What is the Gospel?

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The gospel, or “good news,” is the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. It is the belief that Jesus was born of a virgin, died on a cross for our sin, and rose back to life three days later and we can be forgiven and have eternal life with God. There is eyewitness account of his resurrection which not only verifies Jesus as the risen Messiah but also makes this a historical event.

In order to understand the gospel, we must first understand our sinful nature and our separation from God. We all have a sinful nature and have committed sins that separate us from God. However, God’s love and grace are available to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. By accepting Jesus as our savior and placing our faith in him, we can be forgiven and have eternal life with God.

There are five points that leads us to understand the gospel:

We are all sinners. In Romans 3:23 it says For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
◦ There is no one person better than the other and we are all guilty of violating God’s Law.
What is death? In Romans 6:23 it says For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
◦ God tells us that death is the wage of sin, it is something we have earned; but God offers a solution which is eternal life through Jesus. God tells us it is a gift.
How did this gift come about? In Romans 5:8-9 it says 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
◦ Jesus lived a perfect sinless life and because of that Jesus met the requirement to pay our sin debt, something we could never do. Jesus became our sacrifice and died on the cross in our place.
How does a person receive this gift of salvation from God? In Romans 10:9-11 it says 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. In Mark 1:15 Jesus says to repent and believe the gospel.
◦ The way to receive salvation is to repent (turn away from our sinful life) and have faith by putting our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
When we repent and put our trust in Jesus we receive a promise found in Romans 8:38-39 which says 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
◦ When we repent and believe the gospel God’s promise is that we are forever His.

The gospel is not just a message for those who have never heard it before, but it is also a message for those who have heard it and need to be reminded of the truth and power of it. It is a message of hope, love, and salvation that can transform our lives and bring us closer to God.

In conclusion, the gospel is the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the foundation of Christianity and is the message that has been shared throughout history to bring salvation to all people who repent and believe the gospel. It is a message of hope, love, and salvation that can transform our lives and bring us closer to God.

FIVE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PRAYER

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Today we are continuing our series on prayer as we go over the five conditions of successful prayer.

1 Chronicles 16: 8-11 reads: 8 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! 9 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 11 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

This passage is a song from David giving thanks to the Lord for all He has done. The key verse here that I would like to point out it verse 11. It says, Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.

In my last message I talked about the FOUR STEPS TO EFFECTIVE PRAYER. The steps were: ask, seek, knock, and wait. Here in this scripture in verse eleven David is reiterating that by telling us to seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually.

There are three key things to seek that will bring us to victory when we pray. The first thing is to seek the Lord. God wants us to come after Him. He wants us to set aside our problems, our wants, our needs, and whatever else is going on in our lives and make Him our focus. It’s when there are distractions all around us or we may be at a point of desperation. Things may even be going great but regardless of our situation our priority, our focus is chasing Him and not letting our mind chase our problems or desires.

David then tells us to seek the Lord’s strength. How many times do we just feel weak and like we can’t go on? We feel like the weight of the world is upon us and we just don’t have the strength to withstand the spiritual and physical battles of everyday life. Fortunately for us we have a God who is mighty, powerful, and loving. When we seek the Lord’s strength we are giving Him all of our burdens and saying, “here Lord, deliver me, lift me up to high places.” You are the only one who can see me through this situation and I need you to get me through this.”

Finally, David tells us to seek God’s presence. How do we do that? We do that by praying, praising and worshipping the Lord, and even just sitting quiet and focusing on Him. It is so important to get into the presence of the Lord. It’s where His anointing is. It is where miracles happen. It’s where lives change from despair to victory. Getting in the Lord’s presence removes us from the surrounding oppression that the enemy Satan has built around us.

Prayer is so important because when we are going through things and we pray, we are opening communication with the Lord and removing ourselves from the burdens surrounding us. The problem is that so many of us pray the wrong way. Many times, we treat prayer like it is a grocery list that we give to God and just expect Him to answer everything. We need to remember that God knows all things and sees all things. I want to give you the FIVE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PRAYER so that you can be in victory on a continuous basis.

The first condition is:

Contrition. What is contrition? Contrition is having sincere remorse for sin.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

When we first get into prayer we need to ask the Lord for forgiveness of any sin we have done. Sin separates us from God. We need to get back into communion with Him and we do that by asking for forgiveness. This scripture also tells us to humble ourselves and to seek God’s face. We need to give God full control of us, that means our life, our situation, our everything. We need to chase after the Lord. He must become our full desire.

The second condition is:

Whole-heartedness: Wholehearted mean to be fully or completely sincere.

Jeremiah 29:13 tells us, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

When we come before the Lord in prayer we need to be real. He already knows all things. We need to be pure in our talk with God. When we are completely open to Him, that is when we give him the opportunity to fully take control of our situations. We need to have a honest heart before the Lord.

Condition three is:

Faith: Having faith is to have complete confidence and trust that God will move and answer our prayers.

In Mark 11:24 Jesus tells us, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have receive it, and it will be yours.”

So many times I see prayers go unanswered due to a person’s lack of faith. Jesus is telling us to believe we already received the answer while praying before He actually answers us. By doing this, we are putting all of our trust and confidence in Him.

How can we build our faith? The answer is simple. Read God’s Word as often as you can. Know who God is. Know His power. Spend time in His presence. Develop a personal relationship with Him. The more you get to know God the more you will come to know how great and mighty He is.

Romans 10:17 tells us, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing the word of Christ.”

The fourth condition is:

Righteousness: This means to be morally right or justifiable.

James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins one to another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

The Lord wants us to come before Him in a holy state. Any sin that we may have done, we must ask for forgiveness before coming to God’s throne. God can’t be in the presence of sin.

The final condition is:

Obedience: Obedience here refers to submissive compliance.

1 John 3:22 says, “and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.”

It is so important that we live life according to God’s Word. We must live in obedience so that we can continue in communion with the Lord. When we obey God and what He commands for our life we become pleasing to Him and He is able to move in ways we could never imagine. We need to die to the world, to our flesh, and live for what God commands for us in His Word.

We have gone over the five conditions for successful prayer but there is a common reoccurring theme in all of this and that is to seek the Lord. When we seek Him we are forgetting about everything around us. We are giving no place to Satan, to our flesh, to our problems, to anything that will distract us and take us away from God’s plan for our lives.

I encourage you today to seek God’s face. Make Him the center of your life. Let everything and everyone else be secondary to Him. When we make Him Lord of our life, He will bring us to places and levels that we could have never imagined. Have contrition, become wholehearted, exercise faith, live righteously, and be obedient, your prayer life will reap the benefits.

God bless you.

FOUR STEPS TO EFFECTIVE PRAYER

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Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Jesus starts off in verse 7 by giving us three levels of prayer combined with the results of each step. These are the first three steps to effectively pray to the Lord.

Step 1: Ask.

Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given.” Jesus starts off easy here. He does that because He wants to get the communication flowing. He wants us to get out of our zone of fear and/or nervousness and take the first step. It is important that we make the first move because it shows that our heart is ready to let God take control of our situation.

How many times do we have a situation come up and we try to come up with solutions but the one thing we forget to do first is ask Him to resolve our problem? We forget about God or we think he is too big for our situation. Or that maybe His time is too valuable for little ol’ us.

But Jesus tells us to ask, and then He does something. Jesus makes a promise. He said, “It will be given to you.” How many of us can honestly say that when we pray we believe He is going to answer? I know so many Christians who pray without faith. They ask God to answer their prayers without really trusting or believing that He will answer.

What does Jesus say about having faith? He says in Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Jesus is telling us that if we have faith as tiny as the little mustard seed, any type of faith at all; faith that will open the door and allow God to move in your life, big things will happen.

Step 2: Seek.

Jesus increases the level of intensity here for prayer. Sometimes asking isn’t enough. Not because God doesn’t want to or that He can’t answer us, but because there is something standing in the way. Jesus said, “seek, and you will find.”

You see there is this spirit called Satan and he has an army called demons (fallen angels). Their mission is to distract every person from knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We are in an intense battle with demonic forces and sometimes we need to increase the level of our praying from “asking God” to “seeking Him.” When we first pray and ask God sometimes we don’t get an answer right away. Our next step is to seek His face. It goes beyond just a prayer. It takes the effort of getting away from any distractions and intensifying our prayer and walk with the Lord. We need to examine ourselves and make sure there isn’t any sin in our life that is keeping us from receiving an answer. We need to get into praise and worship and begin to focus on Him alone. I like to go to my desk, close the door, turn on some worship music and just reflect how great God has been to me. I ask the Holy Spirit to move and anoint me and to guide me in what I should do next. Seeking, is us chasing after the Lord for an answer to our situations.

Step 3: Knock.

Jesus now brings us to the highest level of prayer. It is at this point where we truly submit to God and we move out of the way so that He can do what He needs to do. Knocking is the third step or “level” of prayer. It is the ultimate reaching out to the Lord when we are in a time of need. Jesus said, “knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Knocking is when the answer is needed right now. It’s when we have exhausted all other options. It’s when we see no light at the end of the tunnel. It’s when our world is crumbling down and our only assurance is to focus on Jesus. It’s when we have come to the realization that we are powerless without His power.

Jesus promises us that if we knock He will open the door for us. God tells us in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” When the Lord tells us something it’s because He really means it. If He tells us He will never leave us or forsake us, it is because His interest is us. Our situations are His concern If we ask, seek, and knock.

Step 4: Wait.

Here is the fourth and final step. It is to wait on the Lord for an answer. So many times we get ourselves into trouble because we may go through the first three steps but we don’t wait for God to handle the situation. We are living in the “now” and we are impatient to let God move. We always want the answer to our prayers right now but God operates in His own timing. He may answer us the very moment we pray. He may answer us in a week from now or even five years from now. We need to learn to wait on the Lord. When we truly give ourselves and our situations to God we need to learn to just get out of the way. We need to let God do what He does best, and that is to be God.

He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. He is our hope. He is our future. He is our God. When we exercise all of these steps combined with faith, and let God be God, we will see mountains moved, sicknesses healed, bills paid, our children being rescued from drugs and depression, souls saved, etc.

I encourage you today to put your trust in the Lord. Ask, seek, knock, and wait. Your life will change.

“Equality Act” PROPAGANDA

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Hello and God bless you all. Today I am going to be talking about the Equality Act also known as HR5.

The Equality Act is a bill, more like a propaganda, proposed by the left-wing extremists in Congress who want to take away parental rights when it comes to deciding “gender identity” for your child. HR5 wants to redefine the word sex to mean gender identity. A child can go into a doctor’s office and ask to become the opposite sex and the doctor can decide whether to treat your child without your consent. This bill also moves to remove religious freedom and force pastors to marry gay couples and that no one can “discriminate” against a LGBT individual. Men would be allowed in girls bathrooms and locker rooms and vice versa.

The Equality Act is a deceitful name. It tries to make the bill seem innocent, but it is filled with deep deceit. The far-left democrats in the United States Congress are representatives of today’s version of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are trying to push abortion and the gay agenda upon our children by trying to normalize it as much as possible.

God’s Word says in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. They want to take away our rights because their love for sin is strong. Satan has them blinded. The light in their lives is the darkness of sin. We need to stand strong and not let our rights be taken from us. We need to be united in Christ and grow stronger in His Word so that we can battle with the enemy.

So many Christians don’t even know what is going on. They have no clue what Satan is doing in the world around them. We as the body of Christ must wake up those who are asleep at the wheel. There is coming a day where we will be persecuted. We will need to choose Christ or the world when oppression comes knocking at our door. Now is the time to start preparing ourselves for that time. The world wants to destroy Christianity. They want to see us gone. We know that Jesus is the rock. He is our firm foundation. We need to become bold and stand up to these oppressors.

We are in a spiritual battle and Satan is trying everything possible to eliminate Christ and the church, BUT Jesus already won. We have the victory in Christ Jesus. No weapon formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against us in judgement shall be condemned.

I encourage you today to build that intimacy level in your relationship with the Lord. Read and meditate on His Word so that you can know who your God really is and who you are in Him. Put on the armor of God daily so that we can fight against Satan and his demons. The Bible is our sword, we need to know how to use it.

Finally, we need to pray. Pray for God’s guidance, strength, and anointing. We need to pray for those who want to oppress and eliminate us. Pray that the Lord touches their heart and opens their eyes. That they may come to truly know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and turn from their wicked ways. Hate can’t be part of speech and actions for Christians. We need to love them with the love of Christ and be a reflection of Christ to them.

God bless you all.

CHRISTIANS KILLED IN BURKINA FASO TERRORIST ATTACK

Burkina YTTN God bless everyone. Today we have some heart breaking Christian news, where six Christians from an AG church were slaughtered by Islamic terrorists, in Burkina Faso which is located on the continent of Africa.

The following information is from cbn.com and I quote,

“A Burkina Faso government spokesman says six people, including a pastor, have been killed in an attack on a Christian church in the country’s north. The violence took place Sunday in the village of Silgadji, not far from the volatile border with Mali. Urbain Kabore, the communications director for the Sahel region of Burkina Faso, said Monday that the six people were slain after Sunday services.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility though violent Islamic extremism has been increasingly destabilizing the country. A number of jihadist groups are known to operate the area. Authorities said that in a separate incident in the east of Burkina Faso, five teachers were shot to death Friday.

The Islamic extremists also have targeted foreigners, abducting and killing a Canadian geologist earlier this year.”

Just to add to the story of this tragic event, two of the people killed were the pastor’s son and brother-in-law.

It saddens me to hear of tragedies such as this one going on in the world. A world created by God is continuously persecuting His people.

It is so difficult to bring the Gospel message to the world and Satan will do whatever he can to delay our efforts any way possible. We need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who risk their lives everyday so that people can have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and receive Him as their Lord and Savior.

These missionaries hold a special place in my heart. They do what so few of us have the guts to do. The faith one must have to risk their lives like this goes beyond measure. It is easy for us to sit comfortably in our own little worlds and say that we would do the same for Christ. My question is, really? Are we sure about that? If it came to the point where the gun was pressed to the head how many of us would stand tall for Jesus? How many would deny knowing Him? I pray that I can do as these amazing brothers and sisters in Christ did.

Although I am saddened by the news of this event, I am reminded of Paul when he wrote, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” I encourage you to stand strong in the faith. Cling on to Jesus, whether it be in your daily life struggles or to the point where your life depended on it. Rest on the power of His might and let the Lord see you through all things.

I ask you to please pray for the families who lost someone in this attack. Pray for the church and fellow believers who have to live in this and all other dangerous parts of the world. They need our prayers.

God bless you all.

FROM SEMINARY TO CEMETERY

66950-union-theological-seminary-creative-commons.1200w.tn Today we are talking about the president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, Serene Jones. She was interviewed by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times according to an article published in christianheadlines.com. She admits that she does not believe in Heaven, miracles, or Christ’s resurrection.

Keep in mind that Union Theological Seminary was founded in 1836 on the infallible Word of God. According to the article, the seminary’s founding constitution states that their goal is to promote the kingdom of Christ. Professors were required to affirm they believed the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

Jones made it clear that the school is very different today when compared to the school’s initial purpose.

In the article she rejects a literal bodily resurrection. She said that the stories in the Gospel are all over the place. The book of Mark has no resurrection story, just an empty tomb. She also goes on to say that those who claim to know whether Jesus resurrected are kidding themselves. She also rejects the virgin birth and knowing if Heaven exists.

What Jones is saying is complete nonsense. It is an example of today’s corrupt version of what God and Christianity is all about. You can’t believe certain parts of the Bible while rejecting other parts and call yourself a Christian or a minister. She is promoting a man-made religion that does not want to offend the secular world. She is creating an illusion of a god, which reflects Satan.

This is why the Bible tells us to be aware, and to be vigilant. The devil uses people like Serene Jones to confuse and corrupt the Word of God. She claims to be a minister yet rejects some of the core foundation of God’s Word.

I urge you to be very careful about people such as this lady and anyone else who tries to change God’s Word and His intent. I also urge you to develop a true and intimate relationship with God, read His Word, and get to know who He is and what His plans are for your life. When you stand strong on His Word you won’t fall to the lies that Satan is trying to spread through people such as this, to corrupt God’s Word in the end times.

God bless you all and until next time.

LIFE PROBLEMS? HERE IS WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY.

Let’s be real. Life at times has trials and tribulations that we must go through so that we can arrive to where the Lord wants us to be. God even tells us in His Word that we will go through tribulations in this world but take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

I want to go ahead and share three verses with you today that you can lean on when you are going through hard times. Jesus is our rock and our foundation, the best thing we can do is take what is written in the Word of God and use it when we need it.

The three verses are:

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORDyour God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
fear not, for I am with you;be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

We see in these scriptures the Lord tells us, “be strong and courageous,” “do not fear.” The reason He tells us that is because when we fear or are not strong in His might, we give Satan an opportunity to bring us down lower. We separate ourselves from the shelter that God offers us.

I encourage you today to trust in the Lord, be strong in His might, and to lean on His promises. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Rev. Orlando Vergel Jr.

The Time Is Now Ministry

WAITING ON THE LORD: 4 VERSES TO LIFT YOU UP

Life is always full of surprises. Many times tough decisions need to be made. Situations arise that are both good and bad, and at times we just want to make a quick decision without waiting on the Lord to direct us. Many times that spells disaster in our lives. I want to share some scripture with you to encourage you to wait on the Lord. When we wait on Him, things always turn out the way they were meant to be.

Here are four verses that you can meditate on when you need to wait on the Lord:

1. Psalms 27:14 – Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord.

2. Psalms 62:5 – Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

3. Psalms 37:7 – Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him…

4. Isaiah 40:31 – But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I encourage you to wait on the Lord. Hand over all your situations to Him; give Him full control, and He will direct your path.

Rev. Orlando Vergel Jr.

The Time Is Now Ministry