These questions are connected to the message, The Problem with “The Gospel.” You can catch up here.
If you prefer to journal, we have created journal pages specifically for this purpose. You can download them here.
- How would you have ‘summarized’ the Gospel before hearing this message?
- Is there anything in your summary that may have changed after hearing this message?
- What parts of ‘The Gospel’ get you excited to share with people around you? Are there stories, parables, or actions of Jesus that you think would be good news to those around you? It may help to finish this sentence: “When I think of ________ (insert name of friend or loved one), the good news I would want them to know is _________ (insert something from the life of Jesus).
Here are a few examples:
- When I think of my brother who has always struggled with faith, the good news I would want him to know is that Jesus welcomed doubters and question-askers. (John 20)
- When I think of my sister-in-law who has experienced lots of racism from people who called themselves Jesus followers, the good news I would want her to know is that Jesus had a no-tolerance policy when it came to racism and unconscious bias. (Luke 9)
- When I think of my friend who recently began unpacking the sexual abuse they experienced as a child, the good news I would want them to know that Jesus doesn’t offer platitudes, but weeps with the broken hearted (John 11), that Jesus doesn’t mince words about child abusers and takes it very seriously (Matthew 18), and that Jesus offers healing for the brokenhearted (Luke 4).
One of the challenges from this message came from a quote from Scot McKnight: “If you want to read the gospel, hear the gospel, or preach the gospel…read, listen to, and preach the Gospels…”
Is this something that you want to do? Maybe commit to reading a chapter a day, and journaling about it. Or reading a few chapters a week and getting together with friends or family to discuss. How will you commit to immersing yourself in the Gospel?
For the past year, we’ve also been going through the Gospel of Luke line-by-line on Sunday morning. To dig deeper, you can watch or listen to those messages and journal through the discussion questions connected to each sermon. They can be found here.
You can also find each message wherever you find your favourite podcast, or on YouTube (look under the playlists for Introducing Jesus, Unexpected Jesus, and In Training (in that order)).