Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Do you love this church or what? I challenge anybody to watch the videos from the last two weeks and then tell me that God isn’t in this church. I challenge anybody to hear the stories of lives that have been changed through this church, and then quibble and complain over details.

God is changing lives here. God is rescuing families here. God is altering eternities here. And God is setting us up for even greater things than we’ve already experienced. If that doesn’t fire you up, then something is wrong!

As I was watching today’s videos, one verse kept coming to mind. Romans 1:16 – The apostle Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16, NIV)

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. He wasn’t worried that he would later discover that he had devoted his life to a false cause. He knew that the gospel is everything it claims to be.

Here at ACC, we are not ashamed that our church is devoted to the gospel. We are in the process of implementing a much simpler, strategic, and focused vision. The core of the vision is the gospel. This is why a lot of the more peripheral stuff that we’ve done is going to stop. So we can focus with greater clarity on the gospel.

Because the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Not a ministry. Not a church program. It’s the gospel that saves people. Which is why this church is all about, and only about, the gospel.

Our church has undergone a lot of changes. A lot more are coming. But the gospel remains steadfast.

This church had a lot of preachers before me. You’ll have more after me. But the gospel remains.

People come and go. Programs come and go. Preachers come and go. But the gospel remains. We will never apologize for believing it. We will never apologize for preaching it.

The reason we make no apologies for the gospel is because the gospel is power. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

The word gospel means “good news.” The good news is that Jesus Christ became our substitute, our scapegoat when He died on the cross.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV)

The gospel message is that God changed Jesus into our sin on the cross. And in return, we are changed into the righteousness of God. Jesus takes all your junk. You take His perfection. Jesus becomes stained. You become holy. Jesus is cursed. You are forgiven. Jesus dies. You live. That is good news, church! That’s the gospel.

And that gospel has the power to change anybody. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

Look at what happened when the gospel invaded just one family. Phil said in his video that his wife, Heather, was the only Christian in the whole family. But this family started coming to ACC, and the gospel starting flexing its muscle.

In 2 short years, Phil, Carol, Michelle, Tim, and Kayla all gave their lives to Christ. If you’re wondering why Tim wasn’t in the videos, it’s because he was in a really bad accident at work the week before the video shoot. He severely injured his ankle and he’s still recovering. But he wanted to be part of this, because he’s part of a family that has been forever changed.

I loved what Carol said in her video, “Our family is now a family.” That’s because the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

And that’s why we love this church. That’s why this church is changing lives. Because we believe the gospel. We preach the gospel. We live out the gospel.

And we absolutely believe it is the salvation for EVERYONE who believes. Earlier this year, we baptized a 10-year-old boy and a 75-year-old man in the same week. You know why? Because age is irrelevant. The gospel is for everyone.

We don’t care if you’re old, young, man, woman, rich, poor. It just doesn’t matter to us. We don’t care if you wear a suit or you wear jeans. The gospel is for everyone. We don’t care what your hair looks like, what your car looks like, or what your skin color looks like. The gospel is for everyone.

The cross is the equalizer. It creates a level playing field. We are sinners saved by the power of the gospel. That’s why this church is not pretentious or smug or holier-than-thou.

That’s why in our video last week, so many said, “I love the people here.” What do you love about ACC? “The people. The people. The people.” You know why? Because our people understand the gospel. We understand the level playing field. We understand that the gospel can save everyone who believes. So we can look past our differences to see our commonality in Christ. The reason this church exudes love is because we believe in and live out the gospel.

It’s why I came here. When this church was looking to hire a pastor, I applied, fully believing that I wouldn’t be hired here. So many churches had turned me down because I was young. I was inexperienced. I was told that, “Young people are too reckless and untested.”

Then I interviewed here. And I wasn’t questioned about my age. I was questioned about the gospel. What do you believe about the gospel? How do you preach the gospel? How do you lead with the gospel?

I knew I had found a home. I knew I found a church that was willing to look past all this other stuff and focus on the gospel.

And let me tell you something…I love it when I’m out and about and people ask what I do for a living. I look them straight in the eye and proudly say, “I preach the gospel at the Amelia Church of Christ.” I am so proud to be your pastor. So proud. We have accomplished so much together. It hasn’t always been easy, but God has blessed us immensely because we are people of the gospel.

It’s why we love our church. It’s why God is blessing our church. It’s why lives are being changed through our church.

One of my core convictions is that a believer should love their church. Life is too short to be part of a church where you’re miserable. If you’re constantly miserable, you’re in the wrong church.

We love our church here at ACC. Now, that doesn’t mean we always like every single thing about it. You can dislike certain things, you can disagree with a particular decision, and still love your church.

I love my wife. Doesn’t mean I always agree with her. But I love her. Same goes for my church. I don’t always like every single detail, but I love my church.

Love means we’re able to see past issues of disagreement and focus on the greater mission. Far too often, those of us in the church get bogged down on stuff that doesn’t matter. We get so caught up in debating details that we miss the bigger picture.

How do you know if something is just a detail? Simple. If it isn’t about the gospel, it’s a detail.

The gospel is what matters. The gospel is what makes an eternal difference. The gospel is what we’re about. And we simply can’t afford to get caught up in all these side issues.

Through the stories we’ve heard the last two weeks, we’ve all been reminded of two things.

First of all, ACC is off-the-chart awesome! We love our church.

Secondly, the gospel is still changing lives. And if we resolve to focus fully and only on the gospel, only God knows what the future off ACC will look like. I can tell you this: it’s going to blow our minds.

The gospel is the power that is driving our church. The gospel is the power that is changing our lives. You’ve heard two weeks worth of stories of life change. It can happen for you, too. The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. No exceptions. No exclusions.

Your life is not too messed up to be changed. Your family is not too broken to be healed. Your sin is not too big to be forgiven. Your entire life and your entire eternity can be changed through the blood of Jesus. We invite you to come and let the gospel do its work in you.

Mike Edmisten

Tags:gospel,I Love My Church,Romans 1,salvation,