Whatever happened to the Gospel?

Today, November 14th, 2013, at 23 years old and have been a Christian for about a year and a half, just heard the complete gospel. I know I sound crazy, and you are most likely wondering how I could have been saved a complete year and a half and barely hear the complete gospel today. After traveling across the world in the name of Jesus Christ, sharing the gospel with others, and ministering to people all over the world. Well, I am just as shocked as you are. A late pastor named David Nicholas did a study with LifeWay Research and revealed that 86% of pastors in the US mentioned at least one of the points of the Bad News and Good News but only 6% explained and applied all of the points. Which meant that 96% of pastors are presenting an incomplete picture of God's work on our behalf through Jesus Christ. "Instead, they are presenting a garbled and sketchy "gospel" which is no gospel at all" (David Nicholas)

Today, I sat in on a seminary given by the pastor at Lighthouse of Light in Zagreb, Croatia. Which is where I am currently staying as a missionary. Pastor Andrew Vesnik introduced these statistics to me and opened my eyes to just how much of the gospel I never share as well as was never shared with me. And I am not some sort of "New Age" christian, none of what I am about to share with you is new, everything is taken directly from the bible, and who knows, you may be part of the 6% churches who accurately share the gospel. But in case you aren't, I will gladly, and humbly share everything I have learned today, and if any of my readers are not already saved, I pray you receive the gospel today and I trust God will do His part as well. God bless...

THE BAD NEWS 
First I want to share the reason why we are to share the gospel. If you read Matthew 28:18-20, the bible says:

 "18 Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

So we are to share the gospel because that is the first step to making disciples. Next, we are to teach them it's not just talking about baptizing with water, but with salvation, accepting Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit. Now when presenting the gospel, you must always start with the bad news.

1. GOD HAS A PROBLEM WITH US.
We know God has a problem with us because we are all sinners, born with a sin nature.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8

2. GOD IS RIGHTEOUS AND PERFECT.
God is a pure, holy, and a righteous God and cannot accept sin, and since we are sinners, He cannot accept us.
"The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him." Daniel 9:14

3. GOD IS A JUST JUDGE.
God is just and because he is a just judge, he MUST punish ALL sin.
"He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he." Deuteronomy 32:4

4. PUNISHMENT FOR SIN IS DEATH.
Now, this death is not referring ONLY to a physical one (that has always confused me) but an eternal one, also. We all are going to die anyway, so why would our punishment for sin just be a physical death? God is referring to Hell. Hell is the punishment for sin, a place where people will spend all of eternity in agony and torture, part of that realizing they ignored God. For all of eternity God's wrath is poured out to all in hell.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD" Romans 6:23

5. GOOD WORKS DON'T WORK.
Being a good person, doing good things will not get you to heaven, and will not spare you from hell. the bible says:

"10 As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.'" Romans 3:10-12 NIV

So this is basically showing us the issue at hand, this is what unbelievers need to know, and many fail to reveal these things, or explain them in such a way that an unbeliever can/will understand. Hope I didn't depress you, now for the good news.

THE GOOD NEWS

1. GOD IS LOVE.
This isn't the world's definition of love, God is love because of number 2.

2. PROVIDED A SUBSTITUTE
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 NIV
So we see that God is love, because He loved us enough to send us a sacrifice to die for our sins. Why did we need a substitute to die for our sins? Because God is just and has to punish sin, and the punishment for sin is death. (Are you still following me?)

3. JESUS IS GOD THE SON
Now this part always confuses people, believers and unbelievers. How can Jesus be God? Why did God send Jesus? Who is Jesus? Well, Jesus is God. He is part of the 3 part trinity of who God is. Just like we have a mind, body and a soul. Or how water can be a liquid, gas, and a solid given its temporary condition. So is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Why Jesus? Because He is righteous and perfect. Only God can be, remember Romans 3:10-12. No human is righteous, and sinless. So because Jesus is God, he is righteous, because ONLY God is righteous.

4. PUT AND PUNISHED
God the Father, in His love for us, took EVERY SIN that we will commit and He placed it on Jesus, and punished him. There was a great transaction on the cross. This is why Jesus died. Instead of all of us being condemned to hell and punished for our sin, God took Jesus who is perfect and sinless and did not deserve Hell, and placed all our sin onto him, and punished him. So Jesus died. BUT...

5. DIED/ROSE -- GIFT -- FROM/TO
3 days later He rose again. He rose because through His death, He paid for our sins. Because where there is sin, there is death, but where there is no sin there is no death. So because Jesus is God and sinless, He paid the price for our sins and rose on the 3rd day with a gift for us. The Gift of Grace. The gift of salvation. By accepting that gift, you are turning away from sin, to live a life of repentance. Which means you are turning away from the thought that through your good works, you can save yourself. And you are turning to Jesus, which means you are turning to the person who, in fact, can actually save you. Jesus, which is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

So this, my friends, is the complete gospel. I am not saying that I haven't heard all of this, but I will say I had never heard all of it together to explain the gospel. I learned the gospel early on as a child, so it was the simple, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and now you get eternal life with him if you accept him as your LORD and savior. But as an adult, I need to understand the gospel in order to share it, and in order to share it with an unbeliever, it needs to be understandable. So I pray that everything written today that you are reading is understandable, and that if you are learning of this for the first time, I pray that you would like to receive Christ today and take the gift of salvation offered to you. Yes, it is that simple. The bible says:

"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." Romans 10:9

So if you want to receive Jesus Christ today, and you believe everything you have read today regarding Him dying on the cross for your sins, then say a prayer, asking Him to forgive you for your foolish ways. Ask Jesus to come into your life as your LORD and savior and to give you the gift of salvation which is free and promised to all who want it. Thank Him for allowing you to stumble across this blog, and that His word is true. Thank Him for choosing you. For calling you to a life of repentance and of a future, and hope. Ask him to forgive you for your sins, and to fill you will the holy spirit. In Jesus name, AMEN.

Well, to all reading this post, God bless you, and to anyone who took the step of accepting Jesus as your LORD and savior, Welcome to the Kingdom brother or sister.

God bless:)