This is an excerpt from Pastor Flack's sermon today-I really like the way he lays it out and thought it was worth sharing:
"If the gospel is preached in a way that only the elite get it, it is emptied of its power to save people from every background. The gospel destroys the empty distinctions we make between people.
It is an announcement that there is in Christ a new kingdom and a new society. This King has established His kingdom by dying on a cross as the worst kind of outcast to both the Jews and the Romans.
All are sinners and none can enter into this new kingdom except through repentance from sin and trust in the grace of the King.
The gospel tells the young child that there is freedom from any fear. It tells the old man that there is forgiveness from any wrong and regret.
It tells those who have been destroyed by their fathers that there is a Father whose love will never fail.
It tells the addict that there are greater delights than the temporary feeling induced by drug or pornography.
It tells the one who has been outcast because of race or social or educational status that there is acceptance through the merit of Christ alone. It tells the prostitute that there is purity in the perfection of Christ alone.
It tells the self-righteous that only the righteous of Christ received by faith justifies a man before God. It tells the intellectual that grace cannot be logically explained but must be humbly embraced.
It tells the Ethiopian and the Hindu that the gospel is not an American thing. It is an announcement to the whole world that the kingdom that transcends national boundaries has invaded the world.
And it brings all kinds into a community called the church. All are invited to swear allegiance to this King and to live in anticipation of the coming culmination of His kingdom.
The gospel never says that a person is too good or too bad to receive it. It comes with a straightforward summons that calls everyone to the cross."
You can listen to the entire sermon here.
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