Day 31

I just got back from a 3 day conference held at Sarang Church in Anaheim. It was a pastor's conference themed: "Evangelism and the Gospel Centered Church." The conference was a great time of renewal and conviction for me.

It has now been a month since we started a corporate prayer & fast. Where should this lead toward and how should it affect the people of Hillside Ministry? The answer is living in the gospel and living for the gospel and living out the gospel.

God's word in Colossians 1:27 says, "...to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians uses the term mystery on several occasions. The mystery of the gospel was being revealed through the ministry of Paul to the Gentiles. It was a mystery b/c Jesus had not yet come. The gospel was still veiled to most of the Jews during the time of Jesus. But this gospel has been disclosed to the saints (the believers). The church possesses intimate knowledge of this gospel hence bears the awesome responsibility to disseminate effectively and powerfully the message of this mystery.

The intentionality of our witness as Christians in revealing this mystery must be questioned - have we really experienced the gospel the Bible talks about? If we are truly experiencing the gospel then the work of salvation should continue its effect of bringing people to the Cross and reconciling them to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We share not b/c we are not living by the gospel. Is the gospel the power of God unto salvation or are you still trying to figure out the mystery of the gospel?