Greetings in Christ. Here at the beginning of this year’s summer season, I pray you are prospering in all good things.
I want to talk with you this month about the major writing project I am working on right now, a book called Obeying the Gospel. Like my other books, this will be a daybook, with one page for each day of the year. But this will be a very special daybook.
Although written in the format of a “daily devotional,” this book will concentrate on what is involved in becoming (and remaining) a Christian. By “obeying the gospel,” I have in mind not only the first steps that one takes, but the life that should follow those steps. The truth is, at baptism we have only just begun “obeying the gospel.” Everything we do from that point forward is in response to the good news of our salvation in Christ.
But, of course, I will be especially interested in communicating with those who have not yet begun their obedience. I hope this book will be an evangelistic tool. Indeed, I am writing it primarily as a tool I can use in my own efforts to reach the lost. I intend to give away as many copies to my friends and neighbors as I can afford to print.
And as with my other books, I will be writing to myself. Gary Henry needs to keep thinking ever more devoutly about what it means to “obey the gospel,” and so I will try to say on these pages what I personally need to hear.
Uppermost in my mind is the commitment that one makes when he or she becomes a Christian. For all of our preaching and writing about “first principles,” I believe we have not properly emphasized the commitment the Lord expects of His followers.
I want this book to talk about the why of obedience to the gospel as well as the how. The steps that must be taken are obviously important, but it does little good to debate these things if a person sees no need to respond in the first place. So I hope the book will exhort the reader to come to Christ as well as instruct him on how to do so.
My goal is to have this book ready for distribution in early 2020. As always, the individual pages will be available as free daily emails that people can subscribe to. I would like to begin the email list on January 1, 2020, and have the hard-copy book ready for sale shortly thereafter (if not before). If this turns out to be an evangelistic tool that people other than me want to use, I will be happy to make bulk discounts available so that individuals, as well as congregations, can afford to buy copies to give away.
I always appreciate your prayers in regard to my writing, but with Obeying the Gospel I am especially desirous of those prayers. I am finding these pages much harder to write, perhaps because I want to be so very careful in what I say and how I say it. So please pray for my wisdom, strength, and stamina as I do this work.
These days, as I work on my writing I am profoundly grateful that there are brethren like you who see some value in what I am trying to write before I die, and that you are willing to help make it possible financially. I couldn’t do this work without you, and I love you for supporting me, more than words can say.
Gary Henry — WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
