The Gospel
What is the Gospel?
“A Script That’s Not a Script”
The word “Gospel” means “to announce good news.” The Gospel” is the story of the Good News of Jesus Christ. His story is certainly good news. The starting point of the Gospel is God. God created everything. He created everything to glorify Himself. The entire Bible is an unfolding of the Gospel, but this summary is to explain it clearly and briefly so that you can be saved.
GOD'S GLORY
Psalm 96 – tells us that “For great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised; He is more fearsome than all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But Yahweh made the heavens..” God created everything, and we are to worship Him. Whenever we place anything in front of Him, we deny this.
Ephesians 1:3-14 In the Bible this is one long sentence and it tells us that everything God has done for us was done for His own glory. The phrase “to the praise of His glory” is repeated three times in one sentence.
1 Corinthians 10:31 – tells us that everything we do (eat, drink, or whatever) should be for His glory.
MY SIN
Unfortunately, we could not have failed God more miserably than we have. We are all sinful from birth (Psalm 51:5). We are sinful and will one day stand before Him as our judge (Acts 17:30-31). Have you ever told a lie? (Even a small one?) That makes you a liar. If you were to look at the 10 Commandments and be completely honest, you would have to admit that you have broken every one of them. Romans 3:10-12, 23 & 6:23, Genesis 6:5 – These verses tell us that we are not looking for God. We are all sinful and we all deserve punishment for our sins, which is spiritual and physical death. We will all one day face judgment for our lives and our sins.
The biggest problem with sin is that we cannot earn our way to heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we take an honest look at what the Bible teaches about our sinful condition, it will be a bit discouraging. It tells us that not only are we sinful, but also that we cannot do anything about this condition on our own.
GOD'S PROVISION
BUT: in the midst of our sinfulness, God decided to do something about it. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This is incredibly good news.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus took the punishment for my sins. It was as if He had lived my life and He was punished in my place. 1 Corinthians 15:4 - This is the core truth of the Gospel: Christ died, was buried, and rose again. Thereby taking my place and enduring the punishment for my sin. He rose again to prove His power over death.1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God” Jesus died so that you could know God and be saved.
So how do I become a Christian?
MY SALVATION
Romans 10:9-10 says, “…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation..” Mark 1:15 says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” We must repent and believe in Jesus to be saved. It’s more than just believing the facts about Jesus. It involves repentance from sin and obedience. “Believe” means “to trust in, rely on, and cling to” Jesus alone as the solution to your sin problem. Only Jesus can save you. Will you repent and believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord?
Only Jesus can give us freedom from sin and judgment. Only Jesus can transform you and restore to you the relationship with God you need.
The ultimate question is “will you repent and believe in the Gospel? Will you trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior?” If you will, then you are saved. A thanksgiving prayer is definitely appropriate.
How to Memorize a Gospel Presentation
Memorizing a Gospel Presentation
The most important thing is to simply get the gospel message in people’s ears. God will get it to their heart.
Memorizing take work and effort - mostly repetition.
Read through - “A Script that’s Not a Script” above at least once a day until you have it down cold. You likely won’t ever “recite” it word for word, but this will help you to be absolutely solid on the flow of the gospel and give you confidence to share it with others.
Week 1 - Read through the “God’s Glory” verses several times daily until they’re memorized.
Week 2 - Memorize the “My Sin,” verses.
Week 3 - Memorize the “God’s Provision” verses.
Week 4 - Memorize the “My Salvation” verses.
If you do this, within a month you’ll have it down.
Both the Script and the verses are important. We’re saved throuth the Word of God, and the hope is that our explanation/script is helpful in understanding the Gospel message.
It’s perfectly acceptable to use a “cheat sheet.” Whether you use the "Cheat Sheet" below, something you’ve written down, a series of “turn to page ___” in your Bible with verses highlighted, a tract, or some other memory aid. Your goal is to be able to share anytime, anywhere, but as you work toward that goal, always feel free to use whatever helps or aids that work for you.
The best way to practice is to simply ask a brother or sister at your church if you could practice the gospel by sharing it with them, or better yet, their kids. You could also ask a lost friend if they would mind helping you memorize by listening, killing two birds with one stone.
Starting the Conversation
How do you “break the ice?” How can you move a conversation from generic chit-chat to the gospel?
There will rarely be a gentle path that naturally gets to the gospel unless the gospel is frequently a topic you discuss. The more you reguarly discuss the details and aspects of the gospel with others, the more naturally you’ll be able to steer the conversation to the gospel.
Ultimately, you simply need to just turn the corner. Simply ask a spiritual question. Some examples are:
• Do you go to church anywhere?
• Do you believe in Jesus? What church do you to to?
• Hey, at church this Sunday, my pastor said....
• What do you think about that?
• How are things going in your life spiritually?
• Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?
• In your opinion, what does it take to go to heaven?
You could also, at any time, interject (with excitement), “have you heard the good news?” This will certainly pique interest. When you get the “no, what?” response, simply tell them: Jesus solved the problem of sin when He died on the cross.. then proceed to share the gospel.