Simply put, the Gospel is the “good news.”
Jesus left heaven, came to earth and died for my sins. But it didn’t stop there. He rose from the dead on the third day, just like He said. Forty days later He ascended back into heaven.
JUST LIKE HE SAID.
Keep those four very important words on the front of your brain, for they may be the “fuel” that’s needed to ignite your evangelistic presentation.
Dr. Rice Broocks, a.k.a. “Minuet Rice,” is a pastor today with the Betel Outreach Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Rice and I were in the same fellowship Maranatha Campus Ministries, back in the ‘80s. Rice defines the word “Gospel,” like this:
“The Gospel is the good news. It is the declaration of the facts that surround Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection from the dead. First Corinthians 15:4 says that after Christ’s resurrection He was seen by Peter and then to the rest of the disciples, to over five hundred after that.”
Rice closes his quote by saying, “He lived the life that I should have lived and died the death that I should have died.”
Let’s get back to those four words, just like He said.
Jesus made that resurrection declaration not once, but three times. He proclaimed that He was going to be crucified at the hands of the Jewish leaders, and after His death and burial, that He would rise from the dead.
A statement that bold had never been made by any religious founder. Be it Mohammad, Buddha or Confucius. After that brash statement, He got more specific by prophesying that He would rise in exactly three days. Matthew 16:21, 17:23 and 20:19.
C.S. Lewis calls this a trilogy. Josh McDowell, who is probably one of our greatest modern apologists concludes, “Jesus was either a liar, lunatic or Lord.”
Put your feet just for a moment in the disciples’ shoes. You could have been thinking something like this, “I’ve been following this guy Jesus for the better part of three years. Me and the other guys have seen Him do some pretty wild things, like healing epileptics, casting demons out of people and other miracles.
Things were finally starting to make sense until last week when we were walking to Jerusalem for the Passover and He said that He was going to be beaten beyond recognition. He declared that Roman nails would be driven through His hands. After all that, He would be left hanging naked on a cross. And then three days later He would rise from he dead, just like He said.
The disciples may have thought this guy might be some kind of a liar. Liars say one thing and do another. We certainly knew that He wasn’t some kind of lunatic or was He? Nobody in their right mind says they are going to rise from the dead.
So the only other choice we have to conclude with is that He’s Lord. However, we have to wait until next week to determine that.” The next week came and He rose from the dead, just like He said.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
There you have it, though I wasn’t there in Israel in A.D. 33, I still can receive the testimony of the 511 witnesses who were. Neither one of them could deny what they had seen with their own eyes.
The earth shattering events of the death, resurrection and post-resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ could never be stripped from the minds of those early believers. Neither one of these witnesses could possibly deny what their eyes told them. Prison, persecution or abandonment just couldn’t carry enough pressure to turn them around.
Kay Arthur, CEO and founder of Precept Ministries of Chattanooga, Tennessee makes the following comment on the book of Acts:
“I’m going away.” The 11 heard nothing else. The promise of another Helper, the Holy Spirit, fell on deaf ears. The thought that they could do the works that Jesus had done and even greater-must have seemed preposterous to them. Jesus had died and had been buried. But three days later He arose from the dead! For more than 40 days the disciples saw, heard, and touched the Word of Life as He spoke to them of things concerning the kingdom of God. He commissioned His disciples to reach the world, and then once again He was gone, taken away from their very eyes! Before He left, He promised to send the Spirit to empower them, to teach them, and guide them. Then came Pentecost and the acts of the apostles. Luke wrote Theophilus all about it in the book of Acts, which was probably written about A.D. 63. (The Inductive Study Bible p, 1761 Harvest House Publishing)
“Right after the day of Pentecost, the persecution of the church began. Why, because this was desired or “it was some badge, no it was expected and needed to be embraced and experienced” John Mcgarthur, speaker and teacher of Grace To You.
