The Gospel of Jesus Christ

In many of the previous blog postings, I have been focusing on God's sovereign grace in the process of how an individual is brought into relationship with Jesus. I have had comments made as a result of some of these blog postings that deservedly point out the narrowness of my posts. In one of my replies to one of these comments, I had to clarify that I am focusing on the particular role (divine election) that God and His sovereignty play in salvation. I agreed with one of the comments, that there was more that was taking place as we enter into relationship with God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. So for the sake of clarity, and as a kind of disclaimer for future readers of my blog posts, all three of you, my current affinity for Reformed theology, reading it, listening to pod casts by reformed preachers and theologians, and writing passionately and often about it, stems from the fact that a large portion of my adult life as a Christian was spent in Word of Faith/Prosperity circles. The emphasis within WOF/Prosperity theology is not on God, even though they claim it is, it is on your own faith, your ability to exercise that faith based on proof texts from the Bible, and a misconstrued paradigm that there is some how a dualistic battle between God and His will and Satan and his will, and that it is "my faith" as a child of God that tips the scales of destiny. If my faith is strong, the desires and prayers that I pray will manifest, if my faith is weak, then obviously, due to the WOF/Prosperity theology of dualism (that God and Satan are locked in a cosmic wrestling match, which has its outcome securely attached to man's role in the battle of good vs. evil), Satan will have his victory. The realization (and God's sovereign grace to deliver me from the insane and illogical thinking of WOF/Prosperity teachings) a little over three years ago that the beliefs within the WOF/Prosperity movement were fraudulent, heretical, and have no basis of truth in any sound interpretation of the Bible, freed me to actually pursue God on His terms. I started listening to teachers and preachers that were free from the contamination of false doctrines and theologies, and quickly became convinced that the God of the bible is not limited in any way from accomplishing His will. The scriptures consistently teach that God is absolutely sovereign, He is in control fully over the affairs of man and all of His creation.
The sudden freedom that I experienced from the false concept of the Creator's sovereignty to a solid understanding of God's full authority, even over the smallest details of His creation, has captured my mind and my heart. The constant fear of not properly believing or exercising my faith in the proof texts that I had been taught in WOF/Prosperity meetings all those years was destroyed, and replaced with the truth that it all depends on God and His faithfulness, and not on me and my imperfections. So, yes, my posts may seem unbalanced theologically to those outside of Reformed circles, and quite narrow in their focus to most readers. But, and this is a big "but", all that follows and takes place in the process of a non-believer coming into a relationship with God, is His initiative, and is His work. Yes, there are scriptures that speak about the responsibilities of the non-believer as he becomes a believer. And there are scriptures that speak to the believer's new responsibilities after conversion, but all of what is required of us, is first given to us, and made possible by the God of all Grace.
Hopefully, as this blog continues to be written, there will be a more complete presentation of the Gospel, and the posts that I write will launch into the many awesome and beautiful aspects of God's attributes beyond His sovereignty. However, the joy of the newly found understanding of who He is and who I am not ( a little god) is still stirring my affections.
This is the one great truth that I want to leave you with as I complete this post, God rules, God saves, and God wins...absolutely!