The Gospel is news of what God has done to reach us. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God.

Jesus lost all his glory so that we could be clothed in it. He was shut out so we could get access. He was bound, nailed, so that we could be free. He was cast out so we could approach. And Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can really destroy you: that is being cast away from God. He took so that now all suffering that comes into your life will only make you great. A lump of coal under pressure becomes a diamond. And the suffering of a person in Christ only turns you into somebody gorgeous.

The Gospel is good news not good advice. Advice = what we should do. News = report of what was done for us.

It's important to remember the Gospel is a story; not a set of bullet points.

People only get in the afterlife what they have most wanted-either to have God as Savior and Master or to be their own Saviors and Masters.

Jesus' claims are particularly unnerving, because if they are true there is no alternative but to bow the knee to him.

The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.