Goal of the Gospel

Introduction to Series

Preach on my deepest passion.

Gospel “Good News”

Personal - God, Jesus Christ, mankind

Message of Love, Forgiveness, Hope, newness of Life, Real relationship with God, etc

This is the whole message of the Bible.

God created us.

God created all things

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

“heavens and earth” - universe

God created all things.

Colossians 1:15–17 (ESV)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

God created the world however He wanted. He chose to create it this way.

God created mankind special

Genesis 1:26–28 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God created us the way we are.

Humankind

Image of God - We are representatives of God in this creation and we rule this creation as God rules universe.

Freewill - The human will is our capacity for choice and action, which we can exercise for good or evil.

Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV)

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Personal

Psalm 139:13–16 (ESV)

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

God created us to be with Him.

Our Souls thirst for God

God shaped Hole - We were created in a way that we have a need to be with God.

Psalmist expresses this Longing

Psalm 42:1–2 (ESV)

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Pants

pant, long for, crave.

to desire ⇔ pant v. — to strongly desire something, conceived of as panting.

Thirst -

to yearn ⇔ thirst v. — to yearn for something, conceived of as thirsting for it.

Psalm 63:1–4 (ESV)

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

We have needs/desires/passions that only God can fulfill.

Our Soul is Needy

“In the 1991 comedy film What about Bob? Bill Murray plays the title character, a neurotic, phobic, obsessive-compulsive personality with innumerable needs. I quote (from memory): “Problems breathing. Problems swallowing. Numb lips. Fingernail sensitivity. Pelvic discomfort. What if my heart stops beating? What if I’m looking for a bathroom and I can’t find one and my bladder explodes?” Richard Dreyfuss plays the exasperated, impatient therapist who is stuck caring for him. Your soul is Bob. You are Richard Dreyfuss. It is the nature of the soul to need. The will is a form of energy. You can drive and stretch and push the will. The mind has an endless ability to think and feel. You can direct your attention. You can focus and study. The body is your little power pack. You can place demands on your body. You can exercise it, strengthen it, hone it, and force it to run for miles. But it is the nature of the soul to need.” (Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Print.)

Filling our need without God

“Our soul’s problem, however, is not its neediness; it’s our fallenness. Our need was meant to point us to God. Instead, we fasten our minds and bodies and wills on other sources of ultimate devotion, which the Bible calls idolatry.” (Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Print.)

If we are not in relationship with God, we seek to fulfill our neediness through other means that do not satisfy. (Achievements/Accomplishments, Work (promotions), Family (Behavior, size, personal parenting choices), Child’s accomplishment (Sports), Addiction (Work, drugs, alcohol, Sex), etc.

“Good people — especially people of faith — do not like to think of themselves as “poor beggars” who are “sin-sick.” We fill our soul’s desires with everything that counters that image, trying to convince ourselves that everything is well with our souls. It isn’t. Our souls faint and yearn and cry out for God. How do we respond when we understand the neediness of our souls?” (Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Print.)

Our need is for God.

“What the soul truly desires is God. We may try to fill that need with other things, but the soul will never be satisfied without God. The psalmist describes that need in terms of losing consciousness: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD.”” (Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Print.)

“Our Soul’s need for God is enormous, but that’s okay. Our soul’s neediness only invites more of God’s generosity. He’s not going anywhere.” (Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Print.)

God loves us.

God Loves the World

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

“(a figurative extension of meaning of κόσμοςa ‘cosmos, universe,’ 1.1) people associated with a world system and estranged from God—‘people of the world.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 106. Print.)

Romans 5:6–8 (ESV)

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Show - “to cause something to be known by action—‘to make known by action, to demonstrate, to show.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 340. Print.)

Sinner - “(derivative of ἁμαρτάνω ‘to sin,’ 88.289) pertaining to sinful behavior—‘sinful, sinning.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 773. Print.)

God Loves Believers

1 John 4:9–11 (ESV)

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

John is writing to believers.

God’s love for us causes us to change. We love God and each other.

Application

God created us

Psalm 139:13–16 (ESV)

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

God created us to be in right relationship with Him

Psalm 63:1–4 (ESV)

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

God Loves us

Romans 5:6–8 (ESV)

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.