(Am currently reading the book "Discipline of Grace" by Jerry Bridges and one of his pleas is for us to preach the gospel to ourselves everyday. This is the same challenge Thabiti Anyabwile made in his book "What is a healthy church member?" where he said one of the marks of a healthy church member is being gospel-saturated. Below is his summary of the gospel. Just want to share it here because often, we only hear part of the gospel.)
"The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ is that God the Father, who is holy and righteous in all His ways, is angry with sinners and will punish sin. Man, who disobeys the rule of God, is alienated from the love of God and is in danger of an eternal and agonizing condemnation at the hands of God. But God, who is also rice in mercy, because of His great love, sent his eternal Son born by the virgin Mary, to die as a ransom and substitute for the sins of rebellious people. And now, through the perfect obedience of the Son of God and his willing death on the cross as payment for ours sins, all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, following him as Savior and Lord, will saved from the wrath of God to come, be declared just in His sight, have eternal life, and receive the Spirit of God as a foretaste of the glories of heaven with God himself.
It is this message--briefly stated here-- that we must imbibe and delight in if we are to be healthy church members." - Thabiti M. Anyabwile (Author of the book "What is a healthy church member?")
Also, Jerry Bridges, in his book sums up one important spiritual principle:
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace."(Great readings, indeed, because often we feel practically self-sufficient during our good days or when we perform well, and condemn ourselves and feel like incompetent fools during our bad days or when we fail. With the gospel, we are reminded that the blessings of God are not conditioned on our obedience or our performance, but the upon the infinitely righteous, holy and perfect obedience and righteousness of our Savior. And because of this, in gratefulness to this, we strive and desire to be obedient and perform well.)
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