Purpose Statement	What is the Gospel?	Core Values
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What is the Gospel?

Gospel is a word you will hear around Naperville Presbyterian Church a lot.  What does it mean? The word “gospel” comes from a word that means good news.  When does someone most want to hear good news? When there is trouble or fear or discouragement we want to hear something good. The Bible tells us the story of both our need for gospel and God’s provision of it.

The story starts out so perfectly – a perfectly created world, a humanity made perfectly in the image of God, and a perfect relationship between God, man and woman. Just three chapters into the story (Genesis 3) however, the whole direction changes. Instead of enjoying relationship with God as He created it – mankind attempted a grab for autonomy, independence from God by disobeying His one command. This rejection of God brought sin and death into the world.

It is not hard to find proof enough that the world is not as it should be. We can see it in the wickedness of mankind at war, in prejudice, oppression, cruelty, and greed. We can observe it in the destruction of floods, tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, and famines. And, if we are honest, we can see it in ourselves – in our self-centeredness, our bitterness, our anger, and the like.

Thankfully, the story of the Bible does not stop with the sad report of humanity’s peril. The rest of the story is about God’s gracious response to the need of mankind to escape the results of rebellion. He gives mankind prophets to tell them about His character and how to relate to Him. He gives priests to help the people bridge the gap through sacrifices for sin and intercession. He gives kings to lead the people out of misery and into glory. But all of these efforts meet mixed response and even the successes are short lived. When reading the story we long for something better something more permanent.

The good news breaks in to history like a bright dawn after a cold dark night. God comes Himself to make things right in the person of Jesus. He is the perfect prophet because every word He speaks is from God. He is the perfect King because of His perfect obedience to God and perfect power. He is the perfect priest because He offers a perfect sacrifice that completely pays the price of sin – His own life. His resurrection is the proof of the perfection of His sacrifice.

Now, if we believe and trust only in the accomplishment of Jesus, our relationship with God can be beautiful now and forever. This is good news – gospel. But the story goes on. If we have really understood the gospel we will see its effects in every area of our lives and our world. We will stop looking for independence from God because we find joy in our relationship to Him. We will have new passion to become more like Him. Since God is infinite in His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – we will always have room for growth. The gospel keeps changing us.