Book Giveaway: A Gospel Primer for Christians

The book giveaway for this month is Milton Vincent's A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love. I just read it this week and found it very helpful. Guessing that fewer of my readers will already have a copy, I thought it would be an ideal giveaway.

This short book (97 pages) is divided into four parts. Part 1 is a series of thirty-one meditations on "Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily." These Scripture-laden reflections will nourish your soul and thrill your heart with the wonders of God's grace. Part 2 is "A Gospel Narrative: Prose Version." This is a short summary of the message of the gospel, broken down into four parts (The Glory of God; My Sin Against God; God's Work on My Behalf; My Salvation) and forty-one "verses." Part 3,"A Gospel Narrative: Poetic Version," is the summary of the gospel in the form of poetry. Part 4, "Surprised by the Gospel," explains the story behind the book - how a performance-driven pastor discovered the freedom and joy of justification by faith alone.

Here's an excerpt from Part 1 of the book. This is one of the thirty-one reasons to rehearse the gospel daily.

The gospel encourages me to rest in my righteous standing with God, a standing which Christ Himself has accomplished and always maintains for me. I never have to do a moment's labor to gain or maintain my justified status before God! Freed from the burden of such a task, I now can put my energies into enjoying God, pursuing holiness, and ministering God's amazing grace to others.

The gospel also reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance, because my standing is based solely on the work of Jesus and not mine. On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God's unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus' righteousness and not mine.

Each of these meditations are written in the first person like this. Just reading them really is an exercise in preaching the gospel to oneself.

How did I come across this book? I read Andy Naselli's review. It was so positive that I ordered it immediately. I'm glad I did. So, check out his review and don't forget to register for the giveaway by posting a comment.