Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gospel Wakefulness

chapter 1: What is Gospel Wakefulness?
They were not preaching the death and resurrection of Christ, at least not directly at first.  They were announcing that God's righteousness was finally coming to bear upon the real world, that the manifest presence of his sovereignty was finally breaking into history, as is the hope seen throughout the longing of Israel in the Old Testament.  This in-breaking kingdom, of course, centers on Christ as King, and the coronation and exaltation of Christ as King hinges on his death and resurrection, so the 'gospel of the kingdom' and Paul's gospel of first importance are not really separate concepts, but degrees of magnification of the same concept.

Jesus died and resurrected according to the Scriptures, which means God's kingdom has come according to the Scriptures.
(helpful for me..always get confused about the Kingdom of God and what that is/means)

p.23
In this wide-angle view of the gospel, the good news is that the peace that was broken at the fall will be restored in everything, from God's reconciliation with sinners to his establishing of the new heavens and the new earth.  A cosmic gospel means the restoration of all things.

p. 30 If you were to ask me today when I was saved, I would answer, not entirely humorously, "about two thousand years ago." Indeed, because I have been predestined for salvation by the one who foreknew me before I was born or had done anything good or bad, and because the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, I don't need the security of the date of my new birth. I only need the security of knowing he whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to safeguard my life for all eternity.

p. 33 It is the result of Spiritually seeing with the eyes of faith what you always assumed was there.
p.34. There is the combination prescribed for gospel wakefulness-receiving the Word in the midst of affliction, resulting in Spiritual joy and Christlikeness.

p.35. I can and should tell you to 'Behold!"-and that is the major function of this book-but whether you will truly see is up to God, and it is usually dependent on how dim all your other earthly hopes have grown for you.....Really, there are only two steps to gospel wakefulness: be utterly broken and be utterly awed.  But neither of these things are things you can really Do. They are things only God can do for you.
p.37 To borrow from Abraham Kuyper, there is no square inch of our lives over which Christ who is Lord over all does not declare, "Mine!" and the gospel-wakened heart does not gladly proclaim, "Yours!"

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