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(More customer reviews)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.
Click Here to see more reviews about: A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love
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.
