There is nothing like the manifest presence of God and witnessing His seemingly raw omnipotence at work. That omnipotence—unrestrained, limitless power—knows no boundaries and is accompanied by the Lordship of Christ, embodying power, authority, and omniscience in all things, for all time and beyond.
Where am I going with this – what am I alluding to? Where do we see this power more succinctly than in the gospel? Few of us have comprehended the immense authority, wisdom, supremacy, and power pulsating in the gospel—the good news about Jesus: what He accomplished, what He is doing, and what He continues to do.
What is the Gospel?
We need to step back, strip it down, peel away the layers of familiarity and routine, and look at its raw, pulsating core. Because the gospel—this good news—isn’t tame. It’s not polite, and it doesn’t play by our rules. It doesn’t tiptoe into your life and politely ask for permission to rearrange your furniture. It’s the wild, unfettered power of God, unleashed on a broken world. It’s nothing short of a revolution. It’s resurrection. It’s the relentless, unyielding, grace-soaked invitation to live fully alive.
You’ve probably guessed I am alluding to Paul’s words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). There is power in the gospel, which is why we need to hear it repeatedly, every week of our lives.
Notice what Paul doesn’t say: he doesn’t call the gospel good advice (although it is). He doesn’t define it as a set of principles or frame it as a philosophy. No, the gospel is power. The Greek word dunamis (from which we derive the word dynamite) speaks of strength, power, or ability and conveys God’s inherent power to accomplish His will. It is, in all respects comprehensible, the very power of God. This power is demonstrated in creation, speaking galaxies into existence, and in raising Jesus from the dead. It is immeasurable, constant, and consistent, never waning or dropping. This is what we mean when we say gospel.
The Gospel Disrupts
We need to unpack this because it is so important. If we are to grasp just how powerful the gospel is, we must understand its context and the emerging revelation it presents. Consider Jesus stepping onto the scene in first-century Galilee—the incarnate Word of God wrapped in flesh, walking dusty roads, eating, drinking, sleeping, laughing, and crying with broken image-bearers, announcing a message unlike anything anyone had ever heard. His message was unambiguous: “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). This was an emphatic declaration, not a suggestion—a divine intervention.
The gospel crashes into a broken world, shattering our illusions about who we are, who God is, and how life is supposed to work. It doesn’t fit neatly into any of our categories. It’s not conservative or progressive. It’s unfettered, neither Western nor Eastern, and not at all religious in the way we think of religion. The gospel is none other than Jesus Christ himself—his life, death, resurrection, and reign—breaking into history with the unstoppable force of divine love.
As Tullian Tchividjian said, “Jesus + nothing = everything” but in the darkness of our sin-stained hearts, we prefer a God we can manage, a gospel that stays safely within our comfort zones. We want good advice, moral guidelines, or inspiration to get through the week, but the gospel isn’t interested in merely helping you “improve your life.” It seeks to blow up your life and rebuild it from the ground up.
The Gospel Redeems
At its heart, the gospel is a story—a story of costly rescue and redemption. It’s the story of a God who creates a world lavishly teeming with beauty and possibility, a world that humanity fractures through sin and rebellion. Yet God doesn’t abandon His creation. Instead, He steps into the mess. He enters the chaos. He becomes one of us—literally, Emmanuel, “God with us.” That’s awe-inspiring! It’s not about us being with God, the Divine being. No—staggeringly, it is the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God who is with—hold your breath—us! This is stunning humility and profoundly beyond words.
The cross, as seen in Mark’s Gospel, storms into view. Barely have we grasped the wonders, overcome our astonishment and amazement at what we’ve seen, heard, and experienced in the driving narrative, when the story hurtles towards the cross. It’s the climax of this story, the place where the gospel’s power is most vividly displayed.
On that cross, Jesus bore the full weight of human sin and suffering. He absorbed it all—the guilt, the shame, the wrath of God—so that we might go free. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The cross isn’t just a symbol of forgiveness; it’s the micro-epicentre of a cosmic exchange. Jesus takes what we deserve—death—and gives us what He deserves—life.
We can be lost in awe and wonder, but the story doesn’t end at the cross. Greater than a Netflix blockbuster thriller, the audacious work of God continues. Resurrection is the humdinger exclamation point, the moment when the power of the gospel explodes into new creation. When Jesus walked out of that tomb, shrugging off the smothering quilt of death, He wasn’t just proving a point. He was inaugurating a whole new reality—a reality where death doesn’t get the last word, where sin doesn’t hold the final say, and where hope is not a pipe dream but an absolute certainty.
The Gospel Reconciles
Impressive? Absolutely. But don’t stop there—the gospel isn’t just about what God does for us; it’s about what God does to us and through us. It’s not just a ticket to heaven or a Monopoly-style get-out-of-jail-free card. It’s about full-on reconciliation—restoring broken relationships between God and humanity, and between humans themselves.
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19–20).
This is the breath-taking scope of the gospel: it doesn’t just slightly, barely perceptibly, tread-so-lightly change individual lives; it changes and transforms everything. It heals wounds, mends divisions, and makes enemies into family. The gospel is the ultimate equaliser. It doesn’t care about your CV, whether you have a degree that many deem essential for life, your bank balance, or your religious pedigree. No, it simply asks one question: “Will you believe?” And when you do, it grafts you into a community—a family of misfits and sinners who are being transformed by grace.
The Gospel Transforms
I mentioned earlier that the gospel transforms. Here’s the thing about the gospel: you can’t truly encounter it and stay the same. It’s impossible. The gospel rewires your heart, reshapes your priorities, and reorients your entire life around Jesus. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This isn’t just metaphorical language; it’s the literal truth. The gospel doesn’t tweak your life; it transforms it. It’s not a fix, and it’s more than a reset—it’s a whole new 1 GB RAM, 8 TB SSD, 128-core operating system—nothing like the original.
Before you get too caught up in my computer analogy, understand that this transformation isn’t a one-time event. It’s a lifelong process—a journey of becoming more and more like Jesus, of learning to live in the freedom and power that the gospel provides. Yes, it’s messy. Sanctification (becoming more ‘saintly’) isn’t a straight line; there are setbacks and struggles, but the gospel’s power doesn’t depend on your performance—it depends on God’s unequivocal, rock-solid faithfulness. He’s in the business of finishing what he starts. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
The Gospel Sends
There’s something unique about the gospel: it doesn’t stop with you, locked away in a safe. As extravagant and precious as it is, it’s not a private treasure to hoard or a secret to keep. No, it’s a message to proclaim, a gift to share, a kingdom to advance. Hear Jesus’ commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). This is the gospel’s centrifugal force—it pushes us outward, driving and compelling us to love, serve, and bear witness to the King, our Lord and Saviour, who changes everything. And here’s the beautiful irony: the more you give the gospel away, the more it grows in you. The gospel thrives in the soil of self-giving love. It flourishes in communities where grace is practised, where forgiveness is extended, and where the least and the lost are welcomed with open arms. It has no constraints; it thrives anywhere and everywhere.
The Gospel Unleashed
I love the word ‘unleashed’, especially when tying it to the gospel. So, what does it look like when the gospel is unleashed in the world? It looks like lives transformed, communities renewed, and cultures reshaped. It looks like addicts finding freedom, the broken finding healing, and the hopeless finding purpose. It looks like Amos’s picture of justice rolling down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24). It’s unequivocally brilliant, but let’s not romanticise it. The gospel is costly. It calls us to die to ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow Jesus. It’s a narrow path, and few find it, but for those who do, it’s life. Abundant life. Eternal life. Life that overflows with joy, peace, and the relentless love of God.
The Gospel and You
What about you? If you’re not clear about the gospel, let me encourage you: the gospel always demands a response. It’s not a story you can hear and remain neutral about—you’re either all in, or you’re not; there’s no middle ground.
There’s some good news here: the gospel isn’t about what you bring to the table; it’s about what Jesus has already done. It’s not about your ability to clean yourself up or make yourself worthy; instead, it’s about grace—free, unearned, and lavish. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
The gospel invites you to stop striving, stop pretending, and simply believe. Believe that Jesus is who he says he is, believe that his death and resurrection are enough to cover your sins, and believe that his grace is sufficient for your every need.
The Gospel Never Ends
I hope you are getting the message here—the gospel is the very dunamis of God. It has been entrusted to us, endorsed by the Holy Spirit, and, at times, even confirmed by signs and wonders. It never runs out. It’s not a one-time fix or a fading hope. It is the eternal power of God—always fresh, always new, always enough. The same gospel that saved you is the gospel that sustains you, empowers you, and sends (or ‘apostles’) you into the world.
So, open your heart and let the gospel mess with you, disrupt your plans, heal your wounds, and transform your heart. Let it draw you deeper into the love of God and send you out with a message of hope as a willing evangelist, because this gospel—this wild, unfettered, life-changing transforming power—is not just good news.
It’s the best news. It’s the only news that truly matters. And it’s yours, today and forever.
