Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 15: Obedience Borne of Love

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Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 15: Obedience Borne of Love

June 15th. Day 15 of walking through “Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily” — Part 1 of “A Gospel Primer for Christians” by Milton Vincent.


Today’s reason — Obedience Borne of Love.


About this reason, Vincent says this...


“To love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength is the greatest commandment in the Law. {Mark 12:28-30} If I could simply fulfill this one commitment, I would gladly fulfill all others as a natural matter of course.”


He goes on to say...


“So how can I come to love God with all of my being? {1 John 5:3} The Bible teaches that genuine love in my heart for God is generated by an awareness of His love for me, {1 John 4:19} and nowhere is the love of God more clearly revealed than in the gospel.” {Romans 5:7-8, John 15:13, Ephesians 2:4-5}


And Vincent concludes with these thoughts...


“Therefore, preaching the gospel to myself as a great way to keep God’s amazing love before my eyes, so that I might experience its power to produce in me a passionate love for Him in return. Captured by His love in this way, my smitten heart increasingly burns to do His will and feasts itself on doing so.” {John 14:31, John 4:34, Psalm 40:8}


I couldn’t agree more with this reason to rehearse the gospel daily. If God is Love (which, He is {1 John 4:16}), our belief in Him and trust in His sin, Jesus, as our Savior (the way He made for us through the gospel because of His great live for us), then that great love MUST compel us to obedience borne out of a desire to reciprocate that love.


Changed lives change lives. Once God’s Love changes a life by the transformational truth of His Word, that life is spurred on to share that transformational truth with others through love for God and obedience to His Word.


There’s a little three letter word smack dab in the middle of the word “obedience” – DIE. We must die to ourselves daily as Christ died for us — every genuine act of obedience is borne of love.


The greatest of these is love. {1 Corinthians 13:13}


The greatest love is God’s. {1 John 4:16, Romans 5:8}

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Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 12: Stimulated to Love Others

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Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 12: Stimulated to Love Others

June 12th. Day 12 of walking through “Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily” — Part 1 of “A Gospel Primer for Christians” by Milton Vincent.


Today’s reason — Stimulated to Love Others.


About this reason to rehearse the gospel daily, Vincent says this...


“When my mind is fixed on the gospel, I have ample stimulation to show God’s love to other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me. {Titus 3:1-8} Also, the gospel gives me the wherewithal to give forgiving grace to those who have wronged me, for it reminds me daily of the forgiving grace that God is showing me.” {Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12-13}


He goes on to say...


“Doing good and showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sins against God and of his forgiving grace toward me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me.”


As I was reading today’s reasons to rehearse the gospel daily, my eyes welled up with tears when I came to that last sentence. In a nutshell...


The gospel has power through Christ’s obedience, but the gospel finds opportunities through our obedience.


And then the Holy Spirit sweetly reminded me by flooding my mind with times (one just this past Thursday) when the gospel indeed stimulated me to love others, and I know it was ALL Jesus because just moments prior I had such a bad attitude and selfishly wanted to do things/have things my way, but as soon as I confessed my sin to Him, He forgave me and made a way for me to show His love to others.


A supernatural exchange takes place in our lives when the gospel takes its rightful place in our hearts and by daily rehearsing reasons for living it. The exchange manifests in so many ways. When we’re daily walking and talking with God, we’ll more readily recognize it.


His righteousness for our sin.

His love for our hate.

His forgiveness for our bitterness.

His strength for our weakness.


We are so much more in Christ! We have access to so much more through the gospel. It is a supernatural thing that stimulates us to love and good deeds.


The gospel has power through Christ’s obedience, but the gospel finds opportunities through our obedience.

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Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 10: Loving my Brothers and Sisters

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Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 10: Loving my Brothers and Sisters

June 10th. Day 10 of walking through “Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily” — Part 1 of “A Gospel Primer for Christians” by Milton Vincent.


Today’s reason — Loving my Brothers and Sisters.


About this reason to rehearse the gospel daily, Vincent says this...


“The more I experience the gospel, the more there develops within me a yearning affection for my fellow Christians who are also participating in the glories of the gospel. This affection for them comes loaded with confidence in their continued spiritual growth and ultimate glorification, and it becomes my pleasure to express to them this loving confidence regarding the ongoing work of God in their lives” {Philippians 1:3-7}


He goes on to say...


“Additionally, with the gospel proving itself to be such a boon in my own life, I realize that the greatest gift I can give to my fellow Christians is the gospel itself. Indeed, I love my fellow Christians not simply because of the gospel, but I love them best when I am loving them with the gospel! {1 Thessalonians 2:8} And I do this not merely by speaking gospel words to them, but also by living before them and generously relating to them in a gospel manner. Imparting my life to them in this way, I thereby contribute to their experience of the power, the Spirit, and the full assurance of the gospel.” {1 Thessalonians 1:5}


Vincent concludes with this...


“By preaching the gospel to myself each day, I nurture the bond that unites me with my brothers and sisters for whom Christ died, and I also keep myself well-versed in the raw materials with which I may actively love them in Christ.”


I am fully convinced that believers “doing life together” and “spurring one another on” to live out gospel truths before a world desperate for truth is one of the most powerful and effective fruits of this practice of rehearsing the gospel daily.


“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” ~ Hebrews‬ ‭10:24-25‬ ‭ESV‬‬


When we LOVE well, we SERVE better. When we SERVE well, we LOVE greater. The gospel empowers us to love and serve beyond our own means.


This reason focuses on our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we’ll see in the days ahead (spoiler alert), gospel driven love extends beyond “family” to “enemies.” The gospel compels us to practice it among believers that we may prove it to those who’ve not yet believed.


We have access to the POWER of the gospel that frees us and redeems us, but it starts with LOVE. God’s love for us was so great that He gave His life. What does our love look like? Does it follow Christ’s example? Does it nurture the bond among believers, and does it display the love of Christ to those who have not yet trusted Him?

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His Word > our words. His Truth > our truth.

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His Word > our words. His Truth > our truth.

I love the book of Ephesians. Today I spent time in Chapter 4, and it made me think ALOT about our words in light of His Word and our tone in light of His Truth. I encourage you to read it, too. I promise it is more powerful than these words I’m about to share with you.

Allie Beth Stuckey put it this way, “It goes back to pride. We think we are more loving than God, we think we are wiser than God, we think we are more compassionate and empathetic than God, we think we know truth better than God. It’s all about exchanging the God of scripture for the god of self.”

When we think we know better than God, and we abandon His Truth, we will inevitably give in to the deception of the enemy. We will buy into the lie by constantly asking the question the enemy himself asked Eve in the garden, “Did God really say?”

He tries to trick us into thinking our tone is more important than speaking the truth.

He tries try to tempt us to believe our words show others love by coddling and comforting them, even if our words condone their sin.

We’re more concerned about how something sounds than what is being said.

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We Can Say All the Right Things in All the Wrong Ways

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We Can Say All the Right Things in All the Wrong Ways

We can say all the right things in all the wrong ways.


Even saying there is an absolute truth or only one right way seems rather unpopular these days. And one who holds a worldview that would claim such a thing is seen as arrogant, insensitive, and unloving.


In an effort to not mince words or speak too vaguely about the topic at hand, when I say, “We can say all the right things in all the wrong ways,” the “we” is “me” (and you too if you hold fast to a Biblical Worldview), the “things” are Biblical Truths held by those with a Biblical Worldview.


When Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6), we take Him literally, trust Him completely, and seek Him continually.


When we do that, we find that He never changes, but we should be changing everyday as we become more like Him in our actions and attitudes — in everything we say and do.


So, in these conversations we’re having, knowing we want to say the right thing in the right way, with God’s help, let’s work on our tone, temperament, and timing.


TONE (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 4:6)

We can say the right thing in the wrong tone.

Instead we should be full of grace, seasoned with salt, avoiding any unwholesome talk.


TEMPERAMENT (Romans 8:5)

We can say the right thing with the wrong temperament.

Instead we should put off our flesh, and be led by His Spirit.


TIMING ( 2 Timothy 4:2-4, Ephesians 5:15-16)

We can say the right thing at the wrong time.


Instead we should remember His timing is perfect, and waiting on Him is always worth it.


So, speak the truth boldly, but as you speak, yield to the Spirit, and do it with love, grace, and humility.


Humility is key to allow grace in the space where hearts can be open to receive the truth that is spoken.


You can say what you mean without saying it mean.


Seek the truth before you speak the truth, so when you speak the truth others will want to seek the truth.

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