Surrender and Submit

“The church . . . calls men and women to repent of their false loyalty to other powers, to become believers in the one true sovereignty, and so to become corporately a sign, instrument, and foretaste of that sovereignty of the one true and living God over all nature, all nations, and all human lives.” --  Lesslie Newbigin

Photo by David Carter

The Truly Full Life

“The truly full life is the one surrendered to God in every square inch of it. It’s the life packed in every nook and cranny with Christ as Lord, the gospel our hope, and the Kingdom as mission.” -- Yancey Arrington

Photo by Joe Philipson 

What is the Kingdom of God?

“So what is the kingdom of God? Sinclair Ferguson defines the kingdom as ‘the rule and reign of God, the expression of his gracious sovereign will. To belong to the kingdom of God is to belong to the people among whom the reign of God has already begun.’ George Eldon Ladd defines the kingdom as ‘the realm in which God’s reign may be experienced.’ Simply put, the kingdom of God is a kingdom where God’s appointed King—Jesus—is presently reigning in and through the lives of His people, accomplishing His will ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (Mt 6:10).” -- Tullian Tchividjian

Gospel Quote - Kingdom Focus

"Jesus didn’t die so we could create our own little social/political kingdoms in this age, but so that we would rejoice in the coming kingdom of the next." -- Caleb Flores

Gospel Quote - One Supreme Message

"Christians have one supreme message: the gospel of Jesus Christ’s atoning death, glorious resurrection, and coming kingdom. Be defined by that message. Preach that and let everything else come second." -- Caleb Flores

Photo by Dale Carlson

What is the Gospel? Skye Jethani (43:50)

This is an excellent teaching on explaining what the gospel is and I encourage you to take the time to watch it. During this teaching Skye answers five questions:

1. What does the word gospel actually mean?
2. How is the gospel explained in the New Testament?
3. How was the gospel proclaimed or preached in the New Testament?
4. What are the implications of this?
5. How do we respond to this gospel?

So what do you think about what Skye shared about the gospel? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his explanation of the gospel?

Related Links
How to Understand the Gospel Better
What is the Gospel? D. A. Carson
What is the Gospel? Mike Mercer
What is the Gospel? Bryan McWhite
What is the Gospel? Jonathan Pennington
What is the Gospel? Mark Stevens
What is the Gospel? Scot McKnight
What is the Gospel? Trevin Wax
The Heart of the Gospel

Videos
What is the Gospel? Darrell Bock
3-2-1: The Story of God, the World and You

What is the Gospel? Bryan McWhite

God is the rightful and sovereign king of the world. But his sovereignty has always been disputed by human beings—including you and me. We have all rebelled against his sovereignty because we each thought we would make a better king than him. We each thought we knew best about what was best for ourselves and for the world. So God gave us over to what we wanted. He let us be our own kings for a time. But the result of humanity’s attempt at self-rule has been a disaster. Hunger, famine, poverty, corruption, war, sadness, lack of fulfillment, a sense of meaninglessness in life, broken relationships—with God and with each other, discord, disease, death….

But God loves his creation and was not willing to let it destroy itself. So he launched a rescue plan. He entered the world in human flesh as Jesus. Jesus is the rightful King over all creation, and in his lifetime he launched the Kingdom of God anew on earth—a kingdom of love and justice and blessing and peace and beauty. He died for his people, and in his death he absorbed his people’s sin and guilt and shame and rebellion so that they could be reconciled to the One they rebelled against and become part of his new Kingdom—anyone who commits their life to following Jesus as a subject of his kingdom. His kingdom will one day flood the whole world as God rules over all the earth in love, justice and peace.

In the meantime, his kingdom people live as “outposts in time.” We live the life of the new creation right here in the middle of the old creation. We proclaim the good news that God’s kingdom of love and justice is both here and is arriving. We invite people to lay down their rebellion against God and be reconciled to him by choosing to follow Jesus as their true and only king. And we wait for the return of the King to finish what he began and make a heaven of this world.

Gospel Quotes - God's Expected Reign

“In summary, the Old Testament should be seen as preparation for and anticipation of the King’s coming. The New Testament should be seen as the proclamation that God’s expected reign has come in Jesus, with the cosmic and ethical implications of this fact worked out in many new contexts. The New Testament’s thrust is: now that God has established his kingdom, what are the implications of this gospel (good news)? That’s why each book of the new Testament doesn’t simply rehearse or rehash the barest essentials of the story — Christ died, Christ was raised, Christ will come again (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3). No, rather than playing the exact same melody again and again, the New Testament writers transpose it and arrange it for new contexts and audiences. But the narrative anchor point is always Jesus and his kingdom, and the subsequent pouring out of the Spirit upon the church at Pentecost.” -- Michael R. Emlet