Wes McAdams's Blog, page 8

3 Christian Book Recommendations

I recently flew to the country of Estonia on a mission trip. With all the time I had flying on airplanes and waiting in airports, I was able to read three books during my trip. I wanted to recommend those three books to you and share a few of my thoughts on each.

Visions of Restoration by John Young

This is an excellent little book that outlines the history of churches of Christ in the United States. I found this book to be incredibly balanced. It highlights both our desire for unity as well as our struggle with...

What Did Jesus Mean: “Where I Am You May Be Also” (John 14:3)

Jesus told his disciples, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” What Jesus meant by that may seem pretty obvious. Without context to help us, Jesus seems to mean he will prepare rooms for his us in heaven and will take us to heaven to occupy those rooms. However, what happens if we consider a bit wider context?

The Road to Glory

One of the major themes of the Gospel of John is the theme of “glory.” In the biblic...

What is the Gospel: God is All in All

Over the last few weeks, we have been exploring, “What is the Gospel?” We’ve allowed Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, to outline and answer that question for us. Now it’s time to summarize and wrap up our series by discussing the final piece of the Gospel story. What does it mean for God to be “all in all”?

Outline of the Gospel Story

To briefly review, we have said that the Gospel is comprised of seven essential points:

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried. H...

What is the Gospel: All His Enemies Under His Feet

Last week, in Part 5 of our “What is the Gospel” series, we noted that God currently reigns as King; but the Father does so indirectly through the mediating work of one appointed man, Jesus the Christ. Someday though, Jesus will give the rule and reign over to the Father, so the Father can reign directly. But before that happens, all of his enemies must be put under Jesus’ feet.

Kings Crush Rebellions

If the Gospel is the Good News that God reigns as King through Jesus, then it is only a mat...

What is the Gospel: Jesus Delivers the Kingdom to the Father

We have come to the part of our “What is the Gospel” series that is typically overlooked when modern Christians present the “Gospel.” We talk about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but often leave out any serious discussion of the kingdom; if we mention the kingdom at all, we often equate “kingdom” with “church.” The kingdom is actually the very heart of the Gospel story and kingdom is about far more than the church.

God’s Kingdom Defined

When we think of a kingdom, we often think of...

What is the Gospel: The Dead Will Be Raised

When modern Christians teach people the Gospel, we typically begin by trying to convince them they have a problem about which they are blissfully unaware. We try to teach them that their biggest problem is, “God is angry with you and will soon punish you forever.” In reality, the Gospel is actually far more simple and every adult is already aware of his or her biggest problem. Thankfully, the Gospel addresses that problem head on.

Preaching Resurrection

Regardless of his audience, Paul preac...

What is the Gospel: Christ Was Raised on the Third Day

Sadly, many of us have accepted a version of the Gospel which emphasizes spiritual things over physical things. Somewhere along the line, Christians started following in the footsteps of Greek philosophers like Plato, accepting the idea that our physical bodies are a relatively unimportant part of human existence. Therefore, we seem to think the Gospel is about being freed from our bodily existence. However, if we pay careful attention, we will see that the resurrection of Jesus single-handed...

What is the Gospel: Christ Was Buried

When highlighting major points about the Gospel story, why does Paul mention specifically that Christ “was buried”? The burial is not mentioned as merely incidental information but as one of Paul’s primary points of emphasis. In today’s post, Part 2 of our series, we will explore why the burial of the Messiah is a major point in our salvation story.

Sharing in Our Mortality

In order for Jesus to be our Messiah (our Anointed Priest-King) it wasn’t enough for him to be God, he must also be human....

What is the Gospel? Christ Died for Our Sins

When we hear, “Christ died for our sins,” most of us probably assume we understand what that means. We think the phrase needs no explanation. But I’ve come to realize, what I thought it meant for Jesus to die for our sins was not an understanding rooted in Scripture. If we are going to understand the Gospel, we must understand what Paul really meant when he said, “Christ died for our sins.”

Typical Understanding of Jesus’ Death

This is what I used to think “Christ died for our sins” meant:

Every...

What is the Gospel: Introduction

What is the Gospel? How would you summarize it? I’m afraid the way we typically define and summarize the Gospel is far different than the the apostles. Over the next few weeks, I want to share with you what I believe is the biblical summary of the Gospel. Today, I simply want to give a brief introduction to the Gospel.

Seven (Not Three) Point Outline

Most of my life I have heard people say, “The Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.” We typically point to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4...