1. What is the Gospel? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:1-5, NET)
2. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is good news about a person who was to come visit the world for the purpose of revealing the glory that He had before the world was created. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24, NET) And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created. (John 17:5, NET) “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24, NET) I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. (John 17:11, NET)
3. What is the Gospel? What is a Word? For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son (Col 1:19, NET) A word is used as a means of communication for the purpose of self-expression. It is a medium for enabling someone to understand one’s thoughts and ideas. The person of Jesus Christ was what God wanted to say to the world. If you want to know what I am like as a father then focus your attention on the Son. He will show you what I am like. He is the visible image of the unseen God to mankind. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!” (Matt 17:5, NET) The Word “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51, NET) Jesus Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1:14, NET)
4. The Plan of God as Revealed in the Gospel Was Laid out Before Creation What is the Gospel? For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. (Eph 1:4, NET) He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel! (2Tim 1:9-10, NET) He did this when he revealed to us the secret of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, (Eph 1:9, NET) Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages, but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith – (Rom 16:25-26, NET)
5. The Gospel is the unveiling of a secret eternal plan rooted in God’s eternal purpose now disclosed What is the Gospel? I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God – given to me for you – in order to complete the word of God, that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.(Col 1:25-27, NET) “…and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan – a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Eph 3:9-11, NET)
6. What is the Gospel? “…Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. (Col 1:5-6, NET) Gave His One & Only Son The Son For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NET)
7. What is the Gospel? Who is the Son? He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. (Col 1:17, NET) The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word… (Heb 1:3a, NET) God, The Son After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. (Heb 1:1-2, NET) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. (2Cor 4:3-4, NET) God’s Expression of Himself To the World “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him. (Col 1:15-16, NET)
8. What is the Gospel? The Gospel of the Kingdom He said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!” (Mark 1:15, NET) “Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom” Mat 4:23 God, The Son And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matt 24:14, NET) But Jesus said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.” (Luke 4:43, NET) Unveiling a Spiritual kingdom “He replied, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not. For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him (Matt 13:11-13, NET)
9. What is the Gospel? What can the Kingdom of God be liked to? He also asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to present it? It is like a mustard seed that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground –when it is sown, it grows up, becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds can nest in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32, NET) “He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. And when the grain is ripe, he sends in the sickle because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29, NET) God, The Son Unveiling a Spiritual kingdom ““Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea that caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, they pulled it ashore, sat down, and put the good fish into containers and threw the bad away. It will be this way at the end of the age. Angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 13:47-50, NET)
