Y'all Know the Gospel

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened Romans 1:16-17 the week after giving the congregation a homework assignment: define the gospel in ten words or less. The response was larger than he expected, and this message was built almost entirely from what people sent in. Verse 17 closed the sermon with a challenge about what it means to live out what you know. The assignment came out of verse 16, "For I am not ashamed of...

Read together

1. Romans 1:16 theme verse of the letter, Paul says he is not ashamed of the gospel, the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes
2. Romans 1:17 righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, the righteous shall live by faith
3. 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 the message of the cross slide used in a previous sermon, referenced as basis for amended gospel slide
4. Isaiah 30:15 Old Testament gospel response submitted by a congregant, in repentance and rest is your salvation, spoken about a thousand years before Christ
5. Psalm 23:1 congregant submitted the first sentence as their gospel summary, the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want
6. Ephesians 2 referenced as background for the two-word response but God, we are dead in our trespasses
7. Jude 23 save others snatching them out of the fire, referenced in connection with a congregant's gospel statement about God's judgment
8. Acts 16:31 Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas what must I do to be saved, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved
9. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and appeared to the twelve
10. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 used as one of two scriptural guideposts in a congregant's extended written gospel definition
11. John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, submitted by multiple congregants as their gospel statement
12. Habakkuk 2:4 the righteous shall live by faith, quoted in Romans 1:17 and discussed for its two possible readings
13. Luke 15 I was dead now alive, lost but now found, noted as a paraphrase from a personal perspective
14. 1 John 5:12 he who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son does not have life
15. John 6:16-21 listed as one of two scriptural guideposts used in a congregant's extended written gospel definition

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray shared responses from about sixty people on what the gospel is in ten words or less. Looking at what others submitted, what does the variety of answers tell us about how people come to understand the gospel differently based on their own backgrounds and experiences?
2. The Isaiah 15 passage says 'in repentance and rest is your salvation' but then adds 'you would have none of it.' Where do you see that same resistance showing up today, either in yourself or in people around you?
3. CS Lewis wrote that if you cannot turn your faith into the common language, you either do not understand it or you do not believe it. How would you put the gospel into plain language for someone who has never heard it, and what does the difficulty or ease of that tell you about where you are with it?
4. Pastor Ray walked through two ways of reading 'the righteous by faith shall live' from Habakkuk, either that faith is what makes a person righteous, or that a person declared righteous by God is then called to live by faith. How does the second reading change the way you think about your own daily life?
5. The closing question Pastor Ray left with the congregation was: how will your life reveal God's righteousness? What does living out the gospel actually look like in a practical, concrete way for you this week?