#newseries
It’s time to go back to the basics.
If my Sunday school teacher had asked me to tell them the gospel as a 6 yr old, I probably could have done it- and that would’ve been great… expect that for a long time I pretty much stayed right there. I could tell you the gospel, but if you asked me why Christ had to die, why it was essential that he rose again, or where the gospel really began all the way back in Genesis, I was stumped. It’s great to have Bible studies that go deeply into specific topics or certain books, those types of studies are essential to discipleship and spiritual growth, but if you don’t have a strong foundation in your understanding of the gospel, you are hopelessly lost.
The gospel is the cornerstone of our faith; Without it all the religion in the world means nothing. Yet, do we even understand what we believe when we recite the gospel to each other?
What about every other part of Christianity that follows? Do we understand why we go to church read the Bible, pray, go on mission trips, help the poor, or anything else we are called to do as Christians? When Christianity becomes cultural, it can be easy for us to go through the motions of doing all the outward signs of Christianity that everyone else expects, without understanding their significance, or experiencing these things in their fullness.
When we try to build on our faith without a solid foundation in the Lord and His Word, we are easily broken down by the attacks of our enemy and the distractions of the world. As soon as we face hardship, we begin to think that religion is fake, petty, and naive. Look at the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 13 of a farmer (that is God) sowing seeds (the gospel) into different types of soil (our response to God’s words). Jesus said, “Some [seed] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.” That is what happens when we don’t take time to create a foundation in why we believe what we do. We are beat down by troubles that come. Yet, hope is not lost. “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” We can truly grow in our faith and our relationship with God when we have a foundation to build on, that means hearing AND understanding.
So we’re starting a series on the wait, why? moments of Christianity- starting with the gospel, because we’ve gotta have a foundation.
-31Women (Beth)