good news is Jesus died to pay for our sin and reconcile us to God.
The Gospel Defines My Identity
March 26, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Ephesians 2:1–10, 2 Corinthians 5:17
Bottom line: I am who God says that am. And who He says I am is determined by my faith in the Gospel message. Paul writing the Corinthians said that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation; the old things pass away and all things become new. One of the new things is a new identity. We are made alive in Christ, become a child of God, set free from the penalty of sin, and receive the mercy of God. To live out who we are in Christ we need to have faith in what God's Word says about who are in Christ. We need the love of other believers. The Christian experience is to be lived out in community. And we need to have the right confession about who we are in Christ.
The Gospel Wrecks Our Guilt
March 19, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • John 4:1–29
Bottom line: The Gospel is the good news of how Jesus wrecks my guilt and shame. The story of the woman at the well is a story of how Jesus seeks out the lost to wreck the sin, shame, and guilt that she lived with. Jesus is a seeking Savior. He is our sure solution to sin problem. When He saves us he gives us a new identity with which we can make new investments in the lives of others with a new found influence.
The Gospel's Passover Lamb
March 12, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:7
Bottom line: Jesus is our Passover Lamb, the Lion who willingly laid His life down so that we might be redeemed from sin. Just like how God’s judgment passed over every house of the Jews that had the blood of the lamb applied to the door posts and lintel, when we have the blood of Jesus applied to our hearts, the judgment of God passes over us. Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb. We apply his blood to the door posts and lintel of our hearts by putting our faith in Him. Every Jew in Egypt had to put the blood of the lamb on the door posts and lintel. If they did not do this as an act of faith, the first born in their home would have died in Egypt. If we don’t apply the blood of Jesus to our hearts we will die in our sin. The Passover remembers Israel’s redemption from Egyptian bondage, but it points to a greater redemption – the redemption of sinners from sin. And it is fulfilled by Jesus who is our true Passover Lamb. He is the One whom John said is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
Changed By The Gospel Of Grace
March 5, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • John 5:1–18
Bottom line: Only God's grace can change us and give us true life. The central question of the gospel message is, "Do you want to change?" This question is a question of desire not a question of ability. In John 5, Jesus asked the man who laid impotent for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda if he wanted to change. The man answered, "I can't." He answered the question speaking of his inability. Jesus wanted to know his desire. The whole point of John 5 and the healing of the impotent man is that we cannot by our self effort change ourselves spiritually any more than the impotent man could change himself physically. Seeking to change ourselves spiritually by self effort to make ourselves righteous with God is legalism. We can only be changed and made righteous with God by His grace. That is what the gospel (the good news) is all about. It's not about the "do" of you. It's about the "who" of Jesus. He is the one who makes us whole, well, righteous, and gives us life eternal.
The Gospel's Light
February 26, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • John 9:1–7
Bottom line: I see the light when Jesus comes into sight. I receive the light of life when I believe in Jesus (the Son of God) as Savior. The story of the healing of the blind man in John 9 is an illustration of how Jesus is the one who gives the ability to see spiritually and that He is the light of the world. The blind man was given physical sight, but he also gained spiritual sight. His understanding of who Jesus was went from simply being a man named to Jesus to a prophet to a man of God to the Son of God. Once he believed that Jesus was the Son of God, he gained eternal life. The whole point of John's gospel was that his readers might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that by believing they would have eternal life. Jesus is the Light of the World. We can receive Him as the Light of Life when we trust Him to be the Son of God, our Savior.
God's Promises For Stewarding The Gospel
February 19, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Acts 1:8
Bottom line: We can steward the gospel because we have His promises of His power, of success, and of reward. Jesus promised us His presence and power through the Holy Spirit. Because we have access to His power to flow in and through us, we should be motivated to be a faithful witness for Jesus. We also have the example of the early church's successes. If they did it, we can do it too. Their successes should motivate us to be faithful witnesses for Jesus. But there is another promise we have been given, and that is the promise of reward. God seeks to positively motivate us with the understanding that witnessing and being engaged in winning the lost to Jesus will be rewarded. Paul mentions the "soul winners" crown or the "crown of rejoicing" as being those who we have a part in winning to Jesus.
Stewarding The Gospel
February 12, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Colossians 4:3–6
Bottom line: How we steward the gospel message that has been entrusted to us can make all the difference in whether those in our world do or do not trust Jesus as Savior. Paul writes to the Colossians and tells of four things that must be stewarded wisely so that those who are lost may know the penalty of sin, the price of sin, the payment for salvation, and the present of salvation. Those four things are our prayers, our opportunities to share, our lives (i.e. our saltiness and brightness), and our speech.