BY LOUIS TAMBURRO

TheGospel

02 Welcome Letter

03 PART 1: The Gospel is more than a way to eternal life...

03 What is The Gospel?

04 Who was Jesus?

06 If I'm a good person can I go to heaven?

07 If I do good deeds will that get me into heaven?

08 Tough and Tender

10 How do I identify false gospels?

11 PART 2: ...The Gospel is our life.

11 Gospel Glasses

13 How do I receive The Gospel?

CONTENTS

WELCOME TO CITY AWAKENING CHURCH!

We’re a church that exists because of one reason, “The Gospel.”

We worship, teach, preach, study, give, pray, serve and gather

together regardless of our generational and cultural differences

because of the Gospel. If it weren’t for the Gospel, then Christianity

wouldn’t exist, City Awakening wouldn’t exist, nor would this booklet

you hold in your hands. All these things exist because of the Gospel.

If you don’t know what the Gospel is, that’s okay. I’m going to

explain it to you. If you already know what the Gospel is, read this

booklet anyways. We believe you’ll learn something new.

The truth is you will never outgrow your need for the Gospel,

which is why at City Awakening we developed a Code that says,

“The Gospel is more than a way to eternal life, the Gospel IS our

life.” This Code is to remind us that we need the Gospel not just for

our salvation, but for everyday real life transformation. So it doesn’t

matter if you’re a non-Christian, a new Christian, or a seasoned

Christian, we all need the Gospel and I hope this booklet increases

that need.

Louis Tamburro III

Pastor of City Awakening

INTRODUCTION

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WHAT IS THE GOSPEL

PART 1: THE GOSPEL IS MORE THAN A WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE ...

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deserve to be in the presence of God. Why? Because God is holy and we

are not. Our sinful actions, our unholy thoughts and unholy actions aren’t

heaven worthy or God worthy. Yet our God being so gracious, forgives us

of our sins, allows us to enter into heaven, into a relationship with Him, and

into His holy presence. Through Christ we are graciously given forgiveness

and a relationship with our Creator. There is no greater feeling, no greater

news, no greater Gospel than humanity being reconciled with God.

When humanity is reconciled with God it changes everything. Our

desires change, our passions change, our attitudes change, and our

hearts change as we begin to take more delight in God and less delight

in our sin. When we delight more in God and less in our sin it impacts

not only us, but also the lives around us. We will begin to treat our

spouses differently, our children differently, our neighbors differently,

even all of creation differently as we seek to live a joyful life for God,

rather than a sinful life apart from God. The Gospel changes everything!

WHO WAS JESUS?

It all comes down to one question. Sooner or later everybody will be

faced with this one question. Who was Jesus Christ? Who was he? It’s

a question that all of us must face sooner or later. No matter how hard

you try to avoid it, sooner or later you will have to address the identity

question about Jesus in front a friend, a family member, a professor, or

in front of Jesus himself. So let’s get this question out of the way now.

In Luke 9:18-22 Jesus asked some people who they thought he was.

The people gave three typical responses. They said he was either a

Man, Myth, or Messiah. Your beliefs about who Jesus was falls into one

of those three categories. You either believe he was a Man, a Myth, or

the Messiah. By Messiah we mean Savior, we mean he was God who

put on flesh to live, die, and rise again for the forgiveness of our sins

bridging the gap between sinful humanity and God. So, which is it for

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you? Was Jesus a Man, Myth, or Messiah?...Luke 9:18-22 tells us that

Jesus was the Messiah!

Here’s another question to ask. Why is Jesus’ name the only name in

all of human history whose identity we are still questioning today? Ponder

that for a minute…I mean nobody still questions who Muhammad was.

Nobody still questions who Gautama Buddha was. Nobody still questions

who Ghandi was, and get this! Nobody’s going to be questioning who you

and I are 2,000 years from now. I don’t care how fat your 401k is, how big

your entourage is, how much Usher-like swag you think you have, nobody’s

going to be questioning who you are 2,000 years from now. Why? It’s

because we know who you are. We know! We know that you’re just a

human. Muhammad? Human! Buddha? Human! Ghandi? Human! We’re

all just humans and none of us will ever have a cover story written that

questions our human identity asking, “Who was this person?” It’s because

we’re simply humans who live and die. Period! End of story!

But the story never seems to end with Jesus. He lived, he died,

he rose again, and year after year people globally are faced with the

question of Jesus’ identity. Sooner or later every generation will be

faced with the question, “Who was Jesus Christ?” Why? It’s because the

salvation of every generation is dependent upon his name. It’s because

the Bible teaches that his name is “above all names” (Phil. 2:9), that

every knee will bow to his name (Phil. 2:10), and Jesus himself says the

only way to get to heaven is through his name (John 14:6). No wonder

every generation is faced with having to answer the question, “Who

was Jesus?” It’s because the salvation of every generation depends

on it! The Gospel of Jesus is for our salvation and no matter how hard

people try, the name of Jesus simply won’t go away nor will questions

about his identity. There is no Gospel like the Gospel of Jesus, there is

no name like the name of Jesus, and it’s the only name in all of history

whose identity we’re still questioning today. Was he a Man, a Myth,

or the Messiah who died for our sins? Who do you say he is? Better

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ponder that question a bit longer…because if the Bible’s right, then your

salvation depends on that question.

IF I'M A GOOD PERSON CAN I GO TO HEAVEN?

That answer is no! Let me explain.

First there’s no such thing as a good person and these aren’t my

word’s, they are the words of Jesus. Jesus says in Mark 10:18, “No one is

good, except God alone.” Yet if we think rationally about what a “good

person” actually is, then it’s not hard to see the truth in Jesus’ words.

See by definition a good person is someone who does good 100%

of the time, which means that if you do one bad thing, if you sin just

one time, then it means you can’t claim the title “good” anymore. You

can’t. It’s been tainted, it’s been stained, it’s been marred by your sin.

So if you want to claim that you’re a good person, then you need to

claim that you do good 100% of the time. Can you raise your hand for

that one? Even if you are willing to claim that you’re a good person

and you do good 100% of the time, then I would simply point out your

own arrogance and self-righteous attitude in making such a claim, thus

proving that you aren’t as good as you think you are.

Look, we aren’t as good as we think we are and this is especially

true when we compare ourselves to Jesus. Compare ourselves to other

people and we might appear good, but when we compare ourselves to

Jesus, we need to bury our heads in the sand. So although our culture’s

gospel may tell you that good people get to go to heaven, Jesus and

logical reasoning tell us that there’s no such thing as a good person,

which means that our culture’s gospel will lead no one to heaven. The

only way to get to heaven is through the goodness of Jesus. He lived

the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died

because of sin. We are saved by his goodness, not our own.

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IF I DO GOOD DEEDS WILL THAT GET ME INTO HEAVEN?

Again, the answer is no!

Simply put, God isn’t impressed with your good deeds. He delights

in our good deeds, but He’s not impressed by them. I mean think about

it. Can an atheist do good deeds? Can an atheist feed the homeless?

Can an atheist help tsunami victims? Of course they can, and some do,

but that doesn’t mean that God is in heaven cheering them on saying,

“That a boy or that a girl! Keep up the good work. It doesn’t matter that

you don’t believe in me. It doesn’t matter that you reject me. It doesn’t

matter that you defame my name, so long as you keep doing good

deeds. Keep up the good work!” You think that’s what God’s saying? You

think that God is wooed and impressed with good deeds when even an

atheist can do good deeds? Let me press on!

If you think you can earn your way to heaven with your good deeds,

then what you’re basically saying is you can impress God. You’re saying

you can impress God with your good deeds, which means you have a

very small view of God. So let’s expand that view.

We live in a solar system consisting of the sun and 8 planets. Our

solar system is roughly 7.5 billion miles in diameter and it would take us

over 13,000 years to fly from one end of our solar system to the other

going at a speed of 65 mph. If you have kids, double that number! So

without gas stops, Chick-Fil-A stops, potty stops, coffee stops, and more

potty stops, it would take us over 13,000 years to fly around our solar

system going 65 mph. Now as big as that is, as huge as our solar system

is, it’s located inside of the Milky Way Galaxy, and within the Milky Way

Galaxy there are over 100 billion solar systems. That means there are

over 100 billion solar systems like ours located in our one galaxy. Stay

with me here! I know this is a bit heady, but stay with me.

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So we live in a large solar system, amongst 100 billion other large

solar systems, within one large galaxy called the Milky Way. Want to

guess how many galaxies there are in our universe? 50 billion! We

have 50 billion galaxies like the Milky Way that contain billions of solar

systems like the one we live in, and in the entire universe there are

roughly 300 sextillion planets that are out there. Still have your big boy

pants on? Still have your big girl pants on? Still puffing out your chest

like you are all high and mighty as if the entire universe revolves around

you and your good deeds?

Listen! You and I are but a speck of dust compared to God, so what

good deed could you ever possibly bring to a God who is that big?

What good deeds or futile attempts at moral perfection could you ever

possibly bring to a God who is bigger than the universe, that would

impress Him so much that He would say, “Wow! That’s so amazing.

Forget about the universe I created, what you did, what you brought

to me is so much more amazing than that.” The answer is nothing.

There’s nothing we can give to God that would cause Him to say that.

Our culture’s Gospel is untrue. It doesn’t take a good person doing

good deeds to get us into heaven, rather it takes a good God doing

the greatest of deeds to freely offer us heaven. Jesus did the greatest

of all deeds when he died for our sins on the cross. Your salvation isn’t

dependent upon who you are and what you’ve done, it’s dependent

upon who Jesus is and what he’s done! Believe in the Gospel of Jesus,

because you will never be able to outwork the good works of Jesus!

TOUGH AND TENDER

As a dad I’m both tough and tender. If a boy wants to date my

daughter, I’m going to be tough. I’ll be very tough. We’ll talk some beat

down evangelism. “You hurt my daughter I’ll hurt you. I’ll beat you down

then pray over you later. It’s beat down evangelism.” I’ll be tough if a boy

wants to date my daughter. But I also have a tender side. If my daughter

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wants me to go to a ballet, I’ll go. I’ll go to a ballet. I won’t tweet or

Instagram about it, but I’ll go with my daughter to a ballet. I’ll be tender.

In a similar way, Jesus is both tough and tender.

In John 8:2-11 some legalists grab a woman who was accused of

committing adultery and they bring her to Jesus saying that she should

be stoned to death, but Jesus leads the way with grace in hand not

stone in hand. He forgives the woman of her sin. He’s tender. Jesus is

very tender! But the text also shows a tough side to Jesus in that he

doesn’t condone the woman’s sin. He doesn’t tolerate her sin, rather he

tells her to “go, and sin no more.” So it’s true that Jesus is tender in that

he extends his grace first and foremost, but he’s also tough in that he

expects obedience. He doesn’t condemn this woman for her sin, and yet

he doesn’t tolerate her sin. He’s both tough and tender.

Why are we talking about this? It’s because some people think they

can take advantage of the tender side of Jesus. They think, “Because of

grace I can do whatever I want. It doesn’t matter what I do, what I say,

or what I believe, because Jesus will forgive me. So I don’t have to go to

church, I don’t have to read my bible, I don’t have to give in the offering

basket, because none of that matters. In the end Jesus will love me no

matter what.” That’s what we call licentiousness. It’s where you take

advantage of the tender side of Jesus and think you can do whatever

you want because of grace. What a foolish mockery of the cross this is!

Jesus died to save you from sin, not to take you further into it. It’s true

he’s tender and forgives us when we sin, but he’s also tough and expects

our obedience as he leads us further away from sin. We don’t obey to

get saved, we joyfully obey in response to our salvation. He forgives

the woman, but expects her obedience. He forgives us, but expects

our obedience. Let us not abuse the tenderness of Jesus, instead let us

joyfully obey in response to his tenderness.

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HOW DO I IDENTIFY FALSE GOSPELS?

We started off by talking about the various different gospels that are

being proclaimed to you, so let me wrap Part 1 up by giving you a few

pointers on how to identify false gospels. Galatians 1:1-9 gives us three

criteria for identifying false gospels, which can be summed up in the

below three questions.

• Does the gospel being preached trace back to the apostolic

teachings, meaning the original authors of the bible? (vs. 1)

• Does the gospel being preached entail Jesus saving me through his

good works, rather than through my own? (vs. 4)

• Who gets the glory in the gospel being preached? Is it me, someone

else, or God? (vs. 5)

That’s it. Ask those three questions and you will be able to determine

which gospels are true in your life and which ones are not.

Look, the world will promise you many things. You will be promised

“good news” from many different gospels. Yet none of the world’s

gospels will ever give you eternal joy, only the Gospel of Jesus can do

that. Our first parents Adam and Eve, they fell for the deception that

there was something greater than a relationship with our Creator God.

They thought that they could find satisfaction in another gospel other

than God’s. They heard Satan preach, they listened to his gospel, and

they chose his version of the good news over God’s. The result was sin!

The result was death! The result wasn’t good news, it was “bad news,”

and in the end all false gospels will lead to bad news. They will lead to

sin, to death, to temporal joy, to bad news. Only the Gospel of Jesus

will lead to forgiveness of sin, a restored relationship with God, and to

everlasting joy. May we ask God to forgive us for the times we have

chosen the world’s version of good news over His.

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Alright so now that we’ve talked about what the Gospel is we need

to talk about the “more” part of the Gospel. Remember our Code, “The

Gospel is more than a way to eternal life, the Gospel IS our life.” Part 2

in this booklet is about the 2nd part of our Code. It’s the “more” part of

the Gospel. As glorious as the Gospel is for our salvation, it’s also for our

everyday real life transformation. The Gospel IS our life! Let me explain.

GOSPEL GLASSES

Typically, what happens when someone first becomes a Christian,

when they first receive the Gospel, they view the Gospel just for

salvation. But the Gospel is also for our transformation, and if all you

do is view the Gospel for salvation, then it means the climax of your

Christian life is that Jesus saved you. That’s it! That’s the climax of your

Christian life. It’s that Jesus saved you. But I want you to see that there’s

more to the Gospel, there’s more to the Christian life than that.

As amazing as salvation is it’s not the peak of the mountain, it’s the

base. It’s only the base, it’s only the beginning of the joy that God has

in store for you. Jesus didn’t just promise you a saved life, he promised

you an abundant life, he promised you a full life (John 10:10). Yet, some

of you are experiencing a saved life, but not an abundant life, not a full

life. It’s because you’ve taken your Gospel glasses off and you need to

put them back on. You need to put on your Gospel glasses so you can

experience the fullness of the Gospel in your everyday life. Here’s what I

mean by this.

When we don’t view everyday life through the lens of the Gospel,

it’s like watching a 3D movie without 3D glasses. You can still watch the

movie, but you’ll miss out on all the joyful effects of 3D. You’re alive, but

things are blurry. The movies good, but it’s not great. You need to put

on your 3D glasses to experience the fullness of 3D. In a similar way you

need to put on your gospel glasses in order to experience the fullness

PART 2: THE GOSPEL IS OUR LIFE

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of the Gospel. You need to view everyday life and every part of your life

with Gospel glasses. I’ll give you a few examples.

When you’re fighting with a friend or a family member, you put

on your Gospel glasses remembering to extend forgiveness because

it’s Jesus who extends forgiveness to you. When your kids are driving

you nuts and you’re about to lose it, you put on your Gospel glasses

remembering to be patient because Jesus is patient with you. When

you’re struggling with sin, you put on your Gospel glasses remembering

that Jesus didn’t just save you from sin, he gave you the power to

overcome sin. When you’re dealing with identity or self-worth issues,

you put on your Gospel glasses remembering that your identity is in

Jesus, that you are loved by Jesus, accepted by Jesus, and that you are

now free from having to prove yourself to others. You no longer have

to live FOR your identity in this world, rather you can live FROM your

identity in Jesus. You’re free!

Life’s different when you put on your Gospel glasses. It’s very

different. When I have my Gospel glasses on I’m forgiving, patient,

and can overcome sin, but when I take them off I’m unforgiving,

impatient, and easily give into sin. When I take the Gospel glasses

off I’m still saved, but I’m not experiencing the fullness of the Gospel.

I’m not experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised! This is why at

City Awakening you will hear us say, “Put on your Gospel glasses!” It’s

because we want you to experience the fullness of the Gospel. We want

you to experience the abundant life, the full life, the fullness of what

Jesus promised.

There’s so much more to the Gospel than just our salvation, it’s also

for our everyday real life transformation, and just like a 3D movie is more

enjoyable with 3D glasses on, life’s more enjoyable when we have our

Gospel glasses on. So put on your Gospel glasses! View everyday life

and every part of your life through the lens of the Gospel. It will bring

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you the greatest joy! That’s not my promise, it’s the promise of Jesus!

It’s the promise of the Gospel! Jesus came to not just give you life, but

an abundantly full life! Put on your Gospel glasses, and find out just how

abundantly full that life can be!

HOW DO I RECEIVE THE GOSPEL?

This is where many people feel tempted to tell you that you need

to say a particular prayer or even write a prayer out. These aren’t bad

things and are certainly good ways to outwardly express your desire to

be in a relationship with Jesus, but saying or writing such prayers does

nothing unless your heart is stirred to a place of repentance, believing,

and submission. If God has not stirred your heart to such a place then

pray that He does, however if God has stirred your heart and you desire

to enter into a relationship with Him, then your response to that stirring

isn’t to try harder at being a good person or at being a good Christian.

Instead your response must be to repent, believe, submit, and then tell

someone.

• REPENT: Ask God to forgive you of your sins, to forgive you for not

following Him, and turn to Jesus for that forgiveness.

• BELIEVE: Believe that you are forgiven. Believe in who Jesus Christ

is and what He did for you on the cross. He is God in the flesh who

lived, died, and rose again for the forgiveness of your sins. Believe

and rest in the joy of that forgiveness.

• SUBMIT: Submit to him being in control of your life, rather than you

being in control of your life. Put on your Gospel glasses, and joyfully

follow Him!

• TELL: Tell somebody about the decision you made today. Tell us, tell

your church, tell a strong Christian friend or family member so we

can celebrate in this decision with you.

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As C.S. Lewis puts it, “We don’t come to God as bad people trying

to become good people; we come as rebels to lay down our arms.” Lay

down your arms today and everyday of your life by repenting, believing,

and submitting as you live not a perfect life, but a perfecting life that’s

reliant upon God’s grace and God’s grace alone. You are loved, you are

forgiven, and it’s not because of who you are and what you’ve done,

rather it’s all because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. He loves

you, he died for you, and he rose again proving that it’s all true. This is

the Gospel!

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REACH PEOPLE, REACH THE WORLD.

P.O. BOX 782413ORLANDO, FL 32878

CITYAWAKENING.ORG