Humanity has a problem: everything is not as it should be. We can take one quick scan of the world around us and agree that things don’t add up. So what is the good news? God put into motion the greatest rescue plan to save and bring us back to LIFE so we could be in a relationship with Him. In this three-day track, Tim Tebow, Sadie Robertson Huff, and KB walk us through the Gospel, how it affects everything, and the simple prayer that can change your eternity.

Everything is not as it should be. Have you felt it?

Humanity has a problem. One quick scan of the world around you and you’ll agree… things don’t add up. There is pain and sorrow. Hate and anger. Disease and death. People are lonely and desperately searching for purpose and identity. Guilt, anxiety, and fear surround us. The world is broken.

Why? Is this the way things were intended to be?

No. In his perfection, God Almighty created us in His image. We, his loved sons and daughters, were not designed to be separated from our Heavenly Father.

But everything changed when we chose something other than Him. This choice all those ages ago permanently and pervasively changed everything. This separation from God, what we call Sin, left a chasm between our broken nature and a perfect Father, between holiness and humanity.

But God.

God does not make mistakes. No, God, in His infinite wisdom, foreknew the need for a Savior, one who could reach across that chasm and restore imperfection to a state wherein they could come to the Father once again.

Enter Jesus. Jesus, by whom and through whom all things were created, Jesus the Word made flesh, Jesus the who the angels said would be called Emmanuel, God with us, stepped out of Heaven and into humanity for the sake of all.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:23-24

Our farness from God, the result of our choosing something other than God, would be brought to an end by the choice of Jesus, fully God and fully man, shedding His blood on the cross to atone for our sins.

Why? Because of His love for us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:16-18

This is the free gift of God, the grace that was purchased on your behalf. What is your part to play? To believe, to surrender your life to the one who created it, saved it, and who will sanctify it. If you do, your life will never be the same.

How marvelous, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior’s love for me!

Maybe you’ve heard the word ‘Gospel’ before. You may have heard it at or around the church. Someone may have even asked you if you’d heard ‘the Gospel’ before. But what does ‘Gospel’ mean, and why is it important to your life?

The word ‘Gospel’ refers to the ‘good news.’ In fact, its Greek (the language of the New Testament) translation is euangelion, which is a compound word made up of Eu (meaning good) and angelion (meaning announcement.) Go even further back, and the word gospel translates into Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) as both a noun (besorah) and a verb (bisser.)

Here’s what you need to know: this is no ordinary news. Most of the time, when we think about the news, we think about a flashy headline connected to someone else’s traumatic story, but the Gospel is Good News, and it is actually the greatest news ever shared.

Look back at the passage we read yesterday from the Gospel of John:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17

The good news that John is writing about here is the euangelion! This is the story of salvation that Tim shared with us yesterday and that Sadie explained again today. Jesus laid down His perfect life for you so that you could have eternal life with God your Father. Where we all should have received condemnation for our sins, Jesus made a way for us to instead recieve grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Notice what the scripture is NOT saying to us today. You don’t have to get your life together in order to come to Jesus. You don’t have to be perfect in order to be loved by Him. You don’t have to earn your way to forgiveness; Jesus already did that.

We can see these truths plainly laid out in scripture in the story of the Apostle Paul. His name was originally Saul, and he was a persecutor of Christians. In fact, Saul would send Christians to be beaten, tortured, and executed. Then, one day, while Saul was traveling to a city called Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around him. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,”

As the account continues in the book of Acts, Saul, the murderer of Christians, has his life powerfully and irrevocably transformed by the Gospel. He came to believe in Jesus, was given a new name (Paul), and subsequently became a church planter and author of much of the New Testament.

The Gospel can transform your life no matter where it finds you. Take heart in that truth today! No matter what your life has been like leading up to this moment, it can be powerfully changed and made new today. As Paul wrote to the Romans:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8

There is hope today and good, good news.

The gospel is the good news about how God saves the world through His Son, Jesus. He is the hero that not only rescues us, but He turns enemies into friends. He is a story of hope! We are like deserts, dying of thirst, yet only one thing can satisfy us. The true good news for the thirsty is water has come so we can live. The gospel is water: Living Water, Jesus Christ. See John 7:37-39.

God sets the theme for life when He started the Bible with “in the beginning, God” because He created everything seen and unseen. He created it all, and He made it not just good but “very good.” Planets are in galaxies. Birds don’t just fly; they sing. Fruit isn’t just fruit; it’s sweet and enjoyable. He created us in that same vein but with extra finesse. 

God speaks things into existence. All of creation was formed by His Word…except man. With us, He dug into the dirt. He formed and fashioned us with His own hands. He breathed into us dignity, worth, value, purpose, and life. He stands man up and tells him that he was made in His, God’s, image. 

You are to be like a mirror that God is looking into that reflects Him for all to see. He clothes us in His joy, goodness, happiness, and justice. It looks so good that people want to know about your Designer. We are made by God for His glory. If that God is for us, who can be against us? But the opposite is true, too. If that God is against us, what could be for us? Our God is good. He’s so much more than we can imagine, but He will not be played. 

The serpent deceived our original parents, Adam and Eve, by convincing them that God is not good enough and won’t do what He says. We still fall for this today. We want what we want, but if God were to give us that, all we would get is darkness, death, and destruction. All of history is full of Adams and Eves looking for happiness outside of God. Our stories of lies, pride, stinginess, and hate all carry on the legacy of Adam’s rebellion. We weren’t made for that. God, being a good judge, is angered by the disrespect and destruction of the purpose of His creation. Be aware that He will stop it, even if that means stopping you.

Psalm 75:8 describes a cup of wine foaming, and the cup is God’s anger. It’s as if it gets stronger the more we rebel. It says the wicked will drink it to the bottom. Our name is on that cup, and we are facing God’s anger.

BUT GOD!

He’s not just angry. He’s loving, patient, and full of mercy. He is a loving God. He sent His Son to save the very ones who deserve His judgment. 

Jesus lived 33 years in absolute perfection. Throughout his time on Earth, Jesus faced all the exact same things we face: anxiety, temptation, sickness, trauma, and depression. He never once sinned. Jesus endured it all perfectly. He wasn’t just a godly man. He was and is God in the flesh. He wasn’t just a good teacher. He was and is the apotheosis, or the highest development, of knowledge. He never needed mercy, grace, or forgiveness, but He extends it to us time and time again.

Jesus climbed the cross and took on that bitter cup that had your name on it. He crossed your name out and put His over it. He drank that bitter cup over three hours, turned it over, and said, “It is finished.” The debt that you owe for all you’ve done to God, the debt of being separated from God, was done away with when Jesus cut the check with His life on your behalf. It’s paid in full. 

Jesus lived perfectly. He died purposely. He rose from the dead, proving that everything He said was true. The resurrection of Jesus, the King, enables Him to tell a dying world to come to Him. He will redeem, forgive, restore, set free, and protect you. Even death can’t hurt you anymore. It doesn’t matter how low you’ve gone; He has more grace to give than you have sin to commit.

You’ll never be good enough to deserve to be saved and yet never be bad enough that He cannot save you. It’s not about you. It’s all about Jesus: His life, His death, His resurrection. He has us covered forever.

Don’t be fooled by misrepresentations of Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible stands resurrected, alive, and ready to save. If you want to meet the true Jesus, call out to Him in prayer. Turn from things that will keep you from chasing Him. Believe Him with all your heart, and you’ll watch the gospel work.