What is the Gospel? (video compilation)

It seems like a simple enough question, but so many misunderstand. Here are several videos that tell what the Gospel is.


Trip Lee:


Mark Driscoll:


John Piper:


Sam Storms:


Michael Horton:


Paul Washer:


Each of these videos tell the same message, but each appeals to a different audience. Which of these presentations of the Gospel resonates with you the most?

Some of My Sources...

I have had several people ask me where I get my information from, so I wanted to share with you, loyal reader, the websites that I check regularly. Most of these I check daily, if not more. Some of them I may check only a couple times a week.

Facebook - I have two accounts: one personal one, and one solely dedicated to political postings.
Email - I have three email accounts that I check, not including multiple work emails.
Twitter - you can follow me at @realtonygoodwin at Twitter. I retweet a lot of stories and things I find interesting, not very much in terms of original content though. See below to see some of who I "follow."

http://www.msn.com/ MSN.com - this is for headlines and interesting little stories
http://drudgereport.com/ The Drudge Report is known for breaking news stories
http://www.fark.com/ Fark.com is a news aggregator, it includes user-submitted links and snarky commentary
http://www.politico.com/ Politico is my main source for mainstream political news, especially the 2012 Live tab
http://www.fark.com/politics/ - This is Fark.com's special politics section
http://realclearpolitics.com/ - RealClearPolitics has the best and most accurate polling numbers, as well as news stories

http://www.maximumpc.com/ Maximum PC is all about PC hardware and other technology stuff
http://www.tomshardware.com/ Tom's Hardware has indepth PC hardware articles, with excellent reviews and testing
http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/maximum_tech Maximum PC's tech site, for Android, tablets, phones, etc

http://www.smartmoney.com/ SmartMoney has a portfolio tool where I can check my real and fantasy investment portfolios, as well as interesting articles
http://crawlingroad.com/blog/ Crawling Road keeps me up to date with interesting investment news, mostly focusing on Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio Strategy

http://thegospelcoalition.org/ The Gospel Coalition features great articles and blogs from a solid theological footing
http://www.challies.com/ Tim Challies has great reviews of books and whatnot, from a Reformed perspective, and his a la carte posts are quite interesting
http://edstetzer.com/ Ed Stetzer blogs about church research, missiology, and church planting

Here is just a small sampling of the several hundred accounts I follow on

TWITTER:

Politics
https://twitter.com/#!/gallupnews
https://twitter.com/#!/POLITICO2012 
https://twitter.com/#!/politico
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedPol
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedAndrew
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedBen
https://twitter.com/#!/ZekeJMiller 
https://twitter.com/#!/HuffPostPol
https://twitter.com/#!/thehill
https://twitter.com/#!/TheFix 
https://twitter.com/#!/daveweigel
https://twitter.com/#!/TheStateColumn
https://twitter.com/#!/PeterHambyCNN
https://twitter.com/#!/BretBaier


News
https://twitter.com/#!/csgazette
https://twitter.com/#!/HawaiiNewsNow
https://twitter.com/#!/MilitaryTimes
https://twitter.com/#!/reason
https://twitter.com/#!/TheEconomist
https://twitter.com/#!/CatoInstitute


Polling
https://twitter.com/#!/pewresearch
https://twitter.com/#!/ppppolls 
https://twitter.com/#!/RasmussenPoll


Christianity
https://twitter.com/#!/MarsHill
https://twitter.com/#!/edstetzer
https://twitter.com/#!/PastorMark
https://twitter.com/#!/PastorTullian
https://twitter.com/#!/RELEVANT
https://twitter.com/#!/desiringgod 
https://twitter.com/#!/CTmagazine

Miscellaneous
https://twitter.com/#!/joshualyman
https://twitter.com/#!/AnonyOps
https://twitter.com/#!/LiveActionFilms
https://twitter.com/#!/5tu
https://twitter.com/#!/HomeschoolConv

Are you going to waste your life?

This speaks for itself I think.



"Reach Records presents the offical Don't Waste Your Life music video ft. Cam singing on the hook.

Be sure to check the DWYL Tour website to see when were coming to your city! http://www.reachrecords.com/dwyl

Special thanks to the video team at Desiring God (http://www.desiringgod.org) for their production and editing of this project."

On Calvinism

So, I have been exploring theology lately, in no small part thanks to John Piper. I am not ready 100% to say I am a Calvinist, but I do admit I am leaning that direction. I stole this from his blog, since it explains it better than I can without all the baggage of saying you are a Calvinist.

We are Christians. Radical, full-blooded, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered, mission-advancing, soul-winning, church-loving, holiness-pursing, sovereignty-savoring, grace-besotted, broken-hearted, happy followers of the omnipotent, crucified Christ. At least that’s our imperfect commitment.

In other words, we are Calvinists. But that label is not nearly as useful as telling people what you actually believe! So forget the label, if it helps, and tell them clearly, without evasion or ambiguity, what you believe about salvation.

If they say, “Are you a Calvinist?” say, “You decide. Here is what I believe . . .”

I believe I am so spiritually corrupt and prideful and rebellious that I would never have come to faith in Jesus without God’s merciful, sovereign victory over the last vestiges of my rebellion. (1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 3:1–4; Romans 8:7).

I believe that God chose me to be his child before the foundation of the world, on the basis of nothing in me, foreknown or otherwise. (Ephesians 1:4–6; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29–30; 11:5–7)

I believe Christ died as a substitute for sinners to provide a bona fide offer of salvation to all people, and that he had an invincible design in his death to obtain his chosen bride, namely, the assembly of all believers, whose names were eternally written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. (John 3:16; John 10:15; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 13:8)

When I was dead in my trespasses, and blind to the beauty of Christ, God made me alive, opened the eyes of my heart, granted me to believe, and united me to Jesus, with all the benefits of forgiveness and justification and eternal life. (Ephesians 2:4–5; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Philippians 2:29; Ephesians 2:8–9; Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 3:9)

I am eternally secure not mainly because of anything I did in the past, but decisively because God is faithful to complete the work he began—to sustain my faith, and to keep me from apostasy, and to hold me back from sin that leads to death. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 1:25; John 10:28–29; 1 John 5:16)

Call it what you will, this is my life. I believe it because I see it in the Bible. And because I have experienced it. Everlasting praise to the greatness of the glory of the grace of God!

I prefer to use the term "Reformed," which, if my understanding is correct, is essentially the same thing. When I hear "Calvinist" it makes me think of following the doctrines of a man, rather than of Jesus.
The original Christians were Catholics, but I believe the Catholic faith got very corrupted between Peter and the Protestant Reformation. It has since gotten better, but since I do not believe that the Eucharist is the actual physical body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation), I am a Protestant.