A Gospel Primer

This past Wed, I had another book summary in our MOPS newsletter so here it is for anyone that isn't part of our MOPS group (and for those of you that are, this is word for word from the newsletter). The book of choice for this month was "A Gospel Primer" by Milton Vincent.

As we approach the Christmas season, with our topic this month for MOPS being “The View from Above”, I thought it would be fitting to give a little summary of a devotional supplement that I recently started using and have found helpful in my spiritual life. This book is comprised of three parts and each segment is meant to directly point to the message of the gospel – the good news of salvation for sinners through Jesus Christ. The first part consists of 31 reasons to rehearse the gospel daily, with scripture references included, to help specifically understand how Christ's death on the cross impacts your everyday actions. For example, one excerpt entitled 'Stimulated to Love Others' reads:

“When my mind is fixed on the gospel, I have ample stimulation to show God's love to other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown to me. Also, the gospel gives me the wherewithal to give forgiving grace to those who have wronged me, for it reminds me daily of the forgiving grace that God is showing me. Doing good and showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sins against God and of His forgiving and generous grace toward me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and to put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me.”

The second part of the book is a prose version of the gospel and the third part of the book is a poetic version, both which Vincent wrote as a way to help memorize gospel truths more easily, also with scripture references included. This book is an excellent source to help fix your mind on the cross and hold true to Colossians 1:23 which tells us to “continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel”.

*This is the book review from our December 2008 meeting.*