Thanks, Ed, for asking these questions.

I was glad to hear Mark say many of these things related to the earlier discussion here and T4G presentation on the gospel.

He noted that when Paul talks about the gospel of the kingdom, the hearers respond with repentence and faith. It seems that Mark then concludes that we should focus on God-man-Christ-grace-faith in our presentation.

What I want to ask is, how should we understand kingdom in a way that we can bring it into our evangelism (as Paul did) and have it result in our hearers responding with repentance and faith in Christ?

I believe the kingdom and the cross can be more organically related than we tend to think. Apparently, the apostles had no trouble handling this.

Here's where I'm at with all this-- To announce the kingdom is to announce the coming of the king. The king is coming to punish the rebels, reward the faithful, and set the kingdom aright. The return of Christ to judge all men should be very much part of our gospel presentation, and it is very much tied to the establishment of his kingdom.

In evangelistic situations, if the conversation is revolving around earthquakes in China, I can talk about how Jesus will make a world in which there is no disasters, death, and grief (this is good news of the kingdom)... but that these problems are all related to the problem of our own hearts which are in revolt against this king (bad news). The wonder of grace is that the king that will one day come to judge has already come to die on behalf of any traitor who will throw themselves on his mercy (again, good news that is focused more on the cross, but you're still talking about "CHRIST crucified"-- the Messiah dies for us!).

I believe that Christ's coming, with the judgment of all humans and the consummation of his reign is a very powerful part of the gospel, not simply because it takes it beyond the individual to the sphere of the community, but because it serves as the threat of punishment and the promise of a restored creation. I'm not sure if the apostles ever ask, "If you were to die tonight, do you know where you'd spend eternity?" but they do seem to declare, "Christ is coming to judge the righteous and the unrighteous." Thus, perhaps the terminus in our presentations should not be the possible death of our individual listeners, but the coming of Christ that will come when they least expect it.

Has anyone here read Keller's new article in Leadership Journal trying to articulate "one gospel in many forms"? I'm feeling torn halfway between Dever's concern and Keller's concern. I think I agree with Keller that our Gospel presentations need to be both God-man-Christ-response and Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration. But I think Keller goes overboard connecting cultural transformation and renewal with the responsibility of the church. I think mercy ministry is a natural outflow of love and good deeds and is good for pre-evangelism, but that there is a danger when we equate mercy ministry with evangelism itself. Is there a mediation position between Dever and Keller?