The Gospel Is Dynamite – October 18, 2023

Read: Romans 1:16,17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:16,17

The Gospel Is Dynamite

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Boom! In 1867, an explosion rattled the windows of a house on a crisp autumn day in Stockholm, Sweden. Alfred ran to the window to find a smoking pile of wood where his shed used to stand. His brother and his friends used the shed to make a liquid explosive which was powerful but dangerous. Alfred decided he needed to make explosives safer. He poured the liquid into a stick and covered it with a cap so people could control when and where it blew up. 150 years later, people still use Alfred’s invention. When construction workers need to make a hole in a mountain so a road can go through—boom! They use Alfred’s explosive. When people need to take down a concrete building—boom! They use Alfred’s invention. Can you guess what Alfred called his invention? He named it after the Greek word for “power,” which is dynamis. In 1867, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.

There’s a big wall between people and God, as thick as a mountain. It’s called sin and it’s impossible to get through. Some people try very hard to get to God by doing the right things. That’s like trying to dig through a mountain with a spoon. Other people compare their right actions to others, and they decide they are better than others. That’s like trying to get through a mountain because it’s only one mile thick instead of two miles thick. We cannot get to God by doing the right things. We need God to blow up sin. So he did!

That is the gospel. The good news is that when Jesus came, he blew open a path so that people can get to God, only through him. Jesus did everything right, and he gave us his right-ness, his righteousness, which is so much more powerful than anything we could do. When the Bible describes the power of what Jesus did to open a way for us to get to heaven, it uses a Greek word, the Greek word for power. It says the gospel of Jesus is dynamis.

Boom! The gospel is dynamite.

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for creating a way for us to come to heaven. Help us always trust your righteousness, your gospel, and its power. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Whom did God send to create a way for us to get to heaven?
• What are some ways to get to heaven that don’t work? Which way works?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• How would you summarize the gospel in your own words?
• What are some things that make the gospel more powerful than our efforts to get to heaven on our own?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• Can you elaborate on the reason why Romans 1:17 says God’s righteousness is “by faith from first to last”?
• If you had some dynamite and a crew of construction workers at a church gathering, how would you design a demonstration to show how powerful the gospel is?