I want to encourage you today, to believe the Gospel. Those of you reading these opening words, I would guess, are thinking, "I already have believed the Gospel", or, "I do believe the Gospel, that's what makes me a Christian."    Those of us who are followers of Christ rightly connect our salvation our being made right with God back to believing the Gospel (past-tense). But that's not my burden here. I think we need to continue believing the Gospel. We are not saved by the Gospel but then "kept saved" by our feverish efforts to be good. I can't be good enough to please God. That's at least one aspect that makes the Gospel good news! I can't please God, so I should stop trying! The only grounds of my being pleasing to God is my continual connection to and faith in Jesus and His past, present, and future work in and through me. I don't have the time today to unpack the above statements, but I will say that I believe them with all my heart. I'd encourage you to read and think deeply upon such passages as Ezekiel 36:25-27; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hosea 2:16-23. Both Jesus (Luke 22:20), Paul (Rom.9:25-26), and Peter (I Pet.2:10) tie these New Covenant promises of God, filled with His "I wills . . . ", directly to the church. Because of that Gospel of God's work in Christ, we can be "energetic in our life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God, since that energy is God's energy, an energy deep within us, as God himself is willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13, MSG). The Gospel is an ongoing piece of work in our lives. This is what Romans 1:15-17 tells us. The Gospel is the power of God for believing ones, to birth our initial faith and to nurture our ongoing faith. that is what is meant by the phrase, "from faith for faith" (Rom.1:17).  When I exercise faith in God, that I am loved and accepted by Him because of Jesus and His work, this IS indeed GOOD NEWS! It takes away my fear of rejection and motivates me by love and gratitude to serve Him. It also protects me from religious moralism, which only leads to either pride ("I'm doing okay") or despair ("I stink at this Christian stuff"). As I shared in a recent sermon, we must make a distinction between the Gospel as News and advice. The Gospel is News. News is something that has already happened. All we can do is respond to it. We cannot add to it. We cannot take away from it. It's (the Gospel- Good News of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection!) already been done!  "Advice", on the other hand, is often what we make Christianity out to be. Christianity as "advice" amounts to religious moralism which essentially says, "Here is what you must do to live the Christian life." Or, "Do more, try harder." That, my friends, I submit, is NOT the Gospel. It is NOT good news. Being driven by pride or despair is never the Gospel or Christianity, no matter how "religious" it looks.   Jesus has set us free from that default religious moralism (see John 8:36; Romans 8:1; Galatians 5:1). So, can I implore you: Believe the Gospel. Keep believing the Gospel. If you're having a hard time believing, just tell Him so, and ask Him to help you (Mark 9:24). Feed on all that Jesus Is and all that He has done. He loves you more than you'll ever fully understand (Ephesians 3:14-21), which gives you a lifetime here on earth, and an eternity of "time", to explore and praise the riches of Who He Is.