Bible Text: Acts 17 | Speaker: Blake Nichols | Series: Acts | Preaching the Gospel (to yourself)
Acts 17
Each of us has a part in sharing the Gospel.  Paul was waiting for Timothy and Silas to join him, knowing God had a plan for each of them in sharing the Gospel.  There are times that we need to wait on God for His plan to unfold in our life.

When the Gospel is presented, lives are changed.  To change things in your life, preach the Gospel to yourself and let God change you.

We are the handiwork of God, created to do good works.  Look for the opportunities God puts in your path to share the Gospel.

What is the Gospel?  A simple way to remember is to make a fist, and then open each finger with these 5 words:  Christ – died – for – my – sins…  Then raise your hand and say: and rose again.

 Jesus paid it all.  He held nothing back.  His death was not an accident but part of the plan to bring salvation to mankind.  We deserved death; the wages of sin is death but Jesus defeated death for us.

As we preach the Gospel to ourselves, we are reminded that we have been adopted into God’s forever family.  Our natural man wants to work for our salvation, is full of doubt or pride or self-condemnation.  He wants to be in control of his life.  But when we receive Christ, we become a new man and are no longer enslaved to the natural man.

God sends or allows difficulties in our life that teach us to rely on Him and not on ourselves. We should start each day off in a reactive way and preach the Gospel to ourselves.

Results of preaching the Gospel to ourselves:

We become more humble! We have Jesus as a role model for He was humble and submitted to the will of the Father.
We become more authentic! We allow people to know the real me.
We become bold!  Boldness results when we confidently realize that we can do all things through Christ for He gives us the strength.
We become hopeful! There is a saying: Don’t worry, be happy.  Instead we should say: Don’t worry, be hopeful!
We become grateful! We do not take for granted our position as children of God, part of His family with the resulting privileges.