the dead to defeat sin and death and
offer humanity a way to God through
his sacrifice—contained such power
that not even the gates of hell would
be able to resist its advance.
J.D.
Greear
Think about this: The gospel is the
one thing in the New Testament, other
than Jesus himself, that is referred to
directly as the power of God.
Not contains the power of God.
Not channels the power of God.
The gospel is itself the raw, un-
stoppable, death-defeating power of
God.
The Apostle Paul explains in his letter
to the Romans that the gospel is the
power of God unto salvation for all
who would believe (Romans 1:16).
The gospel is God’s power to create,
to redeem, to heal, to bring back from
the dead. It doesn’t offer insights on
a new or superior technique. It is raw,
explosive power. And it’s to that power
that the church must return.
Excerpted with permission from Above All by J.D.
Greear. Copyright 2019, B&H Publishing Group.
J. D. Greear (PhD, Southeastern
Baptist Theological Seminary) is
pastor of The Summit Church, a
gospel-centered community of
over 10,000 in Raleigh-Durham,
North Carolina. J. D. is the author
of several books, including Not
God Enough: Why Your Small God
Leads to Big Problems (2018), Stop
Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How
to Know for Sure You Are Saved
(2013), and Gospel: Recovering
the Power that Made Christianity
Revolutionary (2011). In 2018, he was
elected the 62nd president of the
Southern Baptist Convention and
the youngest in almost forty years.
J. D. and his wife Veronica live in
Raleigh, where together they are
raising four amazing kids: Kharis,
Alethia, Ryah Layne, and Adon.
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