Shameless Self Promotion

 

I am taking a break from my normal blog about faith and the gospel, to shamelessly promote my new book faith and the gospel.  Small Steps to Understanding a Big Gospel is available starting Dec 1^st. .  The book can be purchased on line @Shinealightpress.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

When I wrote this little book, I had several goals in mind.  The first and most important of which was to explain the gospel in a simple and understandable manner without seeming to talk down to anyone. 

An additional goal was to not belabor a single point for page after page just so I could have a thick respectable looking book.  Why bore you with that?  I also didn’t want to use a lot of “churchy” sounding words.   

Here are some endorsements I was honored with, by a few that were gracious enough to read a draft of Small Steps to Understanding a Big Gospel and then give a few thoughts on the book.

It is a blessing to call Monty Hobbs and his precious wife, Bonnie,  "my friends." I had the privilege of pastoring Monty for several years and had opportunity to witness his relentless pursuit of the truth of the gospel which led to his considerable growth in his walk with Christ. Monty is a person possessing an unsatiable appetite for the Word of God that is evident in his book, "Small Steps to Understanding a Big Gospel." The book is succinct in its presentation of the gospel and yet is spot on in its theological accuracy. I encourage everyone to read this book and add it to their arsenal of gospel weapons to combat the tsunami of darkness so prevalent in our culture. I will certainly use the information and diagram when I have opportunity to share the gospel personally. Thank you, Monty, for this inspiring work.

Johnny L. Witherspoon

Lead Pastor/ First Baptist Church

Cooper, Texas

 

The gospel message of Jesus Christ, the true record of His life and teachings in this world, is the foundation upon which His Christian church is based. Understanding it is a key step in growing in your faith. I encourage every Christian, new or ready to disciple others, to read Small Steps in Understanding a Big Gospel. This book helps readers understand complex theological concepts using a simple diagram that walks them through the act of salvation and the ever-evolving process of Christian sanctification. It does so in a step-by-step manner that is based in the truths of God’s word.

 -J.D. Wininger, Follower of God, Writer, Speaker, & Friend (www.jdwininger.com)

 

Wow...the Gospel could not be articulated any better than it is in this awesome little book. Thanks, Monty, for sharing the simple path to Salvation to all who read this book. It's full of truth, theologically sound,

easy to read, and definitely a book that people will want to read and share with others. 

Brent Bolton - Discipleship Pastor @ Wellspring Church, China Spring, TX

 

This book will help any believer in sharing the gospel. Monty Hobbs writes a concise Scripture based explanation of what salvation is, who created it and why, who initiates it, who maintains and secures it, and who provides the evidence of it: God. As Hobbs writes, “keep this explanation of the gospel simple” and therefore easy to understand, he uses diagrams as visual aids to describe what Biblical salvation looks like to him. Monty provides the Scripture reference to support each “small step”, as he explains building his diagram of the gospel, which is very useful. Even in this short book, you cannot help but see the majesty of God.

Robert D. Welch Jr. DVM, PHD, DACVS

 

Following is a copy of the final draft of the introduction to Small Steps to Understanding a Big Gospel.  Read, Enjoy, Understand.

 

Introduction

There has been a lot said about salvation over the last two thousand years. People of different countries, groups, ethnicities, theologies and philosophies all seem to have come up with their own ideas about that concept. We, as the human race, have probably thought of just about every way imaginable to make it from this life securely into the one that follows it. We have conjured up so many varied methods of crossing over to the next world that we are now bringing back to life theories from ancient eastern religions and mixing in a few current ones, just to make the idea more palatable and fun.

Despite the centuries of debate and discussion, many people don’t seem to think salvation is even necessary. They are happy to just run along, skipping and jumping their way through life, believing that every man’s good is his own creation. And what about when their time on earth is finished? Well, it is incomprehensible to them that they will do anything but decompose back into the soil from whence they evolved hundreds of millions of years ago, never to be heard from again.

Yet others believe salvation is possible and struggle all their lives to obtain it. They volunteer, they give to the poor, they visit with shut-ins. They work themselves into a frenzy trying to earn their way into heaven. The sadness of beliefs such as these is when you ask them if they are saved, they will often reply, “No one ever knows for sure whether or not they are saved!” How terrible is that? You must work all your life, dedicating all that you are and all that you do, to raising your family and teaching them the things they should do to obtain eternal salvation. And then in the end, you must convince them to trust what they have been taught, what they have sacrificed their entire lives for, and merely hope that they have pleased God enough that they may enter into heaven. They have no assurance of eternity, or even that the god they worship and sacrifice for even cares one whit about them!

How very sad.

And, let us not forget the butterfly children. Those misguided souls that believe God is all love all the time, and in the end, will welcome everyone into heaven for an eternity of cuddles, hugs, and kisses. Where is the truth in this? There can be no authentic mercy without absolute justice! Without the judgement of God, what are people being saved from?

According to this injudicious belief, evil dictators, mass murderers and serial rapists are all sitting on God’s lap for story time without any hint of repentance. I agree with these butterfly children in the fact that God is love. But Scripture also tells us that God is just.

              “He is the Rock, His work is perfect;

              For all His ways are justice,

              A God of truth and without injustice;

              Righteous and upright is He.”

                          ~ Deuteronomy 32:4

            “For I the LORD, love justice...”

                        ~ Isaiah 61:8

And, without judgement, there can be no justice;

      “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after              this the judgment.”

                          ~ Hebrews 9:27

      “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the  house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will

             be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of

              God?”

                          ~ 1 Peter 4:17

At times in my life, I have dabbled with a few of these unfounded, non-Biblical ideas and even tried to get them to fit into the Bible a little. Mostly, I just ignored the Scriptures because they didn’t say what I wanted to hear. Besides, reading the Bible used to feel a lot like studying for school (which I hated to do) and it was so hard to understand. I wanted no part of any kind of homework, especially on something like religion. I believed that if God wanted me to know something, I would just know it. I was, at least I thought so at the time, satisfied with what little Biblical knowledge I had. The “deep” ponderings my friends and I would engage in about universal energy and the soul turned out to be shallow conversations, dressed up as attempts to impress each other, when in reality we weren’t managing to impress anyone but ourselves and paying no attention to how little we actually knew about anything. What we were doing is exactly what Paul was warning Timothy about:

            “. . .and they will turn their ears away from the truth,  and be turned aside to fables.”

                        ~ 2 Timothy 4:4

But thank God, I finally saw the destructiveness in placing my faith in foolish ways that are not, and never have been, of Him. Because of my trusting in the Lord, the Holy Spirit lives within me and perfectly leads me while I imperfectly follow. And, unlike all other religions, I have the perfect, unbreakable promise of God Himself, that I will spend eternity with Him. All the other religions of Earth tell us what we must do to obtain salvation. Christianity is the only religion where our salvation is already done. Christ took care of that two thousand years ago.

There are those that can and have written volumes on the subject of salvation. That is not my intent in writing this little book. Perhaps that is why I titled this effort the way that I did, “Small Steps to Understanding a Big Gospel.” My goal is to simply and succinctly explain salvation in a way that anyone can understand. Yes, I will share the gospel with you, but in a way that perhaps you have not seen or heard before.

Even those who profess to be born again Christians sometimes hit a few stumbling blocks when trying to understand or explain exactly what salvation in the gospel message looks like. When I listen to a lot of very earnest and well-educated disciples of Jesus talk about salvation, they often get into lectures revolving around rebirth, regeneration, redemption, substitutionary atonement, transfiguration and the list goes on and on. As Christians, are these all valid topics we should know? And should we, as we walk along our paths toward sanctification, become knowledgeable and comfortable sharing these principles with others? Of course. They are valid doctrines that we should be familiar with. But, complete knowledge of all these lofty subjects are unnecessary for salvation. In my effort to keep this explanation of the gospel simple, I will not get lost in the Bible dictionary trying to use big churchy words to explain a truth that, in essence, is really quite simple. In an attempt to explain it in a way that will make it easy for you to understand and share with others, I will use Scripture, and, for my friends that are visual learners like I am, I will present a diagram of what (to me) Biblical salvation looks like.

There is nothing in the following pages that is intended to guilt you into becoming a missionary or someone who stands on street corners passing out literature. Neither am I trying to say that everyone should go to a Bible college or become a pastor.

But I do have a mission.

I pray that by the end of my efforts, new Christians as well as more seasoned Christians that are farther down the path of sanctification can find some fresh understanding of what it means to be saved by the love and mercy of God Almighty – His abiding grace.

And, for my friends that have not yet made the decision to submit to Jesus and to give your lives over to Him, I pray that since you are already reading these few pages; you know in your heart that you are not yet complete because your life is missing its most important component. I pray that you are open to understanding what this “Jesus thing” is all about. Please keep searching. Read through to the last page. Then, if you haven’t done so already, commit yourself to a Spirit-led life for Jesus. It is for you, especially, that I write this book.