Jesus Came To Save Series

GOSPEL DEEP

1. JESUS CAME TO SAVE - John 3:16-18

-When we first started Adventure we were low-tech!

-We had this ancient device called a landline.

-Some of you remember those from your childhood with Moses and Abraham.

-So the church had a landline and every flyer, handout, invite card had a landline number printed on it.

-And because we had no church building that landline called my house…and we got some crazy phone calls!

-Most of the crazy calls we got were from Christians.

-And my favorite question from church people who’d call was this: -Are you a Full Gospel church? (That’s code for being charismatic)

-I hated that question. I couldn’t say “Yes” because they’d get the wrong impression. But I didn’t want to say, “No” because that like saying we’re some kind of second rate church.

-One lady was particularly rude with me so when she asked, “Are you a full-Gospel Church I said “No mam, we are a half gospel church.”

-She said, “What?” I said we only believe in gospel Matthew and Mark.”

-We not have a sign that say, “Full Gospel” but I assure you we are a church that wants to be full of the gospel!

-We’re starting a new series today called Gospel Deep.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (NIV)

-As a young Christian I was taught NOT to be ashamed of the gospel. Are you ashamed of the gospel?

-The reason I ask is that many pastors suspect their people are ashamed of the gospel.

-The rationale goes like this: People aren’t being saved, because Christians aren’t sharing the gospel, and it’s probably because Christians are ashamed of the gospel!

-But I don’t think that’s true at all. I think most Christians don’t know the gospel so they have nothing to share!

-I suspect that most Christians would like to be confident in knowing the basic gospel message.

-I suspect that if they knew the message and had the opportunity to share it with someone they probably would.

-Most Christians aren’t ashamed of the gospel, they just don’t know it…and they are afraid to mess it up.

-So we are going to fix that problem for the people at Adventure.

-I’ll make you this promise: If you come these next 9 weeks you will know the gospel and be able to share it with someone else.

-If you’re new this whole church thing, this is a great opportunity for you to learn the basics and make a decision for yourself.

-I also want to challenge to you to get in a small group and put down some roots in the gospel with other Adventure people.

-You can sign up on the app or the website or talk to Jae today.

-So we’re starting at square one today by asking the question:

What does “gospel” mean?

-There is some confusion about the word “gospel”.

-We have the four books in the Bible called gospels and then we talk about THE Gospel.

-The word “gospel” has a weird etymology.

-Early Christians took the Bible from Greek to Latin and when it first started appearing in English they called the message about Jesus the “God-spel” which means “God news” in Old English.

-Over time the word transformed from Godspel into Gospel…

-The Greek word euangelion means “Good News”!

(yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on)

-We find the word euangelion 76 times in the New Testament.

-If you are trying to share Christ with your friends, I wouldn’t recommend talking about the “yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on.”

-They will think you are crazy!

-You may not even use the word “gospel”, we’re not ashamed of it, most people just won’t know what you mean.

-The most accurate translation, from the original Bible term, is “Good News”.

-That’s why so many modern translations use the term “Good News” because everyone understands the idea of good news!

-When I found out I was having a son! It was good news!

-When I found out I was having a daughter! It was good news!

-When you find out it’s pizza for dinner! Good news!

-When you get a tax refund…really Good News!

-We all know what good news is.

-What better name for the message about Jesus than Good News!

-Call it euangelion, the gospel, the good news, or the message about Jesus…but it doesn’t matter what you call it if you don’t actually KNOW the message.

-We are going to study the Good News about Jesus for 10 weeks.

-And we’re going to do three things each week:

-First, we’re going to memorize the basic points of the Gospel.

-Second, each week we’re going to dig deeper on one point.