The "Resolutions" following the "Conviction" are fast becoming my resolutions for New City Church as I already share the "Conviction."
If you want to know who New City Church downtown will be and how we will be shaped - this is largely it! This is worthy of much chewing!
A GOSPEL-CENTERED CHURCH by Richard Kaufmann
Conviction: The whole Bible is the Gospel of Christ!
Luke 24:25-27 – He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Luke 24:44-47 – He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
1 Corinthians 1:22-24; 2:2 – Jews demand miraculous signs [power] and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Commitments
We resolve to read the Bible as the Gospel.
Since the central theme of the Bible is—the sufferings and glory of Christ, we resolve to read the Bible as the story of salvation, not moralistic lessons.We resolve to see how the law, the ceremonies, and the history all point us to their fulfillment in the coming of the Deliverer promised in Genesis 3:15 and throughout the Bible.
We resolve to preach and teach the Gospel to believers, not just unbelievers.
We become Christians and we grow as Christians by grace through faith in Jesus. Therefore, we resolve to preach the Gospel as the means to grow, not ‘biblical principles for living’ (which means ‘the law’) to believers.
We resolve to preach and teach the Gospel in every sermon and every lesson.
The most desperate need of both unbelievers and believers is to hear and appropriate the Gospel to their lives each and every day. Therefore, we resolve to point people to the Gospel in every sermon, lesson, small group meeting, etc.
We resolve to receive the Gospel as the “milk” and the “meat” of God’s Word.
Since the whole Bible is the Gospel and Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God (1Cor.1:22-24), then we never move beyond the Gospel to something deeper. There is nothing deeper than the Gospel. Therefore, we resolve to view the Gospel as both the A-B-C’s and the A-to-Z of Christianity.
We resolve to view the world and the church through the lens of the Gospel.
Since the Bible is our ultimate authority and the Bible is the Gospel, we resolve to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1Cor.2:2). This means our understanding of the world and church and how to address its needs and problems will be based on the Gospel.
