Strange question for a Sunday? Maybe, but I come across this yesterday (and yes it's satire) and I thought I'd ask.
Study: 84% Of Christians Show No Symptoms Of Following Jesus | The Babylon Bee
The article starts: "U.S.—An alarming report released on Wednesday indicates that 84% of Americans who identify as Christians show no symptoms of actually following Jesus." (there is often a lot of truth in satire).
I'd better say what I think are the necessary points of the Gospel first because I've had people say they hear the Gospel when they actually don't hear anything like this:
- We are all sinners;
- Sin separates us from God;
- We can never be good enough in ourselves to change this; and
- As a result of our sin, unless someone does something about it, we're all going to hell.
- But God has done something about it;
- Because of His love for the world He sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross;
- On the cross Jesus paid the price for our sin;
- So now if we repent of our sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ;
- We can receive forgiveness for our sin; become a child of God being "born again"; and we will go to heaven.
Now I don't want to get into a discussion about the above points, unless there is something totally wrong, but if we want to bring it to a minimum, the Gospel is that we're sinners and we need to repent.
Jesus said of Himself "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations". (Luke 24:46).
So, does your Church proclaim "repentance for forgiveness of sins", or as I would say, preach the Gospel?
...FFO