The Gospel Sequence

There is a story in the Gospel message. However, there is no end. The story line follows beginning, middle, beginning structure. Let's start in Genesis...the beginning:

Genesis 1:1- "In the beginning, God..."
God was in the beginning, He created, and everything was perfect that He created here on earth. In fact He called man, "very good."

Psalm 90:2- "Before anything was, there was God..."
But something happened, you see, and know that things are not perfect now. What happened?

Genesis 3- Until we understand the magnitude of what happened in the garden that day, we'll never understand why there is sin, and so much evil in the world today. Man sinned! Forever separating ourselves from God. As a result:

Romans 3:10- "No one is righteous..." SIN!
Sounds like hope is lost huh? Romans goes on to say that the wages of sin is death. You must die for the sin you commit according to the law. BUT! There is a hero in this story!

Luke 19:10- "Jesus came to save and find what was lost." Jesus is the hero, and He came to seek and save me, Allison, and you too. Do you know what Jesus did?

1 Peter 3:18- "Jesus made me righteous taking sin away, so that I may be restored to God. I have always been His."

Galatians 1:4- "Jesus died for me, took the beating, and wrath of God on Him, on the cross. He died, because the law states the wages of sin is death. God couldn't stand the thought of being forever separated from His children. Because of His great love for us, He sent His son, Jesus, His only son to take our place die our death, and suffer Gods wrath that should be ours to suffer.

All of life is Jesus. We cannot be saved by works. The gift of God is eternal life, it is not earned by works, or else we would boast about it. We aren't even good enough to keep up our works. Jesus is the lifesaver; the rescuer. He jumped in and saved us from drowning, threw us on the shore, and drowned for us. He alone had the power through His Father to overcome death, and the grave. He does it all, not me, He is the overcomer, not me. What sad is, and this is true for me, we try to do it all. We mess up, and think we are going to hell, God's wrath is pouring on us. As Christians it is your own wrath you pour on yourself. Jesus took God's wrath so we wouldn't have to. As my Spiritual mentor friend told me recently, His conviction is sweet.
Do you know what we gain when Jesus saved us? We tend to automatically answer with Heaven. How about we gain Jesus? Think about it. We talk about Heaven, and we say things like I can't wait to see my mansion, or the streets of gold, to see my friends and family who have gone on before..etc. But do we remember to mention and fix our thoughts on Jesus? Heaven is Jesus. He is the one I want to see! Jesus the hope of glory! I don't want to be in Heaven if Jesus isn't there. It all means nothing if Jesus isn't there. The music, the crowns, no crying...I think I would cry if there was no Jesus in Heaven. These days I get so weepy when we sing of Jesus coming to get His children to take us home. Those last verses of our most loved hymns. My heart fill to overflowing with joy and hope, and such a deep longing to see my Savior. I'm so homesick to be with my Jesus. However, Jesus himself said, the harvest is large, but the workers are few. Pray for workers to go and harvest! There are still many people who need to hear of Jesus. If I love Jesus, I will love and want to reach those whom He loves.
Do I believe Jesus saved me? Plain and simple the solution is faith, and repentance. We hear all our lives pray this specific prayer then you will be saved. Jesus saved you 2000 years ago on a cross. Is saying a prayer so you can be saved equal to works? He's already jumped in the water and saved you, you just have to believe it.
Going back to the Heaven scene. This is the end of the beginning, if you want to call it that. See, Heaven is our new beginning in eternity, it's beginning a whole new story, that never ends. Really, our new beginning could be pinned when we placed our faith and belief in Jesus. We as Christians reign with Jesus forever. In the meantime, we must disciple, preach the gospel to everybody who will listen and won't listen. Preach it to ourselves.
So what are you waiting for? Go share the gospel! First with yourself, then to others.