Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, 2nd Timothy 2:8.
What distinguished Paul's gospel from the other apostles? The answer to that is really quite simple. Whereas the other apostles were eyewitnesses to the death, the burial, and the resurrection, they were not made privy to the mechanics of how it was done to the extent that Paul was. It was the Apostle Paul who explained how God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
1st Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1st Coorinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1st Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1st Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
All too often I hear someone say that the gospel meant for our time is simply the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They then quote the above verses. They misquote those verses. The gospel that Paul preached is not the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. The Apostle Paul had spent week after week laboring in the Corinthian synagogue using only the Old Testament scriptures. I wrote about that here.
The gospel preached in most churches today has achieved a level of sterility that is slowly choking out the power of God. If you have trouble believing that, take a tour of the 20 gospel preaching churches nearest to you who are of your denomination or taste. While you are there, observe those families or individuals who exhibit signs of Christian maturity and growth. Then inquire as to whether or not the current pastor of that church is the person who sought out that family or individual when they were lost and without Christ. Did he woo them to Christ, and did he labor over them until Christ was fully formed in them?
I can tell you now that such families or indivuals are exteremly rare. When pressed, a pastor will tell a story of an individual or a family from 20 or 30 years ago. The ability to carve out a people for Jesus Christ from the population in the vicinity of any church is for all intents and purposes dead and gone. Part (and only part) of the reason for that is the utter ignorance among preachers to the raw power of the Holy Ghost that can be unleashed when a preacher discovers and then reveals through preaching how that Christ died for our sins in those Old Testament scriptures.
The Apostle Paul was to admonish Timothy; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, 2nd Timothy 3:15. Timothy did not grow up with the New Testament. He grew up with the Hebrew Scriptures. It was in those Old Testament scriptures that Timothy would become wise as to how Christ died for our sins. He would become wise in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Did not the Apostle Paul tell us that when he said that we have the same spirit of faith as was revealed in Psalm 116?
Psalm 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Psalm 116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
Psalm 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted.
2nd Corinthians 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
2nd Corinthians 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
He has just plainly told you that the person who was raised in Psalm 116: 7-10 was Jesus Christ. He plainly stated that the faith of Christ which we have can be found in the Old Testament Scriptures. It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul told Timothy to search those scriptures to become wise in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
No matter how many professions of faith that your church claims from year to year, if your church and the nearest 20 churches to it can not exhibit any evidence of those professions in church membership or attendence, your church and the movement to which you have attached yourself is dying. No matter how many birth announcements have been published in any given area, if the local schools have no students in any of the first five or six grade levels, that school is dying.
Amen