Gospel What Ifs...

1) What if grace is more radical, more inclusive, deeper, wider, and higher than we currently imagine it to be?

2) What if God’s will that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth actually happens?

3) What if every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father?

4) What if Jesus comes not as a punitive judge but a restorative judge?

5) What if grace is not bound by time or space or human lifetimes?  What if God has all of eternity to win us over with his finally irresistible love?

6) What if God’s grace is stronger than unbelief?

7) What if repentance is not our action but God’s work in us?  What if repentance is the response of faith to the kindness of God?

8) What if, the more orthodox, the more liberal (lavish, generous) one's understanding of grace?

9) What if God isn’t angry at us because of our sin but heartbroken over it?

10) What if the death of Jesus was not the act of an angry God venting his fiery wrath meant for us onto Jesus, but the act of our creator rescuing us from sin, death, the flesh, and the devil? 

11)What if the death of Jesus is an act of supreme love not anger?

12) What if the power of prayer resides in the faithful character of God and not in our words, persistence, boldness, or consistency?

13) What if hell is not a place of eternal damnation but “last stand defiant” face to face encounter with all that is holy and good and gracious, a meeting with the finally irresistible grace of God that purifies one as silver is purified through fire?

14) What if we’re really dead in our trespasses and only the grace of Jesus can raise us from the dead…not our repentance, not our confession, not our sinner’s prayer?

15) What if the will is in bondage and can only choose against God?  What if Jesus frees us from that bondage through a pure act of grace?

16) What if the faith to believe is God’s work in us vs. our decision?

17) What if God loves sinners…and only sinners?

18) What if God will have the final word over all of us in eternity…and that word is the Gospel?