Skip to main content

Boundless Gospel



            While celebrating our 75th Anniversary, our church is going back to the basics remembering what we have been about all these years.  Our values as a church have never changed.  The basic value that caused a group of people to gather together and start a church 75 years ago was inspired from recognizing the boundless gospel.  The boundless gospel is the beginning of every real Christian church.  Our church founders wanted to spread the gospel to a section of Dallas where the gospel could reach more people.
            As I have I have been reflecting on and teaching this value, I realized how easy it is to begin with the boundless gospel and then think we understand it and move on to deeper things.  The truth is that the boundless Gospel can never be comprehended—it is truly boundless.  It is so amazing, so incredible that I could contemplate it every day of my life and never fully understand the ramifications of this boundless gospel on my own nor be able to see its true impact on the world.
            Most of the time we conceive of the gospel as something we accept once, get baptized and move on to bigger things.  The Gospel is and always will be the bigger thing.  Our moving on is recognizing that the Gospel is biggest, greatest, and the most reasonable way to transform a fallen world to an extent more than we can ever envision. 
            The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, was spoken by Jesus in a conversation with Nicodemus, a wise scholar of Hebrew Scriptures.  Jesus explained: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  I love this explanation of this verse:
GOD
the greatest Lover
SO LOVED
the greatest degree
THE WORLD
the greatest number
THAT HE GAVE
the greatest act
HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
the greatest Gift
THAT WHOSOEVER
the greatest invitation
BELIEVETH
the greatest simplicity
IN HIM
the greatest Person
SHOULD NOT PERISH
the greatest deliverance
BUT
the greatest difference
HAVE
the greatest certainty
EVERLASTING LIFE
the greatest possession (http://www.crossway.org/tracts/the-greatest-gift-2866/)
            I hate to count the number of days that I have lived my life without considering the boundless gospel.  A life without the boundless gospel is not worth living.
Copyright © 2014.  Deborah R Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...
2 comments
Read more

The Purpose of Suffering

    It’s not that I haven’t faced my own degree of personal suffering. It isn’t that I am numb to the vast array of suffering that is taking place all over the world at this very moment in time. It is that I remain confident in the grandeur of God’s goodness even as the reality of the suffering in this world is too much for my heart to bear. I believe that no degree of suffering is ignored by the loving God who created a universe in which suffering was never intended to exist. If I could fully take all the suffering of this world, my heart and soul would never survive. The weight of suffering is too heavy for me. Yet, I know He knows every degree of suffering taking place even in this moment. God alone has the capacity to face the reality of the suffering of His entire creation. Beyond that, I know He is working to end the suffering of this world. So then, you may ask , Why ? My only answer is to tell you to look to God. See His response to suffering. He has tak...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bliss of Knowing You are Loved by God

            There is bliss of knowing that you are loved by a real and intimate God.   I have felt that bliss. I don’t experience it all the time and sometimes it takes me a while to notice how much I miss it.   Often I come back to my senses when I read the spiritual writings of one who is explaining how great God is and I am reminded how good He is to me.               I suppose the saints stayed more connected to the bliss of God on a regular basis and missed it far less than me.   I wish I knew their secret; all I can tell you is that it is a cycle for me to find myself unaware of God for a time.   It is often a struggle to reconnect each day. What brought me to my senses recently was a huge blessing He sent my way.   This good thing literally came to me directly from the hand of God.   I didn’t even consider sharing the joy I was ...
Post a Comment
Read more