“Some people are fierce with reality, aren’t they? They don’t have to spout off about how they are right and everybody else is wrong because there is something going on inside of them so powerful, so tangible you can’t help but ask them questions. You’re dying to know why they are the way they are. You want them to explain the reason for the hope that is within them.
Because when you are around people like this,
you have the sense that you’ve,
in some way,
been with Jesus.
And that,
is
church.
This group of people, who by their compassion, their generosity, the grace that they extend to others, you find yourself believing when you are around them that God hasn’t given up on the world.
That’s the gospel! That’s it.
The gospel is the good news that God hasn’t given up on the world!
That the tomb is empty and that a giant resurrection rescue is underway
and that you and I can be a part of it!
Jesus is saving me from my sins, from my mistakes, from my pride, from my indifference to the suffering of the world around me, from my cynicism and despair. The brokenness I see in the world around me is true of my own soul. And so, He is rescuing me moment by moment, day by day.
Because God wants to put it all back together!
You, me, the whole world!
And so He starts deep inside each of us with our awareness
that we need help, that we need saving, that we need rescuing.
And then He begins to show us, step by step,
what it looks like to put flesh and blood in this gospel.
Because we all fall short and that’s the beautiful part.
Broken, flawed, vulnerable people like you and me
are invited to be the hands and feet of a Jesus
who loves us exactly as we are,
yet loves us way too much to let us stay that way.”
— Rob Bell, Nooma: You ©2007