The Gospel Precisely: Surprisingly Good News About Jesus Christ the King


Book Description

A GUIDEBOOK ON DEFINING, SHARING, AND OBEYING THE GOSPEL King Jesus is supplying lifeblood. But our insufficient grasp of the gospel is a dangerous blockage. If a heart ailment is treated haphazardly, death follows. People are hurting. Churches are confused. The gospel vaguely won't suffice. We need clarity, simplicity, and truth--the gospel precisely. But followers of Jesus should beware of harmful imitations. The real gospel in its healing fullness--the one taught by Jesus and his apostles--is the one found in the Bible. Award-winning author Matthew Bates shows that the gospel is about King Jesus. It is about the cross and resurrection--yet surprisingly much more. Find yourself empowered for discipleship and prepared to share the gospel effectively. Includes resources for personal reflection and group discussion. This book takes the best of Bates's previous work and makes it even more accessible. Bravo! -- Scot X. McKnight, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary Christians talk about preaching, presenting, and living the gospel, but we urgently need more precision. Matthew Bates has done the church a service by giving us accessible guidance. -- Jonathan Storment, author of How to Start a Riot The Gospel Precisely delivers biblical depth at the grassroots level with a healthy helping of practical pastoral coaching. -- Mark E. Moore, author of Core 52 MATTHEW W. BATES (PhD, Notre Dame University) is an award-winning author and Associate Professor of Theology at Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois. His popular books include Gospel Allegiance (Brazos, 2019), Salvation by Allegiance Alone (Baker Academic, 2017), and The Birth of the Trinity (Oxford University Press, 2015). He co-founded and co-hosts the OnScript podcast.




Gospel Allegiance


Book Description

Is faith in Jesus enough for salvation? Perhaps, says Matthew Bates, but we're missing pieces of the gospel. The biblical gospel can never change. Yet our understanding of the gospel must change. The church needs an allegiance shift. Popular pastoral resources on the gospel are causing widespread confusion. Bates shows that the biblical gospel is different, fuller, and more beautiful than we have been led to believe. He explains that saving faith doesn't come through trust in Jesus's death on the cross alone but through allegiance to Christ the king. There is only one true gospel and one required response: allegiance. Bates ignited conversation with his successful and influential book Salvation by Allegiance Alone. Here he goes deeper while making his acclaimed teaching on salvation more accessible and experiential for believers who want to better understand and share the gospel. Gospel Allegiance includes a guide for further conversation, making it ideal for church groups, pastors, leaders, and students.




Why the Gospel?


Book Description

We know what the gospel is—but do we know why it is? As Christians, we often ask what the gospel is, when we should be asking why it is. Matthew W. Bates has previously demonstrated that the “good news” of the gospel is that Jesus is King. But in his latest book, he explores God’s intentions: why has God issued this royal proclamation? And what role can it play in our everyday lives? As Bates observes, we find the answer in a simple but challenging realization: “I am a horrible king of my own life.” With examples from Scripture, literature, and personal experience, Bates explains what pledging allegiance to Jesus as ruler of our lives looks like. Living authentically according to God’s reign conforms humanity to the image of Jesus and extends his glory and honor to all creation. Perfect for church studies, evangelism, or personal spiritual reading, Why the Gospel? invites readers to consider how we can transform our lives and communities through loyalty and devotion to King Jesus. The book includes questions to guide discussion.




Salvation by Allegiance Alone


Book Description

We are saved by faith when we trust that Jesus died for our sins. This is the gospel, or so we are taught. But what is faith? And does this accurately summarize the gospel? Because faith is frequently misunderstood and the climax of the gospel misidentified, the gospel's full power remains untapped. While offering a fresh proposal for what faith means within a biblical theology of salvation, Matthew Bates presses the church toward a new precision: we are saved solely by allegiance to Jesus the king. Instead of faith alone, Christians must speak about salvation by allegiance alone. The book includes discussion questions for students, pastors, and church groups and a foreword by Scot McKnight.




Intercultural Discipleship (Encountering Mission)


Book Description

This addition to an acclaimed series brings cutting-edge research to bear on a topic of perennial interest: making disciples. The book looks at disciple-making from multiple cultures to help readers discover contextual approaches that are culturally relevant and biblically faithful. It emphasizes methods that are especially effective with contemporary converts and includes practical examples from around the world. Each chapter includes sidebars, discussion questions, an activity for discipling, and a case study. An appendix contains further suggestions and exercises for instructors.




God Is the Gospel


Book Description

God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 This book is a cry from the heart of John Piper. He is pleading that God himself, as revealed in Christ's death and resurrection, is the ultimate and greatest gift of the gospel. None of Christ's gospel deeds and none of our gospel blessings are good news except as means of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. Forgiveness is good news because it opens the way to the enjoyment of God himself. Justification is good news because it wins access to the presence and pleasures of God himself. Eternal life is good news because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Christ. All God's gifts are loving only to the degree that they lead us to God himself. That is what God's love is: his commitment to do everything necessary (most painfully the death of his only Son) to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying-namely, himself. Saturated with Scripture, centered on the cross, and seriously joyful, this book leads us to satisfaction for the deep hungers of the soul. It touches us at the root of life where practical transformation gets its daily power. It awakens our longing for Christ and opens our eyes to his beauty. Piper writes for the soul-thirsty who have turned away empty and in desperation from the mirage of methodology. He invites us to slow down and drink from a deeper spring. "This is eternal life," Jesus said, "that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This is what makes the gospel-and this book-good news.




Conversion and Discipleship


Book Description

Discipleship occurs when someone answers the call to learn from Jesus how to live his or her life as though Jesus were living it. The end result is that the disciple becomes the kind of person who naturally does what Jesus did. How the church understands salvation and the gospel is the key to recovering a biblical theology of discipleship. Our doctrines of grace and salvation, in some cases, actually prevent us from creating an expectation that we are to be disciples of Jesus. A person can profess to be a Christian and yet still live under the impression that they don’t need to actually follow Jesus. Being a follower is seen as an optional add-on, not a requirement. It is a choice, not a demand. Being a Christian today has no connection with the biblical idea that we are formed into the image of Christ. In this ground-breaking new book, pastor and author Bill Hull shows why our existing models of evangelism and discipleship fail to actually produce followers of Jesus. He looks at the importance of recovering a robust view of the gospel and taking seriously the connection between conversion—answering the call to follow Jesus—and discipleship—living like the one we claim to follow.




The Gospel According to Jesus


Book Description

A dazzling presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus by the eminent scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell.




The Hermeneutics of the Apostolic Proclamation


Book Description

Bates applies his method to both oft-referenced and underutilized passages in the writings of Paul and suggests a new model for Pauline hermeneutics that is centered on the apostolic proclamation of Christ.--Michael J. Gorman, Dean, Ecumenical Institute of Theology "St. Mary's Seminary & University"




Acts


Book Description

With a scholar's mind and a pastor's heart, N. T. Wright guides us through the New Testament book of Acts, moving us from the world in which it was lived into the world in which we must live it again. Twenty-four sessions for group or personal study.