The Gospel in Twenty Questions
Read The Gospel in Twenty Questions Online
Authors: Paul Ellis
Tags: #Christianity, #God, #Grace, #Love
The
Gospel in Twenty Questions
ISBN:
978-1-927230-11-4
Copyright
© 2013 by Paul Ellis
Published
by KingsPress. This title is also available as a paperback. Visit
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Version:
1.0 (December 2013)
Dedication:
This is for everyone asking good questions.
ENDORSEMENTS
“Paul Ellis’s new book is an
absolute must read. It is packed full of godly wisdom and powerful truths that
will thrill and excite you. Paul takes deep theological concepts and makes them
simple and easy for anyone to grasp. This is one of the best books I have ever
read since becoming a believer over thirty years ago. I will be encouraging
every believer I know to get this book and absorb what the Holy Spirit has
revealed to Paul in its pages.”
—
ED ELLIOTT
aka “The Vagabond
Evangelist”
“When I stumbled upon the
beautiful revelation of the new covenant, it was Paul Ellis’s writing that
affirmed and helped me make sense of my newfound freedom. Now, in one
brilliant book, Paul has answered the biggest questions people have about the
gospel of grace. This book is for everyone who has a sneaking suspicion that a
life of religious duty might not be what Christ intended—that just maybe, he
offers something more.”
—
ERIC DYKSTRA
pastor, The
Crossing Church, USA
author of
Grace
on Tap
“Dr. Paul Ellis has hit another
home run with his new book! In it Paul answers complex questions with clarity
and simplicity. This book, along with his first, will serve well as a basic
handbook for discipleship. The gospel is liberating!”
—
PAUL C. MATA
senior pastor, Word for All Nations, Philippines
“Too often we ask the wrong
questions and this leads to wrong understanding. Paul Ellis helps us ask the
right questions and better still, draw the right conclusions. This book will
inspire you as you think through those deep-seated questions that are within
every human soul. It will ensure that your thoughts not only end at the right
place but start there as well.”
—
CLINT BYARS
founder of Forward
Ministries
author of
Good
God
“Paul Ellis’s second book
answers questions that many believers are asking today. This is a great book
for believers transitioning from the old covenant to the new. This is a much-needed
book for the grace revolution sweeping Christendom.”
—
ROBBIE TAN
pastor, Grace
Generation Church, New Zealand
“This book sheds light on both
easy and tough questions while at the same time drawing you deeper into the
love, grace and wonder that is the gospel of Christ. Well written, easy to read
and bursting with divine goodness!”
—
CORNEL MARAIS
founder of CharismaMinistries.org
author of
So
You Think Your Mind is Renewed?
“I’m such a huge fan of
questions and this book has many of the important questions everyone should
ask. Easy to understand, and overflowing with God’s grace,
The Gospel in
Twenty Questions
is sure to help many find freedom from struggle and
strife.”
—
D. R. SILVA
author of
It’s
All About Jesus: What They Never Told You in Church
“A life of faith is one that
questions everything. It’s a kind of life that’s not afraid to ask ‘Why?’ If
you’re the kind of person who isn’t afraid of questions then you’ll enjoy reading
this book. As with all Paul’s writing, it’s well worth the read.”
—
MICK MOONEY
author of
SNAP:
Everyone Has A Breaking Point
“More than ever before, the gospel
must be proclaimed with both courage and clarity; courage to a culture consumed
with complacency, and clarity to a church confused by inconsistency. It is for
these reasons and more, that I gladly commend Paul Ellis to you.”
—
CHAD M. MANSBRIDGE
senior pastor, Bayside Church International, Australia
author of
He Qualifies You
Preface: Ask and you shall receive
2. What really happened
at the cross?
3. What about
the resurrection?
4. By which gospel
are you saved?
6. How can I read
the Bible without getting confused?
7. Should I do everything
Jesus said?
11. How does
God deal with us when we sin?
13. Is it God’s
will for me to be sick?
14. Is God’s love
conditional on my obedience?
15. What is the
unforgivable sin?
17. Is the
Christian race a marathon?
18. What does it
mean to continue in the faith?
19. What happens
to Christians who stray?
“Every revolution starts with a question.” ~D.R. Silva
Questions are keys.
They open doors and unlock treasures
.
Questions are stepping stones to revelation and doorways to discovery.
A
good question can take you places. It can free you from unhealthy mindsets and
set you on the path to wholeness and abundant living. A good question can
change your life.
We are born
asking questions. We grow up asking questions. When we stop asking, we stop
growing.
As a pastor,
I helped people wrestle with the questions of life. Who am I? What should I do?
Where should I go? Who should I marry? Your success in life is determined by
how well you answer these sorts of questions.
As a
university professor, I taught that science is about asking good questions. Ask
a good question and new discoveries will surely follow. But the wrong question
will never lead you to the right answer.
Asking
questions is healthy. We are de
fined by
the questions we ask, and our search for answers is what makes us who we are.
God made us
curious because ultimately all questions lead to him. How tragic, then, that
religion tends to discourage questions. A famous preacher once said, “
Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no
questions.
” In other words, “Do what you’re told and don’t make
trouble.” Others dismiss questions as a sign of faithlessness. “Who are you to
question God? Just believe.”
Religion
stifles questions, but Jesus encouraged them. “Ask and you shall receive” (John
16:24). Asking is how we receive. If your life lacks direction and answers it’s
probably because you haven’t asked the right questions.
Jesus said we
come to the kingdom of God like children. Children ask questions all the time.
I am often amazed by my children’s questions and I delight in responding to
them. So does your heavenly Father. The insecure may be threatened by your
questions, but he is not. Like the good Father he is, he welcomes them, for he knows
your questions will lead you towards a deeper revelation of his love.
The freedom
to ask questions without fear is a hallmark of a healthy relationship. But if
our questions are to be of value, they must eventually lead to answers.
For years I
believed, “Jesus is the answer,” but I didn’t know the question. Or rather, I
thought Jesus was the answer to a very limited question—namely, how can I be
saved? That’s a fine question and an important one. But Jesus is the answer to much
more than that. The gospel of grace declares Jesus is the answer to every need
you will ever have.
I was a
Christian for 30 years before I realized this. I used to think
I
was the
answer. Success in life was all about me and how hard I worked and how well I
followed Christian principles. Then one day the grace of God came in like a
flood and washed away the sandcastle of my DIY religion.
Most
of us are familiar with religion in one form or another. Religion is simply the
universal quest for self-improvement.
Grace
is different. Grace isn’t a bunch of rules for you to keep. And grace is not
God’s lubricant for greasing the cogs of self effort. Grace is a Person living
his life through you. Living under grace is like being married, only more so.
It’s the adventure of life shared with Christ.
When
I first heard the gospel of grace, I had many questions. One of my first
questions was concerning the church at Laodicea. “If we’re kept by grace alone,
why does Jesus threaten to vomit out those who are lukewarm?” Nobody could tell
me. So I did what I do when faced with a hard question: I began to write. I
asked the Holy Spirit for help and he gave me revelation. He showed me how to
read the Bible through the lens of grace.
There’s
no point in writing if no one’s reading so I started posting my half-baked
answers on a blog called
Escape to
Reality
. To my surprise, readers responded with questions of their own.
Hundreds of them. The blog became a lightning rod for questions people were too
afraid or too shy to ask.
It
wasn’t long before readers started saying, “You should write a book.” So I did,
and
The Gospel in Ten Words
was published in 2012. That book answers
questions like, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” It’s a book full of stories.
But while that book will give you a good grasp of your identity in Christ, it
leaves unasked many questions about God and his gospel. Hence the book you are
now reading.
The
Gospel in Twenty Questions
is the book I was looking for when I first came to grace. This book is an
attempt to deal with the questions I regularly hear from E2R readers.
You
will notice this book is not entitled,
The Gospel in Twenty Answers
. I
don’t claim to have all the answers but I do hope you like my questions. To
paraphrase Voltaire, judge me by my questions rather than my answers.
[1]
Despite
the title, there are more than 200 questions in this book. There are questions
about God, grace, sin, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, communion, healing,
freedom, faith, unbelief, eternal security, heavenly treasures, and numerous
“tough” scriptures. There’s even a question about the Laodiceans.
This
isn’t the sort of book you need to read from cover to cover, so let me suggest
two ways to read it. You can dip into those chapters that interest you, or you
can launch out from the scripture index found at the back of the book. However
you approach it, I hope you will begin your journey by asking the most
important question of all.
This
is the question I ask in chapter 1 …