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Can I Quickly Summarize the Gospel?

nutshell

While addressing a crowd in Athens, Paul showed us how to summarize Bible history from creation to the resurrection in one paragraph.

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25  and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26  From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27  “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28  For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29  And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. 30  “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31  For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:24-31 (NLT)

Sometimes we find ourselves in situation where we have a very small window of time in which to communicate big ideas.

To be an effective gospel communicator we need to learn how to share the good news with great thoroughness when given the opportunity and be able to summarize it when that is required.

I am not sure what kind of time pressure Paul found himself, but it seems that he knew his audience’s attention span was short. He covered thousands of years in a few sentences. Let’s see what he established in that one paragraph.

  1. God is the Creator.
  2. Man-made religion and idols are useless.
  3. God is sovereign over the affairs of the world.
  4. God’s purpose for mankind was for us to seek and find him. He is near at hand.
  5. God is calling everyone to repent and turn to him.
  6. He will one day judge the world through one he raised from the dead.

Paul did not share the entire gospel in this paragraph, but he did manage to get their attention and provoke a response. He found out who was open and who just wanted to debate, which was a decent outcome.

Do we understand the gospel message well enough to share it succinctly? Can we go into detail?

We owe it to God and unsaved people to study the gospel message and learn how to share it effectively.

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Prayer to Understand and Apply the Lord’s Prayer to Our Lives

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And He said to them,“When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name.Your kingdom come.3  ‘Give us each day our daily bread. 4  ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'” Luke 11:2-4 (NASB)

The Lord’s prayer in Luke Chapter Eleven lays out what Jesus thought were the essential parts of our daily lives. The simplest outline of this prayer hits upon the following four points.

Purpose

Our first priority in life is to be in right relationship with God, hold him in reverential awe and love, seek his glory, and pursue the advancement of his kingdom. By calling him “Father,” we acknowledge that we have benefited from Christ’s finished work on the cross and his resurrection, which paved the way for us to experience the new birth and become part of God’s family. To make God’s name holy means we do not take him or our relationship with him lightly. Jesus is not our “boyfriend” or our servant. He is Lord of Lords, and Abba Father is greater still. Being his child does not incite us to hold him in the contempt of familiarity. To “hallow” his name means we seek God’s glory. We do not seek to bring him down to our level; instead, we devote ourselves to bringing him glory through all we do. God’s glory is our ultimate priority, and one way we glorify him is by prioritizing what is important to him – the advancement of his kingdom.

‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done,On earth as it is in heaven.Matthew 6:10 (NASB)

Putting God’s kingdom first requires us to act accordingly. We must make the changes to our daily lifestyle that will enable us to be obedient. As Christ’s disciples, it is our responsibility to make the Great Commission our life mission. The first part of the Lord’s prayer requires us to acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord and live accordingly.

Provision

If I had written the Lord’s Prayer, I would have been more spiritual than Jesus by not placing our plea for daily sustenance before asking for forgiveness. That is because I am a religious person at heart, just like you. We like to impress people with our spirituality, but Jesus did not have our hang ups. He unashamedly placed the need for food ahead of the prayer for forgiveness. God cares about the everyday needs of people. I have heard other religious people say that they hate to ask God for personal needs because he is “so busy” and has much more important things with which to concern himself. Such a statement reveals that the person who said it does not have a very high estimation of God, his love, his power, and his desire to help us. It also reveals that such a person probably is not really God’s child. What parent would refuse to feed his hungry child, if it were in his power to do it? When we are unsure of God’s power and his heart toward us, we are afraid to ask for things, or we think he will not bother with us. God delights to provide for his children. He is a good Father, and his heart is disposed to bless us.

Pardon

To forgive is to release someone from the debt owed to us. We all owed God a debt for which we had no means to pay. That is why Jesus came to die on the cross as God’s lamb. He was the perfect sacrifice, who took our punishment and pain to make it possible for us to be released from the guilt and condemnation associated with our sin. When a person places his or her trust in Jesus and what he did for us as Savior, he or she comes into a right relationship with Abba Father and has all the privileges and responsibilities of being God’s child. One of the most important of those responsibilities is to pardon all those who offend or “owe” us anything. Jesus is the king of “pay it forward,” and he requires us to pass on the blessing  of pardon that he gave to us.

Protection

Lastly, Jesus tells us to ask for God’s protection against evil and temptation. In Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus expands upon this theme.

‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:13 (NASB)

Human beings are weak, thanks to a built in residual connection to the old order of things through our bodies. As Jesus said:

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 (ESV)

This last part of the Lord’s prayer emphasizes that we are unable to stand against evil without God’s help. The world is a hostile place, especially for followers of Christ. Paul warned us that everyone who lives as a true disciple, who boldly shares the gospel and makes disciples, will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12) In addition, the world system, our own sin nature, and the devil conspire against us to tempt us to depart from our determination to put God and his kingdom first. We all face temptation to live selfishly and independently from God. Immorality and lust are rampant, tempting us to abandon our holiness to God and purity. Life’s many distractions seek to pull us away from pursuing the Great Commission. If Satan was able to lure Adam and Eve away from their devotion to God, how much more are we susceptible to his temptations, since we have a sin nature! It is only because of the indwelling Spirit and God’s protection that we can survive and thrive in such an environment. Jesus does not want us ever to take that for granted.

Prayer

Each day as we look to God in prayer, let us remember the four main points of the Lord’s prayer. Here is a condensed version of this already short prayer.

Father God, let me live today with your glory and purpose always in mind. Order my steps so that I do not waste a single minute of this day. Thank you that you care about me. I trust you to provide everything I need, just as you provided forgiveness to me. I likewise pardon others. Lastly, God I acknowledge that I am totally dependent on your protection from evil, sin, and temptation. Thank you for sending your Spirit to live your Son’s life through me. Amen.

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Prayer to Be Able to Hear God’s Voice

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In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Psalm 40:6 (ESV)

The ability to hear the Lord’s voice is a gift. Jesus promised that all his sheep will hear his voice.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (ESV)

It is important for us to cultivate our ability to hear the Lord’s voice. God is speaking, but are we listening? Have we allowed too much clutter in our lives? Have we put other things ahead of being obedient and surrendered to Jesus? Have we allowed our hearts to become embittered or hardened? If so, it is necessary to repent, ask forgiveness, and ask the Lord to soften our hearts and open our spiritual ears again.

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. Isaiah 50:4 (NASB)

Once we hear his voice in our hearts, it is important that we obey. Otherwise, hearing him will result in greater judgment for us.

Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.” Hebrews 3:15 (NLT)

Prayer

Lord, I want to be able to hear your voice clearly. I believe that you are speaking to me, as you said you would. Forgive me for not patiently waiting in your presence and listening as I should. Please clear my heart and mind of sin, competing voices, and clutter. Help me be obedient when you speak to my heart. Let me be a blessing to others and a conduit of encouragement. Thank you in advance for softening my heart and opening my ears. Amen.

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