TEXT:
Colossians 1:6 "All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth." (NIV)

INTRODUCTION:
    THE GOSPEL
    1.  Gospel means "good news."
    2.  Several translations use the words "good news" in place of the word "gospel."
    3.  The Living Bible says, "This Good News that came to you is going out all over the world
        and is changing lives everywhere."
    4.  Isn’t it good to know we have good news in a world of bad news? (Could I have a better
        Amen?)
 

I.  THE GOSPEL BEARS FRUIT
 
  A.  IT BEARS FRUIT BY CHANGING LIVES
    1.  The Living Bible says, "This Good News…is changing lives everywhere."
    2.  Whatever the Good News is, it's a message that changes lives.

  B.  THERE’S POWER IN THE GOSPEL
    1.  Power to change lives.
    2.  Power to break the power of the devil.
    3.  Power to break the power of the devil.
    4.  Power to save, heal, and deliver.
    5.  Romans 1:16  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God
        unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

  C.  IT’S CHANGING LIVES EVERYWHERE
    1.  One of our young people wrote me the other day and told me about someone telling him
        that he could never be anything but a gangster.
    2.  He was destined to be a gangster and there was nothing that could stop it.
    3.  I guess he believes the gospel doesn’t work in New Mexico.
    4.  It’s the power of God to the Jew and to the Gentile, but not to the Mexican?
    5.  What kind of talk is that?
    6.  Do you know what a Gentile is?
    7.  You’re either a Jew or a Gentile.
    8.  A Gentile is a non-Jew.
    9.  You’re either a Jew or a non-Jew.
 

II. YOU MUST HEAR THE GOSPEL

  A.  FAITH COMES BY HEARING
    1.  He said it changed your lives because you heard it.
    2.  You've got to hear it.
    3.  You can’t claim a promise that you’ve never heard.
    4.  You can’t accept an offer if you don’t know it exists.
    5.  You need to hear the Good News.

  B.  SHE WAS BLIND BUT NOW SHE SEES
    1.  In the news a couple of years ago was the story of a woman who had been blind for
        over 50 years.
    2.  Her name was Rose Crawford, and she had been born blind.
    3.  They performed eye surgery on her in a hospital in Ontario, Canada.
    4.  Afterwards, for the first time in her life she saw the form and color of the world.
    5.  The amazing thing about her story was that 20 years of her blindness had been unnecessary.
    6.  She didn't know that surgical techniques had been developed, and that an operation could
        have restored her vision at the age of 30.
    7.  The doctor said, "She just figured there was nothing that could be done about her condition."
    8.  Much of her life could have been different.
    9.  Why did assume her situation was hopeless? SHE HADN’T HEARD!

  C.  THERE ARE MILLIONS WHO ARE SPIRITUALLY BLIND
    1.  They don’t know that there is a cure.
    2.  They haven’t heard the gospel - the good news.
 

III. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL

  A.  SOME PEOPLE PREACH TOO DEEP
    1.  They use such high sounding phrases, when they get through your head's rattling.
    2.  You don't even know what they've been talking about.
    3.  I'd rather just preach on the level right where the rubber meets the road. Amen!

  B.  THE GOSPEL IS GOD’S GREAT KINDNESS TO SINNERS
    1.  The gospel is described in the Bible as God’s great kindness to sinners.
    2.  The Holy Ghost is saying the Good News is a message about God's great kindness to sinners.

  C.  ALL KINDS OF SINNERS COME HERE
    1.  I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the person next to you. (smile)
    2.  We have all kind of sinners: up-and-outters, down-and-outters, and in-and-outters.
    3.  But our message is not a message of condemnation.
    4.  We’re not here to say, "God hates you!"
    5.  We’re not here to say, "God's just looking to throw you into hell."
    6.  Some of you think He wants you to die so He can send you to hell already.
    7.  The good news is not the fact that there's a hell.
    8.  The good news is you don't have to go there. (Can I have a good Amen?)

  D.  THERE’S A WAY TO HEAVEN

    Officer Peter O'Hanlon was patrolling on night duty in northern England some years ago when
    he heard a quivering sob. Turning in the direction that it came from, he saw in the shadows a
    little boy sitting on a doorstep. With tears rolling down his cheeks, the child whimpered, "I'm
    lost. Take me home." The policeman began naming street after street, trying to help him
    remember where he lived. When that failed, he repeated the names of the shops and hotels in
    the area, but all without success. Then he remembered that in the center of the city was a
    well-known church with a large white cross towering high above the surrounding landscape.
    He pointed to it and said, "Do you live anywhere near that?" The boy's face immediately
    brightened. "Yes, take me to the cross. I can find my way home from there!"
 
  E. THE GOSPEL IN MINIATURE

    Luther called John 3:16 "the heart of the Bible—the Gospel in miniature." It’s so simple a child
    can nderstand it; yet it condenses the deep and marvelous truths of redemption into these few
    pungent words: