F4F | Your Testimony is NOT the Gospel

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. So let me ask you a question.

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Have you ever been told that your testimony, your story has power to release encounters with Jesus?

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You say, well, maybe not quite that way. I've been told that my story is important.

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And have you ever been told that the gospel is your testimony? Yeah. See, now there's more people sitting there going, yeah,

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I've heard something like that. Here's the thing. Your story and my story is not the gospel.

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It's not. And you do not have to tell somebody your story in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

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In fact, not at all. You can talk about your story, but here's where we're going to make an important distinction.

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The story of your regeneration, the story of your repentance is the work and the result of the gospel preached to you.

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It is not the gospel. We'll show you that from Scripture. So what we're going to do today, in fact, let me whirl up the desktop, head over to the web browser.

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We're going to head over to Bethel Church. Now, you're going to note that the audio is sped up and we're going to warp it just slightly.

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And the reason why it's simple is because Bethel thinks they're above the law. And so they seek out to destroy and take down videos that critique their theology by using, under the laws of fair use, snippets from their preaching and the teaching.

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So we're going to transform it up to even make it more transformative.

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And the idea here is, I'm going to just say this up front, this is for the purpose of offering criticism, which is clearly under the laws of fair use, and it is wrong and sinful for Bethel to squash people who are doing what we're doing here.

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So that's the reason why we're going to mix it up just a little bit. But what we're going to listen to is a fellow by the name of Tom Crandall.

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And the name of this teaching is The Gospel, sharing

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Jesus through your story. But here's the thing. Your story isn't the gospel.

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My story is not the gospel. Not at all. In fact, we'll show you that from the

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Bible. And if you were ever wondering, all right, you know, I've heard the term gospel before, but I'm not sure biblically how to define it.

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This is going to be a great episode for you because by the time we're finished with this video, you will know exactly where to go in the

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Bible and how the Bible defines the term gospel.

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But let's let Tom Crandall start things off, shall we? Every believer has a story to share, whether you've been saved your whole life or you just got saved out of extreme darkness three days ago.

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Your story matters. It's significant, and it has power when released to awaken somebody else into their own encounter with Christ.

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No, see already, this is totally hopelessly lost. This is not biblical. My story does not have power to awaken someone to an encounter with Christ.

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What is that, by the way? How are you defining the term an encounter with Jesus?

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What is the cash value of that? You know, the Bethel is all about the experiences, right? So here's where we're going to do our biblical work.

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And we're going to start off in the book of Romans chapter one. And this is a passage that even if you only nominally know your

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Bible, you've probably heard this portion of Scripture. And here's what it says. Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel.

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Ta euangelion in Greek, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it, the gospel, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

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Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

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All right? So, you know, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. But it's not your story.

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You'll see that more in a minute here. So now, let's talk about then how then are we to define gospel and what are the dangers of getting the gospel wrong?

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Well, Paul lays that out very clearly for us in the book of Galatians. In this letter,

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Paul, which is really harshly worded, Paul is writing to the Galatians going, why are you listening to these

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Judaizers? Because they're teaching a different, a heteros gospel. And so that being the case, let's listen to what

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Paul says in this regard. I'm ashamed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and you are turning to a different gospel.

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Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and they want to distort the gospel of Christ.

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But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be.

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And here the ESV says a curse, the Greek word is anathema and anathema means damned.

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Even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be damned.

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As we have said before, so I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel that is contrary to the one you received, let him be damned, anathema.

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So you'll note, this is a primary doctrine, non -negotiable. If you got a false gospel, that false gospel cannot save you.

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In fact, a false gospel will damn you. That's how important it is.

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So that begs the question, well, what is the gospel? Well, in verse 11 then, in Galatians 1,

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Paul goes on to say this, I would have you know brothers that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

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Now if the gospel he preached is not man's gospel, this should immediately begin to awaken within you the idea that this gospel is in a different category altogether than your story.

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Here's why. You're not 2 ,000 years old, neither am I. So Paul was completely unaware that I would even exist 2 ,000 years later in North Dakota.

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So clearly, whatever the gospel is that he preached, it had nothing to do with my story, nor did it have anything to do with your story.

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That rules out the idea of my story or your story, that's the gospel. It ain't, by the way. So Paul says this,

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I would have you know brothers that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was

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I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. So the gospel that he preached, he didn't learn it from Peter.

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He didn't learn it from John. He didn't learn it from Thaddeus. He learned it directly from Jesus himself, and he received that gospel via direct revelation.

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So the question that you should be asking is, well, did Paul write down this revelation that he got? We'd like to know what the gospel is.

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The answer is yes, he did, and he wrote it down in 1 Corinthians 15. Here's what it says.

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Now, I would remind you brothers of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand.

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Okay, so he's going to remind them of the gospel he preached. Who did he get it from? Jesus. It's not man's gospel.

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It's Christ's gospel. And so this is the gospel in which they stand, by which they are being saved, if you hold fast to the word that I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

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And then verse 3 of chapter 15, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.

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Ah, who do you receive it from? Jesus. And here it is. Here's the gospel. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.

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He was buried. He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And he appeared to Cephas and to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

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What's the gospel? The good news that Christ died for our sins. He was buried and raised again on the third day.

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That is the gospel. That's the good news that Jesus gave to Paul to preach.

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That's the good news that Peter also preached. So Christ died for our sins.

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That's the good news. So here again then, Romans 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the good news that Christ died for our sins and rose from the grave on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

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For that gospel is the power of God for salvation. The gospel is the power of God, not your story,

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Jesus's story, what he's done for you. His story has the power.

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And you'll note then that in the Bible, in the New Testament, we have four books that are called, quote, gospels.

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Whose story are they telling? Jesus's. The story of Jesus, what he did for us.

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That's the gospel. What he did on the cross, that's the gospel. Not what impact it had on you, that's something different.

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But you'll note then, and this is why Paul then says this. Romans 10, verse 11, the scripture says,

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Everyone who believes in Jesus will not be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same

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Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the

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Lord will be saved. All right, everyone who calls on the name of the

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Lord will be saved. So how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard?

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And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

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As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, the gospel.

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But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who's believed what he has heard. So watch what he says.

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Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

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The word of Christ is the gospel. Faith comes by hearing, hearing through the word of Christ. When you preach the gospel,

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God, the Holy Spirit promises to be operative in calling people to repent of their sins and to believe in Jesus so that they can be forgiven and that they would call on the name of the

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Lord and be saved. The good news is about what Jesus did. It's not your story.

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So if you have ever felt like, you know, I was raised a

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Christian and my life is kind of boring. I mean, I was a nerd in high school.

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And when I went to college, I actually studied and I didn't party and I didn't have that season where I sowed all those wild oats.

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But I'm still a sinner, but I just don't have a spectacular story like that guy over there who says that, you know, at 13, he was kicked out of his house and became a druggie and lived on the streets and now he's cleaned up his act and now he loves

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Jesus. My story isn't that spectacular. Yeah, there's a lot of people who feel that. Here's the thing.

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His story isn't the gospel. Jesus' story is. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ.

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The gospel is about Christ and what he's done for us. So now you know this. So coming back then here,

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I'm going to back this up so that you can hear this in context. And again, it's been sped up on purpose, but you can see that this is just way off, way, way, way, way off.

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Every believer has a story to share, whether you've been saved your whole life or you just got saved out of extreme darkness three days ago. Your story matters.

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It's significant and it has power when released to awaken somebody else into their own encounter with Christ. Says no biblical text ever.

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No biblical text says this. The gospel is the power of God into salvation, not my story.

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You know, the stakes are too high to just meander through life feeling shut down because your story is not as cool as somebody else's. That comparison game has got to go.

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Right now, I want to equip you and empower you on how to share Christ through your life, through your story, through your style.

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We're supposed to share his story. The gospel is about Christ dying for our sins and being raised on the third day.

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Others can encounter God in your workplace, in your home, through your friendships. So they can encounter God? At the grocery store, everywhere you go.

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So I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Grew up in a Christian home, knew God as a child, junior high, high school years, made stupid choices.

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Walked away from the Lord. Around 17 years old, I was working at a place called Sports Park and it was an outdoor go -kart place. And I was out there one day by myself and that never happened.

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There was always tons of people on the track and a man showed up with his two kids. I put him on the go -kart track and these two kids begin to do circles and he and I struck up a conversation.

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And I asked him where he's from. He said, I'm from Seattle. And I don't know why I said this, but I said, Oh yeah, I heard there's a bad drug problem in Seattle. Because I mean, I was doing drugs at the time.

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And he said, Oh yeah, I used to do cocaine and I stopped after nine years. And I said, I have a friend. She's like a sister to me.

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She did cocaine for nine years. And then she got saved. And I don't even know, I wasn't walking with God at the time. I don't know why that came out of my mouth. And he said, Saved?

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You mean you're saved? You're a brother, man? So am I. And everywhere I go, I'm a warrior for Christ. I preach the gospel. I love Jesus. He set me free.

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And this guy just began to burn in front of me. And I said to him, you know, I'm thinking about picking up a book of Mormon to prove to my girlfriend that this is wrong.

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It's a lie. And he said, why would you study a lie to find the truth? Jesus said, broad and wide is the road that leads to destruction and men will go there, but narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life.

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So he used the God's law to convict you of your sin and your idolatry.

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Yeah, he does need to seek the narrow gate. He's a Mormon at the time.

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No, no. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. You're putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable here, dude.

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My story, your story, his story ate the gospel. The gospel has the power. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

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I pulled the kids off the track. I said, have a good day. He walked away and I turned around and I remember opening the gate and I saw like a white flame in my heart, in my mind's eye.

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I remember saying, I knew it was real. That guy walked away that day. He has no idea how he changed my life. I have no idea who he is, but he was ready to share his life with me and burn in front of me.

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I want to tell you right now that when you're ready to share pieces of your story, wherever you go, the same presence of God that saved your life is released through your story.

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No, the same Holy Spirit is operative in the preaching of the gospel, which is about Jesus dying for our sins.

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I want to encourage you. The world around you is waiting to hear what God has done in you so that they can experience Christ as well. No, the world needs to hear the story of what

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Christ has done for us. They need to hear his story, not my story or your story. Yeah, I think you get the idea.

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And that's where the major confusion is. Paul didn't preach his story expecting his story to be the power.

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He would tell people about his conversion, but he would always preach the gospel, that Christ died for our sins and that he is the one who's going to judge the living and the dead, that he's the promised

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Messiah. So you get the idea here is that there is a place for you to share your conversion, but know this, the story of your conversion isn't the gospel and it doesn't have power.

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What has the power? The story of Christ dying for our sins and rising from the grave on the third day so that we can be saved and justified.

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That's what scripture teaches. And if you have a pretty bland story, no problemo.

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The story of Jesus is more amazing than even my conversion story or anybody's conversion story, because it's the story of the love that God has for his fallen creation and in his love and his mercy and even pity for us, who had made ourselves worthless under the dominion of darkness, following the devil in his ways and listening to his voice rather than the voice of God, that God, despite the fact that we were his enemies, sends his son to die for our sins so that we can be reconciled to him and receive eternal life as a gift.

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There is no better story than that. So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is going to be down below in the description.

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And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ, his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.