The Gospel Pt. 1 We must keep our selves focused on Jesus and His mission.

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20 TNIV) God has allowed us in our weaknesses and insecurities to have the privileged to be used by Him to preach His Gospel to our county of 102,000 plus people... Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9, 10 ESV) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:14-17 ESV) This is the critical point for our unchurched community is that we must without apology preach the Gospel....if we want Acts results we must do what they did...what did they do? They preached the gospel FIRST. Why do you think was what was preached? And why should we as a church community put so much emphasis in the subject of the gospel and the salvation message? You must realize that the central message of the ENTIRE bible is not holiness, is not obedience, is not law, is not prosperity, is not healing, is not a the gifts of the spirit, is not heaven....the central message of the entire bible from genesis to revelations with its 66 books..39 in the OT and 27 in the NT...1,189 chapters with over 31,000 verses..the central message is captured here in 2 Tim 3:15

(2 Timothy 3:15 NLT) You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15 NLT) Can I help you with something....can we be upfront with this gospel series? I am going to do the best I can to refocus us as a church community to the message of all messages ...to the topic of all topics..that Jesus is the essence of everything and doesn't need our acceptance...Jesus has been reduced to a poor beggar...knocking on the door of hearts...hoping that we will just let him in. We have reduced the gospel: to a plan of salvation, the ABC of salvation, the process of salvation, to an invitation, a prayer or a hand raised...forgetting that the gospel is the POWER of God unto salvation. We want to reduce the message of the church to basically a place where we try to help people with their marriages, their families, their finances, their addictions etc. etc... The church is NOT a counseling center, it's not the 12 step program center, it's not a community center, it's not a business, or a nonprofit organization...the CHURCH is the body of Christ that was birthed out of the broken and sacrificed life of Jesus the Son of God who is God Himself... He is the alpha and the omega , the beginning and the end, He is the deliverer, the healer, He is the provider, He is the King, He is the ruler, He is the vine...surrounding His throne are numerous to even imagine ...worshipping Him right now ....He doesn't need our acceptance....We need Jesus... he doesn't need me. I'm talking to you believer...this Gospel series is assuming that you are a follower of Jesus...you are a disciple of Jesus. You that are here that are not believers...let me show you something...
And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:23-27 ESV)

Believer and unbeliever.....this is the PLAN of the fruit of salvation. This is the plan that God has for the church... For His followers. Is this you?

We look around and see a fast growing church...look friend ...there are 102,000 people in our county and the majority lost and going to hell... And we won't reach them with a message of easy life in Jesus...the gospel message is a message of the bible, is the message of sacrifice, the message of losing our life to find our life....don't be misled.. The faith to follow Christ is a simple...it's simply believing Jesus is the Son of God who died for my sins... True faith is going to put you on the true path of sacrifice, but, we have reduced the church to pastors begging for volunteers, begging for money, begging disgruntled people to stay at the sacrifice of others... The church is the purpose of God to reach lost and broken people with the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected from the dead and life in Him is both beautiful and sacrificial. There some phrases that are used throughout the church world that has no biblical foundation...and yes, biblical foundation is the most important... This is how the gospel is packaged ...pieced together ideas... 1. Invite Jesus into your heart 2. Accept Jesus into your heart 3. Make Jesus Lord 4. Bow your heads and pray this prayer with me 5. Come forward and receive Jesus The gospel message we will look thru here in the book of Acts is the truth of Gods word. Words like 1. Repent 2. Confess 3. Radical obedience....not the obedience we may think 4. Sacrifice A focus that was birthed out of the realization out of their desperation for Jesus....He was all they had...I want Jesus to be all I have...all we have as a church, all we have as disciples in mission to Cowlitz County...

We are saved by grace through faith in Christs finished work and that true biblical faith will produce repentance, confession and a following of Jesus. I am going to challenge all of us to question where we are as people....challenging myself, my wife, my kids, our elders, staff, volunteers, attenders etc. etc.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)

How does one examine yourself? 1. Open your bible, read the bible and pray... Our most critical focus as believers must be our following of Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...if there is no desire in you for Jesus and for those around you to know Jesus more and more... You need to examine yourself... As we walk through this book of called the Acts of the Apostles...I want you as a disciple of Jesus to try to find yourself in these 28 chapters. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. (Acts 2:14 ESV) "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:22, 23 ESV) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:36-38 ESV) At this point we see where a shift has happened in some churches....they focus on the gift of the Holy Spirit...or should I say...the gifts of the Holy Spirit...

Yet this is a critical missional mistake in my opinion...if we do not keep the main thing FIRST? "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins ...

This is the beginning of the church...not just the Holy Spirit falling on the upper room...it's the PREACHING of the GOSPEL. Many people want the POWER of God, the PRESENCE of God and the PROMISES of God. But they miss the PERSON of God! The person of God is Jesus His Son...a good friend of mine just preached a message and in that he said this...." if you get the person of Jesus...you get the power, presence and promises"...I agree with that...and would add to it...when you have the person of Jesus those things don't really matter in the end..Paul the apostle said this:
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV)