Take your time to read this.
If you’ve never heard the Gospel, lean in and enjoy this good news. If you have heard the Gospel and it has grown too familiar, take a deep breath and glorify God again for all its wonder. And if you’ve been hostile to the Gospel, God loves you and this message is still for you!
God created mankind to be in relationship with Him. God looked at His creation and He called it good (Gen 1:26-31). Mankind was in communion with the Lord. When Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord and worshiped the creation (Romans 1:25), their connection to the Lord was severed and they died (Romans 5:12). And in them we all too have died. Our inheritance from Adam and Eve is separation from God. We cannot bridge the gap. We cannot bring ourselves to life. We cannot overcome the sin that infects our hearts. We need new hearts. We need a new self with a new inheritance.
Throughout the Old Testament, God intricately worked His redemptive narrative into history. He chose Abraham, walked with Isaac, and established Israel through the life of Jacob. God graciously established a connection with humanity through the lives of these individuals and this nation, the sign of His future kingdom come to earth. Through Israel’s story, God was planning to send a savior, a Messiah that would liberate God’s people and be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12, Psalm 67). Jesus, a descendent of Jacob, Judah, and King David, was born a baby through the virgin Mary (Luke 2:1-7, Matthew 1:18-21). Jesus, God’s Son and the second person of the Trinity, had come to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and set the captives free (Luke 4:18).
Jesus lived a perfect life (2 Corinthians 5:21). He grew in stature and favor with the Lord and men (Luke 2:52). He was righteous in all that He did and He modeled how all people are to relate to and walk with God. He did not come to abolish the law and the words of the prophets, but to show the world that He was the fulfillment of the entire law (Matthew 5:17). Jesus lived with passion and compassion. He rebuked the works of oppressive leaders and systems. Jesus healed many people from sickness, taught in the synagogues and public squares, and built leaders out of common people. Jesus claimed to be God and predicted His death by the hands of evil men. He claimed that He would resurrect and save the world from sin and death, ushering in a new kingdom that had been promised since the Fall (Genesis 3:15). He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham: through him all the nations of the world would be blessed.
Jesus was unjustly tried by the religious Jewish community and killed by crucifixion by the Roman government. He willingly allowed His execution (John 10:17-18). Three days later, Jesus was not found in His grave. He appeared to hundreds of disciples for 40 days following His resurrection before He ascended to heaven, to the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33-36). And 50 days after His resurrection, the Holy Spirit showed up in power to the disciples, who had been waiting and praying for the promise of the Father.
Anyone who puts their faith in the historical facts and eternal realities surrounding Jesus’s life, death, resurrection life, and glorification has eternal life (Romans 10:13, John 3:16). The one who trusts Jesus as Lord and Savior understands that Christ died for them and for their sins. He is their substitute at the cross and in all of life. They see with renewed eyes and a renewed mind that they were corporately included in His death and resurrection 2,000 years ago (Romans 6:3). The Christian reckons with the fact that they have been crucified and no longer live but Jesus Christ lives in them (Galatians 2:20-21). The Christian understands that they were spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:5) and they are now alive because of His work on their behalf. Additionally, the Christian enjoys the nearness of the Spirit of God because Jesus has been glorified to the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33, Acts 7:55, Colossians 3:1, Mark 14:62, Luke 22:69).
This is the basis for our benevolence and the axis on which every program and event revolves around for us as an organization and a ministry. We want all people, including you, to know that God has loved you with a deep, rich love and He has demonstrated His commitment to you through His Son Jesus (John 6:29).
All authority has been given to Jesus. No one has any authority apart from what the Father grants to them from above, and Jesus has all authority. Everyone everywhere is urged to turn to the Lord while He can be found! Turn and be refreshed by repentance (Acts 3:19-20), be baptized, and follow Jesus, the one true Way and Life (John 14:6), so that times of healing may come upon you, upon your family, your community, and so that the generations after you would be blessed.
We welcome earnest and honest conversations about this great news and hope that you come to realize that God can be trusted with everything – starting today.
Jason Seiple, President