Help in Becoming More Gospel Centered

If we are not gospel centered then we have nothing. If we do not have at are core the death, burial and resurection of Jesus on our behalf because of our due punishment,then we are not being true to our call, dealing with our sin, being on mission (our ultimate purpose), or even participating in the holy spirit (phillipians 2:1-10). It all comes back to our faith in Christ to save. This is the point, this has always been the point because it is how God has chosen to reveal and glorify himself. Therefore, we need to inundate ourselves with the gospel. We have to be gospelly informed, gospelly saturated, gospell literate in order to do anything in the spirit and therefore function at all in our Christian life as it is intended. In Doing this we must be sure to recognize that the gospel is not merely an event that gets us saved (though that is true) but rather the major theme and reason for our doing. It is the one and only value which drives our ethic (our moral actions). Instead of a point it is more like a saturation, that we grow into the knowledge of. It is completely apt to say that we grow into the gospel as we realize its infinite and vast implications.

Therefore, we need to commit ourselves the knowledge of it. The following list is a series of helps which build us into the knowledge of the gospel. They teach and inform us of the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Bible:



The bible is all about the Gospel. The whole narrative of Scripture screams it. It tells it in big picture ways as the entire narrative is one that tells the gospel, along with entire books being dedicated to its proclamation. It also displays it smaller, little picture ways  through illustrations and specific or abstract notings.

The Bible is where we can determine what the gospel is as we see its truths confirmed in our life as we grow.

Some phenomenal gospel books in the bible are: Hosea, John, Romans, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, and 1 John. The whole bible screams the gospel but these scream the loudest and most explicitly.


The Story of God:
 Link: http://www.somacommunities.org/blogs/story-of-god/

The story of God is a story formed version of the bible. It is meant to be read, taught through dialog, and presented within a smaller Jesus community. It is an amazing tool for discipleship and  inundating our life with the gospel. It plays on our natural proclivity to story as a fundamental aspect of the way we believe and learn. You can download the entire story at the link posted above. Just go to the left hand side of the page until you reach the "download" section. Then click on the link that says, "register to download all the stories". You will receive additional cues from there.

There are many questions that you may have about it (i.e. how to present, is it actually helpful, what does it say, who wrote it?) this is a link to aid in answering those questions. It comes from an a29 church (if you don't know what that means don't worry its not important) called Soma,  which uses "the story formed way"as their primary teaching method. They are awesome men and women who i trust very much.
http://www.somacommunities.org/blogs/story-of-god/


"What is the Gospel?"


This is a fantastic book. It is the pure meat of the gospel. If you want one resource to determine exactly what the good news of Jesus is, read this book.











"The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing"

Here is another stellar book on what the Gospel truly is, its importance, and how to keep it central. The later is the greatest asset of the book. It shows really practical ways to keep Christ crucified as your foundation.











"The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of Christian Faith"


The beautiful thing about this book is that it tells the both the true nature of what the gospel is but also the pitfalls we fall into when we do not believe the gospel in our lives. All these books are good, but second only to "What is the Gospel", "The Prodigal God" is the  most effective book in lighting the fire of the gospel under you.










"Death by Love"

"Death by Love" is a beautiful book designed to show us the power of the cross and how it works in us to save. It illustrates twelve different and actual cases of people who have been changed by Christ in a certain way. Each way shows how Christ is triumphant in a different way. Jesus is highlighted in this book in the only way that Mark Driscoll knows how, frequently and as the solution. Praise God for this teaching.









There are so many great resources out there but this  can get you started.