The GOSPEL (1)

Call to Prayer 

Title: The GOSPEL (1)

By: Simon Nuhu Maina

Date: 27.09.2024

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek ( Romans 1:16)

As christians, it is our primary responsibility to know the kind of doctrines that form our faith in Christ. Since the days of the early church, there has been several gospels with with no credit to the work of Christ on the cross. Some came with a gospel of no resurrection (1 Timothy 1: 19-20, 2 Timothy 2:17-18) which Apostle Paul warned the believers about, some came with a gospel that had diverted from teachings of Christ but served their belly (Romans 16: 17-18, Philippians 3:17-19), and others with the gospel of justification by circumcision in the flesh (Acts 15:1-22). Today, we witness several gospels of material prosperity and “once saved forever saved” that flood the christian space. There is therefore need to seek for the real gospel that is Christo-centric. I would like to share some understanding on what the gospel is all about, although this will take 3 separate parts.

The word GOSPEL can be used as an acronym with each alphabet having a significant spiritual reality. The GOSPEL stands for Grace of God; Obedience to the word of God; Salvation for all men; Power of the Holy Ghost over sin/satan/sickness; Evangelisation of the world; and Life of Christ (new creature).

Now, beginning with the first letter G which stands for grace. The gospel is never complete without grace. In fact, grace is the foundation of our adoption as sons into the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 1:3-5). No man could justify himself before God with his self-righteousness or works of the law (Romans 3:19, Galatians 2:16, Titus 3:5-7), the Bible makes us aware that it is by grace through Faith we are saved (Ephesians 2:8), it is not by our good deeds or charity or self righteousness. For all have sinned and fallen short of God´s glory (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. As it is a free gift, no man therefore can boast of it, for by grace we have access and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The grace is an empowerment and also riches of God´s mercy at the expense of Christ suffering on the Cross. This grace works in different phases of our spiritual growth experience. It begins from the moment we come to God in repentance by believing in Christ. As we grow, we access another level which is sufficient grace to equip us to live righteously (2 Corinthians 12:9, Titus 2: 11-14).

The second letter is O,  for Obedience to the word of God. After coming to God by repentance, the grace teaches to obey the word of God in the Scripture because Christ Himself despite being the Son, He learned obedience by His suffering ( Hebrew 5:7-10). If indeed we received grace in our life, we must obey the whole counsel of God´s word. We must heed to discipleship which is a command from our Lord Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20), also the doctrines of Christ (2 John 1:9-10) which are the core guidelines and principles for our growth. More so, it is necessary to note that, Obedience to God is better than sacrifice or service in disobedience (1 Samuel 15:22). To be continued….

Prayer point:

Let’s thank God for the word and also ask God to give us understanding.