Clarifying the Gospel (Part 1)

What if the hardest trip the early church ever took was a journey to keep the gospel simple? We follow Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem and sit in on the first major council as leaders wrestle with a high-stakes question: must Gentile believers adopt the law of Moses to be saved, or is grace through faith enough?

We start with the power of words—how small errors can distort big truths—then move into Acts 15, where eyewitness faith meets real-life tension. You’ll hear why the apostles left a thriving mission to defend gospel accuracy, how Peter’s testimony about the Holy Spirit landing on Gentiles shattered old boundaries, and why the church refused to put a yoke on new believers that no one could carry. Along the way, we connect the dots to the Apostles’ Creed and the great councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon, showing how the church clarified Christ’s divinity, humanity, and the Trinity without adding hurdles to salvation.

The heartbeat here is freedom. Cultural freedom: you don’t become a Jew to become a Christian. Spiritual freedom: the gospel is not advice to achieve but news to receive. We expose the subtle drift into “Jesus plus” legalism—whether rituals, performance, or spotless records—and we ground assurance where it belongs: in Christ’s finished work. If you’ve ever felt crushed by the weight of measuring up, this conversation lifts the burden with the simple center of the faith: saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70NzX3hPYLQ