The Gospel of God (Santosh Poonen)

It's popular these days to talk about the "gospel" and yet most Christians do not know the full inheritance that God has given to them. The Gospel according to Paul (the book of Romans) is more complete than the four other New Testament Gospels because it includes the good news about the "greater works" of the Body of Christ that Jesus referred to in John 14:12. This is the premise of the gospel: Jesus was a born a Son of Man and was declared the Son of God; the same can be said about you and me (Romans 1:3-6). The obedience of faith is not the obedience of understanding nor is it blind obedience. It is the submission of the mind (will) to the spirit. The Complete Gospel as 7 Steps in the Obedience of Faith: Step #1: You are a sinner! - Chapter 1: worldly sinner (v18); Chapter 2: religious sinner (v27). Step #2: Redemption in Christ by faith - Chapter 3: forgiveness through Christ's propitiatory death and burial (v24-25); Chapter 4: justification through Christ's resurrection (v25); The reason so many Christians live glum, sour, boring, grumpy lives is that they do not really believe that they have been justified by Christ. Step #3: The new mindset of a new Man - Chapter 5: new attitude toward tribulation — as a means to our hope (v5); Chapter 6: new attitude toward sin — for freedom through the grace of God (v14). Step #4: True freedom from the power of sin - Chapter 7: sin still present as a result of bondage to the Law (v23); Chapter 8: sonship — freedom from sin through the life of Christ in me (v1,14); The Christian life is the most "natural" life for one who is born of God — because it is not me trying to imitate Christ, but Christ (in me) being Himself. Step #5: The faithfulness of a righteous God who is sovereign - The Devil is in the business of trying to make a mess out of those things that God has brought back into order. He does this by questioning: Chapter 9: God’s sovereignty in all His dealings; Chapter 10: God's righteousness in judging sin; One of the greatest misconceptions about God is that He is too loving to be righteous. The reality is that He is fully loving and fully righteous. Chapter 11: God's faithfulness to His word. Step #6: The Body of Christ and Submission - Chapter 12: submission to God in our body (v1); Chapter 12: submission in the Body of Christ (v4-5); The gospel that does not preach the Body of Christ and loving the brother and sister whom you see, is an incomplete gospel. Chapter 13: submission to earthly authority (v8); Chapter 14: submission to those who hold different convictions from us (v1); Chapter 15: submission unity of vision and voice (v6-7); Most people would rather hear the gospel set in the context of emotional music than set in the context of the call to give up your will! "But drops of grief will ne’er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give my self away! ‘Tis all that I can do." The secret of experiencing the resurrection power of Christ in every situation in our lives is in saying, "Father into YOUR hands I commend my spirit." Step #7: Defeating the Enemy - Chapter 16: the obedient church, consisting of members living with a clear conscience toward God and toward Man; God crushes Satan under the feet of the Body of Christ. If the gospel you heard allows you to keep your "whats-in-it-for-me" mentality, you haven't heard the full gospel. To receive the full gospel you must only be thinking about what benefit God will get out of your life. Do you want the Romans 16:20 type of authority over Satan in your life? Then live out the Romans 12-15 type of submission toward God and His delegated authority on earth. May God put a hunger in our hearts to experience the FULL gospel.