The Gospel and Mormonism

-Pastor Frank is continuing in his series entitled “What’s the Difference,” a study to hold up the New Testament Gospel of Jesus and then compare it to other religions and religious thoughts.

-Week One Pastor Frank walked us through the Gospel – “Jesus Plus Nothing.”

-Last week he covered the differences between the Gospel and Islam.

-This week he is focusing on the differences between the Gospel and Mormonism.

Verses used: Galatians 1:3-10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Psalm 147:5, Psalm 139:1-4, 1 John 3:20, 2 Peter 3:8, Galatians 3:1-5.

Key verse: Galatians 1:3-10

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Sermon Notes:

1. If you mess with the identity of Jesus who died on the cross or what Jesus did by dying on the cross…you change the Gospel.

Mormonism and Islam are two faiths, similar in many ways:

2. They both involve angels in the new revelations of God.

3. They both teach about Jesus.

4. They both accept the Bible as from God.

5. They both teach that God tried to communicate clearly in the Bible but man over time corrupted His message.

6. They both teach that God had to re-do His message through another prophet.

7. They both teach that this time it can’t be corrupted.

8. The god of Islam and the god of Mormonism is a god learning how to communicate to his creation over time.

What’s the difference between the God of the Bible and Mormonism?

9. The God of the Bible doesn’t learn.

10. The God of the Bible says there are no other gods but Him.

11. Mormon theology teaches of a different Jesus who hung on the cross.

Some questions to consider this week:

1. What was one thing you remember from the message on Sunday?

2. Pastor Frank asked, “How are we reconciled to God?” and “What happened so that God doesn’t count our sins against us?” Discuss the power of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

3. What do you recall are the main differences between Mormonism and Christianity and how do you think these affect a person’s life.

4. Share your thoughts on our God who is all knowing vs the Mormon god who does not have perfect knowledge and is learning.

5. Remember Pastor Frank’s quote: “If you mess with the identity of Jesus who died on the cross or what Jesus did by dying on the cross … you change the Gospel.” Discuss the attributes of the Jesus of the Mormon faith vs the Jesus of the New Testament Gospel.

6. Tolerance: to be tolerant means you can admittedly disagree with another person and still be cordial and kind to one another. How tolerant would you say you are?

7. Thinking about the first week in this series on the “Gospel of Jesus” and this week’s study of Mormonism, what does it mean in your life to say, “Jesus plus Nothing”?

8. How can we be “stirring in” the sermon’s verses into our lives this week?

Something to reflect on this week:

In the New Testament Gospel, you have God the Savior – not scales of good and bad deeds. He pays for your sins by His blood. You are forgiven!

Jesus plus nothing

Faith in Christ alone

Not our goodness but His

Not our righteousness but His

Not our works but His and what He did on the cross!

He who? God!