The G.O.S.P.E.L. Truth

David Platt.

If you don't recognize that name, open up a new tab, google it, and immediately watch videos and buy books because trust me, you're going to want to be familiar with that name.

David Platt is a young preacher right here in the southeast who is the most by-the-book, wash-me-in-biblical-truth pastors I've ever heard. I have never read a book or watched a video by him where I did not feel like I was constantly growing in my walk with Christ. Seriously y'all, he's that good. He makes sure that what he says can be backed up by the Bible and is God-breathed and you just don't get that anymore.

Whew, anyway, on to what this post is about.

So David Platt does this thing every year called "Secret Church", inspired by some of his past mission trips in Asia years ago. On these trips, church goers could be killed if the government saw that they were attending church so they literally would risk it all to walk to an underground, undisclosed location and for 12 hours straight they would go through the Bible with David. Yes, the whole Bible. David describes his experiences with them in his book "Radical" (seriously, you have to read it), and it's amazing. It will sure make you think twice about how you walk into your church on Sunday. Well, after these trips, David began to wonder how he could instill the same sense of passion and urgency for the word in his own church back home. So began Secret Church.

It started with just David's church. They would remove some of the comforts in the sanctuary, such as chairs, and hundreds of members would come and sit on the ground for 6 hours and go through a large portion of the Bible. It became so popular that soon thousands attended. It began to be podcasted until it grew into what it is today. Secret Church was one week ago and over 63,000 attended/watched from their own church homes. Dozens and dozens of countries are represented in that number. And it is AMAZING.  God speaks volumes through David every time and it is never a disappointment so I recommend that you check that out next year because it is worth all 6-7 hours.

Now, to what I actually wanted to write this post about...

David's message this year was all about how we can disciple to people of different religions. However, he made sure to start off the night reminding us why it is so vital to spread the good news to everyone that will listen. He did this through an acronym which just so happens to be G.O.S.P.E.L., which inspired me to do a little 6 week series on each of the letters.
Here's what each post will be on:

G: God's Character
O: Offense of Sin
S: Sufficiency of Christ
P: Personal Response
E: Eternal Urgency
L: Life Transformation

I am so looking forward to this new journey that I myself am getting to partake in and I so hope that you all will join me and get something out of it too.

Being "Who You Are" is a SIN

Alright, being who you are isn't really a sin, I just wanted to get your attention. 

No, being who you are isn't really a sin, but then again, it is. We live in a society that drowns children in this ideology to be who they really are, to not let anyone tell them differently. We want them to be independent, make up their own mind, do their own thing and not let anyone tell them that it's not okay.  

But who are we, really? At the core of who we all are is pretty gross. We are truly evil creatures, and it begins as children. We tell lies, we're selfish, we're mean as a snake. We hate the people who raised us, we physically hurt others for making us mad, we use our words to bring others down. We let jealousy overtake our relationships, as well as lust, not to mention sexual immorality. We hate, we covet, we curse the God who made us. Some of us kill, spill blood, break down the body that was made just for our own souls. We are vile, nasty things. All of us. This is the core of who we are. This isn't something that is disputable, this is fact. Read a psychology book, it's in there. 

Is this what you want to teach your children? 

When Christ preached his most controversial of sermons, he said that we as Christians should die to ourselves. We read that now and think "Dang, Jesus, cool it down!", but it's totally true. We literally are called to make every effort to kill the human in us. We are told to take up our own crosses (think electric chair, a killing machine) and follow Jesus, no questions asked. Now, many lessons can be taught from this one statement, but to me Jesus really is saying this: 

               Today, when you accept me as your Lord and Savior, you are no longer you. You are me. You must eat my body and drink my blood. You must take up your own cross, carry it on your back, then die hanging from it. And then, you must become transformed as I did. When you decided to listen to Satan over God all the way back in the Garden of Eden, you decided who you were. Not anymore. You are now light of this Earth. When you seek me and stay in my word and let me take you through this process of transformation, you gain goodness, patience, joy, peace, happiness, love, self-control, kindness, and gentleness. You aren't you anymore, you get to be me.

If the Bible says it's a sin, it's a sin. I don't care if you were "born that way" or if you think "it's not really bad for you", you check absolutely everything you do with that book and with God. Because who you are deep down is not who you want to be, I promise. Prison is full of people who were being who they really were. 

Your Glory is so Beautiful

   We live in a scared, fragile world. You have to really think about what you're about to say because someone's feelings could get hurt. More people are in counseling now than ever before. It's always someone else's fault and there is no such thing as "sucking it up", but more like "you owe me". We live in a world full of sinners who want to proclaim they are saints.

    This theory has desensitized our churches and has given our people a feeling of false self-righteousness. 

We have tricked our churches and done the nations injustice. Our congregations are filled with people who believe they are good enough to get into heaven on their own, or with just a little bit of Jesus. We have completely forgotten the gospel. One of my pet peeves is churches who don't preach the Old Testament. I think it is so incredibly crucial to know where we came from and why we needed Jesus in the first place. I'm not talking about just reading Genesis 3 occasionally either. I have spent far more time in the Old Testament than I have in the New Testament because it makes me realize what my human nature tells me to do, the grace and love of Christ, and the holiness of God. Now you go to church and listen to a preacher spin a single New Testament verse into a lovey dovey mess that has lost it's original meaning altogether. We need the Old Testament to make us realize that we are sinners, we turn away from God daily, and we NEED Jesus. 

But the problem isn't that the churches don't talk about the Old Testament. The problem is that churches don't want to talk about sinners. Recently someone told me that they felt uncomfortable when someone was sharing the gospel and told them that we all deserve to go to hell. I was so surprised. Isn't that what the entire gospel is? The Bible tells a story and isn't this the essence of the message? 

Romans 3:23-24 "For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ."

So why aren't we talking about our sins? Why do we feel uncomfortable when someone points out that we are sinners?

How can one truly appreciate what Christ has done for them without acknowledging that they are indeed sinners. With me its a matter of worship. I worship Christ by acknowledging that through Him I have obtained wholeness and holiness even. And I'm sick and tired of our generation, our country telling Christians that they're good enough with or without Christ. 

Use your unholiness in worship next time you go to church, or even right now. Embrace what Christ has done for us and the redemption that comes from him. Because we are sinners, we have fallen short, and we are in need of a Savior. 

Below is one of my favorite worship songs, "Your Glory" by Alls Sons and Daughters. If you get 6 minutes of free time, listen to it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWFzVfJ5-0