Jesus, Our Greatest Story

When the angel appeared to the shepherds in Luke 2, he said his announcement would be "good news" to them. "Good news" translates the Greek word "euangelion" which we traditionally have translated "gospel." "Gospel" is an Old English word (remember the musical Godspell) meaning "to bring good news." Take a moment to look at this Greek word "euangelion." Do you see the word "angel" in it. An angel is essentially a messenger, and that is the root meaning of the word. Notice the prefix "eu." Think of "eulogy." A eulogy is a good word about someone, usually a deceased person. (Eulogy--"eu" meaning good, "logy" from the Greek word for "word", "logos.") (Now I'm sounding like this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL9whwwTK6I.)

So the Gospel is good news. But good news about what? In this sermon we explore two things: 1) what is the Gospel and 2) what should I do about it? In each case the shepherds from the Christmas story provide a backdrop for helping us understand the response to both these questions.

Link here to listen to two of today's leading Christian teachers, from vastly different church traditions, speak about the Gospel: John Piper http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/video/What-Is-The-Gospel---John-Piper
 and Mark Driscoll http://marshill.com/about/the-gospel. I really like Piper's comment that "God is the Treasure." I will reference this in the sermon.

But this sermon is mostly about the urgency to share our faith. Many of us do not know how to do that, when it is as simple as telling our story--what does Jesus mean to me and what difference does God make in my life. Every believer in Jesus has a unique story of how they were loved by God into the kingdom and how this journey with God has changed their lives. It is our unique story. It is a story that someone else needs to hear.

"A hitchhiker's guide to evangelism" is a ministry dedicated to helping people share their faith in today's multi-cultural world. Link here http://hitchhikersguidetoevangelism.com/ and scroll down the page to review his six steps to faith sharing today. Step 3 addresses the focus of this second sermon in our Advent series.

Thanks for digging deeper.