Jesus Christ is the Gospel: His person and His work.

The Gospel or Good News is about the person and work of the God man the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent into the world to make His Father known and to reconcile us into His Father so we can dwell together and know Him (John 17:3)

The Scriptures teach that our first parents Adam and Eve sinned, i.e. transgressed God’s law, in the Garden of Eden by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This act caused them to receive the fruit of the seed of that tree which is unbelief which leads to lawlessness.

This lawless state became their nature and that is why they are called sinners since sin defines their inner nature. As sinners all of their children and everyone born since then is born with their sin nature. To be born with a sin nature means you are born separated from God and at enmity with Him.

The evidence of this is that we sin from within the depth of our souls [i.e. worship other gods (idolatry), take God’s name in vain, lie, steal, are sexually lustful, covet, murder (even in our hearts and mind)]. Every sin committed pushes us further away from the living and true God and hardens our heart towards Him.

Something outside of ourselves had to happen to change our nature and therefore reconcile us to God. That something was the sending of God’s Son into the world to shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins; He was raised from the dead for our justification and He ascended into heaven so the Holy Spirit could be sent to those who believe. Through this process did Christ bring about our new birth.

This means that by the forgiveness of our sins we are reconciled to God and being born anew means that our nature is no longer a sin nature but we are given a divine nature. This divine nature is God’s nature and is passed to us since He has become our Father. Thus we are new creatures who long to know our God whom we now call Father more intimately.

Thus the Gospel is:

….the Good News of the Father sending His Son (Matthew 3:17, 17:15, Mark 1:11) Jesus Christ (I John 4:2-3, 4:15, 5:1) into the world to save sinners (I John 3:5, 4:14) from His wrath so the sinner would by faith in the person and work of the Son receive forgiveness and covering of their sins in order to be reconciled to the Father (2 Cor 5:18-19) and have everlasting life with Him.

This wrath abides upon each individual sinner which at the sinners physical death will come upon them forever (John 3:36; Eph 2:3, 5:6; Col 3:6; I Thess 1:10, 2:15-16, ). Every soul is born into this world with a sin nature (Psalm 51:5) and is thereby alienated from God all of their life until or unless they repent of their unbelief and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and reconciliation with the Father.

Thus the Father, in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4), sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to accomplish salvation for repentant souls (Titus 3:4-7). Through all aspects of His life, death, resurrection and ascension Jesus accomplished all aspects necessary for repentant sinners salvation (Romans 3:2; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). Therefore through faith alone (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11) in Jesus Christ alone (John 8:24; Hebrews 5:9, 7:28, 9:11-15, 9:24-26, 10:9-18; I John 4:9, 5:11-12; Titus 2:11-14) is a repentant sinful soul reconciled (II Cor 5:18-19) to the living God.

Upon calling upon the Name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10) for the forgiveness of their sins the soul is declared righteous (the just life by faith), receives the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) as an earnest deposit of their expressed faith, enters the Kingdom of God (Heb 12:22-24), lives a life of following Christ’s teaching (this is called sanctification Hebrews 2:11; Titus 2:14; I John 5:3) and when the sinner who is now called a Saint dies the Holy Spirit will raise them from the dead into the Father’s presence (this is called glorification).

The purpose of this great salvation, which is called eternal life, is that souls would come to know their creator, the true and living God and worship and enjoy Him forever.

Jesus sums this up in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

 The Goal of SFOI

The goal is for lost souls at major sporting events to be reconciled to and know God (John 17:3).

The means of the goal is explained here:

Sports Fan Outreach Int’l’s goal is for fans attending major sporting events to hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 1:18; Romans 10:1-17) and be called to to repent and believe It.

The fan is presented with an opportunity to respond to the Gospel which includes asking the evangelist questions and being ministered to in the moment based on their respective place with the Lord.

Thus the SFOI evangelist both preaches the Gospel and ministers to the fans as they respond and hopefully is able to refer the fans to a Bible teaching church for discipleship. (Acts 2:38, 3:19, 5:31, 8:22, 17:30, 20:21, 26:20; 2 Cor. 7:10; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 3:19).

The fans hear the Gospel as they participate in pre-game events either at the respective venue or at a fanfest** perhaps located in the downtown area of the host city. In other words the fans are not inside the venue when they hear the Gospel.

The Gospel is communicated via preaching, distributing literature and individual conversations. All hearers are called to repent and believe the Gospel. All vision and mission statements, organizational and training efforts are designed to lead to fans hearing the Gospel at major sporting events.

The pictures you see on the Photo page show the locale and interactions taking place.

**Fanfest is a word describing events hosted by the particular event or host city that are intended to attract fans whether they are attending the event or not.