Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ESV)
As Paul reminded the Corinthians about the Gospel, so I now want to remind you. The Gospel message of Jesus, God the Son, fully God yet fully human, lived a sinless life, willingly suffered and died to pay the price for our sinfulness and then He rose from the grave proving His power and authority. Recognize that you have sinned and that it is sin that kills us and eternally separates us from God the Creator. Ask God to forgive your sin and receive that forgiveness in the name of Jesus. Doing so will make you clean and new because not only will you be forgiven but you will also receive the righteousness of Christ. You will live in relationship with your new Lord, Jesus. Your life will be centered on Him and His Word (the Bible). Everything you do, all of who you are should be affected by the Gospel and transformed by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit who resides in you.
Has Jesus shown you love? Grace? Forgiveness? YES! So remember to show such attributes to others. This should change how you work, treat your wife, raise your children, interact with your neighbours, lead in your community, worship in Church and everything else about you.
If you want to hear more about the Gospel reminder you can check out the reminder sermon I gave to the brothers and sisters at FFBC in Brandon. http://youtu.be/flvDApBC1nU
Let's get focused on the Gospel for 2015.
Preacherman
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