The Gospel in Ten Words
My new book, The Gospel in Ten Words, has just been released. Ta da! What’s this book about?
– It’s about the good news most of us still haven’t heard.
– It’s about the good news that was supposed to bring great joy to all people but hasn’t.
– It’s about the good news that is almost never preached in church or on Christian TV or in the marketplace.
In short, it’s the good news that Jesus revealed and the apostles proclaimed. It’s the good news that set the first-century world on fire. It’s the good news that declares God’s audacious plan for your life, the universe and everything!
Here’s an excerpt from the book:
The gospel is the glad and merry news that God is good, he loves you, and he will happily give up everything he has so he can have you. Contrary to popular belief, God is not mad at you. He is not even in a bad mood. The good news declares that God is happy, he is for you, and he wants to share his life with you forever.
Jesus is proof of this. The veracity of the gospel is evidenced in his death and resurrection. On the cross God showed that he loved us while we were sinners and that he would rather die than live with-out us. And through the resurrection he proved that nothing—not even death—can separate us from the love that is ours in Jesus Christ.
Through our representative Jesus our heavenly Father has joined himself to us, promising never to leave nor forsake us. We stand secure, not on our feeble promises to him, but on his unconditional and unbreakable promises to us.
And that’s it: God loves you and wants to be with you. It’s simple but it’s the biggest truth in the universe. We will spend eternity discovering in a billion different ways the limitless expressions of his unending love. Indeed, this is what we were made for—to receive and respond to his divine love. This is the fundamental law of our existence and the reason for our being. This is the best news you ever heard.
Many people associate the good news with conditions and qualifications but true love hides no hooks. Jesus is Love made flesh and he is beautiful, attractive, dare I say, even irresistible. But only if you see him as he really is.
The blessings of the gospel are many but in The Gospel in Ten Words I look at just ten. These ten blessings are not levels or steps or anything like that. Think of them as pearls on a necklace or pictures at an exhibition. They are riffs on the theme of Jesus. They are ten revelations of grace that describe the life of every believer, no exceptions. In union with Christ you are loved, forgiven, saved, accepted, holy, righteous, dead to sin, new, and royal.
To learn more and to find out what others are saying about The Gospel in Ten Words, check out the book website: www.tenwordgospel.com
Escape to Reality 
Congratulations Paul. The world needs your book. May it be the first of many. Praise the Lord!
I was hoping that you would write a book at some point. I’ve just ordered the book and I am REALLY looking forward to reading it!!
Just went thru 1st chapter (Love) in your book Paul. It is excellent. Believe me, I just couldn’t hold my Joy. Yessss…. Gospel is the Good News. Your book could be a answered prayer of many like me. Thank you so much for this book. I really Praise GOD for making you to write this.
Hello Paul … Just read your excerpt from your book … This bit hit me in the heart … That he’d rather die than be without us …. Wow I need to be hearing all this … It’s like I never knew him … Is he really like you say he is ? The penny drops now and again… But I don’t think it fully sinks in… Seek first his kingdom has been in my mind a few years never really understood what that means … And the pick up your cross bit … Had me always thinking I should be delighted I’m suffering , how mad is that? I think now through you and Joseph prince I’m after coming across his kingdom. It’s like I’ve been introduced to a totally different God … I’m delighted I didn’t much like the other one lol.
Hi Paul, I’ve only gotten through the first five words so far (I tend to go slowly through books like these unlike novels) and let me say that I know I’ve found a new favorite book on Grace. The world needs this book. Praise Jesus for Him writing it through you!
well, all i have to say is….
i am in a conundrum with this book – because i was planning on getting a copy for everyone on my Christmas list…
but since i finished reading it yesterday, i don’t know if i can wait that long!
lol!
loved every bit of it!
and AMEN!
🙂
honestly paul, this is the first book i have read about the good news that i feel like i could hand to any one of my unbelieving friends and family… and say “THIS is what i believe!”
Hi Paul, I just want to shout a huge THANK YOU for listening to the Holy Spirit’s unction to write this book which I just finished reading this morning. My husband and I pastor a church on Vancouver Island and we have been receiving layer upon layer of good teaching on the true gospel of grace over this last year; this most recent layer of clarity being brought by your book. What a relief! I want to use your book as a study guide so that I can take in the true new covenant gospel into my very pores, and pass it on to those in my sphere. As a lover of the written word and an amateur editor, I am just so impressed by your writing. Sorry if I seem to be gushing but I am just so appreciative of what you have done in this book!
Tonight at a multi-church meeting in our city I had the opportunity to pray with one of many people who stood for prayer because they felt insecure about how God felt about them. How truly sad that so many stood up! After I prayed for one young woman I told her to search out your blog and your book, as I knew it would give her such encouragement. So thanks again for what you are doing and thank you that you continue to answer the multiudinous questions from the “serious people” about grace. Don’t grow weary in well doing; in our case as with many others it is reaping enormous benefits and we will be able to spread this message to others!
Thank you for your kind and gracious words! I am delighted my book is being a blessing in your city. I have been to Vancouver Island – it’s a beautiful part of the world.
I am expecting that you will allow me to ask you about what you meant in a comment in this book here Paul, and that this is the appropriate place as it relates completely to this book.Thank you for your previous replies, but I still don’t know what you mean about denying self, salvation costing us everything but yet being free, that you refer to in this book on page 152 and 153, ‘Saved’ in the notes section. Please take me seriously, stuff like this does make me anxious and I feel that you were mocking me in your last comment. I was exposed to some very legalistic teaching at one time and I am trying to become more established in the Grace and love of God, hence reading this book.
My thinking is that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone plus nothing.
Any of our works, self denial etc, are byproducts of salvation, not conditions for salvation.
Do you agree or not?
Or is a person not saved until they have paid the cost and given up everything of themselves for the Lord, their hobbies, interests etc?
Please reply, thank you,
Adam
How do you read these words of Jesus: “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (Luke 14:33)?
This verse has bothered me Paul, which is why I have asked you about your comment in your book about the cost. It does scare me to be honest. But I have ‘tried’ to think that a disciple and a saved person isn’t necessarily the same thing. We are all disciples by the new birth, but those who have learnt greatly from the Lord and are the most mature Christians are those who have payed ‘the cost’ and have given up absolutely everything for Jesus, their hobbies, time, interests, money etc, that I think Jesus means in Luke 14:33. Yes this scripture troubles me, in case I haven’t given up everything that I should and could one day ultimately be rejected by God on judgement day.
I do know that I have been born again that is without doubt.
Nothing Jesus said should scare you; he’s your friend, not your enemy. It’s true Jesus said some scary things, but they should not scare you. Nor are there two levels of citizenship in the kingdom. A Christian is a disciple is a Christian. So what are we to make of his words in Luke 14:33: “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” He’s saying, “Count the cost.” Make up your mind. Don’t be a fence-sitter. Don’t be double-minded. Don’t be half-in and half-out. And what is the cost? Everything!
Am I saying you need to sell your house, empty your bank account, and put the lot in the offering basket? Not at all. I’m saying you need to take the crown off your head and cast it at Christ’s feet. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). This isn’t about making Jesus Lord because he is already Lord. This is about recognizing him for who he truly is.
When you get married everything that was once yours becomes the property of your spouse. It may sound like a bad deal but it’s a great deal! Formerly you were alone; now you get to share life. And if your spouse is the richest person in the world, it’s an extremely good deal. And this is how it is with us and Christ. You have to give up your claims to your trinkets and toys, but you become one with the Lord who is heir of all-things.
Those people who focus on “paying the cost” are spectacularly misguided. I don’t get up every morning and tell my wife how much I gave up to be married. I celebrate the fact that I am far better off than I was. So how do you give up everything? Simply let go. Bow your knee to Jesus and say, “Lord, it’s all your’s” because it actually is. Renouncing your right to life and stuff is actually the most liberating and enriching thing you can do. I hope this helps.
Incidentally, you didn’t ask me about what Jesus says a few verses earlier about hating your father and mother, but my thoughts on that are here.
Thanks for your reply to me Paul, I appreciate it and your time. I live in the UK so hence my delay replying (time zone). I think I am understanding more what you mean. But a born again believer who hasn’t given up their right to everything they have, are they still saved, because they have believed on Jesus as their Lord and Saviour alone? Otherwise if we have to add to faith a work of self surrender, surely then salvation is not by grace alone through faith alone, but it is plus something we have to do? That then must be a form of self righteousness? Is Christ’s finished work on the cross not enough? Do I need to pray “Lord all I have and my time, my hobbies, interests, everything I have I give to you to have your way with”, in order to be saved? Are we not eternally saved the very moment we believed on Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, trusting in His finished work and the free gift of His salvation through faith alone? Or do we need to add to this a work or prayer of complete self surrender in order to be saved? Thankyou again, and thanks for the link to your article, I liked it.
Adam, you’re over-thinking this. The gospel is simple and we enter the kingdom like little children. The moment you call upon the Lord you are saved.
Many of us will take a lifetime recognizing Christ as Lord over individual aspects of our life – our health, our marriage, our children. God is not sitting in heaven with a checklist waiting for you to hit the magical number of things renounced before he decides to let you in. And you make it sound like a bad thing, when the opposite is true.
Think of it like this: when you get married, you are inexperienced. You don’t know how to be married because you’ve never done it before. But you don’t have to study and stress. You don’t need to pray, “What must I give up to be married.” You just have to enjoy what you have and everything will work out naturally. Make love your agenda. It’s exactly the same with Jesus. Make him your focus, and everything will work out just fine.
Thanks for your reply Paul, that makes sense to me. I am married too so I like the marriage analogy that relates to our oneness in Christ. Thankyou.