What is the Gospel?

The Advance Conference recently took place in Raleigh, NC to help train Christians all around the world to have both a "faithful & fruitful" ministry in their daily lives. You can listen or watch all the sessions from the conference here.

D.A. Horton's session was on sharing the gospel in the most effective way possible. Here is his basic layout of what the gospel is. Check out his 20 minute session below. It is well worth those 20 minutes. They might change how you do evangelism for the rest of your life.



G. (God's Image)

What does it mean to be made in God's image and not be God himself in our lives? This is where the Bible starts and this is helpful to begin a gospel conversation. 

O. (Open Fellowship)

After God made all of creation and made us in His image, we had perfect, unbroken fellowship with God. There were no such things as skeletons in the closet. No hidden lifestyles and fears of being exposed or known. Nothing was hidden. It was all good.

S. (Sin Introduced)

What is sin? It is helpful to talk to people what this word means because often times it is a church word that gets thrown around a lot but never clearly defined or explained. If we don't see sin, we won't need a savior and Jesus becomes irrelevant.

P. (Penalty & Price)

Because of sin, there is now a penalty (death) and a price (blood). This is the direction we are heading for because of our sin. Sin has a penalty and a price (Romans 6:23). 

E. (Enter Jesus)

Jesus, equally and essentially God, came and took the penalty and the price for you, in your place. He took the eternal sentence that we rightfully deserve. What it would take a eternity for you to serve in hell, Jesus finished on the Cross, once and for all. Nothing can be added to it or taken away. He did this freely for you because of the great love, with which he loved you.

L. (Life Everlasting)

When we repent and treasure Jesus because of who he is and what he has done for us in conquering our sin and death, we can now celebrate life everlasting with Him right now. It's not just joy when we go to heaven, but everlasting joy today because of what Jesus has done.

That is such a clear and simple way to share the whole gospel with people in our lives that desperately need to hear it. I pray that this acronym would help you go out and share both the gospel and your life with others for the glory of God.