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

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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.

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.

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.

Are you a mom with little kids and not enough sleep? If so this is the book for you. I was tired and my traditional study methods were just not working. I tried hiding but no matter where I hid the kids always seemed to find me! This material was one piece God used to encourage me to stay the course in this "season of life" that seemed to bring out the worst in me. Praise God for His Son and the beautiful cross.

This fantastic little book is worth EVERY PENNY of the $10.95 it costs! It is an invaluable resource for preaching the gospel to yourself. I haven't even finished part one, yet I already feel I've gotten my money's worth and so much more. I know the rest is equally wonderful from having read a previous electronic edition. This is a book you will return to over and over again!

WOW. I can't say enough about this book. My entire church is currently reading it indepth, because it is saying to us what God has been trying to get through to us, as a group, for three years now. - which is - "LOVE CHRIST. -- Everything else will flow out of THAT" -- meaning - service, devotion, love for others, ALL of the "Do's" that Christians get so tied up in and truthfully, distracted away from Christ by. They will NOT flow out of determination to work. -- They will flow out of LOVING Christ deeply.

As a church, we are currently learning that the Gospel needs to be preached to BELIEVERS as well as NON-Believers. We need reminded of the depth of grace and just how truly wonderful the gospel is. God is using (in part) this book to revive a very weary group of believers in my Mega Church. Teaching us the practical how to's of preaching the gospel to ourselves and each other - DAILY. Sometimes MINUTE BY MINUTE.

As for the technicals:
This book is a VERY easy read. Broken down in small parts - and PACKED FULL of Scriptural references for EVERYTHING the author asserts - which - as a BIBLE-RESPECTING- Word intensive Church, we REALLY appreciate!!!!

The concepts are deep enough that I can't even begin to explain them here.
I highly HIGHLY encourage you to get this book and dive into it with fellow believers!!!

Blessings

A MUST read book! A book you'll read and reread many times. Great resource for every library.

One of the deadliest common Christian misconceptions is that the Gospel is only for non-Christians as the entrance into a relationship with Christ. In reality, the Gospel is the Christian's provision for real growth and change as the believer daily turns and returns to it. Some may even have an understanding of that truth in principle, but they are not sure how to apply it to their lives. How do you `preach the Gospel to yourself daily' and what does that mean anyway?

There is a book that answers those questions, A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent. As the author writes in his introduction, "God did not give us His gospel just so we could embrace it and be converted. Actually, He offers it to us every day as a gift that keeps on giving to us everything we need for life and godliness." (pp. 5).

The book is short (97 pgs) but it is packed! It is divided into four sections: The first section, "Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily", is a grouping of 31 ways in which the Gospel changes us - each thoroughly supported with Scripture. The second part is called "A Gospel Narrative - Prose Version", which in ten pages lays out the story of the Gospel and explains the many aspects of God's saving work for us. The third part is "A Gospel Narrative - Poetic Version" in which he repeats the concepts of the second section, but now expresses it in poetry. (I might add I thought that using poetry for this was a very unique and well thought out addition to the book!) Finally, in the last section, the author explains his own personal journey to understand God's grace in the Gospel for himself and how that journey eventually led to this book.

I really hope that many people will read this book and be able with joy to drink more deeply from the wells of salvation (Is. 12:3). Here's a sample of how the author explains the Gospel's impact in the area of "Perspective in Trials":

"...every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ." (pp. 31-32).

That is one part of one of the thirty-one "Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily". Other section titles include "Obedience Borne of Love", "Liberation from Self-Love", "Loving My Brothers and Sisters" and "Cultivating Humility". As you can tell by the titles, this book really takes aim at our hearts and the sin problems we still wrestle with each day. As such, I would suggest that this is not only a book to read, but one to read multiple times, until the messages of the Gospel that it conveys are forced deeper and deeper into our hearts and minds. That was the purpose the author used it for in his life, and I would encourage believers to get it and use it that way in your lives as well, because we never outgrow our need to grow in the Gospel of grace!

This book is a must read for new and mature Christians. It's an encouragement to see how reading, studying and meditating on the Gospel of Jesus Christ is life changing. I was so encouraged by this book that I sent a note to my niece in Riverside, CA to check out the author, Milton Vincent's church (Cornerstone Fellowship) in Riverside. Thanks to Rick Cobb for passing on this great little book.

Milton Vincent does nothing but glorify God as he delineates the truths of the Gospel for every Christian to hear. Nearly every statement that he makes is footnoted with Scripture passages, which are extremely helpful as you read. My relationship with Christ has strengthened immensely as a result of this book and it is one that I hope to continue to go back to whenever I lose sight of what God accomplished for me in Christ. In order to live life to the fullest that God has ordained for us, we must recite the benefits of the Cross to ourselves daily, and Milton Vincent helps us to do that easily and powerfully. Definitely recommended without any reservations.