There’s nothing more important for a person to understand than the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds us that the gospel is of first importance (1 Cor. 15:3). No wonder we find him proclaiming and reminding people of the good news throughout the New Testament; and that apostolic pattern has been passed down to us to follow.
In our pluralistic and relativistic culture today, there is much confusion about the nature of God and salvation. And there is a great need for Christians to grow in theological discernment; as one person quipped, “There’s a lot of ‘sloppy agape’ out there today.”
So both non-Christians and Christians need to hear and re-hear the good news of grace. Pastors have this great responsibility and this great privilege of reminding and clarifying for people what the good news is and is not.
But God’s people must also embody the fruit of the gospel in lives of service in their local communities, especially among the hurting.
We have Jeff Medders with us today on the podcast to talk about preaching the gospel in our sermons and reflecting the gospel through our service.
Jeff is pastor of Redeemer Church just north of Houston, an area that experienced horrible flooding from Hurricane Harvey last August. Jeff is going to talk with us today about how God enabled his people to serve the city in the midst of this disaster.
Jeff is also a fantastic preacher, so we are also going to talk about the need for clarity in our gospel preaching.
You can listen to this episode of Churches Planting Churches here.
Free eBook by Tim Keller: ‘The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness’
Imagine a life where you don’t feel inadequate, easily offended, desperate to prove yourself, or endlessly preoccupied with how you look to others. Imagine relishing, not resenting, the success of others. Living this way isn’t far-fetched. It’s actually guaranteed to believers, as they learn to receive God’s approval, rather than striving to earn it.
In Tim Keller’s short ebook, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path To True Christian Joy, he explains how to overcome the toxic tendencies of our age一not by diluting biblical truth or denying our differences一but by rooting our identity in Christ.
TGC is offering this Keller resource for free, so you can discover the “blessed rest” that only self-forgetfulness brings.
