A Personal Encounter with the Gospel

Four years ago, on the Fourth of July in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, my life changed forever. At the time, I was far from God—trapped in addiction, recklessness, and frankly my life was spiraling. I had spent years running from anything that resembled Jesus, and mocking Christianity came easily to me. During that trip to Gatlinburg, I passed by The Jesus Christ Museum daily. It was a small wax museum, and to me, it was just another religious oddity. I made jokes about it as I’d walk by without a second thought. But one day, something changed. After another sarcastic remark, an overwhelming feeling of sorrow gripped me. I couldn’t shake it.

As I wrestled with that unexpected conviction, something else happened. Walking down the crowded street with my girlfriend, a man handed us a small tract. “This is the best gift anyone could give you,” he said. Mind you this is Fourth of July weekend in Gatlinburg and it was right after Covid restrictions were removed, so the sidewalks were packed shoulder to shoulder. That has just always stuck out to me, what were the odds that I would’ve actually gotten one that day? I glanced down and saw the words Round Tuit on the front. That phrase struck me deeply because my late grandfather had carried a Round Tuit coin in his wallet, using it as a playful way to remind people to take action. He and I were really close, and he died just a few years prior. At that moment, it felt as though God Himself was telling me, I know you, Jay.

Later that day, sitting by the hotel pool, I flipped the tract over and read the simple but powerful gospel message: I had sinned against a holy God, yet Jesus took my place on the cross, bearing the punishment I deserved. Through His death and resurrection, He offered me salvation. The message clicked. I am by no means a “signs and wonders” type of guy, I can only tell you my honest experience that day. I laid back in my pool chair, closed my eyes, and in my mind I saw a ball of light descending from the sky, to the top of my head and down into my heart, and I saw the crust fall off of my heart and light just shining through it. I immediately thought to myself, “I’ve been walking all over this earth my entire life, doing my thing, not caring about God, and He threw that light down on me at this exact moment in time and in this exact place.” And right there I was to receive it. At that moment, I understood. I repented of my sins, placed my faith in Christ, and my life was never the same.

The Unchanging Power of the Gospel

My testimony is deeply personal, but the way I was saved is not unique. Throughout history, God has used one consistent method to bring people to salvation: the gospel message.

This same gospel was preached from the very beginning of the church. In Acts 2, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, Peter stood before a crowd and proclaimed:

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:22-24)

Peter didn’t rely on clever arguments or emotional persuasion—he simply preached the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection. And what happened?

“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 2:37-38)

That day, 3,000 people were saved. This is the pattern of evangelism: sinners are convicted by the Spirit, they hear the gospel, and by God’s grace, they repent and believe.

The True Gospel vs. False Gospels

But what exactly is the gospel? The apostle Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 15:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

This is the message that saves. Yet, throughout history, people have tried to distort it. Paul warned the Galatian church about false gospels:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7)

In Galatia, a group called the Judaizers taught that faith in Christ wasn’t enough—people had to add works like circumcision to be truly saved. But Paul rebuked them sharply:

“You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)

Any message that adds or subtracts from the finished work of Christ is no gospel at all. Legalism, prosperity preaching, moralism—these are all distortions. The true gospel is what Christ has done, not what we must do.

Evangelism: Our Call to Proclaim the Gospel

Sharing the gospel isn’t about our eloquence or persuasion. It’s about faithfully delivering God’s message. As Paul wrote:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

It was this gospel that saved me, and it is this gospel that has saved millions throughout history. We are simply messengers, but the message itself carries the power of God for salvation.

If we are faithful to proclaim it, God will be faithful to use it—just as He did in Acts 2, just as He did on a crowded street in Gatlinburg, and just as He continues to do today.

Conclusion

The heart of evangelism is not in our methods, strategies, or charisma. It is in the gospel—the unchanging, powerful, life-transforming message of Jesus Christ.

Let us be faithful stewards of this message, trusting that the same God who saved sinners 2,000 years ago is still saving them today. And may we never lose sight of the simple truth:

The gospel is not just central to evangelism—it is the very power of God.