The Heart of the Gospel

Scripture – 1 John 5:11-15: ¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Observation – (Write down what you see in the scripture.) “Gospel” means “good news.” And this is the heart of it – God has given us eternal life. It comes as a gift I can receive or reject. A package I can open or set on the shelf and leave it closed. It’s a gift God has given out of His love. It has nothing to do with whether or not I feel worthy or deserving. It’s something He wanted me to have. By His grace, I do have it.

Application – (Write how you will be different today because of what you have just read.) Very simply, I’ll remember that. I’ll stop from time to time today and thank God for His wonderful gift.

Prayer – (Write out a brief prayer.) Thank you, Lord, for the gift of eternal life and all the difference that gift makes. Someone pointed out to me the other day that the “Application” section of this outline raises an interesting question: Why would I be different today? Shouldn’t I have been doing this all along? Well, in this case, Lord, yes I should – and I have often thanked you. I’ll just be more intentional about that this day.