If it Sounds too Good to be True....
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If it sounds too good to be true....it probably is!
However, sometimes it can sound too good to be true, but it is actually true....
Here are some examples:
Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher, married 86 years, 9 months, 16 days...
Banyan tree is India has more area than the average walmart
The average walmart is 180,000 sq ft
This Banyan tree has 274,329 sq ft! - approximately 591 ft long
100 ft tall!
“Count” Victor Lustig was America’s greatest con man. He managed to sell the Eiffel tower twice through his tricks and brilliance...
According to A business insider article online: The story goes that Lustig got the idea when he read an article about how the Eiffel Tower was rusting, and the high cost of its maintenance and repairs. Since the tower was only supposed to stand for 20 years, some Parisians were saying it should be taken down entirely.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Lustig devised a plan to convince the city’s biggest scrap-metal dealers that he was a government director charged with the discreet task of selling off the Eiffel Tower’s scrap metal. He rented limousines and gave tours of the landmark, and insinuated not only that this was very hush-hush government business, but that he could be bribed into accepting the winning bid.
One dealer was convinced, and paid Lustig $20,000 in cash plus an additional $50,000 to make sure his was the winning bid. Once he had the money, Lustig raced off to Austria to lay low while the story broke — but it never did since the dealer was too embarrassed to report Lustig’s scam.
He made out with $70,000 which would be worth about $1.4 million today!
Finally, there are more nerve connections in your brain than the number of stars in our galaxy...
Astronomers estimate that there are over 200 billions stars in our galaxy
But neuroscientists estimate the number of synaptic connections (nerve connections) in the average 3-year-old is close to 1 quadrillion.
We have often heard that if it sounds too good to be true, than it probably is.....but….sometimes, it isn’t!
Sometimes, it is as true as you and I sitting here....
For the last month and a half or so we have been talking about what God has called us to do and how He has equipped us to do His call....
This is super important and we are challenged, as followers of Jesus to seek His will and to do it!
But sometimes, especially in the church, we get so focused on “doing” what we are supposed to do, that we lose focus on what is most important....
We sometimes get to where we can’t see the forrest through the trees....
What is the forrest? For those of us who believe in Jesus, It’s the gospel!
This is the good news that we chose to surrender our lives too.....the good news that Jesus will take a broken, inadequate sinner such as myself, and transform us into His beauty for His glory!
Today, I want to talk about the simplicity of the Gospel!
Sometimes God calls us to do amazing and miraculous things.....He calls us to up and move our family to another country to start an orphanage.
Sometimes He calls us to plant a church where hundreds and even thousands of people come to know Him!
Sometimes He calls us to serve in a capacity in a church where people are being set free, healed, the poor are being fed, the widow and orphan are being taken care of.
And...Sometimes He calls us to grow, right where we are planted! And as we grow, to nurture those around us!
When I was in college at garden city, I had a friend that told me this story one time. For a class project, he was supposed to interview a professor on campus. The one that he chose to interview was “the man” on campus. This was the wise professor that everyone respected. Everyone wanted to take his classes because he was so “good.”
So my friends goes up to interview him and when they got to the last question, he asked him: And what is the greatest piece of advice that you can give to a college student?
He was waiting and expecting there to be some huge and profound statement that was going to change his life. To my buddy’s amazement, the professor said “wherever you are in life, be there!
My buddy was like, man, this is deep stuff as he is frantically writing it down so he wouldn't misquote the professor.
Then later as he was thinking back over the interview and he got to that final advice he thought, well, that really isn't that deep and great. Really, this man, whom everyone looked up to and respected, pretty much had a nonchalant and facetious way of going through life.
Everyone looked up to him and yet, he still maintained his simple way of thinking.
Sometimes, we try to overcomplicate things. We try to structure them out and plan out this huge ministry that God has for us, when He might simply be saying “wherever you are in life, be there!
He may be simply saying “I want you to serve and nurture your family.”
Or, serve and nurture your co-workers.
Sometimes, God’s call for us at this time is just simply to share the gospel with people. No structure, no huge program, no flashy ministry, just grow and impact the people around you!
In order to fulfill this call, we need to have an understanding of what the gospel is....
If I asked you: what is the gospel? What would you say?
Would you say, much like the guy standing on the street corner “repent, the end is near?”
While that may be true, that doesn’t sound like “good news” to me at all.
Would you say “you need to stop sinning and turn your life to Jesus or you are going to burn in hell?”
Again, true, but that is not the gospel!
So, what then is the gospel?
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
This is a reference to John the baptist’s message:
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
So, here is the gospel: repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!
Let’s break this down:
What does the word Repent mean?
Lexham Theological Wordbook μετάνοια
μετάνοια (metanoia). n. fem. change of mind, repentance. In the NT, primarily refers to a comprehensive change of one’s orientation toward following God.
So the word repent means to change your mind, particularly towards God.
It means to change your way of thinking, your current mindset, to focusing on God.
So then, why are we changing our mind? Why are we repenting?
Because the kingdom of heaven has come near!
The gospel isn’t the guy standing on the street corner with the sign that says “repent or burn in hell.” - it is true, if you don’t repent and change your mind to focus on God, you will burn in hell! - but that is NOT the gospel!
The gospel is to change your mind and focus on God because He has come near!
The kingdom of heaven has come through Jesus so that a sinner such as myself can turn from my broken ways to following the ways of God.
It’s not that I am going to go to hell because I am a sinner, but that if I change my mind to focus on God, and accept His gift of salvation, that He comes and walks right beside me. So that I can truly be set free from sin.
That’s the gospel!
The Gospel by Ryan Stevenson
Lyrics
A restless generation
We're turning over every stone
Hoping to find salvation
In a world that's left us cold
Can we get back to the altar?
Back to the arms of our first love
There's only one way to the Father
And He's calling out to us
To the captive, it looks like freedom
To the orphan, it feels like home
To the skeptic, it might sound crazy
To believe in a God who loves
In a world, where our hearts are breaking
And we're lost in the mess we've made
Like a blinding light, in the dead of night
It's the Gospel
The Gospel that makes a way
It's the cure for our condition
It's the good news for us all
It's greater than religion
It's the power of the Cross
So can we get back to the altar?
Back to the arms of our first love
There's only one way to the Father
And He's calling out to us
To the captive, it looks like freedom
To the orphan, it feels like home
To the skeptic, it might sound crazy
To believe in a God who loves
In a world, where our hearts are breaking
And we're lost in the mess we've made
Like a blinding light, in the dead of night
It's the Gospel
The Gospel that makes a way
It's the Gospel that makes a way
It's the Gospel that makes a way
It's the Gospel that makes a way
The amazing news of the Gospel
Is not that we can receive Jesus into our lives
But that He's already received us
Into His
In my own life, it means forgiveness
When I know I deserved the fall
It called me out of my darkness
And carried me to the Cross
In a moment, my eyes were opened
In that moment, my heart was changed
Like a blinding light, in the dead of night
It's the Gospel
Oh, to the captive, it looks like freedom
To the orphan, it feels like home
To the skeptic, it might sound crazy
To believe in a God who loves
In a world, where our hearts are breaking
And we're lost in the mess we've made
Like a blinding light, in the dead of night
It's the Gospel
The Gospel that makes a way
Worship Team
The gospel is: Repent, and turn from your ways to focus on God, because there is a better way! There is a kingdom where love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness reign!
There is a kingdom where you are saved from sin and anguish, despair, and the guilt that comes with it!
This is the message of the gospel!
This is the message that we can all share with those around us!
How many of you go to work with people who are broken and lost, who need to hear this message?
You don’t have to be the pastor of a megachurch to share the simplicity of this message!
So, if you are in a place where you are not sure exactly what God is calling you to, start here! Start with growing your relationship with Him and sharing the gospel with others!
So, if the gospel sounds too good to be true, it’s not!
Romans 1:16 (NIV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes....