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Gospel Conversations

A Gospel Overview

By April 4, 2020March 23rd, 2024No Comments

The Story of the Bible can be understood and told in 4 parts that answer 4 questions that every world view is trying to answer.

  1. Creation – Where did we come from?
  2. Fall – What went wrong?
  3. Rescue/Redemption – Is there any hope?
  4. Restoration – How does it all end?

CREATION

God created us and He loves us. 

  • God designed the world and everything in it. He created everything as it was meant to be and it was good (Genesis 1:1-25). 
  • He created humans in His image—the pinnacle of His creation. He called us very good (Genesis 1:26-2:24) 

God has a design for every aspect of our lives. 

  • Our gender identity (Genesis 1:27 – created us male and female)
  • Our families (Gen. 1:28 – be fruitful and multiply)
  • Our work-life (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:15-17 – dominion over the earth and work the garden)
  • Our rest life (Gen. 2:1-3 – He rested on the seventh day) 
  • Our marriages (Gen. 2:24 – leave and cleave) 

God designed us for relationship with Him. 

  • He created us to have unbroken communion with Him (Genesis 3:8 walking in the garden looking for Adam and Eve). He “walked with us and talked with us.”
  • This unbroken communion can be restored through the gospel. 

FALL

We choose to depart from God’s design. 

  • This has been true from the very beginning.
  • Adam and Eve thought they knew better than God (Gen. 3:1-7).
  • The Bible word for departing from God’s design and going our own way is sin. 
  • We all do it (Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23). 

When we depart from God’s design, it always leads to brokenness. 

  • We know when our communion with God is broken. It feels like fear, shame, guilt, loneliness… (Gen. 3:8-10). 
  • We try to hide from God (Gen. 3:8). 

Brokenness disrupts God’s design. 

  • Disrupts our spiritual life (Gen. 3:14-15 – We have an enemy–the serpent, Satan.).
  • Disrupts our family life (Gen. 3:16 – pain in childbearing–from birth on). 
  • Disrupts our married life (Gen. 3:16 – desire husband and he will rule over). » Disrupts our work life (Gen. 3:17-19a – toil to work the earth). » Disrupts our physical life (Gen. 3:19b – death). 

Brokenness helps us see our need for change. 

  • We try to cover our own sin, but it doesn’t work (Genesis 3:7). 
  • We do what we can to fix our own brokenness (relationships, drugs, alcohol, strive for a “better me”), but it doesn’t work. 
  • Brokenness seems like a bad thing, but in many ways it’s good because it’s how God gets our attention. 
  • God has made way out of our brokenness: the gospel. 

RESCUE/REDEMPTION

God made a way out of our brokenness. 

  • God promised that a man would “bruise” the enemy’s head (Genesis 3:15).
  • God sacrificed an animal—shed its blood—to make coverings for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). This is the protoevangelium or “first gospel.”
  • God loves us and sent His one and only Son to shed His blood and cover sin once and for all (John 3:16, Hebrews 10:10-14). 

The gospel is simply: Jesus died for our sins, was buried and God raised Him from the dead  (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). 

  • Unpack the gospel and the importance of every aspect—death, burial and resurrection. 
  • The gospel saves us from our sins (Romans 1:16). 

We just have to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). 

  • Repent means to change—to turn from our sins and turn to Jesus.
  • God doesn’t condemn us—we’re already condemned because of Genesis 3. 
  • God wants to save us (John 3:17-21). 

RESTORATION

God helps us recover & pursue His design for our lives & one day will make all things new. 

  • He removes the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).
  • His Spirit indwells and empowers us. 
  • He restores us to the way we were supposed to be—He reconciles us—repairs what was broken (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
  • We are new creations.
  • Now we are God’s ambassadors to a broken world. 
  • God will one day make all things new.  (Revelation 21:5)

 

Transitioning into Gospel Conversation

Opportunities for sharing the gospel more often than not come out of conversations with people where they are sharing doubts, pains, and questions. In these moments, I often transition conversations to the gospel by asking something like,

 “Can I share with you something that has helped me in times like that?”  or “Can I share with you something that gives my comfort in confusing times?”

A simple question like this gives you an open door for sharing the hope of Jesus.