Gospel Truth Produces An Abundant Life of Jesus Power in the Kingdom of God

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This is Gospel Coaching Session 1. The purpose of these 5-6 minute coaching sessions is to give you one major gospel truth to dominate your thinking like God says the gospel must. Paul says the gospel is the power of God, and we must live in it.

The gospel fulfills the word of God in us, and produces God's presence and power through us. The gospel empowers us to live life better by accident than we ever could on purpose -- in our human drive and ingenuity.

THE GOSPEL MUST BE CENTRAL FOCUS IN OUR LIVES

This is the thought of this first coaching session: the gospel of Jesus, which was his testimony on earth, must become the central focus of our lives.

Paul was separated to the gospel of God, and we must be too (Rom 1:1). The gospel cannot just be part of our doctrine. It must be ALL of our doctrine. Jesus tells us to repent of ALL other beliefs and to believe the gospel (Mk 1:15).

JESUS BROUGHT A CHANGE IN THINKING AND BELIEVING

For 2,000 years, the message had been about sin. This was still the message of John the Baptist (Mk 1:4). Jesus came and changed the message to one of belief. The Bible says that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus (John 1:17).

We are told the law and the prophets existed until John the Baptist, but that since him the Kingdom of God is preached-- which is defined for us by the gospel. All of us should press into this Christ-imparted Kingdom of God that is revealed by the gospel (Luke 16:16).

THE GOSPEL IS LIKE THE CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Constitution of the United States defines the U.S. and shows us how it is meant to function. The Gospel is like the Constitution of the Kingdom of God. It describes this New Covenant of the Kingdom. It shows us who God is in us, who we are in him, and how this all works in us. It shows us the glory of God, and it reveals all that we are in Christ.

It was a message of gospel power, not sin. We are told it is the law that produces the power of sin over us, and declares us all guilty before God (I Cor 15:56, Rom 3:19-20). The gospel is just the opposite of this.

It reveals the power of God in us (Rom 1:16). Jesus knew he'd come to do away with sin and become sin for us (Heb 9:26, II Cor 5:21). Jesus knew if we just changed our beliefs, and believed the gospel, we would be overcomers over most sin problems, and we'd live a life of overcoming victory at least most of the time.

THE GOSPEL IS MEANT TO CHANGE OUR BELIEFS

It is given to us to straighten out our thinking (Rom 12:1-2). It gives us the thoughts of God himself (Isa 55:8-9). The gospel reveals to us the way God thinks. The gospel is God's language this side of the cross. Too often, we listen to a lot of humanistic preaching and it is enticing to us because it's how we think. But it's not the way God thinks.

We don't like being told what to believe, so we try to invent our own beliefs. That's not smart!

THE GOSPEL BUST BECOME OUR LIFE

The gospel must become a 'stand alone' to us. It cannot be mixed with anything else. Jesus told us not to pour new wine into old bottles. To mix the gospel with other things -- even God's Old Testament law -- is like mixing the blood of animals with the blood of Jesus. Don't do that!

The gospel begins with salvation, but it is so very much more. It not only commences all spiritual life, all spiritual life continues in the gospel only. It is meant to permeate all of life. The gospel is the abundant life of Jesus that we should be living daily (John 10:10).

THE GOSPEL IS GOD'S ANSWER TO ALL THINGS

I know this sounds like something only THE GOSPEL COACH would say. But it's true.

Paul was totally focused on the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24). It was his life-long work. He dealt with problems that exist when we don't apply gospel truth -- and he showed how applying gospel truth reduces problems and creates solutions.

This is why he says our whole ministry should be the New Testament gospel (II Cor 3:6). He even said the gospel is what fulfills the word of God in our lives (Col 1:23-25). We'll talk more about these things in later sessions.

In John 18:37, Jesus says that proclaiming gospel truth was his whole purpose in coming to earth. It was the first declaration out of his mouth, as we see in Mark 1:15. He says the gospel must be preached in all the world before the end will come (Matt 24:14). The book of Revelation says the gospel is so important even angels preach it from heaven to people on earth (Rev 14:6).

THREE THINGS WE MUST DO TO LIVE THE GOSPEL

Paul says the gospel is the power of God (Rom 1:16). For the gospel to truly have total impact and power in your life you must do three things:

(1) you must SEPARATE yourself to it like Paul did (Rom 1:1), (2) you must CONTINUE in it in all aspects of life (Col 1:23), (3) you must REPENT of all other beliefs that contradict it (Mark 1:15).

This is the way to allow Jesus to live in you, and to produce his abundant life in you… the power of God in you.

NEXT TIME: we'll look at things that diffuse and minimize the gospel in our lives -- things like man's theology and opinion that counters gospel truth.

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