Coming to a Church near you: Explore God!

PCC, along with over 270 churches in the Austin area, has signed on to the Explore God initiative. The goal of “Explore God” is to invite people to investigate questions about God in natural, non-threatening conversations. I love that goal! It’s not one of those “evangelistic crusade” campaigns that tries to turn believers into Jesus salesmen. In September, along with the other pastors, I’ll be preaching a 7-week series of messages on the “Explore God” theme that deals with the hard questions like: “Does life have a purpose?” “Is there a God?” “If God is good, why is there evil in the world?” All of our fall small groups will be using corresponding Explore God study material. Nobody is expected to win any debates or close any deals. The idea is to engage in honest conversation.

You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to talk about God, but there is one essential, central, life-changing truth in the Bible that you’ve got to know. We call it the gospel. The word “gospel” means “good news”, the kind of the good news that changes individual lives, entire communities, nations, and the world. It’s good news… there is a God and he has made your redemption possible and the restoration of all creation guaranteed. The gospel is the point of the Bible, what the OT points to and the NT openly proclaims. All the little stories add up to the big story, the main story, God’s story, the gospel. You could say it’s “the main thing”. It’s what 270+ churches in central TX have in common.

“The Main Thing” is the title of the summer sermon series I began on June 2. The purpose of the series is to root firmly in our minds what the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly about, and not about. I hope to rediscover together the practical, life-changing impact of the gospel. Our text will be the eight gospel sermons found in the New Testament book of Acts. What do these 8 sermons have in common? How is each unique? What do we learn from each about the impact of the gospel on our lives and how to share the gospel? On June 2 we began with the opening chapter, the introduction to Acts, what you might call “the sequel to the Jesus story”. This Sunday, June 9, we’ll get to the first gospel sermon preached by Peter at Pentecost.

In case you missed it, the homework given at the conclusion of the message last Sunday was: Read through the book of Acts again paying close attention to the sermons. What do you learn about the gospel? Pray for the Explore God initiative. Ask God for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit.