Messages

How to proclaim the Gospel?

SCRIPTURE: MARK 1:15

Evangelism is sharing the good news with others, the good news is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the heart and soul of the Gospel.

How did the Apostles present Jesus?

1. WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

• Certain things happened in Jerusalem and were fulfilled. Luke 1:1; 24:14
• And in particular, Jesus of Nazareth, was crucified and resurrected.
• 1 Cor 15:3, 4, 5 – Four things happened, Jesus- Died, buried, raised, Appeared
  • The reality of the burial of Jesus attested His death
  • The reality of the appearance of Jesus attested His resurrection
• Apostle Peter: Acts 2:23, 24; 3:15; You killed the author of life but God raised him from the dead.
• The events, death and resurrection were real, objective and historical.
• The Apostles preached these events not just as historical but as saving events.
  • 1 Cor 15:3, 4 Christ died for our sins, he was buried and raised,
  • Rom 4:25; he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
    • We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone and in Christ alone.
• Resurrection is more than a historical event it is divine vindication of Jesus.
• Our faith has meaning only because Jesus died on the cross and resurrected from the dead.
• The death and resurrection of Jesus is central to proclaiming the gospel.

 

2. THE WITNESSES TO THE GOSPEL:

1. The Scripture:

• For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.                                                                      1 Cor 15:3, 4
• the first witness for the gospel was the scripture its self.
• Jesus himself said, in Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
• We may have many experiences to prove that the gospel is authentic in our lives but the first and the foremost witness is the old testament Scriptures. The old testament comprises of the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms.
• Jesus himself reminded that in Luke 24:45-46
• The Apostles were not the inventers of the message but they were seeing the fulfillment of the scriptures in Jesus.
• Apostle Paul himself tells to king Agrippa in Acts 26:22, 23; 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— ²³ that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
  • When Apostle Paul was proclaiming the gospel to king Agrippa, he said nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen.
• Emphasis on the scripture had another significance, it was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesy.
  • Jesus’ death, resurrection and outpouring of the Holy Spirit were the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesy. Joel’s prophesy in Acts 2:16-ff

       b.The eye witnesses:

• Luke 24:48; ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.
• Acts 1:8; But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• The Apostles were uniquely qualified to be the witnesses of Jesus death and resurrection.
  • Apostle Peter says in Acts 2:32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
  • “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. Acts 10:39-42
  • The gospel has a double authentication
    • The Old Testament scriptures
    • The Apostles themselves (NT)
  • So we don’t preach Jesus according to our own fantasy or experiences, Jesus is the Jesus of history and also Jesus of the scripture.
  •  The Apostles were primary witnesses who were with Jesus, who heard them with their own ears and saw with their own eyes.
  • We are only secondary witness of Jesus. Our job is not to create of our own through our own experiences, but to bear a faithful witness to the one and only Christ of the scripture. And present Him just as God presented him in both the OT and NT.
• The primary witness to the gospel is the old testament and the Apostles of the New Testament.

3. THE AFFIRMATIONS OF THE GOSPEL:

The two great affirmations of the gospel are Jesus is the Lord and Jesus is the savior.

• Jesus is Lord
  • Rom 10:9, If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
  • The purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection: Rom 14:9; ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
  • Phil 2:9-11; Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place
        and gave him the name that is above every name,
    ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
        in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
    ¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
        to the glory of God the Father.
• Jesus is Savior
• Acts 5:31; God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.
• The uniqueness of Christ is Jesus is Lord and Savior.
• Jesus came into this world not just to save us from our sins but to have His Lordship in evert area of our lives.
• He is not just the savior of the world but Lord as well. These are the two great affirmations of the gospel.

4. THE PROMISES OF THE GOSPEL:

What does Christ promise to people who come to Him today?

• Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
• Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.                         Acts 3:19
  • Forgiveness of sins
  • Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Acts 10:43; He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”
• The forgiveness of sins is man’s chief need.
• When a man gives his life to Christ, his past is forgiven and he has a new life in the present by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
• True freedom is not just deliverance from the guilt of the past but it is deliverance from self.
• Once a man is rescued from guilt and self-centeredness, he can be totally set free to serve the living God.

5. THE DEMANDS OF THE GOSPEL:

After receiving the privileges of the gospel, there are certain demands or requirements that God has from us.

• ³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" ³⁸Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:37-38
• After Peter preached the gospel, the people asked, "Brothers, what shall we do?" ³⁸Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized……
• Acts 17:30 ³⁰In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Paul to the Athenians…
• Two demands:
  • Repentance
  • Baptism
• Repentance: Turning away from sin, turning towards God.
• Baptism: Outward expression of inward conviction.
  • Accepting Christ as the personal Lord and savior of our life cannot be a secret affair, through Baptism one makes the faith publicly evident to all and then they are introduced into the new community of Jesus, the Church.
• Repentance: new mentality, reorientation of values, New life style.
  • Without repentance there is no salvation.
  • It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being converted to our neighbor.
• Saving faith: Believing in Christ as savior and submitting to him as Lord.
• Accept him not just as he savior but Lord of your life. Because this same Jesus will one day come back as the Judge. Acts 17:31

Conclusion:

Evangelism is sharing the good news with others and the good news is Jesus. The good news is Jesus died for our sins, raised from death, reigns as Lord and savior at the right hand of God, with every authority to call people to repentance and faith, to bestow forgiveness of sins and gift of the Holy spirit on all those who repent, believe and are baptized.