Episode 304: I’m Talkin. . .Gospel

I’m Talking, episode 304, for February 11th, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking gospel.

In our continuation of church words, as we’re calling them for these first opening weeks of the year, today’s word is gospel.

And while we don’t really hear that in the world that often, there is still, I feel like, one place where it’s used, and they use it when they want people to know what they’re saying is absolute truth, and they say, no, this is the gospel truth.

And they are very close to the definition when they say that.

But in reality, the definition of gospel, from a church sense, is good news.

And why is it good news?

It’s actually good news because it’s true.

So they have hit on something there.

But there is the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Not all Christians, but most of us, and obviously all of us in North America, get to hold the gospel in our hands.

We have the Word of God, and we know that the news it contains is very good, and yet we sometimes hesitate to share.

Fear of rejection, not knowing exactly what to say, might be like what happened to me last week talking about the Trinity.

Sometimes it’s hard to put into words.

But I think if we learn to understand the basics of the gospel, what is that good news?

What is that truth?

Well, in reality, the only thing in the starting point for people to believe is that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for them, and that He rose again, and they are sinners in desperate need of a Savior.

So that is where we have to start.

And while sometimes that can be difficult, most people recognize some wrong in themselves.

So it is not always hard for us to get someone to admit that they are not perfect.

So beyond sharing, what else do we have to do with the gospel?

Well, what we have to do is we have to stand on it.

We have to rest assured in its absolute truth.

And then we cannot compromise the good news.

We cannot play it down.

We cannot make it palatable to the world in which we live.

And we have to believe it ourselves.

We have to understand that the gospel is good news, that it is the truth, that we get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ, because that is what is contained in the gospel.

And those promises, those truths, all of those words are ones that we stand on as Christians.

There will come a time, and maybe you have faced it already, where standing on that uncompromising truth will make you unattractive.

It will make people not like you.

It will make people barely want to tolerate you.

We don’t see much of that in North America, but in other parts of the world, they experience that on a regular basis.

So we have to understand that our responsibility in handling the gospel is that it is ultimately true, that it is uncompromising, that it is God’s Word, and that it is good news.

And if we stand on those things, we will treat the gospel with the respect it deserves, and we will be more and more willing over time to share that with others.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.