There is an ancient story — older than any of us, yet as fresh as this morning — that changes everything. It is the story of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ: his death on the cross, andhis resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul calls it simply "the Gospel," and in 1Corinthians 15:3–4 he defines it plainly: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." That isthe foundation. That is the message. And every one of us must decide what we will do with it.
Paul lays out four ways we must relate to this Gospel. They are not suggestions. They are the shape of the Christian life.
It has always been God's plan that the Gospel travel from one human heart to another through the voice of real people. Romans 10:14 asks the question plainly: "How shall they believe in himwhom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" God did not leave people to figure out salvation on their own. He sent people.
The Apostles preached at Pentecost, at the temple gate, in the homes of strangers. But it was not only the Apostles. When persecution scattered the Jerusalem church in Acts 8, it was the ordinary members — not the leaders — who went out preaching the word wherever they went.And when Philip found the Ethiopian eunuch reading from Isaiah, the man's honest question said it all: "How can I understand, except some man guide me?" (Acts 8:31).
That is still the question the world is asking. And collectively, as the body of Christ, our God given mission is to answer it.
Preaching alone is not enough. Every person on earth must personally accept this message for themselves. Paul writes in Romans 5:17 of "those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness." Receiving is an act of the will, a turning of the whole self toward whatGod has done.
On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached the death and resurrection of Jesus, the people were cut to the heart. "What shall we do?" they asked (Acts 2:37). And they were told: repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Those who received his word were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added to them that day(Acts 2:41).
There is something deeply fitting in this. Paul tells us in Romans 6:4 that in baptism we are"buried with him" and "raised to walk in newness of life." The ancient convert did not merely agree with the Gospel intellectually — he enacted it. He put all his hope in those events: the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. And he imitated them as he became a Christian.
Once received, the Gospel is not a past event we leave behind. It is the ground we stand on every single day. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:1 of "the gospel… wherein also ye stand."
To stand in the Gospel means living every day as if these things are true — because they are. It means carrying the cross with you into Monday morning. Paul said, "The love of Christ constraineth us; for we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). The man who truly believes that Jesus bled and died for him cannot go on living only for himself. The love demonstrated at Calvary becomes the great motivation of his life.
And standing in the Gospel means living in the light of the resurrection. Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"(John 11:25). Do you believe this? Not as a doctrine on paper — but as a living reality that shapes how you spend your days? In John 5:28–29, Jesus warned that a day is coming when "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." We are not people who can live as if that day is not coming. We stand in the Gospel, and that changes everything about how we live between now and then.
Finally, Paul says it plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:2: "by which also ye are saved." Not by good intentions. Not by moral living. Not by being a good neighbor or a faithful spouse — as worthy as those things are. Salvation comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and through it alone.
Romans 1:16 puts it with unmistakable clarity: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." That power is available to all ofus. But 2 Thessalonians 1:8 is equally clear about those who reject it — that Jesus will one dayr ender judgment to those who "obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Gospel is not merely information to be admired. It is good news to be obeyed, received, stood in, and proclaimed. God loves us. He has proved it. He sent his Son to die, and he raised him from the dead. That risen Lord — the one who bled for us — will one day be our judge. What a reason to respond to him today.
If you have not yet received the Gospel, today is the day. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again. Confess him as Lord. Be buried with him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. And if you already belong to him — stand in that Gospel, every day of the week, and go tell someone else.
