Why do we continue to insist on a different Gospel? To become a Christian we must be born again (John 3); to be born again, we must repent of all of our sins and call on Jesus to come into our hearts (Romans 10:9-10). After you are born again, then the Christian life is about learning the Ways of God and moving away from the ways of the world. It is about dying to who we are and living for Jesus! This friends, is the Gospel! We are called to do things God’s way; when we do things our way it will never end-up well. We are supposed to learn this reality as we get older! As we do things our way and then look back to our mess, we will hopefully get to a point of surrendering to Jesus… Believe me I know!
The Gospel does not take you as you are (That is a lie); the Gospel takes you in when you repent for the things you have done as it relates to sin and then this same Gospel is powerful and loving enough to not leave us as we are. The Gospel will change us to be more and more like Jesus and less and less like ourselves. To say that you can come as you are, without the message of repentance is again, a Biblical inconsistency.
My heart goes out to Comedian Steve Harvey; it is obvious that God is dealing with him as I recently saw a video of him on TBN; but the idea that you can excuse an un-Godly life and message because of the demands of your job and under the umbrella of self-imperfection is heresy. God demands that we give Him our all, not just some. Steve needs someone to preach the true Gospel to him and stop using his fame as an excuse to use this man for their own agendas and fame. Mr. Harvey needs Jesus… period! He does not need another TBN interview or another invitation of a famous Gospel singer to host his show. None of that is going to save Steve; the way of the Gospel is in the Word and it applies to everybody. Nothing changes the reality of the Gospel; the hypocrisy of many in the church, the hurts in the Body of Christ, etc. does not, in any way change the Word. Steve needs to be born again and if he is already born again, he needs to be a disciple. Before going public; he needs to go in the private with Jesus!
Let’s pray for Steve Harvey that someone would be bold enough to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this man and that Mr. Harvey will make Jesus the Lord of his life.
To view Mr. Harvey’s interview on TBN please click on this link:
That is what I love about the Gospel, Angel. Jesus doesn’t just present us with a bunch of laws, but instead lays before us a path by which we can live our lives. He allows us to think about what He says. He doesn’t force it on us, doesn’t threaten us, just gives us a choice.
And the good news is that, despite all appearances to the contrary, God’s love has triumphed over all the powers of evil in the world. We are invited to respond to that love by accepting God’s offer of relationship and all of the new possibilities that the offer of Christ’s deliverance entails.
But there is a catch to this offer. We aren’t in control. “For the wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). What is at stake is a special understanding of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of Christ’s continued presence. For those who really desire to go where only the love of Jesus can take us, we are called to follow Jesus, trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us. We have to relinquish control and catch the wind!
I think there is a great misconception about our faith as followers of Jesus Christ. To be sure it is about holiness and morality, but it is not for the faint of heart. Hope, love, compassion, require bravery. That’s why Jesus is telling Nicodemus about being reborn of the Spirit. We need the wind of the Spirit to stir us, to shake us, and to empower us.
You are right! The Gospel changes us. It changes how we do life and it’s contagious. This may explain why Wesley took the wrath of God seriously, and worked constantly under this stimulus of motive to warn all to flee from the wrath to come.
There are people like Steve Harvey crying out to be saved. Unless we constantly gather our courage to engage in spiritual conversations and resolve in our hearts that the way of Christ is the way we choose to live, we will drift through life aimlessly and settle for letting lost people stay lost. And who wants to live a life like that?
If given the chance, I would offer the following challenge to Steve Harvey:
Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. Right or wrong, Christianity claims that Jesus did something for us that no one else can do. Right?
If I repent and believe in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, then God will forgive my sins, no matter what I have done. Right?
Even if I’m holding deep-seated resentments toward someone else, if I am willing for God to take them from him, that person will have less and less control over his life. Right?
Repentance and faith create low pressure so that the Holy Spirit will come into my life and empower me to overcome the next temptation. Right?
Even though hundreds of millions of people believe that other religions are the right way for them, if I become a Christian they are not his enemy, even if they persecute me. In fact, I might win them by loving them and making them jealous. Right?
When bad things happen to good people, that gives good people an opportunity to show the rest of the world how faith sustains them through bad times as well as good.
Right?
In fact, as a Christian I would grieve differently in the face of death because Christians believe that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us where we can spend eternity in the presence of the One who loves us most. Right?
If I were to become a Christian it would be important for me to join a fellowship of other believers so that someone who knows my name could watch my back and pray for me in close fellowship with other Christians. Right?
For Christians, trust gets them beyond the need for clarity just as faith gets them beyond the need for sight. Right?
No matter how far I’ve run. God has a perfect will for the rest of my life. Right?
Jesus is the only way. Right?
And even if I don’t have all that worked out theologically, if I am willing to commit all that I know of my self to all that I know of God, the Holy Spirit will bear witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. Right?
Furthermore, once committed, the Spirit of God will assist me in passing that commitment on to the next generation. Right?
OK, so what do I have to lose?
You lose your bad self and you gain peace and joy forever and ever and ever.
The choice is yours….
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