I never received the email

iggy

I wanted to add one more verse that many miss and do not even get.

Eph 2: 6. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7. in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Be blessed,
iggy

If all one preaches is that Jesus died, and denies the Resurrection that IS NOT THE WHOLE GOSPEL>

I see that Chris R does not deny the Resurrection but that there is a focus only on the “death” and not the understanding that we now Live in Him. We are New Creations and if that be true, we must learn to be as such.

That is what many ODM’s seem to despise about PDC and SSC models… all the while many of the ODM churches I attended teach that Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins and nothing else… and leave out the very thing the give us the Power to live. The Holy Spirit. They teach Jesus is on the Cross still but as I read scripture He rose and is at the right hand of God now… and we are in Him.

Ephesians 1 17-23 give a bit of what I see that most churches do not teach or understand.

17. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19. and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20. which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21. far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23. which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

PB and Chris R,

So many people live lives as if it is still their own. They never died with Christ nor received His Life… or if they have, they are not walking in that truth and are missing the very Power that saves us to Live the Life God calls us to.

I see that this half gospel is much the issue. If one has a failure Jesus who is still on the Cross and has not resurrected, they will have failed Christian Lives…

iggy

In this Christ life, we become dead to sin, and alive to God by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6) because we are joined to Christ in his death and resurection. Be assured, preaching Christ is the fullness of the Gospel.

I’m saying Christ Crucified is the message that we Christians need to hear week after week and IT is the true integration point between faith and life. Go back and read the Romans 6 and Colosians 2 and 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. That is why Paul wanted to know NOTHING except Christ Crucified.

Paul did not just preach Jesus Crucified… and that is only part of the gospel.
You can live for a dead crucified Jesus and I will Live the Resurrected Life of Christ…

and live out the whole Gospel…

Romans 5: 10. For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

1 Corinthians 15

1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,…

I Live and have my being in the Life of Christ not His death. So if all you preach (as you have stated over and over) is Christ Crucified, then you are not preaching the full Gospel… you are only preaching death and Life through Resurrection…

So yes, you are preaching only half of the Gospel. = )

We need to learn how to Live in Christ… letting Him be our very Life.

iggy

As long as you look at it as ‘information’ to learn then you will not get it.

I am not trying to play games or be aloof or be snarky.

I am dead serious when I say that ‘Christ Crucified for Sinners’ is the message that unlocks not only Justification but Sanctification as well. This message brings the Christian life TO LIFE.

If you don’t believe me then I invite you to conduct a little experiment. Read Ephesians, Philippians, and Colosians. Read them in their entirety and when you get to the ‘moral instructions’ portions of each book notice that those instructions are ALWAYS in light of the cross and what Christ has done for us.

When you read the passage that says ‘Rejoice in the Lord Always’. Notice that what immediately precedes it are these words,

Phil. 3:7   But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. “

When you read the passage that says, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need… NOTICE THAT THIS MESSAGE IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO these words…

Eph. 2:14   For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Notice that these epistles were written to Christians. If ‘Christ Crucified for Sinners’ is merely information about salvation then the majority of these letters is nothing more than filler because the main thrust of each of these letters is Christ Crucified. But the Biblical reality is this…

Without Christ Crucified for Sinners there is no life, there are no good works, there is no true love for or service to our neighbor.

But with the message of Christ Crucified for Sinners comes all the riches of being sons of God. We are set free from sin, are made new, we do the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do and we serve our neighbor in love for the sake of Christ.

Christ crucified and resurrected is definitely the center of our faith, but it’s not like there’s not more to learn. I believe Christians should want to learn as much as possible about Scripture and the work of God.

‘half gospel’.

I’ll stick with what Paul said.

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.