Fire up the Gospel

Is there a dangerous line to knowing the Gospel.  Are believers  in danger of becoming lukewarm?  Revelation 3:16 KJV.  Much of the Church goes on with the lifestyle of complacency that the gospel is already known.  There are radio stations dedicated to it, teachings and preachings, songs and even television (tell-a-vision) shows dedicated to the gospel.  My questions are is, if the gospel is known so well then why is so much of the Church living in sin?  If we know the gospel so well why are there so many believers living without their lives transformed.  Why isn’t the Church our community healing and counseling center?

I have noticed that many Christians and churches don’t do the gospel justice.  They unknowingly reduce the gospel to salvation and forgiveness while leaving out the fact that Jesus gave the command to pray, “Your  Kingdom comes, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Matthew 6:10 NKJV.  This results in a Christianity without the firepower of God.  

There is an eternity packed into that prayer.  The gospel is not just a gateway into Christianity, it is the atmosphere of the Kingdom itself.  Forgiveness and salvation are brilliant pillars of our temple but they certainly don’t hold up the whole structure.  The gospel is much more vast, it is Christ himself.  His Kingdom, His authority, His sufficiency, His life, His power and His indwelling presence.     

There is a tragedy with familiarity that has blinded to gospel reality.   The early church  didn’t treat the gospel as a Sunday service it was their center of life.  The revelation through the gospel is Christ revealed had the early church walking in authority that flipped over the table of nations.  Cities changed, demons reacted.  Governments noticed.  Communities transformed.   Their message carried authority marked by miracle working power.  They expected God to perform his Word.  Jeremiah 1:12 NLV.

Paul said it best when he boasted, “ I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation..”  Romans 1:16 KJV.  Notice the wording.  The gospel is power.  The gospel itself carries divine energy.   The revelation of Christ needs to be first and foremost over the watered down religious activity.  We cannot allow intimacy with Christ to fade.  There must be a recovering awe of Christ in the Church.  

The Kingdom of God brings Christ, reverence, trembling with weeping to our knees, over joyed shouts of praise.  Everything changes.  We must return to Christ with humility and hunger starving for a generation that will burn for Christ.  Lighting matches of rediscovery.  The rediscovery of Christ, holiness, dependence, love.  A rediscovering of our relationship with Christ.  Rediscovering the Gospel.

      “The Gospel is Enough.”—Scott Wallis

Many  are searching for something deeper.  Deeper revelation, deeper power, deeper experiences,  but the truth is Christ is enough.  The gospel is enough and believers must return to the simplicity of first love putting Christ at the center because the gospel contains depths still unexplored.

The answers are not another gospel but rediscovering the true one.  The revealing of Christ takes eternity and we need to always take heed not to fall into the familiarity that looses the awe and glory of Christ.  We can’t assume to know something all because we speak the language.  We don’t need to reinvent the wheel or the gospel.  The church does not need a new message but a new vision seeing only Christ, the Kingdom of God. 

Let’s try to take this generation by a storm of salvation as early Church exemplified.  May we link our shields of faith together praying for unity and revival in our hearts and communities. Let us blaze a fire for Christ proving the gospel is more than enough.  Christ is enough. 

   

Pray without ceasing!

—Angela Madden