We all could use a fresh start.  God has given us a way to erase the past and start again through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel is the teaching of Jesus in regard to salvation. God, the creator, made possible the redemption of humankind through the birth of His own son through a young woman named Mary. This was a special birth because Mary was granted this child by a special conception from the Holy Spirit of God (Luke 1:34-35). While Jesus' birth may be miraculous, it is His life, death, and more importantly His resurrection that grants believers eternal life.

At the age of thirty Jesus began His ministry on this earth for approximately three years until His crucifixion (Mark 14:42-15:37). After His crucifixion He laid in a tomb for three days and three nights (Matt. 12:40; 27:63). After this time Jesus did in fact raise from the dead and appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Luke 24:6; Mark 16:9). He then appeared to two men along the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31). Jesus also appeared to Peter, the eleven Apostles (Luke 24:34; Mark 16:14), and hundreds more (1 Cor. 15:6-8). It was at a visit with the Apostles when Jesus gave the command, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. {16} Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:15-16 NIV)."

The Apostles took Jesus' command to heart and boldly preached the Gospel of Christ everywhere, as the book of Acts tells us. In addition to the eleven, along with the Apostle Matthias (who replaced Judas, the Betrayer), the Apostle Paul was converted (Acts 9; 22; 26) and also taught and preached about Jesus to the point of imprisonment and eventual death (Phil. 1:14-21).

The Apostle Paul plainly stated what the Gospel was in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

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