Message

The message we proclaim is the message Jesus himself proclaimed. Jesus called it the gospel (or “good news”) of the kingdom of God. It is a message about accepting the fact that God is the king or ruler of our lives. When God is acknowledged as king, things are the way they’re supposed to be, and we experience life in God’s world as he intended.

What Happened?

God created a world that is filled with good and beautiful things. He created men and women to know and love him, and each other, and to enjoy the incredible world he made. He gave men and women the task of ruling over the world on his behalf and taking care of it. They were to honor him by bringing out the full potential of his world for good. As long as they acknowledged God as their king, life in God’s world would be paradise indeed.

Sadly, this is not at all our experience in the world. The reason, according to the Bible, is that we have rejected God as our king by trying to live our own way without him. Some of us openly rebel against God, some simply ignore him, and some try to manipulate him by being very moral and religious. In each case, God is denied his rightful place as king, and we fall short of being the men and women he created us to be.

Because we have rejected God as our king, we experience emptiness, frustration, and pain in every area of our lives. All of our personal problems—unhappiness, guilt, fear, depression, anxiety, addictions, and suicide—all of our social problems—injustice, poverty, greed, war, violence, racism and imperialism—all of our problems in nature—disaster, famine, disease, disability, decay and death itself—all of these problems ultimately stem from the fact that we have alienated ourselves from our God.

The Good News

God does not simply sit back and let us destroy ourselves, along with all that is good and beautiful in his creation. He is determined to re-establish himself as king, to reverse all the awful effects of our rebellion against him, and to renew the goodness and beauty of the whole creation—to bring about the world we all long for.

Jesus, the Son of God, came to fulfill that great plan. He is the “Christ” (or God’s chosen king). He is the true man who has come at last to rule over creation in the way God intended. His teaching, miracles, and casting out demons show that he has God’s own power and authority to make right everything that has gone wrong with the world, and to destroy all the work of the evil one.

By his death on the cross, he willingly took upon himself the penalty that our rejection of God deserves. His sacrificial death makes it possible for God’s justice to be upheld, and for rebels like us to be completely forgiven and reconciled to God as his children. By his resurrection from the dead, God demonstrated that Jesus’ death for our sins was completely effective, that he is indeed the Lord over all things, and that he is the first one to experience the new life of the age to come.

What Now?

When we acknowledge Jesus as God’s chosen king (and thus our Lord), and we trust in him alone to save us from the awful consequences of rejecting God, we are forgiven and brought back into a right relationship with God. God’s Spirit continues to work in our lives, making us more and more into the men and women God wants us to be. With other believers in the community of the church, we begin to experience the blessing of life as God intended. Our life together is a glimpse and foretaste of the way things will be when everyone acknowledges God as their king. And we become the instruments by which God extends the blessings of his kingdom to others as we speak the truth about Jesus and live according to the teaching and example of Jesus.

If you’d like to learn more about becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, you might begin by visiting the following website: www.christianityexplored.org

If you have questions or you’d like to speak in person with someone about the Christian faith or beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ you can email our pastor at: adambrice@comcast.net