Not Ashamed of the Gospel First B Jackson 2016-01-31 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning. Good morning. I'm so excited to be here. Amen? Amen. Amen. We are here to worship God. Amen? Amen. Can I hear an amen? Amen? Amen. Amen. Listen now, please, and let's worship God. My desire this morning is that in this hour, we wanna worship God and fill the presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen? Amen. If you know the songs, sing. If you don't, just sing. And if you don't, just close your eyes and worship God. Amen. Oh, see, I'm not ready. See, that's that's Florin. Amen. Amen. I love it. Yesterday, I was on the snorkeling, trying to snowboard and listening to the song, and I I was so blessed. I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart, I felt God's presence right there with me. And then I was thinking, okay, when you when you think about heaven, right, you think about lion, touching a lion or something like that. Or we're not gonna be sick or something. But then I said, God, we need to snowboard in heaven. I mean, it's it's I mean, it's gotta be snow. There's no way we don't and I felt so blessed. And when you look at the snow king and you see the the beautiful creation, I imagine that my God, it's an awesome God. Amen? Amen. Can you sing this song one more time, please? Sure, man. Yes. Let's do it one more time. Yes. Yes. Amen. Amen. Thank you for singing. I love it. I love to worship God. I love this. I'm not here to perform. I'm here to sing and worship my savior. Amen? Amen. You deserve the glory. Amen. Jesus deserve the glory. You deserve the glory and the Lord we lift our hands in worship as we praise your holy name you deserve the glory you do miracles so great there is no one else like you there is no one else like you I love it. You deserve the glory and the honor lord we lift our hands in worship as we praise your holy name you deserve the glory and the honor lord we lift our hands in worship as we praise your holy name for you are great. You do miracles so great. There is no one else like you. There is no one else like you. For you are great. You do miracles so great. There is no one else like you there is no one else like you Amen. Amen. Alright, y'all can have a seat. Y'all, if you don't know Florine from here or from Smith, that's Florine Eon. Florine Eon. There you go. Not Ion. There we go. And he actually just went on as elder. If you weren't here for the congregational meeting a cup couple of weeks ago, he's one of our new elders coming on and he doesn't feel old enough to be. He have a white hair. That's what. He doesn't feel old enough to be an elder but he is. So, connect hour happens between services. I'm glad I mentioned it last week. I've been kinda laying off lately but I'm glad I mentioned it last week. I met several people I've never met before. So, if you wanna get to know folks you've never met before, connect with them at Connect Hour between services. So, that'll happen about ten today. Awana happens on Monday nights, every Monday night, right in here in this room, starting off at least at six during Monday nights at first B, happening at six on the other end of the church. Potluck tomorrow. So, if you need to, go grab something from the grocery store, whatever. Go get it and bring it on. Potluck. First, first Monday of every month, we do that, right? Men's fraternity happens on Wednesday mornings at 6AM. They have breakfast here. A lot of food going on. 07:30 is not an eating meeting but seven: 3zero am, Wednesday morning, every Wednesday morning, we have a prayer meeting. Usually, it's in my office. The ladies Bible study this week is Wednesday at 11:45. This is the third out of about nine sessions. It's still fine to catch up if you want to. Children of the day, a study of first and second Thessalonians. Wednesday evening, Brad Cummins and Allen Galbreath are still doing the Overcoming Genesis Phobia class and I've talked to several of you this morning that enjoyed that. The two topics this week that Brad will be covering are the Earth's magnetic field and the Big Bang Distant Starlight in Time kind of answers, reasonable answers to those questions. So, if you want to see that, come on. Wednesday night, 06:30. Precept Bible studies are on Thursdays at nine. Middle schoolers, Thursdays at 06:30. I'm going through all of em. High school breakfast. This happens on Friday mornings at 07:30 in the morning. And that's fun. It's just a fun time. And today, this is kind of a late announcement which is par for the course. We lived in Mexico for seven years. I'm announcing right now. Hey, we're having lunch after church today for the Spanish service. We just decided that we're going to do that the last Sunday of each month. This is the fifth Sunday of this month and so the last Sunday of this of every month, we're going to do Mexican feast kind of. Now, this is the first one. Y'all had no notice whatsoever. If you don't have lunch plans and you want to come on, come on. We'll share whatever with whomever show, whoever shows up, whomever shows up. So, there we go. Sharing a meal. 12:30 in the fellowship halls where we do that service and usually there is music and a message but today, there will be meal music and a message And first beat talent show. Now this got a little bit ridiculous last week. The advertisement for it. It's gonna be a little bit ridiculous, I hope. So I I'm afraid. Hi. My name is Rinsey Reno. I'm from Jackson, Wyoming, and I'm here to audition. And just for you all, I've written my own song. You wouldn't. Where do you sing? I don't know. Like, pretty much everywhere. Come on. And I've even been told that I'm so good. By who? I don't know. Like, Ray McDaniel. Okay. Well, who Someone's just lost his job. Well, I can't control that. So well, what'd you think? It was painful. I couldn't recognize the song. For the single person on planet Earth who would ever pay to hear you sing. Agree to disagree. There was absolutely nothing redeeming in it other than the fact that we stopped it early. So give it to me straight. It was honestly it was torture. Bad news is we're running out of time. The good news is I'm the only one who's gonna be talking, and I think words are unnecessary but I wanna give you a standing ovation. That's our that's our youth leader and our tech guy right there, Renzi. So alright. So would you get up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with the Gypsy song. Alright. Let's worship God again. Amen? This is my desire to honor you. Lord, with all my heart, I worship you. I worship you amen all I have within I give you praise all that I adore is in you let's sing together amen Lord, I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I leave for you alone. Every breath that I think, every moment I'm away. Lord, have your way with me. I you. Amen. Amen. I'm so thankful for, pastor Carl, pastor Ray. They know that sometimes I'm a mess, but still they are here for me to always to help me, to support me. May God bless you for your ministry, and I'm happy that I have a family right here. We are a family in Jesus' name. Amen? Amen. Lord, I come to you. Oh, I love this song, honestly. When I was so down, I mean, down at the bottom, this song helped me to look up at my savior. And I'm his son no matter where I am. I'm paid by the blood of Jesus Christ. And my name is written in the book of life. Amen. Will be stripped away by the power of your your side. Hallelujah. And as I wait, I'll rise limelight the year, and I will serve with you. Your spirit lives beyond in the power of your life. Lord, unveil my eyes. Your And as I wait, I'll rise up my vigil, and I will soar with you. Your spirit leads me on in the power of your life. Let's sing that one more time. Isn't that a beautiful song, honestly? Even if you don't know the melody, it's still an awesome song. When I was choosing the songs, I was thinking about God's presence. And as Christians, as sons of God, we need to be aware that Holy Spirit, God's presence is in us right there. It the the beautiful thing is it doesn't matter where we are. If it's with there and there and there, God is always there with us. Sometimes because it can be difficult, it's hard to see it, but he's right there. And I felt it in my life when I was there, when I was there, when I was there. God's love never ever, never, no matter what you do, honestly, even how far you go, God's love is always the same. Amen. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Amen? I want to see you. I want to see you. Hallelujah. Amen. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. I I feel him. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of to holy holy holy holy holy holy I want to see you. There are so many ways that we can see God. Sorry. I'm not gonna preach. I promise. But when I look at my little ones, at Brianna, Andrea, and Melissa, I see God right there. And also when I snowboard and I see this beautiful mountains right here, I see God right there. It's all about to indeed, to open our eyes because he's available. He's right here. We just in the Holy Spirit, we can see God. Amen. God, thank you for Florine. I thank you for for his heart after you, lord. I thank you for picking him back up when he was down low and I thank you for offering that to all of us, lord. I also thank you that lord when we do acknowledge you, and we sense your presence in those special ways that bring us closer lord and we realize that we actually we have access all the time. God, I thank you for what you bless us with and we ask if you would, lord, accept these offerings that we're given right now and use em to advance your kingdom. Lord, your good gospel, your message of love and forgiveness that's available. Would you take it to the ends of the earth using resources. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. It's time for the Peak Children's Church to start up. Did anybody complain about that, Renzi? Did anybody complain about this to get you up and do it? Anybody want em open? Yes. I'm not a people pleaser but I could see the glum looks on faces. So, oop, wrong ones. How about that? How about that? Good. Is that better? Okay. Thank you, Renzy. That was nice. The gospel. We throw this around all the time and I throw it around a lot and Carl has mentioned it quite a bit. We we do that, you know. Actually, Paul does it a lot too. How many is Paul's name and Carl's name up a lot? For some reason, I think that's good but Paul has already mentioned the gospel multiple times in this. He says, he's a servant, a slave of Jesus Christ and he mentions it's in the gospel. He says it over and over and I got to thinking this week, if y'all are here or if there are people here with you that that don't really know what the gospel is and we just throw it out there. It's meaningless to them. Now, we know that it's used as an adjective. Oh, that's the gospel truth and we know that means though it's really really true and it's you know, an impact statement kinda but if you don't know what the gospel is, I I thought, well, Imma look up succinct statements of the gospel. I know several of em scripturally, you know, one verse, maybe two verses, succinct statements of the gospel. So, I Google search just like y'all do and I I Googled it, succinct statements and I came up with an an essay that was just a kind of a short essay about it was actually from a Christian Century Magazine. The Christian Century Magazine is not the bastion of conservative thinking. I promise. But they had an article that was seven of the gospel in seven words was the name of the articles. I read it and I thought it was pretty good. My professor in college never used the word gospel. The president of our university, he almost never used it. If he did, he clarified that this what he meant. When he was going along in a sentence where I might normally say the gospel or gospel, he'd go, God's message of love and forgiveness. Sometimes, he'd say, God's message of love and forgiveness available through Christ or in Christ. God's message of love and forgiveness and I, y'all heard me say that a lot because that's it. I believe that God is love and that he sent Jesus so that we can be forgiven. So, God's message of love and forgiveness is a nice succinct statement. You know, one, two, three, four, five, six words. It's not bad, you know. So, I was looking at this article and they had asked all their readers of the Christian Century Magazine to send in succinct statements of the gospel. They chose seven words or less, they said. It started because two guys were having a conversations. Campbell and East were the two guys. Will Campbell is one of them and East looks at him, not a believer, doesn't really know anything about it and you know, as much as an American can know nothing about it. He says, so tell me, what is the Christian message just like in 10 words or less? Elevator talk. Don't give me the long version. Just let me know what it is. And so, Campbell said, this, and this is David Heim wrote this article. We're all but God loves us anyway. That was his statement and I thought, well, that's pretty good and of course, that draws conversation. We're all but God loves us anyway. Will Campbell said that. So, that started the idea in this guy's mind. He put it in his biography or somebody's biography. So, one of the readers, Martin E. Marty, wrote God through Jesus Christ welcomes you anyhow. The anyhow points to sin. It points to the mercy of God, the anyhow but it's it's not terribly explicit but you got 10 words or less, right? In fact, in this case, it was supposed to be seven words. So, this one was seven. Donald Shriver says, divinely persistent, God really loves us. That's true. Divinely persistent, God really loves us. Now, we're getting to that moment in Romans where he mentions a reprobate mind where he turns us over but divinely persistent, God really loves. He really does. Beverly Roberts, Govinta. In Christ, God's yes defeats our no. That one worries me a little bit. It is speaking though of the grace of God. They're trying to make grace the central message of the Bible and I think that that's a good thing to draw out. We are the church of infinite chances, Mary Carr says and Carr was the only one that squeezed in a mention of the church which I like. That's great. I like the church. Capital C Church of Infinite Chances and she's they said, there's no second chance without a church to offer it because it's the body of Christ that grows the body of Christ, right? But seven words is limiting and that one kind of irritates me too quite honestly. I can't I can look at it and I kind of bristle. This one's scriptural. He led captivity captive. Now, you gotta have context to know who he is. You gotta know what the captivity is all about. This one, the wall of hostility has come down. This is all, it's good news. This is the good news part but that one, hostility points to the bad news. If y'all been reading along in Romans or if you're a little ahead of me, you know we're gonna have a couple of chapters of bad news coming up soon, okay? So, Paul takes 16 chapters over Romans to talk about and it is the whole thing about is about God's gospel, the good news. The wall of hostilities come down. Now, that's adapting Ephesians two fourteen and eighteen. It is true but it doesn't quite get everything in there. God was in Christ reconciling the world. Amen. Lemon Santa wrote that as second Corinthians five nineteen. He didn't even really adapt it. That's just it. God was in Christ reconciling the world. Bill McKibben picks out, love your neighbor as yourself. Wait a second. No, that's the outworking of the gospel but that's not the gospel. I said that it was and if not that it's just liberal theologians that go this way but there was a split early in the nineteen hundreds where it was a false choice of either taking proclamation of the gospel or the social gospel and this guy's underpinning kind of comes out right here. We all believe that this is why we should live but this is not the gospel. Just working it out is not the gospel by itself but it's good. It's really really good. It definitely tells where you're coming from and I like that this is where he wants to put his emphasis because it makes a difference but you gotta give em something. These are conversation starters, right? We are all but God loves us anyway. Starts a conversation and that one, quite honestly, it's it's as hard as it is to do. It's tried. Everybody's heard it before. Doesn't really start the conversation. Yeah, yeah. Christ, humanity, occasions, our divinity. That one's irritating. This one is a messianic Jew. Israel's God's bodied love. So, the incarnation of Christ continues world making. I wasn't mad at these when I wrote these down yesterday. I thought, he said, he used only six words because he rested on the seventh, messianic Jew. I like that one. We live by grace. That's really good. That's a really good statement for Christians. We live by grace. It doesn't explain who bought that for us to give us the grace. Dutton. But it does start a conversation especially if you're living it out. So, these are succinct statements supposedly of the gospel from folks that read that magazine and I I like them. I love the article. I thought it was really really good. We get to Romans one eight through 17 and these are Paul's kind of opening remarks still. He's given us, you know, who he is, recipients, so sender, recipients, and then there was all that in there about the gospel. Last week, we talked about. He's continuing his opening opening remarks here and he's talking to them specifically in Rome at the time and he says, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. This is a new American standard version of the Bible. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ. So, he's not thanking them for their faithfulness. He's not thanking them for their faith. He's thanking God. For their faith which is great. Christ said, I'll build my church and he's spreading it out and he does it through willing obedient Christians. Spreading the gospel. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith. Now, their faith is a faith worth having because it was faith in Jesus Christ. For God, whom I serve, in my spirit, in the preaching of the gospel of his son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. Think he's bubbling over right here? It sounds like he's really really bubbling over but he's heard about how awesome God has been in Rome. It's a big, sinful city center of the world at the time and he's hearing great things that are happening in Rome. So great. Of movement like I said last week that the Christian leaders were all kicked out of town because they thought they could stop it. The Jewish Christian leaders especially. Kicked out of town and the word of God continued to grow, continued to grow. For God, whom I serve and my spirit and the preaching of the gospel of his son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. Now, he'd never been there before but he was thankful that God was growing the church and advancing the gospel through them. The gospel. It keeps coming up and it's going to keep on coming up. So, God's message of love and forgiveness. God's message of love and forgiveness. From Bill Jones or we're all but he loves us anyway. Evangelizing. Y'all remember when I used to talk a lot about evangelism, establishing, equipping, extending. When I first got here, I tried to say this is the ministry multiplication cycle. Paul mentions evangelizing there. He'll mention establishing in a minute. The preaching of the gospel of his son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. Always in my prayers, making request. If perhaps now, finally, at the last, by the will of God, I may succeed in coming to you. He's been struggling to get there and y'all seen his road has been a hard road as he goes. For I long to see you very very deep word from the deepest pit of his emotions. For I long to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established. Now, the whole reason for his writing Romans is to lay out his theology, right? He's laying it out what the gospel is, not exactly the irreducible minimum. These other guys are trying to do it in 10 words. Paul does it in 16 chapters. It's the longest book in the New Testament outside of the gospels but he's longing to see them so that he may impart and share some spiritual gift with them that you may be established. So, that's the establishing. Evangelizing and establishing. This was that ministry multiplication cycle that I talked so much about when I first got here. I still believe it. It's kind of built in to all of our stuff that we do here. In order for ministry to multiply, there's gotta be somebody that's bringing people or something that's to bring new people into the faith. So, evangelism, that is the gospel. God's message of love and forgiveness. It's available for everybody. The establishing identification with Jesus and then teaching and we do a lot of that. That's what we do every Sunday and you know, Monday night and Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon. Equipping, mobilizing, preparing, selecting them to go out and then extending the church and we are very actively involved in outreach too. So, just there it is. Evangelize, establish, equip, and extend. If you go through the gospels and acts, that's what you see happening. Along to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you. So, he's not. So, high and mighty that he feels like he's going to go in there and teach them a thing or two. He's never met him before. He says, I want to be there. I want to share a spiritual gift with you. I want to help that you might be established because I do know it firsthand. I really do but he says, that we might be encouraged together with you while I'm among you. Each of us by the others faith, both yours and mine. So, he's ready to learn. He's ready to see what's going on. I like that and we're getting to verse 16 is where I want to spend most of the time today. 13, I do not want you to be unaware brothers and sisters, brethren that I often have planned to come to you and I have been prevented so far so that I may obtain some fruit also among you even as among the rest of the Gentiles. He is so zealous for God's work. He wants to go everywhere. He wants to be everywhere. He's longing for Spain. He's going to Rome. He's setting up a trip to Rome. I mean, to Spain going through Rome. He's planning it out. He really wants to spread this to the ends of the earth. That I may obtain some fruit among you also even as among the rest of the Gentiles and he's been rolling towards that. Now, we know the rest of the story. Those of who's who've read Acts knows that when he finally gets to Rome, he's in chains. He's gonna be a prisoner when he gets there. Does some of his most effective writing from prison there. So, the fruit is still lasting. Philippians, Ephesians, oh my goodness. I'm under obligation. Literally, he says, I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians. Now, he says, that I may obtain some fruit among you also even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I'm under obligation. I'm a debtor both to Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. You can take this one or two ways. For one, you could take it and say, I have been trained up by my buddies in Tarsus and the ways of the Greeks and you know, he understands the barbarians. He's been around him and the Jews too, wise and foolish or you could take it and say, I have this message, this good news, this gospel, and I'm indebted because God has given it to me and given me the charge to spread it out. I'm indebted to give it to everybody, to Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise. Romans one fourteen in the New Living says, for I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and the uneducated alike. I'm under obligation. I'm a debtor both the Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So, for my part, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Now, the gospel comes up again. It keeps on coming up. The good news, the good news of the gospel. So, this sixteen and seventeen, James Montgomery Boyce calls the theme of the letter. A lot of people call this the theme of the letter. Romans one sixteen and seventeen. He's been building up to it and saying, I wanna preach the gospel to you right here. I can't wait to get there to preach the gospel to you, the good news, the way I know it. The truth. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel comes up again. The good news. I'm not ashamed of it for it's the power of God for salvation or unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God, for salvation, everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also the Greek. It sounds a lot like this, doesn't it? For the message of the cross, it's foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved. It's the power of God. It's the power unto salvation. The message of the cross is what I've been calling it since. I don't know when. When we were in first Corinthians one eighteen. I started using this slide, the message of the cross. This is the dividing line. There are really two types of people. There are those who are perishing and those who are being saved. We all start on the those who are perishing side. Everyone of us starts on that side. The message of the cross is that there's a way out of that and to be one of those who's being saved. It's foolishness to those who are perishing and it's the power of God. So, from scripture, succinct statements of the gospel. In the gospels, the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. That's Jesus and he is saying that he came to accomplish something. What was it? To ransom those who are perishing and bring em into the camp of those who are being saved. He gave his life as a ransom for many. Substitutionary atonement right there. It's a sync statement. More than seven words but still a sentence, okay? The gospel. We've just been through second Corinthians. For our sake, Christians, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That's a succinct statement of the gospel. Second Corinthians eight nine, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor. So that you may by his poverty become rich. Amen. Not 10 words but it's short. It's something that you can memorize. It is absolutely true. First Timothy one fifteen, this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. That's a good one. You can shrink that one down to that. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's good news. We are all sinners. We'll get to that in Romans three. First John four ten, and this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. If you understand propitiation, that's an excellent one. Fantastic. Might not be elevator talk but it's really really good. He paid the payment for our sins. Are there any succinct statements in Romans like this? Oh my goodness. Romans five eight, God shows his love for us and that while we're we're still sinners, Christ died for us. Amen. He took the initiative. He reached out when you didn't want him, okay? When you were still sinning against him before that even Christ died for us. The wages of sin is death. Be sure, that's the bad news but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord. Amen. Romans eight one, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things. There it is right there. If you had to shrink it down to my word limit, maybe that last one doesn't hit 10. There are those. There are lots of em. They're all over the Bible. When you're reading, if you see one, memorize it. Memorize that short little section that says, wow, that's the gospel in one place at one time. That's the good news. I like when it includes the bad news. Quite honestly, because it's nowadays, it's not a given that everybody knows that. It used to be that everybody kinda knew it. Actually, next week, we'll maybe two weeks from now. We'll see. The Roman says, everybody does kinda know that. They know it intrinsically. Conscience tells us natural revelation tells us. Romans one sixteen, Paul says, he's not ashamed of the gospel. It might sound like foolishness to Greeks, might sound like foolishness to barbarians, might sound like foolishness to the Roman elite but those are the ones who are perishing. I'm not ashamed of it. I know it might sound silly people but this is the truth. The gospel is God loves us. Amen. And he wants to forgive us. We need to be forgiven. Whoo. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The Jew first and also the Greek. So, here we are back to the message of the cross and I changed a little bit. The gospel message of the cross, okay? And added to it, the power of God for salvation because that's what this verse 16 says, the gospel is the power of God unto or for in the new new American standard unto salvation towards salvation for all who believe. To everyone who believes. So, there it is. We're adding to it a little bit but it's all scriptural. It's all true. It's right there. He doesn't say anything as much in that verse about the bad news but it's coming. Trust me, okay? Next week, we're going to talk about one seventeen and then probably just that one verse next week, one seventeen and then we're gonna go into an extended passage about the bad news. Come on back. Please. This is good stuff. It's not 10 words. It's not seven words. It's 16 straight chapters of the most undiluted theology in the New Testament and it matters. It makes a difference. So, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Now, for everyone of you who believes, every single one of you who believes, what is the gospel? Y'all don't shout it out. If you wanna shout it out, shout it out but it's gonna be muddled. I want you to write it down. I want you to do it in 10 words or less. I will give you grace if it's under a sentence, okay? Use 15 or 20 if you need to. If it's one sentence, the gospel in one sentence by next week. I want you to write it down. I want you to bring it in, okay? I'm serious. Might even have you drop em in the offering plate. Who knows? Okay? Seriously, everyone of you here who believes, I want you to write down what the gospel is in a succinct a statement as you can. One sentence. I was struck this week by a quote. CS Lewis said and I'm I'm going to kind of butcher it. I don't have it in front of me but he said, if you cannot express what you have to say in a way that anyone can understand it, either you don't understand it or you don't believe it. If you can't express what you're saying to so that anyone can understand it, either you don't understand or you don't believe it. So, I believe that y'all are believers but I wanna hear what it is you believe. And the main reason for doing that, I see some of you writing already. This is great. Please bring it in. You're gonna forget. I will remind you. I'll get Jenny to send out an Email. Please try to remember this because it makes a huge difference and I'll give you a heads up as to why. For in it, 17 says, the gospel. For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. If you don't understand it, how's God going to reveal his righteousness to this community, to your friends? If you don't understand what it is that you believe. Boiling it down into one sentence really helps. Y'all been through the classes where you have to do a mission statement. Has anybody been through that? Where you have to do a mission statement? The mission statement is the gospel. That's our message. The message of the cross is our message. We don't have anything else. I mean, yeah, there's peace and joy and all that stuff but that's on the other side of the message of the cross, right? So, in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. That is as written, the righteous man shall live by faith. Now, if you read that, that part right there is what we're going to cover next week and I want you to know what it is you believe. I want you have it written in front of you. Now, all of those guys, I started off and I said it was kind of not a conservative bastion to the Christian century that it was sometimes somewhat liberal theologians that were there but they were all shooting for the gospel and they're hitting really really close to the mark. Now, if the conservative thinkers hit just as close to the mark and that's what we're trying to do is hit the center of the gospel right on it, the center of it. If we hit just as close to the mark, we're much closer than we have been. Over the years, the social gospel and the priority proclamation have divided but nowadays, we're closer than we've been in a long, long, long, long time. So, let's write down what we believe, bring it back. I know there are visitors here. Take it to your church. Give it to your pastor. This is what I believe the gospel is, okay? For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith, as it is written, the righteous man should live by faith. If you live out what it is that you've written on that piece of paper, it'll make a huge difference in this community and in this world. So, amen. That's the end. No invitation. No. Just kidding. Come on up. Florine, would you come on up? And we're gonna sing whatever comes up on the screen. Change my heart, oh God. I'm so thankful that you took your time to come to the church. Amen? This is a good place. I love this place. Thank you, Kevin, for being here. Change my heart oh God make it ever true. Change my heart oh God, may I be like you. Change my heart, oh God, make it ever through. Change my heart, oh God, may I be like you you are the father I am the clay mold me and this is what I bring. Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever through. Change my heart, oh God. Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever through. Change my heart, oh God. May I be like Amen. Amen. So, I have the benediction slide. I was looking up succinct statements of the gospel, right? There's one from Revelation. So, this is still future tense. Worthy are you and this is talking to Jesus. Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you. It's all about Jesus. We're slain and by your blood, Jesus, you ransom people for God from every tribe and every language, every people, and every nation. Dear Lord, would you take us into every tribe, tongue, and nation starting right here. Amen. Amen.