OneMinuteGospel

“Saved, Renewed, Empowered”

from Dr. David A. deSilva

By God’s grace from start to finish, those who trust in Jesus Christ are saved from the guilt and penalty of their former sins, renewed in God’s image, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love and serve God and neighbor in true holiness all the remaining days of their lives.

51 words

(Adapted from John Wesley, Sermon 6.I.10 [Works of John Wesley I.208])

Today’s OMG comes from David A. DeSilva, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. He is an elder in the Global Methodist Church and serves as director of traditional music at Port Charlotte Global Methodist Church. He has authored more than 25 books, including a 48-pager that has blessed me, Praying with John Wesley. His blog is called Apocryphal Writings.

I like that this is just a half-minute gospel in one sentence. One could easily commit it to memory. I challenge you to try!

I’m not sure which of John Wesley’s sermons David adapted for his OMG, but it sounds like Wesley. The opening phrase grabs our attention, “By God’s grace from start to finish.” Wesley believed humans have “free will” to accept or reject God’s grace, but we can only make this choice because God’s prevenient (preceding) grace gives us opportunity.

For the title I used the three principal verbs in David’s OMG: saved, renewed, empowered. In each one God is working miraculously in our lives. 

• To be “saved from the guilt and penalty…” points to God’s justifying grace. 
• To be “renewed in God’s imagine, and empowered by the Holy Spirit…” points to God’s sanctifying grace.

The result is a transformed life expressed in love and service to God and neighbor. This is “true holiness.” As we used to say in seminary, “That’ll preach!”

Please leave your comments below.

Next post: Tuesday, October 31, “Created for Relationship” from Andrew Moyer

-st