A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love [Paperback]

Milton Vincent (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2008

To the Christian's in Rome, the Apostle Paul says "I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome (Romans 1:15). Evidently, Christians need to hear the gospel even after conversion: and A Gospel Primer for Christians is designed to help you do just that. By showing how you can preach the gospel to yourself each day, this book will help you savor the glories of God's love and experience the life-transforming power of the gospel in all areas of life. Use this book to preach the gospel to yourself on a daily basis, and be amazed at teh differences it can make in your life.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 97 pages
• Publisher: Focus Publishing (MN) (February 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885904673
• ISBN-13: 978-1885904676
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Besides the Bible, I've given away more copies of this book than any other., November 6, 2008

By 

William Petruzzo (Annapolis, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love (Paperback)

A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent is not one of those books you pick up, nod to yourself, lightly discuss with friends, then put back on your shelf. A Gospel Primer is a great deal more useful than that.

This little, under-100-page, book is a bible-complimenting tool for the mind and heart that, in the hands of the faithful, stands to cause the powers of darkness and the sinful flesh alike tremble! Truthfully, I cannot extol the usefulness and quality of this book enough.

A Gospel Primer has one basic purpose: help Christians to clearly, confidently and consistently "rehearse" the Gospel to themselves. What does it mean to "rehearse", well, in short, it means to stir yourself up, by way of reminder. Remind yourself of the Gospel. The whole Gospel. And just as is characteristic of the Gospel, allow the truth of that Gospel to change us as we dwell and meditate on it.

The book is broken up into four sections. The first one being the longest. It is the full explanation of the Gospel and the reasons why it's so important to rehearse it regularly. The second and third sections are where we meet the real toolbox of this work. The second and third sections are the actual articulations of the Gospel, the Gospel "Narrative", written in first person. For example:

"My God is immense beyond imagination. He measured the entire universe with merely the span of His hand. He is unimaginably awesome in all of His perfections, absolutely righteous, holy and just in all His ways. He has also been unbelievably good and merciful to me as the Creator and Sustainer of my life."

The Narrative section is broken down into four parts. Each part representing a different a major piece of the Gospel. The first about God. Who God is, his profound attributes. The second about my sin and my profound failure before a holy God. The third about the heroic work of Christ Jesus on the Cross. And finally, the life I now live to the glory of God because of the all sufficient work of Christ.

The third section of the book is a repeat of the Gospel narrative, but in the form of poetry, and a beautiful poem it is.

The final section of the book is extremely brief and is used to describe how Mr. Vincent came upon writing this book. In it he shares his testimony as well as his deep conviction to love and live the Gospel of Jesus. Less important to the whole of the text, but worth reading for the sake of encouragement.

The best thing about this book, is it's extremely heavy use of scripture references. Every page of text is only half way down the page, because the bottom half of the page is used for scripture citations. Not only reference numbers but the entire quotation. This is not only helpful for confidence in knowing the Word of God, but also for the sake of meditation.

Over the past few weeks reading and using this book, I've found deep comforts in rehearsing the Gospel. I often read the narrative aloud to myself and as a specific truth shines before me, I stop and meditate on the scripture reference. The more I am using the tool, I am finding it easier to move away from the tool and rehearse the Gospel on my own, unaided.

At this point, A Gospel Primer is a book that I think every Christian should own and read and heed. Pick it up on Amazon.com, it's only $5 used.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Joy to Read and Consider, March 1, 2008

By 

M. Scott Bashoor "Godspeed" (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love (Paperback)

I absolutely love this little book. It was just released from Focus Publishing, and hopefully it will be available on Amazon soon. I've used beta-editions of it in Men's Bible studies, one-on-one discipleship, and for my own personal encouragement. I find Milton's insights refreshing, challenging, and thoroughly biblical. The gospel isn't just for unbelievers. It's good news for Christians everyday. Read it, savor it, live it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Preach the Gospel to Yourself, October 2, 2008

By 

Brian G Hedges (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love (Paperback)

I just read it this week and found it very helpful. This short book (97 pages) is divided into four parts.

Part 1 is a series of thirty-one meditations on "Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily." These Scripture-laden reflections will nourish your soul and thrill your heart with the wonders of God's grace.

Part 2 is "A Gospel Narrative: Prose Version." This is a short summary of the message of the gospel, broken down into four parts (The Glory of God; My Sin Against God; God's Work on My Behalf; My Salvation) and forty-one "verses."

Part 3,"A Gospel Narrative: Poetic Version," is the summary of the gospel in the form of poetry.

Part 4, "Surprised by the Gospel" explains the story behind the book - how a performance-driven pastor discovered the freedom and joy of justification by faith alone.

Here's an excerpt from Part 1 of the book. This is one of the thirty-one reasons to rehearse the gospel daily.

"The gospel encourages me to rest in my righteous standing with God, a standing which Christ Himself has accomplished and always maintains for me. I never have to do a moment's labor to gain or maintain my justified status before God! Freed from the burden of such a task, I now can put my energies into enjoying God, pursuing holiness, and ministering God's amazing grace to others.

"The gospel also reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance, because my standing is based solely on the work of Jesus and not mine. On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God's unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus' righteousness and not mine."

Each of these meditations are written in the first person like this. Just reading them really is an exercise in preaching the gospel to oneself.

How did I come across this book? I read Andy Naselli's review in Themelios. It was so positive that I ordered it immediately. I'm glad I did. Take it and read.