Is The Gospel Getting Boring?

For those of us (believers or not) who have attended a church service or gone to a religious event, we’ve all been in this position. The position of hearing a message about whatever the current topic is, writing down notes and takeaways that we can try to apply to our life to make us better at something, and then it happens, the message moves into the “Gospel part” where we mentally check out. It’s as if as soon as the pastor starts to proclaim the Gospel we start to think “yea yea yea, I know this, I’ve heard this, I don’t need to hear this anymore, It’s really for the nonbelievers in the room.” Why is this?

For the nonbeliever, it could be things like the fact it’s been proclaimed to them before and they have no interest in it, or maybe that it is the first time they have heard it so they aren’t too sure what the pastor is talking about. Most of us can understand pointers on various topics of discussion to make us better at things and more successful, but the Gospel is a whole other thing.

In the case of the believer (who I am primarily talking to here), I believe we have become numb to the Gospel. What goes through your mind when you think of Jesus today? If I start to talk about how He died on the Cross for you, and that your past, present, and future sins are all forgiven, what are you currently thinking of? Maybe it’s because we’ve heard it so many times that we feel as if we don’t need to be refreshed on the Gospel. Could it be that we don’t really have a right understanding of what Jesus did? Is it Satan attacking us to keep us comfortable and stagnant in our faith, forgetting of Christ’s atoning work on the Cross?

I’ll be the first to say that I don’t have the answer and that I’ve been in this position before. I have literally been in the position before with my bible open, notepad with tons of notes on them, and as the Gospel is proclaimed I’m putting my pen down and closing the Bible thinking “ok good, it’s wrapping up. I’m hungry anyway so good timing.” And the worse part is, after all of that I’m not even thinking anything of it. Now that I’ve confessed I’ve done this before, let me tell you about my conviction from the Holy Spirit.

It’s as if God was telling me clear as day, “What are you doing?!” “Have you forgotten the main point to all of this?” “Do you even think of my Son?” and at that moment, I’m broken. How can I so easily forget what has been done for me? The encouragement I found is the fact that I was convicted at all to begin with affirming my status as a child of God and as I took time to slow things down, read through the Gospel and pray, it felt like in an instant the Holy Spirit led me back to a place of when I hear the Gospel in a message now, I feel like jumping up and screaming the fact that it is ridiculous that we get to do what we get to do every single day! Praise the Lord!

Be encouraged in this, as a believer, you are forgiven. It is done. War is over. Regardless of the battle you may face today, you have already won in Christ. Once and for all. ON TOP of that, God provides numerous blessings to us each day. Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have food to eat? Are you even breathing right now? Consider all of these gifts from our good Father who loves us and desires a growing relationship with us. If you can literally stop what you are doing at this second and pause, take a deep breathe, and consider the fact that only reason you could exhale and that your body continues to live on as you breathe is because God is letting you do that right now! What a Savior!

We have God through His Son Jesus Christ who paid the price for us. We didn’t and we don’t deserve any of this, which is what makes it Amazing Grace. And after the fact He died for us on the Cross, He rose again defeating death! The Holy Spirit now lives within us as believers, literally inside of us we have God. If God is in us, will lead us each and every day, will be our comforter and provider, our Father, and then will be with us for eternity after we pass on from this “blink of an eye” moment, how could we not be filled with gratitude and praise in every moment (whether we consider them good or bad)?!

The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ. All of us at one point as believers came into a relationship with God through Christ after hearing the Gospel. This is where it all started for us and can start for you if you don’t yet believe. Let this encourage you that the next time you hear the “Gospel part” of the message, to not check out. Don’t miss out on the chance to be refreshed and renewed again with an even better understanding of the Gospel as you continue to see how sinful you are and as the Cross gets bigger each and every day.

Question: How do you feel when you hear the Gospel? Leave a comment below and let us encourage one another.

Here are other Frequently Asked Questions and how the Bible answers them.

Mike Mobley

Follower of Christ, Husband to Joelle, Father to Peyton & Matthew, Finance & Operations Pastor at 121 Community Church, SAG-AFTRA Actor, Founder of Before The Cross, Owner of MMWCS, and Podcast Host for the Not Quite There Show.

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