John Thweatt is a child of God seeking to introduce other people to his Father. He is a husband to Kim and a father to Hannah, Hope, Hollie, and Kimberly Joy. He has served as pastor of three churches and has been teaching/preaching in the local church for over 20 years and is currently the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pell City, AL.
John graduated from Boaz High School, Boaz, AL and then received a BS in Education from Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL.
He received a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX and a Doctor of Ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, LA.
His main gifts lie in preaching and teaching and he is committed to teaching through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and word by word.
When he is not with his family or working John enjoys running (he tries to complete a marathon or a half marathon every year) and an occasional round of golf.
Feb 1, The Gospel
A few years ago I preached through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Each week we started the sermon with this statement, “It is essential that we get the Gospel right because if we get the Gospel wrong two horrible things happen—1) Lost people are not saved and even worse than that, 2) God is not glorified.
The great battle for the Church today is the battle for the Gospel. We must get it right! While we were in Kenya one of our men shared with a man who came through the medical clinic. He said he was a Christian, but he was a member of a denomination that was very ‘works centered.’ My friend asked for permission to share the Gospel with the man and after he finished the Kenyan man said, “If that is the Gospel, I’m not saved.” He went on to talk to him about Jesus and the man said something amazing—he said, “While you were sharing with me God changed my heart. I’ve been born again!”
We must wrestle with the question—“What is the Gospel?” We can’t afford to get it wrong because we have far too many people who think they are saved, but they have responded to something that isn’t the true Gospel. What does it mean to be saved? What does it mean to follow Jesus?
The Gospel is God’s story—it is the good news of what He has done to save us from our sin. Salvation is an historical event that comes with a present reality which leads to an unbelievable future. It isn’t something that is just done in the past—it is something going on now and it is something that will go on for eternity IF you are saved.
Over the next few days I want to take you to John 3 and I want us try to understand the true nature of the Gospel. In this passage we see Nicodemus coming to Christ. For today, let me tell you a little about this man—first, he was a ruler of the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was one of the 70 rulers who led God’s people. Secondly, he was a teacher, but not just any teacher—Jesus said, “Are you the teacher of Israel…” Notice He didn’t say, a teacher of Israel-He said THE teacher. Nicodemus was a scholar, he was learned, and to top it off he was a Pharisee which means he was theologically and culturally as conservative as you can be. He knew his Bible, but he didn’t have a relationship with God—he was empty. He was religious, but he wasn’t saved—he was spiritually blind. This tells us something—you can be a great teacher, you can know all about the Bible, and you can be as religious as Moses and be as lost as a demon. Jesus wasn’t impressed with Nicodemus’ resume and He isn’t impressed with ours—With one short sentence Jesus dismisses every credential of Nicodemus and goes right to the heart of the matter, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
We Must Be Born Again. Tomorrow we will begin to see what that means.